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IS IT LEGITIMATE TO RECORD CAMPAIGN PROMISES MADE BY POLITICIANS? EVEN IF IT’S OBAMA?

Taxes

• Give a tax break to 95% of Americans.

• Restore Clinton-era tax rates on top income earners.

• “If you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime. Not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes.
Nothing.“

• Dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes.

• Give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create in the U.S.

• Eliminate capital gains taxes for small business and startup companies.

• Eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000.

• Expand the child and dependent care tax credit.

• Expand the earned income tax credit.

• Create a universal mortgage credit.

• Create a small business health tax credit.

• Provide a $500 “make work pay” tax credit to small businesses.

• Provide a $1,000 emergency energy rebate to families.

Energy

• Spend $15 billion a year on renewable sources of energy.

• Eliminate oil imports from the Middle East in 10 years.

• Increase fuel economy standards by 4% a year.

• Weatherize 1 million homes annually.

• Ensure that 10% of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012.

Environment

• Create 5 million green jobs.

• Implement a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• Get 1 million plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015.

Labor

• Sign a fair pay restoration act, which would overturn the Supreme Court’s pay discrimination ruling.

• Sign into law an employee free choice act — aka card check — to make it easier for unions to organize.

• Make employers offer seven paid sick days per year.

• Increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2009.

National security

• Remove troops from Iraq by the summer of 2010.

• Cut spending on unproven missile defense systems.

• No more homeless veterans.

• Stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq.

• Finish the fight against Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida terrorists.

Social Security

• Work in a “bipartisan way to preserve Social Security for future generations.“

• Impose a Social Security payroll tax on incomes above $250,000.

• Match 50% of retirement savings up to $1,000 for families earning less than $75,000.

Education

• Demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers.

Spending

• Go through the budget, line by line, ending programs we don’t need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.

• Slash earmarks.

Health care

• Lower health care costs for the typical family by $2,500 a year.

• Let the uninsured get the same kind of health insurance that members of Congress get.

• Stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

• Spend $10 billion over five years on health care information technology.

THE LEGACY MEDIA HAS MORPHED—IT’S NOW PART OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CAMPAIGN…...

CHRIS MATTHEWS makes it official: . An incredulous Scarborough kept pressing, astonished at such a complete 180 from Matthews’s repeated insistence during the Bush presidency that he had to hold the government accountable. SCARBOROUGH: Your job is the make this presidency work? MATTHEWS: To make this work successfully. This country needs a successful presidency. . Let’s understand…...after eight years of holding the feet of the Bush Administration to the fire….five+ years of more or less open opposition to the war in Iraq, Chris Matthews, “journalist”, sees it as his JOB to use his position to make the Obama Administration a success. . Well…..thanks for the ADMISSION and EXPLANATION, Chris.

HOW COME THERE AREN’T MORE THIRD PARTIES FIELDING CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT?

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What about those ballot access requirements? Well, Bob Barr, for the Libertarians, found out about this the hard way…..
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In Connecticut, state officials initially said the Barr campaign came up about 500 names short of the 7,500 signatures required to put Barr’s name on the ballot. They later acknowledged that they had made an addition error. Barr was only 321 names shy of the minimum. The state then admitted that state officials had actually lost 119 pages of signatures—almost certainly enough to put Barr over the top. Nevertheless, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that Barr would not be on the ballot, citing testimony from Connecticut officials that it would be “nearly impossible” to reprint the ballots to include him.

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It’s bad enough that even the major parties don’t always keep track…..but that doesn’t seem to matter, at least in some states:
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Meanwhile, in Texas, the tables were turned. Both the Republican and Democratic parties somehow missed that state’s deadline to include Barack Obama and John McCain on the Texas ballot. Barr’s campaign sued, noting the equal protection problems with allowing the two major parties to skirt campaign rules while holding third party candidates to the letter of the law. Barr was right — Obama and McCain should have been kept off the Texas ballot. But Barr’s suit was dismissed by the Texas Supreme Court without comment. Apparently, the Democratic and Republican parties are, to borrow a now-tired phrase, “too big to fail.“ They’re allowed to break the rules.

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READ THE WHOLE THING

PART OF ME FEELS SOME REAL SYMPATHY FOR BARACK OBAMA…...

I mean…...did this guy get elected to an impossible job, or what? . Over and over, Barack Obama told voters if they stuck with him “we will change this country and change the world.“ They did, and now their expectations for him to deliver are firmly planted on his shoulders. Many supporters greeted his victory with euphoria….Obama has a largely liberal voting record and owes a debt to the left wing of the Democratic Party, which mobilized millions on his behalf. These folks embraced his promises to end the Iraq war, move toward universal health care coverage and address harsh terrorist interrogation practices. But Obama also appealed to the broader electorate as a pragmatist who pledged virtually party-blind government. He will have to decide whether it is better to disappoint the more liberal troops out of the gate or wait until later. “A lot of people are not going to be happy in the first two years,“ said Democratic strategist Joe Trippi. . On the other hand, he *DID* make all those promises…....and when you make your bed, it’s only justice that you have to lie in it. I’m only wishing I didn’t have to join him, because I don’t think it will be pretty, and he can do a lot of stuff that will likely make it worse. And…...who *IS* this guy? .

GEORGE W. BUSH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA…...?

We report…..you decide: Would America have elected Barack Obama if white Americans had not gotten accustomed to seeing (in succession) two African-American Secretaries of State? I don’t think so. Before Bush, African-Americans were appointed to some good posts but not to our #1 foreign policy job. Two African Americans (one with a pretty odd first name) served as America’s face to the world. That eased Obama’s way. It is not Tiger Woods in whose footsteps Obama is walking—it’s Rice and Powell. READ THE WHOLE THING

READY FOR A CAR FUELED BY AIR.......?

Well, OK…...the “fuel” isn’t air, of course. The power source is an engine that uses compressed air to drive the pistons…..but the energy to compress the air is produced by some more conventional power source. Central generation of electricity is more efficient than burning hydrocarbons in individual cars, they tell us - so these cars qualify as “green”, even when they come in other colors…... . . Nègre and company assert the AirPod can hit 43 mph, by way of MDI’s 5.45 hp compressed-air motor with traditional pistons like an internal combustion engine. At 15-20 miles per hour, they say, the AirPod has a range of 130+ miles per tankful. Sporting a body of plastic composite, the AirPod is just 82 inches long, 63 inches wide and 79 inches high, and expected to come in passenger and cargo versions, each weighing under 500 pounds. . This particular one is a replacement for the golf cart in many applications, it seems to me. But larger and more powerful ones are promised. Many questions remain…..

BUYER’S REMORSE IS A B***H…...

We’ve all had it, at one time or another. . THESE FOLKS are just the vanguard of a lot of people, from a wide spectrum, that we’ll be hearing from in the next couple of years…... . It’s just a prediction, people…......and I’ve certainly been wrong before. Keep your eyes and ears open, though.

STOP THE PRESSES—NEW YORK TIMES DISCOVERS TERRORISTS AT GITMO!!

Better late than never, I suppose….. I’ll have to admit I’d be more respectful of the PAPER OF RECORD, if this discovery had occurred BEFORE the elections, but never mind….... “It would be very difficult for a new president to come in and say, ‘I don’t believe what the C.I.A. is saying about these guys,’ ” said Daniel Marcus, a Democrat who was general counsel of the 9/11 Commission and held senior positions in the Carter and Clinton administrations….But as a new administration begins to sort through the government’s dossiers on the men, the analysis shows, officials are likely to face tough choices in deciding how many of Guantánamo’s hard cases should be sent home, how many should be charged and what to do with the rest. This is really quite the change, don’t you think? After the last five years of reading the NYT, I was under the impression that the guys at Gitmo were simply farmers, goat-herders, and innocent bystanders swept up by the indiscriminate rampages of the American military…....what on earth has changed? Hmmmmmmmmm? READ THE WHOLE THING

THIS MAY NOT BE FAIR OF ME…...

....but I’m really wondering if bloggers on the left side of the spectrum would be writing THIS KIND OF THING, had their guy lost…... . Given what we saw in 2000 and 2004, I think I might be permitted a doubt or two…...here’s Jonah’s complete post: . Congratulations And Thanks [Jonah Goldberg] Look, I expect to be one of the most severe critics of the Obama administration and the Democrats generally in the years ahead (though I sincerely hope I won’t find that necessary). But Obama ran a brilliant race and he should be congratulated for it. Moreover, during the debate over the financial crisis, Obama said that a president should be able to do more than one thing at a time. Well, I think we members of the loyal opposition should be able to make distinctions simultaneously. It is a wonderful thing to have the first African-American president. It is a wonderful thing that in a country where feelings are so intense that power can be transferred so peacefully. Let us hope that the Obama his most dedicated — and most sensible! — fans see turns out to be the real Obama. Let us hope that Obama succeeds and becomes a great president, for all the right reasons. As for John McCain, he is an American hero and arguably the best candidate we could have fielded. I will in the days to come offer no small amount of criticism about his campaign. But where his campaign may have lacked qualities that would have helped it win, the candidate never lacked for honor and integrity. Thank you John McCain for your sacrifice, commitment, and honor. God bless America, and may He guide Obama to be the best president possible. 11/04 10:38 PM

PREGNANCY RISK INCREASES AMONG TEENS WATCHING SEXY TV SHOWS…....

Surprise, surprise…...to some folks, at least. . Yes, this doesn’t PROVE any causation…...you can READ THE ARTICLE HERE for yourself. . Common sense be d****d…..can’t be telling those teenagers to stop watching soft-core porn, now can we?