/* */

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Bailout blues

Barney Frank says that he wants House Republican support for the bailout plan, even if they don’t need their votes to pass something and get Bush to sign it. He said because it’s economic everybody needs to have confidence in it. To me this suggests that Democrats and Republicans are colluding again. Why aren’t the mechanisms rock-solid objective and automatic?

Also I heard on NPR’s Marketplace Money that the yield on U.S. T-bills was hovering around zero and had even gone negative for a while. They said the T-bill is the safest investment in the world.

Based on what little we know, it seems that if they don’t pass the bailout, there will be a run on the banks, and if they do pass the bailout, there will be high inflation. The cleanest and fairest solution may be to backstop the FDIC, but not the stock market. Whereas stock investors knew they were taking a risk, bank depositors did not. Maybe run that one past your senator or congressperson.

Debate observations

In relation to McCain I was rooting for Obama, but in relation to Greens a few things jumped out at me:

1. Obama said he wanted to "crush" the enemy.

2. Agreeing with McCain on nuclear power.

3. A lot of emphasis on fighting in Afghanistan.

4. Both candidates were eager to distance themselves from cutting Iraq funding.

When McCain talked about a spending freeze, I wanted to ask him if he would freeze funding for renewable energy, health care, the credit crisis, etc.

McCain kept mentioning Reagan and I would have wanted to blast Reagan on solar panels, homelessness, deregulation. Sticking to foreign policy, perhaps talk about South Africa.

Friday, September 26, 2008

www.gp.org

The news has been changing fast lately, and I’ve been out door knocking, so I can’t always keep you up-to-date on the most recent developments. Also, at this stage of a campaign, it’s good to "stay on message." So I want to urge you to keep checking www.gp.org for the latest and greatest. There’s a banner ad for it above. You’ll find Cynthia’s comments on the credit crisis and tonight’s debate. We’re keeping the answers alive by loosening the corporate party stranglehold on our democracy!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Ron Paul endorses McKinney, Nader, Baldwin

Ron Paul has rejected John McCain and has urged supporters to vote for any of the third-party candidates: Associated Press National Press Club

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

On the perimeter



Here I am with Rosa Clemente, Green Party candidate for Vice President!

This is as close as we could get to the Xcel Energy Center, as part of the March on the RNC Monday. Observe the barricades behind us.

Other prominent Greens in the picture are Farheen Hakeem, at left, candidate for State Rep. in Minneapolis, and Jesse Mortenson, at right holding sign overhead, who was a candidate for State Rep. in St. Paul in 2006. One of our people tripped on the curb which is why there are signs on the ground. She recovered fully as part of our peaceful protest!

I’m wearing my Cynthia McKinney REAL T-shirt and Farheen Hakeem cowboy hat…

Earlier in the day, Rosa gave a great speech at the State Capitol. We held our signs in the audience and appeared on C-SPAN. Also appearing on C-SPAN Monday was Green Party Spokesperson Dave Bicking. I was interviewed by some student journalists from China and by Bobby Bascomb of Public Radio International’s program Living on Earth.

After a march to the 35W Bridge Collapse site, I attended the 2008 National Truth Commission where Rosa Clemente served as a commissioner. The commission determined that the Republican and Democrat administrations are guilty of violations of human rights.