CrackerDog

Dance puppet, dance!

Believe it or not, I'm actually with you on this but think it needs more detail. If you look at my tax burden last year, and I'm going to speak in round numbers so I don't give away too many details about myself, here is about what I paid in taxes last year: As I recall from my tax return, I paid 19% in Fed income taxes Illinois income tax, 3% RE Tax - 4% Approx. Sales Taxes - 5% of my gross income (total guess here) SS Taxes and Medicare - Approx 8% although probably a little less because... Anyway, if you add it all up, I pay about 37% of my income in taxes. For this I don't get medical coverage (my employer pays for that outside of my portion) but I do have a good school district for my son. My millionaire bosses pay substantially less than 37% (I work in real estate and much of that income is sheltered). So, for a flat tax to work I'd say we all ought to pay somewhere in the middle between what they currently pay and where I am. For this I expect EVERYONE to have a good school to send their kids to and everyone to get reasonable, comprehensive health care coverage. Fair's fair. So, flatten it baby! I get a cut and everyone gets better schools and health insurance. DEAL!

I wish there were a few facts in your "facts".

Don't believe me, look at the polls of undecided voters! Tonight CBS, CNN and others basically gave this one to Obama by a 2 to 1 margin. About a third in each case said tie with about 50 something to 60 percent saying Obama. McCain gets about 30 percent. The knockout blow for Obama was when HE brought up the Ayers issue and used it to show how feeble it is as a make believe talking point for Repugs. He forced McCain to say he didn't care about some "has-been terrorist". OK, I guess Johnny can pull something like 100% of his ads running at this point since he just admitted it was a bunch of bullshit. Game over. Unless McCain and Bush find a way to orchestrate something that causes a panic, this is going to Obama on election day. PS. On the post-debate polls, this one puts it over the top for me. Wow! From Fox New's "Focus Group" Frank Luntz: Early in the debate these people thought McCain was doing better, by the end of the debate Obama seemed to finish better. Brit. Brit Hume: Question -- you said that none of the people came in there for Obama, may I take it that that's because they were undecided or because they were for McCain? Luntz: No, they were undecided, we got 23 undecided voters. Brit, I chewed them out to make sure they were undecided. Did anyone switch your position tonight? We have one person... four people. Who did you go to? Undecided voter #1: I lean more toward Obama. Undecided voter #2: Obama. Undecided voter #3: Obama. Undecided voter #4: Obama. Luntz: This is a good night for Barack Obama. LOL! Faux NEWS!!!!

No, you're pulling this stuff outta your ass. I could tell you I'm a CPA, don't work in accounting anymore because I do something more interesting and make a lot more doing so... And you'd call me a liar. See? I know your game. PS. The old man got PWNED tonight. Barack kicked his ass! LOL! Game changer alright...

All week I've been providing facts and evidence backing up my opinion that we need new leadership in this country. Here's another. I'm sure I'll get called jobless or something in relation to this as well. Again, toothless Repug's opinions aside, the facts are the facts... Infant Mortality - US Ranks 29th Source: WebMD Gang, we have to do better than this! We've been sold a bill of goods that our health care system is the "Best in the World!" by Republicans and the corporations that pull their puppet strings. How can we abide this? How on earth can we accept this as a society? Maybe, just maybe, we ought to take the profit motive out of health care? Look at the list and tell me why all the countries with "socialized medicine" are so far ahead of us! TIED WITH POLAND! Are you FRIGGEN KIDDIN' ME!?!?!?! THE LIST FROM WebMD: 1. Singapore 2.0 2. Hong Kong 2.5 3. Japan 2.8 4. Sweden 3.1 5. Norway 3.2 6. Finland 3.3 7. Spain 3.5 8. Czech Republic 3.7 9. France 3.9 10. Portugal 4.0 11. Germany 4.1 11. Greece 4.1 11. Italy 4.1 11. Netherlands 4.1 15. Switzerland 4.2 16. Belgium 4.3 17. Denmark 4.4 18. Austria 4.5 18. Israel 4.5 20. Australia 4.7 21. Ireland 4.9 21. Scotland 4.9 23. England and Wales 5.0 24. Canada 5.3 25. Northern Ireland 5.5 26. New Zealand 5.7 27. Cuba 5.8 28. Hungary 6.6 29. Poland 6.9 29. Slovakia 6.9 29. United States 6.9 32. Puerto Rico 8.1 33. Chile 8.4 34. Costa Rica 9.0 35. Russian Federation 11.5 36. Bulgaria 11.7 37. Romania 16.8

