"Hey Paul Krugman" Music Video by Jonathan Mann

You can find out more about singer/songwriter Jonathan Mann here at his YouTube channel!

Popular Opinion Starting to Stack Up Against Obama's Plan

As much as many of us voted for Obama and are inclined to back him up, this whole Wall Street/AIG Bonus/Failing Economy situation is starting to turn to shit. Writers, politicians, economists and just plain folks are starting to despair about the President's plan to deal with the current crisis.

For an excellent overview of the dire straits the country is in, and what Obama is going to face if this whole mess goes completely south, read this excellent article by Don Hazen from AlterNet entitled "The Voters' Uprising: President Obama What Are You Thinking?". You won't feel good after reading it, I guarantee you.

Be sure to also read William Greider's article from The Washington Post, and this from Frank Rich of The New York Times. These are gentlemen who want Obama to succeed, and they're not liking what's transpiring these days. And I hope you're also keeping up with Paul Krugman's always astute commentary on his blog for The New York Times. He's not very happy, either.

These are tough times, and Obama must step up to be the kind of President we voted for.

The Entire "Tonight" Show Appearance by President Obama

Part One of President Obama's appearance on the Tonight show, Thursday March 20, 2009:



Part Two:



Part Three:

Our Charismatic President, on the "Tonight" Show!

Just a few of the humorous moments from last night's appearance:

First Lady Michelle Obama Tells It Straight!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Just Need to Direct You To Something Delightful...

Please take a look at television producer/writer Chuck Lorre's website -- he's the guy behind the charming sitcom The Big Bang Theory and also Two and a Half Men (which I don't like so much, but that's not important now...) -- where he posts the text of the ever-changing vanity cards that he's famous for putting at the end of his shows.

This is one that you will like, if you like Obama like I think you do!

See? It's great, isn't it?

Tax Rates for the Rich -- The Whole Story

Finally, a succinct repudiation of all the Republican nonsense complaining about Obama's slight raising of the tax rates of the richest Americans. As we all remember, our parents paid a LOT more income taxes than anybody does these days, as you can see with this excellent chart from The Washington Monthly which has just been widely distributed by MoveOn.Org.

Move.On challenges the critics calling Obama's plan "socialist" for moving even a bit towards righting the enormous con job the wealthiest citizens foisted on the rest of the country when they got their rates slashed almost in half. Move.On cites the following sources for recent articles about this issue, and all are worth a read. And then look at that chart. History doesn't lie...Republicans do.

1. "A socialist? Obama calls back to insist no," The International Herald Tribune, March 8, 2009 http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/08/america/barack.php

2. "Tax Cuts," The New York Times, February 26, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-tax.html

3. "Soaking the Rich (Redux)," The Washington Monthly, March 8, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51234&id=15734-4814933-hsbhqhx&t=2

Pass this information along to your friends who don't get it. They're just plain wrong about this issue.

Obama Teams with McCain & Others to Reform Government Contracts

Take a look at this video from President Obama's announcement this morning of much-needed reforms to the process of awarding government contracts. You should also read this article by AP's Phillip Elliott which further explains Obama's move.



Congratulations to President Obama and his team for starting this important initiative!

May I Recommend Robert Reich's Views on the Budget?

Please take a look at this terrific post from Robert Reich's blog of Last Thursday. "Finally a Progressive Budget" explains the full impact of Obama's history-making move to restore the economic health of America.

As the brilliant Reich succinctly declares: "It's about time a presidential budget uneqivocally redistributed income from the very rich to the middle class and poor."

The end.

And that's the truth.

L.A. Times Article about Obama's Much-Needed Tax Reform Plan

The L.A. Times has a great article this morning about President Obama's tax plan and the resultant freak-out from Republicans who are apoplectic that their rich people's gravy train is being scuttled. As author Michael Hiltzik explains in detail, Obama's plans merely start to set right the affluent-skewed tax policies put into effect by Ronald Reagan. It wasn't always like this, where the rich get all the breaks and everybody else just takes it.

Republicans love to call Obama's ideas a "Class War". How come it's only a class war when the beleagured middle-class seeks some redress from the special treatment the Republicans lavished on the highest wage earners? The real "Class War" was the upper class turning the country into their private bank, extending special privileges to themselves and damn the rest of the country, individuals and infrastructure alike.

I'm sure you all are familiar with the Republican motto "I've Got Mine, Fuck You!" -- have you ever known it not to be true? Surely you remember that footage of George Bush at a dinner of fat cat money bags, standing up at the podium and loving referring to them as "my base". These guys didn't even TRY to hide their bias. These "Pocketbook Republicans" turn my stomach and surely need, at this desperate time, to be reminded that it's time to pay their fair share.

So President Obama is trying to make things right again. Please read Hiltzin's article and send it around to people who just might not get it, just might not remember a time when people paid their fair share and it wasn't only about the rich getting richer.

I am so proud of President Obama for taking this step. He's getting a lot of flack for trying to change things, but we must support him in this!