So High Above

On December 12, 2000, the United States Supreme Court decided the Bush v Gore case regarding the Florida recount. This decision is the decision that sealed the fate of the United States of America for the foreseeable future. With the legitimizing of a Bush victory, the Presidency was handed over to the most incompetent, corrupt Administration that this Nation has ever experienced. The Supreme Court decision acquiescing to politically charged technicalities had no other choice to rule as they did because of the failure of the Gore and DNC attorneys to present a coherent and relevant case. The whole dynamics of the case would have been different if the Gore Campaign had challenged the Flordia Election results on a Statewide level instead of choosing particular counties, but that is a mistake that can not be undone. It is however a mistake that caused the Supreme Court to rule in favor of Bush, thus casting our Nation into eight years of despair, unlawfulness, corruption, the looting of t

Bernard Madoff a former chairman of the NASDAQ Stock Market was arrested in a $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme. As the facts of this case come to the surface the public will become aware of the systemic problems buried within the financial services industry. Mr. Madoff, a very respected trader whose firm is a market maker in about 350 NASDAQ Stocks brings into question the integrity of the NASDAQ as well as the thousands of hedge funds that have been created using the loosen regulatory rules fostered by the Republican Party. If Mr. Madoff's fund has ripped off $50 Billion, one has to wonder how much money is being heisted through the thousands of other hedge funds throughout the corrupt financial system. Hedge Funds like the one that Mr. Madoff turned into the largest pyramid scheme known to date are manipulating the market daily and stealing money from spreads and leverage, yet the Feds continue to condone their actions with lax regulatory oversight and deregulation while throwing trillio

Republican Senators are throwing up roadblocks for a Bailout of the Auto Industry. They only had slight qualms about giving 700 Billion plus dollars to the Financial Industry, an industry that hands out Multi-Million Dollar bonuses to their Executives and bonuses equal to two times salaries to their middle management. The Republican Senators do not have the same concern for the hourly workers on production lines in the Automotive Industries. The Financial Industry taking advantage of the Republican Policies that deregulated their industry created financial instruments such as Credit Default Swaps that have proved to be the undoing of the American Economy. Although they would like to try to blame the current financial problem on 5% of the mortgages in default that is not a realistic scenario. The damage to the economy was caused by the Financial Industry itself with its exotic financial instruments that were kept unregulated and their wild speculation and leverage led by Hedge Funds and

Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois must be forced to resign. The State Democratic Party should do all that it can to immediately get this man out of office, and the National DNC should step in and send a team of lawyers to Illinois and file any motion available to get a court to stop him from appointing the replacement for Senator Obama even if it means risking an election and having a Republican Elected to this seat. This man is a disgrace to the Democratic Party and the State and National Parties must show their disdain for him and join forces to secure his resignation through the courts, it can not be a negotiated resignation that will appear to have a quid pro quo attached to his resignation. President-Elect Obama is a Constitutional lawyer and he should know the intricacies of Illinois State Law, he must instruct the DNC to find the proper friends of the court's briefs to remove this Democratic disgrace. Not only has Rod Blagojevich tarnished the Illinois Governor's Of

During Saturday's radio address, President-Elect Obama said that he would make the largest investment in the infrastructure of the Nation since the Eisenhower Administration when he invested in the National Highway System. That is certainly a laudable goal that needs to be put in place after eight years of neglected infrastructure maintenance and improvements by the Republican Bush Administration., but immediate assistance is needed by the Nation's retailers and family-owned businesses that currently provide the bulk of American jobs. The focus has been on the Financial Industry and then shifted to the Auto Industry, but the bulk of jobs created in this Country are created and maintained by the small businesses that line the streets of Main Street and populate the strip malls and malls of the Nation. The neighborhood florist is not a corporate chain but rather 26, 000 independent family businesses that employ approximately at least 156,000 Americans. 57,000 pizzerias spread t

Instead of just loaning the Auto Industry money, Congress should look to place a massive long-term purchasing contract with the Big Three Auto Companies. The Federal Government owns tens of thousands of vehicles, and the States and Municipalities own hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Congress should sign a contract with the Automakers to replace the entire Federal Fleet with fuel-efficient hybrids and flex-fuel cars with progressing standards to be met as the vehicles are delivered. A contract to replace all Federal Vehicles over five years with ever-increasing energy efficiency as each year's vehicles are delivered. As part of the Economic Stimulus Package for the States, Congress should give out block grants for all States to replace their fleets with ever-increasing energy-efficient cars and have the States provide grants to the municipalities. There should be one agency to oversee the contracts and ensure that the best price is obtained and that as each year's vehicles are

The Federal Reserve has finally announced that the Nation is in a recession. It seems a little late being that in their announcement they said we are most likely in the 14th month of the recession. It is all too convenient that this information was withheld from the American public during the recent election cycle. If it had been made public, maybe less of the corrupt Republicans would have been re-elected to Congress and the phony John McCain would not have even been a close second. Regardless of the games they played, the Republicans still lost the election because the American Public could feel the suffering caused and knew that we were in recession, they did not need the Fed to finally come clean. The worst news however is that they are still lying, we are not in an economic recession we are in an economic depression. Contrary to John McCain's financial adviser during the campaign, Phil Gram, it is not in the minds of the American People, it is all too real. Phil Gram is one of