Damn man, I hope this doesn't get any worse. Another 700 points down today? When the hell does it end? The market isn't getting any warm fuzzy feeling from this dingbat President. If he can't f*cking LEAD he should step down now and let someone else do it. Of course, we have to insist that Cheney leave with him or we'll be in 7 wars before January. A recap of what 8 years of Republican Leadership gives us: * Multiple wars with no end in sight * An economic depression (or deep deep recession at best) * Your phone and email is all under surveillance * 2 new Pro-Life Supremes * A $10 trillion deficit * No credibility left on foreign policy... NONE! * A stronger Iran * A much stronger Russia * Gasoline prices through the roof * Unemployment rate climbing and climbing fast * 40 million citizens with no health insurance and no plan to assist them * Crime rate climbing (after decreasing every year under Clinton) And I'm sure I'm missing a few gems! By all F*CKING MEANS... LET'S GET US SOME MORE OF THIS!!! Double down with Johnny McCain!!!

http://palinaspresident.com/ George W. Bush in lipstick. Scary stuff. I didn't think anyone could be dumber than dub-yah.

You can find the calculator here: http://taxcut.barackobama.com/ For 95% of Americans, their taxes will go down under Obama; if you make over $250,000, you'll pay more. Don't believe Obama? Well, as Parade Magazine points out, if you're really, really, really, rich, John McCain will save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes. If you're really really rich, vote McCain! If not, you'll lose money going with Johnny Square-Jaw.

Why Arizonans dislike McCain In a Paradise Valley shopping mall, Martin Dunleavy takes a break from the scorching Arizona sun. He is wearing a cap emblazoned with an eagle and an American flag, and describes himself as somewhat conservative. He adores Sarah Palin, whom he describes as "every man's woman." How about John McCain, Arizona's senior senator and the state's first plausible presidential candidate since Barry Goldwater in 1964? Dunleavy shakes his head: "You just can't trust McCain." Nobody besides a few excitable Democrats believes John McCain will lose Arizona. Presidential candidates nearly always carry their home states. But McCain is less popular at home than one might expect. On Feb. 5 he won less than half of the vote in Arizona's Republican primary. A state poll conducted two weeks ago put him seven points ahead of Barack Obama. It is hardly an overwhelming lead in a state that has voted for a Democratic president only once since 1948. A big reason is that McCain is a moderate among hotheads. "Arizona has always had a vocal hard-right element," says John Shadegg, a congressman who supports the senator. In 1986 it elected a governor aligned with the ultra-conservative John Birch Society. The state Republican Party is dominated by hard cases who object to McCain's temperate record on immigration and taxes. In a January straw poll of activists in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and Paradise Valley, McCain was voted the "most unacceptable" of five candidates for president. Still, Arizona's ultra-conservatives know they have nowhere else to go. Party leaders in Maricopa County have even provided a gritted-teeth endorsement of McCain on their Web site: "Many of us have strong differences with some of John McCain's past positions and policies. Some of us even dislike him personally. But we love America more." McCain's second problem is that, thanks in large part to the hard-right element that so dislikes him, Hispanic voters are slipping away. In the past few years Arizona's legislature has passed a slew of laws designed to make life miserable for illegal immigrants. Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County's publicity-hungry sheriff, has conducted sweeps of Hispanic districts in search of them. This has offended Latino voters and turned them against the Republican Party. Elias Bermudez of Immigrants Without Borders campaigned for George Bush in 2000 and 2004, and is currently trying to win Hispanic votes for McCain. He describes his latest challenge as "100 times harder." Yet McCain's biggest problem seems to be that many Arizonans do not feel he speaks for them. He rarely talks about Arizona on the stump, and did not mention the state once in his acceptance speech. By contrast, Obama repeatedly evokes the streets of Chicago, while Palin often sings Alaska's praises. Several people buttonholed in and around Phoenix were unable to provide a single example of something McCain had done for Arizona. Admirers saw him as an American hero rather than a local hero. Although the presidency is a national office, this is a bad sign. Even at his best, McCain can occasionally seem to be guided by a kind of internal moral compass rather than by the views of people who put him in office. It may be that Arizona's voters have simply noticed this more quickly than the rest of America.

