West Virginia Blue
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What specific economic policies of the last 8 years will you work to change if elected?
If the rarely seen Rep. Shelley Moore Capito ever makes a public appearance in our district, I want someone to ask her that. But, I already know... she and Sen. John McCain don't have an answer.
Contact your Congressional representativesnow with the simple message: support Obama's seven principles to fix our economy, not Bush's blank check to bailout billionaires.
Obama has once again shown that he is the leader of today's Democratic Party and in the process may well have just sealed the deal to become our next President.
While Bush and McCain are caught flat-footed with a single dimensional solution--throw lots of money at the crooks who already ripped us off--Obama is showing why Democrats deserve to once again be in charge of the White House and Congress. He's providing a well-reasoned solution to a thorny problem.
Political Radar has the best summary in Obama Picks Up Phone on Economy. Pelosi has come out against the Bush bailout plan and Obama has released a list of 7 principles for a new plan.
o No blank check. If we grant the Treasury broad authority to address the immediate crisis, we must insist on independent accountability and oversight. Given the breach of trust we have seen and the magnitude of the taxpayer money involved, there can be no blank check.
o Rescue requires mutual responsibility. As taxpayers are asked to take extraordinary steps to protect our financial system, it is only appropriate to expect those institutions that benefit to help protect American homeowners and the American economy. We cannot underwrite continued irresponsibility, where CEOs cash in and our regulators look the other way. We cannot abet and reward the unconscionable practices that triggered this crisis. We have to end them.
o Taxpayers should be protected. This should not be a handout to Wall Street. It should be structured in a way that maximizes the ability of taxpayers to recoup their investment. Going forward, we need to make sure that the institutions that benefit from financial insurance also bear the cost of that insurance.
o Help homeowners stay in their homes. This crisis started with homeowners and they bear the brunt of the nearly unprecedented collapse in housing prices. We cannot have a plan for Wall Street banks that does not help homeowners stay in their homes and help distressed communities.
o A global response. As I said on Friday, this is a global financial crisis and it requires a global solution. The United States must lead, but we must also insist that other nations, who have a huge stake in the outcome, join us in helping to secure the financial markets.
o Main Street, not just Wall Street. The American people need to know that we feel as great a sense of urgency about the emergency on Main Street as we do the emergency on Wall Street. That is why I call on Senator McCain, President Bush, Republicans and Democrats to join me in supporting an emergency economic plan for working families - a plan that would help folks cope with rising gas and food prices, save one million jobs through rebuilding our schools and roads, help states and cities avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, help homeowners stay in their homes, and provide retooling assistance to help ensure that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built in America.
o Build a regulatory structure for the 21st Century. While there is not time in a week to remake our regulatory structure to prevent abuses in the future, we should commit ourselves to the kind of reforms I have been advocating for several years. We need new rules of the road for the 21st Century economy, together with the means and willingness to enforce them.
It's going to be fun watching Republicans twist themselves in pretzels this week complaining about any of these principles. If the election comes down to a referendum between a $700,000,000 blank check to Wall Street and these principles, Obama is the clear winner.
We now have a firm legislative road map and a rallying point for all Congressional Democrats to get behind. The Republicans have set a budget of $700bn, let's see what kind of legislation Democrats can draft with that price tag!
Contact your Congressional representativesnow with the simple message: support Obama's seven principles to fix our economy, not Bush's blank check to bailout billionaires.
I was at a dinner last night with a group of folks who are not only successful business people but also republicans. I like many other progressives work on making sure I have all the right answers to the typical claims these folks make about Barack Obama, John McCain and Sarah Palin. Of course you never get a good chance to talk about reality. Here are my problems with these folks...
1. You can't get a word in edgewise
2. They talk too loud
3. They don't listen to what you have to say and expect you to isten to them.
4. All of their talking points come from viral emails and Faux News
I finally got a chance to answer a question... who do you think is going to win the election? Of course I said Barack Obama, and explained my feelings about the economy and how people will vote their pocketbooks. I probably went a little too far as I asked everyone if they could remember 1964 when LBJ trounced Barry Goldwater. I told them that I expected a blow out of a similar magnitude.
