Taxes, taxes Politics 2008

Perhaps, until the nomination of Sarah Palin and the unbelievably bad judgment that showed on McCain's part...the focus on ending the war in Iraq and the tax policies of the two campaigns were what had me leaning to Obama (Sarah was just the icing). I've expounded on the war, on Gitmo and on Sarah ad nauseum. What I've never discussed with others is the conclusions I drew from the 2 different tax policies.

Taxes ... Am I An Expert? Hardly.

A few musings on taxes... as an accountant with corporate tax responsibilities for 20 years, and as someone who spent a year in her own business, doing over 140+ tax returns and who will (sigh) probably go work for H & R block this year (My corp eliminated my incentive plan payout for 2009...due mostly to the economy. I understand why they did it, but I'll still miss that $$$, so, 2 jobs)... I'm frequently bothered by all the crap thrown around the elections about the two candidates' tax plans.



Up until the last month, I was kind of OK with it, because the differences were pretty clearly pointed out in the debates. And if you didn't know what to believe, there are plenty of websites that can spell out the differences in hard dollars. Use the websites that aren't connected to either party. But now a statement of "spread the wealth around", has generated so many tax lies, I feel compelled to speak. And since that remark and the Joe of the Plumber stuff, Obama's opponents keep saying he's going to raise taxes. He's not. He's going to cut them or keep the cuts that are already under the tax law for 95% of the population. He's going to raise them for 5% of the population. HE WILL NOT CUT CORPORATE TAXES. TO DO SO, WOULD BE A DISASTER.



The federal tax structure of this county has existed for decades. It consists of three parts: Payroll taxes to support Social Security, Payroll taxes to support medicare, and Income taxes to support everything else. By its simple existence, the tax structure "spreads the wealth around". People pay disproportionate amounts and all the $$$ to to the central coffers to support public programs and things like war. Corporations pay a flat rate. But really smooth corporations know how to pay NO taxes at all, based on things like the stock options they issue.

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TAXES ... A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

In 1993, with a house and senate Democratic majority, Bill Clinton pushed through a tax increase that not ONE Republican voted for. Gore broke the Senate tie. The primary focus of the Clinton plan was higher taxes for the wealthy. Headlines decried the plan ... it would be a "job killer", the deficit would explode, the stock market would crash. Newt Gingerich predicted disaster.



Clinton's plan raised taxes for everyone who made under $200,000 by an average of less than 1%. For those who made over $200,000, it increased taxes by 5.4%. If you made less than $20,000, your taxes were cut. (I hate to compare Obama to Clinton, but tax policy is similar... not much else is, thank God.)



The sky did not fall. Unemployment decreased and the budget was balanced by 1997. The annual deficit slowed down, and became a budget surplus in the last three years of office. (This entailed some spending cuts, as well)Still, the overall annual debt of the nation increased by the end of the Clinton era from $4.5 trillion to $5.9 trillion. You can compare this to the prior 8 years (last Reagan, older Bush term), where the debt mounted from $ 2 trillion to $4.5 trillion. Over the 8 years, Clinton grew 22 million jobs (237,000) a month. http://www.bls.gov/

MORE HISTORY... A DIFFERENT APPROACH

Dubya was keen to make his mark immediately on the tax side when he took office. With his own majority, he proposed a tax cut almost immediately. It passed in 2001, a few months before 9/11. One of the hallmarks of his plan was that the tax cuts would be phased in between 2001 and 2010. So, some of the tax savings has occurred, and some is still to come. It included the repeal of Estate taxes in 2010, a tax cut clearly for the wealthier citizens, who had estates to leave to their children. Without considering the Estate tax cut:



In 2008, Dubya's 2001 act (it was somewhat modified in 2003) will cut taxes and revenues by $167 Billion, as follows:

Lowest 40% of incomes.... Save $14 Billion... These people make less than $25,800, Avg $18,000

Next 55% Middle class ... Save $71 Billion... These people make under $255,000, Avg $79,000

Top 5% income............... Save $82 Billion ...These people make over $255,000, Avg $483,000

Total reduction in income tax: $167 Billion

So, 5% of the people, get $82 Billion in tax savings, nearly 1/2 of the taxes saved. And the national debt and budget deficit grows.

