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Obama Launches Change.gov
mallumax writes "Obama has launched Change.gov. According to the site 'Change.gov provides resources to better understand the transition process and the decisions being made as part of it. It also offers an opportunity to be heard about the challenges our country faces and your ideas for tackling them. The Obama Administration will reflect an essential lesson from the success of the Obama campaign: that people united around a common purpose can achieve great things.' The site is extensive and contains Obama's agenda for economy and education among many others. They first define the problem and then lay out the plan. Everything is in simple English without a trace of Washington-speak. The site also has details about the transition. According to many sources, Obama's transition efforts started months ago. The copyright for the content is held by 'Obama-Biden Transition Project, a 501c(4) organization'."
They did talk about it, actually. There was also a YouTube video, one of the "Blueprint for Change" series.
Whether or not it's a good thing... I don't know. It seems perhaps a bit much to force students to help out... but then, it could do some serious good as well.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
Why is it that Obama's charity can get a .gov domain, but the annualcreditreport.com isn't given creditreport.ftc.gov? I wonder how many folks have been bilked by going to a non-official credit report website due to naming and search engines?
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
This is not an uncommon use of a .gov domain. Just look at the Dem and GOP House Caucus sites. The GOP caucus has a nice set of articles on "THE COST OF THE DEMOCRAT CONGRESS" and the Dem site, while not containing any hit pieces, has a lot of advocacy.
Not saying it's appropriate, just there's a precedent for it and it's not beyond any pale of anything.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
Except you are wrong with you attempted links, pretty much all wrong. Why don't you try really looking at history for history not for a little while, it makes a lot more sense than when you try to make everything into talking points.
As to the tax, you also need to think about what the real impact is. The whole 4% on profit over 250K does not translate into anywhere near to 4% increase in total tax.
The government is paying a good chunk of your tuition in exchange for 100 hours of community service. Sounds like a fair exchange for me.
Do you know what this program is? The government lets you to earn college credit while you are in high school. Many of my classmates were able to graduate with a bachelor degree a year before us chumps who didn't take uncle sam up on the offer.
How do you know this? Maybe it would have got you over it sooner. In fact, I wager most of the people in head start did it to get away from their high school foes and sit around people who respected smarts.
If you dont want to do it, pay full freight on your college tuition instead! Nobody is pointing a gun at your head saying "cash this government check!!"
http://www.change.gov/americaserves
Classic double-think
"When you choose to serve -- whether it's your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood....
Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year.
Obama's chief of staff choice favors compulsory universal service
Obama and Hillary Call for a Draft Live on MTV
Text of H.R. 393: Universal National Service Act of 2007
Obama Calls For National Civilian Stasi
Constitution, what Constitution?
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
If you have something that you dont want anyone to know, maybe you shouldnt be doing it in the first place -Eric Schmidt
Quoting http://www.dotgov.gov/help_qualify.aspx
Registrations that qualify for a .gov domain
* U.S. Governmental departments, programs, and agencies on the federal level
* Federally recognized Indian Tribes (-NSN.gov domain)
* State governmental entities/programs
* Cities and townships represented by an elected body of officials
* Counties and parishes represented by an elected body of officials
* U.S. territories
Noteably not present:
* Incumbent presidents
* Chapter 501 C organizations (as is referenced in the copyright)
The youtube video was interesting, and if what he states in there is still accurate then it's not quite "mandatory", but it still feels rather intrusive to me to make government funding for schools contingent on developing service programs (if I understood that correctly).
The $4000 tax credit for college students that do 100 hours of service didn't seem all that unreasonable to me.
"Is that dad? Either that or Batman's really let himself go."
Mandatory community service? Great, let's send a bunch of unmotivated kids to do stupid work. Hell, that kind of shit would have been a nightmare for me at that age when I had massive social anxiety and was extremely uncomfortable in such situations.
Maybe it would have made you a more well-rounded person. /shrug
With the first link, the chain is forged.
The Obama tax plan reaffirms the Bush tax cuts on all but the highest brackets past 2010; the salient change is that the $250k bracket simply returns to where it was when Bush took office: see here. In the end, the total tax rate of the country is still below where it was during the Reagan administration. It's astonishing to think we went through the first decade of expansion this century without collecting any money to pay down our debt; through the 50s, the highest brakcet had a marginal tax rate of over 90%, in order to pay down our war debt, and that was a tax code submitted by a Republican congress and signed by Eisenhower. At the time thus amounted to a huge wealth redistribution since the paper on the war debt was in war bonds, which were universally subscribed, not to mention the costs of the GI Bill and Marshall plan, which educated millions and could also be considered a form of debt repayment or infrastructure invetment.
It didn't help that he wasn't spending much; if we trim up taxation while spending gobs on infrastructure like in 1933. Of course back then, they didn't have $10 trillion in debt.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
I already see a lot of posts about how this is a waste of time and how the government will never read the submissions and how this is a poor use of the .gov domain.
Even if all those things ARE true, isn't a webpage that encourages two-way communication between citizens and the highest level of government *LONG* overdue? Regardless of how you feel about Obama or how much you believe this website will help or how much you believe in the "change" message, I would think that slashdot readers - of all people - would agree that it's ABOUT TIME the Executive Branch implemented an idea like this.
I mean, think about it for a moment - I've been able to communicate with fantasy baseball experts, tech support workers, musicians, and videogame reviewers online for more than a decade. Yes this is the first time a president has thought to do something like this.
Regardless of how well it works, this IS a step in the right direction.
Having a .gov domain means it's a tax payer funded government web-site.
Um, no it doesn't. http://www.dotgov.gov/
The US may have left England when the colonists were taxed without representation, but I don't think you can compare the differences between the US and the UK then to the differences between the US and the EU now. I moved to Finland a few years ago and found excellent public services, fantastic support of the arts, adequate health care, and much more disposable income (even after the higher taxes here) than I ever saw in the US. Meanwhile, my family back in the US finds themselves struggling under rising costs, facing the prospect of working until they die, and never have any free time to travel because leisure time seems anathema there. My telling them about how good life is in the EU spurred them all the more to vote for Obama. While he's a very lackluster centrist politician from our view here, at least there's the slight chance he might bring things in the US to the standard of living of the countries rated most highly in that regard.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/NuclearPower
Barack is not so much against the idea as he is the implementation. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to realize that much of the implementation problems are caused by the regulations around nuclear power. Waste disposal in particular is problematic because the government requires waste disposal rather than reuse and reprocessing. (I'm not going to go into the full details of the issue, but let's just say that it was a pointless attempt to prevent terrorists from getting Nuclear bombs. More security theater.)
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Are you kidding? The law requires kids to take math class. If that's not "involuntary servitude," neither is Obama's proposal.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Read the actual page the GP was quoting (here). That was a real quote, not made-up text: "Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year."
Here's a link directly from the horse's mouth:
http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2008/05/barack-obama-on-nuclear-energy.html
I'm hoping it's possible to swing his opinion toward strong support for nuclear energy. Because most of the issues he raises have already been solved, but are blocked by outdated and ineffective government regulation.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I think you spelled the word "Socialism" wrong in your post. Please correct at your earliest convenience.
It's hard to compare a coutry with the population of a medium size city with a coutry that both dwarfs it in population and physicaly displacement.
With higher populations come a lot more problems. Not to mention when's the last time you saw a major disaster occur around the world and the leaders of that country cry out for the Finnish to send in their military for aid?
Simply put the US carries a lot more weight on it's shoulders both domestically and internationally than most of the EU combined. Hey and I'm from Canada where, like most of Europe, we get to skimp on a lot of things (especially military spending) because we know the American's will keep us covered.
Of course that's just my opinion...... you could be wrong!
Hmm, I wonder how they'll enforce the mandatory part of the mandatory community service. I guess it will be similar to how they enforce anti-truancy laws, I'd have to look into that. Will it be Juvenile Hall? Fines for the parents? I wonder.
Ah well, however it works it'll be a great chance for cops to use their tazers, since it will be against the general public and not hardened criminal types. Those are always the best people to tazer. They don't really have an effective means to fight back.
If it's truly mandatory then there's a gun behind it at some point, if it isn't really mandatory they need to say what they mean.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
The "fact" that a high percentage of soldiers never fired their weapons or delayed firing them when first in combat has been shown to have been made up.
I know it is gospel for a lot of people - including the service academies, but new research has shown that the author of those studies (can't recall the name right now) sexed up most of the statistics he used and outright fabricated a great many of the interviews he cited.
Looks like he's at least getting some decent web developers behind him.
Well, let's see:
Interesting commented-out content:
This isn't good HTML. It's HTML copied from several other sites and cobbled together by an amateur. Lame.
Yes, participation in the plan requires 50 hours. Where does it say that participation in the plan is mandatory?
Obvious exits are NORTH, SOUTH, and DENNIS.
Tax credit, remember? There are two kinds of tax credits available in the US system. Refundable, and non-refundable. Most tax credits are the latter type, which means they can be used to reduce your income tax burden to zero, but no further. Only refundable tax credits are worth the full value if your tax burden is less than face value of the credit.
Assuming the credit is non-refundable (as almost all of them are. The EIC (which is meant to make up for the regressive SS and Medicare taxes) is the only one I can think of off the top of my head that is refundable right now), the benefit will be less than that.
In other words, since few college students actually owe $4000 per year of income taxes, very few will end up getting the equivalent of $40 per hour.
Note that as of 2008, you have to clear ~$29,000 per year after the usual deductions before you owe $4000. Realistically, we're talking about $40,000 per year to get the nominal benefit.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
African Americans deserved an erudite and experienced leader and they got one in Barak Obama. He got a proportionally higher amount of the AA vote than did John Kerry or Bill Clinton. African Americans have been voting democratic for years well over 70% in most areas, this is nothing new. What saddens me is that the high black voter turn out brought to light some of African American's prejudices against homosexuals where the high black turnout passed 3 anti-civil rights measures regarding gay marriage. It is time now to start examining the anti-Semitic, anti-Asian, anti-Hispanic and anti-homosexual prejudices of African Americans. Rev. Jesse Jackson has always been a bigot about most of these issues, many black church leaders the same and what the black community needs now is someone who can help them with introspection because they are going to have a lot more attention paid to them with Obama as president.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
So if you are not a middle or high school student, the mandatory requirement does not apply to you. As for college students, this is tied to the $4,000 tax credit. If you don't want that money every year, you can choose not to do community service.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
It's a refundable credit:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/education/
Near the bottom:
"This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Recipients of the credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of community service."
They never joined NATO because they have their own defense covered
Look up "Finlandization".
proved their mettle by driving the Russians back twice
They didn't drive them back even once, unless you count the "kick them while the Germans are holding them down" Continuation War. Even then, they lost Karelia after the war.
The Finns didn't have to have a large army or join NATO because their foreign policy wasn't built on irritating their neighbors, the exact opposite of what America advises to its allies.
Why couldn't they think like that before the election? It is sad, truly sad.
Some years back, when I started to lose it on top, I shaved off my pony tail, and stayed a chrome-dome for a year or so.
A couple of months in, I was talking with pals over beers, and told them that the weirdest thing about it was that strangers treated me differently. Nervous looks in the grocery store line. Uncomfortable pauses when chatting with people on the bus. Crossing the street so they didn't have to pass me on the sidewalk. One of those friends, whose parents are African immigrants, and who is one of the most affable people I know, said, "Yeah, now you know how it is to be black."
I didn't, of course, not really. How could I? But I could see that if you spent your whole life with people treating you as different, lesser, or scary on a daily basis, it would tend to color your outlook. And what I'm sure of is that most white people have absolutely zero understanding of what it's like to not have the instant boost in regard that they get just from being white.
>i'm not a big fan of the bipartisan system--personally, i'm a Nader supporter--and i'm not too excited about having a former drug Czar as a VP. but how is this not news for nerds?
Biden was never a drug Czar. He did sponsor the horrible piece of crap legislation known as The RAVE Act, but he's never been the head of the ONDCP.
-- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
Obama is not the first. :)
The Official Blog of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/
Ah, so we're all Libertarians
Obama did NOT run unopposed. Did you just not look at the words I typed? Have you bothered to do a cursory google search on the issue? He ran against Alan Keyes. What part of that do you not understand?
Look, it says so right here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Illinois,_2004
There's two candidates. Barack Obama and Alan Keyes. So how did he run unopposed?
As to your second assertion that video link you posted is an hour long. Can you give the time in the video where they start talking about public service?
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Obama actually did give a speech that was similar to Cosby's speech.
Is a Man Not Entitled to the Sweat of His Own Brow? âoeNo, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor.â âoeNo, says the man in the Vatican, it belongs to God.â âoeNo, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to everyone.â
Sorry, messed up, Is a Man Not Entitled to the Sweat of His Own Brow?
"No, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor."
"No, says the man in the Vatican, it belongs to God."
"No, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to everyone."