Warner Supports Predatory Credit Card Lenders

Here is my letter I wrote to Mark Warner on his vote against introducing legislation to cap the maximum interest rate credit card companies can charge on balances to fifteen percent. Thank you Jim Webb for voting on the side of ordinary Virginians.

Senator Mark Warner

I am very disappointed to see that you voted against S.Amdt. 1062 to S.Amdt. 1058 to H.R. 627, introducing a maximum interest rate for credit cards. Many of the credit card companies are behaving like loan sharks, preying on people who cannot afford such high rates. These high interest rates harm the economy in the long run because money that could go to small business, manufacturing industries, and even basic needs like food, is instead filling up the coffers of the largest financial institutions in America. When I voted for you and Barack Obama last November it was to see change, including the end of corporate dominance over issues that affect Americans on a daily basis. Sincerely, Joshua Davis

The Sunday Evening Post

Is Right Wing Religious Conservatism Dead?
This Sunday’s Washington Post wonders if the Christian right is dead. According to the article there is a disgruntlement over how many comprises evangelicals have had to make for the Republican party.

While the evangelical movement certainly is not dead, they are most likely going to soon realize that religous beliefs should not be dictated by the government. Besides being an impossible campaign to fight (despite decades of opposing civil rights on religious grounds, blacks are now able to marry whites despite “God intending this not be so.”), their campaigns to prevent gay marriage, abortion, and Islam from “destroying America,” will be a lost battle. They’ve realized that the best way to counter social change is not government mandates, but rather telling people their “truth” in much the same way that Jesus preached to those who wanted to listen, but refrained from getting government involved in religion.

Please Mr. President, Keep the RIAA Away
President Obama, you vowed to keep the powerful special interests and lobbyists of Washington at bay. So why are you filling your administration with RIAA insiders? These insiders appear to be influencing policy as the Department of Justice recently announced $150,000 for each pirated track. Thankfully the copyright czar position remains vacant, so hopefully there can be an appointee to balance out the big media interest

No More Blue States and Red States
My family is far from rich, and most of the time we’re defiantly not poor either. But we do have to scrape by sometimes. Apparently former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee thinks otherwise. He says us in Northern Virginia don’t have to worry about next months paycheck. There goes the Republicans with their red state blue state politics. Huckabee is out there trying to get folks in the more southern areas of Virginia to see us Northern Virginians as rich elitists who vote Democratic, and thus by being associated with “rich” people the Democrats are only for the rich.

In fact the opposite is true. Republicans are the party for the wealthy, it was under their watch that people like Madoff were able to rip investors off, and companies like Citigroup and Countrywide were allowed to prey on the poor and minorities. Huckabee, and Republicans should be talking about the real issues. They should admit they made mistakes during their years in power, and vow to make corrective actions so those mistakes are not made again.

The Sunday Evening Post: Pens and Paper Edition

No Lights Out in My Neighboorhood

I just cheated on something that was completely voluntary. As I write this using pen and paper during Earth Hour, when my lights are supposed to be out, my work is fully illuminated. This isn’t because my Republican neighbors are staging some sort of protest, but rather because the federal agency behind my house doesn’t want to turn it’s lights off. At 8:30 on a Saturday evening I’m sure security guards are the only ones working at the building. Which makes me think,why does their entire parking lot need to be brightly illuminated at such hours when no one will be working anyways? Global warming can only be solved if we, organizations, and governments start with small changes like turning out the lights when we don’t need them. And that is what Earth Hour was all about, challenging us to think about ways we can help reduce human induced climate change.

Do It For the Kids!

Many people start exploring their sexuality in their teens. While our parent’s generation may have started learning about who they were in meat space, our generation is expressing ourselves through cyberspace. The problem here arises when prudish prosecutors decide to go after teens and charge them with felonies for “creating and distributing child porn.” This definitely shouldn’t be encouraged because these photos, even if just intented for a boyfriend or girlfriend, will soon make their way to a site were pedophiles congregate. But in the meantime these kids need help learning to express their sexuality in ways that protect themselves. We talked a little about this in last weeks Sunday Evening Post, but this week comes news that the ACLU is helping teen girls by defeding them against prosecuturs trying to get them charged as felons and put on sex offenders lists.

Cross posted on my personal blog.

