Joe the plumber

Here we go again.

A lot has happened since the last debate. The stock market has utterly collapsed.

McCain has had to defend Obama in Lakeville Minnesota.

The Federal Reserve is continuing to piss our grandchildren’s money away.

In that spirit, it’s time for another quality debate that will change all our minds right? I know I asked this before, but is anyone still undecided? Are there still people out there pretending like they still don’t know whether to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea? The candidates positions are very well known and published at their websites.

For your easy-clicking pleasure:

Obama

McCain

Now that we can all see their intents, do we really need them to lie at each other on stage and back-peddle when questioned?

2 minute warning…

I like the round-table deal.

As much as I’d like to focus on myself as a middle-class American, I’m tired of the candidates obsession. The tax cut will not make me rich or even make me solvent so let’s move on to issues that affect the entire country. Not the couple of bucks that get thrown my way.

McCain getting folksy but at least he’s finally learned to look at Obama. McCain claiming that the Plumber is going to get screwed on taxes in Obama’s plan. Let’s see how Obama responds. So far, he’s rambling. He really doesn’t address the issue directly.

I like the back and forth that this debate offers.

Why would we want to increase taxes? Because we need the money, and the rich can afford it. I’ve voted for every tax increase that’s been on a referendum and voted for every candidate that wanted to raise taxes. We need to cover our bills. Can I just take out more loans to cover my mortgage?

Move on guys.

Deficit question. How will you handle it? Obama answers first. As per usual, not really answering. Nondescript program cuts. “Federal budget, line by line” blah, blah, blah. President has no line item veto so therefore, no you won’t.

McCain answers about how “we” handled the Great Depression. Dating himself maybe? His actual answer, cut spending across the board. On what? Can we cut everything? Should my grandparents social security be cut? Maybe they’re spending too much on their oatmeal. They should probably get jobs. They’re only in their 90′s after all. Plenty of time before they retire.

Good response on the Bush obsession by McCain. Finally acting like an adult in a debate. However, he’s not answering Schieffer’s question. He’s just pushing back at Obama.

Standing up to the leaders of the Democratic party. Obama has a clear answer. Awesome! Very nice to see an occasional straight talk.

Schieffer addressing the negative campaigning issue. McCain going back to town hall B.S. The town hall format is a waste and has nothing to do with McCain being a prick. He would have been a prick no matter what. It’s Obama’s fault that McCain running a 100% negative campaign? He still hasn’t answered why he’s being negative.

Obama answering directly with straight answers. McCain disagrees directly. This an excellent format for a debate. This is how they are supposed to work. Back and forth until they stop going anywhere.

McCain responds directly as well. Unfortunately, McCain doesn’t look as bad has he has in this one. It’s too little, too late for me. Someone who used to really respect him.

What the hell is McCain talking about? When did anyone insinuate that McCain’s supporters were bad people? Obama was talking about Palin’s comments.

Obama returns to talking points. Not sure why. Switches to that we need to work together. McCain rebuts with negativity. Again, not sure why. Onto Ayers.

Good response from Obama on Ayers. Good response on ACORN as well.

Shut up McCain about Ayers and ACORN. This is idiotic. Very bad transition to talking points by McCain.

Schieffer moves to a new question. Onto running mates.

Obama on Biden: Blah blah blah. We all know Biden. We don’t need Obama to tell us about him. We can make our own conclusions. Ooh! Now he’s back on talking points!

McCain on Palin: Blinking like a crazy person. Everything he’s saying is lies. McCain wanted Lieberman for VP. He should have picked Tim Pawlenty. Instead, the party stuck him with no-nothing Palin and all her anti-American, secessionist, baggage.

Obama doesn’t bite on Schieffers question of Palins qualifications. Obama didn’t provide the media with any negatives on her. McCains response on Biden not too bad. Still foolish. Biden is wrong.

McCain transitions to Obama’s spending policies? What?

Schieffer straightens him out. Moves to energy policy.

McCain claims Obama is an extreme environmentalist? Since when? He’s far less of an environmentalist then most loggers and coal miners. I don’t think I can drink enough to get through this.

Obama getting rambly. Getting bored.

