Guess those golden parachutes for the CEO's are not going to be deployed after all. Today, in the House of Congress, the bailout plan that was going to save our economy failed. The plan had a total vote of 228 against to the 205 in favor of. Republicans led the charge on the bill with 133 votes against the bill, accompanied with another 95 votes from Democrats.

Well that is if you listen to the Hanna Beth Jackson camp.

I'd give it a rating of 8 on the propaganda scale.

Has anyone seen this movie?

I have it and am going to be holding a screening of the movie. Please let me know if you would like to participate in a viewing and post-debate by leaving a comment or emailing me at castateofmind@gmail.com . Date and time to be determined..

The movie was produced by the Clarion Fund. A non profit organization sponsored by who knows. They are quite secretive on that part. The movie has been mailed directly to voters homes in certain states. Just recently a friend had the movie mailed directy to her here in Ventura County. Reports say that the movies are trying to sway voters to support the war on terror, promoted for by George W. and voted for by presidential candidate John McCain.

So last night was round 1 of the Presidential debates. Who would you say won?

Here are some good zingers, some what in context from last night. We start with Senator Obama and end with Senator McCain.

Senator Barack Obama

Discussion of alternative fuels. Invest in alternative energy as a way to ease off our addiction to oil. (For me it was strange that he used the exact phrase addiction to oil. It conjured up a picture of George Bush inside Obama)

With regards to the spending freeze John McCain proposed on the budget: "Your using a hatchet where you need a scalpel. We're spending $10 billion in a country with a $79 billion surplus each year." .

 When discussing the success of the surge: John you act like the war started in 2007. It started four years before in 2003.

Senator John McCain

When discussing Obama's liberalism: He is the most liberal member of the Senate. How are you going to reach across the aisle from that far to the left.

During discussion on Afghanistan: Senator Obama has never held a meeting for the foreign relations Senate sub-committee that he chairs.

While talking of the Iraq war:  Senator Obama did the unconsciouble thing of voting to stop funding the troops in Iraq.

OVERALL I'd say Obama won round one.

-----> And yes it is true that Iraq has a $79 B surplus.

As Iraq Surplus Rises, Little Goes Into Rebuilding [New York Times]

I'm finally had enough of the spineless Democratic controlled Congress. When they took power in 2006 they said they would change what was going on. What have they done since then, NOTHING! Absolutely nothing!

This week reports came out that Congress is going to let the ban on offshore drilling, which expires next week, run out without renewing it. Just another example of how Senator Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi have not lived up to any of the promises they once made.

All they seem to want to do is let the Republicans run the show. Nothing wrong there, except for the fact they said that's exactly what they were going to stop.

So everyone, lets cheer to the offshore drilling ban expiring. Hope everyone remembers the Valdez Oil Spill and the recent Bay Area oil spill.

Ban On Offshore Drilling Allowed To Expire [Associated Press]

First, homeowners have to pay their mortgage. Then, their taxes are going to bail out those companies (Fannie & Freddie, Lehman, etc). This is not okay. Especially when the CEO's of these companies are receiving lavish yearly salaries and most likely live a luxurious lifestyle, while the average American works 40 hours a week to pay their mortgage and in a round about way, the CEO's salary. So now homeowners can pay those CEO salaries two ways, through monthly mortgage payments and the $700 BILLION bailout.

Good job corporate America! Way to stick it to Americans.

So experience has been quite a factor in this year's election. Very much has been talked about in regards to Barack Obama's experience, or lack there of. Well lets examine Sarah Palin's lack of experience.

Her first position in office was on the Wasilla City Council for four years. Then she was elected to Mayor of Wasilla. Just for the record, Wasilla has a population of 5,469. To put this into perspective, the city of Fillmore has a population of 13,649. That's means that Fillmore is more than double the size of Wasilla. After being Mayor for six years, she moved on to the Governor's mansion in 2006. Going back to numbers, Alaska has a total population of 683,478. Ventura County alone has a population of 753,197. 

Now you might say that it does not matter how many people are in the city or state, its about making the decisions. Decisions are the important part. Those decisions will be influenced though by the amount of people that you represent and the issues they present. More people lead to more issues, which experience is needed to handle. 

I also find it very important that she has limited, if any, experience with federal issues. Most of the experience is with a city that's smaller than almost all the cities in Ventura County and a state who has a smaller population than Ventura County.

Now I will give her credit from going to a small city mayor to a small state Governor, but I will not give her credit for being experienced enough. In conclusion, I find that Sarah Palin does not have enough experience to be Vice President.

Well CNN did a survey and they found that most Americans are against having the taxpayer bail out these big shots. And I agree. They were the ones who were fiscally irresponsible when conducting their business matters. When I get in the hole financially, where's Uncle Sam to come and bail me out.

