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POPSModerate Republicans:"Who is John McCain?" John McCain has a serious problem with his own constituency, moderate republicans. They are crossing the aisle too now, to support his opponent. Chafee said he has spoken with several other moderate Republican leaders, and "there are a whole lot of us deserting." About Palin: As for McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his running mate, "there's no question she's totally unqualified," Chafee said. They would do better, however, supporting third party instead of supporting Obama who will NOT change the neocon "war on terrorism" and foreign policy agenda (where he sounds alot like McCain), and will NOT have policies that improve the economy nor restore our constitutional liberties trampled by Homeland Security policies. (Obama has not promised to rescind any of the Exec orders or legislation pushed by Bush gov't. Traditional conservatives have a problem with McCain too, and are leaning toward Constitution or Libertarian party cand
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POPS"Maverick" McCain Supports Pork-Stuffed Bailout Bill McCain just contradicted his entire "reform" message. He had opportunity to lead the way, against Big Interest. But instead he supported it, under the plea of "necessity" of course. There was a radio talk show that did an excellent job on this today, but it was new to me and I could not find it on the web. The former republican (a conservative or libertarian host), complete with soundbites, ripped McCain to shreds, called him "an idiot". He could have won the election (and saved Main Street) by voting against it, and proved that he is against pork bills, against Big Interests, and a "maverick" for "reform", but did not! (If anyone knows the radio talk show and heard it, please post it in a comment. It was the best commentary on this anywhere).
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POPS Bailout Is Not The Right Answer
This subprime lending was more than a minor relaxation of existing credit guidelines. This lending was a wholesale abandonment of reasonable lending practices in which borrowers with poor credit characteristics got mortgages they were ill-equipped to handle. Once housing prices declined and economic conditions worsened, defaults and delinquencies soared, leaving the industry holding large amounts of severely depreciated mortgage assets. The fact that government bears such a huge responsibility for the current mess means any response should eliminate the conditions that created this situation in the first place, not attempt to fix bad government with more government. The obvious alternative to a bailout is letting troubled financial institutions declare bankruptcy. Bankruptcy means that shareholders typically get wiped out and the creditors own the company. Bankruptcy does not mean the company disappears; it is just owned by someone new (as has occurred with several airline
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POPSOpen the Presidential Debates... or we will! Sounds like real American government to me! The internet is like the printing press was in the 1500s. It can bring much needed reformation and revolution like the press did back then. But we have to USE IT. "A computer terminal is not some clunky old television with a typewriter in front of it. It is an interface where the mind and body can connect with the universe and move bits of it about." ~ Douglas Noel Adams
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POPSAlliance Against Two Party Control (cont.)Calling together candidates from the liberal, conservative, libertarian and progressive constituencies, who are all opposed to this rigged process, was designed to alert the American people to the uselessness of continuing to support a process that a claims that one’s only choice is to choose the lesser of two evils and reject a principle vote that might challenge the status quo as a wasted vote. In both political education and organization, coalitions are worthwhile and necessary to have an impact. “Talking to the choir” alone achieves little. I have always approached political and economic education with a “missionary” zeal by inviting any group in on issues we agree upon.
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POPSEconomists On The Bailout I enjoyed this straightforward presentation of the arguments about the bailout. This pro-con display in the Charlotte Observer really boils down the issues and makes them understandable and palatable to the average reader.
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POPSSolid Praise of Ron Paul I am not a fan of Pat Buchannan. But he is right about Ron Paul. Few Republicans have had the courage to stand up for this man of honor and ideological honesty. We probably have not heard the last from Dr. Paul - we can only hope the younger generation will pick up th torch he is passing!
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POPSBanking on Becoming President Information on Politicians and their Elections Presidential * List All Candidates * Search Donors * Candidate Comparison o Contributors o States o Sectors o Industries o Quality of Disclosure o Source of Funds * Money Web * Industries o Sector Totals o Selected Sectors o Selected Industries * State/Metro Funding * Donor Demographics o Contribution Size o Gender * Expenditures * Fundraising Over Time * Bundlers o John McCain o Barack Obama * Fundraising By Party * Money Primary * News & Analysis * Election Totals 1976-2008 * Primary Calendar * Previous Elections
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POPSRon Paul Urges Third-Party Vote, Refuses to Endorse McCain Now this is a "maverick" and a "reformer", refusing to endorse the Rino McCain of his same party despite that he has an (R) after his name. If anyone wants to stop the entire phony "war on terrorism", retrieve our liberties and restore Constitutional government, and rein in big government spending (including for unjust wars)--which causes inflation thru dollar devaluation-- the only choice is to vote third party. If everyone voted their conscience, refusing to be bullied into supporting the major two parties, change could then happen. The media drives everyone to support either R or D, so nothing ever changes. Obama openly stated he is for the "war on terrorism", in Afghanistan, and even to attack within Pakistan, like Bush and McCain. Pray tell, what is the difference and "change" then!
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POPSGOP Fight in Nevada Could Spell Trouble For McCain Dr. Paul has suspended his campaign, but his libertarian loyalists have not. Dr. Paul's message resonated particularly in Nevada, a state where frontier spirit and personal freedom runs deep, and he captured second place in the January state caucuses, ahead of Sen. McCain. Hard-line libertarian voters see Sen. McCain as the embodiment of a Republican Party they no longer trust to protect their freedoms. Citing the campaign finance rules and ban on college sports betting that he championed, many conservatives are rejecting the presumptive Republican nominee along with the party establishment. Recent history shows Nevada's frustrated conservatives can swing an election. The last Texan presidential candidate preaching small government, Ross Perot, took 10% of the vote here in 1992 and 27% in 1996, helping Democrat Bill Clinton to carry the state both times. A Libertarian Senate candidate in 1998 tipped a close race to Majority Leader Harry Reid.
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POPSCommunity Organizers
I know what community organizers do. I have friends and family who are involved with social work and community organization. They register people to vote. They get people involved with the political process. They know the real, day-to-day problems of the people in their community like the back of their hand. They help people with their life problems, helping elderly folks keep the lights on and helping gro ups with a significant problem get organized enough to get the attention of an alderman or city hall. The people on the ground, the "community organizers" and very local politicians, do a ton of good work for the people of this country. And through that process, they gain a deep understanding of the real problems and thoughts of everyday people. I held out hope that during the Convention, I could get a real grasp on where the Republican Party was.Last night, Sarah Palin gave a speech that was in theory meant to get people like me excited about the Republican ticket.
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POPSBob Barr: The "Change" of the Republican Party Powerful. The neo-republican party exposed from a former republican who pushed to impeach Clinton. Barr's credibility from being a very influential republican Congressman, and earlier experience in the CIA, make his arguments formidable. During the last 8 years republicans have left their own platform, especially regarding limited government and individual liberty which they once championed. Listen on REAL audio beginning at 1:00:00 mark. Despite much talk of democracy the Libertarian candidate is being excluded from debates from the two-party tyranny. Ron Paul and Bob Barr are just two effective witnesses to the "change" of the republican party and the great danger to freedom it poses. .
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POPSRinging in Sunday booze sales When I ran my one campaign for public office in 2000, I ran on the Libertarian Party ticket for Indiana House District 100 on a platform of repealing the Sunday Blue Laws regulating the sale of alcohol and vehicles on Sunday. 8 years later a group has formed to lobby for this much needed change in our laws in Indiana.
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POPSObamacans: True Independent Voters Great blog! This is a breath of fresh air in the middle of lots of hot air. Who cares when some reporter got a text saying Joe Biden was Obama's pick? This site is about substance and dialogue - I highly recommend it!
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POPSOn True Conservatism ( equal time) It might also be stated that bad government includes almost all government outside the parameters of what is constitutionally mandated and that society is made "better" by individuals acting in accordance with a moral grounding to better their communities, states, and nation. To say that government is the problem is anarchist. To say that government is not our friend is libertarian. To say government is the answer is to be a Progressive fascist.
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POPSIt's Good to be a Corporation in US! More than 38,000 foreign corporations had no tax liability in 2005 and 1.2 million U.S. companies paid no income tax, the GAO said. Combined, the companies had $2.5 trillion in sales. About 25 percent of the U.S. corporations not paying corporate taxes were considered large corporations, meaning they had at least $250 million in assets or $50 million in receipts. The GAO said it analyzed data from the Internal Revenue Service, examining samples of corporate returns for the years 1998 through 2005. For 2005, for example, it reviewed 110,003 tax returns from among more than 1.2 million corporations doing business in the U.S. Dorgan and Levin have complained about companies abusing transfer prices -- amounts charged on transactions between companies in a group, such as a parent and subsidiary. In some cases, multinational companies can manipulate transfer prices to shift income from higher to lower tax jurisdictions, cutting their tax liabilities.
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POPSShoot the messenger Continues Stranahan...."Seems like I've touched a third rail here. I cross-posted this piece at Daily Kos and it got over 400 comments. Unfortunately, a large number of the comments were nothing but insults. One person suggested seriously that all the videos I've made lampooning Republicans (including my Mike Huckabee video that Kos himself called the 'best political parody of 2007) were just a ruse so I could weasel my way into the progressive blogosphere, apparently in anticipation of John Edwards being caught at hotel. " Seems the urge to protect their own (Edwards) includes trashing the messenger (Stranahan). If only the truth could so easily be silenced....
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POPSRon Paul's GOP Counter-Convention Continues to get his revolutionary message out that the GOP is way off the mark in regard to their own traditional republican principles of limited government and individual liberty which the neoconservatives have trampled entirely. The popularity of the message cannot be overlooked and demonstrates the latent great dissatisfaction with the presumptive party nominees of McCain and Obama (who is continuing the talk of the "war on terrorism" as if it is a legitimate and constitutional war--see comments on Afghanistan). This might be the year of the greatest number of alternative candidates on the Presidential ticket: Constitution Party, Libertarian Party, Green Party, will probably be on every state ballot.
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POPSAlternatives to Obama If you are as disgusted as I am about Obama's recent political expedience and lack of integrity, try Cythia McKinney, a real honest person WITH integrity, but without all the bells and whistles of Baracko-mania. I'm going Green and back to my original "No more holding my nose" in the voting booth. If the people3 are dumb ewnough to elect either McSame or the quibbling Miracle man, so be it. I won't be a part of it.
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