Presidential Election Survey Results: Small Business Owners Support McCain over Obama by a Large Margin
Even as new polls suggest Barack Obama is widening his lead over John McCain amongst likely voters, 53% to 45% supporting Obama according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, small business owners surveyed in a MerchantCircle study overwhelmingly support McCain. The survey was conducted from September 25 to October 6 to over 4,300 small business owners in all 50 states. MerchantCircle is the largest online network of local business owners in the nation with 625,000 members.
The surveys were conducted voluntarily from business owners via email. Over 96% of the responders intend to vote in November, although 10% are still unsure which candidate will help small businesses the most.
10 questions were asked, shown below:
Here are some interesting stats from breaking down the results:
- Of those (1602 surveyed) who rated that the current administration has represented the interests of local business as “not well at all”, 75.3% indicate they will vote for Obama, 8.7% McCain, 11% don’t know; and 4.9% other.
- 55% have seen a “Severe” or “Moderate” decline in sales and revenue over the past year; 49.4% of McCain supporters versus 40% for Obama supporters.
- McCain had the largest margin of support from businesses with 21+ employees – 64.7% to Obama’s 27.8%. Businesses that identified themselves as having one employee had the closest margin of difference – 47.9% indicated they would vote for McCain to 42% who would vote for Obama.
For individual state break downs, or special requests for specific data, please email Jennifer Roberts at Support@MerchantCircle.com.
Sincerely, Kevin Community Relations
Labels: American, Main Street, Merchant Circle, MerchantCircle, MerchantCircle.com, Presidential Candidates, Presidential Election, Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain, Small Business Owners
posted by
MerchantCircle Staff
at
10/07/2008 01:20:00 AM
,
146 Comments:
Interesting numbers. What is the date range in which this survey was conducted?
As a small business owner, I am in the McCain camp. However, if the polls are correct, it might be too late. I just don't get it.
Screw McCain. That old fart won't help anyone.
Hey Jason, we conducted this survey from September 25 to October 6.
While I don't know how much McCain will help, I'm CERTAIN that he's a better choice than Obama. I just don't think that Socialism is in the best interests of small businesses (or any business other than government, for that matter).
I don't understand the "Messiah" complex surrounding Obama -- it's actually quite frightening that someone with very little executive experience and a very questionable history (what little that he and his campaign will release) has developed such a following.
Regardless of who wins in November, I think we may all need bumper stickers that say "Where are we going? And why are we in this handbasket?"
McCain is our only hope... Obama is going to pull the troops out of Iraq in 16 months... the terrorist will be planning for that. We'll be back in Iraq within months with more American casualties than were needed. Obama will have us at war with Pakistan by dropping his bombs where he pleases. And when Obama raises taxes... do you really think businesses will eat the loss? NO... they'll start laying off the lower ranking employees making the economy worse!
Palin is one of us... If you really want CHANGE... vote McCain/Palin!
How in the hell is McCain going to help us small business owners when I have yet to hear a plan accept to buy back the bad mortgages. At least Obama is in touch with us. McCain seems very indecisive and he reminds me of a "capital hill cronie"
I just can't believe that business owners would consent to having even MORE of their money sent to Iraq with a McCain/Palin administration. Crazy!
I don't know any small business owner who would vote for McCain.
i don't think a democrat with little experience should be leading a house and senate full of corrupt democrats. someone needs to reign them in.
i believe obama and a democratic legislative branch will lead to more and more government.
heaven help us all.
If I were that ignorant 0f the facts,I would want to remain anonymous also. Look at the facts. One candidate has a history of putting his country before himself, even with great personal suffering. The other has a history of 'me first no matter what, and association with "America haters" for his entire life. Not one major accomplishment in his political career. You decide who would be best for our country.
I almosts did not respond to your survey. There are many who have not and might have selected Obama. These polls are quite a guess. Not sure why you chose to conduct the survey nor how accurate it is.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I think McCain does have a chance! I don't trust the polls or the media's spin on them. What I do know is that a larger percentage of Republicans get out and vote on election day. More Democrats are a lot of hot air and fuss, but when election day comes around they just don't vote! I'm counting on the flaky liberals to forget which day is election day!
I think this is a "fair and balanced" survey. The media tends to "spin" it anyway (for Obama) they can. This makes sense to me. I am pleased with these numbers. I hope McCain can pull this one out! God Bless America!
If you are not doing as well, and you are pleased with deregulation and where the wonderment of McCai n has taken us-We are in deep do-do. Can you really look at Palin and imagine her having a complete sentence or rational self-thought!
i own a small biz which is suffering right now. in a good year i bring in less than $100K. obama will raise taxes only OVER $250K, which will help me greatly.
i'd be happy to repeat this questionaire at the end of october... anyone else?
Nations fall because of moral issues, (Just look at history) The morals of a President, In God we stand, is what will keep our Nation secure and strong..If the president we chose does not abide by the bible to run his nation, woe to us who placed him in there.
Obama's morals, are in the gutter.
To the cowardly anonymous comment about 'screw McCain' : To have no respect for a man who has served his country in the military as McCain has is shameful. His service for over two decades as the Senator from Arizona shows a record of serving our country FIRST and partisan politics much lower on his list of priorities. An apology is due, although I doubt it will come to be... Prove me wrong!
Comparing the two tickets is day and night. McCain/Palin: Country First. Obama/Biden: Their socialist agenda first.
I have tended to vote Republican in the past. I do however consider myself an independent and will vote for the individual I consider the best choice. I am voting wholeheartedly for the Obama/Biden ticket. I don't beleive these numbers and do beleive that Obama will be our next President.
I don't know how Obama (we know what his middle name is) is so high in the polls when most people I talk to say they would not vote for him. He scares me to death!!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
The people who "want" to know, will research the facts and they will choose McCain. Those who want to close there ears, and their brains will choose Obama. It's that simple. Obama hates all that America stands for, and if he is elected it will be the begining of the end of America.
Both Major parties are only addressing the concerns of the wealthiest 2%; the most recent case in point is the passage of the Wall Street bailout (stripped of protections for Main Street).
After years of bashing the American worker for being “fat and over-paid,” these brokers/traders and investors profited during the great American sell-off of our manufacturing base to the communist Chinese (high tech to India; whatever to Mexico; etc.) whose low wage workers do not pay into our tax pie…effectively raising that due from the rest of us…or our children. These selfish profiteers had no compassion for those workers no longer able to support their families or meet their mortgages. These budget cutting/out-sourcing/down-sizing/lay-off kings (and their enabling investors) didn’t shed a tear at the trail of devastation they caused. When the foreclosure crisis gained momentum these crooks showed no compassion, but instead blamed the victims of their predatory lending for buying more home than they could afford...not admitting that at every level from exaggerating the appraisal value and ignoring credit scores, they had pocketed immediate commissions.
Here’s KARMA!! Time for the truly fat and overpaid to reap what they have sewn!
Now that these obscenely over-compensated crooks are in danger of losing their pricey co-ops and summer homes in the Hamptons we are supposed to feel sympathy? Time for these parasites to find honest work! I am outraged at the idea of a bailout that involves more spending on my children's credit card! I am outraged that these proponents of privatization are expecting help from the government they continuously bash as being inefficient. "Privatized profits / Socialized losses???"
Nationalize Fannie and Freddie!!! Rescind the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy before you add a “bailout” to our children’s credit card!!! DON'T bail out gamblers!!! Investigate/prosecute/jail and seize the ill-gotten gains of these crooks!!! This IS the time for finger pointing! This IS the time for the blame game! DON’T throw money at the problem…SOLVE IT!!! Provide a disincentive for future thievery!!!
John Kasbohm
"atelier 564"
The bailout is putting us in a position of socialization and using China's money?
McCain can't tell his story...he just thinks we're all friends and will figure it all out at the kitchen table "after election". Yes, he wants to stay in and win the war, but he has yet to face the facts of our economy here and now.
McCain doesn't have the answer and is using key words to say something he can't back up...."change".
Obama connects with people and answers the question direct. I vote for Obama, so I don't have to figure out dirty politics....he will talk about the issues thoughtfully....Mcain is undoubtebly more of the same and we can't afford the Bush leadership mentality anymore.
i agree Barack Hussein Obama is scary
God help us if Obama is elected. Look to Revelations 13 for the answer. I think McCain will do a good job because of his history in the Congress and Senate, The President can only do what they vote on.
Obama plans to return to the failed policies of high taxation coupled with an expansion of government spending.
Worse, Obama says he is absolutely committed to almost doubling the capital gains rate — something he will easily accomplish with a Democrat Congress.
In the coming months — when investors realize that Obama will raise the cap gains rate — there could be a stampede of asset sales as investors rush to take their profits now to avoid Obama's doubling of the tax rates next year.
All of these issues and more are explored in Newsmax magazine's special report "Obamanomics — the Coming Tax-and-Spend Nightmare," by Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund.
28 years in business. Every 4th election year the economy goes in the dumps. Get used to it you young biz people! Jimmy Carter (D) raised interest to 24%+. Last time I voted Democrat. He also started the ball rolling with Fannie & Freddie. Then Clinton (D) took it further with the '99 Glass Siegel Act and here we are in the biggest mess.
If you want Chicago politics gone wild vote Hussein. You want to save America then Palin/McCain is the only choice!
There used to be a time years ago when I actually respected McCain & would have voted for him, because he was one of the few Republicans that had a mind of his own. During this campaign, he has acquiesced to the party, thereby putting the party first & not the country. Attacking a competitor's record or agenda is one thing, but attacking the person is just low. He seems desperate & when that happens, a person's real feelings come out. He seems to show disdain to the middle class & especially poor people. I can't vote for someone like that. As for Palin, she seems like she wants to take women back several decades & I'm just not for that.
The real Question is why is Obam getting a pass by All voters as to honesty, this guy hasnt explained his use of drugs, his socialistic background, his ability to buy his home in 2005 below the market, his ACORN backing, he hasnt ansered anything, If he were a Republican, the media would have burned him at the stake, Unfortunately the death of the American Spirt is coming, The USA public has decided that they want comfort and socialism and is voting for Obama becasue he will solve all their problems, The America of Our forefathers is dead, we have become a socialistic society where we reward mediocrity, and punish entreprenuership and capitalistic values because of some bad examples, and the democrats who created most of this mess because they believe in entitlement are allowed to walk, we should be punishing, Dodd, Franks Rangel and all those who stole from the American Public, and now we allow voter fraud, this is the death of the spirt of American determination, America is now in decline.
If Obama wins, who the hell will stop the democrats who scrwed up the housing problem to begin with, they created public programs that allowed people to buy homes they couldnt afford, Im white, I work hard and I pay my taxes, who the hell is looking out for me, and now we want to allow people to renegoiate their mortgages? so they save on the principal, when the sell they home, who gets the profit? This is BS,
The American spirt is dead, it has been replaced by the spirt of entitlement, or As Obama says Medical care is a right, Bull Crap, you have to work for it, now we are turning into a socalistic country and look at Europe, their medical care sucks.
To the person who said "If the president we chose does not abide by the bible to run his nation, woe to us who placed him in there."
...being Christian has nothing to do with who should or should not run the country. But, your point is moot, since Obama IS a Christian.
In addition, another moot point is talking about Obama's middle name. It's a name, for cryin' out loud!
To those who say they don't believe the numbers: Believe them. This sample is not representative of the population, it is representative of a small portion of small business owners who have listed their businesses on MerchantCircle and were invited to participate by email invitation.
Rest assured, Obama supporters, we will win! And we'll see the change this country so desperately needs. We need to quit spending billions of dollars on a pointless war; as a small business owner, I, for one, do not want to see any more of my tax dollars being wasted on it.
Palin truly scares me; with McCain's age and health problems, if something were to happen to him, that woman would take over, and can you imagine the direction this country would take? She's an extremist, and I know that many, many people would be unhappy and that Big Oil would reign supreme. Is that what you really want?
Obama wants to bring down Capitalism and life as we know it. Socialism is not the best way to live your life. The government is in every part of your life. Even your bedroom. I am not saying that McCain is the man . He is just the lesser of 2 evils at this point in time.
Hey guys, have you seen this new Sara Palin video? As a Life Long Conservative and Republican
this really bothers me....I can't bring myself to vote for her after seeing this.....am I wrong?
http://tinyurl.com/5gk8ev
I had my doubts about a woman VP but Palin won me over in the recent VP debate. This small business owner looks forward to voting McCain/Palin.
McCain/Palin have nothing left but to try and paint
Obama as a guy who pals around with terrorists.
They dont tell you that Republicans were also
on the board with Ayers and that Obama was 8
years old when Ayers was involved in these activities.
If you really want 4 more years of what we have had to endure, please vote for the old guy and Gov. Avon Lady...give me a break...Just more of the Bush agenda...no matter how much lipstick you put on the pitbull or dead wolves!
How anyone could consider voting for the same party that got us into this mess is beyond me. If that isn't enough to make everyone run away from the Republicans, the idea that Sarah Palin could be president should frighten everyone. She is a combo of Dan Quayle and GW Bush in a skirt. If the stakes weren't so high, I might vote for her just to see the comedy sketches for 4-8 years on SNL. What a joke. McCain -- the "maverick" -- is really an old man who is all out of fresh ideas, and he's betting that Americans are stupid enough to be swayed by an empty-headed beauty queen with an over-active uterus. If you want to save what's left of this country -- and the Constitution -- throw the bums out.
To all those people out there who seem to think Obama is going to help them out. Quite frankly you are either uninformed, blind to the facts or you just do not care -take your pick.
I have been through several democratic administrations and I have yet to experience one that did not: a.) raise my taxes (remember the Johnson administration when we had a "sur tax" on top of our normal taxes? Then there were both the Carter and Clinton administrations - both times my taxes were higher than I now pay.
b.)increase the size of government. Along with the increased size of government came regulations. Since the early 1970s I have witnessed a 10-fold increase in Federal and State regulations. The greatest increases in regulations came in the democratic controlled Congresses and when the White House was occupied by a Democrat.
While I readily admit the Bush administration disappointed me in the expansion of government, the greatest expansion of the size of the bureaucracy came in the democratic administrations of Roosevelt, Kennedy (although by today's standards he was more republican than our present day democrats), Johnson, Carter and Clinton.
If any of you are under the misguided opinion that Obama won't expand the size of government, you do not understand his health care proposal. It is really no different than Hillary Clinton's. Hers took over 1,100 pages of text to describe. I guarantee you that any government run program such as was described in Hillary's health care system will expand the size of government, cost you more money than you ever thought you would have to pay in taxes and cause many existing and would be employers to go out of business.
I happen to have one of those businesses that can not afford any more taxes!!!!!!!!! Neither can I afford the regulations that come with democratic administrations!!!!
Please remember this if you are not concerned about rising taxes and the certainty of expanded government and regulations, can we afford to have a president who, does not tell us the truth about his friends and long term associates? Do we want a president who is ashamed of this country so much that he will not even salute our flag? Or a president who goes to another country during his campaign and appologizes for past American involvement in World War II? Or a president who disdains the time honored traditions of this country, by creating his own "Obama Seal" and flunts it on his airplane during the campaign?
As if the above were not enough, tell me please why Obama is even qualified to be a president? His lack of experience in domestic and foreign affairs should trouble every voter. Give me a break! Name one legislative accomplishment the guy has achieved through his own efforts in either the Illinois Senate or the U.S. Senate. I will save you the trouble of doing your own research. There aren't any! As for executive experience, there is none of that either!
While McCain is not my ideal candidate, at least he has a record of accomplishments in Congress and he is a man of moral principal who does not have long standing alliances with avowed terrorists. Just as important he does not have a socialistic agenda like his counter part.
I am sorry for all you Obama supporters, but this one American who is not willing to trade the freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution for a socialistic welfare state! If you think I am kidding about what is coming with an Obama led administration, you have your head in the sand.
William Palmer
Anonymous, I live in the most liberal section of Albuquerque. In 2004, I thought Kerry would win NM by 2% or so. Boy was I wrong!
People tend to understand the world through the lens of whatever is most familiar. I live among mostly Democratic neighbors, so even with a relatively sophisticated understanding of NM politics, I unconsciously assumed that my state would vote more like my part of town.
I perceive that people are fed up with 8 years (or to be fair, the last 4 years) of Republican rule. The economy is in a shambles, which always works in the Democrats' favor. I could talk about the relative merits of the candidates, but what's the point?
The playing field is strongly tilted the Democrats' way. Bill Clinton won his first term in an economic downturn. Barack Obama seems likely to win big in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
It's difficult to interpret a poll without demographic information like age, gender, party identification, and so forth. I'd be shocked if the population of small business owners surveyed mirrors the general population, but how different is it? The answers could be interesting!
John McCain, thank you for your service but you left your best in Viet Nam. You have compromised everything you stated you believed in. I cannot believe your pandering. As for your choice of VP, she claims to love America but her husband is a charter member of an 'Alaska is it's own country' group. She practiced choice when having her baby, but denies the right of that choice to others. Mussolini said that fascism is government by corporation. Well, duh', what do we have now? If your net worth is less than $25 million, there is no logical reason to vote republican. That party does not even exist any more. It has been taken over by those that are so far to the right, that they are left. Obama may not be the next Lincoln or T Roosevelt, but he is light years ahead of McCain. His VP candidate can actually put 2 coherent sentences together and knows that just because you can see another country 'on a clear day', that doesn't make them our friend. Vote with an open mind and ignore the gutter politics. Remember how things were before Bush took over. 9-11, Katrina, Ike (a few years later and not improved at all), not to mention Iraq. We wouldn't be faced with withdrawal if he hadn't illegally gone there in the first place. I could go on but I doubt that this diatribe will change anyone's mind. Thanks for letting me vent.
I was just talking to someone about the fact that small business owners seem to think that the Republicans "have their back" when the Democrats have always supported their best interest.
How in the hell can someone with the moniker "Debt Reduction" say that "as a small business owner, I am in the McCain camp." John McCain is going to raise your taxes you idiot!! Obama is not a socialist, he is much closer to being a centrist.
If John McCain and Sarah Palin get elected, there is a very good chance from the idiotic things that they say, that they will start world war III!!! McCain has danced and sung, "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran."
Well, Mr. Idiot, maybe you don't understand that Iran is about 10 times more powerful than Iraq, and they will set the middle east on fire, if you do this!! All they want is to have some say in what goes down around them. Kind of like we would if Russia had invaded Mexico.
Then, we have Sarah Palin accusing Barack Obama of associating with terrorists, while her husband has spent major time hanging out with, and donating money to a major terrorist who would like to use violent means to help Alaska secede from the United States.
How can you think that someone like John McCain, who will continue to support Bush's policies that have gotten us into this mess will actually help you as a small business owner?? I notice from the percentage of opinions from the respondents, that a huge number of you suffer from racist underpinnings, which is probably why the overwhelming majority of you poll for that crackpot, McCain. This country will go down the tubes if he is elected. He has admitted that he doesn't have a clue about the economy, and I don't know why anyone would trust someone who suffered 5 years of psychological damage in a vietnamese prison.
YIKES! It astounds me that people would really think that 4 more years of Republicans running the show could help ANYONE - including small business owners.
Has everyone forgotten that even with the foolishness of the preoccupation with previous President's Peccadillo - we USED to have "money in the bank."
NOW we have an obscenely escalating debt that compounds daily - and they keep coming back asking the taxpayers for MORE.
We all need to pull together and take back our government, get active, do our part by staying informed at a deeper level than just being able to repeat 'sound-bytes' from the network news stations.
McCain & Palin are part of the team that got us in this mess - no matter their claim that they'll be different. There's no clear plan there, except that invading another country looks like a good idea. Puh-leez!
Senators Obama & Biden are also part of the team that got us in this mess, but at least they are on the 'other side of the aisle' - I can't see that (to quote another Bush) "staying the course" is going to do ANY of us any good.
And really, God Bless us all!
Obama is this new hitler. He wants to nationalize all the large companies, socialize all services, take away free speech, control the voting, gins up crowds by not saying anything, and god forbid if you criticizes him, then storm troopers come in to file law suites or have you 'investigated'
Thought I would leave a message to those of you who are so blind and can't see through McCain and Palin. My opinion, "Democrats" are not "full of hot air nor fuss"...plain people are such as the one who used the term!! For you to say that was just stupid. And the thought those who said Obama scares them...is that because you are scared of the person his parents made him to be(black), scared because he has not ran away from difficult questions, but stood tall and answered them fully and sensibly? McCain beats around the "bush" and never gets to the point. And because of a person's name that his mother named him you judge him? What an excuse! I guess all names like Becky, Sue, and Jane are drug addicts, and Bill, Harold, and Tom are drunks & womanizers...No they're not! You are judging because you are a prejudice %(*^##$ and you can't stand the fact of a black senator becoming president. It was the "Republicans" who brought us in this mess of 8 years in the first place. Vote for Bush & Chaney they say...now look at us. The two biggest crooks in the world!! People are dying everyday for something that did not have anything to do with us. Oh yeah, I said it! I have seen proof regarding how Bush and Republicans messed up and trying to put it on 911 and everyone else, they probably hired the foreigners to commit suicide and commit those horrendous acts...these are things they don't want you to know people! There is no apology needed for McCain, who snudged the shoulder of Obama whether he meant it or not. Obama was trying to be the better person and reach out to shake McCain's sorry old hand and his hag of a wife. Even though they are on separate sides after the same position, Obama stay to what's important (a positive campaign). Much respect to all of those who served our country...my grandfather and father did! That doesn't mean that they should've been president. McCain, nor Palin has stated real answers to IMPORTANT questions. Obama has stuck to the positive part of campaigning, not forgetting about the people of the US. Instead, McCain/Palin has torn this campaign into negativity, worried about how Obama is making them look bad. He doesn't have to try hard cause they are doing a damn good job of it themselves! Bill Clinton didn't have experience and yes, he messed up in his own house-not ours! Thing is he got this country on its feet and out of debt with no war, and there were jobs and cheap gas!!!!!! What can you say about the other side? War is number one with them and they are the one's with the thinking of "Me first no matter what being the American haters" they are acting to be by allowing this hell hole to be as bad as it is. Believe what you want. Sounds like the original "hot air & fuss" to me. How do you think another Republican is going to change anything that is going on now? We will be in this same situation we are now and still complaining about this same problems. Republicans don't want to admit it, but they have screwed this country up and taking everyone down with it. That's what scares me! The only "change" we will see is a new, old face if McCain gets in. I hope Barak gets it and show you all a thing or two. He is smart, intellectual, and knows what he is talking about...more than who's in there now! Listen to the facts from Obama, not the negative crap they are trying to pull on Barak...drugs? Give me a break! See, listening to a Republican. Which that is all the "hot air and fuss" McCain & Palin can come up with because they are mad and steering you away from facts with their dirty,smartalic comments. You should think about the way you are voting and the result you want this country to end up. Change just the face of Washington or change the person who is actually going to make a BIG difference for the good for everyone! You are right by saying "God help us all!" we will need it and more if another Republican stays in office. You have the right to your opinion and I have mine. That's my story and I am sticking to it!
I was actually very surprised when I saw the results. Especially since the poll was taken among small business owners.
Actually, I guess it depends on how "small" your small business is. The way I understand it from the debates, News Headlines, Time Magizine, Newsweek Magizine, and other sources...including John McCain's Website,any small business that earns a GROSS of $250,000.00 per year will be VERY HEAVILY TAXED, but not as bad as the small businesses that don't earn a GROSS of $250,000.00. Under Obama's plan, taxs would BEGIN after a small business has earned $250,000.00 NET profits in each year. Something is terribly wrong when small business is in favor of a man who is a PROOVEN LIAR or is SENILE. John McCain accused Barack Obama of being TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE for the gasoline crises 2 weeks after he said "NO ONE MAN COULD BE RESPONSIBLE". The rise in the cost of fuel took 30 years for the major oil companies to acheive it. Was this a lie or senility? The Presidency is the MOST6 STRESSFUL JOB in the entire world according to CNNN News yet you folks favor a man with a bad heart over one with a GREAT one. WHY? Resources tell me Todd Palin made EVERY MAJOR DECISION WHILE SAHA PALIN WAS THE GOVONOR OF ALASKA, and the authorities are awaiting the test results of his DNA before they file incest and child molestation charges against him. This means that Sara Palin will not have Todd to make the decisions for her, although she can fish and hunt quite well. Perhaps the ONLY DECISIONS she will have ANY experience in are Fish and Game during the next four years.
Does John McCain have any plans WHATSOEVER when it comes to Forign Relations? Have you heard him SAY SO IN ANY DEBATE OR SPEECH? NO! The ONLY logical answer is that he doesn't have ANY PLANS at all, and just intends to use the same stratagies that haven't worked for the past 8 years. If, according to John Mc Cain HIMSELF, he voted WITH now President George Bush 90% to 95% of the time, does this mean that the actual probability of change is 5% to 10%? Do we need to go into a FULL-DEPRESSION before people will see the right man is NOT John McCain?
It just amazes me that people are blaming PRESIDENT BUSH for all of this.
I would like to see just one of you step into that mans shoes and do his job for the last 8 years.
We have been bombed on our own soil and THOUSANDS of people died.
We have had massive hurricanes that have destroyed much of the south.
And lets not forget.
WE HAVE HAD A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS FOR THE LAST 4 YEARS!
NOW LETS BE HONEST WHO IS RUNNING THE SHOW 1 MAN AS PRESIDENT OR A BUNCH OF THIVES CALLED CONGRESS.
I would rather take my chances on John McCain than a man who constantly says my personal life is none of your business & I don't have to disclose anything to the media.
This is what I don't understand... why would you support McCain when he is for big business?? What is he going to do for you? It is a little frightening to read these blogs and see why people are voting for certain candidates. I have heard decisive action from Obama and nothing from the Republican side. I consider myself as an independent, but in this election, there is a clear winner. If this was the McCain of 2000, crossing the isle and fighting for the people, then this would be a harder decision for me. He has swung so far to the right, he has lost his "Maverick." I have much respect for him but as a senator, not a president. The only people on this merchant circle that should vote for McCain is 250,000 or higher in revenue (and good for you if you if this is the case). If not, the middle class working people will be screwed again (as usual) with McCain. My opinion only... the best thing is to vote on what's right for you.
I'm baffled that in these strange, turbulent times, ANYONE believes a 1st term senator with few accomplishments besides some good speeches has the knowledge to run the United States of America. I ask that you just THINK about this. Would any serious company hire Obama over McCain based solely on experience? Nope.
What is considered equal rights will be more unequal when and if Obama is elected.
I used to be a Republican, I used to believe my party stood for something.
Now I know it's been taken over by neo-Fascist and Zealots that have so twisted my country over the past 8 yrs.that instead of talking about the economy and the war and health care this presidential candidate is wasting our time trying to incite racial and religious fears.
The problem is Obama will not be 'Swift-Boated' no matter how hard these swastika wearing racial profiling bigots try to make him into some so called anti-Christ with an Islamic jihad agenda.
McPalin is full of the things I not only disavow but fear in the Republican party now.
Used to be Republican meant 'freedom of choice', less govt, independence, pride of country and business.
Today Republican means, my choice or no choice, less govt FOR THOSE RICH ENOUGH TO AFFORD IT...and most importantly pride of WEALTH and a TOTAL lack of care for the small businesses that made AMERICA GREAT.
To the Washington Repubs of Bush & Cheney all that MATTERED IS MAKING THE WEALTHY WEALTHIER.
I have a degree in Economics and Adam Smith (founder of modern Economics) talked about an invisible hand for the business owner that if yo paid a proper wage and cared for your business it would prosper because you followed the principle of 'enlightened self-interest' what the Washington Repubs did was take out ENLIGHTENED and stick to the self interest and say I don't give a damn about those that make me money it's all about THE MONEY
We'll I'm no bleeding heart Demo but I am voting for Obama because my party is mo longer my party. I believe in God but as a true American I respect every difference in beliefs as well. I respect the capitalistic system we have that has made the USA great but i don't respect those that have bastardised it (I'm taking Wall Street here that forgot it's own primary tenant "there are NO free lunches")and then come crying that they were only reaching out for the American dream. They've perverted the american dream by skipping the most important part
You have to EARN the wealth you achieve. It doen't come by 'magically' creating some get-rich-quick scam or by turning ouver an investment or steping on someone else. You've got to work and care and share or JUST LIKE IN `29 and Now you'll get kicked in the tail
that's for reading sorry for ranting
Chicogator
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
excerpts from...
FINANCIAL TSUNAMI
by F. William Engdahl
"The new act has been described as the financial equivalent of the US Patriot Act, the law that gave the Bush Administration powers in violation of Constitutional safeguards under the climate of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The treasury will have almost unlimited discretionary powers to price and buy distressed mortgage securities, or any other type of securities -The Paulson Treasury will ‘outsource’ most of the management of the $700 billion purchases to the very financial institutions responsible for creating the crisis.
In November 1999, after millions spent lobbying Congress, the New York banks and Wall Street investment banks and insurance companies won a staggering victory. The US Congress voted to repeal that 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. President Bill Clinton proudly signed the repeal act with Sandford Weill, the chairman of Citigroup.
The man whose name is on that repeal bill was Texas Senator Phil Gramm, a devout advocate of ideological free market finance, finance free from any Government fetters.
The repeal allowed commercial banks such as Citigroup, then the largest US bank, to underwrite and trade new financial instruments such as Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and establish so-called structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, that bought those securities. Repeal of Glass-Steagall after 1999, in short, enabled the Securitization revolution so openly praised by Greenspan as the “revolution in finance.” That revolution is today devouring its young.
That securitization process is at the heart of the present Financial Tsunami that is destroying the American credit structure.
Phil Gramm, the original sponsor of the Glass-Steagall repeal bill that bears his name, went on to become the chief economic adviser to John McCain.
John McCain decided to boost his flagging Presidential campaign by trying to profile himself as a ‘political Maverick’ one who opposes the powerful Washington vested interests. He flew into Washington days before the Paulson Plan was to be approved by a panicked Congress and conspired with a handful of influential Republican Senate friends, including Banking Committee ranking member, Senator Shelby, to oppose the Paulson plan. What emerged, with McCain’s backing, was a political power play that may well have brought the United States financial system to its knees, and McCain’s Presidential hopes with it.
Power and greed are the only visible juice driving the decision-makers in Washington today. Acting in the long-range US national interest seems to have gotten lost in the scramble. It is what happens when elected Governments abandon their public trust or responsibility to a cabal of private financial interests. It will be interesting to see if anyone in Washington realizes that lesson.
It's the Republicans who are the Socialists. Look at the FACTS. The private sector is being bought by the government. That's socialism and McCain/Palin are behind it. As a business owner, I wouldn't trust Palin to be able to balance my checkbook. I certainly don't want her anywhere near the economy of the US!
I wasn't for Obama until this last debate. I sent him $25 today, in "honor" of this survey.
I live in a very red state, and even my neighbors, more than I'd have imagined, are going with Obama/Biden this time around.
It's time to clean house.
www.wheaterville.com
My God! I cannot believe the hateful reteric in some of these comments on both of these candidates. As a Small Business Owner I come in contact with all varities of people. White, Black, Jewish, Asian, Muslim etc. I am also sure everyone has something in there past we are not proud of. This whole idiology idea that Obama is a terrorist or anit-american is rediculous. It is a smoke screen from McCain/Palin to distract americans from the real issues. Both parties are at fault here, greed and the "me first" attitude in gov't has gotten us where we are. This country has lost it's values and their integrity. McCain said he'd rather win a war and lose an election. Well in my opinion, his dirty, venemous, smear campaign he's running now... He's lost his soul to win an election. We don't a need vindictive, wishy washy old troll leading this country!!
My God! I cannot believe the hateful reteric in some of these comments on both of these candidates. As a Small Business Owner I come in contact with all varities of people. White, Black, Jewish, Asian, Muslim etc. I am also sure everyone has something in there past we are not proud of. This whole idiology idea that Obama is a terrorist or anit-american is rediculous. It is a smoke screen from McCain/Palin to distract americans from the real issues. Both parties are at fault here, greed and the "me first" attitude in gov't has gotten us where we are. This country has lost it's values and their integrity. McCain said he'd rather win a war and lose an election. Well in my opinion, his dirty, venemous, smear campaign he's running now... He's lost his soul to win an election. We don't a need vindictive, wishy washy old troll leading this country!!
LOL - this blog is a trip. I can't believe that we are talking about TWO socialist candidates here and no one wants to admit it. The sad fact is we all have to take responsibility for nominating these morons in the first place. I am marginally in Obama's camp because John McCain has been in Congress for 26 YEARS and hasn't changed a single thing and he believes as President that he will? No way you're going to get any 71 year old to change ANYTHING about themselves or what they believe in. John McCain is a war veteran and wants to stay in Iraq indefinitely to fight for the cause of Democracy - he thinks he's still fighting in Vietnam! He still refers to Russia as the evil empire and he wants to invade Iran. The terrorists are hoping we do this because no country can afford to stabilize their economy and pay more than $10B/month to fund a war! As for a socialist agenda - has anyone actually talked about HOW McCain plans to take care of the housing crisis. They discussed this on CNBC just this week. He wants to take the "fair market" value of your home today vs what it was say 3-5 years ago and then provide the bank who financed your home a credit to relieve the mortgage debt. No one has said whether that will translate into dollars back into people's pockets or whether people who have already had their homes foreclosed upon will have a chance to get their homes back but the banks and investors on Wall Street will definitely benefit. Guess who gets stuck holding the bill in taxes - US! So I'm saying no to McCain as well - his policy alone on how to handle the housing crisis in America is 100x worse than any socialist policy that Obama could present and it will bankrupt this country. Obama has issues of his own but you have to weigh the pros and cons and in this case Obama is the lesser of two evils. McCain is not as moral as his campaign makes him out to be. Why did he choose Pahlin as his running mate because big oil is in his back pocket and the major source of his contributions. The big oil companies don't want to see a greener economy under Obama. As for McCain's defense contractor contributors - yep - they don't want to see us pull out of Iraq either because that's less money in their pockets. Anyone who truly believes that ANY politician on Capitol Hill has morals then I've got some swamp land in Florida to sell you...
You know it so funny that I hear from these comments that the majority is voting for McCain because everyone I speak to is voting for McCain. But I hear from the radio, the tv, the newspaper that Obama is in the lead. Is the media reporting something other then the truth?
I don't trust Obama. I am not thrilled with McCain but I trust him to make better decisions than Obama. At least I know McCain's background. Obama's is veiled. Is he hiding Chicago corruption and socialistic ideals?
Thanks for the interesting survey. Too bad the media is pro-Obama. They're too scared to do this survey!
I am overwhelmed that so many think McCain will help the SMALL BUSINESS when his record and past have indicated he is for the BIG BUSINESS. If he were to die in office a much less experienced person and questionable character would be running the country. I am a life-long Republican, but the last 8 years have been a disgrace to our country and I don't want to see more of it. Let's give someone else a chance. McCain had 26 years in the Senate to make changes, and his record is not that great in our favor.
Frankly, as I read some of these hate-filled and ignorant comment, I'm questioning whether I want to remain affilliated with Merchant Circle. With "comment moderation" on, you may choose to not print this, but I'm hoping that you do.
I am supporting Obama and Biden, proudly. (Frankly, McCain's choice of VP gives me severe doubts about his capability to make wise choices. Political, yes, but not wise.)
Being President is a unique job, and a difficult one. Obama has the intelligence, diplomacy, character, and background to do it.
When Henry Ford couldn't get a carbeurator built a certain way, no matter how many carb experts he hired to study and make it work, he decided to hire a couple of guys who worked in the shop. They had never built a carberuator before, so they started it from scratch, using their knowledge and they built exactly what he needed.
Never in the history of our country has an administration taken away more civil rights, created more debt, or lowered the moral authority of our wonderful country as much as these last 8 years. McCain is more of the same, and Palin is unknown and they're HIDING her from the voters. Does that not make you angry?
Give me back my country.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Everyone should really go view this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaABV1CWXug
If you truly feel educated and impartial, your views should change after this video.
Democrats have a way of viewing reality in a totally different way. For example, they always seem to forget that there is a lag effect seen in the time between when an administration implements their policies, and when we the people, feel the effects. For instance the current financial problems are due to Clinton's policies, and began back in the 90's, how short sided for you to believe that this has happened just within the last 8 years. But you guys are so good at believing the media, and seeing what you want to see instead of impartially searching for facts and evaluating them without your rose colored glasses on. Utopia would be nice, but it is not the reality in which we live, and even if we want to, terrorists don't, never have and never will. We are talking about a culture that has fought amongst themselves for Thousands of years, and you all just want to go have dinner with them and be friends. And god forbid if amongst the canvas of war, some of their innocent citizens get killed, never mind the fact they behead women and children and anyone else who gets in their way, on a regular basis. When I say "them" I do not mean Muslims in general, I refer specifically to the radicals. But the problem with "them" is that they are the dangerous ones, both to us, their own innocents and the innocents of the world.
You guys are the true racists only voting for Obama because he is black, young & "hip", with the misnomer that he is "one if us"? You have got to be kidding, he is SO NOT one of us, and you all are too stupid to know it. What makes him one of us? I will tell you something, JOHN Mccain is ONE OF US because he fought for, and was a prisoner of war for EACH of us, for over 5 YEARS, Barack Hussein Obama II would not pee on you if you were on fire! And to think there are actually idiots out there who can say "Screw McCain. That old fart won't help anyone.", GO BACK TO SLEEP, and make sure you're sleeping on election day, because your type of ignorance does not deserve to vote!! If you really want to know what has caused our financial problems you might want to watch this video linked above, and see just how Innocent your golden boy is. Not to mention everything else that is coming out about him, ie. election fraud, do you Know how involved he has been with Acorn, local, radical terrorists, and on and on, but I guess that really doesn't matter? He is just a puppet with a pretty face, and is great at telling you what you want to hear? But aren't you tired of that YET? And another thing for those of you that think Mccain is a "typical capitol hill cronie", you so don't know what you're talking about! He and Palin are both closer to you and I than anyone that has run in centuries, if ever, she IS "us" for gods sake, and because she hunts, or is pro life, you all are too ignorant to care about them both being truly, genuinely, ethically minded when it comes to doing their job for US! Those 2 are the ones who can and will change things, they WILL shake up Washington if you're tired of the same ole same ole. But Obama's plans are so ignorant, my 11 year old son could come up with better plans then Obama has. Have you ever actually looked at his "plans" that he talks so much about? They say NOTHING, absolutely nothing, and what little they do say, would be impossible to implement in our democratic nation, (maybe a socialist one however) but he's too ignorant and inexperienced to know it! And so are YOU!! If Obama gets in, I hope you are all prepared to live through one of the scariest times in history, and be willing to blame your ignorance for it.
I will wholeheartedly support Obama/Biden on November4. As a small business owner and a thinking voter, there are more than my own interests at stake. We need change in our country and we won't get it with McCain/Palin.
I had liked McCain a few years ago when he did not suport Bush but in the last couple years he's been a clone. Then when he picked Palin it was such an insult to voters that they would essentially be voting for an intelligent Miss America without a clue to the federal government. I'm willing to give Obama a chance. As a small business owner, I think he is looking out for the middle class. I understand that the very rich vote for McCain as that is who he looks out for.
Why doesn't anyone talk about Obama's vote against the ban on infants born alive act? Even those of you who consider yourselves moderate, liberal or "enlightened" have to agree he is so far left it is scary. Most people will agree that abortion is wrong for late-term pregnancies. But what kind of man would vote to allow a baby born alive to die?
I find it interesting that most of the Obama supporters choose to list themselves as "anonymous" for their posts. Would these be the same anonymous voters that Acorn is registering in Illinois?
Actually, the beginning of the end started 8 years ago when half our country voted for Bush.
Wake up White people and see that your fear is the reason we're in the mess in the first place. McCain't gonna win. Period.
With Obama in office it will take more from the everyday white guy on the street and give it away to drug dealers & terrorists that don't pay taxes and don't register guns.
What a bunch of morons, you think that buying back a mortgage and refinancing the same dead beat is going to fix things. The people that got those bad mortgages in the first place should never have been allowed to buy.
Reading most of these comments make me ill. It wouldn't matter if Obama had Jesus as his running mate some would never vote for him. The ignorance of the masses are so apparent. You just can't stomach having a black man rule. Plain and simple. No matter how smart. It's always the same. If it's for Obama trust me he will be President if not he won't sometimes what the Lord has in store for someone thank the Lord, man no matter how hard he tries, cannot take it away from him. I even wish the republicans get it back kinda, so that can fix the mess they got us into or go ahead and finish sinking America.
9milemom WOW Im sure that's your real name. Really Smart aren't ya
Aliya wrote:
Everyone should really go view this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaABV1CWXug
If you truly feel educated and impartial, your views should change after this video.
Here is one for you to watch ENJOY !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLUbb2DUYGk
Politicians use sound bites and say things people want to hear during campaigns, one candidate is more eloquent and a good salesman than the other, but at the end of the day, experience, track record, character, and service to the country is the barometer I am using when choosing the best candidate for the office. What I don't understand is how people believe the Obama "that ONE" has the experience and character. In his book, he admits openly that he used drugs and smoked weed and hang out with those type of people during high school. Ayers introduced him to Chicago politics. He attended service at Jeremiah Wright's church. It's the type of people he hang out with and molded him to be what he is, that helps identify him as a person. Most of what is painted about him by the media and how he is portrayed can not give you the true picture of who Obama is really. I am scared of him because I don't know him enough and what I know reading his books doesn't say much about his character.
I am not too fond of McCain but at least I know what he stands for and I know he is a better leader in keeping terrorists out of the US.
Regarding another "Anonymous" post in response to We're too good for this, when I suggested viewing this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaABV1CWXug
They write:
Here is one for you to watch ENJOY ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLUbb2DUYGk
My Reply:
You have really got to be kidding!!
You honestly think that a video that shows Bush saying the same thing in a few meetings compares to the plethora of information of over 13 years of facts, somehow makes a point?!
If you had viewed (or thought about what you viewed) in the initial video, Bush was simply working with programs that were already in place initially by Jimmy Carter in 1977, and then "improved" by beloved Clinton in 1995, and fueled for the past 13 years by Democrats in congress. What would you all have accused Bush of if he hadn't supported the Dems lovely idea by trying to work with their stupid programs that already existed???
Never mind the fact that despite the rhetoric being spewed that "Phil Gramm (R-Texas), McCain's former chief economic advisor, authored the deregulation legislation that made this meltdown possible" you hear very little that Mccain sponsored a bill 3 years ago warning of this, that the Democrats in Congress blocked!
If that video is all the ammunition you have, you have made my point beautifully, THANK YOU!
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain/page/1
We're too good for this.. said...
Never mind the fact that "Phil Gramm (R-Texas), McCain's former chief economic advisor, authored the deregulation legislation that made this meltdown possible"
Thank you for repeating the primary cause of the global financial meltdown we are experiencing. In fact it was Phil and his pals that put specific language in the Glass Stiegel Act that allowed unregulated equity markets to expand their greed and ignorance.
If you believe that the crisis this country finds itself in is due primarily to the sub-prime debacle then you are not just naive but sadly mistaken.
The facts are as follows..... the CRA Banks market shares of all loan originations were less than 25 percent of the sub-prime loans limiting the law’s impact on the mortgage meltdown. More importantly the billions written off by Wall Street on subprime mortgages pales in comparison to the outstanding debt in Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and Credit Default Swaps which equals roughly
63 TRILLION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just to put that into perspective it is more than the annual global world economy. No wonder Wall street is freaking out.
By the way just because the market went up 900+ points today, don't think this is over by a long shot.
De-regulation of so called "private equity firms" by greedy congressional lobbyists from the banking industry who had Republican "free market thinkers" like Phil Gramm etc in their hip pockets is why this country will soon be bankrupt. The REAL problem we have is the monster created by CDO's and CDS's. These "financial weapons of mass destruction" as they were called by Warren Buffett are bringing the global economy to its knees while people like you point fingers at who made too many loans to under qualified home buyers. By the way since you are so worried about taxes let me point out that while these hedge fund managers etc. where making millions they enjoyed having their profits taxed at 15% rather than the top federal income tax rate of 35%. Just more SOCIALISM FOR THE WEALTHY !
Massive bailouts for companies who are not just guilty of greed but outright FRAUD is what is screwing this country to the wall
including SMALL BUSINESSES now that the credit markets are frozen. The justification that all these bailouts are necessary now, to save our economy and the mutual fund savings of the average American is nonsense.
Our government has declared WAR on the middle class and the hard working people of this country.
We need to cure the cause of our economic woes instead of putting band-aids on the symptoms.
The policies of King George and his cast of cronies including McSame are the TRUE root of our problems.
America needs more jobs at home, NOT free trade with China to increase the bottom line for big business.
America needs to invest in technologies for renewable sources of energy which will create those jobs NOT drill in Anwar for a few more barrels of oil.
America needs to invest in our infrastructure here at home, NOT squander trillions fighting a war in Iraq.
When will the politicians stand up and put an end to this nonsense? Never until we demand it !
When will our economy come to a grinding halt unless we start doing the things listed above? Very soon.
The market WILL correct itself regardless of how much paper money the Federal Reserve pumps into the economy.
By the way, The United States Constitution specifically prohibits this. Only Congress is authorized to spend our money!
Here is what a couple of our founding fathers had to say about it.
In 1797, John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson, "All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects of the Constitution or Confederation; not from any want of honor or virtue, as much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation."
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
-- Thomas Jefferson
I thought that this forum would focus on issues for small businesses and how they are affected by the politics of the upcoming election. BOY WAS I WRONG. The main concern of many people who have posted on this forum is the anger they feel over
race, terrorism, war, abortion, etc. and "are they one of us". All anger is a result of FEAR and I certainly understand why many people in this country are afraid of the continued oppression of the middle class by our political system. The true oppressor of our American way of life is the self serving, greedy corporate culture that has grown up around us and threatens to choke the very life blood of decent hard working Americans. Let's focus our anger on ridding this country of the ultimate form of control over our lives and the future we are building for our children. That simply put is the control of money.
Read the articles below and educate yourselves. If you are concerned about your small business taxes, then at least educate yourself as to where the real money is going !!!
> By Robert W. Benson,
> Professor of Law,
> Loyola Law School,
> Los Angeles
>
> Introduction: The Business Fist In The Public Treasury
>
> American business has been on the government dole since the Republic began. But now the business finger in the pie of the public treasury has become a greedy fist, grabbing tax breaks, subsidies, sweetheart deals, and direct handouts that add up to hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
>
> Several think tanks and non-profit organizations--left-wing, right-wing and center--have shown that from $50 billion to $200 billion a year could be saved in the federal budget alone by eliminating business giveaways for such things as subsidies to agribusiness, free gold to mining companies, and tax dollars to advertise Chicken McNuggets and M& M/Mars candy bars abroad.1
>
> The corporate welfare bill adds up to billions more than the cost of all federal welfare programs for individuals, including help for the blind and deaf, drug and alcohol treatment, aid to the handicapped and elderly, care for the mentally retarded, children's vaccination programs, food stamps, and the rest.2 Yet even while taking public funds for itself, business ridicules government and urges death-cuts in public budgets for education, health, the environment, the elderly, children and the poor.
>
> It is time to expose this rank hypocrisy, its perverted ethics, its bad economics, and its wasteful draining of public resources. It is time, indeed, to put a stop to it by pulling the plug on corporate welfare.
>
> Consider what business is doing in most cities and states, probably in yours:
>
> Extorting local tax giveaways. By threatening to move elsewhere, companies are blackmailing state and local governments into giving them billions in tax freebies.
> Not paying fair share for public services. Developers and others increase the need for schools, roads, sewers, parks, etc., but they frequently manage not to pay for it themselves.
> Taking public property without paying for it. Business treats the air, water and the rest of the environment--the common property of us all--as a free private waste dump.
> Wining, dining, golfing and lobbying at public expense. You pick up the tab through business people's tax deductions.
>
>
> --Boston Globe series on Corporate Welfare
>
> "The $150 billion for corporate subsidies and tax benefits eclipses the annual budget deficit of $130 billion. It's more than the $145 billion paid out annually for the core programs of the social welfare state: Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), student aid, housing, food and nutrition, and all direct public assistance (excluding Social Security and medical care)."
> "After World War II, the nation's tax bill was roughly split between corporations and individuals. But after years of changes in the federal tax code and international economy, the corporate share of taxes has declined to a fourth the amount individuals pay, according to the US Office of Management and Budget.
>
> Take the Rich Off Welfare, Odonian Press, Zepezauer and Naiman.
> 191 pages; costs $9.00; available by calling 1-800-732-5786
> A couple of the fine statistics covered are:
>
> "If you cut 26 percent of the welfare now given to the rich you have instantly balanced the budget."
> "If you cut out corporate weathfare, you could pay off the national debt in 11 years."
>
IMPACT ON SMALL BUSINESS
BIG MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SMALL BUSINESS AND TAXES
By Chye-Ching Huang and James R. Horney
KEY FINDINGS IN THIS REPORT:
Supporters of various tax benefits for high-income households often claim that failure to maintain them would have an undue effect on many small businesses. But even assuming a broad definition of “small business,” these claims are very often exaggerated or false.
Only 1.9 percent of taxpayers with small-business income face either of the top two income tax rates. Thus, allowing the 2001 reductions in these rates to expire as scheduled in 2010 would not affect most small-business owners. Strengthening the Earned Income Tax Credit could help more than seven times as many small businesses as extending the reductions in the top rates.
The typical small business is not a wealthy hedge fund. Closing a lucrative tax loophole used by hedge fund managers would have no effect on “mom and pop” businesses.
http://www.cbpp.org/8-29-08tax.htm
I am tired of all the comments made by someone named 'Anonymous'. Yes, we are all entitled to an opinion and I am not afraid to sign my name to mine.
Also, I can express an opinion without cuss words, name calling of our (possible) future leaders, and possibly the most immature of all accusations; 'anyone not voting for Obama is prejudice'.
I am certainly not prejudice. We have a bi-racial family.
I am a small business owner and a Christian.
I am voting McCain/Palin. Not because they are perfect. They are simply, IN MY OPINION, the better choice.
I am unsubscribing because I just can't bear to read anymore of these immature negative comments.
I am tired of all the comments made by someone named 'Anonymous'. Yes, we are all entitled to an opinion and I am not afraid to sign my name to mine.
Also, I can express an opinion without cuss words, name calling of our (possible) future leaders, and possibly the most immature of all accusations; 'anyone not voting for Obama is prejudice'.
I am certainly not prejudice. We have a bi-racial family.
I am a small business owner and a Christian. AND
I am voting McCain/Palin. Not because they are perfect. They are simply, IN MY OPINION, the better choice.
I am unsubscribing because the immature, negative comments far outweigh the adult opinions that I care to read.
I cannot believe the ignorance of some of the comments such as:
1. "-the last 13 years of Democratic control of congress" - Does anyone remember Phil Gramn as head of the Senate Banking Committee repealing FDR's 1933 Glass-Steagall Act that totally deregulated the banks, allowed cowboy Reaganomics to run rampant across the banking world and into the orwellian world of Hedge and Derivatives.
2. The question is not who for president; rather, as Lincoln said, "Show me a man that votes for the man, and not the party, and I will show you a man of no consequence!" We are in this mess because of the ideology of the Republican Party, that has not changed ever since it forced Teddy Roosevelt to leave it in 1912.
3. We need to get back to the mixed economy that FDR built to save the Free Market from its own excesses, and that begins with strict new regulations to stop the crooks. As they say in English Common Law, it ain't a crime if their AIN'T NO LAW against IT!
G. McNulty, Celebrant of July 4, 1776, The Revolution in Thought and the Enlightenment Philosophy!
What I don't understand is how over 55% of small businesses say they have been either severely affected or moderately affected (in this survey) by this economic environment and yet they still say they will vote for McCain. Voting for McCain will ensure the current economic environment continues. 98% of small businesses make under $250,000 so they would actually benefit by Obama's plan, not McCain's. Obama wants to work from the bottom up instead of the policy we have seen for the past eight years, which is to work from the top down and hope some of it trickles down - it hasn't worked. McCain wants to give big corporations more money in the hope that they will create more jobs (which means there will be more people with money to spend on things small businesses have to offer) but that hasn't worked - we have lost hundreds of thousands of jobs under this plan and continue to do so, so how can this same old plan change that? McCain now claims he wants regulation because it has become obvious that no regulation has brought about at least part of this economic crisis, but he has always stated in the past that he is for deregulation - isn't it a bit much for us to now believe he will actually have market oversight?
I think all small business owners need to realize that while we are business owners, we are also citizens and the fact of the matter is when the majority of us do well, small business prospers - when the majority does not do well, we all suffer. This has become quite obvious over the past 8 years - big corporations have reaped record profits while the rest of us have lost profits. The Republicans continue to spin the fact that they are good for business but as you really look at the situation, ask yourself "what business"? Certainly not small businesses.
All in all, we are citizens first and and business owners second, are we not? This country is falling apart, its infrastructure is in dire need of repair, our health care policies are breaking most families, our education is no longer the best in the world, in fact it is dismal and aside from a few small changes, the Republicans offer us more of the same.
It is delusional to believe that McCain will turn things around with the same old policies and in fact if you listen to him, most of what he says is a kitchen sink approach - ask him a question and he rattles off every thing he can think of, but offers no clear plan on anything. The only thing he IS clear on is that he believes we should not spread the wealth, he believes in the status quo. Now that's not "Country First", that's the upper portion of the "Country First", and that leaves us, the small business owner left out in the cold since the majority of us are not in the upper portion of the country.
In conclusion, if you think this country has been doing well under the Republican rule, then fine vote for McCain - but if not, I don't see how you can. If you can't bring yourself to vote for Obama, fine, then vote for Ron Paul or someone else, but McCain is part of the Republican machine that has had control of the country for at least six of the eight years and I can't think of anything they have done that has made this country better two wars, job loss, a divided country, staggering debt and much more - so in fact it is far worse off today than eight years ago. Don't just fall for talking points. The boogie man this year seems to be "Socialism". Last time it was "Terrorism" - Blah, Blah, Blah.
I believe Bush inherited everything from Clinton and now it will be passed down to the next president. I will vote for McCain, he has served his country and has more experience. I have a son-in-law who has served in Iraq and most of our servicemen are voting for McCain. They know you cannot have an early troop withdrawal.
WOW READING MOST OF THESE COMMENTS OPENED UP MY EYES TO HOW MANY UNEDUCATED PEOPLE LIVES IN THIS COUNTRY. SOMEONE ACTUALLY POSTED THAT HE IS NOT VOTING FOR OBAMA BECAUSE OF HIS NAME. COME ON! HOW STUPID IS THAT? THE MAN IS SHARP, SMART, EDUCATED, AND HAS THE WILL TO WORK HARD NOT JUST FOR HIM BUT FOR THIS COUNTRY. I HAVE BEEN WATCHING BOTH OF THE SENATORS AND MCCAIN IS NOT CUT OUT TO HANDLE THE MESS PRESIDENT BUSH WILL LEAVE BEHIND. HE LIES ABOUT OBAMA EVERY CHANCE HE GETS, AND HIS HEALTH CARE PLAN IS HORRIBLE. HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HOW YOU FEEL WHEN YOU CAN'T BUY FOOD FOR YOUR FAMILY AND THE ONLY THING THEY HAVE TO EAT IS MILK. HIS WIFE'S FILTHY RICH. yESTERDAYS DEBATE HE SAID THAT HIM AND HIS WIFE KNOWS HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO PAY FOR COLLEGE. HAHAHA YEAH RIGHT! NO YOU DON'T. DO NOT COMPARE SENATOR OBAMAS STRUGGLE TO YOURS. BECAUSE HE COULD NEVER KNOW. I BELIEVE IN SENATOR OBAMA, I HAVE FAITH HIM. HE WILL LEAD US TO A BETTER FUTURE. HE WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF AMERICA. SENATOR OBAMA GOD BLESS YOUR SOUL AND I PRAY THAT GOD WILL SEE YOU THROUGH YOUR JOURNEY. OBAMA/BIDEN 08!
Raising taxes for anyone in this economic climate would be a mistake. Anyone who thinks that those companies who bring in 250K per year and will have higher taxes hit them won't affect those companies and individuals who bring in less are sadly mistaken. If you think unemployment is bad now wait until those tax hikes hit the employers who must cut jobs to adapt. I hardly think they will be spending money at any business.
What we need is for our elected officials to rein in spending and cut govt programs and pork. I believe that after seeing Obama's liberal voting record on this matter, what America needs is a team of "mavericks" that puts their country first. I am one of many business owners whom I know and live in a state that is in play this election year-- NC. Yes, we will be voting for the McCain/Palin ticket.
Anyone who thinks that those companies who bring in 250K per year....
You still don't get it do you ?
Please understand that receipts are not income, which is taxed. A $27 million supermarket may make only $500,000 in NET INCOME after expenses write off etc. TAXABLE income for the majority of small businesses IS much lower. I know for a fact that the best engineering and construction companies in the world have net incomes averaging in the 2% range. You need to look at net margins, not receipts, for taxable income.
Again go to the link below and EDUCATE YOURSELF! excerpt... "only 1.9 percent of filers with any small-business income are projected to face either of the top two income tax rates in 2009"
http://www.cbpp.org/8-29-08tax.htm
If you prefer to just listen to Joe the Plumber regarding small business tax structure then have a six pack with Sara and vote accordingly :)
I'm not voting for either. I'm voting 3rd party, Chuck Baldwin or I'll write in Ron Paul.
Are there really only 2 choices for the president?
Seek & you shall find; the internet is a vast source of information & knowledge. Find the candidate that best represents YOU, not the governments media.
How about leveling the playing field with this .
I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a 'We Deserve It Dividend'.
To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up.. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals $425,000.00.
My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a 'We Deserve It Dividend'. Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.
But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.00.
What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
• Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
• Repay college loans – what a great boost to20new grads
• Put away money for college – it'll be there
• Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
• Buy a new car – create jobs
• Invest in the market – capital drives growth
• Pay for your parent's medical insurance – health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else
Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.
If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it....instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( 'vote buy' ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.
If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!
As for AIG –
• liquidate it.
• Sell off its parts.
• Let American General go back to being American General.
• Sell off the real estate.
• Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.
Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.
Sure it's a crazy idea that can 'never work.' or can it.? But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast sigh of relief of Americans What an economic Boom this would be?
I trust my fellow adult Americans,most of the responsible ones anyway to know how to use the $85 billion We deserve the 'We Deserve It Dividend' more than the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC.
And remember, The Family plan only really costs $59.5 billion because $25.5 billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
Give it some real thought .We`re dying out here .
I know this is very radical but it answers many of our problems facing us right now.
Thanks so much
If you think economy is bad now?
We'll be in bread lines if the
republicans stay in the White House
While all of the Obama rhetoric sounds wonderful the fact remains that Obama has never established or been accountable for a real budget, never run a company, never run a city, never run a state and has actually worked a grand total of 143 days as a US senator. You cannot even become a district manager for McDonalds after being hired in 143 days! A soldier cannot become a general in 143 days! If the voters would view this election as if they were hiring a key level executive I sincerly doubt that Obama would garner anyone's consideration or support. The presidency is not a training ground for a career!
Please get some original material This crap has been floating around for months ever since the May 2008 post by Cheri Jacobus of the right-leaning blog The Loft........
"Take out a penny (or a five-spot). See that guy?. Whip-smart lawyer. Gave good speeches, but had zero executive experience, unless you count when the business he owned as a young man going under. Had a long run in the Illinois state house, but only one term in Washington.
Clearly unprepared to be president."
For those undecided voters Let me suggest you get a copy of David Freddoso's book, "The Case Against Barack Obama". Pages 220 to 234 tell a lot about Obama's Chicago politics and how he used developers like Resko, Davis, and Butler to fill their pockets so his in turn were filled with tax payers $$. This one section in this book which is documented with dates, places, events, and court cases to back it up, should tell all of us Obama is a very corrupt person. If you can't get this book then get either "The Audacity of Deceit" by O'Leary or "The Obama Nation" by Corsi. If Obama is elected the USA will never be the same.
Edward Perkins, PIP Printing Milw.
Ronald J says,
We are a nation founded on biblical values. Our constitution was based on the ten commandments. Anytime we have broken away from our faith in the past, we as a people have suffered and not been prosperous. We have tryed to take God out of everything and we wonder why so many catastrophes are happening around the world. God is a gentleman. If we don't want him in our lifes or country, he will stop trying to fix our planet and bless our people. The ten commandments are posted all over the senate, congress, government buildings etc. Once we embrace these values with supporting religous freedom, the sanctity of life, and enforcing marriage between one man and one woman, allowing God back into our government, he will once again bless this nation. Obama is an excellent speaker but like Clinton never really answers a question and/or avoid the questions. We need to get honesty and integrity into government, court systems schools, etc. We need judges that follow the constitution and stop interpreting the laws based on there own liberal lifestile. The government is suppose to represent the majority of the people for the good of the people. McCain and Palin understand what it takes to get us on track. Back to our biblical foundation. Its going to take a few more terms. There is no doubt in mind that if Obama gets in,we are dooomed. And the progress mnade by Bush will be lost. The moslem /islam terriorists are counting on Obama to get in. I pray that this doesn't happen. We can once again prosper with McCain and Palin. God will once again Bless this Nation.
I'm not for the bailout. Giving the money backed to the ones who caused the problem knowingly will not help. I have several properties and getting a morgage/home equity line was painful. Unlike others I read the fine print. Three times I refused to sign the closing documents. Others I'm sure were not as fortunite.
Why not give them money to the people who got sucked in to the morgages made to beleive they could afford them by basically criminals over assessing there properties looking for a quick buck. Giving the money to those in need would in fact bail out the banks and saves there morgages, families, etc.
I personnally would not want a newbie running our country,I;m a pro tracker a hunter and was in the army,I don;t want a newbie playing shest game with our country.To many lives at stack &and almost a trillion in debt.Leave the country to the pro;s not gouffy Mr.O
BertW http://www.bertsbiz.com
McCain / Bush whats the difference.Don't people watch the news.You've lost more rights and given more govt control over the whole system.I'm said to say that I helped vote the moron in.Screw Iraq we're not their for the terrorist's ,it's to keep Kuwait from collecting on our national debt.Maybe we should send them a bill for the economic loss to our country from our soldiers.But hey look at it on the bright side,when they run out of the oil they'll all starve their in a desert.Lol God Bless America
To the math major that said that we should divide the 85 billion, 200 million ways, you end up with $425, not $425,000. (Wall Street can use someone who makes up numbers like that.)I believe the current administration already distributed a like amount. That really helped.
:(
Harvey the Computer Man
I think posting a survey that is out dated is misleading (11 days old) I admit 11 days is not normally old, but when McCain changes what little plans he has, ever day, how can a good business owner make a decision to vote for him, when one does not know how his policies would effect a small business.
Also the survey would be relevant if we knew how many of those business voting in survey, make under $250K.
My vote is with Obama, at least I know where he stands. And my company would be happy to pay a little more to help out the people making less, who are our customers anyway.
No more of the same McCain/Bush trickle down theories!
I'm surprised at the survey results. Too many people have failed to realize that Joe the Plumber's business will pay taxes on NET PROFIT over $250K. It's not likely Joe's small company is going to have that kind of profit after payroll and other expenses are deducted. And if it is his net profit then good for him because he's doing well. Any accountant can tell you how to get that net profit figure down through legitimate accounting principles.
It's great that there is so much activity over this election campaign. But you have to realize there are a lot of half truths and statements taken out of context. You, as a voter, have the responsibility to weed out the truths and discover the real context of things before you make a statement on a blog or decide who you will vote for. In a very similar way, for every day a Senator spends in session he or she spends four doing due diligence, being prepared, knowing the details and talking with your constituency so he can represent himself and his constituency in an intelligent manner. I believe there have been other politicians who have had similar experience (re.:143 Days) and did quite well as President. John Kennedy comes to mind. We are electing a leader. A leader who surrounds himself with talented, intelligent people who have expertise. We need a leader who will be respected by leaders of the rest of the world. We need a leader who other leaders can identify with. While I would enjoy having a beer with the President of the United States, I am more concerned he present a global acumen, so he can converse and negotiate with the leaders of the rest of the world. I think the "good 'ol boy" - cowboy routine doesn't cut it with the rest of the world. We don't need someone who is grounded in the 20th century thinking that might makes right.
It says merchant circle has over 600,00 member and yet under 5,000 completed the survey. I think these are bad stats. I am on merchant circle and did not receive the link to the poll, that I know of. I STRONGLY support Obama, and I am a small business owner. More of the same will not help the economy,and without a substantial and speedy recovery in the economy, my small business will continue to suffer. That's why I am voting for, sending money to (yes I am one of the milions of Very Small donars), and calling on behalf of Obama.
I LIVE BY THE RULES AND McCAIN IS THE BEST FOR LEADING OUR COUNTRY.
OBAMA IS JUST A KID AND NOT TRUE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WHERE HIM AND HIS WIFE WOULD NOT WHERE OUR FLAG, HE CAN EVEN GET A JOB AT THE FBI BECAUSE OF HIS BACKGROUND AND PEOPLE ARE VOTING FOR HIM BEWARE OF THE ENEMY WITHIN
BOB THERRIEN USA
Around 1979 Obama started college at Occidental in California. He is
very open about his two years at Occidental. He tried all kinds of drugs
and was wasting his time, but, even though he had a brilliant mind, he did
not apply himself to his studies. 'Barry' (the name he used all his
life) during this time had two roommates, Muhammad Hasan Chandoo and Wahid
Hamid, both from Pakistan. During the summer of 1981, after his second year
In college, he made a 'round the world' trip...Stopping to see his
mother in Indonesia,... next, Hyderabad in India,...three weeks in Karachi,
Pakistan where he stayed with his roommate's family,...then off to Africa to
visit his father's family. My question - Where did he get the money for
this trip? Neither I, nor any one of my children, would have had money
for a trip like this when they were in college. When he returned, he
started school at Columbia University in New York. It is at this time he
wants everyone to call him Barack - not Barry. Do you know what the
tuition is at Columbia? It's not cheap to say the least! Where did he get
money for tuition? Student Loans? Maybe. After Columbia, he went to Chicago
to work as a Community Organizer for $12,000. a year. Why Chicago? Why not
New York? He was already living in New York.
By 'chance' he met Antoin 'Tony' Rezko, born in Aleppo Syria, and a
real estate developer in Chicago. Rezko has been convicted of fraud and
bribery this year. Rezko was named 'Entrepreneur of the Decade' by the
Arab-American Business and Professional Association'. About two
years later, Obama entered Harvard Law School. Do you have any idea what
tuition is for Harvard Law School? Where did he get the money for Law
School?
More student loans? After Law school, he went back to Chicago. Rezko
offered him a job, which he turned down. But, he did take a job with
Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Guess what? They represented
'Rezar,' Rezko's firm. Rezko was one of Obama's first major financial
Contributors when he ran for office in Chicago. In 2003, Rezko threw an
early
fundraiser for Obama which Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendelland claims
was instrumental in providing Obama with 'seed money' for his U.S.
Senate race. In 2005, Obama purchased a new home in Kenwoood District of
Chicago for $1.65 million (less than asking price). With ALL those Student
Loans - Where did he get the money for the property? On the same day,
Rezko's wife, Rita, purchased the adjoining empty lot for full price. The
London Times reported that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born Billionaire, loaned
Rezko $3.5 million three weeks before Obama's new home was purchased.
Obama met Nadhmi Auchi many times with Rezko.
Now, we have Obama running for President. Valerie Jarrett was
Michele Obama's boss. She is now Obama's chief advisor and he does not make
any major decisions without talking to her first. Where was Jarrett
born?
Ready for this? Shiraz, Iran! Do we see a pattern here?
Or am I going crazy? On May 10, 2008, The Times reported: Robert Malley,
advisor to Obama was 'sacked' after the press found out he was having
regular
contacts with Hamas', which controls Gaza (Remember the campaign
contributions his campaign tried to hide under the state of Ga. which really
were from the Gaza Strip) and is connected with Iran. This past week,
buried
in the back part of the papers, Iraqi newspapers reported that during
Obama's
visit to Iraq, he asked their leaders to do nothing about the war until
after
he is elected, and he will 'Take care of things'.
(Basically what he said was 'don't make any deals with the current
president, but wait until the new President is elected,' and he also
spoke to a high ranking military official and asked him not to make any
major decisions about the war until the new president is elected.) I wonder
who he thought that was going to be?
Oh, and by the way, remember the college roommates that were born in
Pakistan? They are in charge of all those 'small' Intenet campaign
contributions for Obama. Where is that money coming from? The poor
and middle class in this country? Or could it be from the Middle East?
(Like the aforementioned Gaza Strip where it is documented he received
contributions and tried to conceal them under the state of Ga.). My
friends, it is illegal to accept contributions from anyone other than
a U.S. citizen, so why was nothing done about this?
And the final bit of news. On September 7, 2008, The Washington
Times posted a verbal slip that was made on 'This Week' with George
Stephanapoulos. Obama, on talking about his religion, said, 'My
Muslim faith.' When questioned, 'did he make a mistake.' Some mistake!
All of the above information I found on line. If you would like to
check it - Wikipedia, encyclopedia, Barack Obama; Tony Rezko; Valerie
Jarrett: Daily Times - Obama visited Pakistan in 1981; The Washington
Times -
September 7, 2008; The Times May 10, 2008.
I am not sure why it does not have that effect on other American
Citizens!
A phrase that keeps ringing in my ears - 'Beware of the enemy from
within!!!'
'Every Nation that has fallen, has fallen from within!' "
Please pass this on to everyone in your address book...and please
pray for our country!
"May God bless and protect the United States of America!"
The first time socialism was tried in this country was in the 1600's in the Plymouth colony. What was produced by the colonists was shared with all so that even those who didn't produce much got an equal share. It didn't work because those who did produce weren't very motivated. In order to survive as a colony, they had to change that economic plan. Then people were motivated to work harder and produce more because if they didn't work, they didn't eat. And anything they didn't need for themselves they were allowed to trade or sell for things they needed. Today we take that for granted.
My husband was born in Yugoslavia at the beginning of WWII. First the Germans almost shot his father on a false accusation. Then, later, his parents were put in a Communist concentration camp for political prisoners because they had chosen not to work for the government as ambassadors when asked. My then 9-year-old husband was also imprisoned there so that they could use his well-being as a threat in interrogating his mother. (Tell us what we want to know or we will beat your son while you listen to him scream.)His parents had committed no crime accept not liking the change to a Communist government.
Obama is already threatening media outlets that runs ads he doesn't like. His people are investigating and trying to destroy Joe the plumber's economic life because he asked a question in public Obama didn't want to answer.
I value the Bill of Rights, free speech, free exercise of religion, the 2nd Amendment, and the rest. I don't think Obama does. I don't trust him because I've watched his campaign. He is using tactics that Communists used before they took over Russia and produced the Soviet Union. (I learned about these techniques in a Russian history class from a Russian professor in 1965.) The Soviet Union was not an economic success. When Communists took power there, farmers were put into communes and the government took what they produced and decided how much the farmers could keep. They couldn't even get replacement parts for tractors because of the government's lack of planning. The government determined which parts needed to be made.
When communists took over Yugoslavia, factories were taken over by bureaucrats who did not understand the business or how to manage . The knowledgeable people who had owned and run the factories became immediate "enemies of the people" and were often shot or put in prison because they were "rich." Sometimes they just lost their jobs and could only work at menial or undesirable jobs as their punishment. My father-in-law owned a concrete factory and mill. Both were taken from him. He was imprisoned just because he had been an owner (capitalist." Fortunately, one of the guards had once worked for him and stood up for his having been good to his employees and that man got him released. My husband's family was kicked out of their home and it was given to a Communist neighbor who had wanted it. My mother-in-law had helped this family get medical help they desperately needed before that, and this was the thanks she got.
To this day my husband sends medicines and vitamins to elderly relatives in Croatia and Serbia who cannot get them or afford them. They have socialist health care.
When my husband was a child, the teachers taught children to spy on their parents and report any political dissent. Children from non-Communist homes could not get into technical fields, not could Christian children, since the government was atheist.
Communists got into power by promising workers they would be better off economically. Only the "rich" would be worse off. They used class envy to get into power. In Russia it took a revolution. But the Soviet leaders said they would take us over from within without a war. First they rewrite history and teach the new history in the schools. That has been happening as socialists take over the schools of education. (I'm not saying most teachers are socialists, but I know I was teaching during the time when they started to force us to join the teachers' union.)
They also work to break down morality and the family. When the family and morality break down, society disintegrates and more people become poor and want government help.
If Obama is elected with a Democrat congress, this just may be the last time we have a truly free election. It may be the end of the Republic as we have known it. Those who have not learned history are doomed to repeat it. That's why in many schools the teaching of history -- even to the teachers-- is much different than it was when I went to elementary and high school in the 1940s and 1950s. Now William Ayers (a Marxist and former terrorist)is teaching our future teachers and writing curriculum that will be taught to future generations of children.
What scares me is that people are basing their election decisions on television commercials and voting pamphlets and do not examine the truth of what they are hearing and reading. Skin color doesn't matter to me. I'm just as much against Joe Biden as Obama. It's the ideologies of these men that scare me -- what they are leaving unsaid is worse than what they are saying. No one will be more surprised a year after an Obama victory than those who voted for him believing he would really help the little guy and the small business people who make under $250,000 a year. I'm in that category. but I don't expect my situation to improve under Obama.
Socialist promises are never fulfilled as those who believed them expected them to be. Socialists make everyone equally poor except the fat cats in Washington who will manage to stay fat and get fatter on the extra taxes they collect from you. They will use your money to hire more bureaucrats to impose more regulations on you and you will have fewer choices and opportunities in life than you have now. The more the "rich" realize they won't get to keep much of what they earn, the less motivated they will be to produce the goods and services you want.
Remember, he who pays controls. If the government gives you a college education, they may decide what you may study and where you will have to work, because they know which areas need doctors and nurses and managers, etc. You may think you need a new stove or car, but the government may think differently. You may think you need a four bedroom house, but the government may think you need only two bedrooms. That may be important when the government has a voice in you getting the loan you need to buy a car or a house. Or, if you have a bigger house than the government thinks you need, they may give your house to someone they think needs it more. You think it can't happen here? That the people wouldn't tolerate it? First they take the guns away so the citizens can't defend themselves against a government that has turned into the enemy.
I really want to be wrong about this. I'm for justice and helping the poor. Churches and families helped the poor (and still do) long before government decided they could do a better job. My church helps the poor. I have a pastor who has offered jobs to able-bodied people who need help financially. I know of at least one person who took him up on that and got on his feet enough to get another more permanent job and finally start his own business. Many churches in my county have ministries to help unwed mothers, the hungry, and the homeless. Many private citizens give generously to help those in need through various organizations and as individuals. And I expect they'd give even more if they didn't have to pay the government to do it more inefficiently.
If you have a small business and expect Obama is going to help you, I think you're going to get a big surprise. Even Joe Biden implied that recently. And strangely enough, he's been taken off the campaign trail. The news media are only reporting on part of what he said. He said that the world leaders he's known for years would be sure to test Obama, if he is elected, with some sort of crisis, and he told Obama supporters that they might not like what Obama would do, but to hang in there anyway and keep supporting him. Biden implied that they wouldn't bother testing McCain, because they know how he would respond.
So, people take heed. Don't swallow the talking points of either side without examining them on a neutral web site like factcheck.org. Listen to the details of both candidates' plans before deciding anything. I have done that and made my decision. I hope you will base yours on facts, history, and character, because your future and that of the country depends upon it.
obama or mccain.. two sides of the same animal. the agenda of those in control will still get thru. I voted early, yesterday and wrote in RON PAUL.
Look into David Icke. He has been talking about what is now going on in our world for 15 years now. Wake up people.. sheeple. Stop buying into the fear tactics that they are using to remove your freedoms in the name of freedom!!! or security.. Inform yourselves. for warned is for armed.
Jewel- I love it!
I would be very interested to know how different the polls would be if they were taken today. Remeber this was taken just after Sarah Palin was added to the Republican ticket and before most of the debates. A lot has changed since then..... including the ECONOMY!
I believe Obama will win, but I simply know and really don't believe he is the best candidate the Democrats could come up with. I've read everything I can on both McCain and Obama; I will vote for McCain. I cannot bring myself to believe anything Obama says...he must have taken the same class on forgetfulness that Bill Clinton did! I do like Palin; I plan on supporting her for President in 2012 if the USA survives that long. God bless and help America.
I respectfully disagree with all the McCain/Palin supporters out there that think Obama's plan is going to hurt small business. Think about it, by re-distributing the wealth in a more equatible manner, more people will have the money in which to afford the goods and services provided by small business, thus making small business grow. Nobody said he was going to give thew money to people who don't pay taxes. You people have been hiding your heads in the sand for the last eight years, and your businesses have been suffering because of it.
Why would Obama be any less qualified than Sarah Palin. Listen to her speak, and it's very clear she has absolutely no qualifications to be one step away from the presidency.
George Bush had "business experience" also, and he bankrupted every single business he ever attemped. Take a close look at the effects of Palin's leadership in Alaska and the long term results of that leadership, both as mayor of Wasilla and as Governor.
It amazes me to think that you would totally ignore Obama's education and background as a constitutional law professor and his background as a comunity organiser as total ignorance and lack of exerience. Give me some examples of legislation that McCain has actually lead, not simply signed onto? The only thing I've heard from McCain so far is that he was a prisoner of war some forty years ago, and that he claims to be a maverick who's going to shake things up. He's been in the congess for 26 years, How much has he shaken things up thus far?
it is NOT too late! share the truth...and get out and vote!
the choice:
a man who started his career in the living room of a nationally known and unrepentant terrorist? or a man of honor who has dedicated his life for his country?
lets not forget ACORN...
our voting rights are being tron to shreds by this crooked organization. which Obama has been a part of along with Bill Ayers. educate yourselves! and not by listening to the media!
if our country is so blind then God help us...there is a lot more at stake then your bank account!
what will happen to free enterprise...i sure don't want to "share the wealth" that i work so hard for!
AS a small businesses owner but non voter because not a citizen, the results of the survey shows what I think of Republicans and Democrats. Republicans are street smart, selfish, not intellectuals at all. Democrat are altruistic, intellectuals, and can run a profitable business.
This country is on its deathbed. Only Obama can cure the many diseases that are killing the patient. McCain will continue GWB idiotic and dishonest management of the country and accelerate its decline.
I really do not understand the mentality of these people that think McCain/Palin are prepared to do ANYTHING good for our country. He comes off as an angry old man that wants his way no matter what! Palin"golly gee" is a real stupid choice...talk about NO experience! for those people that think McCain/Palin is a good choice, think about if McCain gets in and he has another heart attack, which is most likely to happen,can you imagine Palin as our President? I certainly cannot! She is a power hungry, spoiled little girl that has no business even trying to be vice president. Her own state is protesting against her!!! I think if I could ask her one thing it would be "why is your own state protesting against you"? Her group of friends"the elite 5" my God what does that tell you? My vote is with O'Bama and I think our country has come so far, and I also think O'Bama is courageous just to run for president, with all the threats that are being allowed by the republicans at their rallies. Palin especially should be telling her supporters that the things they yell out are totally inappropriate, but instead she encourages that kind of talk from her supporters like "off with his head" and so forth...how disrespectful! They should be considered a threat and removed from the rally! If anyone said those things about George Bush, they would be escorted by security out of the building and questioned as far as the safety of the one who they are talking about
I have a small business for 20 years. The last 8 years have seen my revenues fall by more than 50%. Many of my clients have gone out of business. I can't believe that so many here want to give McCain a shot at it. Why don't we just keep Bush for 8 more years? Are all you people really business owners? I would think that you'd be a little smarter. Do you ALL watch Fox News? Most of you seem ill informed on anything of substance. I just see neo-con garbage that every disgusting talking head shill for the Republican party is spewing out. Come on people, think for yourselves.
Are you happy with the Palin pick for VP? McCain is a washed up old fart who is being led around by the neo-cons who are scared to death of losing power.
WAKE-UP before its too late.
I am personally tired of Obama trying to tie McCain to Bush economics. McCain has proven that he is a man that thinks for himself and he does not just do what the previous person does. He will make lasting changes for all of the people of the US. Mr Obama will only make favorable changes for those that line his pockets with Gold. I would think that voters would see by the amount of money he has to waste on TV ads that he has some big money people trying to get him elected. I would think that people could easily see that the press highly favors him. I can't wait til the people of the US finally get to say what we really think come 11-4.
By the way, does anybody know when the Presidential campaigns for 2012will begin? I wuld like to see a law passed that they can't start this folloishness until 6 months before the general election personally...
Its interesting that you can all igonore the situation this country has been put in by the past administration and the party of John McCain. We need change and Obama does offer the direction the country should be going. We need health care for all americans, we need to balance our budget and quit this ridiculous pretense that lower taxes is the answer. We need a Supreme Court that is independent and not tied to any ideology. We need to solve our standing in the world and again become a leader not a country that tries to dictate to the rest of the world. John McCain is a good man but tied to failed policies and advisors of the Republican party, and has indicated that by his totally incompetent choice of a running mate, this decision alone is reason not to trust him with other decisions for this country. Wake up America we need to put someone in office who will work to unit this country and put the all the people first.
As a prior military (NAVY) man and a business owner, I can not see any red blooded AMERICAN voting for an arab with ties to a radical muslim influence. (Read his book) That is definitely not what this GREAT COUNTRY needs for our future! After looking and reviewing this survey I have come to the realization that there are a few turnips that have fallen off the truck. You people who believe that a liberal democrat who is willing to spread the wealth might help this country out of this slump have all received a bruise on your turnip. What this GREAT COUNTRY needs is a LEADER with guts!!! I will certainly cast my vote for a man who withstood 6 years of torture to hold his GREAT COUNTRY close to his heart and protect those of you with bruised turnips along with his supporters. But, I think you have forgotten what this country experienced 9/11. May GOD bless this GREAT COUNTRY and keep us safe from you turnip heads and your silly notions that what we need is Senator Tarzan (Barack Hussein Obama). His name is not of black origin it is muslim. Tarzan comes from Dr. James David Manning @ Atlah Ministries (Google him - see what he has to say)!!
IMO, neither is the answer, but McCain is even less so. Taxing health care benefits? As business owners, how is that helping? As for the latest McCain strategy of calling Obama a socialist, what a farce. What about the bailout? Isn't that socialist by definition? Right now we have socialism for the big corporations and capitalism for everyone else to ease in the exploitation of the middle and lower classes. The trickle down idea didn't work in the 80's and it's not working now. It's a joke they keep telling us over and over, but never ends up working because the people at the top hoard the money they are supposed to let "trickle down." So if your business makes less than 1/4 million/yr, you would be voting against your own economic interests when voting for McCain..And all I have to say about Palin is she reminds me a ditsy cheerleader I dated in high school who I didn't date for her intelligence or intellect :)...totally inadequate and incompetent..
Come on people! Who would vote for someone with such little experience for the #1 job in America. At least Palin has had some experience, Obama has none!
Okay will everyone just take a few minutes for a lesson in economics. Thank you. I am tired of hearing the muck about the last 8 years. Trickle-down economics works! The problem is that what one president does to change the economy isn't realized until his 8 years are over. The prosperity during teh Clinton Administration was the result of 12 years of conservative economic policies. Then Clinton, like the Democrat Presidents before him, destroyed everything good by implementing socialist policies including the the "you have to give them a loan whether they can pay it back or not" policies that got us into our current economic depression. bush has been busy trying to protect us and the rest of the world from Terrorism, along with trying to give the Iraqi's and Afgan's a civilized form of government, so as to promote some individual rights in those long oppressed regions.
Granted, he promised economic reform during his first election, but was just slightly distracted from his intentions when were attacked by Islamic terrorists his first year in office.
Then to be slammed with a democratic congress that fought him every step of the way in everything he tried to accomplish. ..
I'd like to see you do any better.
Finally, McCain is not Bush. He is far more experienced than Bush was when he was elected. He has experience in war--lots of it! He knows how to win and end the war, not just surrender as Hussein Obama would do, and he does understand economics.
Finally, during one of the debates, I heard Obama state that the average American Health Care Policy cost $12,000. Unbelievable! I am a small business owner. Very Small. Our gross receipts for a year are around $300,000. I purchase health care for my wife, my son and myself for for a total of $9000/year. We have great coverage! My has major health issues that cost a lot, but our rates are still less than half ($4,000 for me, $5,000 for my wife and son) than Obama claims one policy should cost!!!! This is just another example of how government doing anything costs double or more than the private sector doing the same task!!!
If Obama is elected, we may as well change the name of the country to the USSRA!!! Heck, if Obama's elected, I may just move to Central America--maybe Honduras or some other up and coming republic! At least their government is still small and manageable.
I think it is important in these uncertain times that we remember Freedom is NOT FREE. With that said, I invite every American to better educate themselves on what 911 and the war on terror actually mean. Every American should understand the meaning of Islamic Jihad. If you don't you can learn more at obsessionthemovie.com. (by the way I have not affiliation with this site....I am just the owner of a small retail store in Colorado.)
Then ask yourself which candidate do you trust to protect our freedoms and our country. If our country is not safe, the economy won't mean a whole lot.
I have to laugh when the Non-Progressives cry that Obama is a Socialist. Is it not a FACT that Palin has created a Corporate Windfall Gains tax upon the Oil Industry and then DISTRIBUTES IT to every Alaskan in form of a WELFARE payout? That is THE definition of "WELFARE" Socialism. The President of the US with his "Bailout Plan" is an example of "CORPORATE Socialism. It bothers me not one bit that the Progressives want to offer DEMOCRATIC Socialism as in the ACCESS to affordable health care which benefits all American citizens. It's time for people to actually see both sides of the coin rather that spout talk radio nonsense.
I don't understand why the Democratic responses here are made of foul language and name calling. No real issues are mentioned mainly I suppose because no one can really say what qualifies Obama, it is usually just because. Half of those supporting Obama are those of you that have responded to this survey and the other half vote Obama because they are welfare recipients and Obama will get them more money.
its not about the experience, or lack of, of the candidate! its about his ability to reason and access a situation. its about having the intelligence to communicate with foreign dignitaries. In addition, McCain is too old! We need someone that understands the technology of the 21st Century... or at least that of the last 10 years!
Governor Palin went to bat for the citizens of her state to get the oil companies that use our oil to share more of their profits with the people who OWN the oil. That oil belongs to the citizens of Alaska, we give them (the oil companies) the opportunity to take it out of the ground, refine it and sell it back to us at the some of the highest retail prices in the nation. Due to poor negotiation on the part of previous administrations ( or perhaps bribery by the oil companies to government officials) we were poorly represented. She sought to correct that inequity...it is what we hired her to do! She got an Alaska Gas pipeline passed when 30 years of predecessors could or would not. Miraculously as soon as she got it passed (the Alaska/Canada pipeline) those companies that couldn't seem to get it together for 30 years... all of a sudden they are "gonna get-er done" I don't know who I am going to vote for yet. But I have to say Obama's "spreading the wealth" theory really angers me. My husband and I work very hard 10-14 hours a day 6 days a week. I the rare year we reach 250,000 we would like to hire new employees and give benefits to them. Not give the goverment yet more of what we work so hard for. I am sick and tired of hearing people saying "well if you make 250,000 your are rich and you need to give some of that to other people". Where then is the incentive to grow my business, hire new employees, pay their insurance, contribute to their retirement plans, am I missing something here... I thought I was spreading the meager wealth!
YOU KNOW WHAT KILLS ME ?Oh wait a minute i am an adult and Obama only kills the children .I cannot understand why the liberals want a person that kills babies ,he lied about his record on abortion ,he lied about his supporting Ayers,oh but he was only eight years old when Ayers bombs went off,but he was what a child also when he launched his democratic career in Ayers living room and endorsed his book ..come on America ,please,, work for what you get ,like you fathers did !do we really want to spread the wealth ?and loose our pride in a job well done ?Ido not have much ,and free money sounds great !but not at the cost of my spirit or my soul ...wake up America..for all that cannot.
Obama is like the Pied Piper, look at all those rats dancing to his tune. I too am frightened by this guy and his ability to have so many blindly following him. I for one will never support this socialist. Let's see him share his wealth.
OBAMA'S "NOT EXACTLY'S"
Even if only 10% is true we are in trouble, heck...if only 1% is true all Americans are in trouble!
'NOT EXACTLY'S'
1.) Selma Got Me Born - NOT EXACTLY, your parents felt safe enough to have you in 1961 - Selma had no effect on your birth, as Selma was in 1965.
(Google' Obama Selma ' for his full March 4, 2007 speech and articles about its various untruths.)
2.) Father Was A Goat Herder - NOT EXACTLY, he was a privileged, well educated youth, who went on to work with the Kenyan Government.
3.) Father Was A Proud Freedom Fighter - NOT EXACTLY, he was part of one of the most corrupt and violent governments Kenya has ever had.
4.) My Family Has Strong Ties To African Freedom - NOT EXACTLY; your cousin Raila Odinga has created mass violence in attempting to overturn a legitimate election in 2007, in Kenya . It is the first widespread violence in decades. The current government is pro-American but Odinga wants to overthrow it and establish Muslim Sharia law. Your half-brother, Abongo Obama, is Odinga's follower. You interrupted your New Hampshire campaigning to speak to Odinga on the phone.
Obama's cousin Odinga in Kenya ran for president and tried to get Sharia Muslim law in place there. When Odinga lost the elections, his followers have burned Christians' homes and then burned men, women and children alive in a Christian church where they took shelter. Obama SUPPORTED his cousin before the election process here started. Google Obama and Odinga and see what you get. No one wants to know the truth.
5.) My Grandmother Has Always Been A Christian - NOT EXACTLY, she does her daily Salat prayers at 5am according to her own interviews. Not to mention, Christianity wouldn't allow her to have been one of 14 wives to 1 man.
6.) My Name is African Swahili - NOT EXACTLY, your name is Arabic and 'Baraka' (from which Barack came) means 'blessed' in that language. Hussein is also Arabic and so is Obama.
Barack Hussein Obama is not half black. If elected, he would be the first Arab-American President, not the first black President. Barack Hussein Obama is 50% Caucasian from his mother's side and 43.75% Arabic and 6.25% African Negro from his father's side. While Barack Hussein Obama's father was from Kenya , his father's family was mainly Arabs.. Barack Hussein Obama's father was only 12.5% African Negro and 87.5% Arab (his father's birth certificate even states he's Arab, not African Negro). From....and for more....go to.....
http://www.arcadeathome.com/newsboy.phtml?Barack_Hussein_Obama_-_Arab-American,_only_6.25%25_African
7.) I Never Practiced Islam - NOT EXACTLY, you practiced it daily at school, where you were registered as a Muslim and kept that faith for 31 years, until your wife made you change, so you could run for office.
4-3-08 Article 'Obama was 'quite religious in islam'' http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=60559
8.) My School In Indonesia was Christian - NOT EXACTLY, you were registered as Muslim there and got in trouble in Koranic Studies for making faces (check your own book).
February 28, 2008 Kristoff from the New York Times a year ago: Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it'll give Alabama voters heart attacks); Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as 'one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.' This is just one example of what Pamela is talking about when she says 'Obama's narrative is being altered, enhanced and manipulated to whitewash troubling facts.'
9.) I Was Fluent In Indonesian - NOT EXACTLY, not one teacher says you could speak the language.
10.) Because I Lived In Indonesia , I Have More Foreign Experience - NOT EXACTLY, you were there from the ages of 6 to 10, and couldn't even speak the language. What did you learn, how to study the Koran and watch cartoons.
11.) I Am Stronger On Foreign Affairs - NOT EXACTLY, except for Africa (surprise) and the Middle East (bigger surprise); you have never been anywhere else on the planet and thus have NO experience with our closest allies.
12.) I Blame My Early Drug Use On Ethnic Confusion - NOT EXACTLY, you were quite content in high school to be Barry Obama, no mention of Kenya and no mention of struggle to identify - your classmates said you were just fine.
13.) An Ebony Article Moved Me To Run For Office - NOT EXACTLY, Ebony has yet to find the article you mention in your book. It doesn't, and never did, exist.
14.) A Life Magazine Article Changed My outlook on Life - NOT EXACTLY, Life has yet to find the article you mention in your book. It doesn't, and never did, exist.
15.) I Won't Run On A National Ticket In '08 - NOT EXACTLY, here you are, despite saying, live on TV,
that you would not have enough experience by then, and you are all about having experience first.
16.) Voting 'Present' is Common In Illinois Senate - NOT EXACTLY, they are common for YOU, but not many others have 130 NO VOTES.
17.) Oops, I Misvoted - NOT EXACTLY, only when caught by church groups and Democrats, did you beg to change your misvote.
18.) I Was A Professor Of Law - NOT EXACTLY, you were a senior lecturer ON LEAVE.
19.) I Was A Constitutional Lawyer - NOT EXACTLY, you were a senior lecturer ON LEAVE.
20.) Without Me, There Would Be No Ethics Bill - NOT EXACTLY, you didn't write it, introduce it, change it, or create it.
21.) The Ethics Bill Was Hard To Pass - NOT EXACTLY, it took just 14 days from start to finish.
22.) I Wrote A Tough Nuclear Bill - NOT EXACTLY, your bill was rejected by your own party for its pandering and lack of all regulation - mainly because of your Nuclear donor, Exelon, from which David Axelrod came.
23.) I Have Released My State Records - NOT EXACTLY, as of March, 2008, state bills you sponsored or voted for have yet to be released, exposing all the special interests pork hidden within.
24.) I Took On The Asbestos Altgeld Gardens Mess - NOT EXACTLY, you were part of a large group of people who remedied Altgeld Gardens . You failed to mention anyone else but yourself, in your books.
25.) My Economics Bill Will Help America - NOT EXACTLY, your 111 economic policies were just combined into a proposal which lost 99-0, and even YOU voted against your own bill.
26.) I Have Been A Bold Leader In Illinois - NOT EXACTLY, even your own supporters claim to have not seen BOLD action on your part.
27.) I Passed 26 Of My Own Bills In One Year - NOT EXACTLY, they were not YOUR bills, but rather handed to you, after their creation by a fellow Senator, to assist you in a future bid for higher office.
28.) No One on my campaign contacted Canada about NAFTA - NOT EXACTLY, the Canadian Government issued the names and a memo of the conversation your campaign had with them.
29.) I Am Tough On Terrorism - NOT EXACTLY, you missed the Iran Resolution vote on terrorism and your good friend Ali Abunijmah supports the destruction of Israel
30.) I Want All Votes To Count - NOT EXACTLY; you said let the delegates decide.
31.) I Want Americans To Decide - NOT EXACTLY, you prefer caucuses that limit the vote, confuse the voters, force a public vote, and only operate during small windows of time.
32.) I passed 900 Bills in the State Senate - NOT EXACTLY, you passed 26, most of which you didn't write yourself.
33.) I Believe In Fairness, Not Tactics - NOT EXACTLY, you used tactics to eliminate Alice Palmer from running against you.
34.) I Don't Take PAC Money - NOT EXACTLY, you take loads of it.
35.) I don't Have Lobbyists - NOT EXACTLY, you have over 47 lobbyists, and counting.
36.) My Campaign Had Nothing To Do With The 1984 Ad - NOT EXACTLY, your own campaign worker made the ad on his Apple in one afternoon.
37.) I Have Always Been Against Iraq - NOT EXACTLY, you weren't in office to vote against it AND you have voted to fund it every single time.
38.) I Have Always Supported Universal Health Care - NOT EXACTLY, your plan leaves us all to pay for the 15,000,000 who don't have to buy it
Im Voting Democrat...Yeah Righ!
I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better
job of spending the money I earn than I would.
I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as
nobody is offended by it.
I'm voting Democrat because when we pull out of Iraq , I trust that
the bad guys will stop what they're doing because they now think we're
good people
I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us
if it will rain on Friday CAN tell us that the polar ice caps will melt
away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.
I'm voting Democrat because I'm not concerned about the
slaughter of 20millions of babies so long as we keep all death row
inmates alive.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe that business should not be
allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the
rest away to the government for redistribution as THEY see fit.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to
rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who
would NEVER get their agendas past the voters.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe that open borders and
government give-aways to foreigners is a great way to grow a nation.
I'm voting Democrat because I'm way too irresponsible to own a gun,
and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers
and thieves.
I'm voting Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry
whatever I want. I've decided to marry my horse.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on
a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon
of gas at 15% isn't.
And MY personal favorite...
I'm voting Democrat because my head is so firmly planted up my REAR
it's unlikely that I'll ever have another point of view.
10 cautionary tales to remember before we settle for Obama
Posted by Cassy Fiano
Published: February 26, 2008 - 11:08 AM
A lot of people seem content to just resign themselves to an Obama presidency. Well, newsflash folks, Obama's presidency is not inevitable, and it isn't likely to be just another "Carter presidency". It isn't likely to give us another Reagan, either -- great leaders like don't come around every four years. I'm not going to lecture anyone right now about supporting McCain, but I do want to remind people of just what we'll be getting into by settling for Obama. Here's a refresher on the problems we have with Barack Hussein Obama, the most liberal senator in the United States Senate:
The man Obama calls his mentor is a known communist. A President with Communist leanings: exactly what this country needs!
Obama refused to hold his hand over his heart during the National Anthem. The Flag code states that all should put their right hand over their heart during the National Anthem when the flag is also displayed, except those in uniform. But don't question his patriotism or anything.
Obama also seems to have a problem with wearing a flag pin because to him it's "unpatriotic". But, you know, he LOVES his country and all.
Obama wants us to pay 845 billion dollars to help the U.N. "relieve global poverty". We, the taxpayers, will of course be the ones to pick up the tab.
Obama associated with 1960s violent anti-war radicals, including some whose acts escalated to terrorism.
Obama supporters can't even name a single thing he has accomplished.
Obama is a Che Guevara fan -- you know, the Cuban murderer that liberals like to celebrate.
Who can forget Texas State Senator Kirk Watson, an Obama supporter who couldn't name a single legislative accomplishment during Obama's short time in the Senate?
As President, Obama is promising us 850 billion dollars in new spending, 850 billion of which will likely be wasted.
8 things you should know about the relationship between Obama and Tony Rezko.
Feel free to reproduce these links -- apparently we need to be reminded of just what it is we'll be getting with an Obama presidency.
I hope Schmidt can bring McCain back to reality and help him see that he has been running as a screwed up liberal Democrat. Of course, Juan McCain was not way left like Barry Obama and he has not had nearly as many missteps as Hussein Obama has.
At least with McCain, when he salutes the flag you know he means it.
With Obama you wonder what flag he is really saluting, assuming he does salute anything.
If I were in the military i'd be very nervous with Obama running things.
I hope Schmidt can bring McCain back to reality and help him see that he has been running as a screwed up liberal Democrat. Of course, Juan McCain was not way left like Barry Obama and he has not had nearly as many missteps as Hussein Obama has.
At least with McCain, when he salutes the flag you know he means it.
With Obama you wonder what flag he is really saluting, assuming he does salute anything.
If I were in the military i'd be very nervous with Obama running things.
AP photo of school register reveals "Barry Soetoro" as muslim Indonesian
LOLo: one certificate theory crashes but new Obama citizenship doubts arise
Sharansky calls Obama "a risk" for Israel, as candidate panders to US Jews
Obama's Muslim outreach director quits after being outed for terror ties
Claim: Obama's "birth certificate" forged with sister Maya's original
Palestinians losing their shirts making illegal donations to Obama campaign
Expert: Obama's fake birth certificate forged from original of a woman
What Barack Obama really needs to worry about
Video source claims prayer note snatched by man in Obama's "entourage"
Views: With platitudes aplenty in Israel, Obama plunges "Palestine" down the tubes
Blogger manipulates birth certificate image, undermining Obama claims
By Israel Insider staff July 3, 2008
Bookmark to del.icio.usDigg This Story
A crop from the image for which opendna aka Jay McKinnon takes credit (see context in reproduction below). Posted on Photobucket and in comments attached to the Daily Kos blog post where the purported Obama birth certificate appears
Jay McKinnon, a self-described Department of Homeland Security-trained document specialist, has implicated himself in the production of palpably fake Hawaii birth certificate images similar to the one endorsed as genuine by the Barack Obama campaign, and appearing on the same Daily Kos blog entry where the supposedly authentic document appears.
The evidence of manipulation of images of official documents, triggered by Israel Insider's revelation of the collection of Hawaii birth certificate images on the Photobucket site and the diligent detective work of independent investigative journalists in the three weeks since the publication of the images, implicate The Daily Kos, a "progressive" blog site, and the Obama campaign's "Fight the Smears" website, in misleading the public with official-looking but manipulated document images of doubtful provenance. Moreover, the blog and the campaign have been negligent in allowing the promotion of obviously fake official documents together with the purported image of Obama's birth certificate.
ORIGINS OF THE SUSPECT IMAGE ON DAILY KOS
The blog entry, posted by the site founder Kos (Markos Moulitsas), is presented as a response to a request by Jim Geraghty of the National Review Online, who had, three days before, called for the Obama campaign to release the candidate's birth certificate:
Having done some Obama-rumor debunking that got praise from Daily Kos (a sign of the apocalypse, no doubt), perhaps the Obama campaign could return the favor and help debunk a bunch of others with a simple step: Could they release a copy of his birth certificate?
Reporters have asked for it and been denied, and the state of Hawaii does not make such records public [...]
So Kos aka Moulitsas goes out and gets one. One impressed commenter on the site asks Kos where he got it. He answers:
"I asked the campaign. This 'journamalism [sic] thing actually works sometimes."
But why would a presidential campaign that has its own "Fight the Smears" website rely on a radical left-wing blog like Daily Kos to post its official documents, especially one as sensitive and controversial as a birth certificate? A few days later the Obama site would post a very low resolution, barely legible image -- it still is there on the site, with no reference to the one first posted at the Daily Kos.
Yet the service of Daily Kos to the Obama campaign raises some questions: Who in the campaign would be authorized to release a personal document of Barack Obama's birth certificate? Was it a paper document that they sent to Kos to scan, or did the Obama campaign scan the original and send it to Kos? If so, why not just post it on the Fight the Smears site? Or is there another possible source for the document? There is no documentation of the provenance of this image, from whom and why it was transmitted to Daily Kos, and in which format. None, that is, except for the say-so of Markos Moulitsas, who said he simply asked the Obama campaign for it.
The perceived unreliability of the image has provoked petitions and widespread demands for Obama to submit for objective inspection the paper versions of the "birth certificate" he claimed in his book Dreams from My Father was in his possession, as well as the paper version of the Certificate of Live Birth for which the image on the Daily Kos and the Obama "Fight the Smears" website was supposedly generated.
Without a valid birth certificate, the primary record of US birth, Obama cannot prove that he fulfills the "natural born citizen" requirement of the Constitution, throwing into doubt his eligibility to run for President and throwing the race into turmoil. His presumed Kenyan-born father was foreign-born, and his mother was too young at the time of birth to confer natural born status by virtue of her American citizenship. Thus his citizenship comes down to proving he was born in the USA, and his campaign has staked its credibility on the authenticity of the Daily Kos-derived birth certificate image. (These aspects of the case are covered extensively in the previous article in this series.)
WHO IS OPENDNA/JAY McKINNON?
Jay McKinnon ask opendna, who says he is 25-30 years old, operates a website called opendna.com and uses the opendna screen name on various web sites and blogs, including his comments and diary on The Daily Kos. In recent years he has divided his time between Long Beach, California and Vancouver, British Columbia. He is a Democratic political activist, frequent contributor to the left wing Daily Kos blog, and a fervent Barack Obama supporter.
opendna posted on his Photobucket album two versions of a "Certification of Live Birth" document image, here and here. Both, as demonstrated in the respective blogs of analysts Polarik and JimJ, have a common visual signature (a dot that appears on all four images) with the images posted on the Daily Kos site image that the Obama campaign has endorsed as genuine on its "Fight the Smears" website and has distributed to news media as the "real" birth certificate of Barack Obama. The signature dot appears on that one, too, when magnified, albeit a bit ... smeared.
Here's the same anomaly appears in Jay Mckinnon/opendna's images (highlight added by JimJ:
View the larger image.
One image created and posted by opendna is what he describes as a "blank template" of a State of Hawaii Certification of Live Birth. Only two data fields are filled in: the ISLAND OF BIRTH ("Oahu") and the HOUR OF BIRTH (7:24 PM). Neither of the images have a posted date stamp, but embedded EXIF information contains the time stamp of June 12 at 8:24am, the same day and time Daily Kos posted the purported Obama birth certificate.
Both images lack two salient characteristics present in the Barack Obama birth certificate images claimed by the Daily Kos blog and Obama's "Fight the Smears" site. The Field under CERTIFICATE NO is blank whereas on the purported "Obama birth certificate" that area is blacked out as if to conceal a real number. In addition, the two documents posted to the opendna account lack the reversed date (June 6, 2007) that appears at the bottom of the purported "Obama birth certificate."
However, the ISLAND OF BIRTH and the HOUR OF BIRTH is identical on the "Haye I.B Ahphorgerie" and blank certificates as well as the purported "Obama birth certificate," which also claims 7:24 pm as the HOUR OF BIRTH and Oahu as the ISLAND OF BIRTH. The odds of an identical time occurring by chance in two certificates is 1440 to 1. Either the former is derived from the latter, or the latter is derived from the former.
If "Haye I.B Ahphorgerie" were derivative of the purported "Obama birth certificate," it would have meant that -- in a matter of minutes on the morning of June 12, 2008, opendna would have had to tracelessly erase all fields (save ISLAND OF BIRTH and the HOUR OF BIRTH), and to painstakingly remove the blacked out area near CERTIFICATE NO and the reversed date that appears at the bottom of the purported "Obama birth certificate." Given the complexity of the background pattern, it would have been difficult to do this without leaving behind traces of the extractions. For what motive would one want to do this?
Given that this is an official state document, the risks of altering and tampering with it, or offering it for the express purpose of creating a forgery, or promoting it on a website, would seem to be rather high for fun and games.
The second possibility is that the blank document preceded the purported Obama birth certificate, serving as a "master" for the other. Either one would find a "blank document" and fill it in, or one would scan or photograph an authentic document and then "clean it" to create a blank document that would be filled in with personal details and the necessary stamps and signatures. One might be inclined to leave in type for two rows for alignment purposes and to ensure that the font type and size are consistent. Later one would fill in the blank areas with the desired data and "authentic" markings.
McKINNON's VISUAL CONFESSION ON THE DAILY KOS
The significance of opendna's manipulated birth certificate template can be discerned by looking more closely at the Daily Kos blog entry in which the purported Obama birth certificate first appears.
Indeed, the document image was initially posted with a resolution of 1024 x 1000. Only later, after it was discovered that the document stamp and official signature were lacking from the document image, Kos replaced the image with the much higher resolution in which it is claimed that, after a series of complex image manipulation steps using special imaging software, a faint image of something the website claims is the missing seal appears. (Even if there is a seal, it's not clear it's a seal from an Obama birth certificate, and there is no visible registrar signature, which is also required for a certified document.) But it is impossible to make out with the naked eye, and the manipulation is illegible and useless for verification purposes.
A possible answer for some of these anomalies is provided in banter between opendna and other commenters in the discussion thread of the blog post.
At 12:41pm, a prior request for a "font expert" is answered by opendna: "How about a certified DHS [Department of Homeland Security] document expert?" And by 1:35pm opendna comes up with a suggestion for a new birth certificate for John McCain: "Why don't you just print one up for him? Here's a blank template."
And sure enough, there in the comments stream, he provides the "almost blank" Hawaii birth certificate image that appears on his Photobucket account, with just the information for the island and hour of birth. Of course, it's absurd to include a Hawaii birth certificate for John McCain, but what's striking is the availability of a "blank template" as McKinnon calls it.
The next commenter is impressed: "why can't Geraghty find this stuff? (but bloggers like you have it at thier fingertips? No wonder print media is in total collapse."
Now, as the time stamps would have it, opendna's suggestion is out of synch, appearing 4-5 hours after the initial posting of the purported Obama birth certificate document. That doesn't make much sense: Kos doesn't need a birth certificate for Obama -- one was already posted!
So why would OpenDNA post this? What explains his suggestion that Kos "print one up" with a "blank template"? Is he just trying to be funny? Is he trying to impress the other commenters? For this did he go through the trouble of removing all the text and the reverse date-stamp? Or was the blank template "just lying around somewhere" on his computer or in some corner of the Internet, just happening to have the identical information as the purported Obama birth certificate?
A hint may be found here (click the image to open one in higher resolution):
"Corvo", a very frequent commenter on Daily Kos, had written at 10 am: I'm sure that every forgery includes a note that essentially says "Hey! I'm a forgery!"
At 01:27:12 PM PDT, some three hours later, under the subject "!!!" and without any further comment, OpenDNA posts a crop of his Haye I.B Ahphorgerie image.
In other word, in response to Corvo's comment, McKinnon makes a visual "joke" -- "Hey," the document is saying: "I be a forgery!"
Remarkably, though, the Ahphorgerie crop appears seven minutes before opendna posts the "blank template" birth certificate image with the suggestion to "print one up" for Obama. So opendna was working on the image at that time.
Of course, the almost-blank "Haye I.B Ahphorgerie" birth certificate is not a particularly useful counterfeit but, as McKinnon suggests, it could be put to good use by "printing one up" using the "blank template." It's as if opendna couldn't resist boasting, after the release of the "official" Obama version, of his own role: "Hey, I be a forgery!"
It is certainly worthy of note that the "Haye I.B Ahphorgerie" image and comments were subsequently excised from the discussion thread, something that could only have been done by a site administrator or Kos himself. However, the management failed to clean up in the site archive from where these images were pulled and, as of this writing, is still publicly accessible. The suppression of the comments indicates that one or more persons at Daily Kos were involved in the attempted cover-up.
ON THE UNBEARABLE EASE OF BIRTH CERTIFICATE FORGERY
None of this is not to imply that McKinnon himself forged the Obama document, with all the fields filled in with information about the presidential candidate but lacking the visible stamp and signature that alone would make it an authentic document. Nor is their proof positive about how the almost-blank "Oahu 7:24pm" document is related to the one endorsed by the Obama campaign that features those exact details.
The presence on the Daily Kos blog of the admittedly forged almost-blank templates of the document, and the admission of forgery by opendna in that same blog entry, should cause the Obama campaign to reassess its reliance on the image of the birth certificate published by the Daily Kos.
If the website is the home for a self-admitted federally-trained document specialist, with examples of forgery posted concurrently with the image they claim as authentic, is that a venue appropriate for a presidential candidate to showcase the only available high resolution purported image of his vital records? If the birth certificate endorsed by his campaign turns out to be a fraud -- and the overwhelming evidence assembled points to it being precisely that -- what would that say about the credentials and judgment of the presidential candidate it purports to represent? Let alone his Constitutional eligibility to serve.
Yet the Obama campaign, three weeks later, continues to run a derivative of the Daily Kos posts, and insists on its authenticity while refusing to submit any paper proof of birth for official or independent inspection, as if proof of Constitutional fitness to serve is of no consequence.
In the summer of August 2006, blogging on the Daily Kos, opendna aka Jay McKinnon showed off his DHS-derived knowledge, discussing under the heading of "The Perfect ID Card" the ease of forging US documents, birth certificates in particular:
"Most Americans have worse ID than illegal immigrants. So, you have a letter from a notary that says you told him you're a citizen. Is that supposed to mean something? I'm certain he would sign one saying I told him I'm a carrot. Birth certificates, are you serious? Take a look at yours. Chances are I could counterfeit it at Kinkos."
Jay McKinnon may not have had to go that far.
In the course of my subsequent email exchange with McKinnon -- more on that in the next article -- he at last agreed to release the following statement: "I believe there is overwhelming evidence that Senator Obama is a natural born US Citizen, and I have no evidence to contradict that belief." He did not relate to the veracity of the Obama birth certificate images.
This is Part 4 of a series. Here's where you can find Parts 1, 2, and 3. Other articles about Barack Obama and his mysterious background are linked on the upper left of this article.
Join our cool new (N)Obama Club, where you can stay up to date with constantly updated videos, photos, and news streams about Barack H. Obama and discuss him in infinite depth and detail with other fans and critics.
I know my two cents probably isn't worth much but here it is. For years the only choice we've had for a president is between a religous right wing nut job and a liberal left wing, sometimes religous, nut job. Does anyone think maybe that's the problem. Why dont we start electing people who base their political desisions on what is good for everyone instead of what will get them elected. Another point, I dont blame congress for screwing things up, I blame myself because I have been electing these idiots into office just like the rest of you. Stop and think about, maybe we should all vote libertarian this year where the motto is less taxes, less government, less problems. I know if I vote for Bob Barr he still wont get elected but at least I will sleep at night knowing I chose for the right reasons instead of the lesser of two evils.
Hi,
I didn't hear about this election, but my small business votes Obama. I feel he has a steady hand and makes intelligent decisions. I am very alarmed by the McCain/Palin ticket and fail to see their merits.
I am a small business owner. I know that by voting for John McCain I may loose money. But I truly believe that we may be risking our lives with Obama. I would rather loose money than lives.
I look at both and agree we have a hard choice to make. But if you take the time to look at everything, it is a choice of going to war with terrorist, or the possible loss of money and job cuts. I am not going to get into the details since most of the above posts have already done so. But if you look at what was written above and have to make a choice, then I would almost put money on the vote for McCain. Obama has many things that make him look very suspicious. And that is never good when you are talking about someone that will be leading our country.
But we all have the freedom to vote as we want, I just hope that everyone really looks at this completely, then make a informed decision.
I could not understand how the majority of people polled were on the Obama side. So i went Googling for a poll that surveyed small businesses. My personal views were reaffirmed. The people who understand what makes our economy run, are in favor of McCain. Those who understand that America IS the land of opportunity and freedom, those who have toiled to build businesses and subsequently jobs, know that higher taxes and bigger governement will slow our economy even more. The origins of the current economic crisis are as numerous as the stars. Many are to blame, not a single person or party. Most Americans are over their heads in debt, our government is over its head in debt. We are doomed if we have a far left president with a far left congress. Social Securty is going to be bankrupt by 2040. Medicare will be negative by 2018. With our government deficit where it is currently, we will be going to have even more debt with big government. Go ahead all you Obama supporters. Send us over the edge. Send the economy, our nation and the world into a tailspin that will never recover. If all your wished come true you can start reading about your future in the Book of Revelations!
Even if only 10% is true we are in trouble, heck...if only 1% is true all Americans are in trouble!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okm3eWJY87Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0fO6cYgv5Y
False Pretenses
Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
By Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith
January 23, 2008
President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.
On at least 532 separate occasions (in speeches, briefings, interviews, testimony, and the like), Bush and these three key officials, along with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan, stated unequivocally that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (or was trying to produce or obtain them), links to Al Qaeda, or both. This concerted effort was the underpinning of the Bush administration's case for war.
It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to Al Qaeda. This was the conclusion of numerous bipartisan government investigations, including those by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (2004 and 2006), the 9/11 Commission, and the multinational Iraq Survey Group, whose "Duelfer Report" established that Saddam Hussein had terminated Iraq's nuclear program in 1991 and made little effort to restart it.
In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003. Not surprisingly, the officials with the most opportunities to make speeches, grant media interviews, and otherwise frame the public debate also made the most false statements, according to this first-ever analysis of the entire body of prewar rhetoric.
President Bush, for example, made 232 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and another 28 false statements about Iraq's links to Al Qaeda. Secretary of State Powell had the second-highest total in the two-year period, with 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq's links to Al Qaeda. Rumsfeld and Fleischer each made 109 false statements, followed by Wolfowitz (with 85), Rice (with 56), Cheney (with 48), and McClellan (with 14).
The massive database at the heart of this project juxtaposes what President Bush and these seven top officials were saying for public consumption against what was known, or should have been known, on a day-to-day basis. This fully searchable database includes the public statements, drawn from both primary sources (such as official transcripts) and secondary sources (chiefly major news organizations) over the two years beginning on September 11, 2001. It also interlaces relevant information from more than 25 government reports, books, articles, speeches, and interviews.
Consider, for example, these false public statements made in the run-up to war:
* On August 26, 2002, in an address to the national convention of the Veteran of Foreign Wars, Cheney flatly declared: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." In fact, former CIA Director George Tenet later recalled, Cheney's assertions went well beyond his agency's assessments at the time. Another CIA official, referring to the same speech, told journalist Ron Suskind, "Our reaction was, 'Where is he getting this stuff from?' "
* In the closing days of September 2002, with a congressional vote fast approaching on authorizing the use of military force in Iraq, Bush told the nation in his weekly radio address: "The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the facilities to make more and, according to the British government, could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the order is given. . . . This regime is seeking a nuclear bomb, and with fissile material could build one within a year." A few days later, similar findings were also included in a much-hurried National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction — an analysis that hadn't been done in years, as the intelligence community had deemed it unnecessary and the White House hadn't requested it.
* In July 2002, Rumsfeld had a one-word answer for reporters who asked whether Iraq had relationships with Al Qaeda terrorists: "Sure." In fact, an assessment issued that same month by the Defense Intelligence Agency (and confirmed weeks later by CIA Director Tenet) found an absence of "compelling evidence demonstrating direct cooperation between the government of Iraq and Al Qaeda." What's more, an earlier DIA assessment said that "the nature of the regime's relationship with Al Qaeda is unclear."
* On May 29, 2003, in an interview with Polish TV, President Bush declared: "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories." But as journalist Bob Woodward reported in State of Denial, days earlier a team of civilian experts dispatched to examine the two mobile labs found in Iraq had concluded in a field report that the labs were not for biological weapons. The team's final report, completed the following month, concluded that the labs had probably been used to manufacture hydrogen for weather balloons.
* On January 28, 2003, in his annual State of the Union address, Bush asserted: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production." Two weeks earlier, an analyst with the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research sent an email to colleagues in the intelligence community laying out why he believed the uranium-purchase agreement "probably is a hoax."
* On February 5, 2003, in an address to the United Nations Security Council, Powell said: "What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence. I will cite some examples, and these are from human sources." As it turned out, however, two of the main human sources to which Powell referred had provided false information. One was an Iraqi con artist, code-named "Curveball," whom American intelligence officials were dubious about and in fact had never even spoken to. The other was an Al Qaeda detainee, Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, who had reportedly been sent to Eqypt by the CIA and tortured and who later recanted the information he had provided. Libi told the CIA in January 2004 that he had "decided he would fabricate any information interrogators wanted in order to gain better treatment and avoid being handed over to [a foreign government]."
The false statements dramatically increased in August 2002, with congressional consideration of a war resolution, then escalated through the mid-term elections and spiked even higher from January 2003 to the eve of the invasion.
Click to Enlarge
Click to Enlarge
It was during those critical weeks in early 2003 that the president delivered his State of the Union address and Powell delivered his memorable U.N. presentation. For all 935 false statements, including when and where they occurred, go to the search page for this project; the methodology used for this analysis is explained here.
In addition to their patently false pronouncements, Bush and these seven top officials also made hundreds of other statements in the two years after 9/11 in which they implied that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or links to Al Qaeda. Other administration higher-ups, joined by Pentagon officials and Republican leaders in Congress, also routinely sounded false war alarms in the Washington echo chamber.
The cumulative effect of these false statements — amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts — was massive, with the media coverage creating an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war. Some journalists — indeed, even some entire news organizations — have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical. These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, "independent" validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq.
The "ground truth" of the Iraq war itself eventually forced the president to backpedal, albeit grudgingly. In a 2004 appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, for example, Bush acknowledged that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq. And on December 18, 2005, with his approval ratings on the decline, Bush told the nation in a Sunday-night address from the Oval Office: "It is true that Saddam Hussein had a history of pursuing and using weapons of mass destruction. It is true that he systematically concealed those programs, and blocked the work of U.N. weapons inspectors. It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As your president, I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq. Yet it was right to remove Saddam Hussein from power."
Bush stopped short, however, of admitting error or poor judgment; instead, his administration repeatedly attributed the stark disparity between its prewar public statements and the actual "ground truth" regarding the threat posed by Iraq to poor intelligence from a Who's Who of domestic agencies.
On the other hand, a growing number of critics, including a parade of former government officials, have publicly — and in some cases vociferously — accused the president and his inner circle of ignoring or distorting the available intelligence. In the end, these critics say, it was the calculated drumbeat of false information and public pronouncements that ultimately misled the American people and this nation's allies on their way to war.
Bush and the top officials of his administration have so far largely avoided the harsh, sustained glare of formal scrutiny about their personal responsibility for the litany of repeated, false statements in the run-up to the war in Iraq. There has been no congressional investigation, for example, into what exactly was going on inside the Bush White House in that period. Congressional oversight has focused almost entirely on the quality of the U.S. government's pre-war intelligence — not the judgment, public statements, or public accountability of its highest officials. And, of course, only four of the officials — Powell, Rice, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz — have testified before Congress about Iraq.
Short of such review, this project provides a heretofore unavailable framework for examining how the U.S. war in Iraq came to pass. Clearly, it calls into question the repeated assertions of Bush administration officials that they were the unwitting victims of bad intelligence.
Above all, the 935 false statements painstakingly presented here finally help to answer two all-too-familiar questions as they apply to Bush and his top advisers: What did they know, and when did they know it?
http://www.imvotingrepublican.com/
Israel Insider Staff said...
I am a Zionist
http://www.israelinsider.com/views/authors/koret.htm
I have been saying this for almost a year No one in the political arena seems to care why they really don't care about us either side. My point which is on my website mentioned here is take these bad properties out there retro fit them with Alternative Energy sources and if they sit they will at least make some cash selling power to the utility company's. Its so simple its stupid! But spending 700bill for some guys to go golfing is more important!
Here is some food for thought--
"[The poor] do the dirty work for us, and they're never mentioned in the campaign. It's like the [using the word]poor is a no-no. And yet the poor Americans are shrinking the middle class because a lot of the middle class is going into poverty."
"There's got to be justice. People are crying out against this gross unfairness, where these bosses on Wall Street tank their own companies, un-employ hundreds of thousands of workers, and jump ship into a golden lifeboat."
"Nobody conquers Afghanistan. The British didn't do it. The Soviet Union didn't do it. We're not going to do it. It's a scar on the conscience of Obama and McCain that they are ready to get us into a massive quagmire."
"The only place left for Capitalism in this country is small business. Because they're free to go bankrupt."
These are quotes from a video interview on PBS with Ralph Nader. There is still a choice left on Nov. 4th.
Check out the video at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/video/blog/2008/10/ralph_nader_for_president.html
The Tyranny of Money...The TRUE redistribution of Wealth
A compilation of quotes courtesy of Wikipedia
"Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws!"
-Mayer Amschel Rothschild
"From the days of Sparticus Wieshophf, Karl Marx, Trotski, Belacoon, Rosa Luxenburg, and Ema Goldman, this world conspiracy has been steadily growing. This conspiracy played a definite recognizable role in the tragedy of the French revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the 19th century. And now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their head and have become the undisputed masters of that enormous empire."
- Winston Churchill, 1922
"Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it."
- Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom (1913)
"The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes."
- Benjamin Disraeli, first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in a novel he published in 1844 called Coningsby, the New Generation
"The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining supercapitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control... Do I mean conspiracy? Yes, I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent."
- Congressman Larry P. McDonald, 1976, killed in the Korean Airlines 747 that was shot down by the Soviets.
"I am one of those who do not believe the national debt is a national blessing... it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country."
- Andrew Jackson, letter, April 26, 1824
" There today exists uncontrolled in the hands of a set of men a power to make dollars from nothing."
- Thomas W. Lawson Frenzied Finance, 1905
"Those that create and issue the money and credit direct the policies of government and hold in their hands the destiny of the people."
- Reginald McKenna, President of the Midlands Bank of England
"It must not be felt that these heads of the world's chief central banks were themselves substantive powers in world finance. They were not. Rather, they were the technicians and agents of the dominant investment bankers of their own countries, who had raised them up and were perfectly capable of throwing them down. The substantive financial powers of the world were in the hands of these investments bankers (also called 'international' or 'merchant' bankers) who remained largely behind the scenes in their own unicorporated private banks. These formed a system of international cooperation and national dominance which was more private, more powerful, and more secret than that of their agents in the central banks..."
- Professor Carroll Quigley, Tradgey and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time, 1966
"It [the depression] was not accidental. It was a carefully contrived occurrence.... The international bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so that they might emerge as the rulers of us all."
- Congressman Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee
"100% of what is collected is absorbed soley by interest on the Federal Debt ... all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services taxpayers expect from government."
- Grace Commission Report, submitted to President Ronald Reagan on January 15, 1984
"The high office of President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the American's freedom, and before I leave office I must inform the citizen of his plight."
- John F. Kennedy, speech at Columbia University, 10 days before his assassination
"Now that we can control the weather, create earthquakes and tidal waves and, use it as a weapon of war, we do not need a treaty."
- Senator Claiborne Pell, Senate Intelligence Committe member, commenting on a USA/USSR treaty signed in 1978
"The real rulers of Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes."
- US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter
"Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government Institution. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers."
- Congressman Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, June 20, 1932
"The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits or so dependent on its favours that there will be no
opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of the people mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system will bear its burdens without complaint and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests."
- John Sherman letter sent to New York bankers, Morton, and Gould, in support of the then proposed National Banking Act,June 25, 1863
“The Federal Reserve (Bank) is one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever seen. There is not a man within the sound of my voice who does not know that this Nation is run by the international bankers.”
― Congressman Louis T. McFadden
“If the American people ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency (instead of Congress), first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of ALL PROPERTY until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers occupied. The issuing power of money should be taken from the banks and restored to Congress and the people to whom it belongs.”
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to then Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, 1802
“Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes disappear, and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of Bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money and control credit."
― Sir Josiah Stamp - president of the Bank of England in the 1920’s and the second richest man in Britain
“The people must be helped to think naturally about money. They must be told what it is, and what makes it money, and what are the possible TRICKS OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM which put nations and peoples UNDER CONTROL OF THE FEW. If the American people knew the CORRUPTION IN OUR MONEY SYSTEM THERE WOULD BE REVOLUTION BEFORE MORNING!”
― Henry Ford, Sr. — American Developer of the Automobile (Emerging Struggle pg. 165)
“Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks, hereinafter called the Fed. The Fed has cheated the government of these United States and the people of the United States out of enough money to pay the Nation's debt. The depredations and iniquities of the Fed has cost this country enough money to pay the National debt several times over. These twelve private credit monopolies were deceitfully and disloyally foisted upon this country by the bankers who came here from Europe and repaid us our hospitality by undermining our American institutions. Those bankers took money out of this country to finance Japan in a war against Russia. They created a reign of terror in Russia with our money in order to help that war along. They instigated the separate peace between Germany and Russia and thus drove a wedge between the Allies in the World War."
― Congressman Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of House Banking Committee 1921 through 1931 — in a speech made before the House in 1934
“This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial Banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the Banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible, but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects remedied very soon.”
― Robert H. Hemphill (Credit Manager of Federal Reserve Bank, Atlanta, Ga.)
"When the Federal Reserve Act was passed, the people of these United States did not perceive that a world banking system was being set up here. A super-state controlled by international bankers and international industrialists acting together to enslave the world for their own pleasure. Every effort has been made by the Fed (Reserve) to conceal its powers but the truth is — THE FED HAS USURPED THE GOVERNMENT!"
― Congressman Louis McFadden, Chairman of House Comm. on Banking and Currency from 1920 to 1931 (Shadows of Power, pg. 23
"I am afraid that the ordinary citizen will not like to be told that the banks can and do “CREATE” money, and they who control the credit of a nation direct the policy of the government and hold in the hollow of their hands, the destiny of the people."
― Reginald McKenna, Chancellor of England’s Exchequer, January 1924
"The present Federal Reserve System is a flagrant case of the Government’s conferring a special privilege upon bankers. The Government hands to the banks its credit, at virtually no cost to the banks, to be loaned out by the bankers for their own private profit. Still worse, however, is the fact that it gives the bankers practically complete control of the amount of money that shall be in circulation. Not one dollar of these Federal Reserve notes gets into circulation and without someone paying interest of someone paying interest to some bank to keep it circulation. Our present money system is a debt of money system. Before a dollar can circulate, a debt must be created. Such a system assumes that you can borrow yourself out of debt."
― Willis A. Overholser, LL.B - in History of Money in the United States.
"The only way I can get to sleep at night is by imagining a secret cabal of highly competent puppetmasters who are handling the important decisions while our elected politicians debate flag burning and the definition of marriage."
- Scott Adams "Dilbert Blog"
"This is an impressive crowd. The "haves" and the "have-mores". Some people call you the "elite". I call you my base."
George W. Bush during 2000 camapign
Oh well, I am a small business owner. I am a christian and I am American.
I see that most of the small businesses are supporting McCain for what ever reasons. We all have our choices and reasons. The most things that I have heard is that Obama is not experienced enough to do the job. My question is who is? Neither one has ever been in this position before.
Just because one is dark skin and the other is white doesn't make him any better suited for the job just because it's the race normally put into office. My take on the whole thing is what if we put McCain in office, and his health fails him? Are we ready for the governor of a 3rd world country that we own to be in charge? And what makes her qualified? She can't even run her own household. (Did you see the picture of her grand daughter giving someone the middle finger?)
And do we really need our insurance taxed? Or do we really need to start a fight with Iran? How about the small business owner who will end up paying more to get it's employees insurance. I'm sure you'll love that SMB's.
But I guess a host of SNL show be good enough to run our country.
Also think about this, America. Do we have any more companies to send out of the country? Do we have any more money to give to other countries to allow their people to come here and get loans to start businesses that cheat americans out of good services and products? NAFTA is why our economy is down, the masses are not benefiting from it. And neither is small business. So do we need to keep this up another 4 to 8 years?
OH!! and last but not least, USA is not for sale. So quit selling your businesses to other countries. Don't be so greedy!!!
I truly hope the GOP learns a lesson in future Presidential elections. Quit putting up old guys and old "Washington" guys up for President. They put Bob Dole up and now McCain. It is a failed approach. That approach does not excite or motivate anyone. Reagan may have been the only exception we will see in our lifetime.
Everyone is complaining about socialism. What do you call it when the government bails out banks, car manufacturers and insurance companies? Bush, the son, is the 43rd best president we ever had. ( How is that for a positive spin? )
Reagan was not far behind. He was never actually the president. It was just a role he played for 8 years.
Check out history and you will find that a few years following EVERY tax cut for the wealthy, there was a recession. It just doesn't work.
The cutoff point needs to be realistic. I don't mean $250,000 or even a million. If you are making over $3 mil a year, you should be taxed on the overage. This would encourage keeping money in the business for expansion. It works.
As to Obama, let's see. He absolutely can not do worse.
Interesting result graphs. Thanks for sharing!
Post a Comment
<< Home