First, read this great article written by Timm Herdtt about the 19^th Senate district race. Now, go read the comments that follow the article. There are allegations by the commenter elephantpower about a growing cult of communists in Sacramento.

It all traces back to Senate Bill 1322 which would allow communists to be teachers at public schools in the state. From reading the bill it seems that in that past it has been kosher for school districts to terminate a teacher or just not employ a prospective teacher, if they are a member of the Communist party, allowing legal discrimination. Earlier this year the state legislature passed SB 1322 and is awaiting the Governor's signature to become law.

You might wonder how this law would allow teachers to be communists. Well teachers have to take an oath to become a teacher. That oath goes against what communists believe in so they would not take it. If SB 1322 were to pass, it would allow a person to decline to take the oath, based on their religious or political beliefs.

With the Cold War being over for about 20 years now, I would not see why we should continue to discriminate against teachers who subscribe to communist propaganda. America must continue to evolve especially with the economic crisis we are in. I am not advocating switching over to a communist or socialist economy, we can see that did not work so well for the Soviets. What I'm saying is that we need to look at what got us in this mess, then figure out if there principles of that can be interweaved to bolster a bigger, stronger economy. And this can be done by the future generations who will be taught by the communist teachers.

So I really do not know if there are communists in Sacramento, but its always fun to speculate. And if elephantpower has a McCarthy like list i'd be glad to publish it.

Answer: Pay More Taxes, well if you're Joe Biden

On Thursday, Joe Biden said that by paying more taxes, Americans can be more patriotic.

So no one can say that I am taking the statement out of context, here is what Senator Biden said during a discussion about taxes.

"Its time to be patriotic, time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help America get out of the rut." - Joe Biden

Now I'm no expert, but I'm going to say more taxes is not the solution to solving America's woes. Especially during this economic criss. And I don't think you can really be patriotic by paying more taxes. Only one way to find out, right Joe? So why don't you take the lead and show us how its done.

Attention: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

As a fellow Californian, I urge you to approve the budget. I know you want reform, we all want reform. The truth is though that the budget is almost three months late. We need to put the budget in play already.

You duked it out trying to get somewhere. You started to late though Governor. Next year's budget will be right around the corner. I say you hit both sides hard. This years chances have come and gone. It is time to move on.

Please approve the budget Governor Schwarzenegger, California depends on it.

In all honesty,

Daniel Goldberg 

Just so everyone knows, we are working on fixing the comment box so that you don't have to login.

Wow! When Ronald Reagan left office, the Soviet Empire had just collapsed and America was on top of the world. Twenty years later, the American empire itself is on the verge of collapse. A mortgage crisis, globalization, and several wars has really slown down our economy and put us in the gutter of the world.

Over the last few years, our competitors have been knocking on the door. Now they are nocking it down. Most recently, Russia regained its pre-eminence with its strength of action in the Ossetian War. Over the last several years, Iran has openly defied sanctions in direct opposition to the United States. China is becoming strong by the year. France has emerged as leader in France. And the list goes on.

All the countries in the world are now on an even playing ground. Sooner or later, someone is going to become bigger and badder than the United States. So I ask you, what should the United States do?

Hint: The answer is not start another war.

.

1. California Prison Guard Union has filed petition to recall Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger because of the failure of the legislature to pass a budget.

2. Today reports came out that President Bush has authorized the military to make raids across the Afghanistan border into Pakistan. It was also reported that the military does not have to receive permission from Pakistan from Pakistan for the raids; they will notify Pakistani officials of them though. 

3. Finally, loud mouth President Hugo Chavez claims to have detained several conspirators who were planning to assassinate him. Chavez made statements that the men were being backed by the U.S. government.

First he asks Senator Chuck Graham to stand up. Just fyi, Graham is paraplegic.

Then he says that Hillary Clinton would've been a better pick than him.

"Make no mistake about this," Biden responded. "Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Let's get that straight. She's a truly close personal friend, she is qualified to be president of the United States of America, she's easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America." 

Obviously my boss thinks experience matters, thats why I haven't recieved that promotion I've been asking for. Having the know how is important. A company would not hire a recently graduated college student to be CEO of their company. Well unless it's the movie the Hudsucker Proxy, which by the way is a great movie. And in that movie, Tim Robbins,the recent college graduate with no experience goes on the create the hula hoop which leads to an insane amount of profits, ultimately saving the company.

Everyone should know where I'm going with this. Senator Barack Obama has been a Senator since 2005. Thats just over three years now. Before that he was an Illinois state senator for seven years. Thats only ten years of actual experience in government.

Lets compare that record to past Presidents. George W. Bush was Governor of Texas for six years. Looks like Barack beat him with years of experience.

Bill Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas in 1978. He was there for two terms which led to him eventually running for president in 1992. That was about eight years of experience before he became president. Barack has Clinton too.

