Imagine where US taxes could be with a European sized military, and no interest to pay off. Can you say 10%? Tell me that wouldn't lead to a booming economy. I am all for a strong enough military to keep anyone from even thinking of attacking the US, and strong enough to lend a hand in international events, but I hate that we are the cops to the world. I fear we may be going the way of Rome. Spending ourselves into oblivion with military and other retarded expenditures. The UN countries would need to beef up at the same time however (assuming the US cuts way back). As it is now, they are a pathetic fighting force.
You mean that he got himself on some politically-minded boards (so do a gazillion other people to pursue their own agendas), was part of a team that claims to have registered people to vote (statistics in this endeavor are notoriously misleading), was the director of something (so am I), was a lawyer (and we all know what that means), was a temporary lecturer without a PhD (easiest job to get in the world), told stories to a ghost writer which the publisher then packaged in a book for $1M advance (what book by a black senator wouldn't sell?), and founded various liberal mini-groups to advance his own goals... right? Now, back to my old question, what has he really accomplished, other than getting elected? Meanwhile, he stayed, for 20-some years, a member of that notorious "G-D America" racist "church" and calls the preacher his mentor and guide; the same one that he later denounced as a white-people-hating instigator, right after he threw his own grandmother under the bus for being a "typical white person" and, therefore, just another racist... I'm sure you can understand why I'm a little reluctant to salute, right? Oh well.
I am sympathetic to the argument that the UN may be the most logical place to build some global-policing muscle, but this is a thoroughly corrupt organization where most members are dictatorships of one kind or another, openly out to pursue their own agendas. Can we form "the son of the UN" group from among the established democracies around the globe? Perhaps something sponsored by the G7? Doubtful.
Dunno. We can't look at the Republican side of the coin because the Republicans don't have any black Senators. Like reducing inner city poverty, yes. Other than him being a professor of constitutional law (yes, he was a professor according to the school), "he helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel." And yes, he was the first ever black editor of the Harvard Law Review. But other than that, he's not done anything. I've checked all the citations and I can't find any "racist" quotes from his church, and you didn't supply any. As for his grandmother, I'm afraid you've really taken his quote out of context. Let me put it this way: if you would be offended by someone using these tactics about McCain, taking his quotes out of context, begging the question, guilt-by-association, then don't do it to another candidate.
I agree. Unfortunately even though it's sucking up 50 cents out of every tax dollar it's uncuttable. And since we have to pay for the Republican adventurism, and fake tax cuts, everybody's going to get higher taxes.
You're big on citations but could you post something about Obama "reducing poverty." I mean get off the friggin' drugs. The only poverty reduction Obama has been responsible for is Michelle's. You're like everyone else whose knowledge of Obama extends all the way back to 6 months ago. His "community" work was mostly voter registration. For who? For future candidate Obama. Did he register any blacks outside of Alice Palmer's Illinois Senate district? Oh yea, around 16 years ago he spent 3 months working with laid off steelworkers. Jeez and to think I could've used my two semesters of Social Justice on Chicago's West Side as fodder for my own thin Congressional CV. Why not at least investigate REAL, ACTUAL, TANGIBLE "changes" that an elected legislator SHOULD be responsible for. Are graduation rates in Obama's South Side higher today? Jobless rates lower? Is funding for green friendly transit in place? Is their even a SINGLE person (other than Michelle, Rezko and Wright) who can say with a straight face"thanks to Barracks <strike> tireless work</strike> endless campaigning our community has a higher quality of life." Also could you provide linkage showing any reference to Obama promising to make even a penny of cuts to the military budget? How much of the Iraq savings will be offset by his promise to send more troops into Afghanistan? Can you provide linkage to any bills passed by the Senate that were SPEARHEADED (perhaps with a black candidate-a poor choice of word) by Obama. Or bills in which he was a sole sponsor? You may want to read what the environmental advocates at Grist say about Obama, coal and climate change: "Yes, if your job depends on remaining in the good graces of the coal industry: A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including one presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), is pushing to provide federal loan guarantees, tax breaks and other subsidies to spur the production of fuel from coal. If that's not enough to sour your Obamamania, get a load of this: Obama, who is sponsoring separate legislation to cap carbon dioxide emissions, said his support for coal fuel depended on finding a way to remove the greenhouse gases emitted in production. "If it is used simply to compound the problem of greenhouse gases, then it's not going to be a credible strategy," he said. The bill does not require that the fuel be produced without increasing greenhouse gas emissions, though it does offer tax incentives to encourage the use of technology that captures carbon dioxide.â http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/5/11/113643/964
Sorry for the omission, here's one by James Cone, the man whose ideals that church (including notable members like Rev Wright and B H Obama) espoused and promulgated for many years: "Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love. (See William R Jones, "Divine Racism: The Unacknowledged Threshold Issue for Black Theology", in African-American Religious Thought: An Anthology, ed Cornel West and Eddie Glaube (Westminster John Knox Press))." I, and millions of other Americans, not to mention many more people around the world, consider this an offensive and thouroughly racist statement. Do you want the proponents of such vile principles to lead this great country? To represent all of us? Please don't say things like "take it in context..." Hatred, directed at members of another race, is hatred, pure and simple, whether it originates from KKK or these folks. Btw, only a sliver of black American churches go along with this fractious hyperbole: most are quite traditional and a lot more moral in a Christian sense.
"After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side.[12][14] During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[15] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[16]" That's just Wikipedia, but it looks accurate. Ummm... no, that's incorrect. See above. He did go on to successfully organize registration of 400,000 voters, but that was later. Presumably yes. Project vote, the group that he was eventually director of, is currently active in 11 states, and out of the 400,000 voters he registered, only about 150,000 seem to have been in Illinois. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-1993/Vote-of-Confidence/ Other than working in private practice, the private sector, charity, authorship, and the public sector, what else do you think he should have done to flesh out his experience? Transit? That's municipal. Graduation rates are school board. African American voter registration is up from his work, though. Well since he voted for increasing the minimum wage to $6.15 during his tenure in the state senate, I would say, again, that the poor would say that. I haven't heard him say such a thing. In fact, he seems to be fairly conservative in his views in that regard. You can see his fairly detailed (for a presidential candidate) 60 page position paper here: http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf Sure, here: http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress...s-voting-record-in-the-illinois-state-senate/ Yes, that's called carbon sequestration.