In Defense of Dave

It Sucks When People with Thick Skin and little concern for others try to take advantage of good people such as late-night TV show host David Letterman. Mr. Letterman’s good heart, earnest intellect, and genuine curiosity have been on regular display for the last 25 years or so, for those of us eager to enjoy the antics that those traits engender after the kids have gone to bed.

On the Other Hand, the latest Republican vice-presidential candidate and current governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, appeared on the scene recently and has made clear her ambitions to continue parlaying her looks and pretense of self-confidence into higher political office—or whatever else she can manage to get by exploiting these superficial traits.

It Is All a Bunch of Hooie, as they say. No one in American politics has made so brazen an exploitation of her own children for political gain as Ms. Palin has. Where everyone else strives to keep their kids out of the limelight as much as possible, Ms. Palin thrust hers out in front, almost as a kind of a shield.

And Now, with the Unfortunate Opportunity of an unfunny joke, in dubious taste, of a pitched ball served up by Dave, Ms. Palin has done her best to hit the ball out of the park.

As in All Things Political, most of us saw the curve ball fall far short, well into foul-ball territory, while a few of those sitting resentful in far-Right field swear that the ball sailed fair over the outfield fence.

Whatever.

David Letterman's Choice of a Joke taking aim at the lame political candidate was unfortunate. And likely it stuck in his craw to have to apologize to someone who so clearly has sought to exploit Dave's gaffe for some political purpose—as if Ms. Palin truly can't differentiate between Mr. Letterman and actual political competitors, or between herself and professional entertainers.

Meanwhile, Mr. Letterman Seems to Have Made the Best of the unfortunate situation, publicly offering credence to Ms. Palin's pretence that she misunderstood the target of the joke (Palin herself, and not really either of her daughters); that this one, particular, bad Letterman joke, a degenerate makes (degeneracy is in the eye of the beholder); and that Ms. Palin gives a flip about our men and women in military service fighting for the right to have the failure of “abstinence” as a birth-control method not be held against those of us who have been given the God-given right to freedom of speech, or the right to bear children. Or....whatever.

I Hope That Mr. Letterman Knows Better than to take this experience too much to heart. For that would be a real shame.

On the One Hand, This Incident has probably ruined any chance Mr. Letterman has for a successful vice-presidential run in the foreseeable future.

On the Other Hand, That Job May Have Been Irrevocably Tainted by one recent competitor for that office. Not to mention a few who have gone before.

God Bless America for the willingness of Joe Biden to step into the oft-sullied U.S. Veep job and try to make something respectable of the position.)

Oh: and God Bless and Keep Sarah Palin and her family......far away from us.

ASP: The American Shareholder Plan

Channeling Barack Obama writes:

The News out of Washington, D.C., Today came from Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson. Among other information contained in the Secretary’s report on coming government actions related to the troubled international crisis, one thing stood out:

The American Taxpayer Is about to Become a Major Shareholder in the securities of troubled financial institutions. According to Secretary Paulson, in the appropriate or necessary circumstances, the taxpayers, through the agency of the national government, will receive actual shares of stock in the troubled banks and other institutions.

The Distribution of These Shares was not mentioned in the Secretary’s press conference, but we would like to suggest once again the possibility of an actual distribution of these shares into individual accounts for each individual shareholder.

Under the American Shareholder Plan (“ASP”), accounts can be opened for each American citizen and taxpayer, using the information on record with the Social Security Administration. These shares can then grow in the individual’s ASP account, for a wide range of purposes, such as home purchase, college tuition, health care, or retirement.

So Long as the Shares Are Kept in the ASP Account, their value will not be taxed, and nor will any dividends or other distributions be taxed. Just as with IRAs and Health Savings Accounts and other tax-advantaged investment plans, the ASP beomes the individual’s private investment acocunt, to use as he or she sees fit.

Under the Prospects of the ASP, the American taxpayer, currently bailing out Wall Street with tremendous sums of money, at a time of great financial duress, will stand to benefit completely from the eventual recovery of the financial markets. Whether the companies involved are banks or other types of businesses, the variety of income and capital return that each citizen might earn may eventually compensate the American taxpayers for the economic pain and suffering and risk that is currently underway.

Democratic Candidates Barack Obama and Joe Biden ask for your vote on November 4, 2008. Please help make exciting new programs such as the American Shareholders Program become reality.



[DISCLAIMER: The ASP is not currently endorsed by Barack Obama or Joe Biden, who have not yet read this post.]

Citizen-Shareholder Bail-Out

[DISCLAIMER: The following post is not in any way associated with the Presidential campaign
of Barack Obama and the Vice-Presidential campaign of Senator Joe Biden.]

Channeling Barack Obama writes:

The Proposal to Privatize Social Security made many Americans nervous. The current situation in the financial markets shows why. With the stock market down more than 25%, anyone relying entirely on investments for retirement right now would be facing hard times.

The Financial Institution Bail-Out Gives America a Unique Opportunity. As long as the American people are bailing out the mortgage companies—and the investment companies—and the banks—and the insurance companies—the right thing to do is to compensate the taxpayers for the risk that we are taking on. That’s why an Obama/Biden administration, once each of these companies has been restored to economic good health, can take the bold step of distributing stock shares of these companies to the citizen shareholders

President Barack Obama, if elected, can see to it that each American citizen receives an equal number of shares of stock in that company. Within a short time of balance being restored in the American financial markets, every single American will share in the benefits of stock ownership: regular dividends, as well as the value of the price increase of their shares.

Under an Obama “American Shareholder Plan,” each American will be able to sell his or her stock on the stock exchanges—or deposit it, tax-free, in their own private retirement account.

On Both Sides of the Political Divide, we say that we are eager to work together. Now, challenging times have shown us a way to make this a reality. We can bail out those troubled institutions whose failure threatens us all, while at the same time, we get compensation for the risk that we are taking in these bailouts.

It’s a Win/Win Situation. And under an Obama/Biden presidential administration, that’s the way it’s going to be.

One Nation, Indivisible, with Justice—
and Investments—for All!