Posts with the tag Obama

Obama must give up Blackberry

Armen — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:50:02 EST

The NY Times had a very interesting article about why Obama must give up his blackberry before joining office because if he wore to keep it all of his private email and phone conversations would be subject to subpoena. What is interesting about this is that it shows off the utter dependency a president must have on his staff to accomplish lots of tasks because he can no longer communicate with people on that personal level. I worry about this because Obama was the first president that I really felt reached out to people on that personal level and strived to have that one-on-one contact with everyone in the nation. Now it feels like he is entering the protection and insulation of office and losing some of the magic that the campaign had. I just hope that Obama works as hard as possible to stay personal with the people that supported him on this long journey and even the people that did not.

Think Different - Obama is a Mac Man

Armen — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:23:26 EST

Well of course it makes sense that Obama is a Mac man because he is an elitist Harvard grad that has more money than you can shake a stick at. Just kidding, it does make sense that he has a mac though because Obama is about change and thinking different which has always what the Apple computer company has been about. They always are pushing the envelope and trying to force people to change their perspective on the computing world and that is what Obama is going to bring to the White House. It may be a little different but in the end it is always the right thing and everyone ends up adopting it. I mean when was the last time you saw a laptop with a floppy drive?

Democrats Why the Democrats didn't Win in 2008

Andrew Stergiou — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:42:23 EST

We donâ��t need politicians with ideas imported that are more pertinent else where, nor the self-serving blue dogs nor red dogs dogmas though there is need for proactive Democratic Party presence. A proactive Democratic Party presence that is not confined but is regional and permanent in nature which will not be achieved with any short term approach.

2008 Plum Book

Mike W, Tulsa+ — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:10:28 EST

2008 Plum Book
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plumbook/2008/index.html

List of all political appointments to be made by President Barack Obama

The entire report is also available in TEXT format (1.91 MB).
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plumbook/2008/2008_plum_book.html

Income Crisis Negative Feedback Loop Accelerating

Ray Pairan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:29:49 EST

With each cycle of the income crisis negative feedback loop an accelerating economic decline moves the global economy spiraling downwards into an abyss that will eventually end in total economic collapse. Systemic declining real wages starting over 40 years ago has laid the fragile foundation that fed a continuing drop in consumption when credit could no longer be a sustainable proxy for income among low to middle wage earners. Even if credit was suddenly available - average Americans are already highly over leveraged. These factors triggered a negative feedback loop of declining real income available to 95% of the citizenry, falling consumption directly proportional to falling incomes, and declining business revenue accompanied by job lay-offs & retail price declines (deflation) all completing each successive feedback loop cycle. All along the course of the feedback loop cycle theses effects oscillate across the general economy in a continual downward slope of economic decline that translates into falling GDP and national capital stock destruction that occurs at an ever increasing exponential rate.

Reversing an income crisis 'drain spiral' becomes more difficult with the passage of time since unemployment and capital stock destruction exponentially increases across a number of income crisis negative feedback loop cycles. The longer a government waits to enact substantial fiscal stimulus targeted at low to middle income citizens the more and more 'income emaciated' these citizens become thus making it much more difficult to push the entire economy up out of the income crisis spiral.

Eventually, the nation's capital stock becomes so inconsequential from an economic perspective and the number of citizens who are unemployed so numerous that the government becomes the sole income generating agent (presumes the government has infused the economy with insufficient fiscal stimulus and/or is still making government expenditures into the private sector) in an extinct standalone private economy that has reached the terminus in an income crisis deflationary economic spiral.

Reaching the terminus point is a foregone conclusion without substantial (10% of GDP) government fiscal stimulation of the 'real' economy. At this terminus point economic activity in the country has been completely extinguished from successive negative feedback cycles down economic gradients with ever accelerating declines in GDP and national capital stock destruction.

