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I watched the Presidential debate last night. McCain and Obama are only different in the way that they are going to fix/reform the issues at stake. They both are talking about fixing the same issues. I had hoped that there would be more of a difference between the issues themselves not just the way to fix them.
Now to respond to UltraBob’s post:
I do not agree with the bailout. I’m all for letting the financial institutions fail. However, the entire economy would come crashing down if they failed. Granted, the market is doing some crazy stuff right now, but it would be worse if all the financial institutions went the way of Lehman Brothers. I see how the bailout was necessary, but I like the free market. I want to keep government intervention to a minimum. Having the government be the biggest bank investor in the world, like they are right now, does not sit very well with me.
The statistic about 25% of the highest earners paying 84% of all income taxes is the one that I was referring to. So you can see that Obama’s tax cut to the middle class is not going to reduce tax income very much. Higher taxes on the upper classes is going to bring in more additional tax income than his tax cut will reduce so in a round-about way, he is going to increase the total amount of taxes that Americans pay. It just sounds so nice to put it the way he’s putting it.
I am against the government putting more regulation on mortgage companies. This is because I don’t think that someone with a law degree, even one from Harvard, is qualified to create regulations for the financial sector. I think that any regulation should come from FASB and the SEC. Those regulatory bodies understand this issue better and are more qualified to make regulations than a bunch of politicians.
Saying that the financial institutions defrauded thousands is not a really accurate way to state the situation. The reason that the financial institutions are having such a tough time is because people are defaulting on the mortgages that they own. The financial institutions are not getting the cash from the people who have the mortgages so it may be the people who are defrauding the financial institutions by not making their mortgage payments.
Predatory lending seems to have a very subjective definition. I don’t think that the mortgage companies were engaging in anything predatory. What good does it do the company when somebody can’t make their mortgage payments? The mortgage companies aren’t all evil. They are helping people buy houses. Last time I checked, that was a good thing.
Subprime mortgages have higher interest rates and fees because of the increased risk to the mortgage company. People generally have to take out subprime loans because they have:
• Two or more loan payments paid past 30 days due in the last 12 months, or one or more loan payments paid past 90 days due the last 36 months;
• Judgment, foreclosure, repossession, or non-payment of a loan in the past;
• Bankruptcy in the last 7 years;
• Relatively high default probability as evidenced by, for example, a credit score of less than 620 (depending on the product/collateral), or other bureau or proprietary scores with an equivalent default probability likelihood.
I got this information off of Wikipedia. These are all pretty bad things to do with your credit. People can easily attain good credit even if they come from a less than privileged financial background. All it takes is good management of one or two credit cards.
Part of the issue with poor credit is that people don’t understand how to manage it. The most common misconception is that if you make the minimum payment on time, you will have excellent credit. The problem is that on-time payments are only 35% of your score. There is a lot more that goes into it. This is why I think there needs to be comprehensive financial education in high school. That way kids can learn why you shouldn’t fill out a credit card application for a free t-shirt or take out 5 retail cards in one day just to save ten bucks. It’s easy to establish good credit. You just have to know how.
Another thing that this topic could relate to is the whole idea of keeping up with the Jones or wanting to live beyond your means. It’s not just Wall Street that is greedy. It’s also the people on Main Street. I could also go off on a tangent here about how parents are screwing over their kids with allowances. In the real world, you don’t just get money for existing. You have to work for it.
It seems impossible to me that a person could realistically expect to fill out a tax return in five minutes. Just filling out the form may take five minutes, but the preparation should take longer than five minutes. Maybe it’s just because I’m going into accounting and like to make lots of calculations.
Before my last reply on the issue, I had only read Obama’s opinion on social security. Apparently I don’t agree with McCain either. Like I said, I don’t think that there will be a Presidential candidate that I agree with 100%. Social security is going to fail one day. I don’t expect to ever collect it. I’m also positive that I can get a better return with my money than the government can. Sure the market is going down the drain right now, but I’ve got 44 years until retirement. I can weather a few storms. Plus, when the market hits the bottom, I can buy and ride it back up to the top! What goes up must come down. It’s unrealistic to expect the market to just keep going up indefinitely. Thankfully, we have a fundamentally sound economy so it’ll go back up and continue growing.
Our views on embryonic stem cell research and abortion probably differ due to a difference in when we believe human life begins. I believe that human life begins at conception. The instant the sperm penetrates the zona pellucida and fertilizes the egg, it’s a human life. It’s not a tiny cluster of cells that will develop into a human life someday. It is a human life. I don’t support the destruction of human life for any reason. When do you believe that human life begins?
I get really touchy whenever somebody starts talking about family farms. I’ve found that most people think that it has to be tiny, unprofitable, and all the cows have names. I come from a farm and all of the farms I know of are family farms. Some of them are huge, but they are still owned and operated by a family. A lot of people get a really romanticized image of the family farm in their mind, and I think that they might be put off by the fact that family farms can be large and successful and that none of the cows have names. People forget that it’s a business and that families depend on it for their livelihood.
I don’t see any reason why Americans should not be allowed to own assault weapons. They only account for 2-8% of all gun crime so banning them doesn’t really have much of an impact on gun crimes. If you wanted to stop gun crimes you would have to ban handguns, which would be impossible and I’m sure that you are very well aware of that fact. Banning assault weapons may be a way to pander to the gun control groups without angering the majority of the American people. It’s like a Ferrari, we don’t need it, but it’s really cool and we want it. There are a lot of things that we don’t need and are more detrimental than assault weapons. More people die from obesity related illnesses and diabetes than from gun crimes. Let’s ban fatty and sugary foods. No more soda!
The mentally insane who go shoot up schools need to be better controlled. The guy who killed a bunch of people at Virginia Tech had a long history of mental instability and had been declared mentally ill by a judge. Yet, he was still able to purchase guns because his mental condition was not on his background check. He should not have been able to purchase guns. The school shooting in Finland was done by a kid who had announced the shooting earlier that day in a YouTube video. The police even had him in custody at one point, but had to release him. He was blatantly anti-humanity and had stated that in YouTube videos. The police should have been able to keep him in custody because of those comments. It doesn’t really relate to gun control really well. However, it would help to reduce school shootings which are often blamed solely on possession on guns.
I looked up the Keating 5 Scandal. McCain said that it was the worst mistake of his life. Obama said that he does not condone Bill Ayers’ terrorist activities so I guess we’re going to have to leave this one as a draw because I don’t have enough time to read up on it enough to refute your statements.
Thanks for your comments Jessica. That comment thread was getting a little long so I decided to create a new post to carry on the discussion. For those of you who haven’t been following along, the original post can be found here.
Obama’s plan is to be funded at least in part by:
Your argument of $50 billion vs. $700 billion is misguided. The $700 billion package is an effort to try to stop the financial sector crisis from bringing down the entire economy, and was not George Bush’s plan. Barack Obama’s $50 billion plan is divided evenly between a State Growth Fund to support state health, education, housing, health, etc programs and prevent increases in property taxes; and a jobs and growth fund to aid infrastructure projects and prevent job loss. The $700 billion package exists whether Obama’s $50 billion package exists or not, and Bush, McCain, and Obama all supported the $700 billion bill.
“His tax cuts are good for the everyday American, but he can easily say that because the occupants of the $250,000 and up tax brackets pay about 80% off all the income taxes already.”
To be more precise: in 2004 the 25% of the population with the highest earnings paid 84% of the income and at the end of 2001 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth. That is why we have a progressive income tax system. Even paying a higher tax rate, the wealthy keep a much larger amount of money than the poor who are paying a lower rate.
You state in a very general way that you are against all of the regulation that Obama wants to put on the mortgage companies. I read that as you are against certain elements rather than that you are literally against all regulation. I find it hard to believe that anyone would still espouse a position in support of predatory lenders, and will not assume that that is your position. It is hard to go much farther on this without more detail about what you object to.
As to your statement that the subprime mortgage crisis is not solely the bank’s fault, I can cede to you that many of these people could have avoided getting themselves into the mess they are in had they been more savvy. The same could be said of the victims of con-men. The parallels here are nearly direct. Subprime mortgages are called subprime because the lenders know that it is unlikely that they will be paid back. Even if it was a crime to get yourself into bad financial straights, that would leave each mortgage holder responsible for one crime. The financial institutions that defrauded these people are responsible for thousands.
