Opinion Piece from Maureen Dowd

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/opinion/19dowd.html?em

Obama Campaign Raises $150M in September!

Obama campaign raised $150M in the month of September, 2008!!
This record breaks the previous record, set in August, 2008 of $66M! A majority of the donations were small dollar donors, which is how most people think campaigns should be financed. Small donor contributions (people giving less than $200) often do not expect anything in return from the candidate, helping to break the cycle of corporations giving large donations and then expecting favorable legislation in return.

Colon Powell to vote Obama!

Retired Army General and former Secretary of State Colon Powell told Tom Brokaw this morning that he will vote for Barak Obama. Reasons include:

1. McCain campaign too polarizing
2. Choice of Palin questions McCain's judgment
3. McCain campaign's attempts to tie Obama to Vietnam protester Bill Ayers is inappropriate

CBS's Sunday Morning Segment on Race

This morning on CBS's Sunday Morning news show, Bill Whitaker did a segment on Obama and race. The segment did a minor historical comparison about the 1982 Governor of California Bradley that lost the election despite a strong lead in the polls, the so called "Bradley effect" suggesting that voters are secretly biased against minorities. (link at the bottom)

Personally, I felt this segment missed the point. The point that Bush appointed blacks to high level positions doesn't mean that he cares about the black community. I hope this picture of people post Hurricane Katrina outside of the Convention Center in New Orleans suffering is an accurate illustration about how Bush concerns himself with the urban poor. After all, while these people were suffering, Bush was celebrating John McCain's birthday with him, ironically enough, instead of doing his job.

Obama is the child of a white woman and black man. For his parents to be together and having children was a breakthrough in the late 1950s and early 1960s. To me, what Obama represents about race is America at its best, working through difficulties and learning to love each other. In relation to the election, Obama was able to take on and defeat Hillary Clinton in the primary despite all of the Clinton's connections and powerful political experience. Obama did this by going to the heart of the matter- Americans are hurting in the current political and economic conditions and want something different- change. In defeating Clinton, Obama stood for what is possible when America is at its best, a politician striking a chord with the electorate over issues that matter most. Obama is just as American as anyone else who is not a Native American Indian. Both of his parents came here at some point from somewhere else. What Obama has accomplished in his life, Harvard, Illinois Senator, U.S. Senator, is what is important about his background, not what color his skin is. What matters is what his service to the country can do for us, not the race of his parents. In my opinion, focusing on Obama's race is a step backwards, not forwards.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/sunday/main3445.shtml

Republicans Are Disgusting

From the party that claims the Democrats "tax and spend" have done what I call "borrow and spend" since Reagan. On Face the Nation this morning, host Bob Schieffer was talking to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina about the election. Now, of course, Graham starts talking about how now is the time to cut investor's taxes, dividend, capital gains, etc, and how Obama wants to raise those taxes and how horrible that would be. To him I say, "STOP DEFICIT SPENDING!" If you want to spend, you have to tax. The future of our children shouldn't be compromised because the Republicans WILL NOT RAISE TAXES, EVER.
The Republicans want to wage wars on credit. The Republicans want to borrow and hope that the American people don't care. McCain wants individuals to be taxed on the health care premiums paid for by their employers. WTF? These people cannot be trusted. They have not collectively admitted that their policies over the past 8 years have miserably failed. What pisses me off the most about Graham's comments is that WALL STREET JUST GOT $700B in BAILOUT MONEY FROM THE TAXPAYER yet of course, investor related taxes can't rise AT ALL, even to help pay for the $700B bailout. Of course, the rich should have their liabilities paid for by everyone else. That is how the right presents their policies.

