What the housing bubble teaches us about political events

That is because people do not respond to political events; they respond to what trusted sources tell them about political events. This seems especially true when dealing with somewhat complicated subjects like the housing bubble. Conservatives who listen to conservative media heard the frankly absurd story that the government was to blame, that Fannie and Freddie was to blame, and that too much regulation was to blame. These assertions were bolstered within conservative media by the dodgy claims being made by the long-discredited analysis of Wallison and Pinto. Of course, the exact opposite of all of these claims is true.

10 Reasons Not To Vote For Ron Paul

Addicting Info posted an article several months ago regarding Ron Paul and his ties to white supremacy, and we were barraged with pleas and “stories” to win us over. In honor of Ron Paul’s obsessive fans we’re publishing the following article, showing his history of discrimination.

As anyone with a blog, YouTube account, MySpace page, or web site knows Ron Paul supporters are everywhere! The internet is filled with them. The frightening thing that I have witnessed is that many liberal voters are giving some credence to Ron Paul’s campaign and message. He somehow comes across as different or better than the run of the mill conservatives filling the Republican ticket.

I do not support Ron Paul in ANY and I find his Congressional record and policies to be, at times, even scarier than his counterparts. The only thing that I have found to agree with him on is the fact that he does not support the war in Iraq. After extensive research I have compiled a list of 10 reasons NOT to vote for Ron Paul!

1. Ron Paul does not value equal rights for minorities. Ron Paul has sponsored legislation that would repeal affirmative action, keep the IRS from investigating private schools who may have used race as a factor in denying entrance, thus losing their tax exempt status, would limit the scope of Brown versus Board of Education, and would deny citizenship for those born in the US if their parents are not citizens. Here are links to these bills: H.R.3863, H.R.5909, H.J.RES.46, and H.J.RES.42.

2. Ron Paul would deny women control of their bodies and reproductive rights.Ron Paul makes it very clear that one of his aims is to repeal Roe v. Wade. He has also co sponsored 4 separate bills to “To provide that human life shall be deemed to exist from conception.” This, of course, goes against current medical and scientific information as well as our existing laws and precedents. Please see these links: H.R.2597 and H.R.392

3. Ron Paul would be disastrous for the working class. He supports abolishing the Federal minimum wage, has twice introduced legislation to repeal OSHA, or the Occupational Safety and Health Act and would deal devastating blows to Social Security including repealing the act that makes it mandatory for employees of nonprofits, to make “coverage completely optional for both present and future workers”, and would “freeze benefit levels”. He has also twice sponsored legislation seeking to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act and the Copeland Act which among other things provide that contractors for the federal government must provide the prevailing wage and prohibits corporate “kick backs.” Here are the related legislative links: H.R.2030, H.R.4604, H.R.736, and H.R.2720

4. Ron Paul’s tax plan is unfair to lower earners and would greatly benefit those with the highest incomes.He has repeatedly submitted amendments to the tax code that would get rid of the estate and gift taxes, tax all earners at 10%, disallow income tax credits to individuals who are not corporations, repeal the elderly tax credit, child care credit, earned income credit, and other common credits for working class citizens. Please see this link for more information: H.R.05484 Summary

5. Ron Paul’s policies would cause irreparable damage to our already strained environment. Among other travesties he supports off shore drilling, building more oil refineries, mining on federal lands, no taxes on the production of fuel, and would stop conservation efforts that could be a “Federal obstacle” to building and maintaining refineries. He has also sought to amend the Clean Air Act, repeal the Soil and Water Conservation Act of 1977, and to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to “restrict the jurisdiction of the United States over the discharge of dredged or fill material to discharges into waters”. To see for yourself the possible extent of the damage to the environment that would happen under a Paul administration please follow these links: H.R.2504, H.R.7079, H.R.7245, H.R.2415, H.R.393, H.R.4639, H.R.5293, and H.R.6936