A subprime loan is categorized as a subprime loan based on the financial and credit profile of the consumers to which they are marketed. In other words subprime loans are marketed to those that the lending agency thinks are likely to be unable to pay. By your own logic these are the people that are least likely to understand credit. There is a reason why this is also known as predatory lending.
I think it is true that good credit is not hard to achieve when you come from a solid financial foundation to start with, but not everyone is fortunate enough to be in that situation.
I don’t find anything at all ridiculous about making a standard tax return simple enough to do in 5 minutes. He isn’t saying that if you want to hire an accountant to do your taxes for you or spend a lot of time and claim individual deductions on your own that you can’t. A lot of people don’t have the time and resources to hire an accountant or pore through the tax code trying to find every possible deduction they could be making. For those people the standard deductions will probably save them money. No matter what you do on the bottom end of the tax scale you aren’t going to hugely effect the amount of overall tax revenue the country receives.
His 10% Mortgage Interest Tax Credit is universal. This means it can be applied to homeowners that do not itemize on their tax returns. This means approximately 10 million people who are not receiving the credit now will.
“Reform Social Security: John McCain will fight to save the future of Social Security and believes that we may meet our obligations to the retirees of today and the future without raising taxes. John McCain supports supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts—but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept. John McCain will reach across the aisle, but if the Democrats do not act, he will. No problem is in more need of honesty than the looming financial challenges of entitlement programs. Americans have the right to know the truth and John McCain will not leave office without fixing the problems that threatens our future prosperity and power. ”
This is as close to a statement on Social Security policy as I could find on the McCain website so I’m not sure what his policy really entails, but given the current financial sector crisis, the idea that investing your retirement funds would have been a smart choice seems a bit off.
The embryonic stem cells used in research are created in fertility clinics for the purpose of fertility treatments. Not all embryos can be used for treatment and many are discarded. I have never been able to understand why it would be the argument that it is superior to throw away these tiny clusters of cells (that were never going to develop into a human being anyway), instead of than using them to try to improve actual living people’s lives. Whether you are anti-abortion or pro-choice this doesn’t seem like an issue that should be controversial.
I don’t know about you, but I never managed to find a job in college that would pay me $40/hour. How is getting a job better than doing 100 hours of public service to receive a $4,000 credit for school? Obama’s plan benefits the community, thee student, and the future of the workforce and economy all at the same time.
As for Obama’s policy on family farms, how is the tax code to distinguish from the “family farms” and the agricorps if not by overall income? It may be the case that some who have started off as family farms have done well enough that they can bear the higher tax bracket. Having grown up on a farm it is certainly not my experience that most farms are incorporated or large. Regardless, Obama is not anti-farm, if anything he is just not giving large farms preferential treatment
I won’t argue with you on education. I think you are likely right on this issue, but it is kind of a non-sequitur, as McCain doesn’t state any position on this issue either.
Regarding gun control, Obama supports a permanent reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, he is opposed to the confiscation of guns from private citizens. The basic difference between he and McCain is that McCain supports the repeal of the assault weapons ban. Please have a look at the definition of the weapons that would be banned and consider whether civilians really need to have these types of weapons.
Tighter control of mentally unstable people who go shoot up schools is great, but the problem is that they’ve already gone and shot up schools. I’m not sure that we are all that lax on people once they go shoot up schools. Perhaps I am unclear as to exactly what you are trying to propose in this regard, and how it is related with not wanting gun control.
Bill Ayers’ terrorist activities took place 40 years ago when Obama was 8. They are not close and Obama has publicly denounced Ayer’s radical actions from the 1960’s. McCain was in the room when Marylin Shannon praised domestic terrorist Shelley Shannon (no relation) at a conference of the Oregon Citizen’s Alliance in the early 90’s. In fact he spoke right after her and never disavowed her comments. Shelley Shannon is an abortion doctor shooter, and Marylin Shannon was a McCain delegate at this years convention! By the Ayer’s standard according to the McCain campaign; McCain is a supporter of domestic terrorists. I think you can agree that the notion is as ridiculous in the case of McCain as it is in the case of Obama.
Finally on the bailout issue, I think we’ve run this into the ground a little bit, but this bailout of the financial industry harkens back to a bailout during the 80’s of the Savings and Loan Industry. McCain was one of the 5 Senators implicated in the Keating 5 scandal. In fact McCain was the only one of the five with close social and personal ties to Keating, and in 1989 Phoenix New Times writer Tom Fitzpatrick opined that McCain was the “most reprehensible” of the five senators. There is no dispute about this and it is a matter of congressional record. If you aren’t familiar with it please go look it up.
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That type of rhetoric is not welcome here. You have been disemvowelled.
Just a quick word on disemvowelling, as this is the first time it has been used here, and hopefully it will never be used again.
I have chosen to disemvowel commenters like this because I don’t want to just completely delete a view that I disagree with, even a despicable comment like the one above (there are limits to that but hopefully we’ll never reach those).
Disemvowelling allows people who are determined to figure out what the commenter was saying, but prevents those who don’t want to be exposed to racism, threats, and advocation of violence; from accidentally reading it. I don’t want to spend much more time on this, but if there are questions, we can discuss it.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. Killing abortion doctors is not the right approach to ending abortion. UltraBob, thanks for having no tolerance for that type of comment.
This isn’t very cool. I just spent most of the past hour writing a response and now it’s not showing up.
Is there a character limit on this thing? I will re-write it and re-post it, but its gonna have to wait until morning. Its bedtime for me.
Jessica, I’m sorry your post didn’t show up. If you continue to have problems please let me know. there may be a character limit, but you would have gotten an error message.
Unfortunately, I don’t’ have the time to do a thorough analysis. I agree with Bob’s explanations and/or positions re: gun control, stem cell research, education.
“In spite of all of these things, the real deal breakers for me are abortion and embryonic stem cell research. I don’t understand how somebody can claim to be a Christian and then support the destruction of human life.”
Jessica, I appreciate this statement. I too am pro-life. And this used to be a deal-breaker for me, but when I weigh all the other issues, I will still vote for Obama b/c I think overall his platform is more “Christian” than McCain’s. I find it ironic and hypocritical that so many fight for a pro-life platform, but will then turn around and say that every individual is not entitled to health care. So we’ll guarantee a fetus’s right to life, but will do nothing to step in and ensure that fetus’s health once it has grown to adulthood.
Also, FWIW (probably very little) I’m not really a huge fan of Obama’s healthcare plan. I preferred (gasp!) Sen. Clinton’s. I think Obama’s does too little. But in all honesty, there has to be some compromise and Obama’s is a step closer. I just don’t think it will resolve anything and in the long run, health care is still going to be a mess in our country.
Re: Bill Ayers. Come on now. McCain looks like a fool for bringing this up over and over. I think it shows how desperate his campaign is becoming. What really disappoints me is that so many Americans are won over by McCain’s stance on this non-substantive accusation. Ayers and Obama served on an educational committee together. Obama has never supported terrorism. I have a half brother who’s spent most of his life in prison; that doesn’t make me a convict. I have another brother who’s one of the greatest all-around people I’ve ever known (despite his right-wing tendencies). That doesn’t mean I’m a great person by mere association (wish it did).
Re: subprime mortgages, I can’t say it any better than Bob. Predatory, predatory, predatory. The banks knew what they were getting into and prey on the uneducated and poor. You see this in so many industries, (i.e. payday loans).
Re: last night’s debate. How funny was it that McCain kept talking about how negative Obama’s campaign was and then keeps repeating the “he supports terrorists” mantra (with Ayers and then again later with Chavez). I also “loved” that McCain’s only comeback to the discussion re: his supporters shouting “Kill him [Obama]” at rallies was that his supporters are the greatest group of patriots there are. Nice! Wouldn’t want to take a chance at disenfranchising some of your biggoted backers, now would you?
Overall, I am more and more impressed with Obama’s diplomacy. It will be refreshing to see that in the White House.
Billie, you need to respond so Jessica doesn’t feel ganged up on.
p.s. I can’t wait for the SNL “Joe the Plumber” spoofs.
