A Rap Video Well Worth Watching

I think we all know someone like who this song is about. I sure do...

Crow

OK, I admit it. I was wrong about something. Sarah Palin and "First Dude" recently released their income tax returns. I predicted in the comments of this post here that Palin's tax return would show that she was significantly more charitable than the Dems in question. Now I was right that she was more charitable, but not by much. She has a cumulative $300K in income in 06 and 07 but only $8000 in charitable giving which is about 2.67%. Now, we only have two years of returns, which means that we may not have the whole story, but with what I have seen, I am a bit disappointed.
I just wanted to be a man of my word and eat my crow. It was a little yucky, but I'll live.

How Not To Help the Poor

HT: JT

Ten Things I Hate About You... Obama

Yes, the title is a little inflammatory, and and the post is long. My post about what I don't like about McCain probably won't be, but hey, I do have an opinion.

I had some time to write over the past few days with Emily being in the hospital and here is the long awaited for post on the things I dislike about Obama, or that would be bad about an Obama Presidency. Without further ado, Mr. Obama, here are ten things I don't like about you...

1. Your unmitigated, radical, and disastrous support of pro-abortion policies. I chose my words carefully here because Obama’s votes on this issue have been the most radical.
a. He voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. He has all kinds of arguments for why he voted against it, but look at what he said when he spoke against it in office. He has continually fudged on what he said, and changed his story only after he got caught. (See documentation here where Robert George pieces together a timeline of Obama's radical stance on this important issue)
b. He claims that the first thing he will do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act, lifting all restrictions on abortion, making it a federally funded right. Forcing people to go against their conscience and pay for abortions. A similar legislation lifting restrictions on abortions was passed in Maryland and the number of abortions rose significantly above average rates countrywide- see documentation here.
c. He is against parental notification for minors having an abortion.
d. When asked about the morality of abortion he said that it was "above his paygrade" but has tirelessly and without hesitation legislated his morality on the issue.

2. Your tax policies that are anti-success, class warfare inducing, lacking in transparency, investment depressing.
a. He wants to shift the tax burden even more to the richest in society, which is unfair because they already carry their weight and more.
b. It is anti-success because it punishes people for doing well. It is class warfare inducing because he said “I want to spread the wealth around.”
c. It lacks in transparency, because lifting the costs on the people who produce products and set prices forces them to raise prices on everyone who buys products and therefore effectively taxes all Americans through increased product prices.
i. Obama either knows that this is the case and is being deceptive with his 95% mantra of the number of Americans who will not see a tax increase, or he just doesn’t know, which means he is ignorant.
ii. I want this to be clear. Obama is trying to sell the idea that he is shifting the tax burden from the middle class to the richest in America. The problem is that these people that he will tax, produce and sell all of the products that Americans buy. When this happens those people have a few options, they can either eat the loss by paying the taxes, keeping their prices and costs the same, or they can cut expenses (normally through firing people), and increase prices of the products commensurate with their increase in taxes. If you were them what would you do? Be patriotic and keep your prices the same? Yeah right. Obama’s plan is very deceptive and you have just been informed about it.
iii. A good argument could be made that this plan is the worst for the poorest Americans because Wal-Mart will be one of the most affected businesses by the tax increases. Wal-Mart’s product prices will increase and this will hurt the poorest Americans worse than the middle class.

3. The plan to raise capital gains rates will discourage investments. If there is not an economic advantage to investing over and above making ordinary income people will be less likely to invest.

4. Your health care plan that is vague, unaffordable, and will cause moral hazard.
a. He has been unclear and evasive when asked direct questions about his health care plan. How will he pay for it? How much will fines be for not providing insurance? How will he work with insurance companies to reduce premiums? How will he open up the federal plan to all Americans?
b. How will he enact this plan without bankrupting America? However he works with private companies, and the federal plan will cost Americans dearly. Not to mention the 50% tax credit for employers to provide this benefit for their employees. Employer provided insurance is a bad thing in general anyway, and Obama wants to expand it, see my comments under my last McCain post.
c. How will he keep the sickest of all from fleeing to the governmental program. Insurance companies must be able to price people’s risks into their premiums and if they cannot you take away yet another incentive fore people to stay healthy, and punish people for taking care of themselves. I don’t know about you, but I take reasonably good care of myself and I don’t want to see my premiums go up because Aunt Flossie smokes, has diabetes, eats Krispy Kremes for breakfast and doesn’t exercise.