McCain getting back on offshore drilling. Reminder for those that don’t remember. DRILLING WON’T REDUCE THE COST OF YOUR OIL BY 1 F’N CENT! Hell, I have no problem with offshore drilling. Drill all over the goddamn place. But it won’t help us, other then by adding generally to the supply.

McCain loves Columbia and wants to marry it. Obama stood Columbia up at the prom.

Obama has a good rebuttal to McCain. McCain responds with total BS and back to no-preconditions with terrorists.

On to health care. We know their plans. Don’t care what they say. They’ll probably just lie about each-other.

Joe the plumber what? Where the hell did this meme come from?

Obama responds with a solid hard response on Joe the plumbers employer-based health insurance.

How the hell is Joe the Plumber rich? McCain claims that the average cost of a health plan is $5800/year. McCains heath plan offers $5k per family. Not 5k per person.

McCain getting a little too worked up.

Abortion: Watershed issue? McCain responds well but blames democrats for something. Not sure what, got distracted by his blinking. Shutup Scheiffer, McCain answered the question. I’m not sure what you’re getting at.

Obama responds. A little wishy-washy. I actually like McCain’s answer better. That put’s a bad taste in my mouth but it’s true. A straight answer is always better. Man up Obama.

Partial birth abortion issue has nothing to do with the popular view of what partial birth abortion is. This is a nuanced issue. Third trimester abortion has to do with non-viable fetuses or instances in which the mothers life is in jeopardy.

Stop snuffing McCain. He needs to learn that his mic picks that up.

Why does McCain never say his adoptive childrens names?

Education. Somehow, I can’t bring myself to care about this issue right now. Economy is just too important. Of course, I’d like to get some controls on state college costs, but I just don’t see any president doing anything about it.

Don’t get the school voucher obsession. When you’re state/federal funded, what purpose does competition serve?

Warshington.

Closing arguments, McCain: Good and not negative. Claims he will make change.

Closing arguments, Obama: Getting a little negative, not happy about it. However, by McCain leading in as the “change” candidate, Obama was forced into it to avoid being the “me too” candidate. His closing, is not as polished. It almost sounds like he made it up on the fly.

Good solid handshake at the end. They finally got it right.

May I say again, “Holy Crap Michelle Obama is tall!”

To recap. Great debate, great moderator, great format, Joe the plumber is the winner.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Recession

As the markets collapse and we all fear for our life savings, jobs, and homes I’ve been putting some thought into the concepts and potential results of the bailout.

It seems to me that injecting $7.00×10^11 into the economy of the Democratic Peoples Republic of America(DPRA) is not going to amount to anything for the average hard working, tax paying, citizen. In the end, other then give a big bag of money to the assholes that screwed us over, what is the real result. The answer is nothing.

The investment banks are cash poor as, apparently, MBAs are not taught about the importance of cash flow. On top of that, it would seem that many companies finance their payroll and overhead through loans, possibly the worst thing a small business can do. We’re all being told that, unless we taxpayers bail out these sons of bitches, the economy will spiral into complete decay.

I say, let it happen.

We’ve been sucking at the teat of easy credit and fallacious economic policy for too long and, I’ll admit, I’ve taken my share. Enough is enough. We cannot continue basing our economy on pushing fictitious dollars around.

As such, I feel that we need to experience a depression in this generation. A complete collapse of the economy to remind us of what’s important.

After taking stock of my life, I realized yesterday it doesn’t matter what happens. What really matters, is that there is somewhere to go back to.

The most important thing, is to play out the scenario of what will happen when it’s all gone. Do you have a place to go home to that is owned by your family? This means family farms, homesteads, plot’s of land you can call your own. A place you can grow some vegetables, raise some livestock, or hunt for meat. A place that you can subsist regardless of money, power, or public utilities.

In my circumstances, should the worst occur, that place is the 90 acres of my childhood home in extreme Northern Minnesota. In the end I know that the land and water shall provide, and I can keep my family comfortable, warm, and fed as we wait out the systemic collapse of our economy.

I hate debates

I hate debates. Unless you are a complete buffoon (my apologies to the buffoons out there), we’ve already made up our minds. Ultimately, we’re all partisan hacks.

So what are we stuck with? Talking points and rambling.

