Obama wants to help the poor, I get it and that is great (I voted for Obama in the primaries)… BUT, my tax dollars shouldn’t be paying for it… If you want to help, do it on your own time and on your own dime (Thanks Dave)… I am sooooo sick of paying someone else to watch my child so that I can go to work, and pay taxes so that someone else can stay home with theirs….. GET A JOB… Furthermore, the “issue” isn’t that big of an issue to start with… 1% of the American population makes minimum wage… 1%!! And out of that 1%, 80% of those people live in a household where the annual income meets or exceeds $80,000.00 a year…. so that means that 80% of that 1% are probably high school/college kids working part time, or the elderly who want to work to get out of the house… Why has this become such a HUGE issue to help the poor, when there isn’t a HUGE population of poor people to help?

I was poor once, you know what I did? I got a job… Actually, I got two jobs… Imagine that, someone (a single mom none the less) taking care of herself and her child… Do I still struggle, and come up short every now and then? YES, I do and often… But ALL of my financial problems are my OWN fault… I didn’t NEED the brand new car, my daughter doesn’t NEED to go to that particular day care, I didn’t HAVE to live in the far west end…. those are choices that I made, and I have to pay for (literally and figuratively speaking). It is NOT the governments job to provide me and my child with a better life, it is MY job to provide myself and my child with a better life. And I plan on doing it without taking anyones hard earned tax dollars to do so…

And while we are on the subject of charity, lets take a look at VP candidate Biden’s tax records to see how much he gives to charity:

BIDEN’S CHARITYIt has become a common practice, when a presidential candidate releases his or her tax returns, for reporters and pundits to examine how much the candidate gave to charity. In September 1992, for example, when the Washington Post reported that Al Gore, then the Democratic candidate for vice president, had released his tax returns, the second paragraph in the story noted that out of income of $183,558, Gore “donated $1,727 — less than 1 percent — to charity.” Other st ories about other candidates routinely included figures on charitable giving.

Last Friday, Sen. Joseph Biden, the Democratic candidate for vice president, released his tax returns for the years 1998 to 2007. The returns revealed that in one year, 1999, Biden and his wife Jill gave $120 to charity out of an adjusted gross income of $210,979. In 2005, out of an adjusted gross income of $321,379, the Bidens gave $380. In nine out of the ten years for which tax returns were released, the Bidens gave less than $400 to charity; in the tenth year, 2007, when Biden was running for president, they gave $995 out of an adjusted gross income of $319,853.

Here is a chart of the Bidens’ giving for the years covered by the tax returns: Adjusted Gross Income Charity1998 $215,432 $1951999 $210,797 $1202000 $219,953 $3602001 $220,712 $3602002 $227,811 $2602003 $231,375 $2602004 $234,271 $3802005 $321,379 $3802006 $248,459 $3802007 $319,853 $995Total $2,450,042 $3,690To take Biden’s worst year, 1999, one percent of his adjusted gross income would have been $2,100. One half of one percent would have been $1,050. One quarter of one percent would have been $525. One eighth of one percent would have been $262. And one sixteenth of one percent would have been $131 — still a bit more than the Bidens gave.

To take Biden’s best year, 2007, one percent of his adjusted gross income would have been $3,190. One half of one percent would have been $1,595. One quarter of one percent would have been $797 — a figure Biden surpassed by nearly $200.

Looking at the ten-year total of Biden’s giving, one percent would have been $24,500. One half of one percent would have been $12,250. One quarter of one percent would have been $6,125. And one eighth of one percent would have been $3,062 — just below what Biden actually contributed.

“The average American household gives about two percent of adjusted gross income,” says Arthur Brooks, the Syracuse University scholar, soon to take over as head of the American Enterprise Institute, who has done extensive research on American giving. “On average, [Biden] is not giving more than one tenth as much as the average American household, and that is evidence that he doesn’t share charitable values with the average American.”

-National Review Online

Moving on….

People say that McCain is another Bush (who by the way, I am not a huge fan of) because he votes with Bush 90% of the time. That still leaves 10%. 10% doesn’t seem like a lot, unless you put it into perspective… Example; If your boss told you that he was cutting your salary by 10%, I’m pretty sure that you would think that that was a huge deal… For those like myself who aren’t too good with percentages, that means if you make $1200 a month, and your boss decreases that by 10%, you would now be making $1080 a month. Seems like a big difference to me.

In 2006 the American people wanted a change (myself included) so we voted in a Democratic Congress. Before we decided on “change” this is how our “world” looked:1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon3) the unemployment rate was 4.5%4) the DOW JONES hit a record high–14,000 +5) American’s were buying new cars, taking cruises, and vacations overseas, living large!

And after our “much needed change”:1) Consumer confidence has plummeted 2) Gasoline is now over $4.00 a gallon (in some states) 3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase)4) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $12 TRILLION DOLLARS & prices are still dropping5) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.6) The DOW has hit the lowest since the attacks of 9/11

Apparently, change isn’t always a good thing.

Also,

This is just a quick review the three branches of government for those who believe that Palin isn’t qualified…

The Juducial Branch- Interprets the laws (judges)

The Legislative Branch- Makes the laws (senate and congress)

The Executive Branch- Enforces the laws (president and governors)

Since she is the only one out of any of the four who has ANY experience in an executive position, obviously she IS the most qualified…. Which should be a irrelevant considering she isn’t the one running for president but since others keep bringing it up…