The Sunday Evening Post: Censorship Edition

Internet Censorship Comes to the Western World

The Internet Is such a powerful tool for exposing those who do wrong, and everyone from the suburban mother to the Chinese government realizes that. Australia also seems to know that and is preparing a blacklist that that blocks a government accountability website, WikiLeaks. The reason for the block is that WikiLeaks exposes government website censorship lists, which in turn list out sites containing illegal porn. There is absolutely no reason to block WikiLeaks if their web filters work correctly, just because there’s a list somewhere of banned websites doesn’t give anyone inside Australia a magic key to get past their filter.

GOP Wants Execs to Keep Multimillion Bonuses

There’s been a huge firestorm over the million dollars bonuses executives and others associated with AIG have received. The Republicans have been steady lambasting Democrats, especially Chris Dodd, in an attempt to make them look like corporate cronies. But when it came to doing something about the reckless bonuses the majority of House Republicans voted to let AIG executives keep over $200 million of taxpayers money.

Obama Administration Really Understands Energy

Six people in the Obama administration don’t drive cars. Presumably they have the funds to acquire a vehicle but have decided that since DC has so many other great ways to get around (Metro, bicycle, walking, and even the dreaded bus) they don’t want a polluting and fattening automobile. It’s great to see that some of the people making energy policy decisions like Carol Browner, the Energy and Environment Czarina and Steven Chu, the Secretary of Energy understand that automobiles are a huge part of the global warming problem. Hat tip, CommuterPageBlog.

Judd Gregg Withdraws (And it’s not a tax issue this time…)

On May 25, 1995, as Senator Judd Gregg stood on the floor of the United States Senate, he voted ‘aye‘ on a resolution that included abolishing the United States Department of Commerce.

Move forward thirteen years later, and Gregg has been tapped to head that very same department.

Once Judd Gregg decided to recuse himself from voting for the economic stimulus plan favored by his would-be boss, Barack Obama, he was going to be more of a problem than an asset. But the real problem was appointing Judd Gregg in the first place. As a fiscally conservative Republican, appointing Gregg to a major economic position within the cabinet just didn’t make sense. The role of the Department of Commerce is to regulate business practices and grow the economy by creating more jobs. It would have been a bad match for a Democratic president hoping to create a more progressive economy that creates jobs but does so in a fair way.

Another factor that contributed to Gregg’s withdrawal is the control of the 2010 Census, a process usually controlled by the head of the Commerce Department. Instead of allowing Gregg to manage the census, reports indicated that Rahm “Rhambo” Emanuel would take the task under his wing instead. Gregg could have possibly believed that Democrats would inflate minority census numbers, and therefore change the makeup of districts around the country. Or perhaps the Obama administration couldn’t trust a longtime Republican attempting to do just the opposite, deflate minority representation.

As a Republican in the U.S. Senate for sixteen years, in 2008 alone he voted with George W. Bush 82% of the time. (Senator John McCain was the top man in 2008 with 89%.) Anything over 50% should just be considered suspicious.

The chair of the head of the Commerce Department still waits to be filled, after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson had to withdraw his name from the spot due to allegations of corruption, and now Gregg after he said that himself and President Obama, “are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.”

We should wish Senator Judd Gregg well as he heads back to the Senate to get back to voting against progress every chance he gets. That is until his retirement in 2010.

Previously on “The Young American.”

Since we last left you, a new administration has taken over Washington D.C. Democrats have finally found themselves in control of everything, and it’s all they’ve ever wanted. Yet unfortunately,  partisanship has rebounded, and Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska (”D”) and Susan Collins of Maine (R)  find themselves as the most powerful people in the United States right now.

The inauguration on January 20th could probably be considered the worst in history if it hadn’t been so historical . Yo-Yo Ma’s music was a recording, Aretha Franklin’s voice was dreadful, and Elizabeth Alexander’s poem could best be described as silly and unemotional. Let’s not even talk about the oath flub.

President Obama issued an executive order closing the “detention center”/torture camp at Guantánamo Bay in his first day in the White House. It could take up to a year, and terrorists could soon be coming to a town near you. No seriously, this is a good thing. At a time when the United States’s image is tarnished around the world, it’s an important signal that we are ready to rejoin the world community by rejecting torture.

The passage of the $789 billion economic stimulus had to have been one of the most dramatic events in modern world history. Or at least CNN made it seem that way. Wolf Blitzer interrupting nice anchor lady: “Hold on a minute Candy, we have some breaking developments. President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan has not been talked about in the last five minutes. We just wanted to give you an update. Nothing has happened.” (Not an actual quote.)