I’m going to type a stream of consciousness of my thoughts below as I watch the debates. Shout out to Twitter for inspiration as I type. Unfortunately, I didn’t start watching until around 8:30pm:

Christ, John McCain blinks a lot. He has not made eye contact with Obama once.

Obama is much better in this debate then I expected.

Jim Lehrer is a good moderator and ensures that they stay on task.

I used to like John McCain. As a matter of fact, I would have voted for him if he had won the nomination in 2000. He needs to shut up about winning in Iraq. We’re not winning. It’s not our place to win. It’s the place of the Iraqi people to win. You cannot impose democracy. It must come from within.

I’m tired of the lies from the Neocons. Let me say this once and for all: I have no problem with Republican policies, it’s the Neocons that I can’t stand. How ’bout a little goddamn fiscal conservatism? Whatever happened to that. I’m so tired of the lies. I’d like to be rooting for McCain, but he’s become a lieing scumbag.

Of course the surge worked. No one said it wouldn’t work while the excess troops were there. However, have they left yet? No. When they leave, it will all go to shit again. The solution is change from within and making the Iraqis to take care of their own issues. I’d much rather throw money at them to help them resolve their own problems rather then lose even one more soldier.

Luksusowa=good vodka

I’m pleased with McCain admitting fault in allowing Afghanistan to be ignored. I’m also glad he acknowledged Obama’s rash comments about strikes in Pakistan. However, I’m not sure where he’s going with his statements as he’s not really saying anything about his strategy being better then Obama’s.

Decent response from Obama on McCain’s criticism about Pakistan policy.

Pleased with McCain’s criticism of Reagan. No problem with Gulf War I.

Now he’s playing on heartstrings about wearing the bracelet of a fallen soldier. Soldiers die. That’s their lot. And sometimes they die in wrong wars. That doesn’t make their service any less honorable. It just is.

Obama is making a point to pronounce words correctly. I like that. “Pahkistahn”!

Did I mention that Jim Lehrer is cool?

Could McCain stop blinking and, perhaps, look at Obama from time to time?

I feel that Iran is on the cusp of an internal revolution towards representative democracy. The worst thing we could do is attack them. That would only galvanize them. Patriotism can be dangerous. We all stood by Bush after 9/11, myself included. That’s what patriotism does. “Not in my house, not in my hood.”

“Preconditions” is bullshit. What the hell are preconditions? I feel that it is the duty of nations to have respect of any other nation. It doesn’t matter if they are assholes. You have to, at least, talk to them. What the hell does it solve to act like a spoiled child and not talk to people?

Spain!!! I forgot about that. Holy shit is McCain an idiot.

The focus on meeting without preconditions is idiotic. Just because you meet with someone doesn’t legitimize it. Has anyone asked Ahmadinejad not to be an asshole?

Obama knows countries!

Went get some food, what did I miss?

Russia huh? Why are they our problem and who cares if they attack Georgia. That’s their problem. Not ours. We’ve got enough wars.

McCain is an angry man. Is Belgium OK or should we invade them? Are we allowed to talk to them without “preconditions”?

Pleased with McCain not fear-mongering over another 9/11.

Missile defense is total fucking bullshit and doesn’t work. If anyone knows of a peer reviewed study that says it does, let me know.

Obama = Uniter, McCain = Divider is my take. McCain consistently criticizes Obama out of hand where Obama agrees with McCain from time to time. I haven’t seen McCain do anything but criticize. He’s negative about everything but the military.

Now McCain has dropped back to talking points and not answering the questions. Surge? Obama wasn’t even talking about it.

Obama is Kenyan. Apparently. He’s never mentioned that before. /sarcasm

Why the Christ doesn’t John McCain make eye contact with Obama?

Obama made the first move to shake John McCain’s hand after the debate.

Holy crap Michelle Obama is tall.

Here endeth the lesson.

P.S. OMG!!! Flag pin!!! LOLPONIES!!!!

Be afraid, be very afraid.

OK, so here’s what’s going on right now:

McCain has suspended his campaign to “meet [in the senate] until this crisis is resolved.”. However, John McCain is not on the senate banking committee and has never been involved in setting economic policy.

So he pressures Bush to hold a Whitehouse meeting and then, out of nowhere, submits his own version of the bill that is completely different from the original in all regards. It is still unclear exactly what that bill is.

