Filed under: Election 2008
From tonight’s Presidential debate:
Obama: Senator McCain mentioned Henry Kissinger who is one of his advisors who along with 5 Secretaries of State just said that we should meet with Iran; Guess what? He said without preconditions. This is one of your own advisers…
McCain: Look. Dr. Kissinger did not say that he would approve a face to face meeting between the President of the United States and Ahmadinejad. he did not say that. He said there could be lower level meetings. I’ve always encouraged them.
After the debate:
Kissinger: Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level. My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality.
And now, the TRUTH:
From CNN Transcripts:
KISSINGER: Well, I am in favor of negotiating with Iran. And one utility of negotiation is to put before Iran our vision of a Middle East, of a stable Middle East, and our notion on nuclear proliferation at a high enough level so that they have to study it. And, therefore, I actually have preferred doing it at the secretary of state level so that we — we know we’re dealing with authentic…
(CROSSTALK)
SESNO: Put at a very high level right out of the box?
KISSINGER: Initially, yes. And I always believed that the best way to begin a negotiation is to tell the other side exactly what you have in mind and what you are — what the outcome is that you’re trying to achieve so that they have something that they can react to. Now, the permanent members of the Security Council, plus Japan and Germany, have all said nuclear weapons in Iran are unacceptable. They’ve never explained what they mean by this. So if we go into a negotiation, we ought to have a clear understanding of what is it we’re trying to prevent. What is it going to do if we can’t achieve what we’re talking about?
But I do not believe that we can make conditions for the opening of negotiations. We ought, however, to be very clear about the content of negotiations and work it out with other countries and with our own government.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave
when we endeavor to deceive.
Filed under: Election 2008 | Tags: bailout, john mackey, wall street, whole foods
Since I first learned of it, I have really admired the way Whole Foods caps its executives’ salaries. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, can make no more than 19 times the average salary of Whole Foods workers. That’s salary and bonuses. If Mr. Mackey wants a raise, he needs to ensure that Whole Foods is so profitable that the average salary of its employees increases.
What a novel idea.
Here’s another… If those Wall Street idiots want a public handout, let it be with a similar contingency.
Obscene compensation levels for CEOs in America is not a new issue. Forbes magazine reported that the top executives at the nation’s 500 largest companies averaged $12.8 million last year. That’s nearly a quarter million dollars a week – over 400 times what the average American makes.
As the calamitous effect of deregulation leads us toward an era of reregulation, it would be wise to proceed cautiously with regard to executive salaries. After all, we wouldn’t want to lose our best and brightest corporate minds to overseas companies where they could make… a fraction of what the U.S. pays its CEOs. OK, bad example, but the point is, we may or may not be able to do much about the exorbitant salaries and bonuses paid by corporate boards to their CEOs.
But this is different.
You want a taxpayer-funded bailout, Wall Street? Fine. But it’s public money, so it comes with strings attached. If 19X is good enough for John Mackey – who has bankrupted neither Whole Foods nor the grocery industry (much less the nation) then something less than 19X ought to be good enough for you. You want more? Call John Mackey; maybe he can give you some pointers on how to achieve that.
Filed under: Election 2008
There’s been so much talk about experience… Does Barack Obama, a freshman Senator from Illinois, have enough experience to be President? Does Sarah Palin, with two years experience governing a state with a population roughly equivalent to Columbus, Ohio, have enough experience? John McCain has LOTS of experience.
But while our nation’s capitol is abuzz over the White House Bailout, with Representatives and Senators alike scurrying about and saying, “We have to act quickly!”, only Obama has stepped forward and said, “Wait a minute. I remember the Patriot Act. I remember how America was duped into a war in Iraq. No blank check this time.”
Sounds pretty experienced to me.
Filed under: Election 2008
The Bush Administration has recently proposed a “solution” to the Banking/Mortgage crisis which has led to what former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan called “the worst economy I have ever seen.”
The White House bailout, in a nutshell, reads like this:
But wait for the kicker…
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
That would make this “one of the biggest peacetime transfers of power from Congress to the Administration in history.”
Another crisis, another Bush power grab. Another consolidation of power under the Executive branch. Another weakening of of our centuries old, Constitutionally mandated system of Checks and Balances.
Sound familiar? It should. The very same people who, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, strongarmed Congress into an overly hasty overreaction… The same people who quietly asked for and received legal immunity and absolute control… The same people who fabricated intelligence, conned us into an unjust war that has cost us hundreds of billions of dollars – not to mention many civil liberties and our our respect in the world standing…The very same people who have lied to us every step of the way about torture, warrantless wiretapping, and countless other illegal activities… The very same people who, when ruled against by the Supreme Court of the United States, simply thumbed their noses at the ruling and continued denying due process to detainees at Guantanamo Bay… THESE VERY SAME PEOPLE now want you to trust them to handle this crisis – with a blank check – and without oversight of any kind.
If there is any hope for averting this calamity, it lies prominently in the hands of one man. One man who today stated, “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.“
Thank goodness there is still a voice of reason in a time when this nation seems to have lost its grip on sanity.
“Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.”
McCain: Not just out of touch - out of his MIND
Filed under: Election 2008
September 26, 2006 – The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act is signed into law. The act, often referred to as “Google for Government” was sponsored by Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Barack Obama (D-IL). It creates a free, searchable web site – http://USASpending.gov — that discloses to the public all federal grants, contracts, loans and insurance payments.
June, 2008 – Obama and Coburn introduced new Senate legislation to expand the information available online to include details on earmarks, competitive bidding, criminal activities, audit disputes and other government information.
September 18, 2008 – Sarah Palin, at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Michigan, “As Alaska’s governor, I put the government’s checkbook online so that people can see where their money’s going. We’ll bring that kind of transparency, that responsibility, and accountability back. We’re going to bring that back to D.C.”
Rumor has it that Palin is now on Obama’s short list for the prestigious cabinet post of Secretary of the Department of Redundancy Department.
Filed under: Election 2008
This is not an election… it’s a freaking HOLY WAR!!!
Have these people forgotten the part about 'not bearing false witness'?!?!
Filed under: Election 2008
Whether you’re a conservative Republican, progressive Democrat or somewhere in between, there can be no doubt that Barack Obama and John McCain offer drastically different visions and plans for the future of our country (and for the world!) Let’s make sure that when the majority of Americans select a President in November, they do so as an informed electorate, not a mass of hoodwinked, reactionary couch potatoes.
We have the means and the ability to force politicians to focus on what really matters (the issues) rather than what does not (accusations and character assassinations). The truth is out there; we just need to integrate fact checking (by an impartial, nonpartisan organization such as Annenberg Political Fact Check) directly into the debate format.
In order to truly work, I believe this needs to happen in real time and not as some sort of post-debate analysis. The method of fact-checking will have to be decided upon; I’m sure there are several possibilities. One that comes to mind is to display errors (and their corrections) on one half of the screen while the candidate speaks on the other half. Another would be to have a moderator do it verbally at the end of each question/round. (i.e. Question/Response/Rebuttal/Fact-Check corrections). The method and means can be decided upon; the important thing is that this happens.
I can’t imagine either candidate not agreeing to this. Even if s/he’s been lying through his/her teeth, to do so would be political suicide. (“What’s s/he afraid of?”) Nor can I imagine any supporter of either candidate being opposed to this idea. (Unless they know about the lies and care more about winning than a fair fight.) I’m sure that most of us can agree that honesty is the best policy, so let’s hold some feet to the fire. Let’s have some accountability. Let’s hear the truth!
I have been on my sopabox about this for some time now, but it has yet to gain enough momentum to be seriously discussed at the proper levels and by the necessary people. With enough signatures, perhaps this petition will change that. (I am ambitiously shooting for 122 million – the number of voters in the 2004 election – and that’s not counting all the people who were denied their right to vote or whose vote went uncounted!)
Please sign the petition. When you’re finished, you’ll be given an opportunity to spread the word by asking others to sign the petition. Please do so.
And please help me spread the word by digging/stumbling/furling/etc. using the links below. And tell your friends/family/the news media/anyone who will listen!
There’s also a Facebook group – please join!
