Category: Politics

Political commentary and awareness

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Bushanomics


[Source, ImageShack]

Commenter Horn56 keeps it real:

…Bush had nothing to do w/ bill that lead to the mortgage crisis and banks collapsing, but he’s not clean and innocent from this situation either.

To blame Clinton is to only look at date of who was in office. The bill was written by 3 republicans after 20 years and $300 million in lobbying, passed by the republican dominated congress and shoved into an “essential spending measure” Clinton had to sign. I believe only 6 democrats voted “yea” on this, and that was only after they added privacy stipulations to the sales of loans.

There was nothing in this that applied directly to how you can give a loan, it just made the banks feel more secure in giving loans to unqualified people thinking they now had a backing if the loan was not repaid. Of course with everything being sold on speculation now because of this change in laws, the money wasn’t really there to back anything. One deadbeat after another started to default on the loans they couldn’t afford and never should of been given, the backing was not really there…peace banks.

The fact that the main person that wrote this bill deregulating banks, who also wrote the legislation that deregulated energy and allowed oil to be sold the way it s now, was named as one of McCain’s top advisors… If McCain claims to not understand the economy, and the economic adviser he picked caused the problem, who exactly is going to fix it if he gets in?

[Source, ImageShack comment]

It’s still a very funny picture and caption!

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No more OPEC?!

Yesterday I was reading about OPEC wanting to cut production by 550 million550,00* barrels a day and wherever I was reading that commented that the cuts would amount to more oil than the US could produce if they drilled all US land and territories. Not sure if I believe that. But the point is that OPEC is powerful. Er, was.

Saudi Arabia walked out on OPEC yesterday. It said it would not honor the cartel’s production cut. It was tired of rants from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the well-dressed oil minister from Iran.

As the world’s largest crude exporter, the kingdom in the desert took its ball and went home.
…
OPEC has made no announcement to the effect that it is dissolving, but the process is already over.

[Source, MSN Money moneyBlog Top Stocks, The death of OPEC]

Of course, I’m not an economist so I have no idea if this is a good or bad thing.

Update: A friend explains that this is good for the United States in that gas prices will go down but bad for the world because greenhouse gases will go up.

Update: *Thanks to Brian Arner for the correction!

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Sarah Palin comes under the microscope

Now that Sarah Palin has been announced as John McCain’s running mate, people are being quick to dig up dirt. The first I came across was an insinuation that Sarah Palin, with her stance against abortion and birth control, promoting ‘abstinence only’ beliefs, is raising her daughter’s child as her own. iReport lists 8 reasons this may true including a picture. Daily Kos added commentary. Next, Palin denies global warming is man made and adds that Palin is no friend to the environment "once attacking McCain for his ‘close-mindedness on ANWR.’". And finally MSNBC chimes in with the ethics investigation: "Palin is under two ethics investigations springing from accusations that she abused her office to pursue a personal grudge."

Update: I think this is a good time to emphasize that we should remain focused on the issues and not on slinging dirt.
Issues that could arise from the baby (which honestly, as a Downs baby it seems more likely to be her baby than her daughter’s): stance on abortion, availability of birth control, and position on sex education in schools. What about honesty and disclosure regarding the child (presuming it is her daughter’s)? A non-issue as that is her personal decision and a simple matter of privacy.
Issues that could arise from denying global warming is not man made: Religion in government, Decision made on religion vs science, teaching of creationism instead of evolution, Kyoto Protocol, environmental choices such as drilling ANWR, mountaintop removal coal mining, drilling the protected coastal shelves, energy policies, war on middle eastern nations for control of oil, clean energy vs nuclear.
Issues that could arise from the ethics investigation: misuse of power, integrity, trust in our leaders, open government, privacy of citizens, Patriot Act

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“She”vp Milf

Did McCain just win the election? Please tell me that we aren’t about to have 4 more years of Bush policy because the blood is rushing from the brains of men to cat calls and discussion of whose weapon is larger, and blood rushing from the brains of women angry that Hillary didn’t get the nomination. I hope our society is more intelligent than to be led by "look! something shiny!" Young, beautiful, pageant winner, hunter, gun aficionado (lifetime NRA), 5 children – 1 in Iraq and 1 with special needs (Down Syndrome), has ANWR in the palm of her hand — good move McCain! But I don’t think it’s checkmate. I truly believe that our society is intelligent enough to see that the Obama policies are far better for this country than the McCain aristocracy.

I look forward to the debates. This is going to one awesome election!