In local news, billionaire Meg Whitman, and former CEO of eBay, has announced that she intends to run for governor of California. She’ll have no chance at election once the public gets a good look at her 0% “feedback rating.” Rihanna got beat up by lover Chris Brown. Reports are saying the attack involved an umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh. At least I tried.

Enough Fun. It’s time to get serious now. There are still serious issues plaguing the American public right now. ‘What can I do to help?’ we ask ourselves. President Obama can’t do it alone. If anything, he needs our support and our ideas. Conservatives are already claiming the Obama presidency has failed. We cannot let that happen. Nobody said this was going to be easy. Please follow me on Twitter.

An Inevitable Change of Heart

This Tuesday, Obama will be sworn in as President. America couldn’t be more excited. Obama has reinvigorated an entire country and convinced millions that American politics is not a lost cause. He’s been a muse to hundreds of artists, to the extent that the Manifest Hope Gallery is opening up for 3 days in D.C. this weekend to display their work. But this can’t last forever.

Obama might be the best president in American history, but we won’t love him. He’s taking office while we’re involved in two wars and an economic crisis. Not to mention trouble in Gaza, the threat of terrorism, and the rest of the aftermath of the Bush administration.

There is not way that Obama is going to fix all of this. He might avert a depression, but we’re still stuck in a recession. He might catch Bin Laden, but we’ll still have a fledgling democracy on the verge of civil war in Iraq. He might close Guantanamo Bay, but we’ll still have a growing number of terrorists to look out for. He might help end racism against African Americans, but we still won’t have gay marriage at a federal level.

No. Obama is not a God. He can’t fix the world by repeating “Change” over and over again. No doubt he’ll do his best, and he’ll probably do a great job, but he can’t be perfect.

Then what will his supporters say? Will America still admire him when he’s just barely keeping the country afloat, or will we ask for more and blame him for problems caused by George Bush and others?

If history is anything to go by, Obama’s supporters will probably be upset and will probably have a change of heart. Some of them will be disappointed that he won’t bring world peace or fulfill every one of his campaign promises. We can’t let that happen.

Obama probably won’t usher in a new era of prosperity and happiness for America, but we can’t expect him to. Too many people seem to think that Obama is superman. He’s just a regular man (though a smart one). Let’s treat him like one. Obama should not be put up on this pedistal and expected to save the world. When he does his best and just barely saves us, we’re going to have to be more than happy with that.

So, in four years time, when we’re once again faced with an election, let’s think back to right now, and what we think of Obama, and what he’s up against: The Bush era. When Obama falters, let’s not turn on him. Maybe some of us would rather have Clinton or Biden or even Gravel in office, but right now, Obama’s the best we’ve got.

Rising from the Ashes of the Burning Bush

I was nine years old when George W. Bush was elected president of the United States in 2000. I now realize that half of my life has been spent under the rule of King George II. I decided that the best way to commemorate his presidency was to look back on the ups and downs of a tumultuous eight years that changed American culture and society forever.

In September 2001 George W. Bush had been president for only eight months. He became president after one of the most controversial elections in American history. He lost the popular vote to Al Gore, but still found himself sitting at the desk in the oval office at the White House thanks to the Electoral College.

That September America was attacked on the eleventh day of that month. The President was visiting the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. One of his aides whispered in his ear that America had been attacked. What followed was one of Bush’s most critiqued presidential moments. He didn’t freak out, jump up, and run out of the building. Instead he sat and thought. Should the President have gotten up, acted more swiftly and confidently? Should he have sat there like he did as to not panic the children in the room? He did the latter, and days later, on September 14th, in New York City at ground zero he showed a confidence in his ability to track down the people who had crashed a plane into the ground in Pennsylvania, attacked the Pentagon, and demolished the Twin Towers. “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon,” he said.

A year and half later, on March 13, 2003, Bush felt it was time to get back at those who attacked us, but we suddenly found ourselves in Iraq. We had been in Afghanistan since October 7, 2001, the location commonly believed to be near where Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind 9/11 lives. But instead, we chose to focus our resources elsewhere, and we invaded Iraq under pretenses that Iraq had developed weapons of mass destruction.