5. Your spending plans will create a further deficit, and you have no plan on how to pay for all of what you want to do. His plan will increase the deficit by an estimated $7 trillion dollars in 8 years by some estimates.

6. Your education ideas are further steps down the road toward causing education in America to completely breakdown.
a. He is unwilling to allow school choice.
b. He is unwilling to allow vouchers.
c. He is unwilling to hold teachers accountable by paying them more for performance and giving superintendents more power to hire and fire.
d. He will probably be unsupportive of home-schooling and private schools.

7. Your association with Jeremiah Wright.
a. He (Jeremiah) is a racist, who believes that God is on the side specifically of the “black community” to the exclusion of other races. See Black Liberation Theology if you don’t believe me.
b. He does not like America and doesn’t want us to survive.
c. I don’t know whether he agrees with everything that Jeremiah stands for, but at best it shows a severe lack of judgment to remain associated with such a man. This is the man who discipled him. The idea that this was a lack of judgment and that somehow he didn’t know what he really believed looks less likely than an intentional relationship with a mentor. Come on, give me a break. I am very intentional about who I pal around with as far as spiritual mentors, and I am proud of them as men who love God and love people. The idea that I would be unaware of some very central tenets of their theology that would be troublesome is highly unlikely.

8. Your association with Williams Ayers in an educational program.
a. He was a terrorist who bombed governmental agencies in America in protest of Vietnam.
b. Obama was on a board with Ayers, which by itself is not a big deal, but they worked together on an education effort to radicalize children with liberal ideology.

9. Your association with Freddie Mac. He took the second highest amount in donations from Freddie Mac executives which, along with Fannie Mae, were some of the most to blame for the recent housing crisis.

10. Your overall vision for the government getting involved in every aspect of our lives that you seem to have. This “do-gooder” mentality, while well intended, will be disastrous for our country in the long run.

Numero Tres

Well, this probably isn't the best way to make a happy announcement like this, but Emily is expecting our third child in May. She is also in the hospital for dehydration. She is doing fine, and will probably get to come home either tomorrow or Monday. Sorry we didn't get to tell some of you in the way that we wanted to, but we are a little indisposed at the moment.
Emily hasn't eaten any solid food since Tuesday, and she is still very weak.
Thanks to everyone for the calls and concern.
Jon

Ten Things I Like About McCain, or That Would Be Good About a McCain Presidency

1. He is "pro-life." He believes that unborn humans deserve the protection of the constitution.

2. He is a hero. No, he's not perfect, either in his record, or his morality, but he has sacrificed more for his country than anyone I know of.

3. He is more right on taxes than Obama. I say more right, because there are much better ways to tax than our current system. McCain, however, does understand that the capital gains tax rate needs to remain low enough to encourage investment and trading. He is also for untaxing corporations, which is a very good thing.

4. He is more right on spending than Obama. He said last Friday that he will balance the budget by the end of his 4 year term. His proposal to do a spending freeze is hopeful, and I trust him to cut spending before Obama. He has consistently fought against pork bills, and will cut the excesses.

5. He is more right on education. He wants people to have school choice. He wants to encourage good teachers by paying them more and finding the ones that cannot teach a new profession. He would be more supportive of homeschooling and private schools.

6. He is experienced. (This is also a weakness). His international affairs experience is second to none. He has an intimate knowledge of how our government works.

7. A McCain presidency would mean that we would keep a tough reputation in the world, which is probably more imporant than being liked by the rest of the world.

8. A McCain presidency would mean less government intervention in the lives of the citizens, and in businesses.

9. Sarah Palin will be the vice president and not Joe Biden.

10. He's left handed, like yours truly.

Ok, so my last two points were on the light side. I've been off for a few weeks with this economic crisis.

Next I'm going to give critiques of both candidates.

Six Things I Like About Obama or That Would Be Good About An Obama Presidency

Yep, you heard right. I'm going to throw you Dems and Dem sympathizers a bone here and give some positive things about Obama. For the Rs, don't worry the scrutiny will come.

1. He is smart and articulate. No I'm not going to say he's "clean" like Biden. This guy is obviously smart and can present himself very well. He has a great understanding of (most) of the issues and can communicate, defend and attack other positions clearly and effectively.

