Guitar Hero III is probably on a good percentage of children's Christmas wish lists this year. If they're lucky it will also be under the tree...I must confess that I, too, have become somewhat enamored with this musical video game and kind of fancy myself a bit of a "rocker mom". (I'm not quite sure if this embarasses or secretly delights my two sons.)
I also have a Guitar Hero on my personal Christmas wish list...but THIS Guitar Hero - although nicely packaged - doesn't come in a box. MY guitar hero is none other than Presidential candidat
e Mike Huckabee and my wish is that he will be elected in 2008!
Huckabee has been enjoying quite a surge in popularity in recent weeks - no doubt because people are getting to see and hear him more. People are starting to pay attention and, in my opinion, it's hard NOT to "like Mike" after taking the time to look and listen. You get the sense that he's "for real" and speaks from his heart. You get the sense that his heart is a good heart - one that doesn't lack compassion. Listening to Mike Huckabee speak is a pleasure if you are one that enjoys hearing ideas communicated with eloquence, sensibility, intelligence
e Mike Huckabee and my wish is that he will be elected in 2008! Huckabee has been enjoying quite a surge in popularity in recent weeks - no doubt because people are getting to see and hear him more. People are starting to pay attention and, in my opinion, it's hard NOT to "like Mike" after taking the time to look and listen. You get the sense that he's "for real" and speaks from his heart. You get the sense that his heart is a good heart - one that doesn't lack compassion. Listening to Mike Huckabee speak is a pleasure if you are one that enjoys hearing ideas communicated with eloquence, sensibility, intelligence
and charm. His ideas are like a breath of fresh air in some cases - especially his support of the Fair Tax. Mike Huckabee would like to completely do away with the IRS (do I hear any cheers from the crowd?)...he would like April 15th to be "just another pretty spring day". I encourage you, if you haven't already, to do a bit of research on the Fair Tax and what it would mean for our economy...in a nutshell, however, it would replace income, dividend, capital gains and death taxes with a simple 23% consumption tax...just THINK about the revenue this country would gain from the "undergrounders" alone!
"I Like Mike" for other reasons too (including, I must say, his incredibly cute dimples). He seems to understand the urgency and necessity of the United States becoming energy independent and has promised to be aggressive in this area. He has also drafted a nine-point Secure America Plan which makes a lot of sense to me (check it out on his website http://www.mikehuckabee.com/ ).
Mike Huckabee is not only number one in my mind as he is currently leading the Republican candidates in the Iowa Caucus...39% compared to Romney at 23% and Giuliani in the single digits.
This next Presidential election is CRITICAL, especially considering who the Democratic front-runners are. Those who know me well know that I've never been particularly "political" - but there is something about THIS race...something about THIS candidate that has motivated me to do things I never thought I would - including putting bumperstickers on my Mercedes! Seriously though - do you want to know the REAL reason I care so much about who our next President will be? Actually I have TWO REASONS...TWO SONS. What loving and good mother wouldn't want to have a part in shaping her children's future world. I pray that my boys will be able to live a full and wonderful life in this blessed country - one nation under God with liberty and justice for all - free from the fears of terrorism and nuclear war, poverty and enviromental disasters. I pray that our country will get back on track. At times it seems we are on a one-way path to utter destruction. In 2008 we need to elect a new kind of leader - a man of character, a man of strength, a man of God - we need Mike Huckabee!
Please visit http://www.mikehuckabee.com/ and get to know this man...I hope you'll join me in supporting his campaign and in a quest to shape our future!
2 comments:
Another thing about Mike Huckabee is that he's not afraid to say where he stands. He won't "take back" anything said in the past, either. He makes no apologies for his decisions, good or bad, tries to explain his reasoning at the time, then moves on. I like Mike, because he focuses on what is important now. He's not in the smear business, either. All in all, he's the best candidate running for president.
Huck's the "Rock It Man!" Increasingly, Mike Huckabee is what leadership looks like. He's an adroit public speaker, and he communicates his message in life-like, cogent terms, with compelling examples like the story he told (at the Ames Straw Poll) of what his then-11-yo daughter entered into the "Comments" section of a Visitors Book after visiting the Yad Vashem holocaust museum: “Why didn't somebody do something?” Very effective.
Huckabee is all about calling his listeners to "do something," to awaken them to their own empowerment, and summon them to action in order that "Main Street," and not "Wall Street," will prevail in guarding the values and beliefs upon which the Republic was founded.
Huckabee puts his listeners at ease, and reassures them, articulating clear concepts in a natural, easy style (no doubt something well-cultivated as a pastor). He’s not as “mechanically-scripted” as Romney, nor angry or demanding, like a Ron Paul, and his large brown eyes, peering through a humble demeanor, draw a striking contrast to a unconvincing, tired-looking Thompson. One can easily imagine sitting comfortably with Mike over a cup of coffee at the Main Street Cafe.
Most importantly, perhaps, Huckabee is ONE with the FairTax grassroots movement. While many - like Romney, and others, who are invested in the current income tax system - seek to demagog the well-researched FairTax plan, its acceptance in the professional / academic community continues to grow. Renown economist Laurence Kotlikoff believes that failure to enact the FairTax - choosing instead to try to "flatten" what he deems to be a non-flattenable income tax system - will eventuate into an irrevocable economic meltdown because of the hidden aspects of the current system that make political accountability impossible.
Romney's recent WEAK response to FairTax questioning on “This Week with Geo. Stephanopoulos” drew a sharper contrast between Huckabee and all other presidential front-runners who will not embrace it. Huckabee understands that what's wrong with the income tax can't be fixed with "a tap of the hammer, nor a twist of the screwdriver." That his opponents cling to the destructive Tax Code, the IRS, preserving political power of granting tax favors at continued cost to - and misery of - American families, invigorates his campaign's raison d'etre.
Of the FairTax, Huckabee asserts that it's...
• SIMPLE, easy to understand
• EFFICIENT, inexpensive to comply with and doesn't cause less-than-optimal business decisions for tax minimization purposes
• FAIR, FLAT, and FAMILY FRIENDLY, loophole-free, and everyone pays their share
• LOW TAX RATE is achieved by broad base with no exclusions
• PREDICTABLE, doesn't change, so financial planning is possible
• UNINTRUSIVE, doesn't intrude into our personal affairs or limit our liberty
• VISIBLE, not hidden from the public in tax-inflated prices or otherwise
• PRODUCTIVE, rewards - rather than penalizes - work and productivity
A detailed benefits analysis of the plan (from The FairTax Book) explains Huckabee's ardent advocacy:
For individuals:
• No more tax on income - make as much as you wish
• You receive your full paycheck - no more deductions
• You pay the tax when you buy "at retail" - not "used"
• No more double taxation (e.g. like on current Capital Gains)
• Reduction of "pre-FairTaxed" retail prices (due to reduced costs; increased competition)
• 29.9% mark-up yields 23% FairTax portion of prices
• Over the first year, "market-adjusted" FairTax prices comparable to current
• Every household receives a monthly check, or "prebate"
• "Prebate" is "advance tax payback" for monthly consumption to poverty level
• FairTax's "prebate" ensures progressivity, poverty protection
• Finally, citizens are knowledgeable of what their tax IS
• Elimination of "parasitic" Income Tax industry
• NO MORE IRS. NO MORE FILING OF TAX RETURNS by individuals
• Those possessing illicit forms of income will ALSO pay the FairTax
• Households have more disposable income to purchase goods
• Savings is bolstered with reduction of interest rates
For businesses:
• Corporate income and payroll taxes revoked under FairTax
• Business compensated for collecting tax at "cash register"
• No more tax-related lawyers, lobbyists on company payrolls
• No more embedded (hidden) income/payroll taxes in prices
• Reduced costs. Competition - not tax policy - drives prices
• Off-shore "tax haven" headquarters can now return to U.S
• No more "favors" from politicians at expense of taxpayers
• Resources go to R&D and study of competition - not taxes
• Global "free (and equitable) trade" becomes possible for currently-disadvanted U.S. exports
• U.S. exports increase their share of foreign markets
For the country:
• 7% - 13% economic growth projected in the first year of the FairTax
• Jobs return to the U.S.
• Foreign corporations "set up shop" in the U.S.
• Tax system trends are corrected to "enlarge the pie"
• Larger economic "pie," means thinner tax rate "slices"
• Initial 23% portion of price is pressured downward as "pie" increases
• No more "closed door" tax deals by politicians and business
• FairTax sets new global standard. Other countries will follow
Passionately supporting FairTax, Huckabee understands that, if elected President, Congress will have to present the bill for his signature. His call to action goes beyond his candidacy: Main Street will have to demand that their legislators deliver the bill.
(Permission is granted to reproduce, in whole or part. - Ian)
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