Economic Crossroads…

For over a year I have been watching the economy very closely, and watching the average American managing the best that they can with the cards that are being dealt on a day to day basis.  We have had a sub-prime mortgage meltdown proceeding along for almost two years and watched the price of gasoline skyrocket even though Americans are using less in order to continue to feed their families.  Yesterday, I was hearing Diane Feinstein speak about off-shore drilling on Fox and she asked why crude oil prices were still going up even though demand has gone down in the first six months of 2008 for the first time since 1991.  Today the price of crude oil dropped $10 a barrel.  This is the greatest dip in oil prices in 17 years according to MSNBC, settling at $6.44 off it’s opening price with a total of $138.74 a barrel.

According to this Canadian newspaper, National Post, the Fed’s new rules against predatory subprime lending won’t be enforced until October 1, 2009.  Please keep that little fact in mind as you read the following excerpt.

House prices across 20 of the largest U.S. cities fell 15.3% over the year to April, with prices in the 10 largest cities falling by a record 16.3%, the most recent Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller home price index showed.

Meanwhile, the number of mortgage default notices, foreclosures and bank repossessions has soared by 53% since June, 2007, with one in every 501 households receiving a foreclosure filing in June, RealtyTrac figures showed on Thursday.

Mr. Shapiro said house prices would likely fall between 5% and 10% in the second half of 2008 and by about 10% in 2009.

“We don’t think that we’re near the bottom yet on a national basis,” he said.

I can already hear you saying that you do not need to be slapped silly with this kind of news, but I am getting to my point now.  I mentioned in an earlier post that we are standing at the edge of an abyss.  A financial maelstrom that is going to require immense fortitude, commitment, and leadership to contain and reign it in.  We were heading this direction, but not as far along, when President Bill Clinton was elected and I think we all remember what happened with the deficit and the economy over the course of his eight years in the White House.  Had there been another democrat elected in 2000, we may not have been standing here watching our economy suffer because of the greed of a few.  A close friend, who was uncommitted in his presidential choice, asked me a year ago who I was going to vote for and why.  My response?  Hillary; the economy.

Please take a look at these videos and tell me who you think would show the kind of leadership and knowledge we ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE at this dark crossroad.

This:

or This:

and how about this:

and not to completely beat the point into submission:

Now, do you see the point?  The difference between Obama reading words on a page that some speech writer probably wrote for him and not really knowing on an organic level what he is talking about and Senator Clinton knowing the subject backwards, forwards, inside-out and upside down is razor sharp when shown side by side.  No wonder he did not want to debate her and does not want to debate McCain.  The American public and the world will find out that he is not wearing any clothes.

Now personally, I do not give a hoot if the emperor wants to run around Chicago without any clothes, but I do care about putting someone in the White House who will know HOW to RESPOND to the current crisis that is a slow moving whirlpool, but is continually picking up speed by the moment, and dragging our country and us down with it.

With our vote, we are HIRING a person to be the leader of our country and the leader of the most powerful nation in the free world.  We are hiring a person to hold the reins and do the job that is required, from the economy, the military and the war, education, health care, and beyond.  Could it even be possible that people really think that a junior senator with 146 days in the Senate when he announced his candidacy is even capable of grasping the magnitude of the position and the responsibilities that come with it, or is this man a legend in his own mind?

Everyone has their own pet issue that they like to foster and care for, but let it be known, that America is a democratic capitalist country and the barometer for its strength is not the size of it’s military, it is the condition of it’s economy; like it or not.

I know I am not the only one still betting on Senator Clinton and I am asking for 165 more patriots at the Convention in August to have the courage to stand at the crossroads and help our country find shelter from the approaching hurricane by nominating Senator Hillary Clinton to be our nominee and the next President Of The United States.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton , Barack Obama, Economy, Hillary Clinton, Home Foreclosures, PUMA

Seneca Falls 160: A Day for Women’s Rights, A Day for Hillary

I am honored to have a guest post from Shtuey of Oh…My Valve to announce an event to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the first women’s conference at Seneca Falls.  Please join me in welcoming a very well spoken poster, Shtuey!!!