“Mission Accomplished,” read on a banner a little over a month later on the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003. Bush said that we had been victorious with our major combat operations. “In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed,” Bush declared. But, we would find ourselves in Iraq to this very day, and the terrorist who had planned 9/11, Bin Laden, still not yet captured.

The President’s re-election bid in 2004 blindsided many Americans who felt he was sure to lose that one at least. He didn’t, and America had just signed up for four more years of “Dubya.”

At the end of August, 2005 brought us the year of Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in American history. President Bush was criticized for his slow reaction to rescuing and providing aid to the victims of the hurricane. He had appointed one of his friends to be the head of the Federal Emergency Management Association, Michael Brown. Brown resigned shortly after President Bush told him, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” It was also reported that Bush had been vacationing in Arizona at the time of the disaster, and when it came time to visit New Orleans for his first time since the disaster, he flew over in an airplane instead of walking among the people.

The war in Iraq had reached its most difficult year in 2006. Americans wanted out, but Bush stuck to his guns and stayed. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, also resigned that year after revelations of mismanagement in war strategy and that nine billion dollars had gone missing. Photos of tortured prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq also fueled the fire of American unrest. In January 2007, Bush even committed to sending more troops to Iraq as part of his “surge” plan.

This year, in 2008, we witnessed the devastating fall of the American economy. Private banks were bought by the government to save them from going under. American automakers find themselves on their own brink of collapse. And, now we can officially say that we are in a recession.

As George W. Bush enters his final days in office we can look back and say that he has at least done one thing right. That is his graciousness at a time of the transition of power in America. Barack Obama won the presidency this year, and I’m sure when Obama spoke to Bush over the telephone on election night that he thanked him for doing all that he did over the last eight years, right and wrong (mostly wrong) to help him get elected.

A Young, Progressive New Yorker AGAINST Caroline Kennedy for Senate.

All the buzz in the choice for the replacement of Hillary Clinton has taken a sharp turn from a discussion of strong, qualified Upstate and Downstate politicians to one woman: Caroline Kennedy.  The media is jumping at the possibility of another Kennedy rising to political prominence.  However, this should not be a choice as to whether or not to carry on a political dynasty for Governor David Paterson.  As a citizen of the State in question, New York, I believe that Paterson’s choice should instead be what is best for the very troubled state of New York.  Don’t get me wrong, I am Progressive person, who agrees with Kennedy on a multitude of issues.  Putting that aside, the question remains as to whether or not she is the right person for the job.

Usually, when I say that I am from New York, the question that is posed to me is “Oh really, what borough?”.  The sad part is that the whole state of New York gets overshadowed by the City of New York.  In talking to my fellow Upstaters, animosity can be heard in their voices as they describe the lack of attention that Upstate New York receives.  David Paterson’s selection of Caroline Kennedy would just be another slap in the face for Upstate New York, who has not had a Senator from their own back yard since 1909 (Good Ole, Elihu Root of Clinton, New York.)  The face that Upstate has not had one of their own represent them in the United States Senate for so long is just shameful, and now Governor Paterson has a chance to change that with his power of appointment.

Caroline Kennedy is someone who I agree with, alot, she is a very charismatic individual who quite possible has a bright future in the political scene.  However, the fact remains that her first political job should not be an appointment to the Senate. She is not qualified for this position. She has not served the people of New York in extensive enough of a manner to receive the appointment from Governor Paterson.  Whether deservedly or not, Governor Paterson’s popularity has plummeted in the Upstate region, and he would only be making the problem worse for himself if he does the wrong thing, and appoints Caroline Kennedy to the Senate.

The Young American

And so it begins. As part of a new year, we reinvent ourselves once more. This will be the last time, although I can’t promise.

So, why the blog name change from “Think Youth” to “The Young American“?

To be honest, I’ve wanted to change the blog name since August 25, 2008. We were in Denver for a convention, and just the mention of our blog’s name was a hassle. For some reason, to get the words “Think Youth” out of my mouth was a difficult part, but what was even harder was having the person who had to hear the blog name actually understand what I was saying.

“What is your blog’s name?” she said.

“Think Youth,” I said.

“Thank You? Thank Youth?” she questioned back.

“No ma’am. Think Youth,” I repeated. What followed was the actual spelling of the blog name.

“T-H-I-N-K Y-O-U-T-H!” it ended.

So, I hope that our new blog name not only sounds nicer, but is easier to say. “THE YOUNG AMERICAN.”

