Bailout Bill Voted Down...For Now / America Shrugged

Don't worry, by next Friday, there will be another version of the same bill that passes. Still, I am encouraged that members of the House of Representatives didn't take it lying down. I feel like there is evidence that some Americans are still alive and kicking versus sleeping at the wheel. Freedom isn't just something fought for on the battlefield. It means paying attention. The Holocausts don't happen over night nor did the problems with our government and economy.

Make no mistake, stocks will continue to fall, banks will continue to fail and the economy will continue to decline. But, this will happen with or without a rescue initiative on the government's part. The real issue with this bill wasn't that dire action is not needed (something will need to be done in attempt to save the economy), but rather that this particular plan of action and the method in which it was being carried out was morally flawed. The fact that people noticed this is encouraging.

So, the days ahead are not going to be feel-good days. These are unprecedented events in history on a global level and no one has a fix-all answer. But there is a much bigger picture to consider about how to approach getting us back on the upswing and if this means taking more time to consider all ramifications at the risk of witnessing some more immediate failures, so be it.
It shouldn't be a newsflash to anyone on Wall Street or Main Street that risky actions can carry negative consequences.


The questions I keep hearing from commentators about this recent bailout situation are, "Where are all the leaders? Where are all the adults?" And it's true. There are none. It's no coincidence that I've been slowly digesting Atlas Shrugged this year (which I did finally finish, by the way). Reading an epic melodrama about all the magnificent ways both a government and parasitic society can implode both their economy and progress of humanity in a time such as this makes me appreciate Ayn Rand all the more. We thought she was just a philosopher, but a prophet, too? Interesting.

Where are all the leaders? The adults? The brilliant, talented, thinking men and women of our world? Not in government. Not in our corporations. Dare I say, not in our churches? (Okay, some of you working on this last one and I wish you the best with that effort.) But just as in Rand's yarn, I believe they are shacked up in Atlantis, no doubt, waiting for a day when it's safe to come out and rebuild in a world that appreciates and honors the value of true freedom man was designed to enjoy. An equal value-for-value system of ethics and trade and respect and honor.

If anyone happens to know the address, email me on the sly; I have packed my suitcase.
;)

p.s. I promise to put the politics aside for some upcoming blogs. I do have other stuff to blog about. I just haven't gotten around to it.

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What would an election year be without YouTube?

Some Fun You Tube Clips (for the Democrats)

Who is Sarah Palin?

Letterman Roasts McCain After Cancellation

Obama Confronts McCain on Iraq

Keith Oberman on McCain's Credibility

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"America does not have a debt problem. We have a political problem."- Catherine Austin Fitts

An economic rescue plan sounds great doesn't it? A quick fix to get us all green and liquid again.

Let's take a quick inventory.

Unelected government officials, in a matter of a few days, propose to spend about a 5.3 trillion dollars we don't have to save financial institutions on Wall Street (local and, indirectly, foreign government investors) that took risks over-lending to Americans who couldn't really afford the debt to begin with. They wanted this provision passed in short order in its entirety, no time for questions asked. The sell? If we don't do this immediately the economy will fail (fear-propaganda*). This from the same people who, months earlier, refused to admit there was anything beyond a minor, short-term recession going on.

*Yes, I think the economy is a disaster, but I don't think there is a real solution in this plan.

You are witnessing a massive cover-up attempt on organized crime that our government has been orchestrating for years with unprecedented boldness. History in the making, no doubt.

I am thrilled that members of Congress representing both political parties are actually standing up for what is wrong about this, although I don't know that they will have a significant impact.

Here is an insider data (note: lots of data- an overload to try and digest in one read) that I have been following for about a year now: former Assistant Secretary of Housing - Federal Housing Commissioner (1989-1990) Catherine Austin Fitts:
http://solari.com/archive/housing_bill/#PartI

For the past few years, Catherine has been warning people about government fraud and connections to large private financial companies. She has been advising Americans to take their money out of gi-normous banking institutions and put it into smaller, local banks and to also buy from our neighborhood producers- keeping our money within our own community. Easier said than done, I know - especially as we watch all the smaller banks get gobbled up by the bigger ones and buying local can be more expensive and (ironically) less-convenient. But I do agree that if a large number of Americans made the effort to do this, we'd be better off and I love that there is someone who has insider connections encouraging a positive solution to get us back on track. She writes...

"And maybe the smartest and most creative among us will be willing to invest the time and energy it takes to reinvent a model that incorporates what we like to think are traditional American values. These are the values that are enduring and make us proud to be Americans still. There is no hint of these values in the housing bill. There is, however, an abundance of them in the hearts and minds of the people. "

I agree and have been in the process of making the gradual (smaller/local) shift over the past year.

I often remind people who complain about the power of big corporations and the negative effects they have on local communities that they can always put their money where their mouth is. (And, often the topic is quickly dropped altogether.) While I think our country's status as a "democratic republic" is largely an illusion, I do believe that we have an opportunity to vote with our money 365 days a year. In fact, as notorious consumers, this is what Americans do best. We just need to be smarter about the the impact of where we invest our resources, myself included.

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Palin Pox, Spreading and Let's Kill the Abortion Issue Already

I get plenty of political emails to my inbox, but since the Republican convention, I have received more emails about Sarah Palin (mostly anti-Palin) than I have ANY OTHER POLITICAL CANDIDATE outside of G.W. Bush and she's only running as a Vice Presidential candidate. Love or hate this woman, she is the talk of the nation. It's almost as if McCain is off taking a vacation somewhere and Biden dropped off the face of the earth while Obama is making rounds explaining a comment about lipstick on swine. Palin, to me, is like the next Paris Hilton. If people didn't spend so much time talking about why she isn't worth talking about, she wouldn't be the next biggest celebrity and her brand of eye glasses wouldn't be selling like hotcakes. We've known her only a few weeks and already two biographies on her life are set to be published in early October. They will probably become best-sellers. And all the while Tina Fey couldn't have it any easier for SNL sketches.

