Left, Middle [East], Right…

I honestly cannot believe those of us on the left that are frothing and chomping at the bit for radical change to the makeup and practices of the United States still do not realize the value in moderacy. We cannot run willy-nilly, pushing our agenda like we’ve only got 4 years to make up for all the lost freedoms, injustices, and societal ills from the past three decades or so.  It looks panicked.  The U.S. has enough going on that just needs to be fixed, or at the very least, stabilized.  An economy in shambles, with nearly every single major  American industry affected, job losses like we haven’t seen in a while, and a war on a distant front (three of them) that is all but forgotten and our medicaland social support systems can’t do much for the wounded and broken young men and women when they get back…the American dream  is weaker than ever. Let’s test out the minds of a younger, more team-solution oriented American workforce to solve some problems in the financial sector.  Let’s see what deadlines do for the car manufacturers, and apply those deadlines (in a more creative way ) to TARP and stimulus funded states on those shovel-ready programs we promised before we were sidetracked.  Let’s take dead US manufacturing jobs and create an in-house green supply industry; working to build the parts that will make green energy attainable, get our best scientific minds finding the best methods,  or fund building the systems that make our wind, solar and geothermal energy sources work for us. If we do well enough at this, we fix the job problem (by creating some), we fix the global warming/dirty energy issue  and save the earth, and we fix the trade issue by creating a product that other countries would invest in or purchase. Let’s also stay away from as many special interest groups as possible.

If our party wants to do the greatest good, we need to first strengthen what we know is broken, win the support of the very people our party is founded upon–even if they are not Democrats–and once the danger of utter collapse is past, then take our newfound support and make America great again by proving that if our ideas are great when we’re working with the “big ticket” items, wait and see what we can do with the emerging ideas, job markets, and concerns.  If we focus on this “strategy”, we may have at least four more years of time. Instead of splitting our energy into a million + one things that liberals have wanted to accomplish for a long time (and feel like Obama’sadministration is the perfect time to do so), we probably need to focus on restoring our image as a party of the people and do the most beneficial work for as many Americans as is possible.  Sure that may sound socialist, but given the alternative…an America in despair…I’d rather sound socialist.

Speaking of that distant war, remember the war in Afghanistan that turned into the war in  Iraq that turned into the war in Pakistan (which, save the border areas, we are largely uninvolved in)?  See if we can name all the countries in the middle east that haven’t made the news for conflict lately.  Let’s see–there’s Oman, which from the lack of fiery reports, sounds like a wonderful country to take a holiday in. I haven’t heard much about Lebanon lately,  or Jordan, or Yemen or oddly enough, Saudi Arabia.  The last one concerns me, since the entire region is suffering through no small amount of instability and they are second only to Iran in size, smack in the middle, but why do we not hear the Saudi voices of concern about the state of their region?  Now, I am not a Saudi Arabia hater–no!–I was just as enthralled by all the cool stuff that Air Force Dad brought back from Saudi as the next military kid, but I just find it so odd that they are so silent. Maybe they’re not talking to us since we crashed the stock market–that was full of their money.  If anyone has any insight or any news from al Jazeera that I may be missing, please don’t hesitate.

Poor Pakistan. Is this the price a country that appearsto be an ally of the US must pay? Pakistan went from a normal country, fairly progressive even, in the Middle East to a warzone in a relatively short amont of time. They were warned, though.  Even the Bush administration had enough sense to warn Pakistan to get their border region in check, but they only half listened.  Our drone attacks haven’t helped any.  I worry about my Pakistani friends’ families and if they’re in an affeccted region, because as bad as it already is, it could get worse relatively quickly.  I feel like the U.S. as “visitors” in the region are at a distinct disadvantage simply because we are in the middle of some really fierce “family feuds” right now and do not adequately understand the culture after all this time, becuase through all the years of the random acts of west-hating terrorist attacts, Iran-Contra and even prior transgressions (such as creating Israel and the ensuing fallout) we never tried to understand who they were, we just assumed they would conform to the ways of the western world and simmer down.  To make matters worse, Iran is poking at the exposed wounds of several countries in the area to provoke…well…I don’t know, but they are certainly provoking some kind of response.  There is no action great enough and no words wise enough to help even a single person in the most embattled parts of the Middle East, and I feel so sad and powerless to make this any better in my lifetime.

