March 4th

It's snowing like hell outside right now. I'm stuck in the middle of a blizzard and that's just the half of it. I've heard all the poll numbers and read all the articles on The Washington Post .com, I'm tired of listening to Anderson Cooper and Ann Coultier. I've turn the TV off and turned up the Mountain Goats. Theres nothing else I can do. I made a mix CD last night to spin out some good Obama vibes and spread the maigik just a little bit around. I'm meeting up with Anitra at the Royale later (unless I'm snowed in). It's probably snowed a good four to six inches just since she left for work this morning and theres no let up insight. I may not even be able to make it into work. Knowing my luck it'll stop soon and they'll get the roads clear just in time for me to make it in. The shit is getting thick all over the country as Hillary Clinton makes it easier for John McCain to defeat Barack, by throwing everything including the kitchen sink at him. Running from television studio to studio. Jumping in front of every camera to remind us that she was preordained for this nomination and if she doesn't get it then no Democrat will win. Appearing on SNL with Amy, grinning like some evil Cheshire Cat in her hideous power suit and god awful cackle. I pray that she looses big tonight, but even I've got my doubts. The majority of the voting public in Texas and Ohio are not exactly the sharpest tacks in the box and fear mongering scare tactics and vicious lies often have an effect on them. I only hope that the sheer volume of new, young, educated voters turn out for Senator Obama. This is not going to decide it I'm sure, even if she wins that simply keeps her in the game. Theres still more states including my home and source of pride-North Carolina! Gods gift to the country. And I know my family and friends still there won't let us down. Right guys? The sad thing is, is that the longer this drags on the further they drag each other down. Some of the luster gets rubbed off, and by the time they reach the general election they will be haggard and worn through. The good news about that is That Obama will be stronger and “vetted” finally. His debate skills have gone up with each debate so far and he's proving to be quite the Teflon-Don dealing with the silly name calling and bitter politics being hurled at him. Everything from his middle name being used as a scare tactic to two year old photos from a Senate trip to Africa, to scrutinizing every word of anyone who's ever so much as shook his hand. I hope we the people can continue to rally around this man and turn off the televisions, tune out the critics and do something that will fundamentally change the landscape of this country for the fucking better!

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Listening to: Love Cuts The Strings - The Mountain Goats
via FoxyTunes

Strike Back!

Hillary is on the attack! Wait for it, she just may cry again. After the water-works trick worked so well in New Hampshire, she tried it again before Super Tuesday, and I suspect we'll see more tears before Texas and Ohio. She's holding up boxing gloves and accusing Barack of everything from stealing speech lines to copying her economic plan. Her campaign has contacted CNN and complained that she's being unfairly scrutinized while Obama is getting a free ride. These juvenile tactics aren't going to work. Does she really think we're that gullible, or is she simply that desperate? According to a February 12^th New York Times article, “She has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably, or she’s out,” said one super-delegate who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. “The campaign is starting to come to terms with that.” Campaign advisers, also speaking privately in order to speak plainly, confirmed this view. So this is it, the final stretch. After losing eight straight contest in a row the great Clinton machine is showing signs of breaking down. The campaign is shaken and visibly so. Clinton's deputy campaign manager has stepped down, key super delegates have expressed interest in jumping over to the Obama side, and she can't get an endorsement out of Edwards. Yet we can't count out the Clinton's just yet. If anything they atre fighters and dirty fighters at that. Out of desperation, the Clinton campaign is lobbying the Democratic Party to reverse its prior decision and count the Florida and Michigan delegates in the final delegate count, despite their earlier disqualification. Before the primary season began the Democratic Party reached an agreement with its potential presidential candidates that they would not campaign in Florida or Michigan and that the delegates from those states would be meaningless. All the candidates agreed, which in effect, made the Florida and Michigan primaries a moot point, since none of their delegates could be used by any of the candidates vying for the nomination. The Clinton campaign was the main advocate for this “ban”, because at the time they felt that they were invincible and would have little competition from the other candidates. The cold hard truth is now Hillary is in danger of losing the nomination. Despite the fact that she went against her word by campaigning (and winning the non-races) in Florida and Michigan. The result of Super Tuesday (for the Clinton camp), was a loss of momentum over the last few weeks. Which has led to less money being raised, less positive talk in the news media, less volunteer sign-ups, and a lot less energy than Obama. She shook up her campaign by removing (or forcing the resignation of) her deputy campaign manager.