Seneca Falls 160:  A Day For Women’s Rights, A Day For Hillary

by Shtuey at Oh…My Valve!

On March 25, 1911 a tragedy struck the city of New York that forever changed the Women’s Movement.  Near closing time, from an unknown source, a fire ripped through the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory killing 146 people.  Of those, 126 were women.  Though valiant efforts were made to save the Triangle workers, a locked exit and inadequate fire escapes doomed many of the immigrant men and women that worked there.  The grizzly scene of young girls holding hands with their coworkers, leaping to their deaths, rather than face the flames behind them, their burned and mangled bodies strewn upon the sidewalk, shocked the nation.

The women’s labor movement had been called to action two years earlier by Clara Lemlich, a 19 year old Ukranian Jewish immigrant who had been savagely beaten for her union involvement. Her modest but impassioned call for a vote for action began a shirtwaist makers’ strike that rocked New York City.  The movement found new force in the deaths of the young women in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, an event which also drove the final push in the fight to secure the right of franchise for women in America, as was seen at the 1912 New York City March for Suffrage.  Some 20,000 people marched.  A reported half million lined the streets.  But the coals that stoked the fires of these movements were not kindled on those ill fated floors of the Asch Building in Manhattan.  The match was struck upstate, with relative quiet, 63 years earlier in the town of Seneca Falls.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott found themselves in a situation oft repeated in the past 160 years.  Denied seats at the 1840 anti-slavery convention in London, due to their gender, Mott and Stanton agreed that a convention on women’s rights needed to be held.  Eight years later it came to pass, the result of Mott visiting family not far from Stanton’s home in Seneca Falls, New York.

The call was unassuming.  An unsigned notice was placed in the local paper advertising the convention.  Three hundred-forty women and forty men, most from within a five mile radius, attended the convention.

The task of constructing a declarative document fell upon Stanton.  Using the Declaration of Independence as her guide she constructed what she entitled the Declaration of Sentiments.  Within this document lay the undeniable and unshakable truth still contested by the ignorant today (some of whom can be seen blathering away on an almost daily basis on cable television news networks): “All men and all women are created equal.”

One hundred and forty-seven years later, then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, went to Beijing to address an international women’s conference themed, “Listen to the Women.”  In a singular act of bravery, and at great political and personal risk, Senator Clinton, standing on the shoulders of Stanton, Mott, Anthony, Lemlich, Roosevelt and others too many to name, changed the course of the conversation of women’s rights forever.  Echoing Stanton’s declaration she proclaimed to the world; “Women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights.”

In other words, women’s rights: they’re not just for women anymore.

It is no longer acceptable to discuss women’s rights as being owned solely by women.  This is an issue of what it means to be human.  In 1995 Hillary Clinton made it plain that it is no longer acceptable for anyone, regardless of gender, skin color, religion, sexual orientation, age, nationality, or creed to be oppressed whether it be physically, emotionally, sexually, or economically, and that it is time for all of us to take responsibility for protecting and defending each other’s rights to live lives of freedom and equality.  Whether it is being paid equal wages for equal time, access to the same employment opportunities, or to share our lives with the partners of our choice, every American citizen should have equal protection under the Constitution of the United States, and every citizen of the world should be recognized as having equal protection of their inalienable human rights.  There is only one race; the human race.  When the rights of one human are violated, we are all violated.  When one of us has obstacles thrown up against them, is oppressed, insulted, attacked, or enslaved then we are obligated by our mutual humanity to stand up in their defense.  That is what Dr. King saw from the top of the mountain.

When Senator Clinton entered the 2008 Presidential Race she asked America to join her in a conversation, a conversation that began 160 years ago in Seneca Falls, New York.  Today we ask you to continue that conversation.  On Saturday July 19th, 2008 we ask you don your Hillary gear and gather together with your friends, your neighbors, your community, your country.  We ask you to look at yourselves, look at your nation, look at your world, and take up the path that Hillary laid before us in Beijing.  Convene in your homes, or in a public place.  Read the Declaration of Sentiments.  And read and sign a new declaration; a declaration that reaffirms the original Declaration of Sentiments, and issues a new call to embrace women’s rights as human rights; that demands that the rights of all people be protected and upheld.

