21 October 2008 Politics and America

I’ll start my blog off today with a little admin news. I’m going to try to get on a schedule where I can post new material every Tuesday and Friday afternoon. The most talked about topic in the world is the Presidential race in our great country, so that’s what I’ve been posting on. I’m very disappointed in the anger being voiced, mostly on the right, during this campaign season. Most Americans thought this type of thinking was gone from America’s collective mind. I guess we just needed the right catalyst to stir racism back up. Here are a few things that have caught my attention since my last post:

ACORN-Totally Irrelevant

Why? Because of the difference between Voter REGISTRATION Fraud and VOTER Fraud. First of all, ACORN hires people to go out on the streets and register people to vote. They pay them about $8 an hour. Some are even paid by the number of people they register. That last sentence is important, so pay attention. There are no background checks, these people are similar to the neighborhood canvassers you have seen so many of. Anyone can do it. OK, if you register a guy 73 or even 1000 times, he can still only vote once, not 1000 times, once, just like everybody else. The voter registrars were making money. Not much more. If you look through the phonebook and fraudulently add a name to a voter registration role, and that person shows up to vote, they can still only vote once and they will vote for whomever they choose, not necessarily YOUR candidate! If you register a dead person, which some of these people did, they will not be there to vote on Election Day, so that registration is also irrelevant.

ACORN was very sloppy and it has cost them lots of money, they paid people to do a job. Those people got paid a lot more than they deserved for the actual work they did. It has been reported that some simply went home and wrote names out of the phonebook on their registration forms. I think one was John's Jons, which sounds like a plumbing store of some sort. The reason it doesn't matter is that John's Jons will NOT be at the polls in November. The President will not be chosen by the number of "voter registrations", but by the Electoral College, based mostly on the number of voters for a particular candidate!

The RIGHT of Violence

It looks like John Lewis was right all along. The racial tension in this country is almost to the boiling point. All you have to be is Black and an Obama supporter and you are automatically racist (see Colin Powell). The country is in a sad state and the RIGHT is hoppin’ mad. I occasionally post in other blogs, mostly in my hometown newspaper, and the tone of the Right in those blogs is ‘if you vote for Obama, you must be Black, racist, stupid or all of the above’. Maybe this is America and you can vote for whomever the hell you want to vote for, no reason necessary! Check this out! A female canvasser was actually punched by a man according to the Huffington Post just for working for the Obama campaign. In another incident, a bear cub was killed and placed at Western Carolina University with Obama signs posted on it. That’s pretty sadistic. I don’t have to remind you of our friends in Klanstown, Pennsylvania. I wouldn’t be surprised if all hell broke loose on election night, regardless of the victor. The Country is in dire need of some healing. If you doubted before now that the last eight years of fear and division in America has taken a terrible toll on our country, you can’t doubt it anymore.

John and Sarah-Match made in Hell

They can’t even agree on their own policies or message. He calls Obama a Rock star, she dances on Saturday Night Live. Who’s the rock star now? He’s against a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, she’s for it. Where’s Chuck Hagel when you need him? There’s the REAL Maverick! Speaking of Chuck Hagel, he sponsored a bill in 2005 that would have regulated Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac secretly paid a GOP lobbying firm $2 million to kill the bill. That lobbying firm was lead by the organizer of this year’s RNC. Probably not a coincidence.

I’ve brought you into my mind today. My biggest concern is not the economy, we will weather that storm. It is the state of America AFTER this election. We are a fractured society; some are seething with long suppressed hatred and anger. We need to get back to the 9/11 days when everyone was an American, not a Black or White, Democrat or Republican, but just an American!

