Except for those members of the Facebook group, “Thank You President Bush,” or members of the Facebook group, “Amend the constitution, Bush Cheney 08,” I believe taking the decisions, facts, and other evidence regarding the Bush Administration’s reckless and obtuse behavior, no reasonable or informed individual, honestly considering reality, can argue that the Bush Administration has been an instrument of positive change.
More at The Huffington Post and the NYTimes.com.
Personally, I believe we should be more sensible about where we build our homes. Areas that are susceptible to extreme beach erosion, hurricanes, mudslides, sea-level rise, and wildfires should be left as natural landscape or wildlife refuges. Large scale economic waste will render nugatory any efforts for America to become energy independent or build a more sustainable economy. From The Associated Press:
The reason: A 1959 law known as the Texas Open Beaches Act. Under the law, the strip of beach between the average high-tide line and the average low-tide line is considered public property, and it is illegal to build anything there.
Over the years, the state has repeatedly invoked the law to seize houses in cases where a storm eroded a beach so badly that a home was suddenly sitting on public property. The aftermath of Ike could see the biggest such use of the law in Texas history.
. . .
[T]he area’s homeowners should not be surprised.
“Every one of them was warned of that in their earnest money contract, in the deed they received, in the title policy they bought,” he said. “And whether you like it or not, neither the Constitution of the United States nor the state of Texas nor any law permits you to have a structure on state-owned property that’s subject to the flow of the tide.”
Images courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). More images can be found at the USGS.
John McCain has voted against higher fuel efficient standards, does not support ending tax breaks for Big Oil, and has voted against renewable energy development. As a result, John McCain is against genuine energy independence.
In a time when we need more regulation of financial markets, John McCain is a supporter of less regulation. Historically, just like President George W. Bush, McCain is a deregulator. However, deregulation has been disastrous in sectors like the housing market and airline industry, and Republicans want to deregulate environmental regulations such as the Endangered Species Act. Fortunately, the environmental movement is strong and has been a very effective watchdog against the Bush Administration’s efforts to repeal and weaken environmental regulation.
The answer isn’t market regulation or letting industry voluntarily regulate itself. We must regulate the necessary and deregulate the unnecessary. I am perplexed with the Republican’s (President George W. Bush and Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain) fetish for deregulation when they have ultimately created more government in areas we could do without.
Furthermore, what if President George W. Bush was allowed to privatize social security, and individuals were allowed to bet their social security against the stock market?
Folks blame the Democratic-controlled Congress as much as they blame George W. Bush. However, the Democratic-controlled Congress has been forced to compromise with Republicans on legislation that a true Democratic-controlled Congress would never pass. At some point, compromise will leave legislation ineffective.
Anyhow, here is a look at McCain’s support for less regulation in the past decade:
From CNN (Apr 26, 1999):
But ask him about the rest of his message, and McCain dutifully recites a list of issues he says “resonate” with voters: “lower taxes, smaller government, less regulation, Social Security [and] Medicare.” His heart just doesn’t seem in it.
From NewsHour (Oct 15, 1999):
SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Well, I would argue that I have 17 years of legislative experience with a clear voting record of a strong conservative. I believe in smaller governments, stronger defense, lower taxes, less regulation, encouragement of entrepreneurship, encouragement of legal immigration. I think that my fundamental philosophies and beliefs are very clear, and I have articulated them for years and years. And most importantly, I voted on them.
From Providence Journal (Oct 5, 2006):
Along the way, he addressed Whitehouse’s central theme – that a vote for Chafee is a vote to keep the national GOP in control in Washington. “If you believe in less government, less regulation, stronger military, better national security and a number of other principles of the Republican Party, then I think you would choose Lincoln Chafee,” McCain said.
From FOXNews (Oct 11, 2006):
MCCAIN: I think we need to be serious about ethics and lobbying reform. I think we need to get back to our stewardship of tax dollars in a way that conservative Republicans will be proud of us. Less government, less regulation, et cetera. We’re going to have to do a better job.
But I’m proud of our economy. I’m proud of our low unemployment.
From Waukegan News Sun (Feb 17, 2007):
McCain said he would use “straight talk” to woo voters in the state’s primary, scheduled for March 18, 2008.