McCain has admitted that he doesn't understand the economy. Prior to the shit hitting the fan he was saying that the American economy was "fundamentally sound" and then banks and brokerages failed. He doesn't know what to do to fix our country. Yet my issue isn't with just McCain. My issue is with the right and their ridiculous positions on this crap. Instead of admitting that his party, the Republicans, wrecked our country with their borrowing and spending on a war that was based on lies, violated Americans' 4th Amendment rights with the NSA spying, deregulated our economy so industry was free to loot enterprises and pay themselves handsomely for their trouble while the middle class worked harder for the same money that bought less goods, all Lindsey Graham does is fear monger. That is his only card left to play, that what Obama MIGHT do regarding taxes MIGHT be bad for someone somewhere. Guess what, he is right. Obama might do something bad for someone somewhere. Yet, what Bush and the legislature has done has been bad for A LOT of someones and until Graham admits that, I don't want to hear his bullshit on taxes. Borrow and spend is NOT better than tax and spend. If you want to defend the "homeland" with your military adventures, tax. Don't mortgage the futures of unborn Americans with huge borrowing to finance bullshit activities without accountability.
I have one thing to say to you, Lindsey Graham: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR FAILED POLICIES BEFORE YOU SPECULATE ABOUT OBAMA'S POLICIES AND HOW THEY MIGHT BE BAD.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/opinion/schieffer/main500158.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/ftn/main3460.shtml
(The links for this week from Face The Nation aren't up yet, these are the links from last week.)
McCain is swimming an uphill battle and is getting desperate. Thankfully, American know they have worked harder for less purchasing power, and don't care what the Republicans say at this point. They know they care mainly about the rich. Obama wants to help all, as fairly as he can, not just helping the rich get richer.

One can dream

A US Army brigade has been assigned to the "Homeland"

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

Read first article, then read this one:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/24/army/

Selections:

..."beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the [1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division] will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North" -- "the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities"

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack. . . .

"For more than 100 years -- since the end of the Civil War -- deployment of the U.S. military inside the U.S. has been prohibited under The Posse Comitatus Act (the only exceptions being that the National Guard and Coast Guard are exempted, and use of the military on an emergency ad hoc basis is permitted, such as what happened after Hurricane Katrina). Though there have been some erosions of this prohibition over the last several decades (most perniciously to allow the use of the military to work with law enforcement agencies in the "War on Drugs"), the bright line ban on using the U.S. military as a standing law enforcement force inside the U.S. has been more or less honored -- until now. And as the Army Times notes, once this particular brigade completes its one-year assignment, "expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one."

The Defense Authorization Act of 2006, passed on Sept. 30, empowers President George W. Bush to impose martial law in the event of a terrorist "incident," if he or other federal officials perceive a shortfall of "public order," or even in response to antiwar protests that get unruly as a result of government provocations. . . .

It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president's ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.

Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from "Insurrection Act" to "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act." The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only "to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy." The new law expands the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition" -- and such "condition" is not defined or limited. . . .
The story of how Section 1076 became law vivifies how expanding government power is almost always the correct answer in Washington. Some people have claimed the provision was slipped into the bill in the middle of the night. In reality, the administration clearly signaled its intent and almost no one in the media or Congress tried to stop it . . . .
Section 1076 was supported by both conservatives and liberals. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, co-wrote the provision along with committee chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.). Sen. Ted Kennedy openly endorsed it, and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), then-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, was an avid proponent. . . .
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned on Sept. 19 that "we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law," but his alarm got no response. Ten days later, he commented in the Congressional Record: "Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy." Leahy further condemned the process, declaring that it "was just slipped in the defense bill as a rider with little study. Other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals."

Military dictatorship, anyone?

Part of my issue with this is how similar the police have become to the military, which is why law enforcement is surely capable for "crowd control" or whatever. What law enforcement is not capable of is assisting with disasters like Katrina. That job should go to the national guard.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4203345.html

Bush has stepped on Democratic protections in place over 100 years in his quest to make America as far to the right as Nazi Germany. From the treatment of immigrants in ICE custody to this, I am honestly ashamed of what America has become. While 9/11 was a true tragedy by any metric, the answer is not to throw away our Democratic protections and become as extreme as those in the middle east wanting to kill us. I am very disappointed in Ted Kennedy for going along with this without asking questions. He must have misunderstood what Bush had in mind.