It gets progressively worse... by 2010 Dubya's plan escalates the "savings", but not equally:

Lowest 40% of incomes.... $18 Billion... These people make avg $19,900 (less than $27,500)

Next 55% Middle Class..... $75 Billion... These people make avg $85,000, (under $281,000)

Top 5% income...........$137 Billion.... These people make over $281k, avg $535,000

Total reduction in income tax $234 Billion. These laws are already written. This will happen. As we spend $130 billion in the war in Iraq this year, we will cut revenues by $234 billion.

So, 5% of the people get 58.5% of the taxes saved. That does not include the savings on Estate taxes!!! And the national debt and budget deficit grows.

And, despite having saved all these wealthy people all this money, jobs grew miserably. Over his nearly 8 years, and compared to Clinton's 22 million jobs, Dubya's programs resulted in a total of 4.8 million jobs.

COMPARE THE CANDIDATES

The McCain Tax plan recommends continuing the Bush tax program, boosting the individual exemption to $7,000 (more relief for larger families than singles, but the same at all levels of earning) , AND CUTTING CORPORATE TAXES FROM 35% TO 25%

THUS, in a single year, the calculation by most independent tax organizations is that it will raise the budget deficit by $535 billion dollars.

The Obama Tax plan recommends no taxes for seniors making less than $50k, an increase in the child tax credit to $3,000 (more relief for larger families than singles, but the same at all levels of earning). And:

The lowest 20% of incomes will get sizeable additional tax cuts. They won't get a payroll tax cut, so together, they will probably pay more like 10% instead of 17%.

The next 40% (up to about $75 k) will get small additional tax cuts in addition to retaining the Bush tax cut.

For people in the highest 15% of the middle class.... if you are over $75 k but under $150, you'll get a small cut. If you are between $150 and $250 k, it is tax neutral to you (you'll pay the as you would have under Bush).

If you make over $250k, you will pay 3% more (but if you own a small business, there will be tax credits if you provide healthcare). For these highly paid people, they will still be paying less tax than in the Clinton years.

THERE WILL BE NO CUT IN CORPORATE TAXES, BUT CREDITS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THOSE WHO ADD HEALTHCARE OR ADD JOBS IN AMERICA, NOT IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

In a single year, most independent tax organizations calculate that the Obama tax plan will reduce the budget deficit by over $600 billion a year. Without freezing spending, we won't realize the whole gain in a single year (the largest year Clinton ever had was $300 billion in surplus), but we will have made a start towards intelligent increases in revenue, so if we spend wisely and have spending redistribution (say, diverting $50 million in year 1 from the war in Iraq to education), without continuing to grow our national debt at an unchecked pace.

CALL IT NAMES, CALL IT SOCIALISM. I CALL IT TAX POLICY.

So, call it redistributing the wealth, call in anything you want. The only big home-based company in Tampa has a CEO who earns $2.6 million in salary and cash bonus (does not count perks or stock options) Under the Obama plan, he'll pay $78,000 more in income tax.

I, for one, think he can afford it, so we can fix our interstate system and our federal bridges.

AND OUR DEBT? WHAT WE LEAVE OUR CHILDREN?

National debt... ... 8 years of Reagan/Bush grew the debt by $2.5 trillion

8 years of Clinton grew the debt by $1.4 trillion (raise taxes on wealthy)

8 years of Dubya grew the debt by over $4 trillion (cut taxes on wealthy)

The first step in reducing the debt is to put the Obama tax plan in place... the debt should grow at a much slower pace, more akin to Clinton. If you put McCain' s plan in place (in the unlikely event, if elected, he could get his tax plan passed) the debt will continue to grow unchecked... especially until the 2010 expiration of the Bush tax cut.

Thank you, Dubya. I'm glad you saved all those wealthy people all that money and went deeply in debt to China.

Taxes.... it's not always about new ideas for the future, it's about curing bad things that former presidents did in the past.

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Don't Want to Get Hung Up On Clothes -

BUT I REALLY CAN'T IGNORE HYPOCRISY...

