The Political Voices of Women

Here is a post from our newest community member Anita S. Lane.  You can read more from Anita at her blog Unconventional Politics.

[If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women, just join our community, and start posting.]

Last week the Republican party heralded the themes of “Country First” and “Service” at their national convention. Throughout the week they highlighted numerous examples of bravery and courage among service persons and civilians alike. Service is a core value of this party and its 2008 convention.

Then came a series of speeches on Wednesday night—particularly the speeches given by Rudy Giuliani and Governor Sarah Palin. What I heard astounded me. Both speakers blatantly belittled and mocked the little-known (now more well-known due to Barack Obama) role of community organizer.

I was utterly appalled when I listened as Giuliani eagerly waited the audience’s response after making the remark, “He worked as a community organizer. What? … OK, maybe this is the first problem on the resume.”

I couldn’t believe it.

It didn’t stop there. In her acceptance speech, Governor Sarah Palin stated, “I guess a small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer… except that you have actual responsibilities.”

One can argue that Governor Palin was simply comparing the responsibilities of the office of President with that of the responsibility of a community organizer. Definitely there is little comparison. However, to diminish the role or value of community organizers is despicable.

Certainly the responsibility of a neighborhood community organizer doesn’t equate to the responsibility of the President of the United States—nothing can— but Giuliani and Palin didn’t make that distinction. Rudy Giuilani called Obama’s service as a community organizer the first “problem” on Obama’s resume, but nothing could be further from the truth.

A community organizer is a grassroots warrior. A community organizer is someone who sacrifices his or her time, energy, resources—and very often higher earnings— to rally and empower families and communities to fight for the causes in which they believe—whether it’s working to improve educational opportunities for neighborhood children, ridding the neighborhood of abandoned homes and drug havens, organizing to bring job training and jobs after plants have closed, fighting to get fresh produce at neighborhood grocery stores, or rallying for affordable housing and reliable public transportation.

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Is politics stressing you out?  Have a little laugh. This is from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.  Enjoy.

Also See:

Survival Guide For Political Bloggers

It seems the questions about healthcare always comes down to, who really “deserves” it, and who should pay for it?  Here is my take…

Where do your taxes go?  Is too much going to help people who can’t or won’t help themselves?  Let’s check it out and see…

This is from National Priorities.org…

Ok - To make this a little easier to understand, I’m going to use $100 as the amount of taxes we break-down to see where they are going.  However, anyone can go to this site and put their actual number in and get a specific breakdown for themselves.

So, let’s check this out.  For every $100 dollars you spend in income taxes, this is where the money goes…

Of the $100 you paid in taxes:

• $42 goes to Past and Current Military
• $22 goes to Health
• $10 goes to Interest on Non-Military Debt
• $9 goes to Anti-Poverty Programs
• $4 goes to Education, Training & Social Services
• $4 goes to Government & Law Enforcement
• $3goes to Housing & Community Development
• $3 goes to Environment, Energy & Science
• $2 goes to Agriculture, Commerce and Transportation
• $1 goes to International Relations

So, 22 dollars of 100 goes to Health ($458 billion) is the federal funds portion of all health spending by the federal government, including the federal funds spending on Medicare.

And, 9 dollars of 100 goes to Anti-Poverty Programs ($179.4 billion) includes federal funds outlays on the sub-function areas food and nutrition assistance ($54.5 billion) and other income security. Other income security includes Supplemental Security Income ($38.5 billion) which provides cash assistance to disabled, elderly and blind who have very low incomes; payments where Earned Income Tax Credit exceeds tax liability ($38.3 billion); Temporary Assistance for Needy Families ($16.9 billion); payments where child credit exceeds tax liability ($16.2 billion); foster care and adoption assistance ($6.6 billion); child care spending and a variety of other small programs for children and families.

And, 4 dollars of 100 to Education, Training and Social Services ($90.6 billion) includes all federal funds outlays on the function area of the same name which includes the following subfunction areas: elementary, secondary, and vocational education, higher education, and research and general education aids, training and employment, other labor services, and social services.

And, 3 dollars of 100 goes to Housing and Community Development ($69.2 billion) includes all federal funds outlays defined by the federal government as housing assistance ($39.7 billion), and the function area of community and regional development ($29.5 billion).

Most of our tax dollars (52 dollars of 100) are going to the Iraq war and the military…

Cost of the Iraq War…

• • $4,681 per household.
  • $1,721 per person.
  • $341.4 million per day.

You can go here to see what the Iraq war is costing your community.

So, do we pay too much in taxes, YES.  But, it’s not because we are compassionately providing some of our tax dollars to services for the sick, impoverished, and the hungry…It’s because the average tax payer is being forced to pay more in taxes because our government is letting multi-million/billion/trillion dollar corporations avoid paying taxes.  

Don’t be mad about how much of your tax dollar is going to help needy Americans…Be mad about all the tax dollars that are not being collected by corporations making millions and billions and trillions each year that could be reducing your taxes and subsidizing programs that could be helping the needy among us even more than we already do (which isn’t enough).  This report does not even include all the millions in tax credits our government is giving out to huge corporations (such as oil), or corporate welfare.  This is were the anger needs to be directed, not at each other.

From Marketplace…

Lemme get your reaction to something here for a second. If I told you there was a report out today showing two thirds of all Americans didn’t pay any income taxes, would you be surprised? Outraged, maybe? If you are, calm down. There’s no report saying that at all. But there is a study out today from the Government Accountability Office saying something similar. It finds that between 1998 and 2005, two thirds of companies in this country had at least one year where they didn’t pay any federal income tax. So, back to the outrage. Where is it?

