Tag Archives: John McCain

Jul 29

McCAIN TO RAISE TAXES?

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(a summary)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain‘s signal that he may be open to a higher payroll tax for Social Security, despite previous vows not to raise taxes of any kind, is drawing sharp rebukes from conservatives.

McCain’s shift has come in stages, catching some Republicans by surprise. Speaking with reporters on his campaign bus on July 9, he cited a need to shore up Social Security. “I cannot tell you what I would do, except to put everything on the table,” he said.

He went a step farther Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” in response to a question about payroll tax increases.

“There is nothing that’s off the table. I have my positions, and I’ll articulate them. But nothing’s off the table,” McCain said. “I don’t want tax increases. But that doesn’t mean that anything is off the table.”

That comment drew a strong response from the Club for Growth, a Washington anti-tax group. McCain’s comments, the group said in a letter to the Arizona senator, are “shocking because you have been adamant in your opposition to raising taxes under any circumstances.”

During a town-hall meeting in Sparks, Nev., McCain insisted anew Tuesday that he would not raise taxes if elected.

He frequently has promised not to raise taxes.

For the complete article click on: http://www.usatoday.com/

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Jul 29

HOW OBAMA BECAME ACTING PRESIDENT (summary)

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History was on the march well before Mr. Obama boarded his plane, and his trip was perfectly timed to reap the whirlwind.

What drew them instead was the raw power Mr. Obama has amassed: the power to start shaping events and the power to move markets, including TV ratings. (Even “Access Hollywood” mustered a 20 percent audience jump by hosting the Obama family.) Power begets more power, absolutely.

The growing Obama clout derives not from national polls, where his lead is modest. Never mind. Obama-branded change is snowballing, whether it’s change you happen to believe in or not.

Then, on July 15, Mr. McCain suddenly noticed that more Americans are dying in Afghanistan than Iraq and called for more American forces to be sent there. Lest anyone doubt that the White House had moved away from the rigid stand endorsed by Mr. McCain and toward Mr. Obama’s, a former Rumsfeld apparatchik weighed in on The Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page: “Now Bush Is Appeasing Iran.”

In a flash, as Mr. Obama touched down in Kuwait , Mr. Maliki approvingly cited the Democratic candidate by name while laying out a troop-withdrawal calendar of his own that, like Mr. Obama’s, would wind down in 2010. The Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens has now joined another high-profile McCain supporter, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in knocking the McCain nostrum that America can drill its way out of its energy crisis. The Obama stampede is forcing Mr. McCain to surrender on other domestic fronts. “We have one president at a time,” Mr. Obama is careful to say. — few focused on the alarms that Mr. McCain’s behavior at home raise about his fitness to be president.

The week’s most revealing incident occurred on Wednesday when the new, supposedly improved McCain campaign management finalized its grand plan to counter Mr. Obama’s Berlin speech with a “Mission Accomplished”-like helicopter landing on an oil rig off Louisiana ’s coast. The McCain camp should be careful what it wishes for. As its relentless goading of Mr. Obama to visit Iraq only ratcheted up anticipation for the Democrat’s triumphant trip, so its insistent demand for joint town-hall meetings with Mr. Obama and for more televised chronicling of Mr. McCain’s wanderings could be self-inflicted disasters in the making.

The election remains Mr. Obama’s to lose, and he could lose it, whether through unexpected events, his own vanity or a vice-presidential misfire.

For the entire article click on: nytimes.com

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Jul 19

About me

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Born in the South, I grew up as a fundamentalist, but have become enlightened. I have several degrees and experience in management, financial planning, counseling, religion, writing, teaching, motivation, etc.

I have been in the US Navy, a small business owner, worked for large corporations as a consultant, a recruiter, a preacher, teacher, sales manager and motivator. Through my education and experience I have been misled by some politicians, preachers, reporters, etc.

AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE I DON’T GO BY FEELINGS OR OPINIONS; I GO BY OBSERVING GOD’S CREATION, READING, MEDITATING AND LISTENING FOR THAT STILL SMALL VOICE.

The highest revelation is that God is in every man.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is a reckless thing to rely on the opinions of others.  To come closer to the truth we must spend more time in meditation and thought, listening for the Spirit of the Universe who is within the deepest part of our being.  When science (the study of all that is) disagrees with our beliefs, we must reconsider if we are to come closer to the truth.

The following is the closest to finding the truth for me:

The Parable of the Good Samaritan (St. Luke 10: 25-37)

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.  The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

OF COURSE, JESUS IS NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT TAUGHT THESE THINGS:

“Every religion emphasizes human improvement, love, respect for others, sharing other people’s suffering. On these lines every religion had more or less the same viewpoint and the same goal.” The Dalai Lama

“The Golden Rule” is taught in many religions.
Click on: http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm

WHAT IS LOVE?

1 Corinthians 13

Love

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

For a broad definition of “Love” click on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love

Thank you for visiting my site.

Dr. Mackie Bazen

Chartered Financial Consultant, The American College, Bryn Mawr, PA, 1989

Chartered Life Underwriter, The American College, Bryn Mawr, PA, 1989

Dr. of Ministry Degree, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, VA 1979

Master of Divinity Degree with languages, Southeastern Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, NC, 1973

Bachelor of Arts Degree, Charleston Southern University, Charleston, SC, 1970

More to come………….

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