She quotes Frank Schaeffer who appeared on the Rachel Maddow show last night. Here is a video clip (you need to get about 50 seconds in)…
This is beyond disturbing, it’s down right scary.
I’m interested in knowing what others in this community think about this extreme hatred toward our president. Is it going too far? Let us know what you think in comments.
Hi everyone. I’ve been off the political blogging grid for awhile now. But I just had to speak up about this healthcare thing.
Below is a DNC video that I recently was sent a link to. And this is some of how I feel about it…
I don’t claim to have any answers – just questions. So, here goes.
I could understand the Republicans being against Obama’s healthcare plan if they at least had a plan of their own. Do they?
Sometimes I wonder if our elected government has forgotten that they represent The “United” States of America…and that this issue is about LIVES not elections.
Okay, that wasn’t really a question, more like a statement.
And I’m totally NOT for taxing the top 2% of Americans to subsidize the 15% without insurance. But just out of curiosity…
Who are these people? The top 2% people? Are you one of them?
And how many of them would be totally against donating some of their wealth or business savvy (at least temporarily) to finding a way to help the uninsured of their own country?
Seriously. Did anyone think to ask? Maybe this population of our country isn’t as heartless and greedy as some people would like us to believe?
Anyway…Here’s the video from the DNC. What do you think about all of this? Dare I ask?
As the nation deals with the ongoing foreclosure crisis, Republicans and conservative thinkers have increasingly blamed the situation on the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).Not only is this tactic a smokescreen for the real problems that we face, but it is also patently false.
CRA requires banks with branches in disadvantaged communities stop discriminatory practices called redlining. Redlining means that no matter what the credit worthiness of a borrow is, if he or she lives within certain boundaries, banks summarily dismissed their loan applications. While redlining is technically illegal, banks continued to practice it anyway. CRA said that if you want to do business in a community, you need to find ways to responsibly invest in it.One way to do so is to find credit-worthy borrowers and provide them with mortgages.This worked very well for over 30 years.
Although the Act’s critics claim otherwise, CRA does NOT mandate that banks lend to disadvantaged borrowers who are not credit-worthy, nor did it lead to banks lowering their underwriting standards to comply with the law. According to an independent study of 2006 mortgage loan data conducted by the law firm Traiger & Hinckley LLP, CRA actually deterred banks from engaging in the kinds of risky and subprime lending that brought on the foreclosure crisis. Specifically, the findings show that:
1. CRA banks were significantly less likely than other lenders to make a high cost loan;
2. The average APR on high cost loans originated by CRA banks was appreciably lower than the average APR on high cost loans originated by other lenders;
3. CRA banks were more than twice as likely as other lenders to retain originated loans in their portfolios; and
4. Foreclosure rates were lower in metropolitan statistical areas with greater concentrations of bank branches.
Whether one agrees with CRA’s mandate that banks responsibly serve the communities in which they accept deposits or not, the data shows that CRA actually deterred irresponsible lending.Further, the Treasury Department and the FDIC have emphatically stated that CRA is in no way responsible for the situation we are in today.
Instead of blaming CRA, we should extend CRA provisions to the independent mortgage companies and bank affiliates from which at least 75% of subprime loans originated.To continue to mislead the public on the benefits of CRA is not only immoral, but it would lead us into situation in which more – not less – of the irresponsible lending that created our current meltdown takes place.
Every four years the United States sadly seems to take on the personae of Stephen King’s fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. Never has this been more true than in the past few weeks.
You remember Castle Rock, Maine the location for the book and movie “Needful Things.” One by one, the people of Castle Rock obtained their heart’s desires for little more than a promise to carry out a few mischievous pranks for an elderly gentleman named Leland Gaunt.
When the citizens of Castle Rock newly opened store named Needful Things, “they are all greeted by the seemingly kind old man, Leland Gaunt, and they all ignore the sign hanging in his shop, “Caveat emptor” (“Let the buyer beware”). One person after another buys the treasures he has in stock, paying surprisingly low prices and performing small “favors” (pranks) at his request. The person doing a prank usually knows the target, but has no real quarrel or relationship with him/her. Little by little, the pranks worsen existing grudges between the townspeople until they start turning violently against each other or themselves. ” – Wikipedia
Well the past few weeks political campaigning in the US has reminded me of the scene in which teenager Brian Rusk threw a barnyard full of turkey feces all over freshly washed sheets that were drying on Wilma Jerzyck’s line. Of course, Wilma was certain that her imagined nemesis Nettie Cobb had done it and tragedy ensued.
Here’s McCain spokesperson Michael Goldfarb throwing his own load of turkey poop during an interview with CNN Reporter Rick Sanchez.
And in the following video, McCain supporter Charles David Ficken attends an Obama rally in Raleigh, North Carolina with a 10-foot tall picture of Barack Obama in East African attire, shouting the United States doesn’t need a “Muslim-leaning” person for president.
In a recent poll of Texas residents, 23% believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim.
Leland Gaunt would certainly be proud.
Now if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie “Needful Things”, I’m not going to give away the ending. However, I will leave you with this sentence from Wikipedia’s description of the movie:
“Those who have survived the entire harrowing ordeal find themselves
facing an uncertain future in what is left of Castle Rock.”
Aides to Sen. John McCain anonymously attacked Palin in several reports today, criticizing the Alaska governor for diverting from the McCain campaign’s message, suggesting Palin was unhappy with certain campaign aides and accusing her of thinking more about her political future than about the success of the McCain-Palin ticket.
In an interview with CNN today, one McCain adviser anonymously called Palin “a diva” and said “she is playing for her own future” political prospects.
“She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone,” the advisor told CNN. “She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. Also she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: divas trust only unto themselves as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom.”
Sen. Ted Stevens was found guilty Monday on seven counts of concealing more than $250,000 in gifts from wealthy friends — becoming the fifth U.S. senator ever to be convicted of a crime.
The verdict comes about a week before Alaska’s voters will decide whether to re-elect the Republican senator to an eighth term and at a time when his party is fighting to stem its losses in a tough year.
How does this conviction affect the McCain/Palin campaign? Isn’t it a little odd that Sen. Stevens can still be elected to the Senate, but as a convicted felon, he can’t vote? Let me know what you think in comments.
A few days ago, I posted on my blog, New Wave Grrrl, about the gaps surrounding Sarah Palin’s purported policy priority of addressing the needs of children with disabilities. I questioned the McCain-Palin ticket’s ability to put our money where their mouths have been on the subject of more funding for people with special needs. On October 24th, Palin gave a speech in my home state of Pennsylvania, on just what she and John McCain planned to do in order to better serve children with disabilities.
Although Palin’s speech was heartfelt, and I believe she truly cares about disability issues as a parent and as an aunt of children with developmental disabilities, her speech and the so-called McCain-Palin plan for children with special needs (which comes less than two weeks shy of Election Day) still falls flat, and still lacks any real promise of change in the quality of life for individuals with disabilities.
One glaring reason for this is the complete lack of policies that support people with disabilities beyond childhood. People who live with physical, developmental, cognitive, and multiple disabilities need various levels of care and support services throughout their entire lifetimes, in order to achieve a better quality of life and live fully within their communities. This includes not just vocational services for people with disabilities who can and want to work, but actual Medicaid dollars to fund the programs that provide for independent living in the community and not in State institutions, regardless of the severity of one’s disability.
We are only days away from the most scary important presidential election of our lives. And, it’s getting more and more ugly with each passing day. So…For the sake of my sanity, and yours, let’s have a little chuckle.
Saturday Night Live Video – George Bush Endorses John McCain and Sarah Palin
I’m getting pretty sick of the “Joe the Plumber” stuff. Joe isn’t even a licensed plumber, and he blatantly lied to Barack Obama, with his question on the economy. Now, the McCain Campaign is using this in negative ads. I don’t see how having more people “claim” to be Joe the Plumber, over and over, is a smart campaign move? And, this ad is just ridiculous. Let me know what you think in comments.
So…What are they saying? Are they just like Joe the plumber, who makes over $250,000.00 a year? Do they know that guy isn’t a licensed plumber and doesn’t make even close to the income he claimed, and he never had any intention of buying a small business? Do they know, that under Barack Obama’s plan, Joe the plumber would have his taxes lowered? Do they realize, that unless they have incomes greater than $250,000.00, their taxes would be lower too?
What do you think of all the “Joe the Plumber” hoopla? Are you sick of it? Let me know in comments.
“The Time Warner Summit: Politics 2008,” held at the Time Warner headquarters in New York City and co-sponsored with CNN, was a corporate branded event with big name heavy-hitters taking on questions about media, news, and the election. After attending both days of the conference, it reinforced my belief that digital media was the future for pushing out women’s stories, concerns, and dialogues.
There were many prominent women featured. Campbell Brown, CNN Anchor, moderated the opening keynote roundtable comprised of four men. Candy Crowley, senior political correspondent at CNN, spoke during the Media Power vs. Political Power session. One of the most dynamic speakers over the two days was Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent for CNN. Her persona and delivery style popped during the discussion with colleagues that included Wolf Blitzer and Fareed Zakaria and former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke.
Whether you consider women and minorities successfully enmeshed in the total media picture
or their specificity overlooked, depends upon your point of view. But the conference was a definitive contrast to presentation I recently attended at St. John’s University, which totally focused on the intersectionality of race and gender with the election story. There, a majority of the speakers were law professors presenting academic work.
The Time Warner symposium included one panel entitled Women and the 2008 Election: Playing Politics with Gender–Media, Candidates and the Majority Vote. Led by Lisa Witter, Fenton Communications COO and co-founder of SheSource — a “brain trust” of female experts — six women explored women as swing voters and the cultural phenomenon of Sarah Palin’s candidacy. In reference to Michelle Obama, they also discussed whether you could be an outspoken black woman without being described as “angry” by media pundits.
As Witter pointed out while speaking to a full room of women — “Wish there were more you!” she joked to the sprinkling of men — 59 percent of primary voters were women. At the end of the discussion, Carol Jenkins, Women’s Media Center president, posed questions going forward for the media. She called for continued examination of “who is calling the shots, who is making the decisions, and who is missing from the picture.”
With the understanding that women do not getting their narratives adequately told — if told at all — the need for a fresh playing field is palpable. In the new media, women have an opportunity to create their own communities and their own brands. Whether on the left or right of the political spectrum, a mommy blogger or a political blogger, women are flooding the Internet. This was borne out by a BlogHer/Compass Partners survey found 36.2 million women were actively participating in blogs. Of women online, 53 percent were reading blogs, 37 percent were posting comments, and 28 percent were writing or updating blogs.
Answering the question, Where are all the women political bloggers? Well, if you are here, you have found them. We are dedicated to giving women bloggers a voice, starting with our list of over 500 women political bloggers. And now, in addition to guest bloggers, and our growing community, we will also feature regular contributing editors.