That NY Times poll from last night... Wow! 14 points. When was the last time a Presidental candidate won by a margin like that? I'm not saying that's the way it'll turn out but the trend does seem to be moving toward a landslide. Maybe the rest of America is as pissed off as I am? Perhaps.

Check it out here: http://www.republicansforobama.org/

I agree and I'll add: IT SHOULD BE! Republicans mocked Democrats and any efforts made to steer this country in even a moderately different direction. They had complete control and rubber-stamped anything and everything this President sent their way. As Obama said at the convention: "It's time for them to own their failures." I couldn't agree more.

Obama outscores McCain in veterans’ group’s report card By Roxana Tiron Posted: 10/07/08 Barack Obama outscored his Republican rival, Vietnam veteran John McCain, in a report card issued by an influential, nonpartisan veterans’ group. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA’s) Action Fund gave the Arizona senator a “D” as part of its congressional report card. Obama received a “B” from the group. McCain is among three senators who scored a “D.” Only one senator, Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), received an “F.” McCain — a former Navy officer and prisoner of war — and Obama, who has not served, have made military and veterans’ issues central to their campaign as they try to show voters who would be a stronger advocate for those who have fought in two wars in the last seven years. Much of IAVA’s scoring revolves around legislation to boost education benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, known as the “Post 9/11 GI Bill: Fair Education Benefits for Veterans.” The bill was the brainchild of Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and garnered wide sponsorship throughout the upper chamber. Because of campaigning, McCain missed six votes on the issues the group rated, out of which four were the votes regarding the GI Bill. The maximum of points for an “A+” in the Senate is 11. McCain received a total of three. IAVA gave two points to those who co-sponsored the GI Bill — its main priority for 2008. McCain did not sponsor that bill, but sponsored a competing bill with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C). One major aspect of the McCain-sponsored bill was the ability for veterans to transfer educational credits to their spouses and children. Ultimately, the transferability option was included in Webb’s GI overhaul bill. As a result, McCain issued strong support for the bill, but was not present at the final vote. IAVA did not credit McCain for the bill he sponsored with Graham and Burr because the group opposed it and threw its full support behind Webb’s bill. “Sen. McCain has been endorsed by 21 past National Commanders of the American Legion, the largest veterans’ organization in America, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the largest organization of combat veterans in America,” said Lang Sias, national veterans director on McCain’s campaign. “Sen. McCain is proud of having fought hard to ensure that an extremely high priority for career service members — the freedom to transfer their education benefits to their spouse or their children — was included in the final version of the GI Bill. John McCain made the GI Bill better for military families and veterans.” Despite being a co-sponsor of the GI Bill, Obama did not score a particularly high mark, but well above McCain. IAVA gave Obama a “B,” or a total of seven points. Obama, who like McCain has been on the campaign trail, missed four votes on issues the group rated. One of those votes was a procedural vote regarding the veterans’ education bill. Obama was present for the other three votes regarding the bill, including final passage. Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), also scored a “B.” He missed three votes that coincided with campaigning during the primaries, when Biden himself was a presidential candidate. “Sen. Obama has a long record of supporting our veterans and honoring the sacred trust with our veterans and military families. The fact that IAVA has recognized his unending support is a great tribute,” said Obama national security spokeswoman Wendy Morigi. “If he is fortunate enough to be elected in November, veterans can rest assured knowing that he will fight for them every day as president.” “We think attendance is important,” said Paul Rieckhoff, IAVA executive director of the scoring. “Lawmakers have to put the money where their mouth is. You can’t support the troops if you do not vote on the key issues.” IAVA is officially releasing its congressional report card Tuesday, the same day Obama and McCain are going into another presidential debate. Rieckhoff said the release was planned that way to make veterans’ issues part of Tuesday’s debate, because none of the candidates approached that topic in detail. “We hope that it lets them know that people are watching and that veterans are watching,” he said in an interview. “Whoever the president is, they have a huge challenge ahead with veterans’ issues. These guys have a chance to turn the page.” In the Senate scoring, IAVA focused on nine legislative actions: boosting of funding for veterans’ healthcare in 2007 and 2008; more money for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, known as MRAPs, for troops fighting in Iraq; expanded veterans’ benefits in 2007; 2008 legislation dealing with adaptive housing for disabled veterans, disability claims processing and education benefits for apprenticeships and on-the-job training; stopping the McCain-sponsored competing GI bill; and three votes on the Webb-sponsored GI Bill. Among the Senate’s co-sponsors of the education benefits overhaul are several who received an “A+” for their support of veterans. Those members not only co-sponsored the landmark education bill, but also voted in favor of all the other legislation on IAVA’s agenda. Among those who received an “A+” are: Webb, Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is facing a tough reelection campaign, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate majority leader, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), a former candidate for president, scored an “A.” So did retiring Sens. John Warner (R-Va.), who was pivotal in negotiations on the GI Bill, and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), an original co-sponsor of the bill, as well as Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.). In the House, 249 lawmakers received an “A” or “A+” for voting on 13 bills relating to veterans issues. Many of the freshman and vulnerable Democrats have received an “A+.” Democrats, and particularly the freshmen, have made it a key point to prove that their party is strong on national security. Among those vulnerables receiving an A+ are Reps. Chris Carney (D-Pa.), Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) and Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.). Another Democratic vulnerable, Rep. Nick Lampson (Texas), received a “B.” Several vulnerable Republican members earned top grades, but many of them have also scored “B’s.” Among them, Reps. Robin Hayes (N.C.), Christopher Shays (Conn.), Randy Kuhl (N.Y.) and Ric Keller (Fla.) stand out with an “A.” Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) received a “B,” as did Reps. James Walsh (R-N.Y.) and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio). Reps. John Campbell (R-Calif.), Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), John Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) and Chris Cannon (R-Utah) scored a “D.” Rep Ron Paul (R-Texas) scored the only “F.” IAVA has about 105,000 members and makes no political contributions or endorsements.

