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This weekend it came to light that in January Barack Obama, during an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, said that in order to combat global warming he favored a cap and trade system that would be so punitive to industries releasing carbon dioxide that it would "bankrupt" anyone attemping to build a new coal-powered plant. Can't he leave the pushing of a San Francisco-style national agenda to Nancy Pelosi? Obama needs to stay so far away from anything San Franciscan that he refuses even to eat Rice-a-Roni. It was at a San Francisco fundraiser that he gave his infamous, almost campaign-sinking sociological insights that the losers of small-town Pennsylvania "cling to guns or religion." Surely when in San Francisco it sounds perfectly reasonable to say that in an Obama administration there will be no future for nasty, dirty coal. But such a promise probably doesn't sound so good to "cling" voters in the coal-mining swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Nor does it sound good to anyone interested in this country's need to reduce our reliance on imported oil. It doesn't help that running mate Joe Biden recently remarked that he wants, "No coal plants here in America." At least you've got to give Joe credit for blurting this out in Ohio.
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I'm sure you all have seen this clip by now, of Barbara West, anchor at WFTV, Orlando, Fla., interviewing Joe Biden late last week. The whole interview is contentious but at 2:36 min she presents Biden with Karl Marx:
WEST: You may recognize this famous quote: "From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs." That's from Karl Marx. How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?
BIDEN: Are you joking? Is this a joke?
West goes on to ask Biden if Obama wants to turn America into a Socialist country "like Sweden."
Is it just me? Beyond the fact that we could learn a few things from Sweden (including but not limited to their unbelievably enviable relationship to family and child policies), have we lost all sense of history? This trope, pushed by Palin (if she mentions socialism one more time ...) among others, seems to be treading dangerously close to calling for a House Un-American Activities Committee. I've even had interactions with Republicans lately along the same lines. How will this country heal after the elections from these efforts to inject a 1950s-style distrust among Americans?
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