http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Analysis of American politics and government from an independent perspective. Also a collection of David R. Remer's writings. Remer is managing editor of the famous WatchBlog.com en-us drremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comJW@poliwatch.orgdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.comdrremer@gvtc.com 2008-04-29T00:20:31-06:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2008/04/29/00.20.31/ Rational, thoughtful, educated, informed, and with a vested interest; these were the hopes of many of America's founders for the integral characteristics of those who vote and participate in the democracy portion of our Republic. Universal suffrage wasn't even close to being considered desirable at the founding of our nation. Yet, universal suffrage is what we have delivered unto ourselves in the name of Women's rights, African American rights, Civil Rights, and Ignorant and Uneducated Rights. America decided that even the ignorant and uneducated are entitled to a voice in electing not just their district representatives of the U.S. House of Representatives as originally intended, but the Senate and the President as well. 14003@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ 2008-04-29T00:20:31-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2008/04/16/16.02.30/ Sen. John McCain is the most conflicted candidate I have seen since Richard Nixon. It is as if the left mouth Of Janus McCain doesn't know what the right mouth is saying, thus they contradict each other before the same public. Let's look at some examples. Yesterday, in an obvious bid to pander for votes, McCain proposed a gasoline tax holiday for the summer. This is the same McCain who said in a GOP debate: "we can reduce these greenhouse gas emissions." The man's gratuitous ignorance of economic behavior is on display here. Lowering the cost of gasoline drives up demand and usage, thus increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Raising the cost of gasoline, decreases demand for gasoline and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Janus McCain is conflicted. 14002@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ 2008-04-16T16:02:30-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2008/03/28/14.14.35/ My thanks to David Remer for permitting me to blog here at Poliwatch. I am an independent voter with a heavy lean and support for the Green Party. I want to address the convergence of America's desperate reach for a sustainable energy policy. And America's ability to maintain and produce an even healthier environment. Such a convergence is not on track at this time. It is a mistake for the public to believe all the Green ads by the likes of Exxon/Mobil and the Coal industry, who are spending 100's of millions a year to shore up their public image in the face of enormous controversy over their profits and subsidies, as well as their lobbying against measures that would truly move energy into the Green zone. 14001@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Election Issues 2008 2008-03-28T14:14:35-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/10/22/08.09.00/ A New York Times editorial this morning says America isn't collecting enough taxes. The editorial argues that this leaves America unable to compete against other industrialized nations. Where the government's of China, India, and European nations provide their citizens with health care, their companies, free of the cost of employee health care, are able to make competitive products at a lower cost than in the U.S. 13996@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Consumer Issues 2007-10-22T08:09:00-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/10/21/02.26.58/ In the clearest sign yet that the 2008 elections will continue the growth of the anti-incumbent sentiment, a new Reuters / Zogby poll demonstrates Americans are extremely disappointed in current politicians, but, hopeful about the future. Logically, that sentiment portends removing more of the current politicians and bringing in new ones campaigning on change. 13995@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Election Issues 2008 2007-10-21T02:26:58-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/10/14/18.21.57/ Believe it or not, in a barely covered announcement made on October 5, which I just ran across, a Constitutional Convention will commence on October 19. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito among others will preside. 23 proposed amendments and changes to the U.S. Constitution are on the agenda for debate. 13994@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Assumptions of Democracy 2007-10-14T18:21:57-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/10/08/13.31.08/ Our politicians just can't seem to resist throwing tax payer's dollars away and increasing the national debt. You are not going to believe this. They can't seem to get much else right, either. Stephen Barr writes about the President's advisory board on federal employees pay having recommended a 2.5% across the board pay raise for the coming year. So, what do you think Pres. Bush and Congress do with that information? Reject it, of course, and propose a 3% and 3.5% raise respectively, instead. 13992@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Election Issues 2008 2007-10-08T13:31:08-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/10/06/00.28.35/ Voting out incumbents, whose results as elected leaders are disappointing, is getting easier. In prior elections, one of the main obstacles to voting out an incumbent has been getting enough information about challengers to afford voters a reasonable alternative candidate to vote for. The internet to the rescue! A number of political action sites are now providing comprehensive lists of incumbents and challengers, to include links to their campaign web sites and much greater volume of information about their pasts and qualifications. One such site is SourceWatch which updates its site regularly, covering not only the politicians and candidates, but, lobbyists, and campaign financing, as well as who is behind the news stories. 