A Barack Obama supporter in Ohio with deep roots in Democratic politics -- and a 2001 sex-related felony conviction to his name -- is behind two new confrontational videos that bait ignorant people into calling Barack Obama a terrorist.
The first video was released Wednesday and has gone viral. It currently has more than 1.1 million views on YouTube. Part II went online a day later and is well on its way to viral status, with more than 145,000 views. [snip]
The media may not be as eager to tell the public about the man behind the camera, however. His name is Tim Russo of Blogger Interrupted. Russo has a sordid history - see the May cover story in the Cleveland Free Times. Here are a few facts to keep in mind about Russo: [long list of slime-ball antics - snip]
Sadly, their antics appear likely to become commonplace in the final days of Campaign 2008. Another Russo-like video from a McCain-Palin event in Pennsylvania also went viral last week.
The question is whether journalists will reward these people with the spotlight they seek or expose them as the politically suspect agitators they are...
[how modern 'news' is made - Recommended > ]
READ MORE
.
Missouri officials suspect fake voter registration
Kansas City, Mo. -- Officials in Missouri, a hard-fought jewel in the presidential race, are sifting through possibly hundreds of questionable or duplicate voter-registration forms submitted by an advocacy group that has been accused of election fraud in other states. Charlene Davis, co-director of the election board in Jackson County, where Kansas City is, said the fraudulent registration forms came from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.
READ MORE
Cleveland Election Officials Launch Probe of ACORN
CLEVELAND, Ohio- Election officials in Ohio's most populous county have called on the prosecuting attorney to investigate alleged voter registration fraud by the community organizing group ACORN.The bipartisan Cuyahoga County Board of Elections voted unanimously Monday to ask prosecutor Bill Mason to investigate four incidents (Snip)One of those voters, 19-year-old Freddie Johnson, told FOX News that he signed 73 voter registrations
READ MORE
US Elections: Democrats out-register Republicans in swing states
A boom in voter registration across America has raised the possibility of a landslide victory for Senator Barack Obama, with an overwhelming majority of the nine million new voters believed to favour the Democratic candidate. In eight swing states that could decide the election, Democrats have out-registered Republicans by ratios of up to 6 - 1.
[counting dead people]
READ MORE
.
As evidenced by Barack Obama’s rise in the polls immediately following the financial collapse of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, few Americans understand that for many years Fannie and Freddie have been, first and foremost, tools of Democratic politicians, funders of the Democratic Party, and, in the words of a former Fannie CEO, the intimate “friends” and “family” of the Democratic Party’s left wing...
READ MORE
WASHINGTON — As the presidential campaign heads into its final three weeks, Republican John McCain plans to stress anew tax cuts as a way to fight the sluggish economy that has threatened global credit markets and hampered his candidacy.
McCain ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday that McCain is looking at ways to "jump-start" the economy with tax cuts to encourage investment...
READ MORE
One of Barack Obama's most potent campaign claims is that he'll cut taxes for no less than 95% of "working families." He's even promising to cut taxes enough that the government's tax share of GDP will be no more than 18.2% -- which is lower than it is today.It's a clever pitch, because it lets him pose as a middle-class tax cutter while disguising that he's also proposing one of the largest tax increases in history...
READ MORE
Barack Obama says he will give 95 percent of all American workers a tax cut but does not mention that his plan would send checks to tens of millions of tax filers who pay no personal income taxes - payments that critics say look "suspiciously like welfare."
Mr. Obama's campaign promise, which he has repeated in his speeches and in the presidential debates, stems from his "Making Work Pay" tax cut that will give a $500 refundable tax credit to every worker or $1,000 to each working couple.
But because this provision in his economic-recovery plan is "refundable," a large number of middle- to lower-income workers who have no income-tax liability after taking tax credits and deductions the that Internal Revenue Service allows, will be given the equivalent of the tax cut in the form of direct payments from the U.S. Treasury - funded by higher-income taxpayers.
Because the IRS says that nearly 46 million tax filers - one-third of all filers - had no tax liability in 2006, there is the question of how millions of Americans can receive an income "tax cut" when they pay no taxes.
"It's got to raise alarm bells when you claim you are going to cut taxes for 95 percent of working families when more than 40 percent of them pay no income taxes,"[why? because it's "fair"]
Even The New York Times now is saying that Barack Obama's unswerving call for tax increases -- to impose more "fairness" -- is the wrong prescription for the current crisis in the U.S. economy.
With the U.S. in the midst of a financial meltdown, The Times recognized that Obama's proposed tax hikes would only push the U.S. economy into a deeper hole:
"Mr. Obama has said that he would raise taxes on the wealthy, starting next year, to help restore fairness to the tax code and to pay for his spending plans. With the economy tanking, however, it's hard to imagine how he could prudently do that...All told, Obama's flawed economic plan is a direct threat to employers and employees, especially in small business, the sector of the U.S. economy that currently creates nearly three-quarters of all net new jobs, produces 28 percent of the nation's exported goods and employs 51 percent of the private sector work force...
The recent actions of President Bush and Federal Reserve to "rescue" the nation from the current economic crisis have not restored confidence in our financial markets. Instead, they have created considerable fear about the underlying strength of the U.S. economy. Yet, the economy is a great deal stronger than many believe, says Lee E. Ohanian, a professor of economics at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Despite the September employment report, he says, there are no signs that the economy is on the verge of a depression:
The United States brings the world's smartest minds to its shores, trains them and then throws them out.
The U.S. immigration service allows highly educated workers to enter the country for up to six years on a visa called the H-1B. If these workers want to stay longer and enjoy the same rights as American citizens, they need to obtain a permanent resident visa. The problem is that there are more than a million skilled workers and their families in the United States who are waiting for these permanent resident visas, but there are very few visas available and the backlog is rapidly increasing. [snip]
Labor union leaders might be popping champagne corks over the numbers reported in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates of labor union membership in 2007:
“We’re ready to play offense for organized labor. It’s time we had a president who didn’t choke saying the word ‘union.’ A president who strengthens our unions by letting them do what they do best: organize our workers. . . . I will make it the law of the land when I’m president of the United States. . . . ”
WAITING YOUR TURN: HOSPITAL WAITING LISTS IN CANADA
The median wait time for Canadians seeking surgical or other therapeutic treatment dropped to 17.3 weeks in 2008 from 18.3 weeks in 2007, according to new research published by the Fraser Institute.
Despite the small improvement, many Canadians are still waiting 121 days or more for necessary medical treatment. Despite the overall decrease in national median waiting times, some provinces experienced increases in total wait times:
Jury: $10.7M for NYC woman in wait for brain scan
[don't know if 'good' news, but the comparison is striking]
NEW YORK - A jury has awarded nearly $11 million to a woman who became partially paralyzed after waiting two hours for a hospital brain scan. Jurors found New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens was negligent in caring for Candida Diego after she fractured her skull in a fall in September 2004.
READ MORE
Krugman Nobel Makes for Morning Joe Mirth
On what should be the crowning day of his professional career, one hopes for his sake that Paul Krugman wasn't watching Morning Joe. For news of his economics Nobel was met by the crew with ridicule that even Mika Brzezinski couldn't resist.
View video here.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Was that a joke email or is it the truth?Can anyone seriously believe this was other than a supremely political pick by the lefty Nobel Committee? Does anyone honestly imagine Krugman was awarded the prize for his academic work and not for his Republican- bashing and promotion of the road to collectivism on the pages of the Gray Lady?
It's got to be a lie. This is serious?
Paul Krugman—this is just grimmest news I've heard in quite some time—has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics!
I can't even say it with a straight face.
[NOTE: all Policy Position comparisons can be found by going HERE - or by typing "policy positions" {in quotes!} in the Search Blog box in the upper left corner of page.]
Policy Positions Re: TAX PLANS:
While all remotes are tuning in to hear what Congress is going to do about the current financial crisis, the best plan I've heard so far is what Newt Gingrich proposes: not to bail out the failed companies, but to loan them the money.
In the meantime, let's not lose sight of what each candidate's proposed tax plan is, should they become president:
CAPITAL GAINS TAX
MCCAIN
0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home for couples. No increase to current home sales income tax.
OBAMA
28% on profit from ALL home sales
DIVIDEND TAX
MCCAIN 15% (no change)
OBAMA 39.6%
If you have money invested in the stock market, an IRA, mutual funds, retirement accounts, etc., you will pay nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes under Obama.
INHERITANCE TAX
MCCAIN 0% (no change, Bush repealed this tax)
OBAMA Restore the inheritance tax
INCOME TAX
MCCAIN
Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $31,250
OBAMA
Single making 30K - tax $8,400
Single making 50K - tax $14,000
Single making 75K - tax $23,250
Married making 60K - tax $16,800
Married making 75K - tax $21,000
Married making 125K - tax $38,750
Know the facts before you vote.
http://www.womantalk.us/Specials/
