My humans went to see Barack Obama speak in Westminster, Colorado today! Their favorite line from Barack's speech:
"[John McCain] likes to talk about how he'll take on the corporate lobbyists in Washington, but he put seven of them in charge of his campaign. And if you think those lobbyists are working day and night to elect my opponent just to put themselves out of business, well I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska."
- Starbuck
www.cats4obama.com
We have gotten great responses from so many of you who've been reading our blog! Thanks for the comments and emails. If you want to get in touch, use the contact form link on the right side or the comment link after a specific post. Here are a few of the nice comments we've gotten from dogs, cats, and their people around the country...
From: Malkovich, Mama, Pandora, Bella, Bianca, Ruby, and Tiger
Just found your blog and, as Democats for Obama, love it and find it very informative. We agree that McCain and Palin would be disastrous for not only the people of this country but for the animals as well. What does Palin have against polar bears, wolves, moose and cats anyway? I mean, we like to curl up to stuffed animals, but the plush variety, as opposed to the dead variety. The McCain/Palin ticket is just horrible and spells disaster to us all, including our humans. Keep up the good work of informing the public of McCain/Palin's misguided stance on the issues.
Respectfully, Pandora P.S. Midnight and I could be twins
Starbuck and Midnight - I completely agree with your analysis [of the tax plans]. Thanks for the chart - great illustration that I am planning to forward on to others that have not yet decided to support Obama.
Sincerely, Sadie Dog (not normally a friend to cats, but any friend of Obama is a friend of mine)
Hurray for you, more power to the cats of the world - Cindy, Colorado
Very cute! Josie the cat is definitely for Obama as well. - Beth, California
You are among like-minded people around here! Go CATS! Any chance we can get some of them to move to Ohio or Florida? - Suzanne, Washington
Hey! It's true, my cat Kate loves Obama! I showed her your blog and she was so excited she chased her tail. - L.V., Colorado
I really like the site. I will pass it on. - Alan, Colorado
You are hysterical! Keep up the good work. - Michele, Colorado
Thanks for Obama for cats, as you can imagine, our 4 (!) cats are very excited about it. If McCain/Palin win this election I will completely lose faith in this country. - Eileen, Texas
Can our Colorado kitties join? Amanda Squirrel and Oliver are big Obama fans, too! This is awesome! Fun and serious at the same time. - Becky, Colorado
My two kitties have proclaimed to be DemoCATS, of course. I just dropped by to conCATulate you on a brilliant blog, and let's hope that we, as the human species, are wise enough to vote for leaders who have a record of protection and respect for our environment and our wild life.
Bravo! - Jo
Thanks to all of you! GO OBAMA!
- Midnight, Starbuck, & Apollo
www.cats4obama.com
Cats and people at our house all gathered around the TV last night to watch the first presidential debate. The consensus here - and among undecided voters in the polls immediately afterward - Obama won!
We thought he won because he showed his smarts, his calm command of the facts of complicated scenarios, and because just having visited a country does not make you right about what to do in foreign policy. I've been to the vet more times than I'd like to remember but that doesn't seem to make me an expert on veterinary medicine.
Why did we go to Iraq?
One of Barack's finest moments in the debate was when he listed the things about Iraq which John McCain was wrong about.
So we went to Iraq for all the wrong reasons. But what to do now? More than 4,000 Americans have been killed over there. It is very sad. McCain made the comment last night that we had to stay longer to somehow achieve some (undefined) victory in Iraq to make those American deaths mean something. But everyone here had to agree with Barack's response: When an American dies following the orders of our military commanders, that is never in vain and is inherently honorable. To say otherwise, as McCain does, is to allow us to parse the list of dead soldiers and decide that some died for nothing and others died for a good reason, that some are bad and others good. What a horrible thing to say to the families of fallen soldiers and to veterans of foreign wars.
Veterans
And speaking of veterans, McCain made an emotional plea at the very end about how he loved veterans and they knew he would care for them. There was no time left to rebut this comment but its no secret that quite a few veteran's organizations give McCain very poor grades on his support for and caring about Veterans.