2. He is a statesman. He lets attacks roll off of him like water of a duck's back. His presence and demeanor are disarming. Obviously this could be a really good thing or a really bad thing, but you have to admit, he is able to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, even if you disagree with him alot.

3. He seems genuine. Whether he really is or not, we cannot know, but if we take him at face value, he really does seem to care.

4. An Obama presidency would display the healing that has happened with race relations in the US. (Obviously I would rather it be healed by a black guy almost being President.)

5. An Obama presidency (like it or not) would probably be better for us as far as our reputation with other nations.

6. He's young and fresh (this is also a negative).

This post was originally 10 things I like about Obama, but I ran out before I got there. I'm starting a series of posts here distilling my thoughts about the candidates for President.

Why Biden Has Nothing to Gain in His Debate With Palin

Because if he wins... he beat up a girl. If he looses... he got beat up by a girl.

The only way Biden will "win" is to come across as nice and a gentleman, and not try to make Palin look stupid. He should have a command of the issues, and win slightly in a very diplomatic way.

Will this happen? I doubt it, he hasn't shown much restraint for saying stupid stuff. He is as likely to gaffe as Hillary (notice I spelled her name correctly this time) Clinton is to be seen in a pant suit.

Palin's work is cut out for her. She must seem Presidential. She must have a general knowledge of the issues that will be discussed and be able to effectively communicate her positions. She must attack Biden and draw him out to hit her back (making him look like a "domestic abuser").

It is possible that this debate will have far more reaching effects than the debates between McCain and Obama. There is a lot at stake for both parties in how these two people perform because they will be one heartbeat away from the presidency.

Final Word (corny alert!)
My hope is that Joe's arguments and philosophy will not a Biden the hearts of the American people and that Sarah's weaknesses will Palin comparison to his.

The Unfortunate Political Situation In Which We Find Ourselves

Phew, I almost ended my title with a preposition.

Contrary to some people's opinion there are thoughtful and principled people in our country. Everyone who has commented on this site is in this camp, let's call us the "intellectual ideologues" (iis). However, there is also a group of people out there that are blown about with every gust of wind in the political landscape. This group, who I will call the "unthoughtful undecideds" (uus), are won or lost based on the rhetoric, and general "feeling" that they get from the different candidates. Because this group (which is between 10 and 20% [at least] of voters) always decides who the President will be, we see the type of smears, fear tactics, and general disrespectfulness that the candidates display toward each other. They aren't doing all of this to win the iis but to win the shallow uus. The iis understand the principles, experience and issues on which the candidates stand, and make their decisions based on those factors. The uus "go with their gut" and are persuaded by the lies and rhetoric of political ads and sound bites.

Unfortunately politicians find themselves in a position where they have to play these people's game because they decide who will have power and who will not. Until we have some kind of voter requirements (like a competency exam) I suppose we will have to allow the least informed, and least intelligent among us to decide who will be the President and wade through the rhetoric and lies (of both sides). I'm sure this wouldn't be a very popular position and certainly wouldn't win friends and influence people, but if you are reading this don't be offended because I'm probably not talking about you.

My Thoughts on the Debate (Quickly)

BO won.
Not in a big way, but he did exactly what he needed to do. Which was show he was competent, be respectful to McCain, and demonstrate having a handle on the issues. He did an excellent job of all three of those things.
McCain accomplished a few things- he demonstrated his experience (and called into question Obama's experience), made a really good point about how Obama's tax plan will not work, and highlighted his conservatism on wasteful government spending and comparing records on that issue.

Obviously, even if Obama had completely wiped the floor with McCain, I would still not vote for Obama, but he demonstrated an excellent ability to allow smears to roll off his back and maintain civility during heavy criticism. He also clearly presented his positions, and defended against McCain, who seemed to get the last word almost every time.

If the McCain that showed up last night shows up at the next two debates, he will lose plain and simple.

I haven't listened to any commentary yet, I wanted to put my thoughts out there before becoming tainted with the spin that is out there.

What do you think?

Update: It has been pointed out that Obama consistently referred to McCain as "John" instead of "Senator McCain" which was disrespectful to some degree, but he probably got away with it in the public. My guess is that most people didn't pick up on that, but time will tell.