Most urls/links will automatically update and redirect to the new domain name, but just to be sure, please update your bookmarks, and thank you, not think youth:

http://www.theyoungamerican.org/

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheYoungAmerican
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Update: Just a small update, I just realized that the contact and blogger application forms have been broken and were not actually sending anything. If you have attempted to contact us, or apply to become a blogger, please submit again because the forms now work. Thanks.

LaHood Is The Wrong Choice

What was Obama thinking when he picked Ray LaHood as transportation secretary? This man is one of the least qualified to head a department with such an integral role in reducing global warming. Barack Obama has already been under criticism for his roads heavy stimulus package, but the appointment of this man shows the government agency for transportation will be looking towards 1950s solutions to fix the transportation crisis.

Obama recognizes that transportation planning is directly related to global warming and other pollution, so why would he put a man in office that seems to lack such understanding? LaHood has received over 100,000 dollars in donations from energy and automobile interests, such as the Petroleum Marketers Association. A search on Wikipedia has no political experience on any subcommittees related to transit. It is as if Obama has said “Nobody cares about the DOT so lets give the GOP a bone.”

However LaHood has sponsored some legislation that at least shows a minimal effort to look at alternative forms of transit. He cosponsored a bill to recognize the importance of bicycling for health and recreation but it fails to acknowledge a link to cleaner air, plus that’s about the only positive transportation bill he’s sponsored in the past two congresses. However those are outweighed as he also cosponsored a bill supporting using forests for bio fuel, investing in liquid coal (which has been found to be the biggest global warming contributor), and lastly he voted for June 30th to be “National Corvette Day.”

One of the main reasons I was so excited about an Obama administration was that I felt he would change America from an auto-dependent country to one that rivaled Europe in terms of alternatives. While certaintly better than what Bush adminstration has done for alternative transit, this vision is hardly visionary.

Conservative Christianity: Political Strategy or Ideology

Christian Conservatism is not and ideology not a concept but an ingenious political strategy built by the GOP in the to late 1970’s. In knowing that majority of the the new elderly or golden years American White citizens were apart of the civil rights resistance in the 1950’s and 60’s the GOP played on the distaste for the rising image of Liberalism in American mainly in part to the Hippie Anti War Veitnam  college educated Americans. GOP Leaders and front runners prayed on the political tactic of placing fear in elderly whites that the landscape of America was being entrenched in Liberal Left wing Hippism and even in some cases of late 1970’s Racism in political campaigns to achieve victory in southern states. Yet Christian Conservative political tactic also worked extremely well in Bull collar mid west and Northern rual areas where Republicans could snatch Electoral votes by eating up counties in key states For Example:

Wisconsin
Missouri
Ohio
Indiana
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Illinois
Tennessee
Texas
North Carolina
Virginia
Florida
Minnesota

All These states at that time period were blue collared states which usually meant that the citizens were more likely to be White and Christian. One More Thing Is that All these states have Double Digit Electoral Points. For a Political Canididate to carry these states would always put a canididate over the edge in a close political race. For If a Republican could win over Moderate Republicans who were more likely to be well establish upper class whites in New York annd California and to carry Southern and Mid-Western States would ensure victory. For Democrats in this time caught complete hell in presidential races, Mainly for there siding with Anti War views and Civil Rights which was also a political strategy but we will discuss that in another post. A great Example to why Conservative Christianity is a great political Strategy look at the Democratic Presidents after Nixion Carter won his first presidental race mainly because he was a farm boy a picture of blue collar hard working Southerner and then There was Clinton he was a southern White Male from Hope Arkansas a state in the heart of Conservative America who played his roots t his advanytage along with his liberak views to gain the presidency twice. W. Bush used Moderate-Christian Conservatism to gain his presidency(with help from Jeb.) He became the face of College educated conservatist by using his evangelical faith to push him a head in rural blue collar states. Florida Is a great example of a Moderate Conservative State much like Georgia.Conservative Christian Political Tactic is a great tactic in politics but it is a dirty one because it thrives of negativity and the exploitation of ones faith in achieving political success. John McCain failed with Consevative Christians because unlike his running mate McCain was more on the moderate end of the Right Wing spectrum. Which inevitably lead to the 3-4 point split in the Republican Vote especially when you factor in the economic and Bush factors the GOP is faced with trying to re-define their political ideologies, strategies and tatics to stay in the race with Democrats.

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