What Hillary fails to see is that this isn't just about Barack Obama, this is a movement for change. Obama's victories are both greater in number, and magnitude than Clinton's victories. The percentage in all contests as of now shows Obama performing much better on average. Obama's median percentage is 48.5% to Clinton's 32%. The disparity reflects Clinton's inability to perform well in smaller states, especially those holding caucuses. The average margin of victory in caucus states is even greater for Obama. There are hundreds of thousands of us who are tired of the same old bullshit! We're tired of the government revolving around the establishment elite. She wants to tout herself as experienced well what has she truly accomplished with all her years? How come things aren't better because of what ever it is she claims to have done? How has her experience helped shape the world so far? She failed at health care in the nineties even though she wasn't actually an elected official and should never have been involved in the process to begin with. As a Senator she has side with Bush on the War and on Tax cuts for the rich. She has signed her name on nearly ever bill that John McCain has. How will the two of them debate on the national scale? Obama's average vote share is not only high due to his strong performance in caucus states. He has also shown the ability to eat away at Clinton's lead in states that she was expected to dominate. For example, her margin of victory in her home state of New York and neighboring New Jersey was half that of Obama's margin in his own home state of Illinois. Perhaps as important as anything else in this non-election period, Hillary Clinton and her team have done a better job than anyone in modern political history at creating a narrative they want with the press corps. The media then writes and re-writes that story until it becomes (magically) conventional wisdom. With a campaign based in DC and a huge number of operatives who have twenty years of personal relationships with the national political press corps, it's no wonder that the national punditry has written of her brilliance in defusing the Iraq War issue and her inevitability in becoming the Democrats' nominee. No other candidate has that kind of lobbying power with the media -- they dine together, vacation together, work together -- and it has paid off. There will be a CNN debate on Thursday between Clinton and Obama, and my money is on some mud being slung-big time!

Why the focus shifts from Super delegates to eleged plagiarism, the Clinton camp can not escape the fact that Barack Obama’s campaign is on track to raise more than $30 million in February, while Hillary Clinton’s had to loan her own campaign $5 million. “Obama’s financial superiority is straining the Clinton campaign at this point. That’s reflected in how he spread the field on her in Super Tuesday. His ability to advertise in more states than she did, to put more resources on the ground than she did,” gave Obama an edge, said Anthony Corrado, an expert on campaign finance at Colby College. This is something that the super delegates will look at. Can you really hang your hat on a nominee who can't even raise enough money to compete in the primaries, when you have a candidate who people are more than willing to trow money at. It's because Barack Obama unites progressives, independents and Democrats, and discourages rather than unifies Republicans. He unites independents, the young, minorities, and progressives alike. And unlike Hillary, he will not unify the GOP, and indeed will take Republican votes. I have a friend who said that her mother whom has voted Republican for twenty-years voted for Barack Obama in the primaries here in Missouri. This is incredible, it has nothing to do with momentum this is a national surge for change and the people are saying that they are tired of politics as usual. In the polls Barack Obama can beat John McCain, Hillary can not.

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Listening to: Duran Duran - Girls On Film
via FoxyTunes

That's why I'm in it!

*Previously in this blog
I've tried to highlight the achievements of one Barack
Obama. I have detailed his accomplishments in the Illinois State
Senate and the Us Senate. Now I would like to highlight his plan for
America and how this country would be better off, under his bold
vision. It would be long and nearly impossible to read if I simply
repeated his plan as posted on his website.
But feel free to go over and read it all yourself in detail. I highly
recommend you download each of his PDFs
and see for yourself the great stuff he's got planned. The only way
its going to happen though is if we stop Hillary and Obama receives
the Democratic nomination. Edwards
dropped
out this morning so now it's down to two.
Super
Tuesday is
next week and if you live in one of the ST states I hope you will be
voting and letting your voice be heard. Change is possible if you
have hope-the man says.

What I can do is give those of you too lazy to read
for yourself a slight overview of the plan and highlight the major
talking points. There are some truly radical things included, like
fixing the Drug Code¹
and ending the disparity between crack and powdered cocaine
sentencing, and reforming mandatory minimums. That's mainly for us
colored folks though. There's tons of stuff on equal rights and
increasing opportunities for women and minorities. But lets start at
the beginning. This weeks hot topic-the economy. Now, I now most of
you don't own your own hoe or have mortgages but there are bigger
things at stake than whether suburban dads can keep their credit
scores up. I've put together a quick run down of what could be, if
you have the courage to elect the only candidate ready for real
change. What we don't need are more typical empty promises. Barack
has a practical plan, and not just hallow rhetoric like some other
candidate.

1. 
   On economy; Obama plans to cut income taxes by $1000, for
   working families. Unlike the Bush tax cuts which gave cuts only to
   individuals earning over $1 million a year. Obama will provide over
   150 million workers (like you and me), the tax relief we need.
   Obama wants to create a
   “Making Work Pay”
   tax credit. Similar to the $100 million Earned Income Tax Credit,
   he passed while in the Illinois Senate. The bill provided each
   individual taxpayer a credit against the Illinois Tax Act in an
   amount equal to 5% of the federal income tax credit allowed.
   Increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, will make sure that
   full-time workers earn a living wage that allows us to raise our
   families and pay for basic needs. Along side of that Obama plans to
   raise the minimum wage, and index it to inflation. He stated
   November 10, during a speech in Des Moines, Iowa that; “I'm
   in this race to take those tax breaks away from companies that are
   moving jobs overseas and put them in the pockets of hard working
   Americans who deserve it. And I won't raise the minimum wage every
   en years-I will raise it to keep pace so that workers don't fall
   behind. That is why I am in it. To protect the American worker. To
   fight for the American worker.” This applies to the rest
   of us, for those of us lower on the totem pole. Barack also plans
   to ensure our freedom to unionize., fight attacks on workers rights
   to organize, and protect striking workers. Obama co-sponsored the
   Employee
   Free Choice Act,
   a bipartisan effort to assure that workers can exercise their right
   to organize. Obama has fought the Bush Administrations National
   Labor Relations Board
   , and their efforts to strip workers of their right to organize.
   Obama also plans to expand the Family
   and Medical Leave Act.
   This will provide low-income families with a refundable tax
   credit to help with their child-care expenses, and encourage
   flexible work schedules. Strengthening the economy only begins with
   the worker it also extends to trade, technology, bankruptcy reform,
   credit cards and this weeks buzz topic home ownership. Obama plans
   to fight for fair trade not just free trade. He plans for a trade
   policy that opens up foreign markets to support American jobs. He
   will use trade agreements to spread positive labor and environmental
   standards around the world. He stands firm against bad agreements
   like the Central
   American Free Trade Agreement,
   that failed at these important standards. Obama believes that ²
   and it's potential were oversold to the American public and he will
   work to fix NAFTA so that it works for American workers. Obama
   also wants to improve transition assistance by extending it to the
   service industries where I work. Creating flexible education
   accounts to help workers retrain before they lose their jobs.
   Barack Obama also suports job creation, he plans to double federal
   funding for basic research. And make the research and development
   tax credit permanent, to help create high-paying, secure jobs. Obama
   plans to make long term investments in education, training, and
   workforce development. He wishes to invest in US. Manufacturing,
   create new job training programs for clean technologies, boost the
   renewable energy sector and create new jobs. Obama genuinely wants
   to restore strength to our ailing economy. The current hot topic in
   the media is housing crisis. Obama plans to create a universal
   mortgage credit. A 10% credit to provide tax relief to homeowners
   who do not itemize. This credit will provide an average of $500 to
   10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 a
   year. This is more than the band-aide currently being attempted. The
   current bill in debate calls for one-time tax rebates to go
   primarily to individuals making less than $75,000 and to married
   couples making less than $150,000. It does not as Obama would have
   call for accountability in the sub-prime mortgage industry. He has
   introduced comprehensive legislation over a year ago to fight
   mortgage fraud, and protect consumers against abusive lending
   practices. His Stop
   Fraud Act
   provided the first federal definition of mortgage fraud, increasing
   funding for federal and state law enforcement programs. He's created
   new criminal penalties for mortgage professionals found guilty of
   fraud, and requires industry insiders to report any suspicious
   activity. Obama also plans to close the bankruptcy loopholes for
   mortgage companies, create funds to help homeowners avoid
   foreclosures, and mandate accurate loan disclosures.
   

2. On Health Care; Now I admit to me this
   is one of the most important topics. I haven't been to a doctor
   since I was in prison, and much of that is due to the fact that I
   simply can not afford it. Health care comes at a price that most of
   us can not afford. Health insurance premiums have risen four times
   faster than wages in the past six years. Nearly 11 million of those
   with insurance , last year ended up spending a quarter of their
   salary on health care. The increasing co-pays and deductibles
   threaten acces to health care for any but the wealthy. Over half of
   all personal bankruptcies are caused by rising medical bills.
   There's a lot of hype surrounding the issue, and as the two
   candidates slug it out over their respective plans. I've broken down
   the talking points of Senator Obama's and stood them next to
   Hillary's so you be the judge. First just how “universal”
   can we expect either of their health-care plans to be? Obama's plan
   creates various mechanisms to make sure that both private and public
   insurance is more available. Clinton's plan sort of does the same
   thing, but it also creates a “individual mandate”. She
   would require that every one buy health insurance. Obama also
   creates a mandate, but only for children. Under Obama's plan we
   would remain free to buy insurance or not. The main argument here is
   that how would one enforce a insurance mandate. Would not having
   insurance be punishable by jail time? Or would you get a ticket for
   walking with out insurance (much like driving with out it)? Obama's
   resistance to the “individual mandate” makes perfect
   sense. Hillary has no outline for how she would even enforce her
   mandate, which in itself make s me both nervous and suspicious as to
   how committed she actually is. There is a lot of debate as to
   whether the government can mandate that you have health-care.
   Forcing people to pay for health care will be hard enough. The most
   obvious and logical solution is to make health insurance a function
   of the government, as it is for the poor and elderly. There's
   nothing odd about the government collecting insurance premiums in
   the form of taxes for Medicare or Medicaid. Yet this presents
   Republicans with the argument that “Big Government”
   will steal your wages if you don't buy insurance! And they would be
   right, but what's more important here is the question. Public health
   is an issue that effects us all. There's nothing I hate more than
   being on the bus with people sneezing and coughing all around me, or
   riding the train touching poles that good knows what has been wiped
   on. Clinton and Obama both have plans that would steadily enlarge
   the role of government in health insurance. These are accommodations
   to the political reality. Senator Clinton advocates incremental
   reform. The best argument there is that it probably won't work and
   that's when the federal government would step in and take over. Her
   plan consist not of one big idea but several small ones, most of
   them familiar. Hillary purposes a competition between private plans
   and a public plan. Senator Obama would establish a National
   Health Insurance Exchange that would create “rules
   and standards for participating insurance plans”. Meaning that
   anyone could buy private health insurance through the NHIE, and be
   guaranteed a certain price (on a sliding scale) with a certain bit
   of coverage. The participating insurers would not be permitted to
   exclude customers with pre-existing medical conditions. Oddly enough
   this is based partly on the Massachusetts health-care plan that was
   signed into law by former Governor
   Mitt Romney, himself on the presidential trail. The hazard,
   however, with regulatory services in general is that the more
   complex they are the more they are susceptible to pressure from
   lobbyist. The cost of Hillary's plan is around $110 billion while
   Barack's stands at $50 to$65 billion. Which is the biggest
   difference between the two. Both Senators plan to pay for their
   respective plans by allocating the funds from the Bush tax cuts that
   expire at the end of 2010. Obama would also invest $50 billion over
   five years to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records,
   a vital and necessary reform that would reduce medical errors and
   hopefully save lives. It would also save money by avoiding needless
   duplication. Such as blood test that are preformed more than once
   because of lost paper work. Obama and Hillary both cite a Rand
   Corporation study that predicts saving up to $77 billion a year. A
   similar proposal from the two would allow Medicare to negotiate
   prescription drug prices, producing savings as high as $30 billion
   annually. Implementing Obama's plan though would cost employers only
   if they refused to provide health-care for their workers. It would
   require them to contribute a percentage of payroll to the new public
   health plan. Obama would however limit the liability of small
   businesses for “catastrophic” care expenses. Obama care
   would be great for employers because the public insurance part
   would take care of providing care to their employees. Obama also
   wants to invest in prevention, support disease management programs,
   coordinate and integrate care, and require full transparency about
   quality and cost. The most important and least talked about part of
   Obama's plan is the public insurance part, because it's portable.
   You can remain in the plan even if you change jobs.

I'm going to have to save my third talking point
the Iraq situation! For another time I'm running long and have to get
to work. Pray I don't get hit by a bus I still don't have health
care!

1The
'National Drug Code' (NDC) is a universal product identifier used in
the United
States
for drugs intended for human
use. The Drug Listing Act of 1972[1]
requires registered drug establishments to provide the Food
and Drug Administration
(FDA) with a current list of all drugs manufactured, prepared,
propagated, compounded, or processed by it for commercial
distribution. Drug products are identified and reported using the
NDC

2The
North American Free Trade Agreement

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
eliminated the majority of tariffs on products traded among the
Canada,
United
States
and Mexico,
and gradually phases out other tariffs
over a 10-year period. Restrictions were to be removed from many
categories, including motor
vehicles,
computers,
textiles,
and agriculture.
The treaty
also protects intellectual
property rights
(patents, copyrights, and trademarks), and outlines the removal of
investment
restrictions
among the three countries. The agreement is trilateral in nature
(that is, the terms apply equally to all countries) in all areas
except agriculture,
in which stipulations, tariff reduction phase-out periods and
protection of selected industries, were negotiated on a bilateral
basis. Provisions regarding worker and environmental protection were
added later as a result of supplemental agreements signed in 1992.
NAFTA was an expansion of the earlier Canada-US.
Free Trade Agreement
of 1988. NAFTA is a treaty under international law, though under
United States law it is classed as a congressional-executive
agreement
rather than a treaty.

why am I going on and on about politics?

So Hillary won Michigan last night. Not so fast, you may wonder why Obama and Edwards weren't even on the ballot. I too had no idea,so this morning I looked it up. The peculiar contest resulted from the hard line taken by the Democratic National Committee against Michigan's rule-breaking Jan. 15 primary date, which ultimately led to the national party's revocation of all 156 of the state's delegates to the party's August national convention. The DNC's demand that most states, including Michigan, stick to a Feb. 5 starting date for the presidential nominating process prompted Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards -- Clinton's chief rivals for the nomination -- to withdraw their names from the ballot. It seems that there was a dust up over when some states could hold their primaries. It seems odd that the Dems would do this knowing that the decision could cost them votes in the general election and ultimately loose them that state for good. It seems like a shot in the foot and this is not the time for foot shooting boys and girls. We have on our hands a momentous occasion the chance to finally elect either a woman or a black man (ahem) as President of the United Fucking States of God -Damn America. In the immortal words of the one true God WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I know, I know, why am I going on and on about politics? I'm supposed to be an anarchist right? I'm supposed to be more interested in the destruction of the state rather than the prolonging of these out-moded institutions. How can I walk around with Chaos and Anarchy tattooed on my arms and wave a banner for some politician. The answer is simple. Because I can. Because the revolution hasn't come yet. Because I watched as a inbred psychopath led this country to its doom and no one (not even me) did anything to stop him. Bombs did not go off, there weren't riots in the streets. The public out cry was muffled by a few douche bags pointing fingers and calling decenter s Un-American! I watched the last eight years as every one of us became more cowardly and our voice became weaker. I still believe in Anarchy as the solution to mankind's illness. I still see that illness as society itself, and I still believe in destroying social structures in order to rebuild civilization from the ground up. But there has to be steps taken in order for that to happen and in the mean time while the thirteen point plan is unfolding, I have decided to cast my lot in with the current hoopla over this presidential election. I know you're thinking that none of this matters and no matter who gets into the White house it's going to be business as usual. Yet, can you deny that this would be a different world had Gore won in 2000. Would this be a different place if Hillary wins over Obama. How can any of us take that chance. I don't want to think of the difference we could have made had we not been so opposed to the system that we aloud it to run all over us. Now if I'm wrong, and I could very well be, I will never participate in another election again. If this turns out to be more of the same bull crap from any of these people, then I will don my black suit and again take up arms. I have not forgotten my radical roots. I have not forsaken Anarchy for this pusedo-democracy. I have simply learned that all avenues must be explored in order to effect change. We can not limit ourselves because of our prejudices. We have to something and now is the time!

With that said I have included a list of primaries below. No matter what state you are in please register, and please stop Hillary from gaining the nomination and possibly the White House. We can not afford more of the same. It is time for a new voice and a new vision for this country. Before it's too late.

2008 Presidential Primary Calendar

JANUARY 2008

• January 3: Iowa (caucuses)
• January 5: Wyoming (GOP caucuses)
• January 8: New Hampshire (primary)
• January 15: Michigan
• January 19: Nevada (precinct caucuses), South Carolina (R primary)
• January 26: South Carolina (D primary)

• January 29: Florida

FEBRUARY 2008

• February 1: Maine (R)
• February 5: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado (caucuses), Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho (D), Illinois, Kansas (D), Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico (D), New York, North Dakota (caucuses), Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah
• February 9: Louisiana, Kansas (R)
• February 10: Maine (D caucuses)
• February 12: District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia

• February 19: Hawaii (D), Washington, Wisconsin

MARCH 2008

• March 4: Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont
• March 8: Wyoming (D)

• March 11: Mississippi

APRIL 2008

• April 22: Pennsylvania

MAY 2008

• May 6: Indiana, North Carolina
• May 13: Nebraska (primary), West Virginia
• May 20: Kentucky, Oregon

• May 27: Idaho (R)

JUNE 2008

• June 3: Montana, New Mexico (R), South Dakota

AUGUST 2008

• August 25-28: Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado

SEPTEMBER 2008

• September 1-4: Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota

This calendar is adapted from the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Dates are subject to change.

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