Day: May 2, 2008

Anti-War Protests By Unions

Ports along the U.S. West Coast, including the country’s busiest port complex in Los Angeles, shut down on Thursday as some 10,000 dock workers went on a one-day strike to protest the war in Iraq, port and union officials said.

Twenty-nine ports from San Diego to Washington state that handle more than half of U.S waterborne trade ground to a halt, but shipping experts said the economic costs of the walk-out would be limited.

“We are hearing there is no activity taking place up and down the West Coast,” said Steve Getzug, spokesman of the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents all 29 ports. “There is no unloading or loading.”

Finally labor is getting in the act.  But now it will be interesting to see how the government will react to this work stoppage.  I expect them to wait and see and then hopefully will over-react.

Clinton: The Most Pandering Of Candidates

I know all candidates pander, but please Clinton and her dipstick husband are becoming irritating.  She pretends to be on of the people…..think about that…..is she?  She has pandered to working class voters as a simple working stiff…but yet admits that she has not had to fill her gas tank in years.  She seems to be a native son candidate from every state she enters.  From New York to Pennsylvania to Indiana to……….she where in her life she has made an appearance in the state and now she is a favorite, for reason.  It is pandering, people.

Another question.  Is Bill her running mate?  He acts like he is…the attack dog while the candidate is above it all…he makes the dumbest, most pandering comments, but yet people listen.  May I suggest that one take a look at 1992 til today, most of our economic probs were caused because of his policies.  But yet they are considering returning the “dynamic duo” to Washington.  Why?

Sorry my vote cannot be bought by a pandering lump of sh.. though I do enjoy having my privates stroked, but unfortunately it will not buy my vote.

Health Care And McCain

All the candidates for president have seen the importance of the issue of health care.  The Dems have their ways of handling the issue, but the Repubs, especially McCain have come up with the most ridiculous.  McCain’s proposal is a typical conservative approach some type of tax credit or such.

To do so he is proposing a major tax change that he hopes will make the insurance marketplace more competitive and less expensive in part by encouraging more people to buy health insurance on their own instead of receiving it from their employers.

The 71 percent of insured Americans who get their health coverage through their employers now enjoy a significant advantage because the money spent by employers on their health coverage is excluded from their taxable income. If employers chose to pay that share of a worker’s compensation as wages rather than benefits, the income would be taxable.

The tax treatment of health benefits has been criticized as both discriminatory and regressive, and some analysts believe it encourages workers to buy more coverage than they need, driving up health costs.

To end the disadvantage to those who do not buy insurance through employers, Mr. McCain proposes to eliminate the exclusion of health benefits from taxable income. In exchange, he would provide refundable tax credits of $2,500 to single people and of $5,000 to families, with the goal of stoking competition in the individual insurance market. The elimination of the exclusion would generate $3.6 trillion over 10 years, according to the McCain campaign, and that money would pay for the tax credits.

This free market approach is not the answer to the lack of adequate health care.  On the other hand, neither Dem candidate has an adequate either.

Anal-Ocity 2008

And yes it is back–the anal-ocity, the most anal statement ever made by an individual. This one is from your president. And will be in the running for the Assie award for 2008.

“Just and open societies protect and rely on the freedom of the press,” Bush said in a statement marking World Press Freedom Day, which falls on Saturday.

“Brutal regimes and others who seek to stifle liberty often do so by closing down private newspapers and radio and television stations. They kidnap, arbitrarily jail, and beat journalists,” he said.

Apparently he forgets the Patriot Act, huh?

The Elitist Perception

Ever notice that the Dems have been fighting that label for decades. The Repubs have successfully used that term to define Dems during the election cycles. Look at Gore, Dukakis, Kerry, just to mention the most recent losers were all successfully label as elitists.

Now Obama has been saddled with the mantle. Even a fellow Dem has also joined the attacks. Clinton, campaigning in Brownsburg, Indiana, tried to perpetuate the elitist label on Obama, pointing out his opposition to a proposal she supports, a temporary suspension of the federal tax on gasoline of 18.4 cents per gallon. But she fails to mention that in NO economic circles is this proposal a good idea.

“I believe it would be important to get every member of Congress on record. Do they stand with the hard-pressed Americans who are trying to pay their gas bills at the gas station or do they once again stand with the oil companies?,” Clinton asked. This is a case of pandering. It is an attempt to look like one actually cares, while massaging the wallets of the average person. Even by one’s own admission they have not filled their own vehicle with gas in years, it is the Secret Service that does it. But yet this same person is always saying that they “feel your pain”.

May I suggest that before one buys into the whole labeling thingy, that they learn what the candidate is all about. But that is just silly, like an American voter will take the time to do some research. ROFLMAO!