THANKS TO BLOGGER GEORGIA10

Let's pretend we have a time machine. And let us travel back in time to visit wise words from the John McCain of old. Let's travel back to May 25, 1993, specifically, when the old John McCain stood on the floor of the Senate and presented the following eloquent condemnation of the abuse of campaign funds :

Mr. McCAIN:
"Madam President, the amendment before the Senate is a very simple one. It restricts the use of campaign funds for inherently personal purposes. The amendment would restrict individuals from using campaign funds for such things as home mortgage payments, clothing purchases, noncampaign automobile expenses, country club memberships, and vacations or other trips that are noncampaign in nature.
Madam President, I want to emphasize I will be citing some examples of how campaign funds have been used which are extremely egregious, but I want to point out they are not illegal, and the purpose of this amendment is to restrict the use of those campaign funds because, if we are truly going to have campaign finance reform, I do not believe that campaign funds should be used for such things as country club dues, tuxedos, vacations, and other purposes for which they are now almost routinely used by certain Members of both bodies.
I point out that Senators and Members of Congress currently earn $139,000 a year, which means that Members of Congress are in the top 1 percent of wage earners in the country. So let there be no mistake, Members of Congress do earn a good wage, a wage that does not leave them poor.
I think it is worth contrasting a Member's salary and perks with that of a typical American family.
According to the U.S. census, in 1990 the median family income in America was $30,056. With that $30,056, the average American family was expected to put a roof over their head, feed their children, and send them to school. It seems to me that we should be able to survive as well at a salary level of $139,000 per year. [ed. note: Sarah Palin's salary as Governor of Alaska is $125,000 per year]
The use of campaign funds for items which most Americans would consider to be strictly personal reasons, in my view, erodes public confidence and erodes it significantly.
Sara Fritz, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, in her book `Handbook of Campaign Spending' calls campaign funds that are used for personal reasons nothing more than a slush fund. [...]
Under House and Senate ethics rules, Members of Congress must use campaign funds for political--not personal--purposes. Yet the commonly accepted definition of a political expenditure has grown so broad and enforcement of the rules has been so lax that congressional campaigns now routinely make purchases that on their face appear to be personal, such as resort vacations, luxury automobiles, expensive meals, apartments, country club memberships, tuxedos, home improvements, baby sitting, and car phones.
I want to point out again, Madam President, that the examples I am going to cite are legal and they will seem egregious, but the fact is, in my view, they should be severely restricted.

Further, Ms. Fritz later concisely points out:
In many cases, in fact, [the use of campaign funds for personal purposes] has transformed middle-class politicians into members of the country club set, isolating them from their constituency.
One major reason the public does not approve of Congress is that they believe we are isolated and nonresponsive, and we, of course, do not want to maintain a policy that encourages the Congress to be even more separated and disconnected from the people.
If we in Congress learned one thing from President Clinton's $200 haircut last week, it should be that the public does not approve of its elected officials being treated as royalty. We should be no different.
The solution to this problem is simple; restrict the use of campaign funds solely to campaign purposes. [...]
According to Ms. Fritz, campaign funds have been used to buy items such as globes and trips to exotic locales such as Thailand, Taiwan, and Italy, tuxedos and an unexplainable $299 for bow ties.
I cannot imagine being able to justify to the public what will soon be the use of tax dollars in this fashion. [...]
I point out these abuses, in my view what are abuses, because they are certainly not what the average contributor intends for their funds to go to. "


And the old, principled John McCain reiterated his stance on the issue in January of 1994 :

"Mr. President, I do not believe the general public is aware of how their campaign contributions are being used. I think it would be fair to say that if they did, they would be outraged, and well they should be.
According to Ms. Fritz, campaign funds have been used to buy such items as a jumbo illuminated globe from Hammacher Schlemmer, for trips to exotic locals such as Thailand, Taiwan, and Italy, and for tuxedos and an unexplainable $299 for bow ties. [...]
Mr. President, it is time to break with the norm. What is occurring is wrong, and it must be stopped. T[...]
It is time the Congress, and those whose privilege it is to serve there, learn to live within its means. Restricting the use of campaign funds for personal purposes is a vital first step in that direction. "

And what does the new McCain have to say about Sarah Palin's "abuses" and "erosion of public confidence"? The campaign said it was "remarkable" that people were even discussing the issue. Apparently, if the new McCain has a time machine of his own, he would travel back in time and tell the old John McCain to shut the hell up.

