The Stonecipher Report

Vote Early...um and Often!

Posted By: BossE Stone

Oct. 15, 2008

I have never waited in a line on Election Day. The first election I ever voted in was by absentee. Then I slacked off, like many young voters. I moved a lot, worked multiple jobs and was in school, many of the same reasons that other voters have for not making it to their polling places.

In 2000, I had to leave town to attend my grandfather’s funeral. I was freaked out. The first election that I cared deeply about the outcome, I thought I wouldn’t be able to vote. A friend pointed out that I could go to my county elections office and vote early. I did and I was able to get out of town with a clear conscience that I had done my civic duty.

In 2002, I moved just before Election Day. I would be arriving in my new home of Portland, OR too late to register to vote. So, I made sure to visit the county elections office to cast my vote before leaving for Oregon.

Since living in Oregon, my voting record has been 100%.  Even for local and “special” elections.  Partly because my jobs for the last 4 years have been getting people to vote but in a big part because in Oregon we get our ballots mailed to us two weeks before Election Day.  And a week or so before ballots hit our mailboxes, we receive voters' pamphlets.  Only states with same day registration have higher voter-turn out.

“Bully for you,” you say.

Well, it could be bully for you too.  Especially if you live in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. These states allow for you to show up in person at designated early voting places to cast your ballot or apply for a mail in ballot without an excuse for being unable to make it to the polls on Election Day.

Other states require an excuse and witness or notary public signature to vote absentee by mail. Do an Internet search for your county election office or Secretary of State Election Division office to find out the rules and dates for early voting in your area.

Last February, when I was doing campaign work in Texas, I discovered one early voting place was at the grocery store.  I contacted Stonecipher’s very own Glen Alan Hill, a resident of Austin, Texas, to see if I remembered that correctly.  He was unaware of this phenomenon.  So, I quickly did my democratic duty and did a search for Texas early voting and found out that he and other Texans could vote in their cars! I continued my civic duty by linking him to this page for local and Congressional races (down ballot another issue mentioned "down post") and Travis County early voting locations.

Here’s how the conversation went:

8:23 PM

Me: Hi GAH. I'm working on a post on early voting.  Do I remember correctly that In Texas you could vote early at the grocery store?

8:24 PM

GAH: I have no idea. I've never heard of that.  I'm actually excited for this election. I've never said that before.

8:25 PM

Me: That's awesome, are you only excited about the presidential race or are there some local races that have you interested as well?

8:26 PM

GAH: No, unfortunately I know nothing about local races. Probably should learn.

8:27 PM

Me: Absolutely! especially for Congressional races. If you don't give Obama a Congress that will work with him, we'll get nowhere fast (assuming you are voting for Obama)

GAH: I am.

8:30 PM

Me: http://austin.about.com/od/politics/Politics_and_Elections.htm  There's the list of elections for you.

8:31 PM

GAH: Cool, thanks.

Me: You can vote in your car!

8:32 PM

GAH: ??

Me: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/earlyvote.shtml

8:36 PM

And the early voting spots: http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20081104/early_polls.pdf

8:37 PM

GAH: Cool thanks. Peace

There are a few things outside of the early voting topic that need to be pointed out here. One, did you see how easy that was? I just provided a friend vital information on not only where and when he could vote, but what else was on the ballot. Two, it took less than 15 minutes for me to have that conversation, including the internet search time. Three, on many of the websites linked above in the states that have early voting, you can find voters' pamphlets.

I have now empowered you, the voters of the 31 states that have "no excuse needed" early voting, to not only find out quickly how you can participate in early voting, but I have also given you the tools to participate in decision making that impacts you on the state and local level.

As I pointed out to GAH, we can't expect Obama to get much done (the Change we desire) unless we give him the Congressional support in moving legislation that is needed. For local politics, much of the legislation that makes it to US Congress starts on the state level. You know all that talk of "grassroots" it is true.

Back to the early voting...

Your vote will be counted if you vote early.  NPR’s Morning Edition covered early voting and other voting questions last Friday.

Bottom line is, if you want to guarantee that your voice is heard, you have to vote. Polling hours aren’t the most conducive to getting people who work two jobs, work and go to school or just have incredibly busy lives.  Early voting allows for you to cast your vote on your time. Voting all the way down the ballot gives you the power to impact your local politics.

Your excuses for not participating are quickly diminishing.

Until next time, happy voting!

Be sure to vote in our latest poll and tell us whether or not you plan to vote early this year.  You can check it out here or you can find it in the right hand column of this page. 

Also, coming very soon to TSR, a preview of the nation's hottest Senate races.  Stay tuned.

Oil and Credit Card Companies Must Be Stopped - Not John Edwards

Posted by: BossE Stone

August 12, 2008

Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Nunya.
Nunya who?
Nunya Business.

So John Edwards had an affair and didn’t tell us the truth about it. He probably lied to us about his affair because it was (a) none of our business (b) already a painful issue for Elizabeth without being drug into the public and (c) it was none of our business.

I had started to write a full post on the affair, but realized that I was just perpetuating what truly has no impact on anybody outside of the people directly involved. I think that we would all be better to move on, stop being distracted by people’s personal affairs and start paying attention to what really impacts us.

With that said…

Gas prices have been going down over the last couple of weeks, but while they were at their peak I received 3 solicitations for pre-approved gas cards.

Fascinating for a couple of reasons.

One - I don’t own a car and haven’t for going on 6 years. I use public transportation, walk, ride my bike, belong to a car share program and occasionally borrow a friend’s car. Had the credit card companies done any sort of homework, they could probably figure that out.

Nonetheless, A few weeks ago, I got to witness the peak of gas prices first hand when it cost $4.45/gallon to fill up the Zipcar. Today the price was $3.95/gallon when I put about 2.5 gallons of gas in a friend’s car.

Two (and more importantly) – these jerks all offer “peace of mind when you are on the road without cash,” and claim to add “flexibility to your finances” with “low monthly minimum payments.”  Also, having these cards will keep “your bankcard open for ‘big ticket’ purchases." Wow, such a deal, especially since none of them have an annual fee! What makes them jerks for offering me such flexibility and convenience? 19.99% to 21.00% interest.

I have never proclaimed to be a math genius, but I did learn early on how interest rates can add up and seeing those interest rates on gas cards made me angry. (If you aren’t a math genius either, here is a helpful website on interest rates.)

It should be criminal to be taking advantage of people in desperate situations. I believe I have been told that the Bible even had some things to say about usury.

Can you imagine if you make the brand new Federal Minimum Wage of $6.55/hour paying $4/gallon of your pre-taxed wages just to get yourself to work?

So, here come the credit card companies to save the day! Access to gas, when you don’t have cash! All for the fee of about 20% more than you originally paid.

Credit Cards and Oil teaming up to put America further in debt.

Last year, in Oregon, I witnessed a battle over capping payday lenders at 36%. The companies had been charging upwards of 528% interest.

The people that supported the criminal charging of 528%?  Republicans.  And some of them are clearly Bible readers because they couldn’t vote for civil unions or stem cell research because the Bible tells them those things are wrong.

So? What does that have to do with gas prices and credit card companies jumping at the opportunity to take advantage of unaffordable fuel?

Everything. Well maybe not everything, but quite a bit. We need to elect not just a President but Senators (we need at least 60) and Representatives and people all the way down to the local levels of government who will step up to fight the criminal behavior of creditors and start working toward real solutions on energy.

We are not going to be able to make the necessary steps in reigning in the downward spiral that the oil and credit card companies have been creating if we have people who are siding with the companies.

What John Edwards does in his personal life is between John Edwards and his family and It is time for a new and more intelligent conversation about politics in this country.  It is time for a change.

Help Stop the Smear Campaigns Against Obama

Posted By: BossE Stone

July 28, 2008

Last week, Stonecipher wrote a post regarding lies about Barack Obama being spread through the Internet. The same day of that post, my dad received an email containing lies about Michelle Obama.

The Obama campaign has a page dedicated to fighting the lies being spread. Here is the link to the page showing us a few of the people responsible for the lies and the previous garbage peddling they have done.

Often when receiving a forwarded email containing lies, I respond by replying to everyone the email has been sent. Encouraging each person to fact check before sending such craziness and providing sources for them to do that.

My parents are currently visiting me so when the offensive email was received, I was able to share with them how to figure out how an email is full of lies. My dad was so upset, he sent a response to the person who had forwarded him the message and to the people who had previously sent the email.

Stonecipher and I thought it would be helpful for everyone to post my dad’s response for use as an example on how to fight these smear campaigns. While we can’t keep everyone from spreading the lies, we can certainly respond to the ones we receive.

Feel free to help stop the spreading of lies by using the following email as inspiration for your response. Please remember to keep it honest. You don’t want to stoop to a lower level by fighting lies with more lies.

Dear (insert senders name here),

I don't know you, so I will speak to you with kindness and sympathy. I know you are a victim of another political hoax. Please go to the following web address and read the entire Snopes exposition on the subject from which your forwarded e-mail supposedly came.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/thesis.asp

Also, please note that the six attachments that your forwarded e-mail came with is evidence that some one has created 'a look alike' web page of an actual web site that is known to fact check and eliminate fiction. The forwarded attachments in your e-mail lack the quality found on the Snopes web site and include the tell tale sign of a “crazy person” email: multiple font sizes and colors.

What this false information in your e-mail involves is out right fraud. Since you have sent this to me for unknown reasons your own personal reputation is now in question.

I learned many years ago that your personal reputation was a far more valuable asset than a lie.

I enjoy reading and learning as much as possible about history and politics. Fiction is not my cup of tea.  Some people find any discussion of politics offensive, especially if it is contrary to their beliefs. Some people find fiction far more entertaining than truth. Some people cannot deal with the truth and rely on drugs.

Some people get great entertainment out of creating dissention, subterfuge by mixing just a little truth with false or distorted information so that it sounds like the truth but is actually pure fiction. I hold people that create these types of lies in great contempt. The same contempt I hold for drug dealers.

Our great democracy cannot survive in the sea of lies that have been created to assault people and our government institutions. The dissemination of these lies via the Internet and other media needs to end.

Debate and discourse on real issues that impact us are needed. That is true democracy.

How well do you know (insert previous sender’s name)? Did (previous sender) create this cobbled together e-mail?  Do you know his true identity and his US mail address?  If so please share it with me so I can also question the source of his information.  It could be that (previous sender) is also a victim of this hoax?

One of many things I learned while serving in the US Army in Vietnam was 'Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.’ That now also applies to the Internet.

If you want to restore your reputation please send an apology to all that you sent this e-mail to and retract this lie. The same applies to (previous sender).

If you cannot retract this lie and apologize then please take my e-mail address out of your address book and never contact me again.

Sincerely,

My dad signed off with his full name and address. That, as well as all the names and email addresses of the offenders have been removed for protection of privacy, even if some of the above don’t deserve it.

And as always, the corn and bean report: For July 28, 2008, corn is at $5.82 and beans are at $14.00.

Check out BossE Stone's last piece: McCain Hates the Free Exchange of Ideas

Also, check out BossE Stone on digg.com here.

McCain Hates the Free Exchange of Ideas

Posted By: BossE Stone

July 15, 2008

Many of you have probably heard about or seen clips of the librarian, Carol Kreck, who was kicked out of a McCain town hall meeting in Denver.  (Just in case you haven’t click here.)  This is, in and of its self, more than a bit concerning.  However, more concerning is that this is not an isolated case.

Back in May, I attended an AFL-CIO event in Portland with a focus on McCain’s health care plan. The AFL-CIO had rented a room at the hotel where McCain was holding a fundraiser. They then invited Mr. McCain to speak to a group of working class folks about his health care plan.

The invitation was never answered, not even to say, “No, thank you.”

Just before the AFL-CIO event started, a representative from the hotel came into the room to let the organizers of the event know that they were not to attempt to talk to Senator McCain.  Any attempt to go into the part of the hotel where the fundraiser was being held would result in arrest.

When the hotel representative was asked about who made the decision, he responded that he had been told this from McCain’s campaign staff.

One of the organizers of the event then asked to hear the news directly from someone from the McCain staff. The hotel employee left the room and retrieved a staffer for McCain. She promptly recanted the statement the hotel employee had given the event organizers: Any attempt to go into the area of the hotel where the McCain Fundraiser and to talk to Senator McCain would result in arrest.

So much for democracy and the free exchange of ideas. Oh! And that thing called the First Amendment.

I do not believe that the threat of arrest to the AFL-CIO event attendees or the ticketing and removal of Carol Kreck at these McCain events are special or isolated incidents. McCain is obviously scared of being called on his BS and wants anyone who will do that removed.

We cannot continue to allow these kinds of threats to our freedoms.  Spread the word, and if McCain happens to be in your town, maybe take a video camera and see what happens.

Democracy depends on you and your actions.

PS- I heart the “two peas in a pod” costume that is in the background of the Carol Kreck video. I kept getting distracted by that guy and had to watch the video several times to catch what was going on.

Also, Rachel Maddow had a great take on the Kreck incident while hosting "Countdown"  Here's the video of that:

Obama, McCain, Which Side Are You On? (The Healthcare Debate)

Yesterday, July 8, 2008, was the launch of the national campaign, Health Care for America Now! (As exciting as that is, that is their exclamation point, not mine). It is a huge coalition of community and labor organizations with a goal of getting the next President and Congress to make health care reform a top priority.

For the record, this isn’t John McCain’s variety of health care reform. This is real health care reform for all people of all incomes. Check out their website for the details on the plan.

The thing that hooked me about this campaign is the question: “Which side are you on?” Grammar aside, the question asks potential participants to become engaged by picking a side. Do you want to sit on the sidelines, or do you want to make this happen? Likewise, it provides us a good question to ask our elected officials and those running for office.

To get the “change” we crave, we need more than electing Barack Obama as our next president. We need to elect people to Congress willing to work with the President. When “getting out the vote”, a.k.a. canvassing and/or phone banking, a.k.a. civic engagement, we need to make sure we are also reminding others that it takes more than a President to make real change.

Currently, our Senate (true there is some spinelessness happening) doesn’t have a large enough majority of Democrats to end filibusters, let alone override vetoes. In the House, (where there is only a bit less spinelessness) they sometimes have a veto proof margin, but with only one house capable of overriding a presidential veto, nothing happens.

True, it will be a different situation with a Democratic president, however, without the 60-40 majority in the Senate things will still be difficult.

So, back to health care reform. The health care crisis is a contributing factor to the current economic pinch working people feel. Workers are more often than not getting shafted on raises because of the rising cost of health care. McCain’s plan would give a tax credit to individuals or families for their health care coverage that doesn’t even begin to cover costs. That is to say, under the McCain plan, $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families which doesn’t cover costs unless you are a healthy 20-something.

I was going to go into more detail on the McCain health care plan, but apparently, he has flip-flopped on that too.  So, when he decides to stop playing the panderer’s game and actually sticks with a plan I’ll give you more details.

Until then let’s get out there and ask the candidate’s “Which side are you on?” and then hold them to task once we elect them.

And as always the corn and bean report: on July 8, 2008 corn closed at $6.93 and beans closed at  $15.61.

"Yes We Can" But Will We?

Posted By: BossE Stone

July 1, 2008

“Civil society, at least as I see it, is simply one of the great opportunities for human responsibility for the world.” – Vaclav Havel

I am a bit of a civic engagement junky. So, when I recently heard some guy tell some gal that a mutual friend of theirs was doing door-to-door sales for Obama, I had to set the record straight.

Canvassing and phone banking (a.k.a. grassroots efforts) for a candidate or political cause is not the same thing as door-to-door or telemarketing sales, it is called civic engagement.

In both sales and civic engagement you can visit people at their houses, or call them at hours when they may be eating and try to engage them in a conversation they may not want to have, but that is where the similarities end.

So, what is civil society and civic engagement? Let’s start with this statement by former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel: “In the most general terms, we could perhaps describe it as a society in which citizens participate - in many parallel, mutually complementary ways - in public life, in the administration of public goods and in public decisions.” (A Speech on the Occasion of “Vaclav Havel’s Civil Society Symosium”)

Civic engagement would be the practice of getting others involved “in the administration of public goods and in public decisions.”

The best way to do that is talk to people, face to face or over the phone. TV commercials are good at throwing out slogans, but talking with someone gives them a chance to talk about their thoughts and think about what is really important to them.

During the primary season, one of my conversations with a working class Democrat went like this:

Other person: “I really want Hillary Clinton to win.”
Me: “Ok, Why is that?”
Other person: “Because we simply can’t have Obama as our nominee.”
Me: “Why do you say that?”
Other person: “Because, you know, he’s different.”
Me: “No, I don’t know. Please tell me.”
Other person: “You know, different.”
Me: “Well, if Obama does become the Democratic Nominee, I hope that you can look past the differences and see that the policies he promotes will be better for working class people than McCain’s.”

That was a tough conversation to have, and I went into more detail about how and why and that person listened. Did I make an impact? I have no way of knowing, because I will probably never talk to that person again. I may have, and hope that I did.

Regardless, this is an example of other conversations that need to happen. Civic engagement isn’t about instant gratification. It is about building and maintaining a good civil society and democracy.

It is also just about people being afraid of the “different.” The thirty-second commercials and 10 second sound bites are what most folks get for their politics, especially, those who don’t have a social circle where politics is discussed.

So you, potential canvasser or caller, can maybe change someone’s mind.

You can have more impact than just “digging” my post and passing it on to others. Remember, not everyone reads this stuff.

In following with the slogan, “Yes, We Can,” we must do. We have to continue and expand upon the “grassroots” efforts that happened in the primaries. We have to be willing to go to those tough to win states and have difficult conversations with potentially hostile people.

To help you think about this, here is another quote from President Havel: “Consequently, civil society is the best safeguard, not only against political chaos but also against the rise of authoritarian forces that always emerge whenever a society feels shaken or insecure about its future.”

Be brave, and remember that it is your civic and patriotic duty. Now get out and canvass or make some calls. Yes, you can.

And for those of you following the corn and beans report: June 30, corn closed at $7.25 and beans closed at $16.05.

The Sky is Not Falling

By: BossE Stone

June 26

Much thanks to my dear friends Randy and Josh. Randy for always putting Josh in the middle of our political discussions and Josh for his willingness to ruffle his dad’s feathers by helping me find the facts. OX to both of you.

Last week I got an email from my friend, Josh, that said this: “my dad wanted you to see this.” I scrolled down to the forwarded portion that declared “Obama plans to disarm America.”

I thought, “Super! And since he is taking away all of our guns too, how are we going to fight the terrorists?!”  Of course I was rolling my eyes.  But I clicked on the link any way and I watched the video and read some of the comments that were posted.

Then I wrote back to my friend and said, “I don’t see a problem with what Obama is saying.”

He wrote back, “well, you could email my dad with your thoughts... see what he says. :)”

I responded, “Oh, I will.” But instead of just emailing my thoughts, I thought I would share them with all of you.

Here is the video.

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So now that you've watched it, let’s break this little clip down. We all know Barack Obama opposed the Iraq war, so we’ll skip that.  Instead, let’s get to the meaty part:

Second, I will cut 10s of billions of dollars in wasteful spending. I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I will not weaponize space. I will slow our development of future combat systems, and I will institute an independent defense priorities board to ensure that the quadrennial defense review is not used to justify unnecessary spending.

First of all, nowhere in this statement are the words “I am going to disarm America.” Veiled or not, the words aren’t there.

The words that are there however, say this: “we waste too much money on things that don’t work or that shouldn’t cost that much and I am going to make sure we stop that. It is your hard earned money that the government takes and spends and I am going to make sure we spend it right.”  That might be the wordy version of the first two sentences, but apparently it needed to be explained.

Considering how much of our hard earned tax dollars have been bilked by huge corporations like Kellogg Brown & Root Services, a.k.a. KBR, subsidiary of Halliburton, in 2004 alone, one might think that having an “independent defense priorities board” is a good idea.

In an audit from the Defense Contract Audit Agency, focused on Kellogg Brown & Root’s Cost Plus Award Fee task order in 2004, we see that KBR billed the US government $875,255,894 (remember that’s your hard earned tax dollars). Of that $875,255,894 in “costs” $108, 409,622 are questionable and $1,255, 333 were unresolved.

Only $108 million questionable and $1 million unresolved, that’s not too shabby, it’s hard to keep track of that money, right?

WRONG!

Let me just highlight this gem from that report:

4. KBR proposed Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) purchased from Kuwait at $82,100 for material (fuel) costs and $27,514,833 in LPG subcontract (transportation) costs. It is illogical that it would cost $27,514,833 to deliver $82,100 in LPG fuel. Refer to note 5c (2), page 3 for further details.

There are numerous other examples. My research assistant, Josh, found that document by starting his search with the terms "war profiteering toilet seat."  You can find plenty more examples for yourself.  Search away, friends, or just read this or this.

Second, cutting investments in unproven missile defense systems and weaponizing space: If it doesn’t work, and we can’t prove that it will, even after trying, why are we paying for it?  Enough said.

Back to the Obama speech:

Third, I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons. To seek that goal, I will not develop new nuclear weapons. I will seek a global ban on the production of fissile material, and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBMs off hair trigger alert and achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals.

It is one thing to be aware of your surroundings and to be prepared for the worst, but it is another to think that everyone is out to get you.

What Obama is saying in this part of his speech is that we have to work and negotiate for multilateral disarmament.  He is not saying we are giving up our defenses to leave us unprotected. 

Now, I understand, not having the largest stash of destructive gear seems a bit scary. Additionally, it may seem scary to negotiate with people, especially with those that we don’t always find agreement with. Instead of freaking out, however, let us consider these wise words:

Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war -- as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years -- I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.”
- Dwight D Eisenhower

Also, keep in mind, the very recent news about North Korea. North Korea is being removed from the United State’s list of nations that support terrorists, a.k.a. The Axis of Evil.

Why is this happening? Well, if you click on that link in the paragraph before this, the first sentence you would read is this: “The Bush administration hailed North Korea's declaration of its nuclear program as a success for the multilateral diplomacy it engaged in through the six party talks with South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.”

See the words, “multilateral diplomacy”?

When Barack Obama talks about negotiating with other countries, and setting goals of achieving a world with fewer weapons or no weapons, this is the type of accomplishment he seeks. This was also the goal President Eisenhower called for in his final speech as Commander in Chief (see above quote or read the full speech).

In case you don’t have time to check out President Eisenhower’s complete speech, here is how he closed:

To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration:
We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.

Peace be with you.

P.S. Thursday Corn closed at $7.54 and Beans closed at $15.74

What Are We? Communists?

By: BossE Stone

June 17th

Remember in history class when you learned that the communist Soviet Union's infrastructure crumbled while all of the state's money was being spent on the military?  Keep that in mind as you read this post.

I live in Portland, OR now, but I lived most of my life in The Midwest, specifically Illinois and Iowa and more specifically in river towns along the Illinois River and later the Mississippi. It was a rite of spring to move my grandparents from their home into an apartment before the Illinois River would surround their house.

In 1993, I detasseled corn in the flood-swamped cornfields around Ft Madison, IA. (Click here for a bit on detasseling). That year my parents’ home, which is usually 5 blocks from the Mississippi was 1/2 a block and water was in the basement.

I haven’t heard what the water level in Ft Madison is today, but I can guess that it is coming up. My dad spent all of Father’s Day working on sandbagging and other flood relief efforts.

Cedar Rapids, IA was my home for 3 years before I moved to Portland, OR. My heart jumped and I teared up when I saw the pictures on the front page of CNN.com on Thursday and again when a friend sent a link to his blog http://cedarrapidsflood2008.blogspot.com/.

As much as I don’t want to look at this and other natural disasters through a political lens, the policies that are needed can’t be overlooked. We are in a war where our National Guard is being used to fight and not protect our home land and the cost of the war has left gaps in the budget for a hugely important security issue: infrastructure.

We are now in the $500 Billion range for the cost of the war in Iraq. I’m not taking this time to argue right or wrong about that war. It is a part of our lives and it is costing us over $500 BILLION. Instead of paying for the war with a surcharge, as had been done for wars like the Civil War, WWI, WWII and Viet Nam, taxes were cut.

Goldman Sachs International Vice Chair, Robert D. Hormats said this in a March, 2008 interview:

...If you’re going to have a war, you should figure out how to finance it in a responsible way, as has been done in the past. As I was saying earlier, this is the first major war where we’ve had no tax increase. We’ve had a tax cut. It’s the first major war where we’ve had increases in non-essential, non-security-related domestic spending. It’s the first war which is financed entirely, almost entirely, by supplementals. No other war has that been the case. Even Vietnam was only 25 percent supplementals. This war has been paid for by borrowing. And 40 percent of that comes from abroad. So you’re not only building up debt, you’re building up debt to other countries. We really haven’t had that sort of rigorous oversight that the founding fathers anticipated there would be. And I think that has meant that many of the war costs haven’t been very transparent, and you haven’t had a debate on how to finance the war. Those are the kinds of issues that we need to think about as we go forward.

Back to Iowa, and infrastructure. Iowa is one of 29 states that are facing a budget shortfall for the 2009 Fiscal Year. Iowa’s gap was $350 million. As of last Sunday, Governor Culver had declared 83 of the state’s 99 counties as disaster areas. Some of these counties had already been declared disaster areas when tornadoes hit in May. Dealing with such high levels of damage in so many areas will surely add to the budget problems.

Other states on the list of budget challenged states are Minnesota and Wisconsin. In Minnesota, where the I-35 Bridge collapsed last year, they have a shortage of $935 million. In Wisconsin, another state hit hard by the flooding, the budget was estimated as being short $652 million.

Oregon, Colorado and North Carolina, three states not on the list of bankrupt states, still have looming infrastructure issues with bridges and roads. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates NC’s bridge repairs at $8 billion. This includes repairing or replacing a bridge that is being eaten by some sort of underwater termite. Colorado has 122 bridges needing repair with an estimated cost of $1.5 billion. The bridge replacement project in Oregon, to replace a 100 year-old bridge that is no longer seismically sound is estimated as costing up to $4.2 billion.

All these things don’t add up to $500 billion.

To add to the madness of cutting revenue, Sen. McCain has given us the idea of a gas tax moratorium. So, not only would we be charging the war, we could completely neglect the rebuilding and repairing of our infrastructure.

The gas tax is what pays for the basics in road maintenance. To do away with that, means more of the needed repairs will go left for another time, or another disaster.

Sen. McCain told Newsweek in a June 16, 2008, interview, “There are threats to our economy that are incredibly serious…” He’s absolutely right. He just doesn’t realize that he and the policies he has supported of the Bush Administration are those incredibly serious threats.

And just in case you are keeping tabs on the agricultural futures, corn closed at $7.60 and beans at $15.34.

John McCain: Not the Answer to Food, Fuel Problems

By: BossE Stone

Crap, here it is, Tuesday morning, hmm, or Thursday night, and I am supposed to have given you some sort of insightful post on how the Democrats should go about solidifying votes from the working class. This post has been started several times over and every time, no matter the outlines, I seem to have trouble solidifying my thoughts on this.

Perhaps it is because we really shouldn’t lump the “working class” voters all into one pile.

I was in seven states doing campaign work this primary season.  Most of the time my conversations at the doors and over the phone were with “working class voters.”  More specifically with union members from the coalition of unions known as “Labor for Hillary.”

Of course, I didn’t talk to every union member in every state, but I can honestly say that in each state I worked, there were varying, but consistent attitudes about the election and about the candidates.

The one thing that remained consistent from Iowa to Montana was the economy.

In Iowa, when I asked a man who wasn’t sure who he was supporting for President what his main concern was he responded, “With corn at four and beans at eleven, I don’t know what to think.”

I grew up in corn and bean country, but I was having trouble wrapping my head around that statement.

Farm product futures are not my forte. Did he mean that as a consumer, the rising costs of corn and beans would make products made from them go up and create a bit of a crunch for consumers?  Or did he mean that as a farmer, with the rising price of beans and corn, things were looking good?

Fortunately, someone else picked up the conversation and switched it to gun control.

Gun control is a distraction and I pointed this out.  Having a gun and being able to shoot it at something may yield food during hunting season, but guns for the most part don’t put food on the table. Conversation redirect and we are back on economic issues and how the Republicans typically don’t support things like increased wages and the rising cost of health care that so many workers deal with.

