1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents
of land to public purposes.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means
of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive
monopoly.

6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport
in the hands of the State.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by
the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and
the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a
common plan.

8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of
industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries;
gradual abolition of the distinction between town and
country, by a more equable distribution of the population
over the country.

10. Free education for all children in public schools.
Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form.
Combination of education with industrial production, &c., &c.

And here’s the 2001 Chicago public radio interview bit with Obama again:

You may now go and change your pants.

-Cydney

Dino Rossi will win against incumbent governor Christine Gregoire here in Washington by at least three points.  McCain’s current momentum will propel him over the finish line and edge out a seemingly confident Obama, and that’s not just being hopeful; I think the media in general has overestimated Obama’s support and has underestimated the common sense and fight in the bellies of many Americans who would rather die than see this country become the United Socialist States of America.

As for the much-feared (or highly anticipated) potential filibuster-proof Democratic majority in U.S. Congress, I don’t believe that Pelosi’s and Reid’s dreams will quite come true this time around.

We’ll see, won’t we?

-Cydney

The blogosphere is buzzing about this video posted on YouTube Sunday night. It’s Barack Obama musing about how best to redistribute wealth in America in a Chicago Public Radio interview in 2001.

Not whether, but how: Through the courts or through legislation?

A caller asks The One to explain how he would do “reparative economic work.” Obama gives the legislative route two thumbs up as his preferred method of “breaking free of the constraints” placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution and then burbles about cobbling together the “actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change.”

Here is the actual audio of that interview:

Here is the transcript (done by Stop The ACLU) of part of that interview:

SEN. OBAMA: If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement and its litigation strategy in the court. I think where it succeeded was to invest formal rights in previously dispossessed people, so that now I would have the right to vote. I would now be able to sit at the lunch counter and order as long as I could pay for it I’d be o.k. But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that.

emphases mine

Ok, whoa. Let’s see if I can’t wipe that “Oh. My. Gosh.” look off my face and gather some thoughts:

Just over a week ago, a formerly unknown man nicknamed “Joe the Plumber” (yes, he already has a wikipedia entry) was thrust into fifteen-minute fame by simply asking Sen. Barack Obama a question about his tax plan, to which Sen. Obama responded in part with his now famous, “spread the wealth” comment. Just days ago, Sen. Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate, was hammered in an Orlando-based WFTV interview:

Kudos to Barbara West for those tough questions. (Any bets on how long she’ll stay employed in the mainstream media?) In response to one particularly stinging question about the famous “to each his own” Karl Marx quote, Sen. Biden was quick to deny as much of a hint that Sen. Obama might cling to blatantly socialist ideals and merely euphemized Obama’s socialist-leaning economic policies with the excuse that they just want to expand the middle class. Clearly, from the above 2001 interview with Sen. Obama, and also from his “spread the wealth” comment just recently, the desire to merely expand the middle class is not entirely true, and Sen. Biden is trying his darndest to help Sen. Obama cover his ass, and he happened to get angry and defensive while doing so. In response to this “unprofessional interview”, the Obama campaign issued the following written statement to WFTV, effectively blacklisting them and canceling a previously scheduled interview with Mrs. Biden:

“There’s nothing wrong with tough questions, but reporters have the very important job of sharing the truth with the public — not misleading the American people with false information. Senator Biden handled the interview well; however, the anchor was completely unprofessional. Senator Biden’s wife is not running for elected office, and there are many other stations in the Orlando television market that would gladly conduct a respectful and factual interview with her.”

“This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election.”

Personally, I’d like to know what “false information” was the reporter “misleading the American people” with? Was it the comment about donations from Obama to ACORN? Many people are claiming that during the primary season, the Obama campaign donated over $800,000 to ACORN for a get-out-the-vote effort, but when I checked factcheck.org and politifact.com, after some digging, I finally found this on politifact.com:

During the third presidential debate, McCain made the additional charge that the Obama campaign directed campaign money to ACORN, calling the group “the same front outfit organization that your campaign gave $832,000 for ‘lighting and site selection.’”

Here’s what we know about that allegation: The Obama campaign paid a group called Citizens’ Services $832,386 during the primaries. (For comparison, the Obama campaign has spent an overall $391-million through August 2008.) Some of the expenditures are listed as sound, stage and lighting, and others are listed as get-out-the-vote efforts. ACORN has said Citizens Services subcontracted out part of the get-out-the-vote work to ACORN, but ACORN officials say it was “a small amount.” The Obama campaign said it paid Citizens’ Services, who in turn paid $80,000 to ACORN. The two groups share offices in New Orleans.

We can confirm through campaign finance public records that Obama paid Citizens’ Services, but we can’t independently confirm what part of the contract ACORN actually received, so we are not ruling on that statement. We’re including the facts of the matter here for our readers to consider for themselves.

Now that I think about it, I do remember hearing that $80,000 number from an ACORN spokesperson on the radio about a month ago when that was the buzz of the day. So I guess you could say that on that note, Sen. Biden was telling the truth–as far as anyone knows, the Obama campaign has not directly paid ACORN one red cent during this campaign; the fact remains, however, that ACORN did indeed receive some money (not much when you consider how much the guy has blown this campaign season) indirectly from the Obama campaign.

But really, I don’t believe Barbara West misled the American people at all by relating Obama’s recent comments to socialism. Honestly, it’s true.

-Cydney

-Cydney

-Cydney

AP presidential poll: All even in the homestretch

WASHINGTON (AP) – The presidential race tightened after the final debate, with John McCain gaining among whites and people earning less than $50,000, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that shows McCain and Barack Obama essentially running even among likely voters in the election homestretch.

The poll, which found Obama at 44 percent and McCain at 43 percent, supports what some Republicans and Democrats privately have said in recent days: that the race narrowed after the third debate as GOP-leaning voters drifted home to their party and McCain’s “Joe the plumber” analogy struck a chord.

We’ll see how this turns out in a mere thirteen days, of course, but I’m going to stick with my latest gut feeling: McCain just may win this thing. Some may say I’m stepping out on a limb, especially as the Obama team is practically declaring victory two weeks before we even go to the polls, but I have a feeling that people like Joe the Plumber–people like you and me…regular country bumpkins–are going to come out strong for Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin on November 4th. Before Sen. Obama made his “spread the wealth” comments, I wasn’t so sure, but most people I know (not everyone, mind you) don’t take too kindly to socialism and Robin Hood trickle-up capitalism. Most people I know don’t want to be like Europe. Most people I know want to hold on to as much of their hard-earned money as possible. And most people I know are more generous with their own money than the democrats give them credit for.

-Cydney

-Gregoire once again made a comment that sounded like Rossi was Governor before she was, something along the lines of “the budget deficit that I inherited from Rossi.”

-Dino looks either tired, bored, or both when he’s not talking–he looks much more alive when he talks, but I guess that’s just Dino. I just kind of wish he could look a bit more excited.

-Gregoire is DEFINITELY well rehearsed tonight, almost as if some of her answers are perfectly memorized. She’s very animated, as well. She’s trying really hard for one last hoorah before the fourth, and I don’t blame her…she needs it if she has a prayer of getting re-elected.

-She says she doesn’t want to raise more taxes because we’re in hard times. Strange. Somehow, I hardly believe that.

-Wow, Dino just made a really good comeback. He spoke directly to her, saying her false attacks (on raising taxes and cutting the min. wage) were demeaning to both her, him, and to the office they both seek. In truth, Rossi is for a lower min. wage for underage workers–like training wheels. It’s a good idea, but Gregoire lies through her teeth when she claims that he wants to cut the minimum wage for working adults.

-Cydney

6:00pm Just about to start… Looks like the candidates might be sitting a bit too close for comfort. The debate is supposed to be focused on economy and public policy. Let’s see how focused they stay. Bob Schieffer of CBS news is the debate moderator.

6:02pm Comfy chairs! So far, I like Schieffer’s personality. I honestly don’t know much about him at all. Starting out on economic plans/policies.

6:03pm I’m not going to lie, I hate it when people say “Warshington”. Oh, McCain. McCain explains his plan to buy out bad mortgages, be pro-homeowners.

6:06pm Obama is very articulate with his plan, although it would not be a good idea. Giving tax breaks to employers for hiring more employees is simply not worth the cost for a business to create new jobs. Ridiculous.

6:07pm BOOYAH. McCain bringing Obama out on his “spread the wealth” comment to “Joe the Plumber”. McCain explains that cutting taxes would HELP small businesses.

6:09pm There goes Obama again with his “95% of working families” “tax cut”. Balogna. He forgets, or doesn’t know, or chooses to ignore the fact that 40% of working Americans don’t even PAY income taxes–they get it back every year.

6:11pm McCain fighting back, not letting Obama’s socialist comment to Joe the Plumber go. “We’re not gonna DO that in my administration.” Good come back, McCain.

6:12pm Obama bringing up Exxon Mobile’s record $12 billion dollar profits. They have more then enough to give a little more up, he says. That makes OUR gas prices go up…corporations pass their costs down into their products.

6:15pm Obama wants to CUT programs? Maybe I haven’t been paying close enough attention, but I don’t remember him talking about cutting programs, ever. Then again, I haven’t seen the other two debates. I LOVE McCain’s facial expression during Obama’s answer on this one. His eyes all wide, almost a “haha…SURE you’ll cut programs” kind of look.

6:16pm McCain driving home the point that we must be energy independent, stop sending billions of dollars over sea to “countries that don’t like us”. “We’ll get out a hatchet, and then a scalpel”…love that line. Threatens line-item veto on earmarks and pork-barrel spending. Across the board spending freeze. Obama smiling smugly during McCain’s answer.

6:19pm Obama comparing McCain to Bush indirectly on spending. McCain may have voted 4 out of 5 of Bush’s budget plans, but McCain is no Bush, that’s for sure.

6:20pm McCain really fighting back. He’s getting more comfortable and confident. Challenging Obama on standing up against leaders of his own party.

6:22pm Obama and his “reaching across the aisles record”…they were bills that already had overwhelming bipartisan support.

6:24pm McCain painting the contrast between Bush and himself. “I have a long record of reform, and fighting through the floor of the Senate. Senator Obama, your argument…is unconvincing.”

6:25pm Taking the high-road question…why has it gotten ugly? McCain answers first. Townhall meeting proposals–Obama didn’t follow through with his “anytime, anywhere”. McCain says he was hurt by the comments from Rep. John Lewis. Obama didn’t repudiate those comments, but McCain says he repudiated all of the negative comments by Republicans. A little mushy, McCain, but good point.

6:28pm Obama claims that 100% of McCain’s ads have been negative. McCain: Not true. Obama: Absolutely true. Ha…no, not true. Obama comparing to Bush again without actually saying “Bush”…anyone playing a drinking game? How about everytime he says “more of the same”?

6:30pm McCain: Obama has spent unprecedented amount of negative attack ads on McCain. I want to let Joe the Plumber KEEP his wealth.

6:34pm Discussion about “kill him” and “terrorist” comments at a McCain-Palin rally. McCain retorts that people have said some stuff at Obama rallies that weren’t so hot, either.

6:35pm Obama: disagree without being disagreeable. Uh-huh.

6:36pm What a schmuck. McCain calling out Obama on Ayers and ACORN, we need to know those associations. McCain MUST have been listening to talk radio!

6:38pm Obama defending his associations. Said Ayers never part of campaign, never will be, and won’t be a part of his administration. Said nothing about even really knowing him. Used ACORN’s talking points to defend them. McCain brought it back to the economy…good move.

6:41pm STRANGE QUESTION… Cue the Office theme song. Joe “It’s A Gaffe!” Biden is practically a real-life Michael Scott. I find it humorous that Biden has been wrong, IMO, on every foreign policy point, so I don’t know why he’s such an expert.

6:43pm McCain boosting Palin. She’s a reformer, she understands the needs of families with special needs. Has united the GOP.

6:44pm Obama: Helping autism requires more funding. McCain: Why do we always have to spend more? That’s Obama’s answer to everything. McCain hounding home the point that Obama will raise taxes.

6:46pm Bob: Let’s change the subject…reducing oil imports. McCain: We can be independent of Middle East and Venezuelan oil within 7-10 years through a variety of things. Obama turning to the camera on his answer…smooth. Obama actually promoting “looking at” off-shore drilling and letting oil companies drill on the land they have? Someone hand me a Pander Bear.

6:51pm McCain: I admire Obama’s eloquence, but you have to pay attention to words…”look at”, “look at” off-shore drilling. Yep, McCain is definitely gaining more and more confidence. Obama didn’t support Columbia free-trade agreement. Claims Obama never traveled south of our border, doesn’t know much about what’s going on down there.

6:54pm Obama bringing it back to energy. Need to get more fuel-efficient cars of the future. Wind and solar energy. McCain: Brings it back to the free-trade with Columbia. Obama against free-trade with one of our best allies in South America, but will sit down without preconditions with Chavez. McCain compares Obama to Herbert Hoover. Someone, grab some icy-hot, that one’s got to hurt!

