countrydoc's Blog

I am at work when I get a bunch of texts and a phone call. My wife calls to say its 11:30 where are you when Barrack Obama is declared the new president. Like all the important events in life I am at the hospital. I took time to write down where I was when history happened.

Now that we have taken a bold step into a new inclusive America, where do we go from here…so many exciting thoughts…. I will tell you where, we go back to all those kids who say they have no future because of race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, glass ceiling and say…IF you work hard, and do the best you can….you too can reach the stars….We remind them its not easy…but that they CAN

Now all children in America have a right to dream the dream without wondering if it ever will be possible.

What would Lincoln, MLK, and the numerous other historical greats of the beyond say about AMERICA now.

THE AMERICAN DREAM HAS GAINED NEW LIFE FOR ALL AMERICANS

It is with great pride we should now march side by side instead of the tiptoeing around each other with fear. Barrack could do it and so could you. And you …and you…

A nurse and fellow physician were so bitter today because of the election I saw a mean side I found inappropriate…look everyone should know John McCain is a great man who has sacrificed for our country, but unfortunately he is not the inspiration a new generation needs. He is still a major part of American history and will be a great asset in the Senate. No need for anger, its time for acceptance and for the next step.

Now where do we go from here?

How do we rebuild?

How do we galvanize our youth into that generation that helped build this country?

How do we challenge the world to walk with us to stamp out terrorism?

How do we find ways to bring the grace and spirit of America the land of the free the home of the brave…

THE FUTURE IS NOW

GOD BLESS AMERICA

 It is the first time in history I have felt bad for a group of fellow Americans. My kids have some friends, who are islamic. (In fact I do too). Their father is hard working man, who dedicates his time in another hospital, working to save lives. We trained together but I noticed  this whole campaign thing has made things weird. I have never felt such a strange knot in my stomach, as if we as a country are directing such anger and resentment at fellow Americans in the name of COUNTRY FIRST. I also wish OBAMA could say more than once there is nothing wrong being islamic in America. I find it despicable to use Country first as a slogan, as propaganda if it means...This country is one for the ...fill in the blank....part of society ......but not for.....fill in the blank....part of society....America is better than that.

I mean this is the use of ethnicity to cleanse one's campaign.

We are a tolerant country,

a free country,

a country of innovation,

of capitalism,

of powerful ideas that become reality,

a country that can go to the moon if we need to....

So where did we fail welcoming all people to our shores. My friend is no fundamentalist and his family deserves the same repect we all do.

It goes back to fundamentalism is crazy. Fundamentalism has more than one captive audience. Where does it stop. It stops when we do not allow such BS and that is true internationally as well as domestically.....

CS MD

ps i know those who will abuse this for their own racial views, lets see who.

Dear republican party, and Senator McCain,

I really should be part of the party, but I do not meet the criteria for tax breaks, and kickbacks. I have been listening to you for the last 6 months and I am in no way convinced that you advocate for me. Our tax structure redistributes wealth. I am taxed proportionally more than those above and below me because I made it over the last cutoff. I have paid my taxes and have watched your party spend it all in Iraq and gave it too your friends. You claim not to be socialist, but why have you guys failed at cutting government? Why did the flat tax die? Why did you fail at balancing the budget? Why did you give away a tax credit (WELFARE to the American people as a stimulus package). Why did your presidential candidate want to give away money for healthcare (WELFARE check #2). Why should I vote with the party that sold away my Social Security that I deposit faithfully. Why should I vote for the party that sold my Kids future economy, educations, healthcare, and environment. You have let me down. Reagan excited me and made me a republican, until I started to see a very negative trend. I won't stand behind you, nor join your crusade against the middle class. What didn't I do for you. You and your blog supporters shed nothing more than blame, and are professionals at labelling and dividing people. I am supremely disillusioned with the way you run campaigns and with the way you foster FUNDAMENTALISM in AMERICA. You are more terrorist than American and it is time to shake free of your dirty wretched claws.

A tax paying

Non profit employee

who has dedicated over 12 years caring for people

Dr. C. S. MD

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama Sunday during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell speaks to reporters Sunday after appearing on "Meet the Press."

"I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama," Powell said.

Powell spoke to reporters afterward outside NBC.

The following is a transcript of that conversation.

Reporter: Do you think that Sen. Obama will be a better transitional president than potentially Sen. McCain?

Colin Powell: I think that Sen. Obama brings a fresh set of of eyes, a fresh set of ideas to the table. I think that Sen. McCain, as gifted as he is, is essentially going to execute the Republican agenda, the orthodoxy of the Republican agenda with a new face and with a maverick approach to it. And he'd be quite good at it. But I think we need more than that. I think we need a generational change. And I think Sen. Obama has captured the feelings of the young people of America and is reaching out in a more diverse, inclusive way across our society.

Reporter: Could you talk to us about when your decision was made final? When did you finally set your heart on Sen. Obama?

Powell: I have been watching, as I said [on "Meet the Press"], for a long time, and then, within the past couple of months, I really said, you know, you just can't keep watching. You've got to kind of settle down.

Reporter: Mr. Secretary, there were a number of BLEEP in your own armor, actually, because of the lead-up to the Iraq war and the events. How much did that play into your decision about this? And will it be taken perhaps by some, because of your previous high-profile position, won't it be taken by some as a repudiation of the Iraq war?

Powell: I don't know why. The Iraq war is the Iraq war. We now see that things are a lot better in Iraq. Maybe if we had put a surge in at the beginning, it would have been a lot better years ago, but it's a lot better now, and we can see ahead to where U.S. forces will start to come out. And so, my concern was not my past or what happened in Iraq, but where we're going in the future. My sole concern was where are we going after January 20 of 2009, not what happened in 2003.

I'm well aware of the role I played. My role has been very, very straightforward. I wanted to avoid a war. The president agreed with me. We tried to do that. We couldn't get it through the U.N. and when the president made the decision, I supported that decision. And I've never blinked from that. I've never said I didn't support a decision to go to war.

And the war looked great until the 9th of April, when the statue fell, everybody thought it was terrific. And it was terrific. The troops had done a great job. But then we failed to understand that the war really was not over, that a new phase of the war was beginning. And we weren't ready for it and we didn't respond to it well enough, and things went very, very -- very, very south, very bad.

And now it's starting to turn around through the work of Gen. Petraeus and the troops, through the work of the Iraqi government, through our diplomatic efforts, and I hope now that this war will be brought to an end, at least as far as American involvement is concerned, and the Iraqis are going to have to be responsible for their own security and for their own political future. ...

Reporter: Sir, what part did McCain's negativity play in your decision, the negative tone of the campaign?

Powell: It troubled me. We have two wars. We have economic problems. We have health problems. We have education problems. We have infrastructure problems. We have problems around the world with our allies. So those are the problems the American people wanted to hear about, not about Mr. Ayers, not about who's a Muslim or who's not a Muslim. Those kinds of images going out on Al-Jazeera are killing us around the world.

And we have got to say to the world, it doesn't make any difference who you are or what you are, if you're an American, you're an American. And this business, for example, of the congressman from Minnesota who's going around saying, "Let's examine all congressmen to see who is pro-America or not pro-America" -- we have got to stop this kind of nonsense, pull ourselves together and remember that our great strength is in our unity and in our diversity. And so, that really was driving me.

And to focus on people like Mr. Ayers and these trivial issues, for the purpose of suggesting that somehow Mr. Obama would have some kind of terrorist inclinations, I thought that was over the top. It was beyond just good political fighting back and forth. I think it went beyond. And to sort of throw in this little Muslim connection, you know, "He's a Muslim and, my goodness, he's a terrorist" -- it was taking root. And we can't judge our people and we can't hold our elections on that kind of basis.

So, yes, that kind of negativity troubled me, And the constant shifting of the argument. I was troubled a couple of weeks ago when in the middle of the crisis, the [McCain] campaign said, "We're going to go negative," and they announced it, "We're going to go negative and attack [Obama's] character through Bill Ayers." Now I guess the message this week is, "We're going to call him a socialist, Mr. Obama is now a socialist, because he dares to suggest that maybe we ought to look at the tax structure that we have."

Taxes are always a redistribution of money. Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who paid them, in roads and airports and hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good. And there is nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more, who should be paying less. And for us to say that that makes you a socialist, I think is an unfortunate characterization that isn't accurate.

I don't want my taxes raised. I don't want anybody else's taxes raised. But I also want to see our infrastructure fixed. I don't want to have a $12 trillion national debt, and I don't want to see an annual deficit that's over $500 billion heading toward a trillion. So, how do we deal with all of this?

Reporter: Are you still a Republican?

Powell: Yes.

SOMETIMES I COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER ANY OTHER WAY

most nations battle poverty with appeasement (Brazil with Carnival, India in the form of jobs an oportunities in the slums of MUMBAI, mexico has illegal labor relations with America to better their homeland.....)

here in america we have failed at the botom,

just think of it in terms of those who exploit the poor. GANGS

If a new gang lets say sprouted up in Fairfax Virginia and is growing at an alarming rate, it should make one wonder why?

Gangs feed off of the poor strong youth, and use these kids to make profits. As an ex teacher at Roosevelt High School East LA, I saw gangs siffon off my smartest fit students. I saw, while working at a rural clinic in NO JOBS Western PA many victims of the DRUG TRADE and their kids. The blackmarket drug economy that is the underbelly of all things wrong in both rural and inner city USA.  Highly illegal and hard to stop...GANGS...the real domestic terrorism (unlike the organizations the republican party calls terrorist)

Much like the poor child in Afghan, who has no choices because there are few if any universities, has the choice and oportunity to grow opium...our children and our society is suffering from a disease and plague like no other with the whole drug business....

Red Skin Nation Time

I dont see the Left wing working to re-invent a fair tax plan. (no class wars...propose a basic equal line of tax for all...unfortunately, now the country is increasingly unemployed...)

WHY not bring back the FLAT TAX 30% across the board, no exemption.

We all pay, we all receive...

get rid of all the rhetoric...

from Forbes.com

"Steve Forbes calls the complex U.S. tax code "the nine million-word monster" that wastes countless hours of American taxpayers' time and money. In his new book, The Flat Tax Revolution: Using a Postcard to Abolish the IRS, Forbes' chief executive and editor in chief argues for replacing this policy with a simple flat tax that would end, he says, the bureaucratic inefficiencies that drain the U.S. economy and corrupt politics. "

I agree

why has this been on the back burner when the GOP could have done it once upon a time...

I have heard time and time again the same scenario

We tax the rich and the world will end!

Trickle down will reach to poor!

Trickle down is the same hand of SOCIALISM, that republicans hate, redirected towards the RICH.  In return of being given advantages over small businesses and ordinary people, who compete in this capitalistic economy, it is expected that money will trickle down through low wage jobs and infrastructure and company based red tape to ordinary citizens. It is an antiquated way to preserve the home teams’ advantage and preserve a special subset of the population. So when McCain says “class war” do not let this goon forget to tell you that he is basically saying he protects and preserves the wealthy at the cost of the ordinary citizen.

It is difficult to appreciate how such preservation will help when we have done trickle down for the last 8 years and look around us. Where did TRICKLE DOWN lead us….

Into an even greater SOCIALISM of the WEALTHY BANKER.

The dialogue starts at the RNC where it is made clear that social welfare or helping the poor is nothing important…That OBAMA and his social work is meaning-less (the subtext should read) to the wealthy. However the wealthy that danced at the RNC were supposed to TRICKLE DOWN wealth and resources that a social worker is doing in essence. We should not need social welfare at any level if Corporations were to provide retirement plans that were adequate (if that were the case Social Security is useless and should be axed). If corporations sponsor students and run high schools in the poor end of town, hey we would not need government run school. As an ex-physician at one of the largest inner city hospitals in the continental US, I never saw anything trickle down except criticism. 8 years of TRICKLE DOWN politics and people are still crying for more….

So Be it

But if you ask me... any challenge to trickle down economics will shake things up enough to strengthen all the areas of our country that have fallen prey to the economics and politics of the BUSH admin (which is entirely supported by the McCain campaign).