All of the above researched by Georgia10

Perhaps the Lady Sarah can pay the campaign for the clothes (I'm sure she already has a book advance and many paid speaking engagements lined up), and the campaign can give the money to Joe the Plumber, the unpaid focus of campaign marketing. Then Joe could use the money to pay the government all the unpaid taxes he has racked up, and the nation, as a whole, will prosper.

You must remember this

I get a kick out of blogthings... don't know how accurate this one is, but it is definitely one of my favorite films.

Your Love Life is Like Casablanca

"Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time." For you, love is never finished. If you've loved someone once, you'll always love them. You're an old fashioned romantic... even if your relationships don't end up as romantic as you'd like. Your love style: Traditional and understated Your Hollywood Ending Will Be: Complicated and ambiguous

What Movie Is Your Love Life Like?

RAYS WIN!!!!!

World Series Starts Wednesday!

I'm off to repair what's left of my fingernails, as the Rays take it down to the wire. Bye bye, Boston!

It was inevitable, for me

The facts that I got this sent to my email from 6 different sources, well, they just don't lie. Frequent topics on this blog, things I just can't let go include: Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, and Dancing With the Start. Most of my Dancing wt *** stuff is on the prior blog. Let's just say I'm a fan of two and a very vocal critic of one (but I bet she's a good dancer; she'll probably appear on the 2009 show). What could I do? I had to feature it. It's one of those great photoshop opportunities. Hope you enjoy...they're doing the samba.

The judges? Bill Ayers, Walt Monnegan and the Reverend Mutha.

quid

Ok, Ok, thanks to Charlie for sending it first!

Thoughts before dawn --

While reading Algernon's and Hal's blog I got stuck on the concept of insomnia, how it had affected my life, and pulled out an old poem. In the reread, I found it entirely too haunting and desolate... decided to offset it with another poem written in those early hours; one that more adequately describes the beauty of those pre-dawn hours. I hope you enjoy.





quid

Insomnia


Trapped in an endless pattern
Trying not to panic.
Sleepless world I’m in,
Silent, as the clock strikes 4 a.m.

Lifelong habit that has
Left me with permanent
Dark circles inhabiting my face,
Darker moods of exhaustion.

Herbs and drugs don’t
Help the pattern
Apparently, the only relief from
Anguish is to play-act.

I do. Meditating,
I convince myself that this “extra” time is
Valuable, special, a gift that
Very few people give themselves.

Permission to forgive myself lets me
Pretend to relax for years and then
Menopause arrives and brings with it
Many, many sleepless nights.

Insomnia.
Read the Stephen King book.
Watch the Al Pacino movie.
Finally succumb.


~quidrock 2003

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A Beginning

Crescent of light, lost
In swirling, violet mists
Evening’s mystery.

Could it be that the
Beginning of time is the here and now?
Tranquil, new, serene.

Brave dawn of the naked world
Magical light covers velvet dark
And silent secrets.

Together, we are
Privy to the silence, the mystery.
Our quest to match this

Miracle of time
Together, begins in a
Word, a look, a bond.

It is a beginning.

~quidrock 12/03

If you haven't loved her before...

Love her now. I give you, Donna Brazile.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1827871374/bctid1849005701

My thanks to the fire department

It is a day for positive quotes....

"As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit." ~Emmanuel

"For I know the plans I have for you”, declared the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:1

"Maybe it is some kind of therapy that we automatically do, exfoliate the mind and soul of bad and negative things, absorb and confine the positive things. Keep them sacred, and keep them to ourselves." ~ Microfish, pearlsoup

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. You must keep that channel open. It is not for you to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is for you to keep it yours, clearly and directly.”
Dancer Martha Graham

"The conduct of our lives is the only proof of the sincerity of our hearts." Robert Wilson

"You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you." ~John Wooden

"There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up." ~John Andrew Holmes

How to pick your numbers...

I was reading the Atlantic today (political commentary, of course) and they took time out for this insightful poem by John Skoyles. I'm a lottery player, and often predict I will win in advance...keeping all hope alive. I loved this piece that's an ode to how many people pick the series of numbers they use over and over... enjoy.

