Politics
Obama-Con
This is hilarious:
Barack Obama’s campaign was actually just a Nigerian scam: he’s just left the country with $85 million, originally raised for his presidential campaign
Mark Foley Speaks Out
Former Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) is finally speaking publicly about the scandal that led to his resignation (he had inappropriate messaging forays with underage male interns). He’s seeking your sympathy, pointing to a tumultuous childhood:
“I loved my early life, and then along comes a priest … who forces me into a sexual relationship at the age of 12. And right shortly thereafter, I fail eighth grade, I start drugs, I start drinking, I start smoking,” he said. “Then I joined the Congress.”
Comedy Central: The Biggest Loser
The biggest loser in Barack Obama’s victory last week is not John McCain.
Undoubtedly, it’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They’ve had a veritable comedy goldmine in George W. Bush, and now that he’s being replaced by a savvy, competent, and intelligent man, they’ll be at a loss for comedic material.
McCain Gets Hammered At Local VFW
PHOENIX—After conceding defeat in the 2008 presidential election, former Republican candidate John McCain reportedly got completely hammered Tuesday night at the Veterans of Foreign Wars bar in Phoenix. “I saw this old guy just kind of slumped over his drink for a couple hours before I realized who it was,” bartender Rob Dubbin said of the former Navy officer, who sources confirmed arrived at the VFW community tavern around 9 p.m. wearing his lieutenant commander’s jacket and cap. “He must have had about eight or nine boilermakers in all. I heard him muttering something about ‘Pennsylvania,’
Slaughter
If you’re a McCain supporter (I supported McCain in 2000 — I feel your pain), prepare for a slaughter tomorrow. He may win Florida, but it will be an electoral landslide.
Nothing you can do (well, except for vote, but that won’t do much).
I declined an invite to a McCain election party, deciding instead to attend an Obama election party because I don’t want to find myself amongst a bunch of depressed people.
Disagreement, Kudos
Courtney: who did you vote for
Cameron: Dave Reichert
Courtney: …for president.
Cameron: Barack Obama.
Courtney: ahh
i thought you were conservative?
Cameron: I am
he’s going to lower taxes
Courtney: not that it matters…i know plenty of conservatives who did [vote for Obama]
[...]
Courtney: yeah…it was a tough choice..i went with mcain tho….
Cameron: that’s too bad.
Courtney: it didnt sound like [Obama] was gonna [lower taxes]..but i dont know much about economics anyway
Cameron: well, you should [know about economics/Obama's tax cut]
Obama’s lowering taxes for 95% of Americans, the only people who will pay more are large and medium-sized businesses and the highest income earners.
anyways, economics are the laws that govern our society’s distribution of wealth and how we’re compensated for our contributions to society
politics have some effect, but economics rule
Courtney: i took some econ classes…
[...]
well…i care more about other things..but yeah:)
Cameron: like what?
Courtney: social issues; but you have a point..presidents don’t often affect social issues
Cameron: and they never will, in this country
we live in a country that won’t restrict us in that way
we’re about freedom
so why do you vote [based on social-restriction issues]?
Courtney: idk…..
[..]
obama just made me nervous…not enough experience…
Cameron: anyways
i’m glad you voted
kudos
Novak: Dem’s won’t have filibuster-proof majority
Great news:
Robert Novak says Dems will fall short of a filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate.
Did I mention you should vote for Obama for President, and Centrist-Republican candidates for Congress?
For instance, I’m voting for Dave Reichert (R-WA) for the house seat in my district, because he’s pretty independent-minded.
Having a Dem controlled White House and Congress would surely be a disaster.
Adam Smith on Taxing the Rich
“The necessaries of life [are] the great expense of the poor. . . . The luxuries and vanities of life [are] the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. . . . It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.”
Via The Big Picture.
Turncoat
Me: DUDE.
(avid FOXNews watcher) John Grenowski* is now officially voting ‘BAMA!
Mr. Smith: NO WAY
Me: AND he watches more soccer than you, the ****ing Brit!
Mr. Smith: LETS GO POST ON HIS FACE BOOK WALL
OMG
WE’RE GOING TO DESTROY HIS WALL!
GO GO GO
Me: no, don’t make fun of him
he needs to feel secure in his brand new, warm, socialist-liberal turncoat
Mr. Smith: oh ok
damn.
that is awesome tho
Me: haha i know
All it took was me telling him ‘Bama would lower his taxes, support nuclear energy, and drill for oil EVERYWHERE
even in his backyard.
Mr. Smith: HEYA!!!
