Isn't it Ironic?

Ever since Treasury Secretary Paulson announced he needed $700 billion of the tax payers' money immediately in order to bail out Wall Street, I've been curious. Am I the only one who feels the oddness of this? The largest majority of brokers and bankers are Republicans. Deregulation and the lack of oversight, in my view the greatest causes of this situation, were pushed and put into law by Republicans. Now these fat cats (mostly Republicans) are in trouble because they made bad decisions and investments. But are they willing to take responsibility for their actions? No. They want US, as in you and me, to bail them out - to issue a get out of jail free card.

My DH and I were watching CNN yesterday afternoon when voting on the bailout bill concluded. To our amazement, Republicans voted two to one against the bill as did some Democrats. And yet prominent Republicans immediately began to blame Nancy Pelosi - whose leadership had brought most Democrats on board. HELL - O! The Democrats did not defeat this bill - the Republicans did.

What happened? Members of congress were overwhelmed with calls and emails from constituents demanding the bill, which provided for no oversight whatsoever, be defeated. For once they listened - especially those up for re-election in November.

Also playing a huge role in this was the Bush administration which has cried "wolf" once too often. What little credibility they once had is now totally gone.

I don't know how to fix this thing. But I know the enormous cost cannot be put upon the shoulders of the taxpayers who've already seen their money spent to rescue Bear Stearns and AIG not to mention mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I found the remarks of these three Representatives, made before the initial vote on Monday, to be especially relevant and thought provoking:

Comments of Sheila Jackson Lee:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwysnA7ZmE8

Comments of Dennis Kucinich:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaF_MZVWM3E

Comments of Marcy Kaptur:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27yitK32ds

It's Deja Vu All Over Again

Phil Gramm and John McCain -

Longtime proponents of deregulation.

Are you getting the same feeling I've been having - that we've made this awful journey before? I think Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the Bush administration highly underestimate the intelligence and memory of the citizens of this country. Do they think we've forgotten all about the rush to war in Iraq? The current scare tactics and another rush to judgment in Washington have exactly the same tone.

Yes, the current financial crisis is extremely serious. But we (I use that term loosely) didn't get into this mess overnight and won't get out of it quickly. I cannot believe Paulson's audacity and presumption in presenting a three-page plan which allows for absolutely no oversight. Asking the taxpayers to bail out private firms to the tune of 700 BILLION dollars is galling enough. What about the little guy - the taxpayer with a sub-prime loan who's already been screwed over once? What happens to him?

I'm glad so many in congress are balking and asking tough questions. I hope they continue. As you know, Paulson left Goldman Sachs with a 40 MILLION dollar golden parachute.

Lastly, does anyone else think it's strange that, after several days of crisis, John McCain suddenly feels he must rush back to Washington to solve the situation? Isn't this the guy who has openly admitted he knows nothing about economics? What could he possibly add to the conversation? Mr. Deregulator himself who voted against regulation for many years, along with his chief economic advisor Phil Gramm* (who wrote the deregulation plan) are amongst those I feel are to blame for this mess.

It's obvious John McCain's move is a desperate ploy to avoid talking about the issues in Friday's scheduled debate - especially with Barack Obama. By now you've all heard about McCain's charade this afternoon saying he was suspending his campaign, returning to Washington due to the crisis and suggesting the debate be postponed. He was going to put "country first." Isn't it strange to have both candidates on the Republican ticket avoiding the issues?

*For a comprehensive article about the role McCain's chief economic advisor played in creating the financial crisis, go to:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html

More Pix from the Obama Rally

Here are just a few more photos from the Obama rally I attended Sunday. Over 25,000 turned out to see him. The outdoor venue chosen was way too small, but I'm sure much easier to secure than nearby Marshall Park where I saw Bill Clinton in 1992.

I spoke with several campaign workers who were extremely uplifted by the crowd and its energy. Very well organized, they were handing out registration and early voting info as well as recruiting additional volunteers.

Barack Obama in Charlotte Sunday.

The economy is the #1 issue for most voters, as evidenced by this sign.
Click on the photo for a closer view.

The enthusiasm of the crowd was palpable. Horns honking, people waving, sign holding...........it was indeed an uplifting day.

This gentleman wore an Obama shirt I've not seen anywhere else.
He graciously allowed a photograph.

Obama campaign workers.

These organizers were recruiting volunteers.
You know I'm one of them!

Barack Obama Was Here Today!!!

Nakeeda and I talked politics while we awaited the arrival of Barack Obama,
the next president of the United States!

Photo credit: Tim

Barack Obama was in Charlotte today and I was amongst the thousands who came out to see him. It is estimated 20,000 people went through security while another 10,000+ stood just outside the viewing area. It was an awesome, amazing, inspirational sight. And did we make some noise? YES WE DID!

I'll write more about the experience tomorrow, but wanted to share a few shots from this day.

Lines stretched for block after block after block. Destination? The pink granite building on the right side of this picture.

The security check-point at the front of the line.

Campaign buttons of all types were available. I purchased a very cool Obama PEACE one from this fellow.

The unity expressed by this family says it all.
Can we do it in November?
YES WE CAN!!!

For All the Right Reasons

I've just read a very thought-provoking article which speaks to the reasons we vote the way we do. It was sent to my DH from our friend Ann.

I've excerpted some of Goldie Taylor's words from Ebony/Jet's on-line site. You can read the complete article by going to this link:

http://www.ebonyjet.com/politics/national/index.aspx?id=9282

When I cast my vote, it will be for people who will lay more bricks for people like me. It will be for people who will put diplomacy before war, challenge us all to provide healthcare for the sick, help another child go to college, and check the special interests in Washington. This fall, I'm not looking for a woman.

I'm looking for a brick layer.

I could care less if that person hasn't spent "enough" time in Washington or can "properly field dress a moose". I could care less if that person likes hockey, soccer, football or table tennis. I could care less if they graduated from Harvard or the University of Iowa. I'm a Christian, but I could care less if they are down with Deuteronomy, Leviticus or Numbers. I want them to uphold the Constitution.

So no, I will not sit idly by as they attempt to suspend habeas corpus at Guantanamo Bay, engage wiretaps on American citizens without a warrant, and hide behind executive privilege when they are caught firing attorney generals based on how well they tow the Republican line. I won't let them cost us $12 billion a month fighting a war that should have never been authorized and never been waged. Not while working people lose their homes to predatory lenders and watch as we bail out the financial institutions that created the housing crisis.

I will not, in the name of history, vote for a woman like Sarah Palin who does not share my values.

But here’s what I will do.

I will continue raising money for Barack Obama. I will get on the phone again and call people in distant states I've never met. I will e-mail, call, and knock on doors until the final vote is cast. I do this, not because he shares my skin, but because I admire his principals and he shares my values. I do this because Barack Obama is more than a community organizer, he is a bricklayer. And he sees -- just as he sees the light in Michelle's eyes -- my struggle, my worth as a woman.

Goldie Taylor is CEO of Native Brand Communications and chairman of Goldie Taylor OmniMedia, LLC. She is the author of In My Father’s House (Wheatmark, 2005) and The January Girl (Madison Park, 2007 & Warner Books, 2008) and is currently working on her third novel, Come Sunday. Taylor and her children live in Atlanta and New York. For more information, visit www.goldietaylor.net or her blog Second Day at www.goldietaylor.wordpress.com.

Palin Politics - Is She Really the Issue? Yes and No.

I swear this is the last time I want to write about Sarah Palin!!!! Democrats have allowed themselves to be totally thrown off their game, i.e., message, by her and her handlers. What the heck are we talking about? Palin, Palin, Palin - Wal-Mart Moms, Hockey Pucks and Lipstick. Her face and/or those of her entire family grace the covers of nearly every chick magazine in the grocery store check-out line. Huge expletive deleted here!!! Her presence on the ticket IS of great concern to me and many others. But the target is McSame or as some are calling him: Bush Forty-four!

I'm a life-long Democrat and a proud card-carrying member of the ACLU (I'll write about civil liberties when I'm calmer) both of which I support with my words and coin. I am beyond worried about the upcoming election. If McSame is elected, well I can't even go there. With his much talked about health issues, we all know Palin could end up in the White House. We CANNOT let that happen. She has no clue what the Bush Doctrine is, but can see Russia from her house! What, me worry? The woman is freakin' crazy!!!

We Democrats have to get it together NOW! I urge you to read an article about Miss AK47 which ran on the front page of yesterday's (9/14) The New York Times. Written by journalists Jo Becker, Peter S. Goodman and Michael Powell, the piece is entitled "As Governor and Mayor, Palin Hired Friends and Hit Critics." It was a front page story which continued for an additional ENTIRE page! I don't shock easily, but I was stunned, stunned I tell you, at the revelations. As former mayor of NYC Ed Koch said, "The woman terrifies me."

Here's the link.

www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?hp -

On "The Google" the article is entitled: "Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes." It should be required reading for every voter.

Also not to be missed, is Frank Rich's op-ed piece "The Palin-Whatshisname Ticket," also in yesterday's Times.

www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14rich.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin -

Hockey-Puckey

WE THE PEOPLE! These are the first three words of the Constitution. We The People are the ones served by government and who decide which people we want to represent us. When one is running for the second highest office in the land; i.e., vice-president, he or she is applying for a job. The employers? WE THE PEOPLE!

Rick Davis, McSame's campaign manager, told Fox News that Palin wouldn't be talking to reporters "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference." To quote Giuliani (from his speech at the Republican Convention): "What? What is that?"

Deference? They must be joking! Deferential is the last thing our press should be. They should ask questions, press for answers, get at the true views, thoughts and character of a candidate and then provide that information to all citizens. Before it's too late!

Since when have we allowed someone running for office to be insulated from the press? We ought to be up in arms about this! It is an outrageous proposition that our free press (at least free for now) cannot interview a candidate until that party's spokesman decides the press will be respectful and deferential to said candidate. And then they (the campaign) and they alone will decide who the interviewer will be.

In a letter to the editor of the Charlotte Observer today, Donald Latham wrote: "The McCain campaign has said any interviewer must treat Gov. Palin with 'some level of respect and deference.' The only other individual involved in America's government who demanded respect and deference was King George III."

Well said, Donald.

Queen Charlotte.

Has the McSame campaign's Rick Davis confused Sarah Palin with this woman?

Community Organizers

The Original Community Organizers

These courageous rebel rousers shown above were great thinkers, dissenters, revolutionaries and writers. Among their most famous works: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. All citizens of this great country owe them a tremendous debt. Their insurrection gave us our freedom from Britain. These noble community organizers? Members of the Second Continental Congress.

To belittle the role of a community organizer greatly dishonors the early history of this nation. It also displays a lack of respect for the courage of all those grass-roots organizers such as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, the first president of the United States.

American Prayer

This amazing poster is the art of Shepard Fairey.

If you need an uplifting message, and who doesn't these days - click on the youtube video link below. It is really quite wonderful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVi4rUzf-0Q

I'd seen the video a while back, but viewed it again after reading my friend Gerrie's incredible blog. If you want levity, wit and serious thought on politics, click here:

http://gericonpolitics.blogspot.com/

Court Jester

Check the Lipstick!

The vice president of the United States has just two duties: Assuming office in case the president dies, retires or is impeached, and presiding over the Senate and voting in the case of ties. We know Sarah Palin doesn't think being vice president is important, as she stated in a televised interview: "What is it the vice president does anyway?"