JT

Racism in Johnstown, Pennsylvania

As I was watching the news today, I saw a scene reminiscent of the Civil Rights Era South. The only problem was it was playing out at a Sarah Palin rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 2008. The scene was full of unbridled racial hatred. The scene was complete with the normal chants at McCain and Palin rallies of “Kill Obama”, “Socialist”, and “Nobama”. But this one was different. It added caricatures of Senator Obama as a monkey, (one guy even had a monkey doll with a hat that said Obama), chants of “Obama Bin Laden,” and “go back to Africa”. True to form, reporters have an uncanny ability to spot the most stupid person in the crowd to interview. The selected idiot this time came in the form of a slightly older middle-aged man that said if Obama was elected his cabinet would consist of Al Sharpton, Reverend Wright, and Jesse Jackson. Another one of Governor Palin’s “pro-America” towns I assume. Maybe Senator Lewis’ comments last week were not politically correct, but they were not absolutely false. If you leave out the comment referring to the four little girls, some of the things he said were true. Here is an excerpt of Representative Lewis’ statement:
"What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse."
The divisiveness of their campaign strategy is very reminiscent of the civil rights struggle. Representative Lewis would know, he was in the middle of that struggle. I read a blog the other day that said “you better get your guns” because the urban areas are going to explode if the election doesn’t go as “they” expect it. I would counter that some of these not-so-urban towns might just explode with their hatred if McCain doesn’t win.
Senator Obama has shown his political naivety by using the phrase “spread it out” when referring to wealth on a number of occasions. His assumption that the vast majority of Americans would be able to decipher his meaning has helped fuel the right-wing propaganda machine responsible for the current decisiveness among Americans as well as that of the last eight years. For starters, Socialism is, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy. The last time I checked, the closest this nation has come to Socialism is the Bush bailout plan. Government ownership of the banking industry should be what Americans should be calling Socialism, not Barack Obama. There is a reason why uneducated white people are the worst demographic for Obama, and it has nothing to do with him being a Socialist. Congratulations Johnstown, PA, you have just been crowned the most racist place in America. Not that it’s anything new to the residents of Johnstown.

JT

Sarah Palin and her Politics as Usual

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! An independent, bipartisan investigation found that Ms.Soccer Mom abused her power as Governor of Alaska by firing the Public Safety Commissioner. Walter Monegan was fired for resisting pressure to fire a State Trooper that was embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with the Governor’s sister. Not surprisingly though, a few hours before the official report was released, Mrs. Palin released her own report vindicating herself. What?! Vindicating herself? That’s right up there with “I did not have sex with that woman!” The real report found that the firing of Monegan was legal however, Governor Palin violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act by allowing her personal feelings on the matter influence her decision. The report also noted that BMX Todd waged his own personal war against Trooper Wooten with the backing of the Governor.
Small town politics need to stay in small towns. A politician with a propensity for issuing favors or punishing opponents for personal reasons will be used and abused in the meat grinder that is Washington D.C. The lobbyist will have their way with her! Politics as Usual in the last frontier!

Just a minor defense of myself from an accusation of bias. The question was posed to me in another forum, "Why didn't you jump all over Obama about his ties to Ayers?" My answer to that is simple, It's old news, recycled and brought back up. If anyone remembers the Democratic Primary Season, Hillary didn't miss ANYTHING in her bid to be President. Any questions?

JT

Political Stuff

The Dems have been in control of Congress for about 20 months. This financial mess we're in is nine years in the making. Every single financial analyst in the country goes back to one Act passed by a Republican Congress in 1999 (Graham-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999) In case you missed it on my last last blog, you need to research this Act. It is the Act that deregulated the financial and insurance industries and allowed them to compete and more importantly form these huge conglomerates that are now failing.

Also, some more research for you. It takes six months to technically define a recession (two successive quarters). However, by definition, we are currently experiencing the symptoms of a depression: High unemployment, rampant bankruptcy (especially when in the financial sector)banks unwilling to extend credit, currency devaluation). A depression also has no such time constraints, whereas a recession is usually a normal stage in the business cycle. Maybe a recession wouldn't be so bad!

Has anyone noticed that John McCain WILL NOT say he won't raise taxes? He will say "no new taxes". That's because somebody has to foot the >$800 Billion bill for all of these bailouts. Whether it's an increase in existing taxes, payroll, gas, social security, or new ones, taxes are taxes.

Why is John McCain all of a sudden an acceptable Republican Presidential Candidate? McCain was selected because the entire country has seen what the Vulcans did to our country. Everyone, even Republicans are disappointed with them. McCain is the poison that makes you sick, but doesn't quite kill you. I also think Palin was picked for no other reason than to capitalize on the women voters disenfranchised by Hillary's defeat. How sexist is that? He should have hired Karl Rove. Karl Rove should be involved in anything involving political strategy. He's one of the best, if not THE best, in the business.

I'll give you all something else to chew on. Nobody reaches out to the Black community politically, Democrats included, because historically, Blacks don't vote.