You will find event details, and copies of both declarations at http://www.seneca160.us/index.html.

Join us in Seneca Falls.  Celebrate the anniversary of Seneca Falls.  Celebrate Hillary.  Come join the conversation.

–
“The humblest in all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error.” –William Jennings Bryan

Filed under: Hillary Rodham Clinton , Hillary Clinton, Seneca Falls, Women's Conference

Adopting Hillary’s Idea….Again!

Barack is at it again, only this time he actually is giving Hillary credit…kinda sorta.  I believe Obama finally figured out that he needs the latino vote in November as evidenced by saying “The Latino community holds this election in it’s hands…”  I’m just wondering about all the other demographics that are sitting out in the snowbank right now; what about them?  I can’t wait for the speeches inviting each demographic that is now ensconced under Barack’s bus to come on down!!!

According to ABC News:

ABC News’ Sunlen Miller reports: Speaking before the National Council of La Raza in San Diego, Sen. Barack Obama rolled out a new policy in his healthcare plan: announcing that he will offer a new tax credit for small businesses that offer quality healthcare to their employees.

To note, this is an adoption of a part of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s health care plan — and one that Obama gave Clinton direct credit for during his announcement.

“Today, I’m announcing an aspect to my plan to provide real relief for small business owners who are crushed by rising costs, an idea championed by my friend Hillary Clinton, who’s been leading the way in our battle to insure every American,” Obama said. “It’s a plan that would help more employers provide health benefits for their workers — instead of making it harder for them, as Senator [John] McCain would do.”

On a conference call earlier in the day the Obama campaign danced around the issue of giving credit solely to Clinton for the development of his health care plan. (Emphasis mine.)

This all comes after his original health care proposal was criticized by Senator McCain.  Is it any wonder that PUMA/Just Say No Deal exists when we have this display of flip-flopping and adoption of opponent’s platforms?  We have been asking for months, “Why not nominate the real democrat that can win the White House?” Superdelegates, are you watching, reading and listening?

On a different note, Barack Obama; being such a spineless wonder must be hard work and will require, no doubt, a vacation very soon.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, PUMA, Politics , Barack Obama, Health Care Plan, Just Say No Deal, Latino, PUMA, Superdelegates

Democracy? What Is It Worth?

I’ve been watching the Barack and Hillary tour of joint fundraisers to support him and retire her debt.  He, of course, has problems getting to her events and she’s right on time; keeping her word.  Many of you may not know that it has been reported that the Obama team has only raised $100,000 (This is also today’s AYFKM? Award) to retire Senator Clinton’s debt, and as we all know, the DNC keeps moving the bar on her; first she has until the Convention, then she has until July 15th and now it’s July 11th. Would you like to know why? Please watch this video, read on, and THINK about what the DNC is up to now….

Can you say $10 Million Dollars?  Can you?  Compared to $100,000?  I just love races; I really, really do.  It feels like Jack and the Beanstalk and the Giant is trying to step on us.

Remember, Senator Clinton did not ask Pumas to retire her debt; she asked for help from the Obama team, and what did they deliver?  A footnote to a campaign speech and $100K? Does anybody want to tell me where the party unity is and where it is supposed to start?  Shouldn’t it be coming from the Obama team, as they have been selected the winners, and why is the DNC moving the target date over and over again, if not to hold that debt over her head as some kind of penance for staying in the race when she was winning and control her actions up until August 25th?  Unfortunately for them, they cannot control the actions of millions of voters as evidenced by the amount of greenbacks raised in such a short time.

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked the same question that the interviewer asked Will Bower.  Why retire the debt of a millionaire?  Some people’s kids just don’t get it.  This isn’t about paying off Hillary’s debt because we love her, (and we do); it’s about putting your money where your mouth is and standing up to the Obamanation for what’s right.  We all know that if she receives serious financial help from Gumbi, then she has to go out on stage, say really nice things about him and ask her supporters to embrace the DNC’s selected candidate.  Gumbi is asking for her 18 million supporters wrapped up in paper and a bow in return for cash.  (I am not even going to go there….)  How moronic is that?  Just because it’s been done before;  A. doesn’t make it right, and B. doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again. This is, once again, about standing up for Democracy and the people’s choice.  Yes, that’s right, the people’s choice.  Now, Dean, Brazile and assorted crew want to silence 18 Million Americans that voted for Senator Clinton the only way they know how…through money; and from what I see, they are doing a pathetic, shameful job AGAIN!

As an American, if you stand up and join us to alleviate this newest backroom maneuver, you are saying NO DEAL!  You are saying that you stand behind the Constitution and Democracy.  Hillary was not the one who gave sanctions to states that Obama was slated to win.  Hillary was not the one who disenfranchised Michigan and Florida (still).  Hillary is not the one moving the bar.  The DNC was and is the organization that is trying to rewrite history and set precedent.  Are you going to allow that to happen.  Are you going to let Dean, Pelosi, Reid, Brazile and worst of all, Gumbi, write precedent?

Are you this:

Or are you this:

Tell The Obamanation That We Are Not For Sale! Click on this link and JUST SAY NO DEAL!

Filed under: DNC, Democracy, Hillary Rodham Clinton, PUMA, Politics, Stupidity, Uncategorized , AYFKM? Award, Not For Sale

To Get Her 4 Us…Hillary Donors Say No Deal!

Yes, fellow PUMAs and Democracy fighters, we are making history, right here and now. Me Thinks that this is going to be a convention to remember…..

In keeping with wanting to get the word out, (you know, that pesky thing called the TRUTH), I wanted to post this so that it might get more coverage.

Lady Lynn de Rothschild has started a new website Together4us; pronounced To Get Her 4 Us.   Ms. Rothschild  is one of approximately 2 dozen Hillary Clinton donors that are saying NO DEAL and will not back or donate to Gumbi; AND they are in talks with the McCain camp right now.  I’m hearing the Democratic Suicide Train starting to derail.

As you will see in this Fox interview today, Ms. Rothschild speaks about many issues including attacks made against her by the Obambots because she said her allegiance was to country before party and that Gumbi has no mandate to take the nomination.  He did NOT win the popular vote.  He did NOT win the pledged delegate amount needed.

Here is their pledge.  Check out their website and send a message to the DNC and Gumbi!

PLEDGE of TOGETHERNESS

On Saturday, June 7, 2008, Hillary Clinton suspended her historic campaign for President.  To her 18 million voters, it may have seemed like an end, but we pledge to make it a beginning…  a beginning of a movement to achieve the democratic and just country that Hillary has envisioned for America.

Hillary has spoken out for citizens who are too often invisible – children, the poor, the elderly, the working and middle class.  She has spoken out and worked hard for universal health care, a strong economy, a clean planet, a stellar education system, an end to the war in Iraq and a sound foreign policy.  She has built a broad and dedicated coalition of supporters and has energized millions of new voters – most notably women.

We stand together with her 18 million voters in pursuit of all of the following:

• Bring us together by honoring Hillary Clinton and her supporters at the Democratic National Convention in Denver by:
  1. Placing her name into nomination (following traditional protocol)
  2. Ensuring a roll-call vote
  3. Inviting her to speak, during prime-time, on August 26th, the 88th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage
• Bring us together by adoption of policies on the Platform Committee that Hillary Clinton has championed.
• Bring us together through reform of the primary and caucus system to reflect the basic principle of one person – one vote.
• Bring us together through outspoken denunciation of all gender bias, racism and other forms of discrimination.
• Bring us together by making a concerted effort to retire her campaign debt.

We are being asked to embrace Party Unity without the fair representation of Hillary Clinton and her 18 million voters. Party Unity requires bilateral action. We ask Barack Obama and the DNC to respond.

Filed under: DNC, Hillary Donors, Hillary Rodham Clinton, PUMA, Politics , Hillary Donors

My Promise

Susan over at NoQuarter asked for rants….this is what I sent.

