For all the talk about tax rebates and the great Bush tax cuts, the middle class is facing increased pressure from a constant barrage of increased fuel and food prices. Last Saturday the Wall Street Journal had a nice piece on how the effective income of middle Americans has declined over the years.

Every administration and congress in the last 40-50 years should be ashamed of themselves, regardless of party affiliation and politics of the day. The voters of this country entrusted their future and the future of their children to people who were supposed to protect and serve them. Instead, elected officials, in general, have served their own greed and shafted those that elected them.

Have you noticed that the media keeps telling us how ‘the next primary’ will determine everything. Yet, if you look at the delegate numbers remaining in the all primaries over the next +/- 6 weeks, there is plenty of play left and this thing will drag on until at least June. 

Shame on the media for continuing to put the spotlight on the delegate race, and shame on the media for sensationalizing this primary process. Shame on Democrats for making this into a circus. I don’t think the party is damaged (yet) by this process, but I can see where a prolonged and contentious delegate fight could easily divide the party. Democrats must realize that this race is theirs to lose.

So I’m still divided on exactly who should get my vote in the upcoming Texas primary.

On the one hand, Hillary has the experience of leadership and the institutional support to get things done. (Never mind the fact that I still don’t think she can do half of what she promises because of the typical Washington game.) But on the other hand I think Obama is very inspiring and can lift the emotions of many Americans. But, again, I don’t think he can get a lot done in the current political climate — mainly because he lacks the experience.

And then, there is the GOP field. John McCain is not a REAL Republican. Or at least he is not a REAL Republican in the sense that Bush 1 & 2 were Republicans because they pandered to the neo-conservative religious right of the party. With McCain as the nominee-apparent, it becomes increasingly hard for me to support Clinton. A Clinton/McCain race means that the moderates of the GOP and conservative independents are left with one choice: McCain. A Obama/McCain race means that the moderates and independents are split between the two candidates and absent the religious elements of the GOP, McCain has little support in November.

My ultimate dream would be a Clinton-Obama ticket!

Regardless of how you feel about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, their presence on the national stage fighting for every delegate vote is a win-win for America. The fact that they are so close in the polls leading up to Super Tuesday reflects the need in this country for an open and “honest” dialog.

Personally, I would like to see these two remain neck and neck throughout the Spring and into the DNC convention in August. I think America benefits when two candidates are this close not because their stump speeches are electrifying (which some are) nor because their views are more meaningful, but because ISSUES are brought to the forefront and they get discussed at the water coolers, the breakrooms, and at the dinner table by common everyday voters.

I haven’t quite made up my mind on the candidate of my choice yet. Clinton scares me a little simply from all the negative ratings in general election polls. I think she is more experienced and better prepared to lead the nation in some respects, but at the same time I think her readiness is a derivative of her membership in the establishment that has long ignored American’s and cowered to lobbyists.  Obama on the other hand absolutely inspires me. I literally feel chills when he delivers some speeches (Iowa victory speech especially), but I’m not sure he has the political maturity to safely lead this nation in troubled times. Does Obama have the experience to lead this nation out of a possible recession? If we look back at his experience, there just is not a lot of economic development or evidence that he fully comprehends the complexities of national economic policies.

The good news for Democrats is that the base is energized while the Republican base is decimated. Romney cannot win the national election — period. And McCain is too liberal to satisfy the perverse need of Neo-Cons to hate. Therefore, now more than ever we need Obama and Clinton to stay the course, fight the fight, have the debates, and really bring attention where it has been sorely missed.

Strangely, a problem that appeared fairly isolated to TWC customers with s-l-o-w connections to iTunes has been fixed. I’m not sure what just happened, but people had been reporting the problem since Thursday and TWC denied any knowledge of any issue.

I still dislike TWC more than any other company right now.

“I noticed yesterday the iTunes store had become very slow, so I posted on Apple’s support forums. Turns out other people are having this problem too, and they are all Time Warner Cable Customers in Texas. ”

I have heard it said that any action by an ISP to limit the usage of their services is completely within their rights under their own terms and conditions for using the service, but let’s be fair here:
1. Let’s assume you use AT&T for your landline phone provider and AT&T got into a pissing match with Wells Fargo Bank. Would it be fair for AT&T to block your calls to your bank? NO!
2. I realize that Time Warner Cable/ Roadrunner has a commodity-type product (there is a finite level of bandwidth), but quite frankly why don’t you level with people (even your own customer service reps) and TELL them what you are doing.
3. The FCC and Congress should have addressed the issue of multi-media organizations entering the utility industry in this country. How do you think Congress would react if Time Warner (parent of Time Warner Cable /Roadrunner and CNN) suddenly restricted access to FOX News websites because they are competitors?
4. From first-hand experience I can tell everyone that Time Warner Cable/Roadrunner has been one of the worst customer service experiences of my life. I think the company is poorly managed and frankly enjoys the position of not responding to customer complaints. And why should they? If 25% of Americans (and I suspect the number is MUCH greater) are in the same position I am — there simply is no alternative, TWC has a lock on forcing their customers to suffer and pay a premium for the pain.

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