McCain's no economist, he's confused about Obama's tax plan - and apparently his own, too!

Senator Obama’s plan will not raise taxes - it WILL provide a bigger break for middle class Americans than Senator McCain’s plan. As numerous outside observers agree: McCAIN’S claims that Obama will raise taxes are “WRONG,” “FALSE,” “MISLEADING”

Do you trust factcheck.org? That' s one of many sources cited in the article McCain’s claims that Obama will raise taxes are wrong.

It’s misleading to tag Obama for something that was built in to the Bush tax cuts. Remember that they are set to auto-expire - that's the law Bush signed.

Senator McCain has announced that he would balance the budget by 2013.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the unified budget deficit will be $443 billion in 2013 assuming that expiring tax cuts are extended. To balance the budget in that year John McCain would have to pay for all of his campaign proposals plus cut another $443 billion of spending. To give a sense of why this pledge is not credible, cutting spending by $443 billion would require:

• Cutting Medicare by 81 percent OR

• Cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid by 33 percent OR

• Cutting non-defense discretionary spending – which pays for education, veterans, air traffic control and justice – by 79 percent

And these spending cuts would be on top of the hundreds of billions of dollars of spending cuts Senator McCain needs to pay for his existing proposals including: increasing defense spending, cutting corporate taxes, eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), and a small tax cut for middle class families with children (a total of $125 for middle class families with 2 children and $0 for 101 million households who do not qualify). The New York Times has estimated that Senator McCain’s budget plan “will add $200 billion to $300 billion or, depending on his voluntary tax system, even more” annually to the deficit.

Without these offsets and spending cuts, the McCain budget would leave a deficit of at least $650 billion to $750 billion in 2013 alone. No wonder so many Republicans are now reporting that they’ll vote for Barack Obama in November.

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Chevron Pipelines Attacked In Nigeria and Columbia; FARC May Be Responsible In Columbia

In the ongoing matter of Chevron and Nigeria comes a report from UPI declaring that "Nigeria attack cripples Chevron". Moreover, the same report points a finger at militant groups like the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). And while there's no recorded link between MEND and Chevron accuser Larry Bowoto, it seems the two have similar aims: to cripple Chevron's presence in the region, as well as that of Royal Dutch Shell.

Consider this UPI report:

Chevron Corp. has declared a force majeure on its oil exports following a particularly destructive attack on one of its installations in the Niger Delta.
Officials at the U.S. oil company said that though production was unaffected at offshore installations, Chevron could not meet its production quotas for customers because of shortfalls caused by the pipeline attack last week at the Escravos oil field in the delta.

Though Chevron would not say just how much production was lost due to the attack, Nigerian energy officials estimated the losses at over 100,000 barrels per day, a blow that prompted the company to declare force majeure, relieving them of their contractual obligations until the assaulted pipeline can be repaired and secured.

Chevron, meanwhile, is not the only company reeling from the recent increase in violence against foreign oil interests by armed militant groups in the delta. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-A), the leading foreign petroleum company operating in Nigeria, suffered yet another in a long list of attacks at its Bonga facility last week, prompting the Anglo-Dutch company to halt production for several days.

It wasn't the first time Shell was forced to scale back production due to militant violence. In January, Shell shut down operations at its Forcados terminal following pipeline attacks that threw its 100,000 barrel-per-day production offline. The terminal already had been shut once before because of violence and reopened in October 2007 after more than a year of halted production. Since its reopening, the facility, which can produce some 450,000 barrels per day, had been operating at a fraction of its capacity.

FARC May Be Behind Anti-Chevron Ecuador Efforts

It seem that MEND has something in common with FARC, the same organization that kidnapped now freed politician Ingrid Betancourt: both have apparently bombed Chevron pipelines. in FARK's case, such an activity has been ongoing since 2001, but not limited to Chevron at that time; Petroecuador pipelines -- Petroecuador has long been a partner to Chevron in the region -- were the targets of that Columbian rebel group and that continues today.

Since Ecuador's charging that Columbia's using U.S. made weapons, it seems that Chevron's made as the scapegoat, when it provides much needed employment to the region as is true in Nigeria.

Barack Obama's Poised For Big Electoral College Win - Zogby

John Zogby, who's polls are generally considered to be the most accurate and fair, reports that Senator Barack Obama has an electoral college lead over John McCain that may be too much for the GOP representative, 273 to 158.

Will Leitch Departs Deadspin to Join New York Magazine

Will Leitch Leaving Deadspin to Join New York Magazine

One of our first major linkers and now Facebook Friend Deadspin founder and editor Will Leich is leaving that online sports publication to join the New York Magazine as contributing editor.

Good Luck Will, but you're not really leaving at all. Still, it seems that perhaps, like me, this whole political revolution thing has drawn you away from sports. Funny how that works

Will Leitch Leaving Deadspin to Join New York Magazine

Will Leitch Leaving Deadspin to Join New York Magazine

One of our first major linkers and now Facebook Friend Deadspin founder and editor Will Leich is leaving that online sports publication to join the New York Magazine as contributing editor.

Good Luck Will, but you're not really leaving at all. Still, it seems that perhaps, like me, this whole political revolution thing has drawn you away from sports. Funny how that works.

Obama Draws Jason Burnett, Former Bush EPA Official

Obama Draws Jason Burnett, Former Bush EPA Official

Barack Obama's drawing Republicans into the fold, particularly Bush aides who apparently are disillusioned with the current President's style and strategy. One such person is Jason Burnett, the now former EPA official who criticized the Bush administration for rejecting California's request for a federal waiver that would have allowed the state to enforce greenhouse gas restrictions.

According to the LA Times, Burnett's burning issue is Global Warming:

Now Burnett is talking with his checkbook, too. After submitting his resignation last month, he donated $3,600 to Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign. That came on top of a $1,000 contribution he made to Obama before rejoining the EPA last year.

A Stanford-trained economist and a Democrat, Burnett, 31, said in an interview that he was moving back to Northern California to campaign for Obama and Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel).

He said he was counting on them to support stepped-up efforts to curb greenhouse gases.

Authenticity of message is Obama's attraction point, and it's a powerful magnet, bringing in ex-Clinton and Bush aides on a regular basis. In Burnett's case, he was at the center of the Bush Administrations refusal to turn over congressional documents related to the denial of a request for California to be able to regulate its own Greenhouse Gas emissions.

Political, Sports, and Celebrity Blog Writers Wanted - Inquire Within

If you want to express your political or sports or hollywood view unfettered and are looking for an outlet to get your blog and video work seen or just your view, send an email to zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com . You will become part of our "SBS Personalities" if you wish, which gets you your very own page and more exposure.

Just send an email. We're building the next great political and pop culture blog!!

Zennie62 Introduces DNC Convention Coverage

A few weeks ago, Zennie's Zeitgeist was credentialed to cover the DNC Convention.

In short, we're going to be brings you both live and video blog coverage from the floor of the 2008 Democratic Convention. It also means a milestone in the assent of our blogs as a business unit of Sports Business Simulations and is major proof that I made the right bet in 2003 when I determined to establish a writer's group called SBS Personalities and in 2005 when I first started this blog network.

All I can say is thanks to Drew at the DNC, and thanks to the DNC. We -- Ashley, Tom, Dave, and myself -- are excited!

Now, today I leave for the DNC Convention Media Walkthrough on Tuesday. I'll bring my camera and give coverage at both our YouTube Channel Zennie62 and here at http://zennie2005.blogspot.com

YouTube's "joshuahaskellcarr" Sends Zennie A Death Wish

I received an email on YouTube from"joshuahaskellcarr" which was a Death Wish, pure and simple, and explains how much this person wanted me "gone." So I informed YouTube, blocked the user, and now I'm informing you. I'm also "Defining The Relationship" between guests and me in my channel, or "my house." Please do not use nasty words or harass me or any other commenter. And behavior like the one I described in this video will be met with a ban and a report to YouTube and the FBI.

I'm serious about this. We can disagree and still be civil toward one another. Please bring your debate hat and your "A" game, as Ron Paul supporters have done. They're the masters of civil debate; love em.

Senator Obama and Speaker Pelosi Relationship Speculation Shows Media Think It Knows Every Move of Obama

Senator Obama and Speaker Pelosi Relationship Speculation Shows Media Think It Knows Every Move of Obama

I just read this SF Gate article entitled "How Pelosi might work with a President Obama". The author, Zachary Coile, of the Chronicle Washington Bureau, writes:

After Obama arrived in the Senate in 2005, the pair saw each other occasionally at official events or private dinners. Since he became the presumptive nominee, they have spoken by phone several times, aides said. But they have yet to have a formal meeting to discuss their agendas or plot strategy for the fall campaign.

But how the hell does he know that "they have yet to have a formal meeting to discuss their agendas"? Having worked in politics, I can tell you that an elected official does not always tell everyone where they're going or who they're meeting. Moreover, some of the best deals are done at "private dinners", but you would not know that reading Coile's article.

What bothers me more is that people will read the article and think Coile's totally right, then quote it to someone else, who will talk to another person.

And so the spread of what is a total misunderstanding of politics continues.

President Bush Heckled At July 4th Speech; GOP Fears Senate Losses

It is not looking good for the Republican Party and that's good news for the Democrats. Consider that on July 4th, President Bush was heckled repeatedly as the video shows here:



While GOP Senator John Ensign (R) Nebraska talks about the possible loss of Senate seats in the fall. The one question is how bad will the losses be?

Oakland Raiders Heaquarters In Alameda, California

Raiders
Originally uploaded by jobyyboj

This is a photo of the Oakland Raiders headquarters in Alameda, California. It's at 1200 Harbor Bay Parkway. The facility was acquired with the help of a $10 million "loan" from the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda as part of what's now called "The Raiders Deal."