NU-CLAIR
lol has he told his parents?
he might as well tell them hes gay too, cause they’ll disown him either way
Me: …I don’t think he’s told them
Sent at 10:31 AM on Thursday
Which team would you hire?
This funny little piece of Democrat propaganda is making its rounds to email boxes everywhere (I especially love the dig on Cindy McCain’s prescription-drug addiction!):
What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said ‘I do’ to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
What if Obama were a member of the Keating-5?
You’re the boss in charge of hiring…the following resumés/C.V.s come to your desk:
Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
VS.
McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism
Now, which team would you hire?
Bar Stool Economics
Thanks, Jason.
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.
“Since you are all such good customers”, he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20″. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his “fair share?”
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, “but he got $10!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”
“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia
This is of course a light hearted way to poke fun at “the system”, but still yet an interesting look at the North American tax system. It also observes how we can sometimes get caught up in our own worlds such that we lose sight of the forest through the trees.
Obama vs. McCain: Branding
Meron: If America was a brand and you were the brand manager for a big company, who would you want to represent your product, Obama or McCain?
Cameron: Obama, def.
Cameron: You want your brand to be near death? Didn’t think so.
Pensions: McCain vs. Obama
A president’s pension currently is $191,300 per year, until he is 80 years old.
Assuming the next president lives to age 80:
Sen. McCain would receive ZERO pension as he would reach 80 at the end of two terms as president.
Sen. Obama would be retired for 26 years after two terms and would receive $4,973,800 in pension.
Therefore it would certainly make economic sense to elect McCain in November.
How’s that for non-partisan thinking?
Obama Video: Reparations, etc.
This is short propaganda video that fails just about all objective tests as to validity of its arguments:
For instance, the video’s editor says that Obama favors legislated reparations for black Americans, when in fact Obama only shot down the possibility of judicial-led reparations, and doesn’t favor reparations at all.
It’s some pretty funny propaganda. I’ve seen a lot of this type of stuff this election cycle, and I think there’s a lot more to come. I think these viral YouTube videos are going to be more and more influential to voters in the years to come.
For Once, Karl Rove Is Right
…in an analysis of the state of the race on Fox News, Karl Rove, the architect of President George W. Bush’s election victories, said Mr Obama now had his biggest lead of the campaign, and was ahead in states with 317 electoral votes, compared with 157 votes for Mr McCain and 270 needed to win the presidency.According to Mr Rove, Mr. Obama was set to capture Ohio, Indiana, Colorado and Virginia. “In order for McCain to win, he’s got a very steep hill to climb,” he said indicating it would be extremely difficult for the Republican to turn round a national deficit of more than six points.
Commenting on reports of tensions between Mr McCain’s advisers and Sarah Palin, Mr Rove added: “This is… not the kind of thing you like to have happening in your campaign. And it’s generally a sign that people are throwing in the towel and thinking that they’re going to lose.”
Voting 2.0
I think voting should take place online, in a secure (well, secure-enough) government portal, where you’d also receive court summons, jury duty, change of address, and tax information. That’s the future.
And I here thought I was transparent about voting. My buddy Kevin is being way more collaborative/P2P about the political process and is taking Voting 2.0 to the next level:
In a Facebook Note (similar to a blog post), Kevin wrote:
So if my ballot was due right now here’s what it would have. However, it’s not due now, so feel free to try and persuade me to vote for someone/thing else until 6pm on election day.
I-985: No
I-1000: Yes
I 1029: Yes
Charter Ammendment 1: Yes
President and Vice President: Barack Obama and Joe Biden
Representative for District 8: Dave Reichert
(note: I applaud him for his choices on these last two.)
He just put it all out there. His voting record is now available; transparent.
Without transparency, there is limited visibility of our peers’ political positions, and that stymies debate.
This voting-sharing could improve all of our decision-making. Within hours of detailing his votes, Kevin received 3 comments/critiques from friends regarding his choices. I think he’ll get more. Perhaps those critiques could lead to more-informed voting. Imagine if he’d voted wrong on something. Now, as his friend, you can just catch the error and tell him why he should change his vote!
This is way more revolutionary than it seems.
ALERT: US CHOPPERS ATTACK SYRIAN VILLAGE!
Witnesses: US helicopters attack Syrian village - AP
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria’s state-run television and witnesses say U.S. military helicopters have attacked an area along the country’s border with Iraq, causing casualties.
The report quoted unnamed Syrian officials and said the area is near the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal.
Residents reported two helicopters carrying U.S. soldiers raiding a village, Hwijeh, 10 miles inside Syria’s border, killing seven people and wounding five.
Democratic Takeover
A Democratic party in control of the House, Senate, and White House is one of the scariest situations America could ever face.
ALBUQUERQUE (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee John McCain , trailing in the polls, raised the prospect on Saturday of a complete Democratic takeover of Washington as a reason to elect him over Democrat Barack Obama in 10 days.
McCain, struggling to defend New Mexico and other Western states that typically vote Republican from going to Obama on November 4, used the argument to try to change a gloomy election picture.
The potential Democratic takeover shouldn’t sway you to do what McCain says (vote for him to bring balance to Washington). Instead, I think you should consider voting for centrist conservative candidates for the Senate and the House to effectively check President Obama’s power.
One of our country’s founding principles is the separation of powers. As it turns out, there is something you can do to help affirm it!
Going Negative
John McCain’s campaign has been increasingly negative in the past month, as he’s attempted to score some direct hits on his opponents and improve his position in the polls (he’s down by roughly 8 points nationally). McCain’s attacks have generated some news flow, but haven’t won him any voters as measured by the polls, which strongly favor Obama.
The McCain campaign is like the drunk girl who tries to make out with you — they’re trying way too hard, and it’s so apparent to onlookers that they’re really just embarrassing themselves. When you try too hard to court someone, you yourself become undesirable.
This is unimaginable coming from John McCain. He’s an American hero who has fought mercilessly to reform Washington, D.C. He has had my strongest respect for a decade.
How has he allowed himself to be associated with a campaign that stoops this low?
Biden Interview
An excellent example of framing the debate; framing questions and responses so as to put in question the interviewee before they can even answer (Biden performs admirably and soundly defeated the inquisitive conservative interviewer):
GREAT NEWS (If you love Michael Bloomberg)
This is awesome.
I, for one, welcome our new Bloomberg overlord.
More Biden Conjecture
I’m not the only one alarmed by Joe Biden’s wacko scaremongering last week (warning us of a a major international crisis generated solely to test Barack Obama, early in his first term):
A “generated crisis”? By whom? Moscow? Beijing? Tehran?
This is an astonishing statement from a chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee who has access to the same intelligence as George Bush. Joe was warning of a crisis like the Berlin Wall of July 1961, where JFK called for a tripling of the draft and ordered a call-up of reserves, or the missile crisis where U.S. pilots like John McCain were minutes away from bombing nuclear missile sites in Cuba and killing the Russians manning them.
Is Russia about to move on the Crimea? Is Israel about to launch air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites? What is Joe talking about?
If one assumes Joe is a serious man, we have a right to know.
McCain supporter (not) attacked
If supporting the McCain ticket wasn’t painful enough (just look at the polls), now supporters are reporting being attacked by thieves and having the letter ‘B’ (Barack?) carved into their face.
Classy.
But the attacker got it all wrong…if anything, he should be attacking Nader supporters.
(For the record, I wish the perpetrator a horrible death.)
EDIT: Her account was a fake. She faked the whole thing. LINK
San Francisco weighs decriminalizing prostitution
Doing so would save the city $11M/year, and possibly increase tax revenue because prostitutes would have to file tax returns on their earnings.
Is it a good idea? It makes financial sense, at least.
Does Joe Biden Want To Invade Iran?
Joe Biden has said that the world will test newly-elected President Barack Obama with an international crisis within six months of taking office. “Mark my words,” Biden told donors at a Seattle fund-raiser Sunday night. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. [...] Watch. We’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy. [...] And he’s going to need help . . . to stand with him. Because it’s not going to be apparent initially; it’s not going to be apparent that we’re right.”
Biden is quite familiar with international politics, and to be certain enough as to make a comment on the record about this means that he knows precisely what is going to happen.
Does Joe Biden intend to invade Iran?
It makes sense. It fits in with his comments at the Seattle fundraiser. Also, when Israel asked Bush if they could pre-emptively attack Iran, the United States denied their request as well as any assistance for such a mission. Both Israel and the United States have said that they will not allow Tehran to go nuclear. Because the US denied Israel the opportunity, does that mean the United States is going to do it themselves?
What do you think?
JOE D’OH PUTS O IN ‘CRISIS’ MODE - NYPost
UPDATE: Biden now says that he was only referring to the fact that every president is challenged, and the Barack Obama is better prepared to face it than John McCain. He denies having any specific intelligence on a specific national security threat.
Newt Gingrich Quote
“The Declaration of Independence says we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among with are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Notice [that] unlike the welfare state it doesn’t guarantee happiness, it doesn’t offer happiness stamps, it doesn’t suggest the government should pay therapy for those who have not yet found happiness.”
Newt Gingrich
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