THE LOTTERY

~John Skoyles



Pick a number,

any number,

and it will bear

the teeth marks of time.

The day confetti

stippled your shoulders

to keep love

bright and alive;

the year your newborn

son survived.

The two of us

riding the 33 bus

to the birthday bash

where a prophetic

blues band played

“You’ve Changed.”

The magnificent sum

of always, now, and still

dealt by the god

who pinched fate

into every living vein.
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BIG DEALS OF THE DAY!

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RAYS WIN IN OVERTIME!!!

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DUBYA IS DOWN TO 99 DAYS LEFT IN OFFICE!!

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FOR THE 1ST TIME IN 5 MONTHS, DIESEL FUEL IN FLORIDA IS LESS THAN $4 A GALLON. I FILLED THIS MORNING!!

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Playoff Games Are Tough for the Uninitiated

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DESPITE...


winning 10 of 18 regular season games against the Red Sox, the Rays got a "tough row to hoe" if they think that adrenaline wins playoff games. Boston took it to them at home last night, winning 2-0. Sigh. At least it wasn't a no-hitter. More tonight at 8:07 and then, (shudder) it is off to Fenway.

I'd love to see the underdog, one of the losingest franchises in the history of sport, get to the World Series.

Wouldn't you?

Scenes from a Tampa Starbucks.....

I attended a McCain/Palin meetup tonight.
by Florida4Obama
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 07:05:16 PM PDT
It was a complete accident. I went down to my local Tampa Starbucks where of course I expected to find the Obama Elite. I knew something was wrong as soon as I pulled into the parking lot. Typically in Tampa, you see far more Obama bumperstickers than McCain, but not tonight. In the Starbucks parking lot I saw 9 McCain bumper stickers. I thought to myself, what the heck is going on. I fear at first that Tampa had suddenly swung back to the dark side.
Follow me below the fold to find out what I discovered.

Florida4Obama's diary :: ::
Upon entering Starbucks, I immediately realized that the McCain/Palin folks were having a little meeting. I saw several women in dresses wearing pink buttons proclaiming "Women for McCain/Palin". A few of them brought their husbands who were sporting buttons saying things such as "Sportsman for McCain/Palin" and "NOBama". I sat down at the table next to the group just as they were starting their meeting.

As soon as the last member of their group came in, they prayed. In their prayer they begged that God "deliver the country from the evil socialists" and even prayed that "Obama find God". Well, damn, how offensive I thought to myself.

After their prayer they began to discuss their Get Out The Vote efforts. One of the women proclaimed that her whole Bible study group was going to vote early. One of the men piped up and said he was going to ask people to vote early after church one Sunday. The next person lamented that their whole office was voting for Obama. The McCain/Palin supporters called that person's co-workers "sinners" and said that they "needed Jesus". Damn, I'm offended again.
Next they started talking about policy positions. This was quite amusing. They were all upset that Obama had voted for the bailout. Then, one of them said, "McCain supported it too." Then they talked about how upset they were about McCain's proposal to buy mortgages directly from homeowners. One of the gentlemen proclaimed, "McCain sounds like a socialist. You'd think he were a Democrat".

At that point the other gentleman stated that he had thought of voting for Bob Barr. He opened his lap top and pulled up Barr's website for the others to see. They liked what they saw. One woman said that Barr was the "conservative that McCain used to be."

They talked a little more about how Obama would destroy our country with "free health care" and "gay marriages". The feared his daughters would probably play loud rap music in the White House while world leaders were staying. They feared that Muslim would become our official religion. One of them even feared that "the Muslim language would be taught in schools." Priceless.

They went back to the fact that they all believed McCain would lose this election, but they were excited that Palin would probably run in 2012. They talked about the fact that their local "Victory Office" was so disorganized and the morale was low. Apparently one of the lead volunteer organizers walked out of the office yesterday and hasn't come back. They all feared they were wasting good time phonebanking and canvassing. They just couldn't believe this great country would elect "that man". They couldn't believe God would allow it. One woman even thought that God may be punishing the country by giving us Obama.

