The political debate was last night, strangely the most angering thing McCain said was not when he claimed he had such great tactical decision making, but when he started calling Obama "That one."
In case you didn't know, while 2nd person use of "one" is a respectful gender nutral pronoun, as in "taking care of One's own" using it attached to a objective pronoun such as "that" is considered dehumanization. often used as a form of prejudice propaganda.
For example, contrast these statements:
The blind person walked down the street.
OR
That one walked down the street.
A person with autism requires special attention.
OR
That one requires special attention
A devout Jewish man was praying at the temple.
OR
That one was praying at the temple.
The Shiite cleric said the time for war was over and we should make peace.
OR
That one said the time for war was over and we should make peace.
And finally:
The opposing candidate voted for that bill.
OR
Who voted for that bill? That one!
The reason for this is that if you analize each of those sentances, the person is refered to by "That" which is an object form pronoun, like in "that suit doesn't seem to fit you right" or "that house needs some work done before it will sell for full value."
Such derogatory patterns of speech such as dehumanization don't belong on the podium in a formal presidential debate, in fact they should hardly be tolerated when made by shock jocks, or in some blogger's rant.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Disappointed . . .
Not only could McCain not keep his promise for a 24 hours, and Obama quickly followed. Furthermore, Nobody in Washington was willing to admit that a perfect bill would take over a year to write, likely 5 years, and we only have a few weeks of a window of opertunity to stop this plunge in the economy, and every day we take it hurts the economy.
NO bill could be perfect. This is a fact that cannot be emphesized enough.
Truely, I would have added provisions mandating that "toxic assets" be bought paying no more than 60% of the market value, thus making banks very reluctant to use the program unless they truely have to cut their losses, and practically guarenteeing some return on investments by taxpayers. This "40% deductable" would eliminate profit for banks in using the program, and make it more an additional insurance for any US bank, than an actual program.
An additional program, I would provide is a national credit counseling service, provided to all americans for free of charge.
Additionally laws taxing loaner's income based on APR including all fees would be good incentives to intercept preditory lending habits by credit card companies.
Obviously, however, Congress is too busy thinking about what a few people think of them, and fighting ammongst themselves to satisfy both the lobbiests and the people, when neither can be done if this bill was to be made. Frankly Obama and McCain's initial view of the bill had to make understatement of the year.
The fact is, the lending market crises is a stain on America's economy, and it will take an equally harsh bleach to get it out. Washington, as usual is too afraid to admit just how bad the problem is, or the fact that it's not going to be easy to fix a problem, instead they stick to wanting impossible cures, and to deny the situation ever existed.
This doesn't change my opinion, just verifies my pesimism, but the fact that the presidential candiates could even admit they agree on one thing, has to be at least one uplooking moment on this, and maybe shines a little spot of light in an otherwise dark time for our nation.
NO bill could be perfect. This is a fact that cannot be emphesized enough.
Truely, I would have added provisions mandating that "toxic assets" be bought paying no more than 60% of the market value, thus making banks very reluctant to use the program unless they truely have to cut their losses, and practically guarenteeing some return on investments by taxpayers. This "40% deductable" would eliminate profit for banks in using the program, and make it more an additional insurance for any US bank, than an actual program.
An additional program, I would provide is a national credit counseling service, provided to all americans for free of charge.
Additionally laws taxing loaner's income based on APR including all fees would be good incentives to intercept preditory lending habits by credit card companies.
Obviously, however, Congress is too busy thinking about what a few people think of them, and fighting ammongst themselves to satisfy both the lobbiests and the people, when neither can be done if this bill was to be made. Frankly Obama and McCain's initial view of the bill had to make understatement of the year.
The fact is, the lending market crises is a stain on America's economy, and it will take an equally harsh bleach to get it out. Washington, as usual is too afraid to admit just how bad the problem is, or the fact that it's not going to be easy to fix a problem, instead they stick to wanting impossible cures, and to deny the situation ever existed.
This doesn't change my opinion, just verifies my pesimism, but the fact that the presidential candiates could even admit they agree on one thing, has to be at least one uplooking moment on this, and maybe shines a little spot of light in an otherwise dark time for our nation.
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