6:57pm Now to health care. Obama turning to the camera, again…”here’s what we’re going to do”, proceeds to outline his ambitious, socialist-leaning health care plan. Get rid of preconditions for health insurance? Whaaa? So I get insurance only when I get cancer or am pregnant?

7:00pm Now McCain talking directly to Joe the Plumber: here’s what Obama’ll do to you, here’s what I’ll do. Obama decides he can talk to Joe, too.

7:01pm Where the hoo-hah is all this money supposed to come from, I ask?

7:03pm McCain: Joe, you’re rich, congratulations. If you don’t provide Obama-mandated health insurance for your employees, you’ll have to pay a fine. Take $5000 to take to whatever health insurance provider you want to go to. “Senator Government, er, Senator Obama.” I like that slip!

7:05pm McCain: By the way, Democrats have been in control of Congress for the past two years!

7:06pm New question: Ooo…Roe v. Wade. Would you ever appoint someone to the SCOTUS if they disagreed with you on that? McCain: Shouldn’t be litmus test on that, but it wasn’t a good decision. They should be judged on their qualifications, not ideologies. Accused Obama voting against SCOTUS nominees because of their opposing ideologies.

7:08pm Obama: Judges jobs are to provide “fairness and justice to the American people.” Um, I’m pretty sure their job is to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Says he won’t impose litmus test, BUT Roe v. Wade was right, and that certainly “hangs in the balance”. So…he WILL impose a litmus test…?

7:11pm McCain: “Trial lawyers dream.” Haha! Ah, he’s bringing up Obama’s Illinois State Senate vote against the Child Born Alive Protection Act. “I don’t know how you vote ‘present’ on some of that.” Another smug Obama smirk.

7:12pm Obama denying his vote? Oh, explaining it… “Already law on the books…would have undermined Roe v. Wade.” I still don’t understand that vote–he was the ONLY one who voted against it. How does he justify that otherwise unanimous vote by the Illinois State Senate?

7:15pm Discussion on adoption, etc. McCain pro-adoption, but also cares about protecting the lives of unborn children.

7:18pm Last question: education, why are we behind? I missed most of Obama’s answer (liveblogging his harder than it looks!). Obama did talk about his college credit plan in exchange for community service–peace corps, et al. McCain: Throwing money at the problem is not the solution. We need to reward good teachers, make it easier for vets to come home and slide into a teaching job.

7:20pm More federal money into the school system? Obama: Traditionally local, but sometimes fed should step in. Never followed through with NCLB. Basically throw more money at the problem. My dad’s pithy comment: “No wallet left behind, more like.”

7:23pm Short discussion on charter schools and vouchers. Couldn’t really hear due to noisy family. McCain: Let’s reform and fund these programs…not just fund them.

7:25pm McCain seems to be ending strong. Good pithy last comment before closing statements.

7:27pm McCain closing statement, paraphrased: Difficult times and changes for America. We need a new direction, we cannot be satisfied with the direction of the last 8 years. Clean up campaign finance system, etc. Health care affordable and available, quality education for everyone, we HAVE to stop the spending. We’re asking you to trust us, to be careful stewards of your tax dollars. Put country first. Proud to serve for this country, proud to serve again, honored, humbled.

7:29pm Obama closing statement, paraphrased: Economy is bad. Can’t have more of the same politics and policies of the past eight years. We need change. Brighter days are still ahead. Invest in American people again–tax cuts for middle class, college for young Americans, policies to lift wages, grow middle class. Policies I’ve fought for my whole career. We all have to come together to renew a spirit of sacrifice, service, and responsibility. We can do it. I ask for your vote. As president, I will work every single day tirelessly on your behalf and the future of your children.

Ending thoughts: McCain came out swinging and landing those punches. He seemed unsure at first, but seemed to gain confidence as the debate wore on. Definitely made a point of reminding the American people that Obama would be raising taxes if he became president. Joe the Plumber was definitely a big hit with McCain tonight (should have had a drinking game on that one!), and he did not think twice about attacking Obama on the “spread the wealth” comment. The best moment was, “Senator Obama, I am not president Bush; you should have run four years ago if you wanted to run against him.” As for Obama, he did fine, although it seems that McCain might have gotten under his skin a wee bit, but I’m sure he was expecting McCain to be way on the offensive tonight. Obama’s snickering was downright annoying and a major turn-off for me.

I may have some more thoughts to post on this later, but for now, I’m done.

-Cydney

By CHARLES HURT Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON – You won’t find it in his campaign ads, but Barack Obama let slip his plans to become a modern-day Robin Hood in the White House, confiscating money from the rich to give to the poor.

Conservatives yesterday ripped Obama after he was caught on video telling an Ohio plumber that he intends to take the profits of small-business owners and “spread the wealth around” to those with lesser incomes.

The fracas over Obama’s tax plan broke out Sunday outside Toledo when Joe Wurzelbacher approached the candidate.

Wurzelbacher said he planned to become the owner of a small plumbing business that will take in more than the $250,000 amount at which Obama plans to begin raising tax rates.

“Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?” the blue-collar worker asked.

After Obama responded that it would, Wurzelbacher continued: “I’ve worked hard . . . I work 10 to 12 hours a day and I’m buying this company and I’m going to continue working that way. I’m getting taxed more and more while fulfilling the American Dream.”

“It’s not that I want to punish your success,” Obama told him. “I want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance for success, too.

Then, Obama explained his trickle-up theory of economics.

“My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody. I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

Critics said Obama let the cat out of the bag.

“It’s clear that his main goal is redistribution of wealth, not growth,” said Andy Roth with the anti-tax group Club for Growth. “He’s perfectly happy to destroy wealth as long as he can redistribute it.”

Obama has been meticulous, Roth said, to conceal the “socialistic” nature of his tax plans. “But every once in a while, he lets it slip,” he said.

Republican candidate John McCain yesterday charged that Obama’s comment was telling.

“This explains how Senator Obama can promise an income-tax cut for millions who aren’t even paying income taxes right now,” he said in Pennsylvania.

“My plan isn’t intended to force small businesses to cut jobs to pay higher taxes so we can ‘spread the wealth around.’ My plan is intended to create jobs and increase the wealth of all Americans.”

Meanwhile, a New York Times/CBS poll last night showed Obama moving into a commanding 53-39 percent lead.

This all reminds me of a great excerpt from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged:

Ragnar: “. . . [Robin Hood] is not remembered as a champion of property, but as a champion of need, not as a defender of the robbed, but as a provider of the poor. He is held to be the first man who assumed a halo of virtue by practicing charity with wealth which he did not own, by giving away goods which he had not produced, by making others pay for the luxury of his pity. He is the man who became a symbol of the idea that need, not achievement, is the source of rights, that we don’t have to produce, only to want, that the earned does not belong to us, but the unearned does. He became a justification for every mediocrity who, unable to make his own living, had demanded the power to dispose of the property of his betters, by proclaiming his willingness to devote his life to his inferiors at the price of robbing his superiors. It is this foulest of creatures – the double-parasite who lives on the sores of the poor and the blood of the rich – whom men have come to regard as the moral idea.” “. . . Do you wonder why the world is collapsing around us? That is what I am fighting, Mr. Rearden. Until men learn that of all human symbols, Robin Hood is the most immoral and the most contemptible, there will be no justice on earth and no way for mankind to survive.”

Yes, that quote could be called a bit harsh, but truly…the idea that the Robin Hood Effect is the cure for the current (or any) economic crisis–take FDR and his New Deal, for example: UCLA economists found (four years ago) that FDR’s own stimulus package during the Great Depression actually lengthened the depression instead of helping to cure it. A very interesting quote from the UCLA article:

“Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always been a great mystery, and because we never really knew the reason, we have always worried whether we would have another 10- to 15-year economic slump,” said Ohanian, vice chair of UCLA’s Department of Economics. “We found that a relapse isn’t likely unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies.”

Hindsight’s 20/20, but it doesn’t do any good if you don’t look back. In Atlas Shrugged, the government kept nationalizing private sector after private sector, all in the name of saving the economy, but in truth, the supposed fix widened the fissure. The current bailouts don’t seem to be helping much, either. Could a New Deal 2.0 be in the making? God help us.

-Cydney

I’m here with eleven other folks from my church on a short-term mission trip. We’ll be here ’til next Monday. Yesterday, five Thais made decisions to follow Christ. Two of them, a younger married couple, I had the joy of witnessing their new comittment. It was amazing…simply amazing. I have never been a part of that before.

It is quite muggy around here, and about once a day, in the afternoon, it starts pouring rain, drenching anyone and everyone in its path. The Thai people are very friendly, and the city is actually fairly clean.

AH…I would write more, but I’ve got about three minutes left on my session, so I’d better post this!

-Cydney