True. Or at least watched carefully. But some have proven they can't be trusted a lot more than others. Hence why the Repugs look to take massive losses on November 4th. That makes me smile. The American People are wiser than they were 4 years ago.

You want to understand this economy, this is the best article I've seen. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature.../stiglitz200811 The Fox News style tripe these guys have posted isn't worth the effort to debunk. The voters will provide them with a response on November 4th. Then we get to see who the American People hold accountable for this mess.

"Bottom feeder"? Wow! A new one for you... Congrats. Regardless of what you think of me, and I couldn't give a shit less, the FACT remains that one of McCain's top advisors was lobbying for Saddam Hussein. You know, the dictator we had to go to war against to remove from power? That guy! The one you dopes all like to claim was somehow tied to Al Quida. That guy! But McCain's top advisor thinks Saddam was getting a bad deal with the US and was working for him! And two of this guy's point people in this effort WENT TO JAIL! Personal attacks aside, your side has some explaining to do.

Never gets old dude. Never. Keep up the great work!

Nobody can deny he was subjected to unspeakable cruelty once captured. And he survived and impressed us all with his determination. But is that a good enough reason to put this man in the Whitehouse? Obviously I've answered that question for myself already: No! And when one looks at McCain's record in the Navy before he was shot down, it causes you to ask more serious questions about him. The entire article is here. Some select quotes below:

The entire article is great but I thought I'd share just this one part. I recommend checking it out completely by clicking this link. Keillor is a brilliant man who speaks from the heart but with such clarity...

In summary... Obama McCain Research 2000: 52 41 Obama +11 Reuters/Zogby: 48 44 Obama +4 Battleground: 53 40 Obama +13 Rasmussen: 50 45 Obama +5 Diageo/Hotline: 48 42 Obama +6 Gallup: 51 42 Obama +9 IBD/TIPP: 45 42 Obama +3 CBS/NY Times: 53 39 Obama +14 LAT/Bloomberg: 50 41 Obama +9 Ipsos/McClatchy: 51 42 Obama +9 Average: Obama +8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbjg9Hh17lI Operation landslide, now in progress.

From MSNBC: From CNN: Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAm-Nvk3FAw Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2AiQ5ShYSU If McCain can't even vet his own VP choice, what does this mean for the country? We've had enough loose cannon's in the Whitehouse. Sorry I don't have some source like RabidDogRepublican.com or something to quote. The mainstream media will have to do.

Congrats!

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/14/m...a_n_134595.html I can't wait to hear them explain this one! Here they're making such a big deal out of Obama's middle name when all this time, right there on the Straight Talk Express... A Saddam Hussein sympathizer! Here's the story: