Changes I'd like to see from a Pres. Obama

[SoCalDem]

no more:

Czars, Tsars of ANYTHING..

Homeland, Heartland

red state

blue state

"war on" ANYTHING

[Selatius]

1. I want one "war" revived.

The War on Poverty. The Great Society programs and the New Deal were good. We need more.

[McCamy Taylor]

2. No more legislation by administrative decree. Congress writes laws, administration enforces them.

[McCamy Taylor]

3. Economic policy that does not favor energy, pharm, banking over all else.

We are going down the shitter, because you can not stack the deck for a few sectors of the economy and expect the rest (like transportation, hospitals, new home builders) to survive. Either practice true free market or get off the toilet.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. no more Dept of Homeland Security

had you worried didn't I?

Homeland sound too National Socialist.

We should rename the DHS - Department of America's Protection or US Protection Agency or something else.

The United states of America

[McCamy Taylor]

6. No more big umbrella orgs. Small ones that do a job work better. Stop using corporate model in govt.

These people are thinking "leverage buyout" and bullshit like that. They forget that the federal government owns all these agencies, no matter how many of them there are. You can create a computers system that links them and still keep the people who deal with terror preparedness separate from the ones that deal with hurricane preparedness.

In early 2005, in a Public Health class, we were discussing Homeland Insecurity and I complained about how all its spending was going to terrorism preparedness in places where terrorists were never going to go. And nothing was being spent for natural disasters. BY way of example I mentioned that NOLA was below sea level and one good hurricane would wipe it out if they did not maintain its defenses constantly.

And look what happened. NOLA sank. And people died.

Had there been multiple agencies, each with its own focus, no one would have short changed weather emergency preparedness.

Thing about terror spending, is since the products will never be used, they can be crap and no one will find out. Hurricane products (like levees) will be used and if they are crap, someone will find out. So, if you are the presidents buddy, you would rather sell terror products that can be shoddily made secure in the knowledge that no one will be the wiser.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. can we trade in FEMA?

[SoCalDem]

7. We already HAVE that organization.. It's called

THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE....

[Muttocracy]

8. that's what I thought - instead of offense - plus the National Guard nt

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. what have they got Dept of HS then?

[SoCalDem]

11. To provide a lovely parting gift for Tom Ridge

and to bundle all the agencies so it would be easier to spy on them..

and to force union people out of jobs in their "former" departments, and "offer" them non-union contract jobs..

[Rosa Luxemburg]

13. Is Tom Ridge dead?

[SoCalDem]

14. Nope, but Georgie kind of got Tom to quit being governor

because he "thought" he would be veep..until Darth decided to choose himself..and there was lonesome old Tom with nothing to do...

[McCamy Taylor]

5. Redistribute the 15% of GNP we spend on health care to give 100% of us good preventive care

like they have in western Europe so that we live as long as they do. They spend less than half as much per capita to achieve much better outcomes (per capita). They know how to practice medicine in those countries. We do not. That means investing in public health infrastructure.

[Lyric]

12. Poverty relief, healthcare, and childcare subsidies.

Or better yet, instead of subsidies (which are often useless when you can't find any available childcare to use the subsidy to pay for) build government-owned-and-operated childcare centers for low-income parents, and hire low-income welfare recipients to help staff them. That kills two birds with one stone--extra jobs for single moms on welfare, (a job where they can bring their kid(s) to work with them, no less!) and childcare for low-income people who don't have access to it.

This is the situation we have. I could get a childcare subsidy, but there is no available safe childcare to be HAD within my transportation limitations. A nearby center served by the bus service would make a world of difference to me.

[Tindalos]

15. Truth

No more:

lies
double speak
twisting words to skirt legal definitions


And absolutely No more torture.