The Disabled American Vets give McCain 20% and Obama 80% based on their voting records. McCain did not support the GI bill and other legislation supported by veterans. Despite opposing the war, Obama has always voted for troop financing with one exception where a troop financing bill did not contain language about troop withdrawal. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave McCain a "D" and Obama a "B" for their voting records. In addition, VoteVets.org has information, polls and commentary on military community's opposition to the Iraq war that McCain supports.
The Los Angeles Times took McCain up on a comment earlier this year to look at his record on veteran's affairs. They wrote: "Here is how he has stood on recent legislation supported by major veterans organizations:
* On Webb's GI Bill, he expressed opposition, and he was AWOL when it was time to vote on May 22.
* Last September, he voted against another Webb bill that would have mandated adequate rest for troops between combat deployments.
* On a badly needed $1.5-billion increase for veterans medical services for fiscal year 2007 -- to be funded through closing corporate tax loopholes -- he voted no. He also voted against establishing a trust fund to bolster under-budgeted veterans hospitals.
* In May 2006, he voted against a $20-billion allotment for expanding swamped veterans medical facilities.
* In April 2006, he was one of 13 Senate Republicans who voted against an amendment to provide $430 million for veterans outpatient care.
* In March 2004, he voted against and helped defeat on a party-line vote a $1.8-billion reserve for veterans medical care, also funded by closing tax loopholes."
Strategy v. Tactics
We cats thought McCain used rude and snide behavior when he probably was trying to be tough but his most outrageous statement was to rail that Obama does not understand the difference between strategy and tactics and then to go on to discuss a TACTIC, the troop surge, and say it was a STRATEGY! We were so glad to hear Joe Biden later in the evening point that out. What a blunder!
Obama's Plan for Iraq
Although McCain's best statement of the night was about looking forward, not back, where Iraq is concerned. He can't get much traction with that statement, though, because Obama has a forward thinking plan which he has been clear about for a long time. Obama’s plan would call for a phased recall of troops, having all of them home by summer 2010. That would mean that the war would have gone on for more that seven long years. Obama's Plan would also call for just a few troops to stay and eliminate the groups of al Qaeda that have spread to Iraq, thanks to our invasion. You can read the entire plan at www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq.
“Here is the truth: fighting a war without end will not force the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future. And fighting in a war without end will not make the American people safer.
So when I am Commander-in-Chief, I will set a new goal on day one: I will end this war. Not because politics compels it. Not because our troops cannot bear the burden- as heavy as it is. But because it is the right thing to do for our national security, and it will ultimately make us safer.”
—Barack Obama, Clinton, Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 19, 2008
Obama's plan adopted?
When Obama went to Iraq earlier this year, he discussed his plan with the Iraqis who endorsed its key ideas. Since that time, the Bush Administration negotiations with Iraq seemed to this cat to have followed pretty closely to Obama's plan. Just this week, though, in a television interview Iraq's prime minister said that they had stopped saying that the US withdraw of troops would happen by 2010, as Obama's plan stated, but 2011 instead. The reason? US domestic politics. Isn't that a subtle way of saying that Bush and McCain didn't want it to seem like Obama had paved the way for an agreement so they've used semantics to make the plan sound different? Or are we keeping US troops in Iraq longer than needed to help McCain's bid for the presidency rather than any military reason?
That stinks worse than my litterbox.
- Midnight
www.cats4obama.com
I CAN'T LOOK! TELL ME WHEN ITS OVER
Why is America in the current economic and banking crisis? If you've been reading our blog, you know that we are cats and our mission is to research and inform American voters. And if you're like us, that means you're cute, know how to find a sunny spot for a nap, and you're not that up on the history of banking in America. As the investigative cat of the group, I went online over the last few days to find out what I could.
HISTORY
What I learned was that several years into the Great Depression, in 1933, a large number of the commerical banks in America collapsed due to bad debt and the larger economic depresssion. During 1933, two laws were passed in the US Congress that are jointly known as the Glass-Steagall Act. These laws separated investment banking from commercial banking which was designed to curb speculation and it created the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) which insures your deposits in the bank. Under these regulations, a bank could not offer investment, commercial banking, and insurance services. The regulations in the Glass-Steagall act were designed to prevent a similar bank failure from happening again.
MCCAIN SUPPORTS REPEAL OF GLASS-STEAGALL
In 1999, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act repealed parts of the Glass-Steagall Act allowing commercial and investment banks to consolidate. This act loosened the restrictions on banks, brokerage houses, and insurance companies. John McCain was a supporter of this act and he voted for it. Phil Gramm is reported to be one of McCain's top economic advisors today.
Earlier this year McCain wrote about the success of bank deregulation and suggested it should be a model for the deregulation of the health care insurance market. "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."
McCAIN IN CURRENT CRISIS
On 60 Minutes this past Sunday (9/21), McCain said that he did not regret his support of deregulation of Wall Street. If you don't see the embedded video, watch it on YouTube.
Financial analysist and even conservative reporters are talking now about how McCain's handling of the events of the last week suggest that he is not the leader we need in the current economic situation. Albert Hunt on Bloomberg.com wrote that McCain stumbled and did not show a steady hand. He argued that the most revealing element was who each candidate turned to for advice on the financial situation - McCain's advisors were, in his estimation, much weaker. And McCain did not show an ability to converse easily on the economic situation and seemed uncomfortable with it to 'detatched observers.'
On ABC This Week September 21st, 2008, conservative columnist George Wills said,
"The question is, who in this crisis looked more presidential, calm and un-flustered? It wasn't John McCain who, as usual, substituting vehemence for coherence, said 'let's fire somebody.' And picked one of the most experienced and conservative people in the administration, Chris Cox, and for no apparent reason... It was un-presidential behavior by a presidential candidate." (go about half way into the clip linked above to see this part of the discussion)
The Washington Post wrote:
"A decade ago, Sen. John McCain embraced legislation to broadly deregulate the banking and insurance industries, helping to sweep aside a thicket of rules established over decades in favor of a less restricted financial marketplace that proponents said would result in greater economic growth. Now, ...the Republican presidential nominee is scrambling to recast himself as a champion of regulation to end "reckless conduct, corruption and unbridled greed" on Wall Street. McCain condemned the executives of failing companies for pursuing the very strategies the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act made possible and said that regulatory agencies in Washington were also to blame. This even though in March McCain told the Wall Street Journal, "I'm always for less regulation."
OBAMA LEADS IN CURRENT CRISIS
The ABC This Week panel went on to praise Senator Obama's calm and measured handling of the week's events and the quality of his advisors. The Bloomberg.com article also praises the towering financial minds that Obama has been turning to for advice on the economy. They point out that Obama "has called for the overhaul of the financial-regulatory system and tougher enforcement well before this past week....Detached observers who watched [Obama] last week, especially in a Bloomberg Television interview, were taken by how conversant and confortable he was on the subject..."
The Bloomberg.com article goes on to say, "Tellingly, three former SEC chairmen, a Democrat, Arthur Levitt, and two Republicans, David Ruder and Bill Donaldson, have endorsed Obama. Donaldson, who was tapped by Bush to head the SEC, says Obama called him last year about the financial-regulatory problems. He has never heard from McCain. "Obama has been talking about the need for better financial regulation well before this crisis hit and has done some real thinking about it,'' says Donaldson, a lifelong Republican. "McCain comes across as someone who suddenly realized changes have to be made.'"
AMERICANS TRUST OBAMA ON ECONOMY
Polls continue to show that most American's trust Obama over McCain to fix our economic problems. Events of the past week, and the candidates handling of those events, suggest to this cat that most American's are right on about this one!
-Starbuck
www.cats4obama.com
We cats are outraged by animal cruelty against our fellow predators or any animals. We also note with sadness that some people put oil company profits above protecting diversity of life on our planet. We think that all animal lovers, hunters, environmentalists and wildlife activists should be able to agree that the issues discussed in this post are unethical and deeply disturbing. We hope you will vote with the clear animal advocates in this election, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
ANIMAL RIGHTS VOTING RECORDS
We looked up the animal rights and wildlife voting records of Obama and McCain. In 2007, Obama voted in support of legislation backed by organizations like the Humane Society of the United States, the American Humane Association, and the Fund for Animals 75% of the time while McCain only voted with those organization's positions 25% of the time. Senator Biden also voted with animal rights and wildlife organizations 75% of the time.
The kinds of animal rights and wildlife issues dealt with in the US Senate include: protections for animals used in research, cruelty issues like the banning of dogfighting, legislation on pet food safety, farm animal issues like antibiotics overuse, legislation to make statements against whaling and seal hunting in other countries, and wildlife protections such as computer aided remote hunting, trade in primates, and protecting Alaskan wolves from aerial hunting.
Although overall the cats behind this blog believe the issues of this campaign should focus primarily on the positions of the presidential candidates, we've noticed that the selection of a vice presidential running mate says a lot about the values of a presidental candidate as well.
AERIAL HUNTING OF WOLVES
Maybe you've already heard that as Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin has supported the killing of wolves from airplanes and helicopters. In addition to supporting this existing practice, in 2007 she introduced a bounty of $150 for the left foreleg of wolves killed through the aerial hunting program, she introduced legislation to make it even easier to use aircraft to hunt wolves and bears, and she approved the use of state funds to promote the practice.
Shooting animals from aircraft is not humane - a hunter cannot kill an animal quickly and humanely under those circumstances and its obviously not fair chase hunting. As felines, we're hunters by nature and we also know quite few human hunters. The hunters we know have a strong sense of ethics and sportsmanship. Key among those ethics are the "clean kill" - killing with a minimum of suffering - and "fair chase" - the hunter should not have an unfair advantage in stalking his prey. At the heart of this issue is the question of whether or not you assume that a wolf deserves the same humane death as other game species, or whether as a predator it should be killed by whatever means is most efficient to control its population. We may just be cats from Colorado, but it seems to us that more humane methods of managing Alaska wildlife must be available.
The Defenders of Wildlife have put together a video on this issue. Please be warned, it is disturbing. If you don't see the embedded video below, click here to view on YouTube.
POLAR BEARS
Sarah Palin has also been actively working to block the Polar Bear from being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Just this August, Alaska filed a suit against the federal government for listing the polor bear as threatened because that would harm oil development in the state. Palin wrote a statement to accompany the suit. Since a perponderance of evidence shows that oil and gas development in Alaska will do next to nothing to reduce gas prices or to decrease our dependence on foreign oil, the motivation appears to be entirely to benefit oil companies. You can read more about the Polar Bear's predicament at the National Wildlife Federation website. As is eloquently expressed in Our Polar Bears, Ourselves, "preserving other species is not an act of charity; it is essential to our own survival."
Michael Markarian who blogs for the Humane Society Legislative Fund has written two informative posts covering the records of the VP candidates in even more detail. In particular, he discusses Joe Biden's long record in support of animals and Sarah Palin's record of inhumanity toward animals.
- Midnight, Starbuck, & Apollo
www.Cats4Obama.com
Midnight is hoping for ...
A president who supports humane treatment of animals!
Luckily for us, cats don't pay taxes. Strictly speaking this is probably because we don't have an income, but lets not get sidetracked. This post is about taxes for humans and we cats had to do some pretty hard core research to figure this one out. The sources for our data are linked in this article but be warned, they could lead to headaches!
Its hard to get to the bottom of the taxes issue and lots of words have been flying around. Luckily for us, the non-partisan Tax Policy Center has analyzed both Obama and McCain's tax proposals and figured out what they would mean to the American taxpayer.
BOTTOM LINE
In brief, Obama's plan addresses the growing inequality in America by giving middle and lower income families the most tax breaks and by increasing taxes on corporations. McCain's plan, in contrast, benefits the wealthy and corporations. McCain's plan is the most expensive and would decrease tax revenue by 4.2 Trillion over 10 years and add 5.1 Trillion to our national debt. Obama's plan would reduce tax revenue by 2.9 Trillion over 10 years and add 3.6 Trillion to our national debt.
If you click on this chart, taken right from the Tax Policy Center executive summary, it will open up a larger version and you can better see the data and my annotations.
THE CHART
The light gray bars are for Obama's plan and the dark gray are for McCain.
I've circled in green the bottom three income categories where Obama's plan clearly benefits taxpayers more. I've put a yellow highlight on the top income group where McCain's plan clearly benefits people the most.
OBAMA TAX BREAKS FOR LOW AND MIDDLE INCOME
Here's what the Tax Policy Center said about this:
The two candidates' tax plans would have sharply different distributional effects. Senator McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts that would, on average, raise their after-tax incomes by more than twice the average for all households. Many fewer households at the bottom of the income distribution would get tax cuts and those tax cuts would be small as a share of after-tax income. In marked contrast, Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers. The largest tax cuts, as a share of income, would go to those at the bottom of the income distribution, while taxpayers with the highest income would see their taxes rise significantly.
THE VERY WEALTHY
On the far right of this chart, you can see the impact of these two tax proposals on the very wealthy. The top 1.5% of Americans make $250,000 or more per year and the top 0.1% of Americans make $1,600,000 per year. Those income groups will see huge tax savings under the McCain plan while Obama will increase their taxes by a few percentage points. I got out the calculator (a pretty amazing feat considering I don't have opposable thumbs) to see what kind of money the McCain tax breaks for the wealthy represent. If you make $300,000 in 2012 and this tax reduction is 9% then that's $27,000 more for you to keep. If you make $1,600,000 in 2012 and this tax savings is 11%, you get to keep $176,000 more. The McCain tax cut proposal for the top .1% in income means that they get a tax break that is three times higher than the average Colorado human's yearly income!
CORPORATIONS
Another important part of these tax plans is about the taxes that corporations pay. Obama would raise corporate taxes while McCain would reduce corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise under Obama's plan.
WHAT DO WE THINK?
If people voted based purely on self-interest and tax savings, about 80% of households should vote for Obama and only 20% for McCain. This is based on 2006 Census information as reported in Wikipedia which says that 79.98% of households make less than 100k per year. Its also based on data which says that the "top quintile" in the table above starts at $111k per year. That's the only group which gets a personal tax advantage from the McCain plan.
Although we're just cats, we notice that our humans are interested in more than just money. For example, they are really crazy about cats and spoil us like crazy! They also believe in the value of a society without extreme inequality. They've heard that the middle class is disappearing, the wealthy are getting wealthier, and everyone else getting poorer. My people like the Obama plan because it means greater equality. Today inequality in America is INCREASED by our tax system - that means there is a greater difference between the rich and the poor after everyone pays taxes (see p.21 in link for reference). We like that the Obama plan works to reverse that effect.
- Starbuck & Midnight
www.Cats4Obama.com
Did you and your cats watch David Letterman last night? Barack Obama was on The Late Show with David Letterman and he gave a really interesting interview. Dave and Barack talked about real issues like what Barack would have done differently if he had been president on September 11th, 2001 and how he would specifically do things differently in Afghanistan today.
We cats took some notes about what Barack said:
Right now the Late Show has only posted the first 7 minutes of the interview. Its great, but the entire hour would be worth your time if you can find it on your Tivo or your neighbor's Tivo or your neighbor's cat's Tivo... Anyway, if you want to get to know Barack better. Click on the picture below or here on this text. The video cannot be embedded here in our post so the link will take you to the CBS server. enjoy!
- Midnight, Apollo, & Starbuck
www.cats4obama.com
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