Infusing the supply side (financial sector - or top of the pyramid) with government bailout capital will do absolutely nothing (covered in many of my previous essays) to get the 'consumption engine' of an 'income starved' economy running again. Effectively, there is no substitute for bold decisive action on the part of government policy makers in implementing a substantial fiscal stimulus program that immediately creates sufficient stable employment (not a token number of jobs) at a sustainable higher tier private sector wage rate. This must be immediately followed up with rebuilding the nation's capital stock to pre-income crisis levels through infrastructure investment in an industrial base that lends itself towards taking advantage of a nation's competitive advantage in multiple areas. In the case of the United States it has been determined that long term stimulus investments (substantial) that target the creation of a 'Green Industry' sector would have the potential of employing millions of Americans across all professions within two main program branches comprised of manufacturing and delivery. Subsidiary industries would also be created either directly through government and/or private sector capital infusions that would ultimately employ a cross section of every professional occupation group that has been placed on the unemployment rolls during this income crisis.

The global community has so little time left in which to act decisively. We are racing ever faster with each passing day down a cold dark abyss towards the terminus of economic collapse. We must act now, not later.

Posted on my blog 11/5/2008 at:
http://structuraleconissues.blogspot.com/

An Interconnected Community View of Economics

Ray Pairan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:16:48 EST

It's impossible to conclude that our economic environment is not subject to the same diversity that comprises our natural environment. Given that an economy is a subset of the society that wrests itself from an unforgiving natural world riddled with chaos, why do some branches of economic thought continue to rationalize humankinds pecuniary endeavors down to neat tightly, clean, predictable outcomes. The structure of an economic system must reflect the multifaceted and diverse characteristics of the world in which it operates - a world of varying personalities all interacting in incoherent ways.

Our universe is not clean and orderly it-s very, very messy - nothing ever seems to work out according to the best conceived plans. It is therefore imperative that we not endeavor to extend our subconscious world view of tidy, neatly trimmed 'lawns' to any natural substrate in the living breathing messy struggle for life. There are no 'lawns' of perfectly crafted conception in nature so why extend the improbable to a natural world substrate? A prairie ecosystem is full of tall grass of varying varieties, riddled with ground squirrel holes, snakes in some regions, muck, and a variety of wildlife not allowed to intrude into our comfortable neat complacent checkerboard communities. But the interaction between the two does result in changes that affect both.

Similarly, our economic system must reflect the realities or 'ground truth' inherent in the natural environment, societal structure, and impractical, irrational interspersed behavior of the human substrate. So why continue to refine any economic model based upon illusion by further perturbing an already tumultuous society by injecting policies that don't align with any existing observable dynamic?

Over the past few years we've been led to believe that the Laissez-faire neoclassical economic realm of illusory conceptualization would translate into this wonderful world guided by some 'invisible hand'. Ours would be a service sector oriented economy never again requiring the utilization of dirty hands, and strong muscles. Every citizen would magically be endowed with all the necessary intellect, desire, and personality to expand the service sector into the preeminent sector of employment. There was just one problem with the distorted nation state competitive advantage simplistic view of our globe - it still left a substantial segment of our population underemployed, and unemployed because they just didn't fit into the special mold of a service sector laborer.

Expanding the concept of competitive advantage outside of its original boundaries centered in a particular industry was just another attempt to mold reality (only perceptually achievable by propaganda) to fit illusion. Over the past few decades we've been deluding ourselves into thinking that a viable economy can function stripped of its manufacturing sector. It has become abundantly evident that an economic system crafted for the benefit of the larger community cannot operate solely as a service sector economy devoid of a sustainable manufacturing base.

Competitive advantage must mold both the service sector and manufacturing components across industry segments that are jealousy defended by national policies within a completely economically integrated world. No economy can be sustained under just one of these core economic components they both must be merged together in order to achieve some semblance of economic and societal sustainability & stability.

We have witnessed the effective subversion of an already inherently unsustainable service sector nation-state competitive advantage model into something contrived and contorted beyond its illusory construct. Perpetuated by the 'information age' propagandists we were led to believe that an economy could be solely built upon a technologically oriented service sector. Factories were no longer needed within an economy based solely upon intellectual labor. The problems with this early nation-state competitive advantage centered model were three fold. First, it was myopically constrained to a nation-state centric advantage that never expanded across borders. Secondly, it failed to account for the unpredictable effects of human behavior within a tumultuous greed enhanced global society. Thirdly, as already conveyed, the competitive advantage of a technologically oriented service sector was too broad in scope to be maintained at the nation-state level.

But what mutated from this touted elegant distortion of reality was driven by the second factor, the uncontrollable greed educed by Laissez-faire religious tenants that encouraged human behavior contrary to the maintenance of sustainable and stable communities. Any behavior was permissible in the corruptly focused short-term greed addicted behavioral state. What evolved was a belief system built around the individual to the exclusion of the community a credo that any means was justified even the 'slash and burn' pillage of entire nation-states to fulfill the unquenchable desires of the few wealthy elite. Labor arbitrage became the 'club' of choice wielded by the 'strong arms' of an army of mercenary lobbyists fielded to sustain the wealthy fiefdom's ability to exploit workers by any means imaginable.

With so many interconnected messy threads weaving throughout our society, class consciousness, across unique behavioral responses to stimuli, and the turbulent at times dangerous physical world we inhabit it is abundantly clear that any economic theories must be conceived in the forge of reality. It is a reality that recognizes a simple requirement of all human beings - fairness. Without fairness or some form of equity, infused with equality the best conceived seemingly realistic policies will be nothing more than distorted illusion cloaked in a thin veil of reality. Human beings are very adept at perceiving whether certain aspects of their societal framework is fair, or slanted towards the interests of those ultimately in control. No amount of 'packaging' will deceive a community of citizens over the 'long haul' - this is aptly reflected in the current rejection by the general populous of the trickle down supply-side greed based economics benefiting the few practiced over the last few years.

Quakers believe that we are all our brothers keeper, that when we act in the best interests of our fellow human beings we serve the better interests of our communities. Thus, realizing that in order for a sustainable, stable economy to transpire we need to include everyone; those who desire or are suited to work in a vibrant manufacturing component, others who excel in a service sector intellectual or assistance driven component, and those who must be cared for by a compassionate community (government) because their unable to survive in either component of a competitively oriented sector of our economy. It is also important to integrate our nation-state economies into an 'International Economic Congress' whereby the interests of Capital (businesses) and Labor can be democratically resolved, and a coordinated oversight of all economically related endeavors can be achieved for the betterment of the entire global community. We are on the cusp of an appreciation that transcends any past global paradigm shift - our movement towards a sustainable, stable world community is very achievable. Let's make it happen.

Originally posted on my blog at:
http://structuraleconissues.blogspot.com/

Picture of the Week

Mike W, Tulsa+ — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:47:02 EST

My personal favorite
Picture of the Week

Obama Brings Us All Together

Armen — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:27:37 EST

He really is going to unite this country...

So much work to be done

Dan Shields — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:45:22 EST

Obama won.

I can't believe how wonderful that is, yet who in their right minds could assume this charred mantle Georgie has left behind. He still has several weeks, so it's possible he will be leaving behind only the charred remains of a White House.

So much to do.

Where to start? Ah, of course: at the beginning: http://www.netrootsmass.net/hughs-bush-scandals-list/. A list of so many things first to be undone.

Good luck to us all. It's taken eight years to create this mess (Thanks, George and Dick!). How long to simply undo the crimes before even moving forward?

Election Aftermath Address- "Yes We Did!"

Larkin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:09:09 EST

As some of you may know, Barack Obama's grandmother passed away the other day. Our thoughts and wishes go out to the Obama family, because Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham will not live to see her grandson elected.
I address you today during the aftermath of this election day.
And what a historic election this was!
Because yesterday the unprecedented has occurred- the first African American in our nation’s history will be elected into the White House.
Barack Obama will be able to focus his efforts on some of the main themes I would like to fix.
Because he has been elected, we have finally grasped what we need, to fulfill new change and hope in our great country.
*******************************************************************
Yesterday, my friends- was a day of change.
A day of hope.
A day of renewal.
Yesterday, we celebrated our democratic roots from the Greeks, and our Revolutionary belief in patriotism and activism in government.
Yesterday, we finally fulfilled our long-standing creed: “We hold these trughts to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
‘Yes we Can’ has transformed- into ‘Yes we Did.’
****************************************************************
Yesterday, all the voters, from California to Connecticut; Salem, Oregon, to Salem Massachusetts; from Montana to Mississippi decided.
We decided to make not only the right decision, but to vote.
This election, over 21 months, or even 232 years in the making, has absorbed unprecedented enthusiasm and action.
I guarantee you that this election has shattered boundaries, redrawn a map of people, restored faith and dignity to American government and politics, and encouraged action.
The real winners of this election were the people- who have chosen to reprent ourselves with Barack Obama.
With this movement- the first African american president has been elected.
With this movement- a Hispanic can become president.
With this movement- a women, a jew, a mormon, a gay person, a muslim, or anyone else can become president.
This movement has shook the foundations of american politics, has shattered almost every precedent imaginable, led only by three words- ‘Yes We Can.’
Yes we Did.

Only the Beginning: Obama's Historic Victory and the Road Ahead

Mark C. Eades — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:40:54 EST

For Democrats, Barack Obama's stunning victory last night over John McCain brought a seemingly endless and often bitter presidential campaign battle to a welcome end. Obama's victory came as cause for relief and for celebration, as did Democratic gains in the Senate and the House of Representatives. When our first African American president takes office in January, Democrats will enjoy a position of authority in Washington we have not held since a brief period from 1992 to 1994. Many progressives are saying now that the era of conservative dominance in America beginning with the rise of the "New Right" in the 1970s and the Reagan victory in 1980 has now come at last to an end, that the long Republican nightmare is over, and I too am hopeful that this is so. While we celebrate and look ahead to the Obama Era, however, we should also remember that just as power can be won so it can also be lost, as it was in 1980, 1994, and 2000.

Each end is also a beginning; and so the end of Campaign 2008 and the end of Republican rule is also the beginning of something, but of what? Are we at the doorstep of a bold new progressive age that begins with Obama and extends into infinity, or of another brief Democratic reign to end again with a bitter Republican resurgence? Now that we have successfully driven the Republicans from power, how do we keep them from coming back, as we know we must if we are to avoid a repeat of the past eight years? A Republican resurgence would be a disaster, not only for Democrats and progressives, but for America and the world. The Karl Roves and Dick Cheneys of the world are not going anywhere. They will simply retreat to their think tanks and begin cooking up plans to retake power, just as they did during the Clinton years. Their success must be prevented by any and all means at our disposal.

While progressives will surely have a place at the table in the new administration, we cannot expect that the Left will or should dominate the Obama agenda at least in the near term. I would consider myself to be well on the Left of the Democratic Party, and I'm happy that progressives will have a voice in the new administration, but I feel pretty certain that Obama will have to govern more-or-less from the center if he is to avoid creating a whole new generation of "Reagan Democrats." I am hopeful that it may now be possible for progressives not simply to move the government to the left but to actually move the country to the left, and to create a new progressive America free of the politics of Reagan and Bush. In order for this to happen, however, Democrats in Washington will first have to prove themselves capable of governing the country effectively and satisfactorily in the eyes of their constituents. Once conservative-leaning, "soft" Democrats see that liberals aren't so bad after all, they will be much more likely to elect Democrats to Congress in 2010, to re-elect President Obama in 2012, to put another Democrat in the White House in 2016, and to listen to progressive ideas in the meantime with an open mind. While Democrats in Washington focus on effective governance, they and Democratic activists including us in the netroots must also focus on maintaining the gains we have made and on making further gains in election cycles to come. We cannot afford a repeat of 1980, 1994, or 2000.

Meanwhile, a whole new generation of first-time Democratic voters has been brought into the electorate, and this new Democratic base must be maintained and built at a grassroots level. Because of a far less reliable base of Democratic voters in previous elections, a hardcore Republican base of social conservatives, neo-cons, bigots, and xenophobes was allowed to dominate American politics for the better part of thirty years. This can never be allowed to happen again. Republicans who cannot be persuaded to go Democratic must be isolated and outvoted. In the immediate term, this means building a broad new Democratic base that includes centrists and even moderate conservatives in addition to progressives and the Left: not an easy task. The brilliant success of the Obama campaign in doing precisely that, however, can be credited in great part to Obama's experience as a community organizer in Chicago - experience that will serve the Democratic Party's organizing efforts well in the years to come.

Indeed if anyone is up the difficult tasks which surely lie ahead, I think it is our new president-elect. Throughout his campaign, he has shown himself to be a steady, focused, and disciplined political leader: not bad traits if one wishes to be an effective and successful president. More importantly, Obama possesses clear vision and a spirit of idealism that could not contrast more with the cynicism of the era that has just ended. He also possesses a strong, committed base of grassroots support that is ready for the battles to come. I for one look forward with hope and confidence to the road ahead.

Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com

New agenda for the new president

Democrat in New York, NY — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:20:30 EST

List of what the agenda should be:

1. Financial and Mortgage crisis
2. Stimulus plan money for infrastructure and education improvement
3. Work to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan
4. Energy independence
5. Affordable Healthcare for all
6. Improving foreign relations

CONGRATS TO EVERYONE!!!!

Armen — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:06:56 EST

To everyone that worked so hard for this moment - Thank you! We have really turned the tides and I am in tears that I am so happy that my state went to Obama and that we have started on the path towards the right direction as a country. Mr. President your country is waiting!

OBAMA!OBAMA!OBAMA!

Miami, FL Voting Chaos

Democrat in Miami, FL — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:08:26 EST

Voting in Miami, FL....So much for paradise!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfICeC6CPS4

Obama '08 baby!

Democrat in New York, NY — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:57:57 EST

Vote Obama and feel good my friends. I can feel the energy for Obama. Vote Vote Vote Vote Vote OBAMA!!!!

Time to Vote for Obama!

John Dukovich — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:01:10 EST

Today is the day. Rain or shine. Long lines and cranky poll workers... none of that matters. All that matters is that you vote today for Obama and tell all of your friends and relatives to do the same.

I was out til 2 am hanging doorknob reminders on doors of likely Obama supporters in Virginia. We are going to win Virginia. We need to win in a landslide.

Let's get 'er done!

Voting for McCain in 2008 is Like Voting for Nixon in 1960

Mark C. Eades — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:31:03 EST

If like me you are not old enough to have voted in 1960, or if you are old enough and voted for John F. Kennedy as you should have, try and imagine how it would feel if you had voted for Richard Nixon instead.

Imagine watching Kennedy's rise, in life and in death, to take his place among America's greatest presidents, knowing that you could have voted for him but didn't; and imagine then watching Nixon's descent to take his place among the worst, knowing that you voted for him perhaps not just once but two or even three times.

Imagine watching the secret bombing of Cambodia revealed, watching the sad tale of Watergate unfold, and watching Nixon's resignation in disgrace. Imagine looking back from the vantage point of 1974 and thinking of how you might have voted differently in 1960, of how at that pivotal point in time you made an unwise decision and ended up on the wrong side of history.

Now imagine how things might have been if lots more people had made the same mistake as you in 1960 and John F. Kennedy, one of America's greatest presidents, had never been elected. Imagine a world without President Kennedy.

Then, if you can bear repeating such a tragic error in judgment, go ahead and vote for John McCain.

Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com

Meeting Barack Obama in Nevada: Henderson Rally, Nov. 1

Mark C. Eades — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:26:31 EST

Four days before Election Day 2008, I drove with a friend from my home in the San Francisco Bay Area to Henderson, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas, for a rally with Barack Obama. We arrived in Las Vegas on the Friday night preceding the Saturday morning event, which also happened to be Halloween. With little else to do before driving out to Henderson to take our places among the first in line for the Obama rally, we did what any other visitor does on a Friday night in Vegas: We went to the Strip. This was of course a strange prelude to the Saturday morning event, as apolitical a beginning to a political weekend as I can imagine. Surprisingly, among the crowds of revelers along the Strip in almost any kind of costume one can imagine, I didn't see a single Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden, or Sarah Palin. As always, Vegas seemed to occupy a world entirely its own.

Once we tired of the Strip, we drove the few miles out to Henderson on the southern edge of metropolitan Las Vegas and located the rally site, a local high school football stadium. By two or three o'clock in the morning, dedicated Obama supporters were already taking their places in line at the gate, and we soon took our places among them. I personally had never "camped out" for any kind of event, be it a political rally, rock concert, or movie premiere, but at this event I had no intention of being any further from the front than I had to be. Our diligence paid off, and once the gates were opened we and other early arrivals were able to take places along the rope line in front of a crowd that grew to number around 15,000 (see BarackObama.com, Las Vegas Review-Journal; photos available also at Flickr).

Obama's 25-minute speech contained many of the same points he has made throughout his campaign, but lacked nothing in excitement for being what one might describe as a "standard Obama stump speech" with a little extra dose of urgency just three days before Election Day. Introduced by Nevada's own Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Obama arrived at the podium to wild applause and screams of support, the energy all positive. I couldn't help but take wonder at how the overwhelmingly positive atmosphere at this event contrasted the ugly rage, bitterness, and hate we have all seen on video from McCain/Palin rallies. The one time booing started at the mention of John McCain, Obama reminded the crowd as at other rallies recently, "You don't need to boo. You just need to vote."

In his speech Obama reminded his supporters that the election has yet to be won: "Don't believe for a second this election is over. Don't think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in these last few days, because it does. But I know this, Nevada: The time for change has come." As he spoke, the tiny silhouettes of police and/or Secret Service lookouts could be seen atop buildings and other high points around the rally site, just in case anyone should wish to harm the Democratic nominee. Secret Service agents also patrolled the crowd and shared the open space between Obama's stage and the rope line with news photographers taking rapid-fire shots both of Obama up at the podium and of the cheering crowd. A helicopter circled over the rally site, too high to tell whether it was a news helicopter or police.

For us and others at the front of the crowd, the climax of the event came at the close of Obama's speech, as he began to make his way along the rope line to depart. Surrounded by Secret Service agents and rapid-firing news photographers, Obama moved along the rope line shaking hands, kissing babies, and thanking his supporters. The Secret Service agents pushed back against the metal barriers as the crowd surged forward to get a glimpse of Obama or shake his hand. My friend and I suddenly found ourselves with little room to move or even breathe as Obama approached and the crowd pressed in around us, holding their hands out in hopes of getting a handshake with the man they hope will be the next President of United States. We both did get handshakes with Obama when he finally arrived at our place along the rope line, and when my turn came I looked into Obama's face and told him the first thing I could think of to say: "You are going to be a great president." Obama looked back at me and said in all sincerity, "Thank you." Then he was gone.

Finally, as Obama moved away from us along the rope line shaking more hands and kissing more babies, we got a chance also to shake hands with Harry Reid. Having previously shaken hands with Ted Kennedy at an Obama event in Oakland just before the California primary, I can now say with pride that I have shaken hands with three of the people Republicans most love to hate in the world. One of those hands, I hope, will soon be holding the keys to the White House.

Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com

OBAMA WATCH: THE COUNTDOWN

Sharkhunter — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:04:27 EDT

LATEST POLLING DATA:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/latestpolls/index.html

Early vote. Organize and mobilize friends and family to early vote. Organize your your precincts to early vote. Educate. Organize. Mobilize.

Obama/Biden 08'

Yes We Can!

Yes We Will!

Keep Hope Alive!

Inauguration Invite Card for you!

Armen — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:10:49 EDT

I saw this beautiful card and I absolutely thought it was worth reposting. This is a beautiful card that someone drew, but what is also amazing about it is that it speaks to the happiness that this country will embrace when Obama is elected. I can't wait for tuesday and I can't wait to see Obama change the world.

Inauguration 2009 Invitation Card by gxiong
Design a notecard Using Zazzle.comSee other Holiday Cards