My suspicion, is that this was done to allow McCain to appear to be anti-Bush, and the savior of Democratic Peoples Republic of America.

However…

Here’s what else is going on right now:

The 3rd Infantry 1st Combat Brigade is being redeployed to the United States to act as a peacekeeping force. If you’re wondering what’s wrong with this, please Google “Posse Comitatus”. This means that now, instead of the National Guard helping state and local police in the event of a national disaster, the US Military is expected to do so. Apparently the National Guard is too busy guarding Iraq to take care of their mission here.

Here’s my super-paranoid view of what’s happening:

If John McCain is willing to suspend his campaign for a “time of crisis”, though Lincoln debated during the civil war and Roosevelt did also during WWII, is he also amenable to suspending elections? My fear is that McCain is working with Bush to develop a plan to declare martial law and suspend the election. This can be done, and though unconstitutional, is perfectly legal per Presidential Directive 51.

Could McCain’s interference be a method to keep the unrest going all the way to election day? Maybe it’s not just incompetant political posturing but the end of the free world? Perhaps were not going to become the DPRA but the Kingdom of America.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Every day I’m more afraid of organized religion

I apologize for the commercial prior to the video (by the way, I love the flag pin. He must be the most patriotic guy ever!!! But why isn’t it bigger? I think John Robert’s pin is bigger. Couldn’t he be more patriotic? He’s only got one pin. Wouldn’t 2 pins be more patriotic? I think an American flag tie might help, but only a little.)

McCain must embrace Palin’s beliefs, evangelical leader says

I seem to recall a separation of church and State vaguely implied in the Constitution…

Oh Yeah! I remember!

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

Now, I understand that though this does not explicitly guarantee “separation of church and state” it’s very clear what it implies. We have a secular government that does not meddle in the affairs of religion. What this means to me, as it relates to the Presidential elections, is that if a voter thinks that the religious beliefs of the President are important, that’s great! They are welcome to imagine what they are. However, as the President oversees a secular nation *regardless of who’s religion is the most popular today*, the Presidential candidate should shut the hell up about their religious beliefs.

I honestly don’t care if John McCain is a Muslim or if Barack Obama is a devout Atheist and it shouldn’t matter to the American people.

How are you Catholics feeling? Oppressed? How about Methodists? Are you under-represented? How about Snake Handlers? Feel the President isn’t fondling enough of them? Could the Middle East crisis be handled by groping a few more snakes? Oops, the Catholics want to handle the Russia issue through the President drinking the transubstantiated blood of a 2000 year old dead guy. Can we do both? Is there time? There’s a Vikings game on at noon and I don’t know if I can cope with missing kick-off. Maybe we should just go with a quick prayer to God to smite the poor un-saved Muslims and maybe put in a good word for the Vikes. They could use a win and, after all, I’ve got a ten spot riding on it.

Here’s an idea…

Worry about policy and historical votes/behaviour. Not what some asshole tells you they believe.

McCain and Obama tax plans in detail

Now that the conventions are over and the blood and confetti has been washed from the streets, it’s time to look at some reals comparisons of the candidates. It can be hard to push through the rhetoric and just make the decision for yourself. Even at the candidates websites, their own detailed proposals are written in an overtly biased manner and spread out across multiple pages and categories.

John McCain has been pushing the oversimplified agenda of Obama = raise taxes, McCain = lower taxes. Unfortunately, it’s far more complicated on both sides. Please see the below for a quick comparison:

Look where Obama’s tax increases are and look where McCains tax cuts are. As you can see, there is a pretty obvious difference when it comes to income level. The most outstanding item, at first glance, is the tax increases in the Obama column on wage earners $600,000 and above. As it such a glaring difference, it might lead you to believe that McCain is correct about Obama being an evil “tax and spend” liberal. However, as none of you (well, at least 99% of you) are being affected by those tax increases, look at the rest of the graph.

