Ms. Informed

President Obama imposed a $500,000 salary cap yesterday on senior executive pay for all companies who receive government bailouts. Now, I was hearing about this at the gym while watching The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. (Which, by the way, is the coolest name. Almost as cool as Dexter Freebish. Almost.)

Blitzer then had CNN colleague Jack Cafferty weigh in on the topic, who, while not exactly saying that he himself thought it was socialism, did more than “suggest” the notion, in an effort to get viewers to email him their opinions.

I was getting so heated. Maybe it was the elliptical. But maybe it was his words. Everyone at the gym must have thought I was crazy, because at this point I was talking to the TV screen in front of me. “How is that socialism???” How is the government saying what they want done with THEIR money, socialism? The government is not coming in and telling these companies what to do with their own hard-earned money. No, the companies f**ked (hey, it’s a PG blog) that one up a long time ago. They don’t HAVE hard-earned money. Unless you consider my hard-earned money that will be taken from me in the form of taxes and they will receive in a pretty package termed “bailout.”

No where but on Wall Street can an employee drive his company so far into the ground and still get his million dollar salary, his million dollar bonus, his mansions, his yachts, his vacations and his open-bar holiday parties. The rich just keep getting richer, and this time, at the expense of the middle class. If I were to screw my job up as bad as these people did theirs, a salary cap would be the least of my concerns. Termination would be the more realistic option.

Millions of Americans are losing their jobs, their houses, their kids can’t go to college, they can’t put food on the table or make ends meet…all thanks to these greedy, selfish execs who created this problem in the first place.

I realize I am ranting now, but I am pissed, and I am glad and grateful that President Obama is doing something to end this complete lunacy, because that’s exactly what it is.

I found this pretty mind boggling, but in 30 states — THIRTY — you can be fired for being gay or lesbian. December 10, 2008 is unofficially designated Day Without A Gay. “Fight the H8 with love. Take the day off work and volunteer to be of service.” In my opinion, a worthy use of some PTO.

Join the facebook group.

From MoveOn.org. It was really hard not to bold every single word below.

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has “evolved,” yet he’s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain “will make Cheney look like Gandhi.”

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

4. McCain opposes a woman’s right to choose. He said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”

5. The Children’s Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children’s health care bill last year, then defended Bush’s veto of the bill.

6. He’s one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a “second job” and skip their vacations.

7. Many of McCain’s fellow Republican senators say he’s too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He’s erratic. He’s hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his “spiritual guide,” Rod Parsley, believes America’s founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a “false religion.” McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church “the Antichrist” and a “false cult.”

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.

So, now that all the pundits have had their chance to speak, its time (fashionably late as always) for the one everyone has been waiting for to speak his mind…or not. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. After a brief hiatus from the world of blogging due to tricky corporate mergers, a stint in Boston, and an ungodly long traffic date, I have returned. Ms. Informed would definitely agree with that last one.

So, last night Clinton pulled off an impressive ten point victory in the Pennsylvania primary. Well, impressive to her camp. Obama might argue differently as she was ahead about 20 points when the seven week campaign in the Keystone state began. Hey, but a win is a win.

Anyway, what do we make of all of this? Clinton narrowed Obama’s lead in the popular vote tally by about 215,000 votes and netted about 9 delegates or so. So what? Obama will make up this difference in North Carolina on May 6th, and barring a major blunder by Obama, Clinton cannot catch him in delegates. So her only strategy is to convince the superdelegates to silence the voters and override their decision. Well, let’s be honest for a second – that is not going to happen. Even if she can convince the superdelegates that she is the more electable candidate, the votes (most) have spoken, and handing the nomination to Clinton would be a direct slap in the face and would infuriate voters, catapulting McCain into office and destroying the party for years to come. Is that the goal here? You decide.

Another theory: She beats Obama down so much that he becomes unelectable in November. McCain wins and she runs against him in ’12. Clearly, this is an even worse strategy as Obama supporters and hopefully, the party as a whole, will refuse to forgive her for sacrificing the good of the country for her own personal gain.

I would like to think neither of these is entirely true, but then what is her justification for continuing this quest for the nomination? I think it’s just ego. The Clintons feel that the Democratic Party is their party. They are mistaken. It’s not. It’s the people’s party, and nobody is guaranteed the nomination. Clinton, for the good of they party, the people, and if for nothing else more that your own historical image, please end this. Help to unite the party before it is too late.

In your speech last night you said Americans don’t quit, and they deserve a president who won’t quit. True, but Americans do not deserve four more years of a Bush Administration because make no mistake about it that is exactly what a McCain Administration will be. The media may characterize McCain as a maverick and an independent, but if you look at his record, then you will see he is a staunch conservative, who will continue the failed foreign policy of the Bush Administration and prolong the war in Iraq indefinitely. Is that what you want? I am pretty sure it is not. Swallow your pride, Senator Clinton, and let’s concentrate on the real opponent, the Republicans.

While I was reading one of my favorite blogs on the internet today, I was informed of all the elitist talk that is flying around about Obama by many news outlets. (Ok, manly Fox News, but there were some others in there, too.)

Hilary calls Obama an elitist and suddenly that is the new buzzword in this presidential campaign. But, as Jon Stewart points out (and Emily posts about), WHAT is so wrong with being an elitist?

Is it the -ist that is throwing people off?

Racist, facist, sexist.

But this -ist is actually, dear readers, a GOOD THING.

Elite is defined as “the choice or best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons.”

Now I ask you, intelligent, well-informed, faithful reader, why shouldn’t our president (and anyone even considering running for the once highly honored and respected office for that matter) NOT be the best?

I think America has had enough of non-elitist presidents. (Something in the ballpark of 8 years of it, in fact.) Isn’t it time we raised our standards and demanded the best?

Even Jon Stewart agrees:

So many things are over the counter these days. Sleeping pills. Diabetes management supplies. Even the controversial “morning after” pill can now be obtained without a doctor’s prescription. Women can find out if they’re preggers by peeing on a stick, and diabetics can test their blood sugar with a store-bought kit.

But a paternity test? Pharmacies in 30 states are now selling them OTC for the low low price of $29.99. The kit comes complete with swabs for collecting cell samples from the inside of the cheeks of the child and the “alleged” father. They are then mailed to a lab in Utah for analysis. Consumers can receive their results via phone, mail or online and are assured 98 percent to 99 percent accuracy. While the kit costs 30 bucks, the lab fees run about $120.

What will they come up with next???