At that time, I decided to pull out my laptop. You see, I have an Obama sticker on it. Well, one of them noticed and gave the rest of them a look and said SHHHH! One of the men didn't notice and kept talking. He said that "Obama is part of a sleeper cell and he will use our own nuclear weapons against us." One of the women nodded her head in agreement. Finally, the woman who noticed me said in a soft voice, "there's an Obama supporter behind us...BE QUIET". The group suddenly got quiet.

They changed the subject for a while, but on the way out the door one of the men told me "you are a disgrace to white people if you vote for that man." I told him he was a disgrace to people who think by voting for McCain.

Well, that was a long story, and I'm sure nobody will read it. It's good to be an Obama supporter, especially when you see how scared and dejected the other side is.

Author prefers to remain anonymous.

From another local blog:

The St. Petersburg Times has an excellent editorial today on the McCain/Palin campaign. I am glad that the Times has decided to call out Sarah Palin for her remarks in Clearwater yesterday. The paper contributes these lies to the desperation of the McCain/Palin ticket.

The St. Pete Times states it very clearly:

The intent remains the same: Scare white voters by exaggerating the links between a black presidential candidate and onetime violent radicals. Raise doubts about those associations while questioning Obama's patriotism and implying he is too radical to identify with middle class values. And do it in the context of a speech that later leads to chants of "USA!" and is delivered with a backdrop of supporters dressed in red, white and blue. It's not subtle, and voters ought to reject these campaign smears.

I'm not much for the NRO

But here's a portion of an excellent piece by David Frum. David will be voting for John McCain on November 4....

"American voters are staggering under the worst financial crisis since at least 1982. Asset values are tumbling, consumer spending is contracting, and a recession is visibly on the way. This crisis follows upon seven years in which middle-class incomes have stagnated and Republican economic management has been badly tarnished. Anybody who imagines that an election can be won under these circumstances by banging on about William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright is … to put it mildly … severely under-estimating the electoral importance of pocketbook issues.
We conservatives are sending a powerful, inadvertent message with this negative campaign against Barack Obama's associations and former associations: that we lack a positive agenda of our own and that we don’t care about the economic issues that are worrying American voters.

Here’s another thing to keep in mind:

Those who press this Ayers line of attack are whipping Republicans and conservatives into a fury that is going to be very hard to calm after November. Is it really wise to send conservatives into opposition in a mood of disdain and fury for a man who may well be the next president of the United States, incidentally the first African-American president? Anger is a very bad political adviser. It can isolate us and push us to the extremes at exactly the moment when we ought to be rebuilding, rethinking, regrouping and recruiting.
I’m not suggesting that we remit our opposition to a hypothetical President Obama. Only that an outgunned party will need to stay cool. A big part of Obama’s appeal is his self-command. It’s a genuinely impressive quality. Let’s emulate it. We’ll be needing it."

If only McCain & Co. would listen.

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David J. Frum (born 1960) is a Canadian-born conservative and journalist active in the both US and Canadian political arenas. A former economic speechwriter for President George W. Bush, he is also the author of the first "insider" book about the Bush presidency. Frum. Not my usual choice of breakfast cereal.

Komen

It's always wonderful to see how much money is raised for the work that research centers and hospitals are doing based on the fundraising by the Susan G Komen foundation. We have two events at this time of year on the Gulf Suncoast - the first is a 5k 10k race in St. Pete, which happened yesterday. I tried to get time off to work the phones for the race last week, but alas, the world was too busy. Hopefully I can nose around to be able to help on the Breast Cancer 3 day walk at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, at least I was able to get to St. Pete and be a cheerleader yesterday, for those amazing runners. Another favorite of mine is the Ford Motor Company.... their "Warriors In Pink" campaign gives all it raises to Komen. In case you're not familiar with Komen, the foundation's story is pretty special. So here's a recap of what they stand for:

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Our Vision: A world without breast cancer

Our Promise

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure promise: to save lives and end breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality of care for all and energizing science to find the cures.

Our Story

Born in a promise between two sisters – Nancy Brinker to her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died from breast cancer at the age of 36 – Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network fighting to end breast cancer forever.
Our Pledge

To fulfill our promise to end breast cancer forever, Susan G. Komen for the Cure will invest more than $1 billion over the next decade on breast health care and treatment, especially for underserved women, and on research to discover the causes of breast cancer and, ultimately, its cures.
Our Passion

Because 10 million women around the world could die from breast cancer in the next 25 years without the cure, Susan G. Komen for the Cure is fighting every minute of every day to save every life.
Our People

The more than 100,000 survivors and activists of Susan G. Komen for the Cure are the face and voice of the global breast cancer movement – local activists and global citizens who mobilize millions through events like the Komen Race for the Cure Series, the world’s largest and most successful education and fundraising event for breast cancer.
Our Work

With nearly $1 billion invested to date, Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to curing breast cancer at every stage – from the causes, to the cures, to the pain and anxiety of every moment in between.
Our Success

Susan G. Komen for the Cure has played a critical role in every major advance in the fight against breast cancer over the past 25 years – transforming how the world talks about and treats this disease and helping to turn millions of breast cancer patients into breast cancer survivors.

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"There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't help other women." ~ Madeline Albright

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"Solutions- The first step toward a cure is to know what the disease is. " ~ from the Latin

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"The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it. " ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

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"When a miracle happens, even if not to you, its nature is to naturally expand. You can almost feel the warmth on your face. " ~ Hugh Elliot

OMG

Had I chosen to write of the VP debate last night, I probably wouldn't have been able to stop.

I'm still stunned by the fact that the American people (by the look of the polls after the debate) have finally shucked the blindfold off their eyes and can see what is before them. Unlike the people who fell for Dubya's "Aw shucks" man of the people persona and the thinly veiled contempt of Dick Cheney for anyone who isn't a rich, white, Conservative Republican villain like himself, the American public saw the Sarah Palin I saw a month ago. The one to be afraid of. Not to mention the chauvinist who forced her upon the public.

Don't get me wrong...in many ways, Sarah Palin stopped the bleeding (her own, not McCain's). But overall, here is the best word I can use to describe her debate performance. She was "chipper". Someone incoherent, highly prone to the sound bite, marching to the beat of her well-instructed own persona, she was "chipper".

Although there are many moments... the powers of the Vice Presidency, the movement of the embassy to Jerusalem, the "shout out" to her brother's 3rd grade classroom, the response about oil and gas to Gwen Ifill's question about the bankruptcy courts, the "raise the white flag of surrender" posturing, the callous indifference to an emotional moment for Biden... oh, the list goes on, here, in her exact words, are the phrases with which she described the negative to the conventional wisdom about her lack of experience (yes, she really, really said this! Lynne's remarks in yellow).

"My experience as an executive will be put to good use as a mayor and business owner and oil and gas regulator and then as governor of a huge state, a huge energy producing state that is accounting for much progress towards getting our nation energy independence and that's extremely important. (one, incoherent sentence that goes from future to past tense).

But it wasn't just that experience tapped into, it was my connection to the heartland of America. Being a mom, one very concerned about a son in the war, about a special needs child, about kids heading off to college, how are we going to pay those tuition bills? About times and Todd and our marriage in our past where we didn't have health insurance and we know what other Americans are going through as they sit around the kitchen table and try to figure out how are they going to pay out-of-pocket for health care? We've been there also so that connection was important. (No comment other than, yes, Sarah, we're all so sure you are one of us.)

But even more important is that world view that I share with John McCain. That world view that says that America is a nation of exceptionalism. (I cannot discuss the dangers of people who espouse this particular concept of exceptionalism. Perhaps in a future post. Not far from the concept of the view of Hitler on the master race, however.) And we are to be that shining city on a hill, as President Reagan so beautifully said, that we are a beacon of hope and that we are unapologetic here. (Who is not apologetic? I apologize for the torture, for invading a country in a war we had no business getting in to, for tapping the phones of ordinary citizens, for deporting as many people as we could with Muslim surnames or Muslim countries of origin, for forsaking those poor people in New Orleans, for out-Catroing Castro on his own island with the Gulag that is Gitmo, for running roughshod over our own Constitution...)We are not perfect as a nation. But together, we represent a perfect ideal. And that is democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights. Those things that we stand for that can be put to good use as a force for good in this world.

John McCain and I share that. You combine all that with being a team with the only track record of making a really, a difference in where we've been and reforming, (completely incoherent)that's a good team, it's a good ticket.

She takes your breath away.


But, she holds her own with the venerable Frances McDormand: