Council for a Livable World -- The Chain Reaction || Vote:

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what should be on the plate

I don't think there is anything more important than ending the undue influence on our government by Corporations and the rich. To that end it is time to end the ridiculous notion that Corporations are persons and are thus protected bythe Constitution. I've never heard anything so absurd! Once that has been done it is time to take back the financial system back fromt he private bankers and put it back in the hads of Congress. Why would we pay interest to private banks when we could print the money for free or pay ourselves the interest! Finally we need publically financed elections with instant-run-off voting to make our elections transparent, fair, and democratic. This will also eliminate "wasted" votes.

zahller | Dec 17, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

: corporate money

I think every single non-profit working for social justice or environmental causes or civil liberties or (you name it) should have getting corporate money out of politics number one on the list. If we had that accomplished, we wouldn't have a problem solving the health care crisis, working to address global warming and numerous other things we need. W

We need to restore democracy and cannot make much headway, if any, without addressing the corporate money controlling who gets elected.

Carol RGMA | Dec 17, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

[ Parent ]

energy

The country that develops the next CHEAP source of energy will become the most powerful country in the world. Coal controlled all. Then oil controlled all. Then cheap manpower/labor controlled all.
Sun power is the ultimate renewable energy, but so far silicon is only about 9% efficient in turning it into electricity. Wind power is more developed. All electricity producing renewable energy sources need a better grid for distribution and better storage such as better batteries. I understand that an oil company holds the patents on the best battery so far invented, and their patent doesn't run out until 2010, at which time they may be able to hide it in other ways.
And do we need to limit our quest to going through electricity? Coal and oil go directly to engines. Why not renewable energy? Or possibly a new way of transporting or storing energy.
The energy field is wide open and needs a project like our outer space project to make it take off.

Pat Dewey | Dec 17, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

Obama's Plate

It is not vindictive or resentful to demand that the crimes perpetrated by the Bush Administration be punished. It must become abundantly clear, through the use of non-partisan judicial means that these were indeed crimes, and that the guilty, no matter how powerful or rich, must be punished for them.

To omit this crucial step towards reforming our nation leaves the very real possibility that the same crowd of henchmen will rise again the moment Obama stumbles (which everyone invariably does at one point or another.) Had the Reagan crowd been put in prison for Iran/Contra by Clinton, half the criminals in the Bush regiem would have been behind bars.

Obama has a history of bringing opposite sides together, but this may wind up being his tragic flaw. Be tough on corporate and political criminals and then make nice with the opposite side. At least they'll respect whom they're dealing with. They certainly never respected Clinton.

Alden | Dec 17, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

Detroit

Let’s reframe the crisis in Detroit. The troubles facing the American auto industry could actually be a chance for us to tackle global climate change. What the automobile manufacturers should be working on is replacing the internal combustion engine with a design that uses renewable fuel – without hazardous emissions.

Perhaps the simplest solution is an economic stimulus program, underwritten by the government, that creates a market for the development, manufacture and sale of better American cars – better in terms of fuel efficiency and emissions. People who buy a new car could receive a government rebate if, and only if, they choose a better domestic car. Old cars would have to go straight to the crusher and not the used car lot.

This system provides built-in incentives for the adoption of hybrid/electric cars as a transitional technology. This will help get us on the road to a future of pure-electric cars, and a national grid powered by sun and wind – not fossil or nuclear fuel.

Hoosierpop | Dec 17, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

End foreign wars

If we intend to repair the nation's finances we need to stop the bleeding, literally and figuratively. We've thrown so much money down the drain in Iraq that could have been put to better use that its a crime. Further, these bailouts of the wealthy at taxpayer expense are asinine. The same money could have been spent on a jobs program to upgrade our failing national infrastructure. Something like half of our electricity is wasted in a failing grid. Our roads need endless repair. Bridges are falling down. Water and sewer networks in many cities are a hundred years old and we can see from the present example of Zimbabwe what happens when they fail. Imagine something like their Cholera outbreak in Manhattan where the water system is buried and crumbling and you can see how disruptive this would be and the enormous cost in human health it would exact. It's crazy. Why must we wait for disaster to fix our failed systems? Are Americans truly so selfish and short-sighted that we think this is a constructive way to build a future? Obscene.
http://alphadominance.com

alphadominance | Dec 17, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

: Iraq war

It's not that Americans are selfish but that they are stupid. The IQ curve is bell-shaped. Half the population falls below 100, and 100 iss hardly distinguished. They believed in Bush enough to give him the necessary electoral votes in 2000, and they elected him again in 2004. It would seem that Americans will believe anything if an authority figure is there to pronounce something Believing that homosexuals want to take over the world, they vote for Propsition 8 in California while they are willing to pour bucketloads of money into a military apparatus that wastes it recklessly. As George Carlin said, "Military intelligence is an oxymoron." President Obama should pull out of Iraq immediately and put the money that's left ino health, energy, and the rest of his program. I'm not against defense against real aggression, but offense for no good reason is stupid.

Bill Stein | Dec 18, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

[ Parent ]

terrorism , nuclear "event" or plague

The 3 are connected. All our doctors and hospitals are very busy. We need to add to medical school budgets, train more doctors and have emergency clinics and supplies ready. Test labs are important. We are underprepared for fallout, epidemics etc. We are just "getting by" on the medical front (if you ignore the uninsured - which is, of course, a mistake and unfair.) More of everything medical is needed to handle PRESENT health care needs alone, much more if there is a crisis .

pdnoerd | Dec 17, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

Health Care First!

There is a third world population systematically being fostered within our country with a large number of people denied basic protection and health care. Most other democratic industrialized nations provide this to their citizens.
America, the richest nation in the world, now has million 46 million uninsured citizens and the numbers are increasing each year. . Recently the actual count of uninisured was projected at 86 million if it included those who had high deductibles who could not come up with $5000 or more before they were given help by their insurance companies..
This is not only sad and unfair, but demoralizing, leaving a large group of citizens less secure and worrying about what could happen if they had a sudden health crisis.
This pervasive problems has added to hopelessness and generally poor mental attitude in the country causing people to lose their jobs when employers can not afford to increase wages because they need to pay for health insurance. The auto industry and other businesses can not be stay competitive with other countries where health care is provided by the government.. We need health care bad and need it NOW!

Rizerd | Dec 17, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

Heath care

The time for Universal Heath Care is now!
It's already past the time that we catch up to the rest of the industrialized world.

frank67 | Dec 17, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

The Constitution, th Republic and the rule of law

The Constitution must be restored, including Habeas Corpus and the Bill of Rights, and the primacy among equals the Founders intended for the Congress. The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and Obama's Compromised FISA Act must be repealed. Guantánamo and the secret CIA prisons must be shut down. Cheney/Bush' imperial wars of adventure in Iraq and Afghanistan must be ended, and the moral equivalent of war launched worldwide on the causes of terror; poverty, ignorance, pestilence, famine and war! If Madam Pelosi fails to impeach Cheney and his pipsqueak sidekick, and permits them to retire with impunity, they must be tried for treason against the Constitution and the Republic, for war crimes, and for crimes against humanity, and Madam Pelosi must be tried for complicity in their crimes and misdemeanors, having lent them aid and comfort. There must also be a real investigation into the very real evidence that 9/11 was indeed a self-inflicted atrocity perpetrated by Cheney and friends, probably including the cat's-paw bin Laden, as an excuse to invade the oil-rich Mid East.

Ted Voth Jr | Dec 18, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

Restore the Constitution

I can't believe you didn't list this as an option. What can be more important? Our right to assemble, our right to free speech, habeus corpus, everything we hold dear in this country is at stake. The USA is on the brink of becoming a police state. This does not change by virtue of a new incoming president. Our standing in the world has been decimated by this criminal administration. THe rule of law must be restored or we will not be able to move forward. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security. Much has to be done.

uwthealer | Dec 18, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

Punish the Criminals! Restore the Constitution!

The Bush Regime absolutely, positively MUST be punished for what they have done! They are responsible for so many criminal acts, from destroying the Constitution to war crimes, that a new category for international criminals should be created just for them! Bush and Cheney should have been impeached, removed from office and prosecuted long ago, and because they were not, the precedent now exists for a presidency that is literally above the law. The president may now do what he likes without regard for international law, the Constitution, human rights, Congress, the Supreme Court, or the will of the people. The president is now an absolute monarch, an emperor, who has been ceded his power by a craven gaggle of legislators like those of the ancient Roman Senate who handed their Republic to Julius Caesar. He is now the Emperor of a collapsing, bankrupt empire, whose people are vulnerable to the destroying juggernaut of 60 trillion dollars in toxic derivatives that is literally crushing the life out of the economies of the world like a titanic wrecking ball. When it has run its course, the world will be returned to a new Dark Age, its people wan, starving and prostrate, but still the subjects of an inexperienced emperor who believes his own messianic rhetoric, and who is guided by the same venal kleptomaniacs that have already destroyed the world's economy. If there is now, as vice president-elect Joe Biden predicted, a world crisis designed to "test' president Obama, does anyone think he will relinquish the absolute power he has been bequeathed by his criminal predecessors? On the contrary! He will greatly expand it! After all, he's the indispensable man, the Bringer of Hope, the Light to the Nations! Power corrupts, said Lord Acton, and absolute power corrupts ABSOLUTELY!

AlexanderHamilton | Dec 18, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

The War in Iraq

The War in Iraq was necessary to stop the leader in Iraq.
We might have not found any WMD but he had used them on his own people during the war with Iran.
He tried to kill off all the Kurdish people in the northern part of Iraq.
He was doing genocide and that is a war crime.
We must stop all the Genocide going on in this world. We also must prosecute all the people who do these acts.
I hate war but if we do not stop, stuff like this going on in the world it will never stop.
There is even a world court at the UN for these crimes against humanity.
What do you think about what is going on in Africa right now?
This mouse is going back into his mouse hole now.
Note I dont like how this war was handled and dont like Mr. Bush as pres.

Think postive and postive things will happen and a good prayer helps too. smile blessuslord | Dec 18, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

The Economy

Without fixing the economy first, I doubt Obama can move ahead with plans for universal health care, etc.

Last night on the news I noted that there are many people willing to buy cars but they cannot get the car loans! Isn't that what the bailout money was for--making credit available to consumers to get the economy moving? It is why Chrysler has to shut its doors for a month creating a spiral of unemployment benefits requests, people who will have to dip into savings or those on the brink of foreclosure may be tipped over the edge.

Bush and his cabinet have been a disaster for this country; Obama is going to have to be a miracle worker to haul us out of the mess Bush has created. He and all his cabinet should be prosecuted, jailed and have the keys thrown away!

atchelka | Dec 18, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

Obama's Platter

We need to greatly curb the extent to which military contractors have unchallenged access to the federal budget. This is not only an issue of channeling money needed for other priorities but also of the dampening effect that military spending has on the economy in general.

In the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union a guy with strong history of advocacy for military spending and Seattle journalist (one hawkish the other dovish) combined to write a book on how military spending was having a much greater adverse effect on the US economy than might be expected. In an oversimplification their argument: military spending produces resources that are economic dead ends (little or no multiplier effect) and that rarely transfer to civilian uses. At the moment I can’t recall the name of the book or the authors, but I probably could find them with some effort.

With this and the current economic crisis in mind, I would say that Obama needs to reallocate resources to more important things than military hardware. And, that is going to be very tough in the face of economic interests that are entrenched and well connected on Capitol Hill. There is no silver bullet, but there is silver buckshot, and one piece of silver buckshot might be a new and persuasive look at how military spending is a drain on the US economy.

ldaneker | Dec 18, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

: The Buckshot

I Like how you hit the nail on the head with that word. The world economy is slowing down and we just cant just run the printing pressing with worthless paper. Our money needs to be controled better than it has been in years. Most people say they are not better off in the last 8 years. With what has been happing in this country in the past 8 years. How much do we acually produce in this country by American workers? Has our GDP went up at all to real American workers paying taxes?
How many companies have move to Mexico or other countries for cheaper labor? What even makes it even worst is the US goverment gave these compamies hug tax breaks to leave the country. When they left they took our money and our jobs. The lobiest on capital hill plus our own reps. sold us out. I hope the Pres. elect will stop all of this and make these companies pay if they even want to do business in the U.S. ever again.
Okay going back into my mouse hole again.

Think postive and postive things will happen and a good prayer helps too. smile blessuslord | Dec 19, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

[ Parent ]

Presidential prioritiers

The first job of the President is to protect the Constitution and the rule of law, which have been ignored and abused. Those who violate their oath of office or betray the intended purposes of the agencies they lead should be tried and punished in courts of law.

The second priority is to pursue negotiations to reduce the nuclear weapons on alert and dismantle the stockpile, with a declaration of no first use and repair of Bush's nuclear treaty damage.

The third priority is to reign in corporate excess and to develop a national law that requires corporations to include on their boards
representatives of their labor, communities and consumers. In this way strikes can be avoided as well as the promotion of dangerous or useless goods and end the indifference to community interests.
Stockholders would still be in the majority on these boards.

Peter G Cohen | Dec 19, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

911

The official 9/11 story is a lie. It is our excuse to have an endless war on terror. It is time to expose the lie and discredit the military industrial complex

mennis8 | Dec 19, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

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