http://theissueslist.blogspot.com/
No Fear, No Compromise, and No Surrender This Fall
Some Reasons Why I Cannot Vote for Obama
I refuse to surrender to fear and compromise with evil.
by Tim Flanagan,
contributing editor of The Portland Alliance
This editorial piece does not necessarily reflect the views
of NAAME, Inc. This information based on public records.
1. He did not even propose the public option healthcare system:
he campaigned on that system, promising to propose it.
Instead he orchestrated putting insurance cartels in charge of
our health care delivery system, with mandated payments
according to rates determined by this industry. A sellout,
pure and simple. He took universal nonprofit heatlh care off
the table, instead of taking the transnational insurance cartel
profiteers off the table.
2. He has appointed countless Wall Street Insiders to his top
economic team and failed to appoint labor voices and/or
progressive advocates.
3. He bailed out Wall Street instead of Main Street: remember
TARP? And then the banks dispensed $6 billion in bonuses in
that year to their executives. Americans are losing their homes,
often due to outrageous medical expenses and corporate fraud.
Where is our bail out? We got sold out.
4. He failed to attack the mortgage crisis, leaving an elephant
still in our “room”, with one-third of home mortgages now
underwater and no relief in sight.
5. He failed to veto the National Defense Authorization Act, and
made no effort to restore habeas corpus. Instead of closing
Gitmo, ending indiscriminate wiretapping, and banning
"rendering," Obama has endorsed government arrests and
indefinite prison without a trial or hearing, including the
possibility of rendering Americans to be tortured, raped, or
murdered overseas.
6. He agreed to an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich,
and on top of this, he agreed to an egregious reduction of estate
taxes on the rich, exempting as much as $10 million from any
estate taxes and lowering the overall estate tax rate.
7. He failed to indict and imprison any of the banksters involved
in all of that fraud on Wall Street from the subprime mortgage,
including robo-signing, and selling shit-backed mortgage
securities known to be worthless. And he has refused to
prosecute war profiteers who cost us trillions of dollars in
resources and millions of lives. Hold them accountable!
8. He appointed Jeffrey Immelt to head his Jobs Council when GE
has been selling us up the Yangste river and shipping jobs over-
seas while closing plants here in the US. It is time for jobs with
justice on American soil. We must inveset in rebuilding our
infrastructure as a matter of job security and national security.
9. President Obama is now considering and proposing to lower the
corporate tax rate to 26%, when corporations are not only at a
low-time rate of paying taxes but getting billions in tax
subsidies from our government and opening up offices on the
19th floor of one building on the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes
altogether. The corporate elite should pay their fair share.
Currently the average Fortune 500 corporation pays 8.4%
in taxes. (If they pay any at all.)
10. President Obama spoke in favor of PIPA and SOPA, when the
internet is the last vestige of free speech and the availability of
free information to the general public.
11. There were no indictments by President Obama of all the con-
tractor fraud reported by Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul in a
Congressional Report released over a year ago. Whenever the
rich and big corporations are caught in fraud, Eric Holder adopts
a policy of “looking forward”, instead of holding them account-
able. So they smile, take it to the bank, and do it again.
12. President Obama agreed to a “grand bargain” t) to cut over $2
trillion in spending, including social security, medicare, medicaid,
and other social safety-net programs merely in return for
hypothetical “revenue increases” of $800 billion relying on
“dynamic scoring”. And he endorsed continuing corporate
wars of aggression and exploitation whose expense continues
to suck us dry.
13. President Obama has done nothing to level the trade treaties,
where corporations are shipping labor to Cambodia and to
China, the Philippines, etc., where labor is paid 25 cents or less
per hour. This is exporting slavery to other countries. Where is
the level playing field for Americans? We need fair trade not
corporate welfare.
14. President Obama in 2009 only proposed $140 billion in infra-
structure spending when Paul Krugman and other economists
predicted that $1.5 trillion was needed for our economy to
recover. And last year only proposed a paltry $108 billion in
infrastructure spending. If we ended the corporate wars of
exploitation abroad, we could bring home the troops and begin
rebuilding America. These project would create jobs with justice
and all ships would rise.
15. President Obama praised the recent JOBS Act, which allows
corporations to go public and raise capital without audited
financial information in their public presentations for the first 5
years, allowing them to present fictitious numbers and defraud
investors. He is not on our side.
16. President Obama has failed to propose the return of Glass-
Steagall, separating commercial and investment banking, which
will soon plunge us back into another mega-bailout of Wall Street.
17. President Obama has failed to propose the break up of the big
banks and corporations. Whatever happened to the Sherman
Anti-Trust Act? We need responsible remediation and regulation
so that deep pocket transnationals don't call the shots and hurt
most American taxpayers.
18. President Obama touted a $25 billion robo-signing settlement
when a trillion dollars of our pension and retirement funds were
stolen. Instead we should hold them accountable, put the
profiteers in jail, and demand full reparations.
19. While campaigning, President Obama promised to put on his
walking shoes for labor, but failed to even show up in Wisconsin
and walk the picket line against Governor Walker.
20. President Obama has not declared war on the Supreme Court,
as President Roosevelt did, to oppose the corporate/rich posture
of Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts. Why not take
them on?
21. President Obama has arrested and raided more marijuana users
in less than four years than George Bush did in eight years. Why
is President Obama proposing cuts to social security, medicare,
and medicaid while spending more on marijuana arrests and
raids, especially when a majority of Americans are for legalization
of pot and for the open sale of marijuana for medical use?
22. Obama endorses the murder of US prisoners. This results in
innocent deaths and does not deter crime. This posture is in
violation of international law and treaties we have signed.
23. Obama embraces the Bush Doctrine: he claims we have a "right"
to attack anyone, anywhere, anytime, for any reason, or without
providing any reason at all. This is dangerous, short-sighted, and
puts this nation and our troops overseas at avoidable risk.
24. Obama support offshore drilling and drilling in protected habitats.
24. Obama has not adequately addressed our failing schools. We
need to put teachers back in charge and get untrained school
board members out of the classroom. Trained professional
educators can to a better job than local untrained business owners.
25. Obama has betrayed those who voted for him on every issue
at every turn. He has governed like a right-wing hawk. He plays
fast and loose with human lives and embraces corporatism, even
when this posture costs trillions of dollars in profiteering and
corruption while making us less safe. This bad judgement has
crippled this nation and made us less effective in negotiations
around the globe. Instead of a rising tide we have sinking ships.
We need effective, principled, progressive leadership to build
bridges to a more prosperous and promising future.
26. Obama has not even bothered to address our economic crisis.
He has not addressed homelessness, declining wages, hunger,
joblessness, and critical infrastructure: housing, parks, highways,
bridges, ports, electrical grids, schools, libraries, research facilities,
and so much more.
27. Obama sends drones overseas to bomb sovereign nations (an
act of war). This aggression costs innocent lives and creates
more enemies. It is also illegal according to US law,
constitutional mandates, and international law.
No Fear, No Compromise, and No Surrender This Fall
Some Reasons Why I Cannot Vote for Obama
I refuse to surrender to fear and compromise with evil.
by Tim Flanagan,
contributing editor of The Portland Alliance
This editorial piece does not necessarily reflect the views
of NAAME, Inc. This information based on public records.
1. He did not even propose the public option healthcare system:
he campaigned on that system, promising to propose it.
Instead he orchestrated putting insurance cartels in charge of
our health care delivery system, with mandated payments
according to rates determined by this industry. A sellout,
pure and simple. He took universal nonprofit heatlh care off
the table, instead of taking the transnational insurance cartel
profiteers off the table.
2. He has appointed countless Wall Street Insiders to his top
economic team and failed to appoint labor voices and/or
progressive advocates.
3. He bailed out Wall Street instead of Main Street: remember
TARP? And then the banks dispensed $6 billion in bonuses in
that year to their executives. Americans are losing their homes,
often due to outrageous medical expenses and corporate fraud.
Where is our bail out? We got sold out.
4. He failed to attack the mortgage crisis, leaving an elephant
still in our “room”, with one-third of home mortgages now
underwater and no relief in sight.
5. He failed to veto the National Defense Authorization Act, and
made no effort to restore habeas corpus. Instead of closing
Gitmo, ending indiscriminate wiretapping, and banning
"rendering," Obama has endorsed government arrests and
indefinite prison without a trial or hearing, including the
possibility of rendering Americans to be tortured, raped, or
murdered overseas.
6. He agreed to an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich,
and on top of this, he agreed to an egregious reduction of estate
taxes on the rich, exempting as much as $10 million from any
estate taxes and lowering the overall estate tax rate.
7. He failed to indict and imprison any of the banksters involved
in all of that fraud on Wall Street from the subprime mortgage,
including robo-signing, and selling shit-backed mortgage
securities known to be worthless. And he has refused to
prosecute war profiteers who cost us trillions of dollars in
resources and millions of lives. Hold them accountable!
8. He appointed Jeffrey Immelt to head his Jobs Council when GE
has been selling us up the Yangste river and shipping jobs over-
seas while closing plants here in the US. It is time for jobs with
justice on American soil. We must inveset in rebuilding our
infrastructure as a matter of job security and national security.
9. President Obama is now considering and proposing to lower the
corporate tax rate to 26%, when corporations are not only at a
low-time rate of paying taxes but getting billions in tax
subsidies from our government and opening up offices on the
19th floor of one building on the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes
altogether. The corporate elite should pay their fair share.
Currently the average Fortune 500 corporation pays 8.4%
in taxes. (If they pay any at all.)
10. President Obama spoke in favor of PIPA and SOPA, when the
internet is the last vestige of free speech and the availability of
free information to the general public.
11. There were no indictments by President Obama of all the con-
tractor fraud reported by Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul in a
Congressional Report released over a year ago. Whenever the
rich and big corporations are caught in fraud, Eric Holder adopts
a policy of “looking forward”, instead of holding them account-
able. So they smile, take it to the bank, and do it again.
12. President Obama agreed to a “grand bargain” t) to cut over $2
trillion in spending, including social security, medicare, medicaid,
and other social safety-net programs merely in return for
hypothetical “revenue increases” of $800 billion relying on
“dynamic scoring”. And he endorsed continuing corporate
wars of aggression and exploitation whose expense continues
to suck us dry.
13. President Obama has done nothing to level the trade treaties,
where corporations are shipping labor to Cambodia and to
China, the Philippines, etc., where labor is paid 25 cents or less
per hour. This is exporting slavery to other countries. Where is
the level playing field for Americans? We need fair trade not
corporate welfare.
14. President Obama in 2009 only proposed $140 billion in infra-
structure spending when Paul Krugman and other economists
predicted that $1.5 trillion was needed for our economy to
recover. And last year only proposed a paltry $108 billion in
infrastructure spending. If we ended the corporate wars of
exploitation abroad, we could bring home the troops and begin
rebuilding America. These project would create jobs with justice
and all ships would rise.
15. President Obama praised the recent JOBS Act, which allows
corporations to go public and raise capital without audited
financial information in their public presentations for the first 5
years, allowing them to present fictitious numbers and defraud
investors. He is not on our side.
16. President Obama has failed to propose the return of Glass-
Steagall, separating commercial and investment banking, which
will soon plunge us back into another mega-bailout of Wall Street.
17. President Obama has failed to propose the break up of the big
banks and corporations. Whatever happened to the Sherman
Anti-Trust Act? We need responsible remediation and regulation
so that deep pocket transnationals don't call the shots and hurt
most American taxpayers.
