Reality-Based Engineering

Only 22% of all US Counties Were More Red

The maps tell it all...

Labels: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, dailykos.com, Democrats, GOP, NY Times

posted by jimboses @ 3:31 PM 0 comments

McCain and Taxes

Yeah, uh, I remember him hammering W on taxes during the 2000 debates in South Carolina (and so do others here, you can search for more here )...so, here's a JedReport montage of McCain's tax ideas...sounds like Obama's ideas to me, peeps...



And, here's the exact money quote that recall from that debate that made me proud, at the time, to vote for him in the Mass primaries:

I want a balanced approach. A working families tax cut—Governor Bush has 38 percent of his tax cut go to the wealthiest one percent of Americans—pay down the debt, Social Security and Medicare. If we're going to save Social Security, we've got to take a bunch of the non-Social Security surplus, pump it into the Social Security system, because we all know that it's going broke. If we do that, then people can then invest part of their own payroll taxes in investments of their choice. The difference between Governor Bush's proposal and mine is that I put a whole lot of money into Social Security, Medicare and paying down the debt. He puts a whole lot of money into tax cuts.... Because we'd lay this obligation on another generation of young Americans—$3.6 trillion. At town hall meeting after town hall meeting, I have average Americans stand up to me and say to me, Senator McCain, all these years of running deficits, we've accumulated this debt. We're paying more interest—as much interest, almost, on it as we are in spending on national defense. We ought to pay down that debt, and not saddle the next generation of young Americans with it.... Look, Alan Greenspan just recently said we shouldn't have these massive tax cuts like Governor Bush is proposing. We should pay down the debt. But working families need the tax cut.

The green highlighted text is what I recalled clearly from the debate, but note what I highlighted in red...the $3.6 trillion debt he alludes to in the 2000 debates is, sadly, a low projection but a heckuva lookahead by McCain at the time. And, per this bonddad post from this morning, here are the debt loads carried by the USG at the end of each fiscal year of the Bush administration:

09/30/2001 $5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2002 $6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2003 $6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2004 $7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2005 $7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2006 $8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2007 $9,007,653,372,262.48
09/30/2008 $10,024,724,896,912.49

We've added $4,217,261,484,712.43 to the debt...so, actually, McCain was closer (numerically, at least) than I thought!!

[update oct30] A good journal entry about historic tax rates.

Labels: 2000 Elections, 2008 Elections, dubya, John McCain, South Carolina, taxes

posted by jimboses @ 2:18 PM 0 comments

Reminder: GOP Voter Supression Is Underway

I gave a link to the mydd.com post that's covering it...but the efforts are out there...I'll add other links as I find them:

• Election Protection
• Wikipedia entry explaining voter suppression
• Voter Suppression wiki
• [update] TPM's GOP Voter Suppression Guide
  
• FL Gov Crist Extends Early Voting Hours, fixing a little of what's broke about Florida elections...[update] but Georgia does not follow suit [upd oct30] More on the Georgia mess
  
• AdamB's post which has some good links hanging off of it re: previous supression efforts
• All AMERICABlog voter suppression entries (by label)
• NOW on PBS talks about 2008 voter suppression
  
• A WV voting machine flipping votes - seems to me that the voting technology is strangely unreliable - I use touchscreens all the time at my work, and we don't see this problem EVER!! You dont see this at ATMs, either, and they spit out to you a friggin' paper trail that's accurate! [Update] more from Wired magazine...
  
• The scheme to supress votes in VA telling people to vote on Nov 5th for democrats
  

Labels: 2008 Elections, GOP, voter supression

posted by jimboses @ 11:47 AM 0 comments

wicked funny vids

Labels: 2008 Elections, John McCain, video, youtube

posted by jimboses @ 11:00 PM 0 comments

Tuesday Musings

• Yet another good Frank Rich column
• Palin gets an F in Debate class - twice
• Paulson admits in a not meant for public consumpton con call that most of the stuff in the bailout bill was figleaf material
• The RNC had already mailed ads to TV stations ready to hit dems who voted for the bailout bill...so, tell me who's playing politics with this? 1,000,000,000,000 dollars ($1 tn) evaporated yesterday, some of it my retirement, and the RNC is playing games?