6. A Ron Paul administration would continue to proliferate the negative image of the US among other nations. Ron Paul supports withdrawing the US from the UN, when that has not happened he has fought to at least have the US withdrawn from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. He has introduced legislation to keep the US from giving any funds to the UN. He also submitted that the US funds should not be used in any UN peacekeeping mission or any UN program at all. He has sponsored a bill calling for us to “terminate all participation by the United States in the United Nations, and to remove all privileges, exemptions, and immunities of the United Nations.”Ron Paul twice supported stopping the destruction of intercontinental ballistic missile silos in the United States. He also would continue with Bush’s plan of ignoring international laws by maintaining an insistence that the International Criminal Court does not apply to the US, despite President Clinton’s signature on the original treaty. The International Criminal Court is used for, among other things, prosecution of war crimes. Please see the following links: H.R.3891, H.AMDT.191, H.AMDT.190, H.R.3769, H.R.1665, H.CON.RES.23, and H.R.1154

7. Ron Paul discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation and would not provide equal rights and protections to glbt citizens. This is an issue that Paul sort of dances around. He has been praised for stating that the federal government should not regulate who a person marries. This has been construed by some to mean that he is somewhat open to the idea of same sex marriage, he is not. Paul was an original co sponsor of the Marriage Protection Act in the House in 2004. Among other things this discriminatory piece of legislation placed a prohibition on the recognition of a same sex marriage across state borders. He said in 2004 that if he was in the Texas legislature he would not allow judges to come up with “new definitions” of marriage. Paul is a very religious conservative and though he is careful with his words his record shows that he is not a supporter of same sex marriage. In 1980 he introduced a particularly bigoted bill entitled “A bill to strengthen the American family and promote the virtues of family life.” or H.R.7955 A direct quote from the legislation “Prohibits the expenditure of Federal funds to any organization which presents male or female homosexuality as an acceptable alternative life style or which suggest that it can be an acceptable life style.” shows that he is unequivocally opposed to lifestyles other than heterosexual.

8. Ron Paul has an unnatural obsession with guns. One of Paul’s loudest gripes is that the second amendment of the constitution is being eroded. In fact, he believes that September 11 would not have happened if that wasn’t true. He advocates for there to be no restrictions on personal ownership of semi-automatic weaponry or large capacity ammunition feeding devices, would repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act (because we all know our schools are just missing more guns), wants guns to be allowed in our National Parks, and repeal the Gun Control Act of 1968. Now, I’m pretty damn certain that when the Constitution was written our founding fathers never intended for people to be walking around the streets with AK47′s and “large capacity ammunition feeding devices.” (That just sounds scary.) Throughout the years our Constitution has been amended and is indeed a living document needing changes to stay relevant in our society. Paul has no problem changing the Constitution when it fits his needs, such as no longer allowing those born in the US to be citizens if their parents are not. On the gun issue though he is no holds barred. I know he’s from Texas but really, common sense tells us that the amendments he is seeking to repeal have their place. In fact, the gun control act was put into place after the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy. Please view the following links: H.R.2424, H.R.1897, H.R.1096, H.R.407, H.R.1147, and H.R.3892.

9. Ron Paul would butcher our already sad educational system. The fact is that Ron Paul wants to privatize everything and that includes education. Where we run into problems is that it has been shown (think our current health care system) that this doesn’t work so well in practice. Ron Paul has introduced legislation that would keep the Federal Government “from planning, developing, implementing, or administering any national teacher test or method of certification and from withholding funds from States or local educational agencies that fail to adopt a specific method of teacher certification.” In a separate piece of legislation he seeks to “prohibit the payment of Federal Education assistance in States which require the licensing or certification of private schools or private school teachers.” So basically the federal government can’t regulate teaching credentials and if states opt to require them for private schools they get no aid. That sounds like a marvelous idea teachers with no certification teaching in private schools that are allowed to discriminate on the basis of race. He is certainly moving forward with these proposals!Remember his “bill to strengthen the American family and promote the virtues of family life.” or H.R.7955? Guess what? He basically advocates for segregation in schools once again. It “Forbids any court of the United States from requiring the attendance at a particular school of any student because of race, color, creed, or sex.” Without thinking about this statement it doesn’t sound bad at all. But remember, when desegregating schools that this is done by having children go to different schools, often after a court decision as in Brown Vs. Board of Education. If this were a bill that passed, schools would no longer be compelled to comply and the schools would go back to segregation based on their locations. Ron Paul is really starting to look like a pretty bigoted guy don’t you think?

10. Ron Paul is opposed to the separation of church and state. This reason is probably behind every other thing that I disagree with in regards to Paul’s positions. Ron Paul is among those who believes that there is a war on religion, he stated “Through perverse court decisions and years of cultural indoctrination, the elitist, secular Left has managed to convince many in our nation that religion must be driven from public view.” (( Koyaanisqatsi Blog: Wrong Paul Why I Do Not Want Ron Paul to be My President )) Though he talks a good talk, at times, Ron Paul can’t get away from his far right, conservative views. He would support “alternative views” to evolution taught in public schools (i.e. Intelligent Design.) We’ve already taken a look at his “bill to strengthen the American family and promote the virtues of family life.” or H.R.7955Besides hating the gays he takes a very religious stance on many other things. He is attempting to force his beliefs on the rest of America, exactly what he would do as president.

So there you have it, my 10 reasons not to vote for Ron Paul. Please take the time to thoroughly review the records of the people running for office so you know where they really stand. Ron Paul has good rhetoric and he opposes the war but he’s not a good man in the human rights sense of the phrase. He is pretty much like every other Republican but more insidious. Here is a video that you should watch after reading this article. Really listen to what he says and how he says it. Watch out for the sneaky ones and RESEARCH! ((Orcinus: Ron Paul’s Record in Congress ))

Ron Paul Says Taxation Is ‘Immoral’ And ‘Theft’

On Sunday morning during an appearance on Meet The Press, Ron Paul told host David Gregory that he believes “taxation is immoral” and that it is “theft.” Under a President Paul, the tax code as we know it would be abolished along with the 16th Amendment and replaced with all sorts of taxes such as highway taxes, gas taxes, and user fees. Here’s the transcript:

MR. GREGORY:  Let me, let me ask you about the role of government.  You’ve said about taxation, in a way that doesn’t minces (sic) words, the following: “Taxation is immoral,” you told the Libertarian Party News.  Would you scrap the tax code altogether?

REP. PAUL:  That would be a pretty good idea, a pretty good start.  I, I can qualify it if I’m allowed.  Taxation is theft when you take money from one group to give it to, to another, when you, when you transfer the wealth.  Now, taxation could be accomplished with user fees and, you know, highway fees and gasoline taxes and import taxes. But the income tax is based on the assumption that the government owns you, owns all of your income and provides the conditions on which they allow you to keep a certain percentage.  That, to me, is immoral, and the founders didn’t like it.  That’s why the Constitution had to be amended in 1913.

Basically, Ron Paul wants to take America back to the days prior to 1913 when the United States government had trouble raising funds and the financial system was unorganized. Paul is being a little shifty too when he talks about what the Founding Fathers believed. It’s true that the Founders weren’t crazy about direct taxes, but those same Founders gave Congress the power to tax and gave the American people the power to change the Constitution as they saw fit. Before 1913, financial recessions were common and the government had no power to do anything about it. The government often didn’t have the funding to do anything at all. It couldn’t provide for the general welfare or the common defense. Taxes were notoriously difficult to administer because they had to be apportioned or divided amongst the states based on the census. So something had to be done. The answer was the 16th amendment.

The income tax has an interesting history. During the Civil War, Republican President Abraham Lincoln passed an income tax in 1861 and a graduated income tax in 1862. During the years between the Civil War and 1909, both political parties proposed passing an income tax. It was one thing both parties could agree on. In 1909, the ball really began to roll. Republican President William Howard Taft proposed an income tax on corporations. In Congress, an income tax amendment to the Constitution was first proposed by Republican Senator Norris Brown of Nebraska. He submitted two proposals. The amendment proposal finally accepted was Senate Joint Resolution No. 40, introduced by Republican Senator Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island, the Senate majority leader and Finance Committee Chairman.

The 61st Congress in 1909 had a decidedly Republican majority. Republicans controlled both houses with 60 seats in the Senate, and 219 in the House and they promptly used that majority with the help of many Democrats to pass the resolution proposing the 16th Amendment and promptly sent it to the states for ratification.

We all know that the amendment succeeded. But which states approved of it the most? Surprisingly, the South and West strongly approved while the Northeast did not. You read that right. The current Republican stronghold was the region that supported the income tax the most, even Paul’s home state of Texas. In fact, Texas was one of the first ten states to ratify the amendment. Here is the list of the 36 required states (out of 48) that ratified the amendment.

1. Alabama (August 10, 1909)
2. Kentucky (February 8, 1910)
3. South Carolina (February 19, 1910)
4. Illinois (March 1, 1910)
5. Mississippi (March 7, 1910)
6. Oklahoma (March 10, 1910)
7. Maryland (April 8, 1910)
8. Georgia (August 3, 1910)
9. Texas (August 16, 1910)
10. Ohio (January 19, 1911)
11. Idaho (January 20, 1911)
12. Oregon (January 23, 1911)
13. Washington (January 26, 1911)
14. Montana (January 27, 1911)
15. Indiana (January 30, 1911)
16. California (January 31, 1911)
17. Nevada (January 31, 1911)
18. South Dakota (February 1, 1911)
19. Nebraska (February 9, 1911)
20. North Carolina (February 11, 1911)
21. Colorado (February 15, 1911)
22. North Dakota (February 17, 1911)
23. Michigan (February 23, 1911)
24. Iowa (February 24, 1911)
25. Kansas (March 2, 1911)
26. Missouri (March 16, 1911)
27. Maine (March 31, 1911)
28. Tennessee (April 7, 1911)
29. Arkansas (April 22, 1911), after having previously rejected the amendment
30. Wisconsin (May 16, 1911)
31. New York (July 12, 1911)
32. Arizona (April 3, 1912)
33. Minnesota (June 11, 1912)
34. Louisiana (June 28, 1912)
35. West Virginia (January 31, 1913)
36. Delaware (February 3, 1913)

Most of the other states ratified the amendment shortly thereafter. Passing an amendment is no small feat. It takes a nation to do it. What Ron Paul wants to do is reverse a decision made by the entire nation. This isn’t just some minor law that he wants to get rid of. It’s obvious why the Republicans target the 16th Amendment these days. They simply do not know American history. Republicans think that since the 16th Amendment was ratified during Woodrow Wilson’s Presidency in 1913, that the amendment must be something a liberal came up with, therefore it must be destroyed. It’s not quite that easy. The fact is, Republicans controlled the White House in 1909 when Congress passed the amendment resolution. After that, it was in the hands of the states. Even if Wilson had lost the election in 1912, the 16th Amendment would have passed anyway. Plus, all three presidential candidates in 1912 supported the income tax, as did a great majority of Americans, even conservative Americans.

Abolishing the 16th Amendment is just Paul’s way of abolishing corporate tax rates and lowering taxes on the wealthy to nearly nothing. This would be one sure-fire way to make a zero percent tax rate permanent for Corporate America. The current tax code would work just fine if we were to actually close loopholes and raise top rates. The income tax is not theft nor is it immoral. Funding the government so that it can adequately care for the people is not wrong on any level. Our government and the American people knew that in 1909. Ron Paul is just a corporate shill fighting for an extreme agenda that seeks to destroy everything about America. And we would be stupid to elect him or any other Republican to any high office.

Things The Republican Congress Has Done, INSTEAD Of Creating Jobs

Republicans said if they took control of the House of Representatives they would start creating jobs. This is a list of some ofthe things they’ve done, instead of creating jobs. Click on each example to find a link to an article regarding that issue If you have anything to add, please include it in the comments.

(Follow URL for source links to each point).

Highlights:

1) Voted to fund chemical contraception for wild horses, but voted to cut funding for contraception for human women.

2) Attempted to redefine rape to no longer include statutory rape, incest rape, or drugged rape.

3) Proposed a bill that would let a hospitalized pregnant woman die instead of having a life saving abortion, if she needed it. 

Republican-led House panel proposes cutting NASA's funding by $1.6 billion, which would kill the James Webb telescope, the crown jewel of NASA's astronomy plans for the next two decades. The cuts to NASA are the equivalent of approximately 5 days of funding for war in Iraq and Afghanistan. - NYTimes.com

I’d rather see the sky covered in stars than see coffins covered with flags.