18. President Obama touted a $25 billion robo-signing settlement
when a trillion dollars of our pension and retirement funds were
stolen. Instead we should hold them accountable, put the
profiteers in jail, and demand full reparations.
19. While campaigning, President Obama promised to put on his
walking shoes for labor, but failed to even show up in Wisconsin
and walk the picket line against Governor Walker.
20. President Obama has not declared war on the Supreme Court,
as President Roosevelt did, to oppose the corporate/rich posture
of Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts. Why not take
them on?
21. President Obama has arrested and raided more marijuana users
in less than four years than George Bush did in eight years. Why
is President Obama proposing cuts to social security, medicare,
and medicaid while spending more on marijuana arrests and
raids, especially when a majority of Americans are for legalization
of pot and for the open sale of marijuana for medical use?
22. Obama endorses the murder of US prisoners. This results in
innocent deaths and does not deter crime. This posture is in
violation of international law and treaties we have signed.
23. Obama embraces the Bush Doctrine: he claims we have a "right"
to attack anyone, anywhere, anytime, for any reason, or without
providing any reason at all. This is dangerous, short-sighted, and
puts this nation and our troops overseas at avoidable risk.
24. Obama support offshore drilling and drilling in protected habitats.
24. Obama has not adequately addressed our failing schools. We
need to put teachers back in charge and get untrained school
board members out of the classroom. Trained professional
educators can to a better job than local untrained business owners.
25. Obama has betrayed those who voted for him on every issue
at every turn. He has governed like a right-wing hawk. He plays
fast and loose with human lives and embraces corporatism, even
when this posture costs trillions of dollars in profiteering and
corruption while making us less safe. This bad judgement has
crippled this nation and made us less effective in negotiations
around the globe. Instead of a rising tide we have sinking ships.
We need effective, principled, progressive leadership to build
bridges to a more prosperous and promising future.
26. Obama has not even bothered to address our economic crisis.
He has not addressed homelessness, declining wages, hunger,
joblessness, and critical infrastructure: housing, parks, highways,
bridges, ports, electrical grids, schools, libraries, research facilities,
and so much more.
27. Obama sends drones overseas to bomb sovereign nations (an
act of war). This aggression costs innocent lives and creates
more enemies. It is also illegal according to US law,
constitutional mandates, and international law.
combined efforts of a broad swath of the 99%, from the Occupy Movement, existing May Day organizations, JWJ, The Alliance, Laughing Horse, KBOO, unions, and new and old groups who stand for peace, justice, freedom, and everyday people.
Navigation: Front Page / Activism / Interactive Calendar / Donate / Flyer / YouTube / Poster / Subscribe / Place Ad / Ad Rates / OnlineAds / Advertising
Calendar / Twitter / News! / Previous Issues / Jobs / Live Music & Arts / Blog/ Myspace/ Poetry / Progressive Directory / Facebook1 / Facebook2
Features:Active Community / Arts & Culture / BreakingNews / NewsBytes / Cartoons /Letters / Viewpoints & Commentary
Columns: / William Beeman, Ellen Brown, Tom Engelhardt / Dennis Kucinich / Michael Munk /William Reed / Schwebke / Norman Solomon / Vorpahl
Partners: Alliance for Democracy AFD / AMA / Bread & Roses / CAUSA/ CLG/ FSP /ISO / Jobs with Justice / KBOO / Labor Radio / LGBTQ / Occupy /
Occupy PDX / Peace House / The 99% / Peaceworker / PCASC / PPRC /Street Roots / Truthout / Urban League / VFP / Voz / Wittner
Topics: A-M AIPACCivil Rights / Coal / Death Penalty / Education / F-29 / Environment / Health / Homelessness / Middle East /
Topics: N-Z Occupy Blog /Peace / Persian /Police/Tri-Met / Union /VDay / War &Peace / Women/ Writing / WritingResource
Coming Soon:A Few Words / MRG / Service Directory / Editing / Flyers / Ground View / Flying Focus / Literacy / Rashad