Labels: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, economy, John McCain, macroeconomics, RNC, Wall Street

posted by jimboses @ 1:07 PM 0 comments

"He Just Sat There"

Great piece from Benen on what McCain *really* did in the White House photo-op meeting...

Labels: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, Cheney, dubya, economy, John McCain, macroeconomics

posted by jimboses @ 10:58 AM 0 comments

Friday Haul

McCain's own campaign says that Palin is clueless...
To wit: her Couric interview is totally panned
Who had a worse Thursday night - Bushie or McCain?
McCain likes to make bets...because McCain is tanking...
John Stewart compares the Iraq War speech and the Wall Street Is Melting Speech from W

Labels: 2008 Elections

posted by jimboses @ 12:14 PM 0 comments

Just a Thursday...

Clearing out some tabs I've had open in Firefox for a few days now:

• Chris Dodd's got his shite together re: the Wall Street mess
• youtube: Play the Wall Street bailout game
• How we all - Boomers, GenX-ers and GenY-ers got pwned by the Wall Street debacle
• related to above: definition of HELOC and now we know why they all dried up earlier this year
• Just read Angry Bear, Bonddad and The Big Picture, even if you do not understand all the econotalk
• Reactions to McCain "suspending" his campaign and wanting out of the debate tomorrow
• Are iPods this temperamental? I'm new to the whole iPod thing...
• And, great quote re: the bailout thing -

"We will be told that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury have finally gotten it right. The scope and size of the proposed program will arrest the decline in home prices, restore stability to the financial markets, enable banks to get back to the business of lending, and restore the confidence of the American consumer.

While the program certainly has each of these points as a goal, the amount of time to achieve each goal is unknowable, but an important factor. Moses was told he would lead the Jews to the Promised Land. He didn’t know it would take 40 years. And, in all due respect to Bernanke and Paulsen, Moses was working with God. They are working with Congress."

-Jim Welsh, Welsh Money Management

Labels: 2008 Elections, Angry Bear, Bonddad, dailykos.com, economy, John McCain, macroeconomics, Spending, The Big Picture

posted by jimboses @ 1:12 PM 0 comments

Oil spikes $25 JUST TODAY

Holy shitballs...

Labels: 2008 Elections, economy, energy, GOP, macroeconomics, RNC

posted by jimboses @ 2:57 PM 0 comments

GOP Caging...

Labels: 2000 Elections, 2004 Elections, 2006 Elections, 2008 Elections, GOP, John McCain, RNC

posted by jimboses @ 2:56 PM 0 comments

Saturday Morning Cartoons...

...wicked.

Labels: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, economy, John McCain, macroeconomics, Sarah Palin

posted by jimboses @ 9:09 PM 0 comments

NY Sun: SEC Caused The Current Crisis

Some money quotes, tho I do not understand the rules they're talking about here (bolding mine):

As we learn this morning via Julie Satow of the NY Sun, special exemptions from the SEC are in large part responsible for the huge build up in financial sector leverage over the past 4 years -- as well as the massive current unwind

Satow interviews the above quoted former SEC director, and he spits out the blunt truth: The current excess leverage now unwinding was the result of a purposeful SEC exemption given to five firms.

You read that right -- the events of the past year are not a mere accident, but are the results of a conscious and willful SEC decision to allow these firms to legally violate existing net capital rules that, in the past 30 years, had limited broker dealers debt-to-net capital ratio to 12-to-1.

Instead, the 2004 exemption -- given only to 5 firms -- allowed them to lever up 30 and even 40 to 1.

Who were the five that received this special exemption? You won't be surprised to learn that they were Goldman, Merrill, Lehman, Bear Stearns, and Morgan Stanley.

As Mr. Pickard points out that "The proof is in the pudding — three of the five broker-dealers have blown up."

Labels: 2008 Elections, economy, Homeland Security, macroeconomics, NY Sun, The Big Picture, Wall Street

posted by jimboses @ 9:37 AM 0 comments

Says it all about Real Conservatism...

There's your sign...

Labels: 2008 Elections, economy, macroeconomics

posted by jimboses @ 9:37 AM 0 comments

McCain Flip-Flops Record 5 Times in 24 Hours...