Now that she has been nominated, she appears to think her job is to do stand-up comedy while McSame tries to pretend he's not part of Washington. Guess not, after only 26 years. In her stump speech is this pathetic joke so pertinent to her questionable experience: "What's the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom? Lipstick." What's happened to this nation over the last eight years is no joke! Palin's comments about McSame's opponent are mocking, derisive and insulting. It's as if she's jeering and laughing at the electoral process. Truly unbelievable!

Nine vice-presidents in our nation's history have had to finish the term of a president: four inherited the office because of the natural death of the incumbent, four because of assassination, and one by resignation.* Nine out of 43 is a huge percentage! And in the case of John McCain, a 72-year old melanoma survivor, there is ample reason to think he may not be able to complete a four-year term. No one wishes the man ill, but it could happen.

McCain's choice of Sarah Palin was very reckless in my view. It's been proven she lied in her acceptance speech when she said, "I got rid of the corporate jet - sold it on eBay for a profit." Lie. She did list it on eBay twice but it didn't sell. It was eventually sold by a private broker at a loss of $600,000. Statements like that show the true character of a candidate. To tell a lie about something which could so easily be fact checked demonstrates a flippant attitude about TRUTH. What is it with the current administration and those Republicans wanting to take their place? Do they even know how to tell the truth? I'll save my rant on that for another day.

I really think Palin thinks the job for which she is running is that of Court Jester, also known as a fool or buffoon. That she could probably do.

*Source: answers.yahoo.com

Message to Christopher

Please email me at ellen@ellenguerrant.com. We have to be related some way. Thanks for your comments, btw. Ellen.

Half-Baked Alaska

Last week I was so PROUD to be a Democrat!!! I felt so very strongly that my party was on its way to victory, especially with the choice of Joe Biden as VP. I was uplifted and hopeful after Barack Obama's awesome speech Thursday evening. I respect and trust him to do what's right for this country! He is a truly decent man who has real, stated ideas for change - not just rhetoric. Our ticket is outstanding.

When I learned McSame had named a neophyte who'd been mayor of a town with just 7K citizens, 50 employees and 10 stoplights and who'd been a governor for just 20 months, I was stunned. Are you kidding me???? What the............? Then I went to Obama Headquarters where the young field manager, perhaps thinking I'd been a Hillary supporter, asked me what I thought of Palin. I responded that NO woman I know who'd supported Clinton would even THINK of voting for this person. That he seemed concerned in turn made me begin to worry a bit.

Because of a meeting last night, I missed all Republican convention stuff until Giuliani was half way through his belittling speech. As if that hadn't been distressing enough, then came Palin.
What a piece of work! I watched and listened carefully to every word she had to say. Her speech was so very "Frank Lutz like." Even if Karl Rove had a hand in it, it was low. I could not believe what I was hearing. The sarcasm, the outright lies, the condescending manner were beyond belief. And the spin!!!!! Republicans are masters at spin, and spin it they did.

Do they think we don't remember Barack Obama saying months ago, "It's not red states and blue states, it's the United States!" They've spun that into "America First." They've portrayed themselves as the ONLY people who could possibly be patriots. They'll ask anyone who disagrees with them, "Why do you hate America?"

My DH observed that the Republicans have stolen Obama's campaign and totally twisted Obama's ideas into something they want us to think they thought of. NOT!

It is assumed that McSame will discuss "national security" tonight, amongst other things. Do these people forget who was in charge on 9/ll? THE REPUBLICANS! Do they forget the ignored intelligence - as Condy recalled, "I think the memo said something like "Al Qaeda determined to strike United States." Do the Republicans remember the price of gasoline or a barrel of oil ($33.51) when Bush took office? Do they remember our government had a surplus when Bush took office? Do they realize we've spent trillions in Iraq and continuing to spend over $10 billion per month. Do they realize 47 million in this country, many of them children, are without health insurance? Do they even care???? As Cheney would say, "So?"