Heading back to the Right, I have to say I have had this incredible craving for news radio, and so during my lunch breaks, there is only a 2 minute blurb of the day’s events so far on NPR, and I indulge in the Rushbag’s show.  I have to say, some of his rantings are coherent and well thought out.  but lately he’s been on this “blah, blah…this only shows who Obamais…blah, blah” kick.  Sotomayor proves who Obama is. The auto bailout proves who Obama is. So on, and so on.  I’m not sure what that’s all about, but I do agree with him on the fact that Republican party does not need to “cow down” to every popular opinion.  It makes even the real, good, and conservative politicians seem less real.  I still have a soft spot in my heart for John McCain who is real (he just picked a dumb running mate) and out of every politician in D.C., I’d like to hear more of what he  has to say about the torture memos.  Speaking of those, does Dick Cheney know that he is not in charge of destroying the United States anymore? I don’t want to be scared to death–I want a solution to make the world insurgents live in more stable so that they want to function as a part of the normal  society in their home country, which makes ours more stable as a desireable by-product.

Honestly our country is in a make or break position.  We have some real challenges that cannot be tackled when our pols on the left or right cannot refrain from sensationalizing their displeasure in anything that wasn’t their idea.  This is destructive, and we need to drop the partisanship now.  Especially now that millions of Americans are suffering through the temper tantrums without jobs and homes.

Hopes & Fears

One day to go, and both campaigns are hammering home their messages.  As I see it, the messages boil down to Hope on the left, and Fear on the right.  For various reasons, we Americans have chosen the basic message that we cling to, and thereby cling to our candidate.

Hope against hope that we are capable of better days. On the world stage and on the homefront, there are issues to solve, but we need to remember that America’s untapped promise is great.
OR
Fear being unprepared for what might happen tomorrow. America needs experienced leadership that will defend our position and be on guard against future threats.

These are both very powerful messages, and they reach to the core of our fragile human psyches.  They are most assuredly interconnected, these two. In mentally reviewing the past year, I realized that many people let a war between hope and fear rage internally and externally–think about the viral e-mails and personal testimony or the inspiring artwork, videos and music. Those of us who really weighed the candidates had to decide between hope for all of us or fear for all of us, and, at least in my mind, there’s plenty of room for bleed-over. I have:

Hope that the United States is on an upswing–we have already reached the bottom, and the only way is up.

Fear that we will be unprepared against a threat–because we will have alienated all allies that might have otherwise cared.

Hope that we really are “the ones we’ve been waiting for”–that America’s great strength lies in the talents of ALL of our people.

Fear that the greed of a few will sacrifice the needs of the rest of us–and that it will continue to be sanctioned.

Hope that the next generation will be the best educated and best prepared we have produced yet–and that the education necessary will really leave no child behind.

Fear that our entrenchment in the bailout will lead to major corruption–from either party.

Hope that we have a bright future.

Fear that we do not.

For me, hope wins, because succumbing to the fear might just paralyze me.

The values that American citizens have will define where on the spectrum their hopes and fears lie, and which ones really “grab” them.  Consider the various amendments on the ballot this time–gay marriage, abortion rights, educational funding–all with supporters and opponents.  It is hard for me to step out of my liberal ideas to try and comprehend why anyone would try to govern someone else and their heart’s choice (in the case of gay marriage amendments), but I’m trying to understand where they are coming from.

Before this election, nothing inspired me to try to reach out for understanding like this.  All to often, I discounted those who had wildly different (i.e., dumbly conservative and closed-minded in my opinion), and shunned their company.  Now I am trying to understand them, and realize that maybe their hopes and fears are simply different than mine.

Someone that I love very, very much went out and bought a new gun this weekend–because he is afraid of losing the right to own one. Naturally, this is driving part of his decision on a candidate, but I can’t fault him. It is not my place.  Please remember that NONE OF US ARE ANY MORE OR LESS AMERICAN BECAUSE OF WHAT WE BELIEVE in this election and otherwise.  Historically, it is the very freedom to believe what we want that makes us Amereican, and at this point we are so divided, I worry more about repairing the damage in the months ahead than the outcome.  With the Bush years as a reference, division is catastrophically destructive to us as a nation.  So regardless of what happens tomorrow, we need to reach out to those very same neighbors that might or might not have stolen our yard signs, and remind them that we are here with them; as an ally, as a fellow American, and as a friend–just like before the election, or in the best case scenario, unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before.

The era of “Us vs. Them” needs to be over. The central hopes and fears have to be about recreating “ALL of US” for the 21st century.

With my hopes held high…I AM STILL VOTING FOR OBAMA!!!!

Forget about voter registration fraud…

…fake people cannot vote.  The real problem I’m worried about is good, old-fashioned…voter supression.  I suppose I’m not alone in my concern.

Watch this.

And now, something completely different!

On the phone with one of my friends who is teaching in the state, I heard something disturbing.  He told me that, this month, in Alabama, the state department of education DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY 100% OF OCTOBER PAYCHECKS.  What??!!??  If nothing else in the business is, I thought, “Surely, the meager paycheck a teacher earns for empowering a generation of students every day for 180 days out of a year is SECURE.” 

Apparently, not so much.  On Tuesday, state Superintendent, Joseph Morton, sent a memo to all school boards in Alabama stating:

To date, the Education Trust Fund has enough tax receipts to pay 75% of the October allocation for the FY 2009 education budget.  Since it appears certain that 100% cannot be paid by Thursday evening in order to get you the state allocation in time to meet October payroll obligations on Friday, October 31, please prepare a 75% payment for October.

Morton said that the remaining 25% should be expected by November 7.  But in the same breath, he said if local school boards needed to take money out of their local “Rainy Day Funds”, to do so immediately.  If they needed to borrow money from their designated banking institutions, they should begin that process immediately, as well.

So, the culprit here is the Alabama Education Trust Fund, which earns money off of oil and gas revenue in Alabama? The assumption can only be that disruptions in oil production this summer (hurricanes, etc.) has hurt us.  But that assumption comes WAAAY too close to advocating “drill, baby, drill,” since the trust fund is only a “rainy day” account.  Or…as was stated on the Mobile NBC station’s website, perhaps it is the fact that in this weak economy and tough times for homeowners, people have elected not to pay their property taxes early–which has created an education budget shortfall.  But more likely is the fact that, back in early summer, when the Alabama education budget didn’t originally pass, the state department of education scrambled to pass something.  the version that did eventually pass came through with projected shortfalls. 

Maybe I’m overreacting, and this is not a big deal.  So far, it seems that all Alabama school systems have been able to come up with the remaining 25% for teacher, administration, and support staff paychecks without much issue–but how have we allowed this to happen in the first place? The original sin, of course, is due to the inability of past and present governors and legislators to find real, substantial, and stable ways to fund education in the state.  But, since they have not yet been able to–or won’t–we’ve come to depend upon the Education Trust Fund, to borrow our shortfall for the year.

Ironically (or not, depending on your ability to concoct conspiracy theories), the major amendment on the Alabama ballot this year is “Amendment One”, concerning the above mentioned Education Trust Fund. Not exactly the hot-button Proposition 8 of California, but no less important to Alabama’s youth.  According to the UAH Government Relations Department:

Alabama currently has a constitutionally established ‘rainy day fund’ for education that was designed in 2002 to address budget shortfalls. The language in the 2002 constitutional amendment was “flawed” in that it placed a fixed cap on the rainy day fund based on 2002 appropriation levels. Amendment 1 basically changes the wording in the constitution to allow the rainy day fund cap to increase as the education budget grows over the years.

Think about it this way. Suppose in 2002 you had set aside enough money to purchase a full tank of gasoline for your automobile in case of an emergency. But an emergency did not occur until 2009. And when you pulled up to the pump in 2009 you discovered the amount of money you set aside in 2002 was not enough to purchase a full tank of gasoline now. That situation is analogous to what has happened to the education budget. We are faced with addressing a 2009 funding shortfall with a rainy day fund capped at a 2002 level.

This rainy day fund is built upon a larger Alabama Trust Fund (from the same oil/gas taxes) that, last summer, was quite healthy, with about $3.3 billion. Currently the cap on the education trust fund is set at 6% of the 2002 education budget, which in no way relfects the rising costs in Alabama and across the United States. From what I understand, this is due to the poor wording of the original measure.  If the amendment passes, it will not cost us, the taxpayers, one red cent–it will just allow education to tap into more of the larger trust fund. 

And now, my official statement.

TODAY, IN ALABAMA, TEACHERS CAME CLOSE TO LOSING 25% OF THEIR PAY.  WE SHOULD NEVER BE THAT CLOSE, FOR THE SAKE OF THOSE WHO DEDICATE THEIR LIVES TO EDUCATING OUR FUTURE. NEVER.

Please vote wisely.  Vote yes on Amendment One, Tuesday, November 4.

At last, a diversion.

No, not some new incredible fact about either candidate.  This is a game, but a neat one (and no, not PalinAsPresident either).

This game is called Budget Hero, and I’d run across it before, but forgot to post the link.  From the site’s FAQ, I learned that:

Budget Hero seeks to provide a values- and fiscal-based lens for citizens to examine policy debates during this election year. Partisan messages tend to cloud the real issues at play during campaigns, and most candidates are loath to attach detailed financial impacts to solutions which make up their platform. Budget Hero provides an interactive experience involving policy options that have been extensively researched and vetted with non-partisan government and think tank experts to enable players to objectively evaluate candidates. 

What exactly prompted Marketplace (you might recognize the radio program’s name from NPR/American Public Media newscasts) to feel a need to create this little game as a vehicle for information?  Hopefully we’re not so simple nowadays that a game is the only way we’ll understand it all!  As someone who has used and seen such devices being used in the classroom, I can tell you that playing around with Budget Hero is well worth the time for students and the rest of us adults. I learned that I am a fiscal conservative–tell that to my checking account–but still, I learned something!  As a plus, it outlines the rules and gives information for any choices you might make on spending and taxing fairly well.

Excellent game!!

Play it here.

I’ll buy it.

Nice info-mercial for Obama.  I haven’t heard this much actual planning from McCain yet.  Perhaps the silence from his end says more about HOW MUCH HE BELIEVES EVERYTHING WE’RE DOING RIGHT NOW IN AMERICA IS A-OK.  Was it too extravagant? Some people will say so.  But it is also a dignified message from someone who has been fighting the B.S. and mud slung about him throughout the campaign–and he really wants you to know that he is for the Progress of America.  Just keep hammering the truth in over and over and over…”America can be great. America can be great! America can be Great!! America Can Be Great!!! AMERICA CAN BE GREAT!!!”

Seems to be working, eh?

I am STILL voting for Obama

The implications of “8 more years”

Barack Obama has consistently used the message “8 more years of failed Bush policies” to discredit McCain–effective, but vague.

Last night, I really got to thinking what this would mean.

8 more years of Banks “gone wild”

8 more years of broken government agencies (like FEMA)

8 more years of “saber rattling” and international bullying

8 more years of real socialism–Corporate lobbying and outright greed

8 more years of international allies and NATO turning away from us

8 more years of empty nest eggs and retirement savings

8 more years of inadequate, inaccesible medical coverage

8 more years of Congressional misdeeds corruption on a grand scale

8 more years of human rights violations, a la Guantanamo Bay and the death of Habeus Corpus

8 more years of rewarding non-intelligence while belittling education and innovation

8 more years of botched “Domestic Surveillance”

8 more years of sanctioned gay-bashing

8 more years of violating women’s rights to their own bodies

8 more years of a Fundamentalist Christian agenda in a country of many faiths

8 more years of legislating through fear

8 more years of cronyism

8 more years of substandard education for ALL children

8 more years of religious and cultural intolerance

8 more years of preconditions

8 more years of minorities falling further behind

8 more years of “lassez-faire” on important domestic issues (not abortion and gay marriage–energy and 21st century education)

8 more years of poor judgment

8 more years of inconsistent facts

8 more years of declining in the world’s ranking system

8 more years of poorly cared for returning war veterans

8 more years of supressing your vote

8 more years of dividing Americans

8 more years of agenda injected into the highest court in America

8 more years of pretending global warming does not exist

8 more years of stomping on the Constitution

8 more years of so much more I don’t even know or can’t remember.  So far, this has been my adult life and I feel completely let down.  All of the previous shortcomings cannot be corrected immediately by just one incoming President, Democrat or Republican. Not in four, eight, twelve or perhaps even sixteen years will we be able to pull ourselves out of a rapidly deepening sinkhole…but we can change direction.  Similarly, some of the previous shortcomings are not necessarily the fault of the administration; rather, they are because of the current administration’s mindset.  After reading the list, I hope you can see that maybe–just maybe–we need a new mindset. There was so much promise for our future while I was growing up, but somehow Americans lost their way.  I hope we can close the chapter on “America’s Decline” next Tuesday, because we can’t afford to fall any further.

For the record, I no longer care who Barack Obama has been associated with. It is what can be associated with the United States of America that concerns me.  It’s not that image is everything, but how we believe we are being perceived by the world either depresses us as a nation or makes us extremely defensive (we’ve been both for a while now), and we no longer even know who we are or what we’re made of as a country.  I don’t believe John McCain can restore our sanity; he’ll be too busy promoting fear, as he has in this election.  I don’t believe John McCain can restore integrity to the office; he’s too entrenched in the way things were to step out any further than he already has.  I don’t believe John McCain can restore our belief in ourselves; he’s been so erratic we wouldn’t be able to focus on his message or call to action.  I also don’t believe John McCain is a bad man; I just don’t believe he has a good idea, either.

I’m still voting for Barack Obama.

What exactly is going on???

I worked Laaaate for the past few nights, and so have been either comatose or in a zombie-like state in my waking hours before I returned to work the next day.  I (gasp) haven’t been able to focus on what’s happening with the campaigns.  With the election so close, I have to admit that I’m a little dazed and confused about the current events.  The best I can surmise is that:

Obama’s Grandmother is sick, and he’s gone/going to Hawaii to be with her.
…no, wait…Actually, Obama has returned to Hawaii to cover up/fabricate his paper birth certificate, according to some guy who vaguely reminds me of Kenneth Starr.

Colin Powell, a respected Republican (except for that NATO/Iraq invasion thing), has endorsed Obama.
…well this could be translated as…moderate, those who have fallen out of favor or who have been shamed, and public-opinion-governed Republicans (nearly 50 prominent ones, in total) are jumping ship, like the rats they are. Most of this action is due to the backlash that the party is receiving for attacks by the McCain camp on Obama’s personal character, etc., and seats in state and national legislative bodies are in jeopardy.

Joe Biden has said that (in a paraphrased form), “Change is Comin’…and it won’t be quick and easy.” Biden has appealed to supporters for continued support if Obama is elected, and stated that the first few months will be part of the messiest administration transition, ever. He even referenced JFK.
…but in “attack-mode”…Biden can campaign for McCain anytime! Naturally, American citizens should be on the lookout for an “ORCHESTRATED CRISIS,” because that’s what the Democrats are planning if Obama is elected–in order to OVERTHROW THE CAPITALIST REGIME!!!! This is so textbook–Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals”–we should arm ourselves with shotguns, brooms, the Holy Bible, whatever might protect us from the Communist danger! (oops, I got ahead of myself)

Senator Obama is still a force to be reckoned with, and will help bring about the “Change We Need”. This change isn’t Protectionism or Socialism; rather, it’s a real concern for all Americans, and we should spread the national wealth (read: tax dollars) more effectively so that the rich don’t get richer and so the poor don’t get poorer.
…applying spin…Terrorist! Socialist!! Communist!!!! Businesses will run screaming to other countries.  Joe the Plumber and Dave the General Contractor won’t stand a chance.  The end is nigh. (I wrote a post on McCarthyism about a week ago, but I had no idea it would come to this)

High RWA followers will grasp at straws to keep this man out of office, even if the change he proposes directly benefits them.
…just the facts…From a Canadian who is just as entrenched in our national behavior as we are, The Authoritarians, is a worthwhile read. (I have to admit it might be offensive even to sensible Christians, but read all the chapter footnotes and he clarifies his research findings about moderate vs. fundamentalist Christians–and there is a difference)

And the Best News Of The Week:
McCain is OK with being the “underdog”.
…under a microscope…McCain is OK with being behind in the polls.  Outclassed, out-maneuvered, out-policied and perhaps a little bitter, I think maybe he rues his hallmark “maverick” judgement now, just a little bit.

Apologies are in order.

Dear Joe the Plumber,

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, we owe you a huge apology. As a mater of fact, I apologize to you on behalf of my fellow Obama supporters and those of our opponent. We have, in two days thrust you into a national spotlight you never wanted or expected, all because of a simple question to Obama. I’m very sorry that we in the blog-o-sphere felt the need to clamor for and write tirelessly about what those in the MSM factchecked on you.  I’m very sorry that McCain bringing you up triggered all of this.

Beyond this letter, I promise not to mention your name again.  I just want to wish you well, since I know that you are struggling just like the rest of us.  I hope you can get all the money paid off and keep your house.  I hope you can get under an apprenticeship and someday own that business.  I hope that you can somehow make a pun on “Joe the Plumber” when you’re naming it, and at least get some name recognition from this fiasco.

I’m a Democrat, but I’m only mean and nasty when it concerns Governor Palin. <g> Again, very sorry about our over-eagerness, and I hope this letter finds and encourages you.  Anyone in the Toledo and Holland area, please pass this on, so that maybe he’ll see it.

Sincerely,
Sigmapromise

The Economy Strikes Again!!

Breathe a tentative sigh of relief, fellow Democrats.  We actually have the economy to thank for something right now, and that something could also speak volumes about John McCain’s character. 

In all fairness, Obama did renig on a promise to accept only public funds if McCain did.  Obama currently outspends McCain on advertising, with a ratio of about 4:1.  McCain is limited to $84.1 mil for the entire campaign. Obama’s popularity has helped him to raise $100 mil in September alone, an unfair advantage, although you should take note that this happened in a bad economy.  If that is any indicator at all of Obama’s popularity, I would say he’s well liked.  If that is any indicator of Obama’s fundriasing capability, the economic crisis had better watch its “six” if we elect him.  But how much would McCain have raised if he’d chosen to stay away from the Federal Election Commision’s public funding?

Tyrannosaurus McRex...the advertising he's stuck with.

McCain, however, did choose public funding, which might not have been so bad if he was a popular enough candidate to coast on the “sound bytes” and catchy slogans (remember “Country First”) that come from the campaign trail…usually passed on for free by word of mouth.  If we were in a better economy, maybe McCain’s friends in big business would be willing to donate, not money, but services that are allowable.  Or, consider who pays for independent advertising, on behalf of the campaigns? How exactly does that money get donated to congressional politicians during the election cycle–so that the Republican National Committee can split costs with him (and they don’t earn as much in this anti-Republican atmosphere).

Geez, I’m starting to sound like a Republican, characterizing McCain as the underdog. 

Underdog or not, McCain has not chosen to take the “high road” in a majority of his ads, even with the limited funds he has to work with.  If we Obama supporters (growing daily!) have been unimpressed with McCain, it is because a) Obama can counter any negative ad McCain puts on the air, and b) Obama’s positive messages far outnumber McCain’s often within moments of the negative spots. Perhaps if the economy were better for the richest among us, they would be coming out of their pockets in support.  Perhaps if McCain’s message were more clear, they would know their independent efforts would help him in the eyes of the American voter.

Maybe his most influential supporters are such die-hard capitalists that they would rather let this market–John McCain, himself–fail.