Friday, September 26, 2008

Presidential Debates

Intense feelings of uncertainty have gripped me lately, as I'm sure, most Americans as well. This is an uprecedented period in the history of this country and we are literally at the edge of a precipice. The problem is this fear or "crisis" we are told is in need of being "dealt with" by Washington is nothing more than smoke and mirrors for a huge takeover of Wall Street by the Fed. Total support of the reckless behavior of the past 9 years is being advocated by rewarding unscrupulous and totally immoral actions on the part of the supposed biggest financial players. We are on the cusp of conversion to total and complete facism.

With this in mind, I was hopeful that perhaps the candidates in tonights presidential debate could offer some glimmer of hope. (BTW, my thanks to the EsotericRiddler for posting the entire debate on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jogZ2OU0VX8&feature=user) When Jim Lehrer attempted to get a straight answer from the candidates on where they stood on the bailout proposal, Obama responded with, he wasn't sure of all the details yet! Senator McCain responded with something similar, causing me to yell at the screen, "What the he** are you doing even talking without having read the legislation and given some thought to it." How are we discussing a plan that hasn't been reviewed yet?!? We can't allow the president to dictate what congress does through "Emergency" legislation. The problem is, Bushco and company are hoping this continues to be the case. Just like the comPatriot Act, the intention is to push the legislation quickly through congress, carried by a wave of fear leading all to believe that any voice of dissent will be unpopular. I sure wish we had more dissent related to this administration, let alone this legislation. Where's the outrage? This is something that is being pushed down our throats by Bushco (should be called Cheneyco or NWOco) according to the formula so well perfected by this administration. Just like Bush couldn't get the fool me once, shame on you quote correct...apparently this congress doesn't get it either.

Since I'm on this topic, I got the most hilarious e-mail from an acquaintence at work yesterday...I'll quote it here in it's entirety since it was so good,

"I got this in my inbox this morning. You think it's a scam?

Dear Steve, 

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude. I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America . My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion USD. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you. I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who (God willing) will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a former U.S. congressional leader and the architect of the PALIN / McCain Financial Doctrine, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. As such, you can be assured that this transaction is 100% safe. This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred. Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully, Minister of Treasury Paulson"

I actually had to read it a couple of times before I got the joke. It's a total parody of our current financial legislation proposal in the form of a Nigerian money spam.

Anyway, I'll continue with the debate...

McCain says we were all warned this trainwreck was coming...What?!? you saw it coming, but continued to allow it to happen. I, for one, am outraged. In my opinion, everyone has got to go! Nobody in Washington represents Main St. interests any more, they just continue to give lip service, but go on with the same old politics representing only the wealthy elite. Who represents me any more?

McCain said the Republicans came to change washington and washington changed them?!? What is going to change if you get elected Mr. McCain?! You go from the senate to the white house, what is going to change?!? What guarantee do we have that since Washington has changed you that this is not going to still be the case. I guess this could be why, historically, senators don't win the presidency.

The tax cut discussion is focusing on the wrong thing...instead of talking about how to distribute the tax more fairly, we need to be discussing the white elephant in the room...the spending on these wars, bailouts, etc.

Obama said he will go through bills "line by line" does that mean he is proposing the line item veto? I certainly wouldn't advocate this after suffering through Bushco.

What small business owner is McCain referring to that can move to Ireland...most small business owners can barely afford to do business here...they're not making any money that actually ends up being taxed so nobody's moving to Ireland...Big companies are moving to Dubai. The only way to win them back is not charge any taxes.

Obama's right. The loopholes existing need to be looked at, however we need to be talking about the real problem...the Fed's unilateral restrictions on interest rates and the money supply. We are not in a real fair market economy. It's like politicians are touting the savings in the cost of our brakes on the car of our economy while at the same time saying we need to have an entity created to drive our car around with one foot on the brake at all times.

McCain is advocating increased spending for the military?! I like the idea of a spending freeze hatchet. Stop the spending and give the $ saved back to the American people where it came from. The problem is the haste with which McCain proposed this idea leads me to believe it is not a serious proposal. If he actually sponsored such legislation, I'd really be impressed.

Did McCain actually admit to the fact that we owe China $500 billion?! He chided Ron Paul in the primary debates for trying to highlight this very fact! Amazing.

Torture of prisoners is apparently McCain's ace in the hole issue. I think this is really a major statement on the part of the Republican base on what they want. They want a Bush II who they aren't afraid will be a torturer.

Now they're talking about Iraq and Afghanistan. McCain is touting his meeting with Gen. Petraeus...Only problem is, he doesn't seem to realize what the only answer is you will get when you meet with our military commanders is; we are doing fine, keep sending us what we need.

McCain is proposing a league of democracies? Doesn't that already exist with G8 & the UN? We ought to dismantle the G8 or at least remove the exclusive power of the US and the others.

When talking about energy alternatives...McCain mentions a bridge and all I can think about is trainwreck Palin talking about the bridge to nowhere in the VP debate. I can't wait for that. Hopefully, she'll either drop out or really get her crap together before then. The interview with Katie Couric was a disaster.

The bottom line is; to me, these candidates don't represent a real choice, they represent two sides of the same coin. It's just too bad the coin is a mountain meadow muffin.