If you cover up the top 2 tiers of the graph (less then 1% of wage earners) you can see where John McCains bread is buttered. The fact is, that the lower brackets will spend into the economy any tax breaks they receive, whereas the upper tax brackets will simply invest the funds in markets that will either harm the lower classes (i.e. fuel and farm commodity speculation) or possibly invest them in other markets or currencies doing better then the US at this stage there-by reducing our economic growth even more then before the tax cut. If anyone tells you that the average Joe will receive a penny of trickle-down from the rich, they’re blowing smoke up your ass.

Below is a table of the tax plans in detail. I think they speak for themselves. The biggest issue that affects the “Middle Class” is the removal of the cap on the Social Security tax in Obama’s plan. However, since it only affects families earning over $200,000, we’re only talking about 3% of wage earners. From the Tax Policy Center an easy to read analysis of McCain and Obama’s proposals.

	Barack Obama	John McCain
New Tax Cuts	Obama Refundable Making Work Pay tax credit of 6.2 percent of earnings up to a maximum of $8,100 Refundable Universal Mortgage Credit of 10 percent or mortgage interest for nonitemizers, capped at $800 ($8,000 of interest) Eliminate income tax for senior making less than $50,000 per year First-time buyers tax credit for new farmers Small Business and Microenterprise Initiative tax credit of 20 percent on up to $50,000 of investment in small owner-operated businesses	McCain Allow first-year deduction of 3 and 5-year equipment, deny interest deductions (expires) Reduce maximum corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent Increase the dependent exemption by 70 percent Suspend the federal gas tax (18.4 cents per gallon from this Memorial Day until Labor Day
Adjustments to Existing Credits	Make R&D and renewable enery production tax credit (wind, solar) permanent Extend childless EITC phase-in range and increase phaseout threshold, double the phase-in and phase-out rates for childless individuals paying child support, increase EITC phase-in rate to 45 percent for families with three or more children; increase add-on to EITC phase-out threshold for married filers to $5,000 Make CDCTC refundable and allow low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit for child care expenses Make saver’s credit refundable and change to a 50 percent match of the first $1,000 of savings, phases out beginning before $75,000 Increase Hope credit 100% match rate to $4,000 for college education and make refundable, rename American Opportunity Tax Credit Mandate automatic 401(k)s and automatic IRAs	Convert R&D credit to 10 percent of wages incurred for R&D, make permanent
Capital Gains	Increase maximum capital gains rate to 20 percent Require information reporting of basis for gains Eliminate capital gains taxation of start-up businesses and provide capital gains tax break for landowners selling to beginning family farmers	Keep the current rates on dividends and capital gains
Bush Tax Cuts	Permanently extend marriage penalty relief, adoption credit expansions, 10,15,25, and 28% rates, EITC simplification Restore 36 and 39.6% statutory income tax rates, Restore PEP and Pease phaseouts for households making more than $250,000, increase in PEP and Pease threshold	Make permanent all provisions other than the estate tax repeal
Alternative Minimum Tax	Extend and index 2007 AMT patch	Extend and index 2007 AMT patch, further increase exemption by 5 percent in excess of inflation after 2013 (temporarily)
Estate Tax	Make permanent estate tax with $3.5 million exemption and 45 percent rate	Make permanent estate tax with $5 million exemption and 15 percent rate
Simplification	Give taxpayers the option of pre -filled tax forms to verify, sign, return to IRS	Give taxpayers the option of an alternative tax system with two rates and a larger standard deduction and personal exemption
Revenue Raisers and Tax Havens	Eliminate oil and gas loopholes Close loopholes in the corporate tax deductibility of CEO pay Tax carried interest as ordinary, Increase the highest bracket for capital gains and dividends Reallocate multinational tax deductions Codify economic substance doctrine Create international tax haven watch list Other unspecified revenue raising provisions	Eliminate oil and gas loopholes Unspecified corporate base broadeners Eliminate earmarked projects from the budget, freeze nonmilitary discretionary spending for one year, eliminate programs
Health	Income-related federal tax subsidies for health insurance	Replace exclusion from income for employer sponsored health insurance with refundable credit of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families
Other	Social Security/payroll taxes: impose additional tax of 2-4 percent (combined employer and employee) on workers with income above $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples)	Require a 3/5 majority vote in Congress to raise taxes Ban internet and cell phone taxes Higher premiums for Medicare prescription drug coverage for single people earning more than $82,000 and couples earning more than $164,000