weekend update

Progressive Political Action Committee MoveOn.org has taken a firm stance on the Specter defection, and with good reason. The projected budget deficit for FY 2009 in the Keystone State was 3.2 billion dollars, which would trample the value of many seniors with social security and health benefits.

Mentioned in the link above, Specter has before flipped the coin to see who he’d be taking marching orders from. This time though, his hand may be slapped out of the way before he can catch the coin to look for heads or tails.

The day after positioning himself more to the left, Specter voted against President Obama’s budget and thus drawing a defining ideological line in the sand in Washington. The budget was the biggest piece of legislation to date for the Obama Admin. Specter’s party flip-flopping exposes a huge hole that exists in our bureaucracy: that of closed door, handshake meetings. But thank goodness, we live in a Democracy.

This entire situation, I believe, is turning into a classic “bait and switch” campaign. Obama said that he would campaign for the guy if he wanted to run for re-election as a Dem, but it’s likely that this promise was made when the Democratic primary was basically, a done deal. And I’d bet that the campaigning promised was designed to hit home near election time, after the primary.

With the pull out of MoveOn.org’s financial and grassroots clout, questions are looming in the Senior Senator’s head. MoveOn went to bat for Dems across the board in 2008, and the $38,123,090 that they spent running ads, strategizing and online organizing, no doubt, helped to swing many races. Now they have established themselves as progressive heavyweights, a voice to be reckoned with.

So what does all of this mean? Best case scenario, the Dems put up a few other candidates, including progressive Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak, which will dilute Specter’s chances of winning the primary. Then, once Sestak wins out in round one, he will have a bruised Pennsylvania Republican Party opponent to beat up on in the general election. WHAMO! Now that is some “strategery.”

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

politics

Early this week Senator Arlen Specter resigned from the Republican Party. This senior Senator from Pennsylvania played politics during this decision, as he did not want his thirty year career to end by losing the Republican primary in Pennsylvania.

Perfect example of a career politician. Now, you all have seen me mostly judge from the left on political issues. And this is an issue that I find to be non-partisan, meaning no political party is willing to take it on.

The reason that term limits have not been imposed on politicians is because, well, quite frankly they would have to be the ones to set the limits to this tenure. If your boss came up to you and said "We're having a vote later today on whether or not you should be able to work here for longer than 5 years," this would be a no-brainer.

Until there is a large scale movement to fund candidates through non-profits who are willing to argue the issue of term limits, there will never be an end to this. And this is a difficult proposition, because most non-profits tend to support one side or the other. This issue creates a catch 22 within our bureaucracy that is difficult to deal with.

In 1994 Conservative Think Tank the Heritage Foundation supported Newt Gingrich in a measure to try to impose term limits. I found an article from the Washington Post about this particular piece of legislation which failed to get the necessary 2/3 majority vote that year.

Read the Heritage Foundation's write-up on "Government Reform" here.

the link

This week's link is dedicated to those who want to become engaged members of their society.

There has been a lot of talks since the economic downturn of last year. Many people commentate from the sidelines and not always do they know what they are talking about. These type of people are the greatest threats out there to our democratic society: ignorant voters.

Don't get me wrong, there are various campaigns of misinformation from both sides of the isle. That is why in order to objectively get to the bottom of it, one has to inform himself of current issues before going to cast a ballot.

Politico is a source from somewhere near the middle, that offers political information in as close to a bi-partisan manner as possible.

www.politico.com

politics

I am a firm believer that everything in life happens for a reason.

Some people go to church to celebrate their faith. I, on the other hand, believe that every person can choose their own destiny and does not necessarily need to rely on a “supreme being” for guidance. This is my right as a United States citizen.

In my opinion there are some aspects of religion such as anti-abortion tactics from right-wing fundamentalists which have created overpopulation that will burden our country and tax structure for years to come. Non-widespread belief in the use of birth control is a perfect example.

We barely have the ability to educate and care for the people that we have currently in the US. Personally, Plan B has prevented my life from possibly dramatically changing twice. What I find to be funny is that the same pundits who support right-to-life and are for privatized healthcare are the ones who love to accuse minorities of milking the tax system, very contradictorily.

Another thing that is quite funny is that these same critics of “socialized medicine” love to criticize those who go to the hospital and get care, for free, on the back of the American taxpayer. That’s pretty socialized already, isn’t it? We are just paying retroactively rather than proactively.

This is true especially in the rural south, where because of long lasting segregation and poor schooling, the black community was set back and hit hard for generations. This trend makes for an easy scapegoat, though.

Intelligence developed from a second class education and poor mental health, generation after generation, has stunted evolution of the black community in the Deep South. Depression and attention deficit affect people of all colors, and believe me, are serious risks to the advancement of education. And treatment doesn’t come at an affordable cost to even those who are affluent.

My private healthcare plan spiked from $80 initially to over $130/month (and rising) for just the premium. This was over the period of eight months. I asked why it was going up in cost and never got a clear answer, nor could they promise it would stop. I wasn’t happy with this answer and cancelled.

What I am saying about this very controversial issue is that improving secondary education and healthcare for all will be an immeasurable service that we can do to the future generations of this country as a whole. The cost of employing this strategy, in the long run, will save taxpayers trillions of dollars in medical expenses by helping folks make better decisions and live healthier, more productive lives.

the link

This link could be anything from something in the news to a new product or service that is going to be available. A funny website or any random link.

Common Cause (non-profit)
A call for accountability. Finally a group who is willing to stick to their guns and put pressure on elected officials to use transparency within their political campaigns, especially in regard to campaign finance reform.
www.commoncause.org