My response did not work so apparently there is a character limit. Three pages seems to be too much. I’ve got it saved on my computer though so I’ll post it as soon as I watch the instructional video and learn how to post.
I just double checked and there shouldn’t be. Could you send me the comment by e-mail so I can try and see if I can figure out what the problem is?
I just made it into a post above, but I’ll email it to you anyway so you can check it out.
Somehow I missed Chenoa’s comments until just now. Thanks for that. I think you need to make our future responses, you are much better at this than I. Law school and brains do count for something it seems. 
Could you go into more detail on the differences in the Clinton and Obama plans? I’m not disagreeing, I was just so turned off by Clinton’s campaign that I never really looked into her health care plan that much.
Finally, I agree, Billie it is time to step up to the plate. Jessica is fighting a valiant solo battle to defend a candidate that it is increasingly difficult to defend. Duty calls.
I know, I know I promised Part 2 of a Weekend in Utah with Jimbo. All in good time, My Pretty. But tonight I’m going to write about what has been consuming my life for the past 9 weeks or so: College.
I just checked the Biology spreadsheet to see how Fibroblast did on crazy hard Cellular Biology Test II. Again, 50 questions Multiple Choice rife with “none of these”, “A & C”, “All of these but D”, etc. Here is a synopsis of an actual question: “You decide to perform a pulse-chase experiment on the route of the digestive system. You eat a radioactive banana, and ‘chase’ it 5 minutes later with 5 normal bananas. After ½ hour, where would you expect to find the highest concentration of radioactive particles? A) Teeth B) Mouth C) Stomach D) Large Intestine, E) How do I say this……the toilet?
We did talk about a pulse-chase experiment, albeit a vastly different one. I think I finally guessed “C”. I’ll let you know when I get a look at the test on Wednesday.
Anyway, I was at first disappointed to see that my score was ‘82’, but after checking the rest of the scores and noting that the highest grade was ‘84’, I was much happier. In fact, get this, at this moment in time, Fibroblast has the highest average of the first 2 test scores in the class!! Of course I probably also studied more than anyone else in the class, but I’m also undoubtedly the oldest student, so allow me to bask a moment. I already celebrated by actually turning the TV on; in fact I’m typing this while watching Law & Order, which is practically unheard of, at least for me.
I should actually get back to the books: tomorrow is Lab Practical in Biology, and on Thursday is Lab Test in Anatomy and Physiology. Speaking of A & P, we had a mildly interesting lab last Thursday night. It seemed we were actually going to conduct an experiment instead of merely listening to the Prof drone on for half the lab period. We had just begun studying the muscles and this activity would correlate with this. We were to measure the circumference of our dominant arm “in centimeters instead of inches, because we are being scientiferific” instructed Prof Ports. Then we would do bicep curls with elbow on table with a 5 lb weight until our arm was tired, and the results would be plotted. There were only 2 weights, so in the meantime, the rest of us were free to get out the box-o-bones and study for the upcoming lab test. My partner Korrie and I got to work identifying bones, processes, facets, tubercles and foramina. Every once in a while, we looked around to notice the weights still in use, with results gradually accumulating on the dry erase board. Finally we were the only ones left. Korrie measured my right bicep in centimeters. “27” she announced. I looked at the board: it was by far the smallest one. “That can’t be right,” I said. “Measure it again.” “Uh, maybe 26 ½” she said. “Never mind, let’s go with 27,” I muttered, setting my elbow on the table and getting to work. We continued to study, but it was hard to make notations with my right arm so engaged. “Maybe I’m about done,” I told her after a bit. “How long has it been?” “Five minutes,” she told me. Heck. I had to go longer than that. Meanwhile Korrie got a weight. Her bicep was 31 centimeters. I quit at about 12 minutes. While it’s true that I wanted to use my time studying, and the lifting was interfering with that, I have to also admit that my arm was getting tired. I had by far the shortest lifting time of the class. I think Korrie went for 30 minutes or so. Somehow, in the midst of this, we told our ages. Korrie is 46. Prof Ports, whom I would have sworn was near 70, is 56. I am somewhere in the middle….okay, okay, I’m 54. Anyway, next week, we will get the data and have to make some correlations and explanations and write it all up as some kind of report.
I told Johnny this story, and he said “Sound like good blog material.” I told Jimbo, and his reaction was “Are you about finished? This is one of THOSE stories, isn’t it?” referring to the long, meandering stories I occasionally tell, which sometimes end with the phrase: “So, I was right. He did look like Brad Pitt.”
So, I guess what I’m saying is it’s up to you to decide. Amusing (and well written) human interest story, or long, pointless, ‘looking like Brad Pitt” drivel?
Anyway, off to review parts of a cell and the process of DNA replication. Hope your evening is just as enjoyable.
UltraMom
I guess your good grades prove that you are just as smart as all of us whipper-snappers. I was, however, looking forward to Part II of your weekend in Salt Lake City. All of this suspense is killing me!
Congrats slugger, show those kids who is boss (hint: its you)
Smarter I think. Go FB!
Aunt Kathy, I am so proud of you. You sound like the most scientiferistic student in your class. Nice cliff hanger, we’re all wondering how much your arm increased or decreased by after the weight-lifting.
a quick test comment to test an inprovement to comment notification e-mails.
retest
final tweak
UltraJessica what I want to hear about is ‘Weekend in Melba with Jessica”!
Write a guest post.......please???
Chenoa, we don’t measure our arms after; I think we just disprove the null hypothesis that ‘we will all lift the same amount of time’. I must have explained it wrong, but good job sticking through the story to the end:)
I would be willing to write a guest post if I knew how to post it…
If nothing else, email it to me and I will post it, but perhaps UltraBob can tell you how to do it on your own.
I really enjoyed the other post you wrote!
I will let Jessica know how to do it on her own
Mom, do you have the video I made for you about how to post? I did twenty minute instructional video for Jessica but a technical difficulty made it all go awry and I don’t savor the idea of doing it over.
very amusing! Go Fibroblast!!
Congratulations smartypants!!!
Note: Please don’t miss UltraMom’s post just before this one. They were posted at about the same time.
Here is the second 2008 presidential debate:
In Addition, for anyone who hasn’t been able to track it down yet, here is the first debate:
Let’s have your analysis boys and girls. Incidentally in the first debate the beadiness of Jim Lehrer’s eyes is off limits. In both debates McCain’s constant statements that Obama doesn’t understand something he seems to understand perfectly well and usually better than McCain are very well within bounds. Ready. Set. GO!
Your first video is “no longer available.”
OK, it is fixed now. Youtube links to the video even in their own debate coverage so I don’t know what is up with it being removed. Google video to the rescue.
Out of curiosity, UltraBob, is Obama perfect?
No he isn’t. There is a little bit of criticism of him in the commentary as well, but I didn’t have a lot of gripe with his performance thus far. There are things I disagree with him on, but far less than with McCain. May I suggest looking at the Myspace Debates Page and taking the issues quiz to see where you stand on actual policy in relation to the two candidates? You can also download a pdf version if you’d like. I wear my heart on my sleeve in that I’m an Obama supporter (I have already voted for him), and that I believe a McCain presidency would be a disaster for the country. This is a personal blog and I’m not trying to be fair and balanced, but I am educated on the issues and pay close attention to the elections and the candidates.
Jessica, if you have a particular problem with his analysis why don’t you provide us with your own take on the debate?
OK kids, I finally had a chance to watch the end of the debate and finish up the analysis. Now I really must insist that you give me your take on it. Also upcoming sometime soon should I be able to scrounge the time and ambition: as post on the Japanese Nationalized Health Care system and how it compares to healthcare in the U.S. Also a brief post on why I voted for Obama, why you should do the same, and why you shouldn’t vote for McCain. Jessica, I’m assuming you are a McCain supporter, and I welcome your comments in support of McCain. You have access to write actual full posts on the site, and if you would like to do so I’ll provide you with a quick video explaining how exactly to do so. This comment is turning into a post in its own right so I’ll wrap it up here.
I guess I better come fully armed if I ever get into a political discussion with you two guys. I have not watched the presidential debate and, hopefully, I may get time to watch it in the next week or so. My comment was made because the majority of the post was a listing of McCain’s faults, but I’m glad that you admit that Obama has his faults. McCain has his faults and so does Palin (but not in the style department - I wouldn’t mind raiding her closet!). Nobody, not even me, is perfect. I’m not going to agree with all of Obama’s policies, and I’m also not going to agree with all of McCain’s. I don’t agree with all of Bush’s policies (bailout anyone??), but I do like most of them. I don’t think any President would make me 100% happy, to be quite honest. However, this admission does not mean that I will be willing to change my position on who to vote for. I’ve made my mind up on McCain. And, Bob, thanks for letting me know that I can post on this website. I may have to one day, but I haven’t been following the race closely enough to write an entire post on it. I really do enjoy reading all of your posts on the debates even though I may not agree with you!
Stand your ground Jessica. Don’t let these two Obama bullies push you around.
Billie, I would also invite you to give us your take. Asking the other side to explain their position is hardly “bullying” Or was that unpatriotic? Am I “telegraphing my punches?”
By the way, note to McCain, if you want to try and fight the perception that you are ancient try not to refer to things like telegraphs.
OK, back from a long weekend, refreshed and ready to go. Jessica let’s start with what appears to be your most deeply passionate argument as judged by exclamation points: Sarah Palin’s unimpeachable sense of style:
Do you know how many tacky couches had to die to make that coat? 
OK, back to your post Jessica. You say that you haven’t been following the race well enough to write about it, and you say you have made up your mind on McCain and are not willing to change your mind. I don’t want to seem confrontational, but that is unacceptable. This is probably the most important election of your lifetime, and you shouldn’t weigh in on it without educating yourself. I can give you a basic rundown of each candidates stated positions on most major issues and have been following their speeches and activities closely since the primaries kicked off. That is what I base my position on.
I implore you to either educate yourself or refrain from voting against your best interests based on, to use Stephen Colbert’s word, truthiness.
What issues are important to you? What are the three things that you think are the most important things for the country to focus on going forward? How do McCain’s and Obama’s positions on these things differ, and in the case of McCain’s policies how have these policies bourne out in practice during the Bush administration? I encourage you to consider a few of these questions before going into the voting booth. I think you would agree that coming into a discussion with your mind closed to any possibility that there is some information that might change your mind is foolish.
Yes, the coat was not the best choice, but, overall, she has a good sense of style. I followed your advice and looked up Obama’s economic policy. I got it off of his website. First of all, where is he going to get all of this money? Second of all, $50 billion to jumpstart the economy pales in comparison to the $700 billion that Bush is putting in. His tax cuts are good for the everyday American, but he can easily say that because the occupants of the $250,000 and up tax brackets pay about 80% off all the income taxes already. I also don’t agree with all of the regulation that he wants to put on the mortgage companies. The subprime mortgage crisis is not solely the bank’s fault. A large portion of the blame lies with poorly educated everyday American people. People do not understand credit. It is a really simple thing really, but they never take the time to figure out what the heck they are doing. If people managed their credit well, they would all have good credit scores so they would all qualify for competitive interest rates on their mortgages. There would be no subprime mortgages. What I would really like to see is comprehensive financial education in high school. The only thing homeowners need protection from is themselves. Good credit is not hard to achieve. Plus, Obama wants to make it possible to fill out a tax return in 5 minutes. How ridiculous is that! No wonder people are missing out on deductions! Obama would also like to provide a tax credit for homeowners so they can deduct their home mortgage interest payments from their taxes. That tax credit already exists. This goes back to the spending more than 5 minutes on your tax return. I like that he supports foreign trade. Protectionism is not a good thing. However, I would like to know exactly how he is going to change CAFTA and NAFTA. I support the privatization of social security (which Obama opposes). I can manage my money much better than the government ever can. I strongly oppose the use of embryonic stem cells for research. I believe that life begins at fertilization so those embryos are living human beings. I support stem cell research from other sources, but not from embryos. Along those same lines, I am pro-life. If the woman did not want a baby she should’ve kept her knees together. Or at least used birth control. Her child should not have to pay for her mistake. His plan to make college more affordable is a good idea, but instead of spending 100 hours in public service the kids could just get a job. I don’t like his section about supporting family farms. News to Obama. The family farm is now much bigger. Size doesn’t make it into a corporate farm. A lot of family farms are incorporated because it helps reduce the tax burden and create succession plans. And what exactly are his CAFO regulations going to be? Something that his education plan is how the ADD and ADHD fiasco is going to be handled. Kindergartens and elementary schools are cutting recess. It is a necessary part of a kid’s day. In spite of all of these things, the real deal breakers for me are abortion and embryonic stem cell research. I don’t understand how somebody can claim to be a Christian and then support the destruction of human life. Its not just Christians that value human life. Its every religion in the world except for the religion of self. And maybe the Incans and Mayans who believed in human sacrifice. There are my views on Obama. Maybe tomorrow I’ll read all about McCain, but right now I’ve got to go to bed.
Wow. That was long.
Wow, I must say I didn’t expect you to come back with so much. Impressive for a day of reading. I can see right now some places where I disagree with you on principal and some flaws in your argument, but to give a proper response will take some time, and a family issue is taking up quite a bit of time right now so it may be a little while before I can come back with many good answers. Before I leave to get back to the issues at hand though, didn’t you just say that you were against the bailout? Is this some other $700 billion that you are talking about? If you are referring to the bailout, I think it was the wrong package and that we are likely to have to come back and put together another package soon, but it isn’t really Bush’s 700 billion the house ad senate negotiated a bill and Bush signed it. The 3 page proposal that came out of the Whitehouse was insane. insulting, and was immediately shot down.
P.S. I think this may be the best comment conversation we’ve ever had on DD, I hope more people will jump in with something of substance. Billie? Chenoa? Jim? FibroBlast?
I found out a few others issues that I have with Obama. He favors gun control, which I oppose. I’m in favor of tighter control of mentally unstable people who go shoot up schools. I read today about a survey that Obama had filled out that stated that he was in favor of tighter control of guns. He now blames that response on a staffer who was filling out the survey for him. For a politician with the goal of becoming President, it was pretty foolish to allow a staffer to fill out the survey for him. I also don’t like his association with Bill Ayers. Even though the relationship may have been innocent, a Presidential hopeful can never be too careful about who he associates with. He should have been a bit wiser and not had any association with an unrepentent old terrorist. In terms of the bailout, I do not agree with it. I feel that the market should dictate who succeeds and who fails. The financial institutions being bailed out should fail. Its is the result of taking on too much risk. However, I understand the necessity of the bailout to save the entire economy. The health of those huge financial institutions is directly connected to the health of the economy as a whole. I still don’t like the idea of the government owning a large portion of private companies. I’m in favor of a policy that is a little more hands-off. But take time solving your family issues before you craft a response to me.
I’m not going to address most of this because Bob can do a better job when he has time, but as for your abortion concern… I think you need to re-examine McCain’s position. On this stance I actually admire him because of his respect for the process of government as established in America. He is personally against abortion but wouldn’t try to overturn by fiat the interpretation of the Constitution established by the United States Supreme Court. The Court is the interpreter of the Constitution, that is how America works, as for a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion in the Constitution, no one is going to ever have the political capital to achieve the supermajority required to achieve that. So right there, McCain’s position on abortion becomes moot in a practical sense.
As for my poor grammar and potential typos, I had to write quickly in a break between classes.
... and respect for McCain gone. Okay so that used to be his position, but apparently in his never ending quest of whoring his beliefs to the hardcore right in order to get elected he has changed that position… yay consistent leadership…
OK, my reply is in and can be found here. The reply was too long so I’d thought I’d better start a new placeholder for the conversation to continue. Jessica, maybe you can write up your own analysis of the third presidential debate to make this site a bit more fair and balanced. Your opinion is most misguided but welcome.
A Weekend in Utah: Sept 26-27
The prep for this weekend actually began several weeks earlier when Jimbo got a call from Rebecca, an old high school friend. She had met a great guy and after knowing him only a couple of months, was going to marry him. Did I, Jim inquired, want to attend the wedding with him? After ascertaining that the wedding would be held in Utah at a location not terribly distant from Jim’s present digs in Salt Lake City and that Jim would actually LIKE for me to go with him, I answered an emphatic ‘Yes!’ I arranged for the time off work and packed my bags.
UltraDad, meanwhile, considered the pros and cons of coming along. He definitely did NOT want to go to the wedding, but he DID want to see Jim. He SHOULD stay home and work on tiling the bathroom, but he DID want to see Jim, and so on. At the last minute, he decided to come.
We were trying out a new Auto GPS I had bought, a Garmin Navi 200 , or some such number. I entered Jim’s address and off we went. Everything went swimmingly until we turned a corner near where Jim lived. “You have arrived at your destination,” my GPS informed me in an authoritative female voice, “on the left.” As it turned out, ‘on the left’ was a concrete divider. I pulled into the next convenient parking lot and called Jimbo. Apparently, this GPS, like me, has a little trouble with her ‘lefts’ and ‘rights’. As per Jim’s instructions, I made a loop, and coming back down the street again, took a right and then a left turn (I think), this time arriving at my destination in reality.
We hadn’t arrived with a lot of time to spare, so I made a quick change into my wedding duds. Jimbo set his Dad up with movies to watch and told him to help himself to anything in the fridge, and we were off to the wedding. About 10 minutes after leaving the apartment, Jimbo realized he had forgotten the wedding announcement and did not remember the name of the resort we were heading towards. “Call Dad,’ he instructed. “The announcement is next to my computer.” As I prepared to make the call I suddenly remembered that Dad’s cell phone had a dead battery, and he had not brought his charger. “Shall we go back for it?” I wanted to know.
“No, I think I can figure it out,” Jim replied with typical male confidence. “It’s somewhere near Wellsville.”
It was a good thing we had allowed plenty of time. The drive was a little longer than we had anticipated, but as we neared our ostensible destination, the scenery became more and more…..well, scenic. The hillsides were covered in trees in various fall colors. “This is reminding me of when I used to go to Utah for Ladies Retreats with my church group years ago,” I told Jimbo. “It was at a really great place called…….uh…..” Just then we passed a sign pointing off to the left reading “Sherwood Hills Resort.” “That’s it,’ said Jim. “That’s where the wedding is.” “That’s it,” I said in turn. “That’s where I used to go for Ladies’ Retreat.”
We were able to turn around about 5 miles down the road, and, after taking the proper exit, drove down a winding road with even more autumn hued hillsides and soon arrived at a parking lot. A short walk past that, in a clearing surrounded by trees, and a little artificial waterfall (not nearly as good as mine, I assure you), the scene was clearly set for a wedding. We visited with several of Rebecca’s family members and met the groom. I took Jim on a short walk, pointing out various things I remembered from my Retreat Days. “I think the Osmonds had something to do with this place back in the day,” I told him. I remember some of the rooms had their names on the doors.”
“Like Ozzy?” Jim wanted to know.
“Uh, no, like Donny and Marie,” I answered, marveling at the generation gap. It was several hours later that I realized Jim was referring to Ozzy Osborne, not Osmond.
The wedding was smaller than we thought it would be, but very nice. Rebecca wore a traditional white dress & veil, but had a green sash tied about her waist. She was, of course, beautiful and glowing. I was fervently glad I had brought my jacket, and wished I had worn something more on my feet besides summer sandals. It was downright chilly!
We debated skipping the reception, which was being held at a friend’s home about 15 minutes away, but in the end we went, mainly because we needed to deliver the wedding card. Lanterns were lit and tables set about in the yard. They served slices of pumpkin rolls the bride had made with her own two hands, and cut the cake.
By the time we were on our way back to SLC, it was after 9 pm, and we were hungry. We were feeling a little bad about leaving UDad alone at Jim’s for so long without any outside communication, so we made a quick stop at an Arby’s drive through, where we bought sandwiches and fries for three. UltraDad had watched three movies in our absence and seemed happy to see the food. We played a little game of cribbage while we ate, which Jim, true to form, won with ease.
Jimbo gave his comfy bed to us and slept in his recliner. When I awoke the next morning, it was quite late; I must have been more tired than I realized. The guys had been up for hours and were starving, so as soon as I grabbed a quick shower, we went out to find some grub. We ended up having ‘brunch’ at Squatters, a locally semi-famous establishment known mainly for its microbrewery. We dined outdoors, enjoying watching the birds that boldly landed inbetween tables looking for a handout. We did not avail ourselves of the famous beer at 11:00 AM, but did enjoy burgers, or in my case, a greek salad.
We debated how to spend the rest of our day, and after spotting posters around town, decided to attend the circus. We got tickets online and set off. I was really glad Jimbo was doing the driving; the traffic around the ‘Energy Solutions Center’ (formerly the Delta Center) where the circus was being held was a nightmare.
Stay tuned for Part II: The Circus and Dinner at Ima’s, coming soon to a blog near you!
UltraMom
Sorry that I had to knock your post down below mine, but this is like the third time in a row that you’ve posted about an hour after my post, and I am still working on this post. That and the importance of the content made me want it at the top of the site longer than an hour.
Anyway, it sounds like you had a great time, and if Ozzy and Donny and Marie were in the same family, that would be a reality show worth watching.
Sounds like you had a great weekend. I can’t wait to hear part II! I’m glad I found this post. Its a good thing I scrolled down just to check for it.
Nice story Mom! So all in all, how do you like that GPS?
Hi Jessica,
There is a nice big prominent field at the top of the page where you can put in your e-mail address and receive a notification when a new post is made on the site. You can also visit The UltraMom archive page if you only want to see UltraMom’s posts though I think if you do that you’ll get used to reading only good writing, and are likely to spoil yourself.
I would also like to hear more about the GPS. We have a navi system in our car here, as do the majority of drivers here and I love it. I’d be interested to see how systems in the U.S. compare.
Actually, I took the GPS Nuvi back. It’s maps were incomplete and old. It couldn’t even find MY house, nor my friend Ima’s house. I tried out a TOMTOM I preferred to this one, and may try a Magellan next. I’m also intrigued by GPS functions available on my cell phone, though the visual part would be too small to be useful while driving.
I just had a couple of very nice weekends sandwiched inbetween studying my brains out. I’m going to try to stay awake long enough to tell you about it!
This past weekend, I had some rare and very welcome company from Idaho. Several weeks ago, my very good friend Debbie Bailey called. Debbie and I used to lead Weight Watchers together when I lived in Idaho; I also had the privilege of having her kids at my house on a couple of overnighters where they entirely won me over by playing games with me til even I had had enough. Debbie and her girls, Rachel and Amy, have been to visit me in my new location a couple of times and they wanted to come again. The answer, of course, was an emphatic YES! I had to warn them there was only one operational bathroom in the house, the one next to my bedroom. UltraDad had been working on tiling the guest bathroom for the past several weeks, and had removed the toilet, which is a key component to any operational bathroom. I was relieved to hear they would come anyway.
That Friday, UltraDad and I had spent the morning in Elko at our Annual Health Fair, where we got blood drawn for a fasting blood test, got our flu shots, and went around to various stations where we got our body fat analyzed, tested our lung function and took our blood pressure. I was grumpy that my body fat tested a little on the high side, but Ultra Dad’s was perfect. His lung capacity was also very good, while mine was on the low side. I felt a little better after a good breakfast of ham, eggs and English Muffin in the local café. Then UltraDad insisted on showing me around the new Cal Stores that had just opened in Elko. I was a little nervous as my past experiences with Cal Ranch in Idaho Falls involved wandering around aimlessly looking at cowboy hats and livestock supplies for an hour or two while UltraDad pored over tools and irrigation boots. I had to remind myself that our farming days were over, and we had a great time selecting a new toy for the ‘boys’ and a new wallet for UDad. We got home just in time for me to leave for work; no time to vacuum before my guests arrived. UltraD graciously agreed to handle that chore after I pulled out my best cajoling and threats.
Debbie, Rachel and Amy were there visiting with UDad when I got home from work that night. After dinner, UDad took off, having decided it would make the bathroom situation more tenable if he spent the night at sister Pat’s, which was very considerate of him (and of Pat for putting him up.) The ‘boys’ also had a guest: Molly the poodle. She was probably three times bigger than my poodles and scared to death of them. Rowdy was delighted to find someone he could terrify, and when he could get away with it, chased Molly around the house snarling and growling ferociously. Murphy wasn’t much better, and they rather resembled little velocirapters tag-teaming their prey. Being locked in my bedroom for 1/2 hour or so calmed them down for a little while.
We talked, played games, made cookies and ate, all favorite pastimes of mine. The girls were as fun and cute as I remembered; I can’t believe Rachel is a high school senior this year, with Amy only two years behind. Their brother, Nathan, also a favorite of mine, is in his second year of college in Tennessee.
To make my weekend complete, my sister Panther called and said she wanted to come out on Saturday. She arrived late that afternoon, bringing the most wonderful produce out of her husband, John’s garden. That guys thumb is more than green. There were watermelons, cantaloupe, cucumbers, summer squash, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, raspberries and peaches (I think the peaches came from a neighbor). Not only does he grow a great garden, but he also puts up the produce, and in addition to all the fresh stuff, I also got home processed grape juice, salsa, tomato sauce and jam! Hey, I just thought of something…….where are my pickles???!! Panther also brought lavender bouquets from HER garden, plus fresh lavender spears so she could show us how to make lavender wands. As we all proved lavender wand-challenged, she went around the table providing remedial help and encouragement.
Supper was wonderful; Debbie B had brought ingredients and the recipe for a great chicken crockpot dish. I’ll include the recipe for your dining pleasure: throw in the crockpot some whole chicken breasts, 8 oz cream cheese, one envelope Italian seasoning, 2 TB sour cream and a can of cream soup. Cook it all day, and serve with rice. Divine!
After Rachel helped me with my Biology homework for about an hour, we played Cranium, the ‘mature’ women against the ‘girls’. We did a lot of laughing, which is one of my favorite activities.
On Sunday, the Baileys had to leave early to get home in time for an activity for the kids, and it is a 6 hour drive. I forgot to mention that Amy did most of the driving as she is working on her learner’s permit. Panther and I went to church in time to sing in the choir, which we enjoyed. Then it was time for her to get started on her 6-hour drive back home.
It feels great to know that people want to spend time with me badly enough to drive 6 hours to do it.
Meanwhile, UltraDad with the thoughtful help of Pat got the tile cut and laid down on the bathroom floor. Next week, he can apply the grout; it looks fantastic, and we may soon be back to having two working bathrooms in the house.
I am going to have to write another post to tell you about the previous weekend, which we got to spend with Jimbo. It’s nearly midnight, and I still have a little Biology to read. But that was a great weekend too, and I promise to fill you all in very soon.
Popular UltraMom
What’s a lavendar wand? I think I want one.
Sounds like you have had a very busy weekend. I’m looking forward to your post about the weekend you spent with Jim.
Chenoa, I would LOVE to send you a lavender wand. What is your address? It was a wonderful weekend. Great post!
Who is Jim?
REally? I’d love a wand. But hope it didn’t sound like I was trying to fenagle one???
I will send Aunt Kathy my address to forward so that I don’t have to post it on the internet.
Thank you!!!
fenagler!!
Just a quick addendum to my last post on the VP debate. Did anyone else soil themselves a little when Palin asserted that the constitution allowed for the VP to exert more power if they chose to? After Cheney, I think we should all be able to agree that the mere thought is terrifying, but I have a hard time believing that she was willing to say it aloud. I wonder how much the press has picked up on that in the US?
LInc of course! He is utterly adorable and has done nothing to offend me, which is not always true of my own offspring. Plus, he is now cleverly eating solid food and getting new teeth! What a smart boy.
Fairly Good Dad. Enabled me to videochat with the ever-awesome Linc today. Unfortunately, cannot give him a perfect score, because of lavish candy demands. Sorry.
The mother of my favorite grandchild, and by all accounts, an awesome one.
Chats with me once in a while on Skype. This is the kid I call when I’m feeling a little down. Whether it’s telling corny jokes or indulging in a gender-bashing fest, he can always make me laugh.
Had lots of fun with this guy in SLC last weekend. He spent half of his Saturday with two ‘mature’ women (UltraMom and Ima) and was charming and lots of fun. He graciously accepted Ima’s offer of homemade spaghetti leftovers. What a good son.
I don’t get to talk to this girl NEARLY enough, but she did email me an invite to a Women’s Seminar she will be attending in Pocatello. Unfortunately it is the weekend of my big Weight Watcher meeting. I miss you, honey!
Going on third week of wearing a plastic cone on his head to prevent scratching open the sore on this face, poor little guy. UDad says it is his Halloween Costume: Funnel Man,,,,,,er Pup
Has no plastic cone on his head; unlike Rowdy, does not spend first 5 minutes of each and every walk jumping and grabbing his own (and others) leashes. Has developed a rather cute trick of standing in the kitchen and barking when he wants a treat. After a false start, am determined to not give in to his extortion.
Dropping to the bottom. She has ruined another couch with her lethal claws, despite huge scratching post prominently displayed (and largely splayed) in the vicinity.
Thank you UltraBob for teaching me how to post!!
WTG Jessica!!!
“in a round-about way, he is going to increase the total amount of taxes that Americans pay”—I don’t think that was any big secret. At no time has Obama claimed that he was trying to decrease overall tax revenue. The national debt just reached 10 trillion dollars for the first time ever, reducing revenue is not going to help with that.
The SEC is a government agency, and I’m sure that they employ a fair number of lawyers. I don’t know a whole lot about FASB and won’t try to pretend like I do. we have been going through a systematic process of deregulation and putting the fox in charge of regulating henhouse predatory practices for many years now and this is where it has gotten us. Even if we say that regulation wouldn’t have stopped us from getting to this point, which I haven’t heard anyone claiming, deregulation has exacerbated things in a big way. Because there is no regulation there is no requirement for these institutions to report their positions with regard to how many bad derivatives they are holding, and how bad the ones they are holding are. Not knowing these positions makes it riskier for another financial institution to provide a loan or do a buyout. Not even your candidate is arguing against regulation anymore. Though his record and past statements demonstrate that he is almost always in favor of deregulation.
The mortgage companies specifically sought out risky loans so that they would have more to pack into derivatives and sell on and make money on. There was no desire to help out the common man involved as you suggest, and again your position is not that of the candidate you are trying to argue in favor of.
Without an understanding of the whole subprime mortgage issue and how it led into the financial crisis, and then further how that would lead to widespread problems in the larger economy it is pretty much impossible to grasp what policies may take us out of it and what is unlikely to work. I wouldn’t claim that I am an expert by any means, I’m certainly not motivated by a core interest in the subject at hand, but I’ve taken the time to go through things and try to get a rudimentary understanding of all of it. I don’t think McCain has bothered. He has stated himself that he doesn’t understand economics very well, and he has proved it on many occasions, not least the most recent debate.
On the issue of embryonic stem cell research I’m not sure if you read my argument? When human life begins has nothing to do with it. If you believe that these embryonic stem cells are human life then that is fine, for the purposes of this argument anyway, I’ll cede that point to you. Still, those human lives exist and are not going to become human beings. Our choice is from there. Would we rather throw these human lives away or at least have them do some good for the rest of humanity? To say you don’t support embryonic stem cell research because you don’t believe in destroying human life is a false equivalency. These human lives will be destroyed, should they be destroyed in vain or be allowed to help us further our knowledge and find a way to help human lives that we have a choice about?
In it’s use in politics, family farm is generally understood to mean small farms. You can disagree with the terminology and that is fine. Let’s call them large farms and small farms then. The small farms in this country need help, that is why, as you said in an earlier post, there aren’t as many of them around any more.
2-8% of all gun crime seems fairly substantial to me. Handguns have legitimate at least some legitimate civilian uses, more so in rural than in urban areas. The fatty foods and soda argument is another false equivalence. If people commonly used fatty foods and soda to intentionally give others diabetes then you’d have a point.
OK, so it sounds as though you are in favor of tighter restrictions on who can purchase a gun. I’m all for that, and your candidate is not. You also appear to be in favor of universal background checks prior to gun purchases. Both McCain and Obama agree with you on that.