13991@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Election Issues 2008 2007-10-06T00:28:35-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/09/27/17.56.32/ Democrat's attempt to hide their 'Amnesty and Leave the Borders Open' bill, by burying it in the Defense Appropriations Bill, has failed. Some 490,000 NumbersUSA supporters, and many thousands of other Americans, hit their Senators again with raucous dissent via phone, fax, and email at this sneaky and underhanded attempt to revive the Amnesty bill which, failed last summer as a stand alone bill. 13990@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Election Issues 2008 2007-09-27T17:56:32-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/09/08/23.51.46/ This last 7 days has witnessed one of the most packed weeks for political news and activity I have ever seen. From a rash of Republican retirement announcements to a rash of new information about Iraq, on balance, it appears many wrongs and ills are being set right, and a few not. Following is a recap. 13989@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Current Political Events 2007-09-08T23:51:46-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/09/01/15.51.49/ Unable to make any headway in the Congress for a national retail sales tax, now referred to as the "Fair Tax" proposal, proponents have embarked on a different strategy. And so far, it's working. When Republicans were in control of Congress, a debate was begun on how to eliminate the progressive income tax system which imposes higher rates for those accruing greater incomes. The two main alternatives to Income Tax reform were the Flat Tax and the Sales Tax (now spun into the "Fair Tax" by name). 13988@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Election Issues 2008 2007-09-01T15:51:49-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/08/31/18.46.39/ The face of George Orwell's Big Brother and that of the bearded Uncle Sam are morphing into each other at an accelerated rate. Soon, we can take the composite of both as the new face of America, and plaster it on high technology high definition digital Ad Displays from Times Square to the Golden Gate with the caption, "Uncle Sam is Watching You". 13982@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Bush Administration 2007-08-31T18:46:39-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/08/28/15.48.33/ Increasingly, a measure by which many Independent voters determine whether or not to vote for an incumbent or their challenger, is based on who is funding their campaign and in what amount. One American hero is largely responsible for the public having that ability. His name is Fred Wertheimer. Fred Wertheimer is a name and face which Independent / Third Party voters, and all voters concerned with responsible, ethical, and accountable government, should get acquainted with. 13987@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Status of American Politics 2007-08-28T15:48:33-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/08/27/15.46.21/ Just months ago, defiance by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush, in the face of critic's calls for the A.G.'s resignation, was frustrating for them. The frustration ends today. 13986@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Bush Administration 2007-08-27T15:46:21-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/08/23/15.43.18/ Many think the '08 elections will be all about Iraq. They are wrong. A co-equal issue for voters in '08 will be pocketbook issues. The current sub-prime mortgage debacle has spill over effects that are going to hit millions of voters with either pocketbook losses or pocketbook anxiety. A majority of voters have never bought into the Bush administration's rosy economic rhetoric. But, now, growing percentages of them are workers being laid off; companies are paring back, consumers are hitting Wal-Mart's and Home Depot's revenues negatively, and health care continues to eat bigger chunks of paychecks. GDP is now projected between 2.4 and 2.7 percent, and more bears are throwing the Recession word around (inappropriately, I might add.) 13985@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Election Issues 2008 2007-08-23T15:43:18-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/08/22/15.41.01/ President Bush displayed enormous ignorance and simple minded thinking before thousands of Veterans in his speech in Kansas City, today. He said: "the legacy of Viet Nam was that our withdrawal cost large human suffering in Viet Nam and Cambodia after our departure." Meaning, had he then been president, the U.S. death toll would have grown far larger, since he would not have withdrawn. But, there's much more. 13984@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Bush Administration 2007-08-22T15:41:01-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/08/20/18.46.39/ The face of George Orwell's Big Brother and that of the bearded Uncle Sam are morphing into each other at an accelerated rate. Soon, we can take the composite of both as the new face of America, and plaster it on high technology high definition digital Ad Displays from Times Square to the Golden Gate with the caption, "Uncle Sam is Watching You". 13983@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Bush Administration 2007-08-20T18:46:39-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/08/15/15.08.02/ This YouTube video of Dick Cheney on invading Iraq in 1994 is absolutely unbelievable considering his diametrically opposite lies and deceptions after becoming Vice President. His defenders say his 1994 views on how invading Iraq would be the greatest of mistakes and lead us to a quagmire with no exit, was altered by 9/11. But, that is both false and illogical. Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9/11. 13980@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Bush Administration 2007-08-15T15:08:02-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/08/10/09.39.21/ Monumental changes are occurring in the span of a single lifetime. Climate, science, demography, environment and human knowledge are all undergoing enormous rapid changes, and no one on earth can escape them. The only way to begin to manage change is to accept that it is here. To deny it, reject it, or refuse it, is to succumb to it, without ever having a say as to what shape or direction it took. 13979@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Status of American Politics 2007-08-10T09:39:21-06:00 http://www.poliwatch.org/archives/Analysis/2007/07/20/20.03.00/ In a dictatorship, no one else in government has power to halt the authoritarian who authors and enforces his own laws. George W. Bush is acting the role, and getting away with it, because our judicial system is incapable of responding with speed or efficiency to the Constitutional crises being raised by the President's incredible expansion of the power of the executive branch. 13978@http://poliwatch.org/Analysis/ Bush Administration 2007-07-20T20:03:00-06:00