(AP) Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress.

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 Here is a guest post by community member Deb Della Piana from Turn Left.

[If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women, just join our community, and start posting.]

The Republicans love distractions. It’s one of the little touches that Karl Rove brought to the GOP. And we all know, of course, that he’s involved in the McCain campaign. Distraction is one of the reasons why John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Why deal with the real issues, like the sad state of the economy, our broken health care system, or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when he can get you caught up in Palin’s personal family drama? There’s wasn’t much substance at the GOP convention. In fact, the McCain strategists have openly stated that they don’t want this election to be about issues. They want it to be about personality. The basic plan is to wrap John McCain in a giant American flag and paint him as a true American hero. First, a little tribute to John McCain, the POW. Then, evoke a few 9-11 images strictly for political purposes. We had the usual cast of characters at Tuesday’s spectacle – Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and even Joseph Lieberman – but McCain’s new running mate stole the show.

Sarah Palin, that little breath of fresh air, made her debut on Wednesday night. While the Republicans positively gushed over her performance (at least publicly), she was less than honest about many things. Oh, what the hell, she’s supposedly likable and Americans have been lied to for so long they can no longer tell truth from fiction. There’s a thing called perception, loosely defined as a mental image. There’s another thing called reality, loosely defined as an actual fact. There’s a lot of perception vs. reality going on with Sarah Palin. Let’s take a closer look.

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Did you see John McCain’s Acceptance speech?   What did you think?  Here is a roundup of what the media and the bloggers thought.  I hope you will let me know what you thought of the McCain speech in comments.

Rachel Maddow on John McCains’s speech…

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From Megan McArdle…

• The words “I fought corruption” should never pass the lips of a charter member of the Keating Five.
• “I fight for you” is a clever tag line, and I presume the image that the McCain campaign has settled upon.  This will allow them–just barely–to keep making the ridiculous claim that John McCain doesn’t like to bring up the fact that he was a POW.  If John McCain didn’t want to bring it up, he would have instructed his staff not to mention it to every single person they talk to, including the barista at Caribou Coffee.
• Ack!  The dreaded “Free America from Dependence on Foreign Oil” meme rears its ugly head.  This is high definition hogwash.  Drilling isn’t going to save us from Demon Oil any more than windmills will.  It might make us some money.  But we’ll still be part of a world economy that will be pigheaded about buying their oil from funny people who don’t even speak English.
• John McCain does not seem particularly comfortable talking about God.  The lines are there, but they’re mechanical, clearly recited by rote.
• McCain claims he’ll cut government spending.  I’ll believe it when I see it.
• Boy, the folks at the RNC really hate national health care.

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Here is the full video of John McCain’s Acceptance Speech & biographical video. I will be adding more media and blogger reaction shortly. I hope you will let me know what you thought of the John McCain acceptance speech in comments.

John McCain’s Acceptance Speech…

John McCain’s Biographical Video…

Here are the videos of Lindsey Graham, Tom Ridge, and Cindy McCain at The Republican National Convention. Did you see the speeches? What did you think?

From CNN Political Ticker…

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Cindy McCain will all have significant roles in the lead up to Sen. John McCain’s speech Thursday evening when he will formally accept the Republican presidential nomination.

Graham is one of McCain’s closest friends in the Senate, while Ridge was said to be on the Arizona senator’s short list of vice presidential prospects.

Sen. Lindsey Graham spoke about the war in Iraq…

Tom Ridge spoke about John McCain’s character and commitment…

From The Median Sib…

As I watched Cindy McCain speak at the Republican National Convention, I was impressed with her sincerity, her depth of character and her spirit of adventure. Her father started from scratch and was able to live the American dream and make his daughter a very wealthy woman. Rather than sit back and live the life of luxury, Cindy McCain has dedicated her life to doing what she can to ease life for people around the world who are struggling with overwhelming challenges.

Cindy McCain told her life story…

BlogHer’s Mary Katharine Ham spoke with McCain advisor Nancy Pfotenhauler…

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Here is an extensive fact-check of the statements Sarah Palin made in her speech last night, that I received in my email earlier today.

 If you missed the Sarah Palin speech you can see it in full here.

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Here is a guest post by community member Doris Anne Beaulieu from Life’s Ultimate Test.

[If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women, just join our community, and start posting.]

How many of you watched the interview yesterday with Mrs. McCain? The word “we” was forever used and I wonder why? She stated her husband and her talk out ever thing before decision are made. Who is running for president? Should “we” be paying better attention to her as running for president? Why is this? Is McCain having trouble with his memory that she has to tell him what side he’s on or what he should do? Now is the time for these answers to be answered before voting date.

As for using McCain record in the military we appreciate his serving his country like many men have and we appreciate all who have done just as well but not recognized. My father served in WWII, my brother served in Vietnam and my son served two tour in Iraq.

First point I would like to make is many Viet.-Nam vets suffered a flashback after 9-11. As a nation we need to give this some though before voting and talk to a vet. Second point I would like to make is what men seen in a year in yesterday wars is seen by our troops in a week. A much harder war to be in and harder impact mentally. Please also think about this before voting. Palin can talk to us after her son has served a few tours in this war and let us know if she even has close to the same son back.

If McCain choose Palin because he wanted the women votes that Hillary had. Well I’m sure all women who have loss their children out of neglect will vote for them in hopes to turn that over too. Please think that whole game plan out too before voting.