I’m not specifically familiar with the Finland case you are talking about here, but there was recently a horrific incident in Akihaba Japan where a man drove a truck into a crowd of people, hopped from the truck and started stabbing. He also posted what he was going to do on the Internet the day before and in the hours leading up to it. The problem is that a lot of people write a lot of threats in a lot of places that are not carried out. You can’t really go investigate everyone who makes an idle Internet threat without increasing the rolls of law enforcement and diverting focus from other important issues. I know it seems in retrospect like a killer who posted on the Internet what he was going to do, should have been easily apprehended ahead of time, but first it is impossible to know what threats are legitimate and which aren’t, second it is hard to find the threats in the first place, third if no crime has been committed there isn’t much you can do about it.
Obama’s serving on a board with Bill Ayer’s is not equivalent to McCain being investigated and reprimanded by congree for abuse of power on behalf of a friend and campaign contributor. We are not even on that, the Ayer’s thing is a non-issue and the Keating 5 thing is part of the congressional record. If it stopped there we could say that Keating 5 is in McCain’s past, but most of his campaign is run by lobbyists. His campaign manager was being paid up to a couple months ago by Fannie Mae. Another lobbyist on his campaign (if I remember right, this could possibly have also been Rick Davis) was a registered lobbyist for the nation of Georgia. No wonder we are all Georgians now. If we look at his running mate and investigation on her has just come back stating unequivocally that she abused her power in pressuring subordinates to have Trooper Wooten fired because of a personal issue she had with the man. What is her response, to lie about it. Blatantly. She said that the report had cleared her of all charges of abuses of power and unlawful behaviour. The report did say that she was within her rights to fire the commissioner, but nowhere did it say that it wasn’t an ethical violation and abuse of power for her to pressure him to have Mark Wooten fired.
I’ve noticed that Jessica is the only McCain supporter here who has the guts to stand up for her positions. As much as I disagree with her I admire her for it.
Heather why are you cheering against your best interests?
Since my statement about the lobbyist for the nation of Georgia was a little light on facts I decided to go back and find a source for you:
via the Washington PostThis has been an interesting series of posts. I rarely get to talk politics with Americans who live there, so thatnks for sharing your views, Jessica. I haven’t yet decided who will get my vote, and I need to study up on each candidates platform (soon!) so it is fascinating to see you both
The subprime crisis is more complex than simply homeowners and mortgage lenders. Mortgages became financial instruments (by lumping them together into a commodity, as UB explained before) that were sold to investment groups and foreign countries. There was duplicity all along the path from down-and-out homebuyer to institutional CDO purchasers. Every step of the journey was enabled someone who wanted something (a house, a profit, an investment) and another party who was willing to be flexible (by bending the rules or the truth) to satisfy that desire. It seems that the world economy fed right into the American dream of owning a home. McMansions and bad mortgages ensued. Can this be regulated? Not likely.
But if the government were to try to regulate this (or anything) they will likely draw upon scores of expert people to develop the legislation. The President, whoever it is, is not going to be personally drafting legislation. His team of experts might, though. And even if the Legislative branch drafts a bill, it gets changed by Congress before it ever gets passed. The office of President is actually not all that powerful. Presidents are influential spokesmen but as the Consitution lays it out they can’t do anything much on their own steam.
I don’t understand why so many people pin everything on the President. I would love to read what you both think about the importance of the President and why he gets credit/blame for so many things that aren’t solely his actions.
Thanks for the comment Kristen. I think it can absolutely be regulated. Perhaps it can’t be regulated so that every single instance of wrong doing is covered in the regulation, but it seems that just a little bit of openness, IOW a requirement that the organizations report what they are doing in a more detailed manner, would have prevented a lot of this.
I don’t think anyone here is pinning everything on the President, but it IS an extremely important position, especially this term. First Bush has usurped more power than he is actually allowed under the constitution through his signing statements (by refusing to hold impeachment hearings the democratic congress is failing in their duties), the presidential candidate this time will most likely appoint at least one supreme court justice, he has veto power, he is in charge of the military, and he has control over the details and priorities of federal law enforcement where there is any legislative or judicial wiggle room.
Thanks for all the great comments and arguments to my position. I’m going to reply to this in the morning when I actually have some brain power…
I don’t think that increasing taxes is going to help reduce the national debt. Obama is planning to increase overall taxes, so why are people in the media portraying him as a major tax-reducer when he really isn’t? The only thing that will reduce the national debt is to take control of spending. Obama really isn’t talking much about reducing spending, which I’m sure you will all agree with me on. However, neither candidate specifically addresses the issue of how to reduce the national debt.
I’m sure the SEC and FASB employ lawyers, but their purpose is to create regulation on businesses and that is the only thing that they do. There will not be any special interest groups or lobbyists’ getting in on the action like what happens so often in politics. The SEC and FASB are the epitome of bi-partisanship when it comes to regulation because there are no political party distinctions in those organizations. Let’s face it, it is highly unlikely that democrats and republicans will agree on regulation that is best for the nation. Some regulation is necessary. I just think that it needs to come from the SEC and FASB.
I’d have to agree with Kristen’s argument about the mortgage companies. It was everybody being selfish. Not just the corporations on Wall Street. I am still going to stick to my position that if the people on “main street” were more knowledgeable about credit, then we wouldn’t have such a huge mess. Educating high schools students about personal finance is essential.
I don’t agree with your argument that we should do something with those embryos to improve other human lives. It may be better than just destroying them without a purpose, but somewhere there will be companies that create embryos for the sole purpose of stem cell research/use. It would require copious amounts of regulation to prevent that, and I don’t think that it would be completely affective. In addition, if we allow the research to happen, then in the future people will push to have embryos created solely for medicinal purposes. In my opinion, nothing good can come from embryonic stem cell research. People may have improved lives because of it, but it is not worth it in the terms of how much human life will be destroyed. I also disagree with this statement that you made: “find a way to help human lives that we have a choice about.”
We have a choice about all human lives; even the ones that are still embryos.
The reason that small farms need help is because they lack the efficiency that the larger farms have, and in the free market efficiency is rewarded. Small farms will always be in need of help. I’d rather spend the money on other issues than providing subsidies for small farms. If the owners of small farms want to remain in business, they will have to grow. Growth is very possible. I can tell you about people I know who have built up a large farming business from nothing. All it takes is hard work.
I’m not sure what all the restrictions are on gun purchases, and I know that we already have background checks. I just think that mental illnesses need to be reported on the background checks even if the person was never hospitalized because of their mental illness. I agree that it would be hard to find every person who had made threats on the internet, but the school shooter in Finland had been in police custody because of his violent behavior.
My argument about banning sugary and fatty foods was from the perspective of banning the substance/item that causes the most deaths. I don’t think that being responsible for 2-8% of gun crimes is substantial enough to warrant banning assault weapons. I’m all for letting people own whatever guns they want. I agree that there is no practical purpose that I can see for owning assault weapons. However, there are a lot of things that I see no practical purpose for owning and yet people own them.
McCain was investigated by a congressional committee, and was acquitted of the charges. The only thing they found was poor judgment. That is from the report made by the committee. What I would really like to know is how Bill Ayers was appointed to a school board in light of his terrorist activities. If you think that hanging out with Bill Ayers is a non-issue, then what do you think about Obama being member of a church whose pastor made anti-American comments and strongly supports a man who called Judaism a “gutter religion” and said that Hitler was a great man. Jeremiah Wright has said that America deserved 9/11 and said that African-Americans should say “God #### America” instead of “God bless America.” Wright also gave a lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrakhan who is the man who made the anti-Jewish comments. Farrakhan also supported Mugabe when he took control over the farms owned by whites in Zimbabwe. Mugabe completely destroyed the farming industry and the entire country of Zimbabwe, and Farrakhan supports him in it, and then Wright gives Farrakhan a lifetime achievement award. I don’t think that’s a non-issue. You can say that Obama denounced both Wright and Farrakhan, but Obama was a member of Wright’s church for twenty years. He and Michelle were married by Wright, and Wright baptized their daughters. Obama even prayed privately with Wright before announcing his candidacy for President. Obama can play down his relationship with Wright all he wants, but if he really disagreed with Wright, he should not have spent the last twenty years as a member of his church. Obama only denounced Wright because it was politically expedient to do so.
As for the allegations against Sarah Palin, Trooper Wooten poached moose, tasered Palin’s eleven year old nephew, drove his patrol car while drunk, and threatened to kill Palin’s family. I think that those are justifiable reasons to try to get a trooper fired. The trooper was only given a few days suspension for his actions. I can understand why the Palins were frustrated because the police commissioner did not seem to be taking them really seriously. The report found that Sarah Palin was justified in firing the commissioner, but should not have pressured the commissioner to fire the trooper. It makes me wonder, if the trooper had not been married to Sarah Palin’s sister, would this have still been unethical?
Chenoa said I should comment and I always do as I am told. I’m with Bob on most of this, and I agree that we can of course agree to disagree.
The whole culture of personal attacks as legitimate political discourse is disheartening to me. That said, on the Ayers and Wright topics, I don’t think anyone really wants to have everything their pastor, preacher, friends or acquaintances say or do attributed to them. I know I don’t. Neither Wright nor Ayers are employed by Obama and the amount of attention they have received seems digressionary at best.
As to Palin’s “troopergate”, if this had not been her ex-brother in-law, would she have even cared seems the more appropriate question and the one that makes it an abuse of power issue in the first place.
I am refraining from commenting on Jessica’s writings because although I commend her for taking up the torch and putting her views out there I just have fundamental disagreements with many of her positions. I am just chiming in here to thank Mike for the excellent comment and voice my agreement that the personal attacks are kidnapping the legitimate political discourse.
I do think that personal attacks should not be made in a political race, and I agree with Mike that Obama and McCain are not responsible for the statements that their friends and acquaintances make. However, Wright has made some really horrific comments and Obama was a member of his church for twenty years. The types of statements that Wright was making is not something that you can just brush off, and Obama, by remaining a member of Wright’s church, supports them. If Obama disagreed with Wright, he should have left the church earlier.
No it doesn’t. How is it that you agree with Mike and then immediately come to the opposite conclusion? I have many friends, professors, and mentors that have beliefs that differ from mine. I have a future sister-in-law who espouses beliefs very different than mine. I don’t disassociate from those people because I find worth in those people apart from our disagreements. I don’t feel that I have to distance myself from everyone who has contrary beliefs. Insulating yourself from anyone who disagrees with you does not lead to a very rounded person. Obama loved his pastor’s spirituality and his opinions on some issues. He disagreed on the radical positions you are referring to. It is that simple, it isn’t all or nothing. It is foolish to advance an absolutist position based on a person’s associations. Palin’s husband advocated Alaskan independence, and leaving the U.S. in his participation in the Alaskan Independence Party. Sarah married him, does that make her a secessionist? She certainly knew about it for years, should she have divorced him? Jesus associated with prostitutes, tax collectors, criminals, and the outcasts of society. Does that mean he shared their values? I think we can all see the absurdity of these conclusions. Your associations are not you.
Well put, John. Your associations are not you.
This is the problem with blogs and commenting thereon, first you think it is so innocent and the next thing you know it consumes all your time, you lose your license and job because you forget to pay your dues, your wife thinks you are looking at free internet porn all the time, your daughter thinks your the random homeless guy who drops in occasionally because of your poor personal hygiene and you can no longer go outside because you have developed hyper-solar sensitivity (wait, my laptop has a battery and I am now outside so scratch the last one).
For the sake of my real life I will be brief. I like Obama more than any politician in quite some time because he comes out and says Republican laissez-faire, trickle down economic just don’t “work”. Ok they work if insuring that the gap between the top 1% and the rest of the population in income and wealth distribution continues to grow at a steady and unabated pace regardless of general economic circumstances, but to me that is “not working”. And I do not want to hear about any of that “all boats rising” nonsense, the middle and lower class have been bailing water fast for the last 30 years in terms of real income and any gains have been due to increases in women joining the work force according to majority of the research on the topic I have seen. The last 30 years is significant because trickle-down economic philosophy has dominated for about that long now. And, as a pre-emptive strike, I also do not want to hear anything about Pres. Clinton here because while he may have been a bit more moderate in his approach he pretty much held the line. It could have had something to do with the Congress he was dealing with but, I think Greenspan said that Clinton was the best Republican president we have had in a long time when it came to economic policy, and if he did not say that he should have.
p.s. I will admit that the current economic crisis has made it more “acceptable” for Obama to state his economic position, but nonetheless, he should get credit for actually stating it.
Thanks John and Mike for your comments. They were very well put and non-argumentative. It is important that we have a disagreement and not an argument here I think, and that is why I hadn’t commented thus far. Frankly, Jessica, your insinuation that the only legitimate way to run a farm is to make it into a large corporate farm, and your further (and I’m sure unintentional) insinuation that our family didn’t work hard on our farm really offended me. It took me some time to calm things down and bring my emotions in line with my intellectual understanding that you didn’t mean those things personally. I still disagree strongly, but I’m not taking it personally.
Now to quickly address the argument point by point, where it hasn’t yet been amply addressed:
Regarding taxes, I don’t think anyone is claiming that Barack is going to reduce taxes overall. The claim, and it is a true one, is that he will reduce taxes for those who need the break, and reverse the tax breaks and increase taxes on those who can afford it. Joe Biden was ridiculed in the media for calling paying higher taxes a patriotic act, but I agree with him, if you live in a country that provides the opportunity-rich environment that allowed you to become a financial success, then you have a patriotic duty to give back so that similar opportunities will be available to your fellow citizens.
I don’t think Kristen was arguing that the borrowers are equally culpable as the lenders and the groups higher up in the chain trading in derivatives. She was saying that greed up and down the line is what has enabled this to happen. Of course that is true. I think it is folly however to say that because someone would like to believe that they have the financial wherewithal to buy a house that they share equal guilt with the lender who ruins the borrower so that he’ll have more loans to sell on for a profit.
The argument that assault weapons shouldn’t be banned because they only make up 2-8% of gun crime is putting the cart before the horse. The issue in banning something isn’t only what harm does it cause, you also must consider what legitimate uses it can be put toward. You have already conceded that assault weapons have no legitimate uses in the civilian arena. Therefore, what do we lose in banning assault rifles? We lose 2-8% of gun crime. We gain safer streets. If you are sincere in your belief that every human right is sacred as you said in your stance on abortion, and I believe you, then you will obviously concede that saving those human lives that would otherwise be killed by assault weapons is a very important goal.
My argument with regard to the Keating 5 is that McCain seems to still be surrounded with lobbyists who’s interests he forwards whenever he can. His campaign chairman was chief lobbyist for Fannie Mae and continued to receive payments from them up to a month ago. His top foreign policy advisor was on the payroll of the nation of Georgia, so McCain came out hawkishly for Georgia even though it undermined the diplomatic efforts underway by the government.
Finally on TrooperGate, Palin has demonstrated an absolute willingness to lie about the findings of the investigation against her, her position on the “bridge to nowhere”, and her reforms in the Alaska Statehouse. Forgive me if I don’t with 100% credulity believe all her allegations about Trooper Wooten. Even if the allegations are all true, she is in a position of trust and is not allowed to violate that trust for a personal vendetta, moral as it may be. Her family has every right to gather evidence of these crimes and pursue civil litigation and/or turn evidence over to the police that may lead to discipline or criminal charges. She does not have the right to take advantage of her position to wield power that an ordinary civilian wouldn’t have in this kind of case.
Jessica,
I really think you should read the transcript of Colin Powell’s explanation for why he is offering his endorsement for Obama.
http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:teb-ASlXyhwJ:www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27266223/+Colin+Powell+endorsement+transcript&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us
I also took offense to the farm comments, but chose not to take them personally. For the most part, I agree with Jessica’s views though.
I mean, I agree with most of her views, besides the comments about the farms. Just wanted to clarify.
Heather, thanks for commenting. Would you care to be more specific about what you agree with? What would it take to change your mind on who to vote for?
This may be a bit wider than our main content column, but thought it would be worthwhile to put here so that anyone who cares to can review a video of Colin Powells remarks.
I lost a great deal of respect for Colin Powell as he was Bush’s point man for selling the war. I would guess that those reservations against him don’t apply for those of you in support of Bush, McCain, and the war. I think his argument here is well thought out and well stated, and would hope you would give it some thought.