The response didn't surprise me... they blamed everything on the Democrats stating that since they have been in control for two years they were the cause of all the problems with the economy, housing, the war, etc. etc.. From then on I couldn't get a word in at all. It was easier to join folks in the other room and have a far more pleasant discussion on the other no no topic... religion.
Barack Obama has not been shy to take about his own faith journey. While I would not say he wears it on his sleeve, his experience in the black church lead him to be more open to the role of faith in our society's conversation than the reserved New England nature that Kerry and Dean exhibited in 2004. Obama's demand for both social justice and personal responsibility comes from his faith. May I point you to his June 2006 Call to Renewal speech without offending non-believers or others of other beliefs?
To me this means he is threat to the perceived dominance of part the religious community's alignment with the Republican Party that has benefited both over the last decades. This is the motive I see behind the drum beat to discredit Obama on this front. Ironically it was the persecuted religious minority at the the time, the Baptists, who didn't want the established churches to impose their views. Hence, the First Amendment.
After his speech in Berlin, the best way to sum up the reaction was a diary here named They want America back. I want my country back, too.
Our own candidate for the WV-02 race Anne Barth is a minister's daughter. Her concerns for the people of West Virginia comes from her own life experience. Carnacki and other have posted much about her merits here at West Virginia Blue more eloquently that I can.
Born in the southern coalfields of Bluefield, West Virginia, Anne was raised with a strong tradition of service to others. As the daughter of a United Methodist Minister, she lived in parsonages around the state, including Pineville, Kingwood, Clarksburg, and Charleston. Growing up, Anne was taught the values of fairness, justice, and compassion, and was raised with the moral obligation to serve our fellow man.
After Net Roots Nation 08 Carnacki posted a video of Grammy Award Winning kossack John Hobbs performance, and mentioned the multifaith service conducted by pastor dan of Street Prophets. I want my faith back, too.
This is a horror story that actually started while most of America was sleeping. It was just 4 hours after our brave men and women were first going into Iraq for George W. Bush on March 21, 2003.
As our troops were just going into Basra, Shelly Moore Capito voted along with House Republicans to cut $28 Billion from wounded veteran's benefits to help pay for their $750 billion tax cuts for the rich. The budget they passed over Democratic objections has not only hurt veteran's health care ever since, their tax giveaway for the wealthiest continues to be a deep, long cut in services for low-income elderly and children as well.
H CON RES 95 Roll Call 82 passed 215-212 at 2:54 am E.S.T. that Friday morning along party lines.
Republicans were working their blood soaked rubberstamps overtime in the House like a dimestore cowpoke uses his chainsaw vacation time fighting tumbleweed at his fake ranch. They'd worked practically all night long to pass Bush's 2004 budget. But they needn't have lost sleep at all but for the pesky Democratic opposition. Who in the end, had been just plain outnumbered.
Now that's beyond amazing. They'd set a whole new standard for political hypocrisy. While House Republicans approved massive tax cuts for the wealthiest, they cut disability benefits just as our troops going into Iraq. Truly groundbreaking.
And the timing was perfectly controlled. It was passed at the beginning of the weekend news cycle so that fewer folks would hear about it. Besides, you may recall that the military-industrialized media was all about slogans and sound bites back then, what with the 2004 election looming and all. So America never got to hear about the underfunding until they literally broke the Veteran's Administration.
By June 23, 2005 the VA had been underfunded so badly that VA undersecretary for health Jonathan B. Perlin, House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson (former head of the RNC who eventually had to quit the VA due to scandals) finally had to acknowledge veterans health budget shortfall of at least $1 billion.
Anyway, to keep this horror story as short as possible, here's what I'm gettin' at.
This Memorial Day, let's thank veterans not by just saluting them one day and then forgetting about them the next. Let's really help them out. Let your family, friends and neighbors all know that since the invasion of Iraq, Shelley Capito voted to cut funding for care of veterans, underfund the VA and block Democratic opponents attempts every single time she got the chance.
She joined shoulder-to-shoulder with Bush to disregard and disrespect our nation's veterans over 15 times since voting to go to Iraq, never once voting to properly fund VA needs as expressed by the GAO, the President's own Task Force, and a whole boatload of non-partisan veteran's groups.
