David Frum, the former Bush Speechwriter who was fired from the American Enterprise Institute for criticizing the Republican Party, offered a commentary on NPR's "Marletplace," on 10/27.
Click Here
Frum stated:
"I know, I know, I know! There's Christine O'Donnell, Rand Paul and Sharron Angle. Never mind Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Fox News. There's the crazy guy in Texas who says that revolution is "on the table." And anyway, what kind of fiscally conservative party campaigns on a pledge to protect Medicare exactly as it is? ... "Yet I will, nevertheless, be voting the straight Republican ticket on Nov. 2 ...
Unlike Frum, I am voting a straight Democratic ticket. I know that:
- Joe Miller handcuffed a reporter who asked a question he didn't like,
- Carl Paladino exercises his right to free speech and transmit racist jokes and pornographic e-mails,
- Christine O'Donnell doesn't understand that the phrase "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" establishes a separation of church and state,
- Sharron Angle believes in "Second Amendment remedies" to election results and
- Rand Paul appears to condone violence and intimidation -
and that's part of it. |
| But while I support the rights of those people to run for office; what really concerns me is the support people like Miller, Paladino, Angle, O'Donnell and Paul have gotten from Fox News and the organizations funded by extraordinarily wealthy individuals such as Charles and David Koch, Rupert Murdoch, and the Saudi Prince Alaweed bin Talal. Click Here or here But again, that's only part of it.
Where I live, in Manalapan, New Jersey, the incumbent Mayor Andrew Lucas recently asked the municipality to use "Farmland Preservation" funds to buy the development rights to his farm. While that may be legal, if the government is paying for "development rights, why not buy the property? Still, while Lucas may have acted legally, it has been alleged that he may have used his position to exclude other parcels from consideration - that would be a conflict of interest. I'm voting for Evan Dworkin and Mark Eiger.
Rush Holt, my Representative in the House, a Democrat, has consistently voted to support the rights of citizens. His opponent, a Scott Sipprelle, a Republican, believes that unemployment benefits should be capped to "something below minimum wage" because "life isn't fair." So tech support people or computer programmers who were paid $50, 000 or $80,000 but who find themselves unemployed because their former employers can take advantage of "labor arbitrage" and hire people in India or Phillipines for $5,000 or $8,000, plus overhead, should be able to survive on $12,000 or $15,000?
I would tax companies that outsource. I would mandate that any company that wants to do business with the government must maintain significant operations in the United States. That is a bit to the left of the Honorable Rep. Holt, however, he helps create tax credits for small business, stops banks from charging unfair credit card fees, has helped make a college education more affordable.
And in recognition that wealthy people sometimes find themselves on airplanes, in hospitals, stores, limos, and in other ways use the infrastructure of this country; I support Holt and Obama's call to eliminate the Bush Tax cuts for people making over $250,000 per year. |
.gif)
