A couple of reasons to vote for Obama

[mopower1958]

AND... A lesson in Politics


Once upon a time, on a farm in Mississippi, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat.

She called all of her neighbors together and said, 'If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?'

'Not I,' said the cow.
'Not I,' said the duck.
'Not I,' said the pig.
'Not I,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did. The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain.

'Who will help me reap my wheat?' asked the little red hen.

'Not I,' said the duck..
'Out of my classification,' said the pig.
'I'd lose my seniority,' said the cow.
'I'd lose my unemployment compensation,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did.
At last it came time to bake the bread.
'Who will help me bake the bread?' asked the little red hen.

'That would be overtime for me,' said the cow.
'I'd lose my welfare benefits,' said the duck.
'I'm a dropout and never learned how,' said the pig.
'If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen.
She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, 'No, I shall eat all five loaves.'

'Excess profits!' cried the cow. (Nancy Pelosi)
'Capitalist leech!' screamed the duck. (Barbara Boxer)
'I demand equal rights!' yelled the goose. (Jesse Jackson)
The pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy)

And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.

Then the farmer (Obama) came. He said to the little red hen, 'You must not be so greedy.'
'But I earned the bread,' said the little red hen.
'Exactly,' said Barack the farmer. 'That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle.'

And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, 'I am grateful, for now I truly understand.'

But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the 'party' and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established.
Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared...so long as there was free bread that 'the rich' were paying for.

EPILOGUE
Bill Clinton is getting $12 million for his memoirs.
Hillary got $8 million for hers.
That's $20 million for the memories from two people, who for eight years, repeatedly testified, under oath, that they couldn't remember anything.

IS THIS A GREAT BARNYARD OR WHAT?

 

[iraqivet01]

What a great bed time story.

 

[supercar1of1]

Wow! I never looked at it from that angle, I'm going to change my vote to Obama now!!!
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[Lottotruck]

Good Stuff!

 

[Ram From Hell]

Just add long lines to get the bread, and we'd have communism too!

 

[OCBob]

EPILOGUE
Bill Clinton is getting $12 million for his memoirs.
Hillary got $8 million for hers.
That's $20 million for the memories from two people, who for eight years, repeatedly testified, under oath, that they couldn't remember anything.

Don't forget to include Reagan in this. How much did he get for his memoirs? He couldn't even remember selling weapons to Iran or creating a huge drug cartel with the CIA. Doesn't seem like the kind of thing I would forget.

As far as the redistribution of wealth goes, I agree that Obama is in favor of too much of it. When done correctly and in a limited scope it can help out everyone. But it must be used to create opportunity, not handouts.

See, if the money is used to create opportunity and provide education, then you bring more people into the position to consume products, which can help to drive the economy. But when you just give handouts, with no end in sight, then what reason would anyone have to work in order to improve themselves? As with most things in life the answer falls somewhere in the middle (IMO), but it's getting harder and harder to find candidates that do not pander to the fringes.

 

[Ram From Hell]

As far as the redistribution of wealth goes, I agree that Obama is in favor of too much of it. When done correctly and in a limited scope it can help out everyone. But it must be used to create opportunity, not handouts.

See, if the money is used to create opportunity and provide education, then you bring more people into the position to consume products, which can help to drive the economy. But when you just give handouts, with no end in sight, then what reason would anyone have to work in order to improve themselves? As with most things in life the answer falls somewhere in the middle (IMO), but it's getting harder and harder to find candidates that do not pander to the fringes.

When done correctly? You mean by the same people who spend hundreds of dollars on toilet seats and billions on special interest projects which benefit a handful of people?:dontknow:

Any "redistribution of wealth" brought about by taxing the top earners in this country is fruitless, and not in the best interest of the country. This nation has never benefited by the imposition of higher taxes aimed at those who have produced the greatest wealth. Oh, and you'd better believe that the taxation doesn't end with those folks either!

When people earn more and (this is important) keep more, that money is ultimately going back into the economy in the form of commerce, and investments like business expansion. There is no more positive use of the wealth in this country than that which is spent by the private sector! Let the people decide for themselves where their money should go, not the government!:rock:

 

[OCBob]

Sorry, but I truly believe that by using tax money to educate and create real opportunity, that it benefits the country as a whole. That is exactly what made us a world power, just because folks are poor doesn't mean they are stupid or lazy, nor does it meant that they can't contribute significantly to the nation.

I'm talking about scholarships, small business startup loans, job training. Give the people that want to succeed the tools, and we will all reap the rewards, rather than just a select few. I'm not talking about raising taxes at all either, just better spending of what we already collect. Get rid of the legal corruption that Congress has created for itself, and we'd probably have more than enough to pay for it.

 

[black pearl]

When done correctly? You mean by the same people who spend hundreds of dollars on toilet seats and billions on special interest projects which benefit a handful of people?:dontknow:

Any "redistribution of wealth" brought about by taxing the top earners in this country is fruitless, and not in the best interest of the country. This nation has never benefited by the imposition of higher taxes aimed at those who have produced the greatest wealth. Oh, and you'd better believe that the taxation doesn't end with those folks either!

When people earn more and (this is important) keep more, that money is ultimately going back into the economy in the form of commerce, and investments like business expansion. There is no more positive use of the wealth in this country than that which is spent by the private sector! Let the people decide for themselves where their money should go, not the government!:rock:

I agree with you. Just because someone has been able to be sucessful and make money, does not make them the villians. I have never heard of ANYONE working for a poor man:dontknow:

 

[Django]

FIRE EVERYONE IN WASHINGTON AND START OVER................:argh:

Oh yes...... And ban both current political parties...........

D

 

[OCBob]

I agree with you. Just because someone has been able to be sucessful and make money, does not make them the villians. I have never heard of ANYONE working for a poor man:dontknow:

I'm not talking about making anyone a villain or increasing any taxes. In fact, I believe all these things are possible while lowering taxes. It's all about spending the money intelligently. That really shouldn't be too much to ask of our elected officials. But it seems as if the populace has accepted that won't happen, and the politicians know it. If we punished bad politicians by voting them out of office, things might actually change.

 

[Ram From Hell]

Sorry, but I truly believe that by using tax money to educate and create real opportunity, that it benefits the country as a whole. That is exactly what made us a world power, just because folks are poor doesn't mean they are stupid or lazy, nor does it meant that they can't contribute significantly to the nation.

Oh yes, I agree with you here. I certainly wasn't implying that nothing good comes from our tax dollars.

I'm talking about scholarships, small business startup loans, job training. Give the people that want to succeed the tools, and we will all reap the rewards, rather than just a select few. I'm not talking about raising taxes at all either, just better spending of what we already collect. Get rid of the legal corruption that Congress has created for itself, and we'd probably have more than enough to pay for it.

However, private citizens, companies, and organizations do many of these things too. I understand that you, like most people, want the government to spend the money more wisely. The problem is that even when it tries, it never spends the money as efficiently as the private sector can. Granted, there are plenty of examples in the private sector that have screwed up worse than the government, but they're the exception rather than the rule. ...and yes, things in Washington need to be cleaned up!

One of the points I was making is that I firmly believe that our country can get what it actually needs without excessively penalizing a minority of it's citizens. It's easy to think that siphoning off more money from the wealthy will fix some problems, but these are the same people who invest the most back into their communities and this country in general.

Case in point, how about Bill Gates quitting Microsoft to work full time giving money away in grants and donations?

 

[OCBob]

One of the points I was making is that I firmly believe that our country can get what it actually needs without excessively penalizing a minority of it's citizens. It's easy to think that siphoning off more money from the wealthy will fix some problems, but these are the same people who invest the most back into their communities and this country in general.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all about this. In face, I am in favor of a flat tax, which I believe would be the fairest for all. Get rid of all the BS deductions and the ridiculous tax code. And spend the money intelligently, instead of like this:

The Missing $25 Billion

Buried in the Department of the Treasury’s 2003 Financial Report of the United States Government is a short section titled “Unreconciled Transactions Affecting the Change in Net Position,â€￾ which explains that these unreconciled transactions totaled $24.5 billion in 2003.[2]

The unreconciled transactions are funds for which auditors cannot account: The government knows that $25 billion was spent by someone, somewhere, on something, but auditors do not know who spent it, where it was spent, or on what it was spent. Blaming these unreconciled transactions on the failure of federal agencies to report their expenditures adequately, the Treasury report con*cludes that locating the money is “a priority.â€￾

The unreconciled $25 billion could have funded the entire Department of Justice for an entire year.
************************

Or this:

A recent audit revealed that between 1997 and 2003, the Defense Department purchased and then left unused approximately 270,000 commercial airline tickets at a total cost of $100 million. Even worse, the Pentagon never bothered to get a refund for these fully refundable tickets. The GAO blamed a system that relied on department personnel to notify the travel office when purchased tickets went unused.[3]

Auditors also found 27,000 transactions between 2001 and 2002 in which the Pentagon paid twice for the same ticket. The department would purchase the ticket directly and then inex*plicably reimburse the employee for the cost of the ticket. (In one case, an employee who allegedly made seven false claims for airline tickets professed not to have noticed that $9,700 was deposited into his/her account). These additional transactions cost taxpayers $8 million.

This $108 million could have purchased seven Blackhawk helicopters, 17 M1 Abrams tanks, or a large supply of additional body armor for U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Or any of the other million ways that money is recklessly spent or stolen by those in control of it.

We need to hold our elected officials responsible for their actions and we need to raise the expectations that we judge them on. There is no excuse for what goes on in our government, but in the end it is us that are to blame. We continue to elect and even worse, re-elect people that are at best incompetent and at worst downright criminal.

 

[ViperJeff]

Couple of things I've learned since I've been in my government position

The government is held to an on time on budget responsibility

Contractors are never on time or on budget


Government is held to an immediate compensation to disaster victims

Dishonest people will take advantage of the process


Anything the government does right... most likely will not be covered by anybody

Anything done wrong, usually is overblown by the media


The government allows the public to present concerns in open Council meetings

It would amaze you the kind of BS that citizens bring to these meetings to complain about


Government has programs, such as Public Health that helps prevent the spread of disease

YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE COST INVOLVED JUST CUZ SOMEONE WON'T USE A CONDOM

Not to be a defender of the government, be we as citizens can sometimes be our own worse enemy when it comes to the cost involved to run even a small county government.