We have fallen behind

We can rise

Only if we change things up

Otherwise things will remain the same

Socialized economy for the wealthy at the expense of the small business and common citizen

I won’t sugar coat and lie that I am not influenced by my views of OBAMA. OBAMA is the key to reforming all that a certain Maverick has proved he could not for YEARS.

OBAMA for me

http://aap.grassroots.com/election2008.candidatecompa
rison/

1. Does every child receive quality health insurance?

    

2. Does the plan ensure adequate payment rates so that children can access care?

    

3. Does the plan include a comprehensive age appropriate benefits package?

    

4. Does the plan give families a choice of pediatric clinicians?

    

5. Is the benefit portable and would coverage be continuous?

    

1. Every Child

2. Payment levels

3. Comprehensive Benefits

4. Pediatrician Choice

5. Portability/ Continuity

John McCain

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Barack Obama

Yes

Yes*

Yes

Yes

Yes

* The plan would expand funding to improve the primary care provider and public health practitioner workforce, including loan repayments, improved reimbursement and training grants.

http://aap.grassroots.com/election2008.candidatecompa
rison/

OBAMA is really for children and McCain is just kidding…

OBAMA would make it possible to have the most highly qualified workforce treat patients...

As a physician my decision is pretty clear....

As a physician it would be great to have a candidate help make it possible to adviocate for the children and for special needs children.

OBAMA

OBAMA

OBAMA

he is great for healthcare

he is great for the economy

he knows foreign policy

he can help us move forward

Laughable

poor McCain

John Kerry was there (served his country tooo)

Al Gore was there (smart guy but could not get the word out)

Bob Dole was there (maybe he spoke too much)

now McCain is crying tooo

SO SAD

without attacking the other candidates she has nothing to add to our political system...

Just a ROAD to no where....

What a world we live in today where we are divided so deeply, political discussion does not go with scathing criticism. Decency, gone due to the charged nature of Johhny divider and his adds. I never knew Arab, Hussein, and Ayers all meant a guy is a terrorist, nonpatriotic, and dangerous. How we have confused some people so fundamentally that we here the cries of terror domestically from people who now want Barry in the wrong way. What has happened to us, what has happened to our nation.....

SIMPLY PUT

TOO MUCH JOHNNY DIVIDER (to much confusion on TV, radio, and live)

NOT ENOUGH BARRY UNITER

one of the many reasons

i support

OBAMA

The Economist's poll of economists

Oct 2nd 2008 | WASHINGTON, DC

economist lean towards OBAMA......

T Pickens has launched a campaign that is altogether reasonable...

I here people squable about energy independance, here is the big money associate with the research and know how to develop a plan....his plan is nowhere on the radar...

HMMMMM

Energy independance will require transition and we should be ready...

we should use domestic fuel first

we should develop new industry....

if you look at both candidates, you have new energy supporter and research supporter in OBAMA and then you have big Washington politics is McCain....he voted 2 for and many time against policy supporting the changing needs of the US of A in terms of energy....

Picken our most recent clone of Perot is not a candidate but is effective in his message...

Now that is radical.

McCain and his cronies once again are labelling....

when you have no policy and the one you supported 90% of the time has let you down

please have the decency to treat people nicely....keep it to policy

I am really impressed by Michelle Obama and the way she handles the types of criticism her family must take from all these blatant, foul mouth lies. (They have kids!!!)

Its time to unite our country....

OBAMA is not Arab (and implying that all arabs are evil is RACIST)

McCain finally acknowledges this and he toooooook toooo long,

Why can we not bring up the many associate of a certain Sarah Pallin or the racial remarks McCain has made in the past against asians....

If you want to fight the character war McCain, you should be ready to hear it loud and clear

You are racist, you are the grand manipulator of Washington politics, you used to be a Maverick, you are a grandstander.... Please don't tarnish your war record and the record of all who have served our country with dirty politics. Tell your friends the truth, yes you may loose because of it, but at least you leave a decorated war hero and not the same way as Bob Dole (as newest viagra add).....