Somehow, I realized that from either way he was looking at it, this was an indicator of our economic situation.  Perhaps it was solidified when talking to a co-worker about bio-fuels. He believes that bio-fuels are the answer to energy.  I quickly thought about “corn at 4 and beans at 11” and realized that we were in a heap of trouble if we kept up the pace of replacing our food crops for fuel crops. 

Of course, this is an overly simplified thought process of what is actually happening, and doesn’t include many other factors we are now seeing.

However, the cost of things kept coming up in my conversations, whether it was food, fuel, health care or a combination of those.

In fact, one of my final conversations with a voter just outside of Missoula, MT was on the topic of the economy.  The family’s storage freezer door had been left open and she was trying to figure out how she was going to cook all that wasn’t already bad.  The family couldn’t afford to replace all that had been or could have been lost in the incident, because of the rising cost of fuel and food.

So, what does this all mean?

It means that the economic policies of Bush and Company have not worked for those of us who have to work, which is pretty much everyone.

Moe importantly, what do we do about it?

For starters, let’s stop giving tax breaks and government bailouts to failed companies.  Let’s start investing in long term solutions that help our growth, not in bailing out our failed MBAs.

We also need to look at health care reform. 

John McCain’s plan sure isn’t going to cut it.  That’s a topic soon to be addressed as well.

Finally, for the record, corn futures were at 739.50 cents per bushel today. Yep, that’s $7.40 with the rounding.  Beans are at $15.17.  A huge part of the large jump in prices is weather related, but the climb in prices started long before the weather hit.

While prices continue to exponentially increase, the woman I met in Missoula continues to suffer more and more. 

It is time for a new direction in America, it is time to follow a new path.  No matter who you may have supported in the Democratic Primary, John McCain is not the person to lead us down that new path.

Obama, Democrats Will Need Women Voters

Sen. Barack Obama is all but the official nominee at this point, and hopefully that will change today.

Despite record turn-out for the Democrats, those of us supporting Obama can’t become complacent and think that Obama already has a solid win in the bag in November against Sen. McCain.  There are a number of issues/voting blocs that need to be considered and addressed to ensure a victory.  My next few posts, including this one, will cover these topics.

First up, the ladies. This is a topic I can speak to with some authority.  According to the US Census Report, "Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2004" by Kelly Holder, of people eligible to vote, 74% of women were registered to vote compared to 71% of men. Of those 74% of registered women voters, 65% actually voted compared to 62% of the men.

That is not something to dismiss.  Of course all of these women aren’t going to vote for a Democrat no matter who the candidate is.  However, attention must be paid to the women who are likely to vote for a Democrat.  Selecting a woman as a running make would make a lot of women happy, especially those who supported Clinton on the basis of gender.  (Side note: I do not condone voting for someone solely on the basis of gender, race, religion, etc.)

I am not advocating for an Obama-Clinton ticket.  Many in the media and the blogosphere have discussed that possibility, but there are many other capable women out there.  Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas are two that immediately come to mind.  Both would make outstanding Vice Presidents.

This is not to say that we must have a woman as Barack Obama's Vice President, but much focus and many policy positions will need to be brought up concerning women in order to beat John McCain.  There is no doubt Sen. McCain is weak on women's issues and a stark contrast between Obama and McCain needs to be shown.  Issues like healthcare, pay equity and family leave need to be front and center during this campaign.  We'll need to know that our leaders are genuinely concerned and ready to tackle issues of importance to women.

For those worried about the potential negative reaction to a minority/woman ticket, let it go. Voters all over the country have registered, turned out and voted for the minority candidate and the woman candidate.  Many of those voters are not going to support McCain.  They, like most other Americans, don’t want more of the same.

Proof: Clinton and Obama have consistently had more votes in most of the states than the winning Republican candidate.

And in Ohio for example, Obama recieved 979,025 had more votes than McCain and Huckabee's 961,837 combined. Check out the NY Times Election Results pages to see for yourself.

Do those encouraging numbers from important swing states like Ohio mean that the Democrats have it in the bag?  No, but making sure women don’t get shunned is a key piece of the puzzle for a Democratic victory this fall.

Next time, the Working Class, another topic close to my heart.

Plus for all of BossE Stone's Posts click here.