...last I checked...he could be up to even more flipflops on this whole financial meltdown/regulation/no regulation thingy...oh yeah, here's a few more...and more on it here...

Labels: 2008 Elections, Chris Matthews, Insurance, John McCain, macroeconomics, NBC, real estate, taxes, Think Progress

posted by jimboses @ 12:35 PM 0 comments

Sex-Ed For Kindergartners: I No Likey Romney Edition

Scroll to the bottom of the linked post, and you'll get to this:

“The specific bill that Barack Obama voted for calls for sex education beginning as low as the kindergarten,” claimed Romney. Romney then declared that he and McCain both believe that “the only sex education that’s appropriate in kindergarten is no sex education”

When it's clearly not. I no likey Romney, never have, never will.

Labels: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, dailykos.com, education, John McCain, Masachusetts, Mitt Romney, Think Progress

posted by jimboses @ 12:35 PM 0 comments

Two More McCain Lying Liar Links

AP thinks McCain is being two-faced...
Johnny Mac lied about warning of the looming financial crisis...

Labels: 2008 Elections, economy, John McCain

posted by jimboses @ 12:35 PM 0 comments

I Remember Why I Hate CNN, Part II

I forget how I got to the link (click the title above, or see the YouTube vid below) but all it did was 100% validate what I had said about CNN recently, regarding their "echoes of Crossfire" approach to CNN newsreading:

and it became apparent that all CNN had were two talking heads, a liberal and a conservative, and each ran through their talking points about how this issue would play in the electorate...it just seems that CNN has yet to grow up and NOT have echoes of Crossfire each time they have some political thing to talk about...where does this get them? Hmm, now reading the wikipage on crossfire, I can see why they've not been able to shake the format - they've done it since 1982!!!

Now, Candy Crowley totally validates this by stating "I'm not going to be the one to tell you whether it's equal or not," that it's not up to her to catch the lying, but to report & have voters decide:

Crowley's performance last night was astonishing. Asked whether McCain's lies have been worse than Obama's, Crowley says she isn't going to make that call, adds that it's up to voters to sort it out, and -- best of all -- launches into a discussion of Obama's supposed falsehoods in order to argue that both sides do it...

To his credit, Mark Halperin stepped in and made just this point, noting quite accurately that the lies of the McCain campaign are far more central to his campaign than anything Obama has done.

Halperin isn't some whiny liberal blogger. He's the ultimate D.C. media insider. If he can't persuade both-sides-do-it holdouts like Crowley to inform their viewers, then no one can.

"I'm not going to be the one to tell you whether it's equal or not," Crowley said of the lying on both sides. Really? If CNN reporters don't think this is their role, whose job is it, then?

Yup, I wuz right...oh, and two other validation points here and here about another CNN episode which shows that I'm correct...

Labels: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, Candy Crowley, CNN, John McCain, RBE, TPM

posted by jimboses @ 12:35 PM 0 comments

Monday Musings...

...things that I meant to TRY to post about over the weekend:

• The SNL Skit with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin...too funny...


• Anne Kilkenney's email about Sarah Palin (this is THE email that everybody was talking about)...
• Everybody's talking about the McCain's camp's outright lies, and using the word now...
• I've seen people say that McCain's "sound economy" quote is old...'cept it's not...
• Just some Obamamania stuff...

Labels: 2008 Elections, americablog.com, Barack Obama, dailykos.com, energy policy, engineering, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Sarah Palin, SNL

posted by jimboses @ 2:06 PM 0 comments

McCain to Press: You Dont Need To See His Identification; These Aren't The Droids You're Looking For

They keep trying to tell us that we don't need to hear from her, but she's possibly going to be the friggin VeeP...crapola in the extreme...

Labels: 2008 Elections, Sarah Palin

posted by jimboses @ 12:15 PM 0 comments

"Because Obama Would Abort The Fetus"

This was a paraphrased statement from one of the GoOPer yum-yums from this episode of On-Point. Wifey will have more to say about this comment in this post, which infuriated her, and if I was listening would infuriate me. I see that more than one commenter also had a problem with the statement that was beyond the pale. You can listen to the program from the page (click the title above).

Labels: 2008 Elections, Barack Obama, John McCain, NPR, On-Point, Sarah Palin

posted by jimboses @ 12:00 PM 0 comments