I am not sending in a rant since I don’t think ranting about the current situation is going to really help anybody; rather, I am sending in a promise.
A very long time ago I followed my family’s ideals and registered as a democrat on my eighteenth birthday. The day after Jimmy Carter lost the election, I re-registered as an Independent and have been one since. I voted for Bill Clinton both times and spent the rest of my votes trying to keep idiot children out of the White House – to no avail. In each election cycle I had to sit back and ask questions about the intelligence behind Democrats picking a loser and the Republicans running the middle class into the ground – always without answers. Now I have more pressing questions about the Democratic Party and its leadership; questions that amount to whether or not a person is an American first, or a Democrat first, and whether the Democratic Party can violate its own charter and continue to be the people’s party?

So skip to the beginning of May when the pundits and talking heads on the MSM are talking about Michigan, Florida and the RBC. What I was hearing was that the RBC was going to try to help out Florida and Michigan, but wasn’t going to allow it to change the course of the nomination process, i.e. keep Barack Obama in the lead. Has anybody been able to explain: A. Why it shouldn’t change the course of the race or, (more importantly) B. How the MSM knew it wasn’t going to change the course of the race? Is it possible that the answer to A. has something to do with the DNC headquarters being moved to Chicago and the amount of time such a move would take to set up?

As we all know, on 5/31/08 The Rules and Bylaws Committee violated the Democratic National Party charter when they held closed door meetings with voting and then proceeded to award uncommitted votes to Barack Obama. Was this not enough treason to their own party, but they awarded four of Senator Hillary Clinton’s delegates to Barack Obama in a sweeping statement that they realized those people really wanted to vote for Barack Obama. What? Excuse me?

Let me say that again. As we all know, on 5/31/08 The Rules and Bylaws Committee violated the Democratic National Party charter when they held closed door meetings with voting and then proceeded to award uncommitted votes to Barack Obama. Was this not enough treason to their own party, but they awarded four of Senator Hillary Clinton’s delegates to Barack Obama in a sweeping statement that they realized those people really wanted to vote for Barack Obama. So now we have a party that doesn’t espouse true and fair reflection…go figure.

This election cycle has been like watching a 3-D chess game with almost all of the important players hiding in the shadows. How long has everything we have seen over the last 18 months been in the making; 4 years, 8 years? After the unprecedented moving of the DNC to Chicago, what are they planning next? I am not devious enough to fathom an answer to that question.

Please don’t kid yourselves; in my opinion, Senator Clinton’s time as a powerbroker inside the democratic party is over and I only hope and pray that sometime before the next election cycle she goes independent. Everyone keeps saying that anything can happen, but I am going with what my eight year old son said, “It’ll be a miracle if Hillary gets the nomination”. That is a truly sad state of affairs.

So here is my promise. I will Remember in November. I will NOT VOTE for Barack Obama. I WILL VOTE for the candidate that has the best chance of defeating the obamanation. I will continue to work on our elected officials in the democratic party to adhere to the Democratic Party constitution!

Sincerely,
DiamondTiger
PUMA

Just Say No Deal!

Filed under: DNC, Hillary Rodham Clinton, PUMA, Promise, RBC , Obamanation

3am

I would have to get up at 3am (and that has happened, i.e. the RBC FIASCO and our beloved HRC’s Suspension Speech) to stay abreast of what is happening on the mainland due to the time difference here in the islands. That being said, I have taken the time this morning to email those 10 Senators that are announcing their Checklist for Change with the hopes that they would add just one more item to their list. Here is the entire email.

Dear Senator Mikulski:

Would you please add an item to the Checklist for Change? Would you please stand up and vote for the real nominee of the Democratic Party in August – Senator Hillary Clinton? This would be something Congress could do Right Now to effect change in this country.

Thank you.
Puma Independent

I am a big believer in keeping it short and to the point.

Have you done your part? Please see this link for more information: http://clintondems.com/

Just Say No Deal!

Filed under: 10 Senators, Checklist for Change, Hillary Rodham Clinton