We'll skip Bush senior and get to the real stud, Ronald Reagan.  He was Governor of California for eight years. Before becoming governor, he was an ACTOR. Not a lawyer, not a community organizer, not a business owner, an actor.

And now lets go way back. Way back to 1860 and Abraham Lincoln. Before being elected president, Abraham Lincoln held no political office and was involved in politics in a limited way. He sure changed America. 

So what does all this mean? If elected, Barack Obama will able to make it through his presidency just fine, like all those others listed. And heck, he might be better than all of them. What does everyone think? Is experience needed?

On the lighter side of things, found these very interesting articles about animals on drugs. The first one is about squirrels in England who apparently became addicted to crack. The would find it when addicts and dealers would bury it in the ground to hide it when being chased by the cops. The article is pretty old, from 2005 but I wonder how many more squirrels have become addicted since then.

U.K. Squirrels Are Nuts About Crack [Fox News]

The second story is about an elephant that became addicted to heroin. Some smugglers make the elephant more gentle by feeding it bananas laced with heroin. Well the police finally caught the smugglers and found the elephant. After the elephant stopped recieving its drug though, it began to have withdrawals. Chinese authorities decided to send the elephant to rehab by feeding it methodone and now it is being released back to the wild.

Elephant Kicks Heroin Habit With China Island Rehab [AFP]

Drugs are bad kids.....and animals.

So with so much talk about change in this election, even John McCain has stated he will bring about some. Now we must ask ourselves, what kind of change do we really want?

Yes, Barack Obama presents change in the form of being the first African American elected to president. Yet John McCain presents change in the form of bipartisanship, something that hasn't been seen in Washington in a long time. Which do you think is more important?

Click below to watch a video that someone with too much time on their hand made about the 2008 Campaign. Its pretty funny.

http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm

Last night Governor Sarah Palin delivered a heck of a speech.  She was courageous, articulate and more importantly reminded many people of the Republican hero, Ronald Reagan. She took on Barack Obama by questioning his experience by humorously comparing it to her own.   

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening."

In the end, Gov. Palin may not get all the female votes the McCain campaign has been hoping for.  One thing she did do though is show the world exactly why John McCain picked her and what she is capable of.  The upcoming debates with Joe Biden will be interesting to say the least, as both have sharp tongues. Biden himself responded to the speech with comments that Palin's speech only consisted of one liners.

"I will be unrelenting in my debate with the governor of Alaska in terms of the positions she's taken but I will not do what she has been able to do so well apparently. I am not good at the one-line zingers. That's not my deal. So, if that's going to be the measure of how these debates go, then I'm not going to do very well."

Other Democrats chimed in claiming that her speech was written by speech writers of President Bush, which encourage divisive and partisan attacks.

So the Democrats hated the speech, Republicans loved it. What about the viewers? Well they loved it too. Palins speech had an estimated 37.2 million viewers. Compared to Obama's 38.4 million, that's pretty big.

I found an interesting fact while flipping through some newspapers. The first year a woman was nominated to be Vice President was 1924. That woman was Lena Springs, a democrat of South Carolina.

Pretty interesting trivia question. And this whole time I thought Sarah Palin was the first woman nominated for VP. Anyone know of any other woman nominated? Feel free to share.

California's fiscal year begins on July 1. Today is September 3. Two months after the beginning of the fiscal year, the state of California still has no budget. What is interesting is that this is nothing new. For the last several years, the legislature has been fighting over the budget, and its problems, without ever really creating a solution, or a budget on time.

This year is no different. With a gap of $15 billion dollars, Republicans and Democrats are fighting over how to shore up the difference. Republicans want to cut programs, roughly $10 billion worth. Democrats want to raise the sales tax. Governor Schwarzenegger is stuck somewhere in the middle, leaning more towards the Democrats.

In the meantime, the Governor has cut the state employees wages to the federal minimum wage level, which is $6.55 an hour. Try living off of that.

Oh and this year has set the record for longest without a budget.

So lets give a big THANK YOU to all our elected state officials!

So as most of you have heard, Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's daughter is five months pregnant. Now I'm not trying to be a gossip columnist here, but this is a very interesting topic to cover. I would say this is a major turn in the politics of the campaign. Now we have a mother who is going through very motherly issues with her family. Why wouldn't you want to vote for someone so wholesome?

What I also wonder, is if John McCain knew about the pregnancy before making his pick. Maybe McCain saw, or assumed that people across the nation would be drawn in closer to choose him and Palin over an all male team of Obama and Biden.

***On another note, something else I like about Sarah Palin is the change she brings to the Republican party. After this election, win or lose, she will be the front and center woman leader for the Republican party. In a few years, she can be the conservative version of Hillary Clinton.

I'd say its about time Republicans learned to change their ways while still trying to stick to the roots.