Category: Society

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama | Monday October 20 | ColbertNation.com

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama | Monday October 20 | ColbertNation.com:

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(Via The Colbert Nation.)

Keeping it Real America

Understanding Real America in Wasilla | The Daily Show | Comedy Central:

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(Via The Daily show.)

Jon Stewart can be stinging. Lesson to politicians: never try to win with a comedian.

Community is the Opposite of Poverty

CNA – Documents:

“Someone once said that the opposite of poverty is not property. Rather, the opposite of both poverty and property is community.”

(Via Catholic News Agency.)

At the recommendation of a friend, I read this homily. Pass it on to the hardhearted.

How the GOP Does Choice

Skip to Jon’s question on Bristol’s “decision” at 4:05. Outrageous.

Sharing Prosperity: Obama’s Economic Plan for Small Business

Obama does have quite the plan. It is a mixed bag to be sure, as anything political would be, but it is both a sound and refreshingly moral plan to help this economy work for all Americans.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama once spoke to CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo about the economy. Bartiromo made the usual comments an ideologically minded supply-sider might make, and Obama true to form, struck his usual centrist tone:

The one thing you can be assured of is I’m not going to be making these [economic] decisions based on ideology. I’m not a dogmatist…I believe in the market. I believe in entrepreneurship. I believe in opportunity. I believe in capitalism. And I want to do what works, but what I want to make sure of is it works for all America and not just a small sliver of America.

Obama does have quite the plan. It is a mixed bag to be sure, as anything political would be, but it is both a sound and refreshingly moral plan to help this economy work for all Americans. Instead of government spending per se, it consists of government investment, a key distinction from leftist ideological choices. It provides for targeted tax relief to the engines of our economy: the consumer and the more importantly small business. As a progressive he includes union protection, but departs from political pandering and opts for sensible regulation. See a pattern? I’ve said to my progressive/liberal friends that if they don’t get a pro-business, pro-growth policy that expresses their ideals and values, they might was well pack it in to conservatives whose policies smack of trickle down, faith based “economics.” No government in a free economy creates jobs. Businesses do and they don’t do so out of charity or good will. They do so out of necessity or incentive. So there has to be a system of carrots and sticks, that forces them to, as Taylor put it, “share in the surplus.” So to create jobs, you have to be pro-business in some way, and refreshingly Obama does not disappoint. More on this later.

Continue reading “Sharing Prosperity: Obama’s Economic Plan for Small Business”

msnbc.com video: Biden on religion, abortion

msnbc.com video: Biden on religion, abortion:

(Via MSNBC.com.)

Good answer. I wonder if the bishop would deny leadership to those pro-death penalty Republicans? The Church teaches against that too. I have no love for that hypocrisy.

Top G.O.P. Pundits Fault Palin Selection – The Caucus Blog – NYTimes.com

Top G.O.P. Pundits Fault Palin Selection – The Caucus Blog – NYTimes.com:

“‘The most qualified? No. I think they went for the — excuse me — political (expletive) about narratives. … Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and that’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.’”

(Via The Caucus.)

Ouch.

That Old Time Capitalism

I began reading John C. Bogle‘s The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism tonight. So far, it’s an interesting read.

I began reading John C. Bogle‘s The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism tonight. So far, it’s an interesting read. Here is a memorable quote (so far) rich with irony in today’s world:

My vantage point is that of an American businessman (and a lifelong Republican) who has spent his entire half-century-plus career in the financial field…For better or worse, my youthful idealism–the belief that any truly sound business endeavor must be built on a strong moral foundation–still remains today, at least as strong as it was all those years ago.

By the latter years of the twentieth century, our business values had eroded to a remarkable extent. Yes, we are a nation of prodigious energy, marvelous entrepreneurship, brilliant technology, creativity beyond imagination, and, at least in some corners of the business world, the idealism to make our nation and our world a better place. But I also see far too much greed, egoism, materialism, and waste to please my critical eye. I see an economy overly focused on the “haves” and not focused enough on the “have-nots,” failing to allocate our nation’s resources where they are most needed–to solve the problems of poverty and to provide quality education for all. I see a shocking misuse of the world’s natural resources, as if they were ours to waste rather than ours to preserve as a sacred trust for future generations, and I see a political system corrupted by the staggering infusion of money that is, to be blunt about it, rarely given by disinterested citizens who expect no return on their investment.

Wow. Small wonder why he isn’t all that popular with today’s so-called conservatives.

Powell Has Praise for Obama

Powell Has Praise for Obama – New York Times:

“‘I thought that Senator Obama handled the issue well,’ Mr. Powell told ABC’s ‘Good Morning America.’ ‘He didn’t abandon the minister that brought him closer to his faith, but at the same time he deplored the kinds of statements that the Reverend Wright had made.’”

(Via NY Times.)

I wonder with the hit job on Rev. Wright and his church, if Powell’s statement will have an effect.

Rigging Justice

Cheney, others OK’d harsh interrogations – Yahoo! News:

“Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned.
The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved.”

(Via Yahoo! News.)

I actually saw this on The West Wing. General would fall on his sword if Bartlett’s assassination of a terrorist is found out. Great drama, but highly disturbing in real life. It’s always easy to go along when they aren’t coming for you. That’s why we have to stand up against torture regardless of whose the target. Even if you have no morals whatsoever the poem First they came… provides good enough reason to do so. Ashcroft’s quote at the end of the story is great.

“Why are we talking about this in the White House?” the network quoted Ashcroft as saying during one meeting. “History will not judge this kindly.”