Her unflinching loyalty to Bush and his tax cuts for the wealthy over veteran's needs shouldn't go unreported. It's time we all end this horror story together by spreading the word about Shelley Capito's sorry record.
And when it comes time, just vote your conscience, because she apparently has none whatsoever.
For the last 7 1/2 years, ineffective Bush-Republican Shelley Moore Capito has supported with the Bush White House on 4 out of every 5 votes. Now she's asking us to support her and another presidential candidate promising more of the same.
We need a President and a Congress that will get this country back on the right track. Vote for a change in the White House, vote for a change in WV-02. Vote a Democratic straight party ticket in November.
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.
4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."
6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.
7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's tooreckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher JohnHagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."
10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0--yes, zero--from the League of Conservation Voters last year.
Here's a random set of facts and narratives already well covered in the blogosphere... some day soon the traditional media will catch up.
* Our current economic mess is really, really, really, really bad. It's not just the usual cyclical problems. We've got major structural issues, too.
* The Bush economic boom never was. Only the wealthiest of the wealthiest have done better. Everyone else has been treading water for seven years. Now that layoffs, stagnating earnings, and price increases are hitting white collar workers (and "the city"... NYC), the media will start catching up.
* The "sub-prime" lending crisis is, as Dr. Atrios puts it, just the tip of the giant shit-pile. A lot of stupid financial decisions were made by supposedly smart people who blindly acted like markets only rise and never fall.
* The reason the Saudis will not further increase oil production is -- not because they are enjoying record oil prices -- it's 'cause they have no more production to increase. No one else has slack idle production, either. 5-10 years ago the Saudis would increase production even when oil hit new highs... they wanted to keep alternative energies from looking viable. If they could increase production, they would.
On that same topic... here's a question I've not hear much about... how much lower would the price of oil be today has the US not increased demand with its wartime usage in Iraq at the same time as it dramatically decreased Iraqi oil production for 5 years?
Politics
* The delegate math, fund-raising differential, and the calendar are all working strongly against Hillary Clinton. Her big strategy gambit has been: wait for Obama to self-destruct. Clinton's last great hope for an Obama tumble was successfully navigated this past week.
The media will now turn their attention to negative Hillary Clinton stories. Gov. Richardson's endorsement of Obama and news of recurring Clinton's money woes are the short-term pivot points for a change in momentum.
Look for the press to move from the story line of "Obama can't win before the convention" to "Clinton won't win at the convention" to "when will Clinton drop out?"
* Sen. John McCain is an awfully talented politician. After his original ethics disaster -- getting caught with both hands in the cookie jar in the Keating 5 scandal -- he burnished his image with campaign finance legislation he's since done his best to ignore. The only people who love Sen. McCain more than the press are lobbyists.
* There is a major enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans. Sen. McCain is raising money at an incredibly slow rate for a major party nominee. (Alas, traditional media being what it is... even when this is finally noticed, it will somehow be seen as good news for Republicans.)
There you have it... next week's news today. It may take a while for traditional media to catch up, but it usually does eventually.
Are you better off than you were when George Bush and Shelley Moore Capito were elected to office in 2000? We've had seven years for the effect of massive tax cuts for the very wealthiest to trickle down to the rest of us. How's that worked out for you?
When you read short posts like this one, Today's Money Warning Post-- I'm sure we all wished we had that problem--it's a sure sign our nation's once fine economy is experiencing more than just a little bump in the road to prosperity.
The Iraq war has cost the US 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and was a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
[snip]
The spending on Iraq was a hidden cause of the current credit crunch because the US central bank responded to the massive financial drain of the war by flooding the American economy with cheap credit.
"The regulators were looking the other way and money was being lent to anybody this side of a life-support system," he said.
That led to a housing bubble and a consumption boom, and the fallout was plunging the US economy into recession and saddling the next US president with the biggest budget deficit in history, he said.
The last seven years of conservative Republican Shelley Moore Capito's unwavering support for President Bush's budgets and President Bush's Iraq War aren't looking like such a good idea, are they?
Capito came in to office with Bush, she should leave with him.
From the outset of their confrontation with the British monarchy, the Americans were labeled as traitors and insurgents. They were denied the status of honorable soldiers in arms and were treated shamefully. Even as Washington issued the order quoted at the outset, he knew that all 31 of the prisoners taken by the British at Bunker Hill had died in captivity, many under unsettling circumstances. Of the 2,607 Americans taken prisoner at the capitulation of Ft Washington, all but 800 had died in captivity by 1778. The continental press was filled with accounts of the brutal and inhuman treatment of Americans taken by the British throughout this period.
Against a loud public outcry of "eye for an eye," George Washington stood fast. He made it a point of fundamental honor (and that was his word) that the Americans would not only hold dearly to the laws of war, they would define a new law of war that reflected the humanitarian principles for which the new Republic had risen. These principles required respect for the dignity and worth of every human being engaged in the conduct of the war, whether in the American cause or that of the nation's oppressor. They also required respect for the religion and cultural values of foreign peoples. He wrote, "While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious of violating the rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to Him only in this case are they answerable."
Following the Battle of Trenton in 1776, Washington set firm rules for the treatment of prisoners in American custody. "Treat them with humanity, and let them have no reason to complain of our copying the brutal example of the British Army in their treatment of our unfortunate brethren who have fallen into their hands," he wrote. In all respects the prisoners were to be treated no worse than American soldiers; and in some respects, better. Through this approach, Washington sought to shame his British adversaries, and to demonstrate the moral superiority of the American cause. He also anticipated that the prisoners, treated with such attention and care, would reconsider their loyalties by the end of the war and embrace the American cause (his expectation was fulfilled - nearly all of the surviving prisoners of Trenton, for instance, settled in America and attained citizenship, many after US military service).
I wish I could turn to cheerier matters, but I just can't get past this torture issue -- the fact that George W. Bush, the president of the United States of America, persists in demanding that Congress give him the right to torture anyone he considers a "high-value" terrorist suspect. The president of the United States. Interrogation by torture. This just can't be happening.
It's past time to stop mincing words. The Decider, or maybe we should now call him the Inquisitor, sticks to anodyne euphemisms. He speaks of "alternative" questioning techniques, and his umbrella term for the whole shop of horrors is "the program." Of course, he won't fully detail the methods that were used in the secret CIA prisons -- and who knows where else? -- but various sources have said they have included not just the infamous "waterboarding," which the administration apparently will reluctantly forswear, but also sleep deprivation, exposure to cold, bombardment with ear-splitting noise and other assaults that cause not just mental duress but physical agony. That is torture, and to call it anything else is a lie.
That's not even considering the worst of what Bush and Cheney refer to as "harsh interrogation techniques." Seymour Hersh:
Some of the worst things that happened you don't know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib ... The women were passing messages out saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened' and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It's going to come out."
At a time when the country needed a great leader like George Washington, we have George W. Bush.
Here's the hot new viral campaign ad inspired by Sen. John McCain. I can't wait to see conservative Bush-Republican Shelley Moore Capito run on this platform in November.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller lays out a detailed critique of how bad the final budget of conservative Rep. Capito's favorite President is for West Virginia.
Pres. George Bush and Rep. Capito tell West Virginian's to suck it up in a bad economy (even as they call for making their tax cuts for the super-wealthy permanent).
PRESIDENT'S BUDGET SLASHES SERVICES FOR WEST VIRGINIANS OF ALL AGES ~Budget Cuts Funding to Health Care, Heating Assistance, Education, Veterans, Mine Safety, Firefighters and Aviation Service~
Washington, DC - Senator Jay Rockefeller today called the President's $3.1 trillion federal budget for 2009 - the largest in American history - indefensible because it slashes funding for vital programs aimed at helping West Virginia's coal miners, seniors, students and families.
"For many families in West Virginia, the conversation at the kitchen table is centered on how to afford health care, food and basic utility bills. The President's budget doesn't propose any relief to those worries; rather, it just makes them worse.
"We need to be expanding, not limiting, access to affordable health care offered through Medicare and Medicaid. We should be looking at ways to increase heating assistance for those on fixed incomes, and find ways to help hard-working West Virginians make ends meet.
Rockefeller's comments and budget cut details continue below the fold
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