The thing is, I'm tired of hearing about why Palin or Obama are bad candidates. It reminds me of Bush telling America that we need to support the Iraq war because otherwise we will all die at the hands of terrorists. The use of any type of fear-based propaganda is usually a sign of great weakness in the pro-argument. Instead of telling me why I shouldn't vote for someone, why not give me specific reasons to vote for your candidate of choice? Specific reasons they will change this country for the better. Got any? Something other than abortion rights, PLEASE. Pro-choicers will never convince any right-wing Republican that abortion isn't murder. This issue will always be apples versus oranges. Accuse pro-lifers of being anti-feminist and they will ask where is the feminism in killing the woman in the womb? But you still should force a woman to keep a baby she doesn't want? Ah, but newborn babies are still a hot commodity for parents seeking to adopt and most will pay for medical expenses. You see? These arguments will never change. My stance? I think a woman should have a right to choose to have an abortion if she wants one, but I also think other women should have a right not to have their tax dollars be used for it. So, I'm pro right-to-choice all the way around on that one. Just think, then anyone who is worried about women who can't afford abortions after rape and incest situations can personally open their wallets and send money to sponsor their procedures, the pro-lifers can gather to collectively pray to ask God for forgiveness of their "sins", and maybe by the next election, the general public can focus on some other political issue to base an election on.

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Democrats, Republicans, and Potheads

Most of my friends are Democrats, and I grew up in a Republican household (though my parents have since renounced any party affiliation) so I feel I have a fairly good balance of perspective on the political nuances of both political parties. I'm an independent who leans toward libertarianism. I voted for Ron Paul in the Republican primary, because if he actually made the ballot I would have real hope that there are enough revolutionaries in this country, people who want radical change for freedom of individuals, to someday fix this mess of a country. I think he was actually the most qualified of all candidates to address our country's dire economic crisis, but oh well...

I watched some of both the Democratic and Republican conventions recently and they were both very interesting. Here is my concensus: I think the Democrats could easily rename their party the I-Hate-Bush-And-The-Rich-People-That-Support-Him party and the Republicans could rename theirs Because-Obama-Is-Inexperienced-And-We-No-Longer-Associate-Ourselves-With-Bush party.

The decision of McCain choosing Palin as a running mate is an obvious attempt to win over disgruntled Hillary supporters that were slamming Obama hard in the primary. McCain is desparate for on-the-fencers because many Republicans think McCain is too liberal for their party. If you happened to catch the GOP convention, you would notice that almost every speech was about about how inexperienced Obama is and how people should vote for the right person instead of merely voting for their respective party. Hello? That's your case for McCain: that he's not Obama? Weak. Terribly weak. I respect that he was a POW, but all the more reason, in my opinion, not to have him on any committee dealing in foreign policies/relations. How can a person not be biased after an experience like that? In any case, it was incredibly obvious that they are damn scared of Obama having enough support to win. If McCain really had good solutions to the country's problems I would assume they would have been disclosed in convention speeches. The GOP mantra: Vote for McCain 'cause...cause he's all we've got! And now Palin is getting all the press. People are almost more taken with her than McCain and all she did to win them over was give a speech. She is well-poised as a speaker and comes across very strongly; I'll give her that. And Guiliani was ruthless. Just ruthless. He's no idiot; he knows how to spin it. But he made me nauseous at the link of Iraq War to the 9-11 attacks. The fucking propaganda continues. A little hot button of mine.

I like Obama. I have always been impressed by him. The sad thing is that he could get crushed in this election because he doesn't play as dirty as the Republicans (Hillary would have- she's about as dirty as they come- why I'm glad she didn't make the nomination). But, the only thing he can ride on is his reputation for being a calm, honest, intelligent senator and that he disagrees with bush politics. One good slam to his credibility and it's all shot to hell. I bet McCain supporters are working overtime on that. I know almost nothing about Biden, so I can't really comment on him. Their mantra is basically: Change. If you want it, we're your only hope. There's no real weighing of whether or not their ideas of change will actually work, but apparently this message has been working for them. They should send Bush a Thank You card if they make it to the White House.

Grace, my landlady, is a staunch Hillary supporter (she has a mad crush on Bill, too) and she is always badmouthing Obama for lack of experience (sour grapes on him winning the Democratic ticket) and now she's badmouthing Biden because"he's ugly." So,...there ya go. Clearly her political issues differ from mine.

I heard someone talking about an experience on the el where an Obama supporter was trying to convince a homeless man to register to vote so he could vote for Obama. The man refused, saying there wasn't any reason to vote in this country so he would never register. Then the Obama supporter told him that Obama was planning to decriminalize marijuana if elected. With a sudden change of heart, the homeless man jumped up, asked where he could register to vote and if he could perhaps get some buttons to wear to support Obama's campaign. Ah, America. Gotta love it. Forget Iraq and Iran and the declining value of the U.S. dollar, rising unemployment, unaffordable healthcare and the loss of our constitutional right to privacy. The real problem at hand is keeping our potheads out of jail. ;)

Actually, one of my favorite Obama quotes regarding the use of marijuana in his past:
"I inhaled frequently; that was the point."
I love it.

So, ultimately this presidential election is a popularity contest that will come down to who has the best marketing and in the end, whoever gets the nomination will have an awful lot of crap to clean up - more than 4 years worth. It's gonna be a long haul to get this country back on a good, prosperous track. Whoever it is, Democrat or Republican, I know this much: I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.

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