Down With Unions - The Auto Bail Out

The Congressional Republicans are trying to make the auto workers take a one third pay cut in the negotiations for the auto industry bailout. It seems that the discussion on capital hill about whether to loan General Motors, Ford Motors, and Chrysler- bedrock of the American auto industry-monies so they can have some purchase power and meet payroll recently turned on whether the auto workers should take a pay cut. Republicans claims this is necessary to equalize salaries with those working for Toyota and Nissan, two foreign auto companies whose employees are non-union.

The republicans have been including in their calculations all benefits received by Union Workers as part of their salary, like health and pension benefits. That’s what companies do when they want to make it seem like employees are receiving more than they actually are, they count the legacy benefits-those monies received by people no longer working for the company even though those people may have given twenty, thirty, even forty years of their lives to these companies. These are the people who allow these companies to succeed the people who are actually doing the producing.

Workers, Laborers, or hourly employees, call them whatever, whether they are union are not are doing the real work behind a successful corporation, and even when the company is not successful the "grunt workers" are the ones that are usually holding the company together by consistently producing, doing what they are instructed by the managers (field agents for the corporation). I watched several news coverage about the situation with the auto companies and in every shot of auto workers they are doing their jobs--they are producing the cars they are told to produce. Most of these cars on monstrous gas guzzling SUV’s--Escalade, 4runners, suburban, expeditions, some of the biggest cars on the road.

No Bail Out For Hillary

Taking Obama's advice and sharing my story-

I went to my mailbox today and in there was a letter from Joe Biden asking me to donate $100 dollars to help Hillary Clinton retire her debt. First of all I did not make any pledge to Hillary Clinton. 

Earlier this year I donated during Obama’s One In A Million, promotion and I never got my "one in a million" t-shirt. I have been campaigning since January for this movement, I have phone banked and gone to two states. I purchased three copies of Obama's books. I did canvassing knocking on hundred of doors, and entered countless data into Votebuilder, and made signs. I have been to two rallies and fundraisers, convinced friends and co-workers to vote for the ticket Obama/Biden.

So imagine how pissed off I am to open my email and see a letter from the Obama campaign telling me about the pledge they made to help Hillary pay off her debts and asking me for money. Listen you made the pledge you give her the money. Hillary Clinton and her husband are worth over $100 million who should be helping whom. Obama is making enormous amounts of money from his books he can afford to help Hillary.

You Can't Build A Luxury Economy On Credit

I don’t know much about economics, and the only thing I remember from taking that class is supply and demand, I don’t remember the theory exactly but I think even I saw this economic crisis coming.

I was working for a major corporation as a sales consultant but wanted a little flexibility and the opportunity to make more money. I loved houses so I thought about real estate, Real Estate I thought would be a great way to be my own boss putting my skills and outgoing personality to use.

I went and got my sales person license and hooked up with a broker giving it a go part time. It didn’t take too long before I realized something. I lived in a middle to lower income community yet a single family home was going for over three hundred thousand. The same houses that were just over a hundred and fifty thousand only a few years before had almost doubled in price, while income in the neighborhood did not see the same increase. Guess what, people were getting loans and buying these houses.

There was the so called speculator "investor" who bought property only to resell in a couple of months; the developer who was buying every green space, every vacant lot, every house with a lot and building three or four houses; homeowners who saw the madness and decided to get in while the going was good were refinancing or putting their house up for sale; and the early victims of the sub-prime loans, people who bought homes they couldn't afford and were trying to get out from under the burden.

Don't Blame The Black For Prop 8

It has been a few days and I have been watching the protest and reading the comments posted here. I have been listening to pundants and commedians, and even the mayor of a California city blame african americans for the failure of this proposition #8. "How could a group who fought for so much take rights away from others", I have heard the argument framed.

What this shows me is that the election of Barack Obama has done nothing to change the nature of racial relations, African-Americans are still the first group blamed for any failure of another group. I take serious offense to this and I urge our homosexual brothers and sisters and their supporters to tone down the rhetoric.

African americans have for years had to compete with other groups who try to tie their struggles to the civil right movement. Blacks are not the ones in power or the ones who have been controlling the laws of the land, whites have--they are your oppressor. Also there are african-americans in the gay community. African Americans are not the ones who advocated for proposition 8 to be on the ballot, maybe you should direct your anger at those people.

Peggy Noonan Is Jealous Of Obama

I have heard about Peggy Noonan for a very long time. I may have read the Wall Street Journal once so I was not familiar with her views. I understand that she wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan, and I remember how convincing Reagan was.

I am tired of Peggy Noonan talking about how Obama is full of him self and likes to praise himself. She implies Obama is caught up in his own hype. I am beginning to see why Reagan was so convincing because Peggy was there to twist words. In her critique of Senator Obama's statement yesterday "I feel we have a righteous wind at our backs" she says Obama feels its all about him and Reagan would never say that. Reagan, she went on would say (paraphrasing) "there is a righteous wind ushering in our ideas". BullS*%#. She went on to talk about the concern for the cult of personality that was going on, and Reagan would never talk about himself but his ideas. Sure Peggy.

John McCain's Fake Outrage Against John Lewis

I too was appalled when hearing McCain demanding Obama repudiates John Lewis statements when he has yet to denounce anything said by himself or Palin, or his supporters. In fact he went on TV and defended those supporters, bringing up veterans, exploiting his military affiliation. Well I reject and denounce McCain’s comments. He has the nerve to say that John Lewis cannot have an opinion, this man was beaten and fought for freedom in the same sense that John McCain did and in John Lewis' case it was the country he loved that was doing the beating. John McCain was overseas so I think John Lewis has a better understanding of what that time was like in this country having been on the forefront. When they ask us to reject people like Rev. Wright and Rep. John Lewis they are asking a portion of the population to deny what happened in this very country at the same time defending the right to Israel to exist and declaring never again. Now I only bring up the Israeli thing to say to whom should America be more responsible and defending to the death?

Please do not interpret this as some rant against Israel it is just to drastically highlight the discrepancy. African Americans have been put in the corner that if they talk about the history of this country that included the tragic periods of slavery and Jim Crow and the civil rights movement they are perceived as complaining or playing the race card and won’t forget the past. The truth is white America played the race card, they decided that brown skin was not good enough; your skin had to be white in order to be considered human and a child of god. All the while African Americans must suffer through substandard standards in our school system, job discrimination, and terrible living conditions. When I canvassed for Obama in Philadelphia I was surprised to see such conditions in the richest country in the world. I could understand why those people felt their vote didn’t count. But then I don’t have to go far to understand that I can just look out my window. The influx of drugs and inactivity.

John McCain Is The Most Wonderful, Thoughtful, Bravest Man

I didn’t know skirting around, and showing zero understanding of the issues means qualified to be president. I mean the woman recited from her “memory cards”. I thought Sarah was terrible, she didn’t answer any of the question and the answers she gave were disturbing. All Sarah proved tonight was that she could read and memorize. Being folksy and witty is not an answer to the question. I was not impressed, you have to be more than a pretty face and know how to speak, you should actually know something, and I don’t think she proved that tonight. The most important thing Sarah said tonight was that she agreed with the Cheney philosophy of expanding the role of vice president that bothers me.

Sarah reminded me of an aggressive small dog that is hyper and barks at everything that passes. She was just on the attack and she offered no real solutions. She was not even familiar with John McCain’s record. Seems like all she did to prep for the debate was memorize answers and watch the democratic primary debates, too bad she didn’t come with any facts. The most amusing thing she said was that examining the Bush years was looking backwards towards the past. “You prefaced your whole comment on the Bush years …dog gone it.” Those darn Bush years, which John McCain agreed with George Bush the majority of the time, we should just forget about that. The pesky past. Hilarious!!

The McCain/Palin ticket offers no solutions to any of the questions that face our nation. All they did was trash what the other guys is proposing without putting forth their own vision. I find it to be a very empty ticket that’s only appeal is the celebrity of Sarah.

The Flag Pin

I am so moved by the fact that Obama has chosen to wear the "flag pin". I am one that did not feel it necessary for him to prove his patriotism, but I understand that someone gave him that pin and he has worn it ever since. By this little gesture he is doing two things honoring the family that gave him the pin and reaching out to those who feel this gesture is important and could influence their vote. I do not see any other politician wearing the flag pin but Obama has to wear it because he is black, it was as simple as that for me. But I see in this gesture a very thoughtful, caring, decent man.

While the flag had been a caricature of patriotism Obama has managed to restore some of the lost honor. When I think about the so called "rural white voter", I think this is the best gesture he could give them to show he is a true American and truly has the interest of all Americans. We know that many of these voters are also the people who feel Obama may be a Muslim, and doesn't salute the flag, (I don't ever remember saluting the national anthem). By wearing the flag pin he says to those voters he hears their concerns. While he may not get their vote this time around he is representing them in his campaign. Maybe a few might change their minds. I believe the only thing Obama can do is get into office and institute policies that will change these voters lives, and they will overwhelmingly support him in four years. 

Barack Fights Today

When Palin says McCain is the only one who fought for us, she is discrediting all the people who fight against injustice and for equality, women's rights, voting rights, health rights, workers rights, rights for the poor, children's rights, veterans rights----community organizers. These type of people also fight for america, that she may be true to the promise laid out within her documents.

The Republicans are just flat out liars and have an us against them mentality, thats not change we can believe in. They exploit the ignorance of the american public and unfortunately there are many Americans who find their type of politics appealing. The good thing is their numbers are shrinking, McCain is banking that they are still the majority out there, November 4, will be a shock for him. 

The country wants to move forward, we want policies that are fair to majority of Americans, we want quality education, affordable healthcare, we also want to heal and become a community. We are tired of divisive politics and John McCain is out of touch if he still believes that will work.

Obama has been fighting for us, he became our voice. People think we follow Obama like sheep, what they dont know is Obama is just the vessel, we were already out there. He, however heard our voices, and it resonated with his, and that's how we became one. He stood up to Washington when no one else would, he spoke out against the war, and wasnt afraid to say so. He actually attended a march against the war.

Not This Time, Not This Year

When I think about the presidential race I am reminded of old Kung Fu flicks, a story of a two masters. Two masters, an elder, and the apprentice. Let’s say these two masters are going out on a journey of challenges and were given a chance to take one companion along to assist them, someone who could possibly complete it for them. One of them have chosen and apprentice and the other an elder.

The master, who chose the apprentice, has chosen someone with lesser years and even lesser knowledge which makes it a teacher-student relationship. It is unlikely that the teacher will ever agree with anything the student says and would rarely seek advice from the student because of the nature of the relationship, it’s antagonistic—and intimidating. By choosing the student the master reinforces his power position as master. The student is expected to be patient and learn from the teacher, but the student pushes because they are eager. It is likely the teacher will only consult the student after a decision is made and would do so as a test, to see how the student’s education is going; the student is beholden to the master. By choosing someone younger the master enhances his physical strength. He does not want someone of his years who may not be able to complete the journey. This master is John McCain. He has chosen to preserve the future of the Republican Party by choosing Sarah Palin; she is the fearless apprentice eager to carry the mantle of the republicans into the future. But in choosing her McCain weakens his position, neutralizing the main argument he used against Obama, it shows the arrogance of McCain, daring the country to challenge this choice. John McCain has chosen someone who can only serve him and the Republican Party, because she has not developed the bonafide or the knowledge base to go it alone, but when her education is complete she is in a position to run for the presidency giving her an advantage over anyone candidate that comes along she will be become a master.

The New Main Stream Media-CSPAN and PBS

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE turn off CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC. These so called media are a joke. Particulary, MSNBC. I know that we have had an affinity for that channel because we feel they may be a little more in line with the opinion we want to hear, but I am convinced those guys only like hearing themselves talk.

Lest we forget this is the same media that crowned George Bush, the same media that became tools of the Bush Administration, beating the drum for war, bargaining our children's lives for exclusive em-bed. Remember the em-bed reporters who were implanted with the troops covering the war. Yes the war was big business for those who conspired and those who exploited.

Look at the news these days, how many familiar faces do we see? These people are all new faces, and remember they all advanced during the marketing of the war. We cannot and should not trust them. Remember what happened to Dan Rather, Bill Maher?  Who became popular, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. Hannity was just some obscure loud mouth on MSNBC, now we trust MSNBC.

The media's poor coverage of these conventions are a betrayal of the American people, the people who literally put the money in their pockets. The media pimps the public, luring us in with promises of being fair and balance, honest, and the only place for politics. They use our viewership to extort money from businesses for advertisement. We feed them. This is the most important election of our time and the media is not even covering the biggest event in that election. The Convention. I remember when every channel carried the conventions, every four years along with the olympics when as Americans we understood that our television programming would be interrupted, and we reluctantly tuned in and in the end was glad we did. 

Journey Indiana

I decided to go to Indiana because I knew that Obama would need as much help as he could get there. I traveled with two ladies that I met while campaigning in Philadelphia. I originally planned to fly but decided to drive because I thought it would be a more enriching experience. I was right.

Saturday afternoon we loaded up our PT Cruiser and headed to the mid-west. I have never been to the mid-west. After four hours of driving I thought only Pennsylvania was to the west, it took hours to get through Pennsylvania, but we dashed through West Virginia, then Ohio, finally reaching Indiana around four o’clock in the morning. The entire drive we stayed up, discussing politics, society, culture, government, our next president, and the movement we are building. All three of us were unlikely volunteers, and none of us ever worked on a political campaign before. Two ladies over fifty and me, a single mom, we hailed from Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. We dubbed ourselves The Tri-State for Obama.

The sun began to rise as I sped through Indiana anxious to reach our destination to get some sleep. I got pulled over by the police. He told me I was going ninety, I said I thought I was going eighty; the speed limit was sixty-five. One of the ladies shouted “we are here for Obama”. He said “license and registration, please”. When he returned after checking my credentials, he let me go with a warning, THANK YOU OFFICER. I asked how far to Indianapolis, he responded ten minutes but if I go ninety I will get there quicker. I promised I would be off the road in ten minutes, thanked him and continued my journey. We arrived in Indianapolis Sunday morning about nine am, around fifteen hours after we departed. Thank you to the receptionist at the University Place Hotel for allowing us an early check in. After the long night of driving, some breakfast and hotel check, surprisingly we had so much energy and excitement about being in Indianapolis to work for Obama, we decided to go to the headquarters and check in. Thank you to all the staff and volunteers at the headquarters on Fulton who welcomed us with open arms and made us feel at home.


On day one Sunday we went to a rally outside the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. Hillary supporters were across from us trying their best but we brought it. There was a high school band, an African band and plenty of supporters wearing their Hoosier for Obama jerseys, yelling “Barack the vote”, “be a part of something great, vote Barack in 08”. We chanted and danced for hours never giving in to the Hillary camp, later we went to volunteer headquarters on Meridian to help with office work preparing for the next day of visiting voters, delivering door hangers with polling information. There were volunteers from all over; Chicago, Pennsylvania, California. Max Kennedy (Robert Kennedy’s son) came by and gave a thrilling speech; this was a treat because I was out canvassing when he visited the office in Philadelphia.

Hillary Wants To Be President

Even when she is caught in a lie and admits lying the media glosses over it as if it never happened but then wants Obama held accountable for not getting the racist vote, or the words of his pastor, or his Illinois friends.

Hillary doesn't care how she gets this election as long as she is the nominee. It doesn't matter that she has to lie and cheat. She doesn't care if it tears the party apart and hands the election over to the republicans. She just wants it to be her. 

She knows that she has very high negatives, she knows that the republicans are not going to stop attacking her and distracting America from the issues during her reign. She knows that Barack Obama is ahead and she has not closed the deal in sixteen months of campaigning and four months of voting. She is the one who has failed to put Obama away. She just wants to be the first female president, because her husband was president and that gives her the experience to be president.

A Well Regulated Militia

Because of Obama's recent comments the second amendment has become part of the debate. Isn’t it great that Obama is allowing us to speak about these issues honestly? We have been having the big gun debate for decades, and in the mean time we've had thousands of killings in the inner city (drug battles being fought in our neighborhood street), thousands of spouses killing each other. We've had thousands of "accidental shootings" many involving children. 

There have been dozens of shootings in schools and colleges across the country, the periodical police hail of bullets on innocent Americans, and of course the vice president shooting his friend in the face.

Even with all this evidence as to why individuals should not have guns, those who believe in guns cling to the second amendment as the constitutional right to own and have a gun in their homes. The problem is many of these supporters have never read the second amendment and are listening to the politicians who use this as a wedge issue by dividing Americans into an us against them mentality.

Barack Campaign Superior By Far

The superiority of the Obama campaign was displayed when he started out by raising just as much money as Hillary. I think she was finished after Iowa but things just had to play out. It is clear that Obama had the delegate strategy down and understood his mission in this contest. Hillary ran a campaign of entitlement, one that said she was owed the White House because of what she went through as first lady. She believed she was going to play off her husbands popularity and that would translate into votes for her.

She also listened to the media who had her crowned as the next Democratic Nominee, she believed her own hype. She positioned herself in a delegate rich and popular state to gain leverage and national attention. But she wasn't listening to the people, only her own ambition. 

Obama had the pulse of the populous. Imagine if Obama was our president after 911. Remember the energy of the country. People were desperate for leadership, real leadership. We were desperate for the truth and peace. Instead we got lies and war and death. The media lied to us and politicians thought we were buying it. They thought we were completely fooled and ready to be mislead again. 

Uplifting Day

This day turned out to be as typical as it was unusual. It started out with my train going out of service three stops from where I got on and I had to go about fifteen more stops. As we all unloaded onto the narrow platform I thought about being late for work and positioning myself near the door to ensure that I would be able to get on the train. Well when the train came I got on and got a seat, my day was taking a twist because on the last train I was standing. I sat down and closed my eyes and started to doze off.

When I opened my eyes I was underground and standing before me was a lady wearing an Obama button. It was just a round blue background with “OBAMA” typed across it. I was shocked and I couldn’t hold back the smile. I glanced around the train to see if I saw anymore Obama buttons, this was unusual for me because I don’t usually see politics paraphernalia on the subway and I live in New York. Here only business is on the mind, and we trek to work in a daily grind without even noticing. You would think with our reputation we would be more expressive, breaking out their “Obama” signs all over the place, but I had never seen anyone else since the primaries or even before wearing any kind of political signage on the subway.

The Measure Of Leadership and The American Experiment

What a week. I find myself trying to organize the scrambled thoughts of Jeremiah Wright, passport gate, Obama’s speech on “racial tensions”, and Hillary calling out of Barack Obama on the Michigan and Florida primaries. There was John McCain confusing Al Qaeda with Shia, Bill Clinton saying that John McCain and Hillary are the two candidates who love America, and Bill Richardson’s endorsement. It was a very stimulating week.

On every news channel, every program, every reporter was questioning why Obama was a part of this church or had anything to do with Rev. Wright. Obama went on the talk programs; he offered an explanation and apology. I did not have confidence in Obama’s first statement, I felt they gave new fodder to the opposition but I understand why Obama felt the need to say something, the media hyped the country to new heights of hysteria (which resembled the days leading up to the Iraqi war). Obama’s comments on that evening was an attempt to quell the anxieties felt by the public for various reasons and blunt the media barrage making the sale on the idea that Obama was going to be a “black radical”. I was looking for a courageous person to step forward take control of the conversation and offer direction to the nation. Someone had to move the country beyond the clichés and stereotypes, and speak honestly to the American people. We needed a leader.

On Tuesday a Leader came forward. Leadership gave a speech in the City of Brotherly Love. In a classy and historic fashion Barack Obama addressed the differences in our cultural politics. Gripes that inhibited our ability to genuinely discuss social and economic issues, creating a situation where election after election Americans routinely vote against their interest and send the same politicians to Washington who has been bought off by the corporations and interest groups.

On Barack, I Guess He Is Black Enough

After watching Barack answer the charges of hate against his pastor, sadness came over me. Barack was forced to say he was never in church when Wright was giving sermons that might have been peppered with the kind of comments being played on TV. I’m sure that republicans, The Clintons and the media are digging to see if Barack was indeed at such a sermon. To show how ridiculous this thing was at one point Anderson showed Barack one of the statements he was condemning it went something like, paraphrasing” “Hillary has never had a cab whiz by her because the color of her skin was wrong, Hillary has no idea what it is like to be a black man and live in a country controlled by rich white people,” after showing the statement Anderson repeated this is one of the statements you are condemning, even Anderson knew it was ridiculous, because the statement is true.

I then watched as Anderson and David Gergen and Roland Martin went on to talk about how it is possible that Wright could be a patriot and could possibly love this country more than many people but feel that America has not lived up to what it could be, how we needed to dialogue about the issues behind the statements and see the entire ceremony before casting judgment. Imagine after backing Barack into a corner and after he had committed himself to a particular position the media was offering up another explanation for the same words that was before being characterized as evil and hateful. Making him denounce a man he obviously loves a great deal and who has had nothing but positive influence in his own personal growth. Great. 

Can We Shorten The Work Week

I could not help but think of the irony and how we have to thank George Bush. I have been living in this country for almost thirty years. I have always had an interest in politics, I love the game. Move and counter move. I have to admit that sometimes I get frustrated when I think someone should have made a particular point and it was lost by the distraction of media or moment. But the fact that we are in this moment just seems to be miraculous to me. Four years ago most people had never heard the name Barack Obama. Some saw him speak at the Democratic Convention but many did not. Most of the country was tuned out at that time. We have been in the spell of hatred and fear forced to accept an unjust war, and incompetent president and the crashing economy. All these things due to the worst president ever George Walker Bush Jr., and I just want to take this moment to say thank you George Bush.

I thank George Bush because without him I don't know if a Barack Obama candidacy would have been as successful. If Bush had not been such a complete disaster I don't know if the country would have been ready to embrace Obama. So, in trying to find something positive about the Bush administration, I chose to focus on this. When I focus on this I can not think of the soldier who is dying for no real reason. The mother who is on the brink of losing her job because her mega-corporation is forcing her to work ten hour days, knowing she is a single mother. The drug infestation in our inner city communities. I don't have to think about the teacher who is showing her belly ring to her students instead of taking great care of the precious minds that look to her for guidance. I don't have to think about reality.

If He Is President I Am American

I can hardly believe that Barack Obama is on his way to becoming the democratic nomination for president. A real chance to make change in America. I am so pleased with the outcomes in the past election that I have made a pledge that if Barack become the President, I will finally become an American. I have been living in this country for over 30 years. I was seven years old and it was the late seventies. Even though we could hardly watch television I developed a keen interest in civics and politics and what that represented to me. Living in the Bronx, New York, I saw and heard many things. I saw my middle income neighborhood transformed and become an extension of the ghetto simply because blacks moved in and whites decided to flee to the outer sections of the city such as Long Island and Westchester. I saw the schools that were excellent when I attended because they were still predominantly white deteriorate and become victims of under funding and uncommitted teachers because now there were many blacks. By the time I went to High School the transformation was complete. Schools that were once considered excellent were now considered the worst. 

Send In Moses And Here Are His Talking Points

I was just watching Hillary speak about credit cards and the fact that she thought we should cap impossible interest rates at 30% for credit card companies. Well thirty percent might seem low to Hillary but tell that to the everyday person who is trying to feed a family on a single income. You could feel the gaff in the audience. The idea of a thirty percent cap is terrifying to the people this election is supposed to be about. We need laws that are people friendly, laws that are not only looking out for the corporate interest but for the average person. Hillary cannot win because she is not in touch with the everyday man, her and Bill have lived privilege life and in a bubble their entire political career.

Here are the talking points:

1. With all of the experience Hillary talks about how come she did not know that George Bush was lying (yes lying, it's time someone said it, we are all thinking it) when he took this country to war? Shouldn't she have picked up the phone and called someone to get confirmation as to whether or not Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Shouldn't she have shown more support for the UN report that showed Saddam had dismantled his nuclear weapons program? The reason that this is a huge issue is because people DIED behind this disastrous decision that the Clintons are now trying to write off as just a faux pas. She should not be trusted with the economy because it is obvious that she has sold out to big corporations and will probably have an economic policy similar to her husband and George Bush Two. Big tax cuts for corporations.

2. We don't want anything less than complete universal Healthcare. Pay our doctors a descent and fair wage and let healthcare be a fundamental right of the American people. People should not have to pay for basic or preventative healthcare. A tooth cleaning, yearly checkup, treatment of common cold or flu, minor cuts and breaks, or illness screening should not become burdens for corporations or regular citizens. This is why we pay taxes! This will help in ending poverty.