“I’m going to compete on issues that are important to the people of Illinois and the people of this country. Return to the principles of Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan — less government, less regulation, lower taxes, strong national security policy,” he said.
From John McCain’s March 4th speech International Herald Tribune (Mar 5, 2008):
I will leave it to my opponent to claim that they can keep companies and jobs from going overseas by making it harder for them to do business here at home. We will campaign to strengthen job growth in America by helping businesses become more competitive with lower taxes and less regulation
As a deregulator, John McCain and his cronies have been enablers for current market failures. From the MotherJones Blog:
If McCain wants to hold someone accountable for the failure in transparency and accountability that led to the current calamity, he should turn to his good friend and adviser, Phil Gramm.
As Mother Jones reported in June, eight years ago, Gramm, then a Republican senator chairing the Senate banking committee, slipped a 262-page bill into a gargantuan, must-pass spending measure. Gramm’s legislation, written with the help of financial industry lobbyists, essentially removed newfangled financial products called swaps from any regulation. Credit default swaps are basically insurance policies that cover the losses on investments, and they have been at the heart of the subprime meltdown because they have enabled large financial institutions to turn risky loans into risky securities that could be packaged and sold to other institutions.
. . .
By the way, both McCain and Palin decried golden parachutes for CEOs. What might Carly Fiorina, a top McCain adviser and surrogate, think of that? She received a $21 million severance package when she was forced out as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, after her not-so-successful stint there–and the value of her golden parachute eventually reached $42 million.
From OpEdNews, PA:
Thomas’ beliefs on how to run a government are based entirely on his, and Palin’s, beliefs on how to run a government, which, as we can see, are repudiated by the financial collapse of the United States. This collapse can best be described as the unregulated financial institutions gambling with other people’s money, and losing. The conservative Republicans, including John McCain, have pushed for the unregulated, Libertarian style free market. And now that the whole thing has failed, McCain wants to start an investigation to find someone, anyone other than himself, to blame for it.
Now we’re seeing the results of that. The evidence of the failure of free market capitalism is right before our eyes. McCain has gotten exactly what he wanted, free market capitalism, with results that confound and contradict every belief he has ever had. McCain had better wish that he doesn’t get the investigation he says he wants (he may say he wants something else, tomorrow) into this mess. An investigation into this would reveal that at the bottom of the cause for it is: John McCain, himself.
The evidence is that the conservative Republican, belief/ideology driven way of running the country has failed. It has failed on all fronts, on the social, economic, commercial, foreign policy, military and financial fronts. The failure of the largest financial institutions is absolute proof of that. It cannot be denied, though it will be and guess who will be blamed for the failure by the Republicans? You got it, you and me, the victims. The Republicans and the Libertarians will say that we were fools for giving our money to unethical, grasping, greedy financial institutions to do with as they please. They’ll do this without pointing out the fact that under Republican, Libertarian economic and financial principles, there are no other kinds of financial institutions but the unethical, grasping and greedy, due to their being unregulated.
Sarah Palin misrepresents (or lies if you prefer) Alaska’s role in America’s domestic energy supply in a very rare interview with the press. From the transcript:
GIBSON: But this is not just reforming a government. This is also running a government on the huge international stage in a very dangerous world. When I asked John McCain about your national security credentials, he cited the fact that you have commanded the Alaskan National Guard and that Alaska is close to Russia. Are those sufficient credentials?
PALIN: But it is about reform of government and it’s about putting government back on the side of the people, and that has much to do with foreign policy and national security issues Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that’s with the energy independence that I’ve been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy, that I worked on as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, overseeing the oil and gas development in our state to produce more for the United States
FactCheck.org corrects Palin:
Palin claims Alaska “produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy.” That’s not true.
Alaska did produce 14 percent of all the oil from U.S. wells last year, but that’s a far cry from all the “energy” produced in the U.S.
Alaska’s share of domestic energy production was 3.5 percent, according to the official figures kept by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
And if by “supply” Palin meant all the energy consumed in the U.S., and not just produced here, then Alaska’s production accounted for only 2.4 percent.
Andrew Sullivan is keeping tabs with Palin’s lies or “relentless vetting” her at The Daily Dish:
