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Sometimes 140 characters just won't cut it so I started writing stuff down....here. Don't get me wrong, I love Twitter but there are times when the Random Thoughts of a Southern Liberal Mind just can't be contained within a Tweet.



Friday, October 15, 2010

A Blog from the Past


I recently came across a posting I did on myspace during the late days of the 2008 Presidential Election.  I find it interesting that we seem to be fighting the same battles we were 2 years ago.  The Republicans have done their dead level best to make sure that nothing changes....nothing....nothing.   Read on

Originally posted on October 14, 2008:

I am not embarassed by my strong belief in the ideals of the Democratic party.

I have come to learn (not just believe) that certain news media outlets (Fox News; Limbaugh, Beck, Schnitt, etc..) all scream that the media is full of liberal nuts.  "The media has anointed Obama" – "McCain gets a raw deal" – "Palin is beat up by the 'gotcha' reporting" – "Obama is a Socialist" – "Bush (believe it or not) is not a real conservative".  These are all doctrines contained in the gospel according to the Republican Party.  Fox is simply an outlet for the Republican agenda and far, far from "Fair & Balanced".  Please forgive me if that's the station that you watch but I would recommend turning the channel.  For instance, Wednesday morning CNN was reporting on the differences between the economic stances of the candidates and Fox was replaying Palin's visit to SNL this weekend and actually asked why she and Tina Fey weren't put into a skit together like Amy Poehler & Hillary Clinton were.  Their concern was that Palin was treated fairly - but Clinton was. I was at the gym so I had the luxury of watching both.  I thought "Damn…we have more important things to talk about!"  Now… my opinion about that is…the powers that be, really don't want the staunch Fox watchers to hear about the real issues.  What surprises me is how these folks always seem to carve themselves out of the definition of "the media."   Okay...okay... time to climb off that soapbox.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION:  I do not believe that people who came here illegally should be granted amnesty.  However, I don't know that there's any real solution as to how to round them all up and send them home.  I think one way to cut back on illegal immigration is to punish the employers that give them work.  If people would stop giving them jobs and paying them cheap labor under the table, they might stop coming here in droves.  THIS IS OBAMA'S STANCE.  Although he does talk about amnesty or some sort of temporary stay with worker permits for folks that are already here, he thinks the way to reduce the number of new illegal immigrants is to stop employing them.  Nobody should have to learn a second language like Spanish; however, I think it can't hurt to do so since it is the 2nd most commonly used language in the world.  I've been trying to learn it and I've been encouraging my children to do so too.

ECONOMY:  McCain and the Republican party want you to believe that Obama is a "Socialist" and that his economic plan will do nothing more than to create a welfare state.  Actually, the new line is "tax cut is a code word for welfare".  I see it a little differently.  I see that those who do better in this economy because of the greatness of this country should pay a little more in taxes to give back to the same society in which they've risen up.  No one should be given a free ride but those that have the ability to contribute should and should be proud to do their civic duty.  Trust me, no one is going to come to my house, take my stuff and give it to the sloth down the street under an Obama Administration.  But that is what McCain wants you to believe.    The Republican party wants all of us to believe that we are one of them.  WE ARE NOT one of them.  Did you know that the outfit that Cindy McCain wore on the night McCain gave his acceptance speech at the DNC cost twice as much as my house?  How can they begin to know what we go through every month trying to make ends meet?   I see that the Bush economic plan he put into place starting in his first 100 days in office (where he was reversing all that Clinton did), was the reckless spending of a spoiled rotten rich kid.  He gave the masses a couple of checks but gave away the country to big business.  When he did, he completely reversed a budget surplus into a record deficit.  Did you know that the war funding was not even included in his annual budgets until his latest one for fiscal year 2009?  So…all the billions and billions being spent in Iraq aren't even considered in the budget deficit each year.  I've been amazed at how money is found to fund an unnecessary war but social programs for our own citizens like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, School programs is taboo.   I know Bush isn't running for re-election.  But trust me…McCain has been right there with him during this last term and his ideas on the economy are no different from Bush.   McCain wants to cut funding (and benefits) to Medicare and Medicaid.  He still supports privatizing Social Security so it can be invested in the stock market.  Has he been watching the stock market over the last 3 weeks?  It's lost over 3,000 points!   Obama wants to increase the $90k ceiling on earnings that are taxed with FICA so that the higher wage earners bear a share in Social Security funding in order to shore it up so it will be there for me and you and everyone else we know.   The current Administration is in the process of Socializing this country as we speak.  You shouldn't worry that Obama is gonna do it.  It's being done already!  The government is taking over big business debts.  What's that?  Capitalism?

HOUSING CRISIS:  There are rumors out there that Obama was at the heart of this housing crisis because of his association with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  These rumors are just that….rumors.  In fact, I've gotten information that McCain's campaign manager was actually a lobbyist for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  This crisis didn't start with the Clinton policies or Jimmy Carter's policies like Limbaugh and others want you to believe.  Bush pushed through an initiative at FHA/HUD that allowed for zero down payment, zero documentation loans in the year 2004.  It was his iniative.  It was never voted on by Congress.  It was, however, adopted by FHA/HUD without that vital Congressional review.  It seems to me that most of the foreclosures are coming from ARMs that re-adjusted interest rates and payments after the initial 3 years – with folks that put nothing or little down that couldn't afford the loan in the first place.   Coincidence?   Probably not.

My last pitch today (I have many, many more):  The single most independent presidential decision that either of these folks will ever make is to choose their running mate – the one person they trust most to take over as President in the event of their death.  This decision is theirs alone -no Congressional confirmation hearings.   Although I would have liked to have seen Clinton on the ticket, Obama made a strong choice to shore up his weakness (foreign policy).  Joe Biden is one of the good guys – no doubt.   I feel that McCain absolutely squandered his decision.  Palin might be a pretty face but that is all this woman brings to the table.  If he wanted to trump Obama's post-convention bump in the polls, he would have been better served with Kay Bailey Hutchinson from Texas.  Palin is a scary person.  She is anti-abortion even in the case of rape or incest.  Now…how is that pro-life?  Does that give dignity to the poor victim of rape or incest?  Come on!  That's just inhumane.  She believes that the VP is in charge of Congress (the House and the Senate) and not just a tie-breaking vote.  She knows very little about domestic policy and she knows nothing of foreign policy.  She is incompetent, inconsistent, dangerous and completely out of her league.  This was McCain's most presidential decision and he was reckless with it.  That one thing is enough for me to be scared of how he'll run this country.  He's already run his campaign into the ground.

Believe me when I say that I listen to both sides of the issues.  I spend way way more time than I should reading, watching, listening.  I actually listen to more conservative talk radio than I do anything else, then I research what I hear.   Most of the time, the things that are being talked about on conservative talk radio is just crap and rumor mongering and very rarely backed up by the documents or proof.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so right, Amy :-) It's 'vu ja de' (We've seen this crap before!) We need more people like you who aren't afraid to tell it like it is and who have the intelligence to stick to researched facts instead of resorting to fear-mongering.

SouthernIndependent said...

I seen you for the first time on Twitter,I have read your blog and find it entertaining at because of the veiws on what Obama is and is not, how you aim so much energy at McCain, I didn't care for him myself, but Obama is NO savior for this country ,....proven in his acts of defiance against the majority of the country that do not like his forcing his True Beliefs on the people, I have many Demacratic friends and I Love to listen to there supposed Facts as you on how people, Like myself should have to share my earnings and hard work with those that want to lie down and declare they were not given a fare chance at life and want to be taken care of because it is easier than doing it for their Self ! The economist that you sight are Left and the republicans ones are right, they are all correct in there own minds, I wish people like you could get together with people like me and meet in the middle instead of just ranting about how bad things are and yet not offering real solutions to comprimise and take care of EVERYONE! I personally am a Independent, conservative yes, but at least willing to look at both sides and try and undivide the Divided of this Great Nation ! Fellow Southener, Tn

AKBolt said...

Dear SouthernIndependent - Thanks for posting a comment but did you notice that this post was a "Blog from the Past"? I found it interesting when I re-read it recently in the context of how we are arguing over the same things we were arguing over 2 years ago - that nothing changes. I said nothing about Obama being a savior but I did say that he wasn't being given a fair shake by the right. Vile things have been said about our President - made up things -all out lies. Are those things done by the left? No. Are those things done to "unite" or "undivide the Divided of this Great Nation". No again. These lies and misinformation that is spread by the right wing political pundits is meant to keep us divided. Trust me...we all share similar beliefs but we have to stop buying into the image that the Talking Heads are painting about America. You can thank Karl Rove and his "politics of personal ridicule" for the divisiveness that pervades our society now.

Just to clarify, I didn't say anything about sharing my (or your) earnings and hard work with those that lie around and do nothing. What I did say was this:

"I see that those who do better in this economy because of the greatness of this country should pay a little more in taxes to give back to the same society in which they've risen up. No one should be given a free ride but those that have the ability to contribute should and should be proud to do their civic duty. Trust me, no one is going to come to my house, take my stuff and give it to the sloth down the street under an Obama Administration."

Are you in the top 2% of wage earners in this country? Probably not....neither am I...but I do work hard every day for every thing that I have. Has anyone come for your stuff yet? Nope? I didn't think so.

Now...call me wrong - but I absolutely do not believe that any American citizen who is working but is still earning at the poverty level or less, should be asked to pay as much in taxes as someone who makes $50/hr or $100/hr or $10,000/hr. The Bible teaches us to help those that are less fortunate. Don't you recall the "What you do for the least of you...you do for me" passage credited to Jesus?

Should we really just let our own citizens (God's children)starve, sleep in the streets, die without health services or medication while we sleep warmly in our beds with our bellies full? What about their children? It's not their fault, is it? We look at TV and feel sorry for the people in other countries that are suffering from poverty & starvation yet we say "to each his own" in our own towns and cities? Come on now - that's just not right, is it?

This country is only as strong as it's weakest link.