Howard Monroe And The Morning Show

Political cliche's and false beliefs can mis-direct the best of us.

Please read a few posts down, where I talk about "Joe The Plumber" and read the comment posted by someone claiming to be a cardiologist named "John". He runs through a litany of political cliches--including the fabrication that Obama will raise tax rates to 50%--then tries to make it sound real by giving is a lot of numbers.

But if you read my follow-up comment, you will see that "Dr. John"--just like "Joe The Plumber"-- ACTUALLY WOULD PAY LESS TAXES under Obama's plan.

FACTS MATTER.

See what YOUR tax would be like under Obama's plan.

This serious stuff.

SERIOUS stuff.

For the second day in a row, a caller to The Morning Show reports she voted for a Democratic candidate (in early voting) but when she checked her printout, the vote had registered as Republican, She caught it and fixed it. You can listen to her call here.

And just yesterday we had a caller whose wife had a similar experience.

Secretary of State Betty Ireland says she's sorry. That there's no conspiracy. The machines are sensitive and can't be bumped and the machines sometimes get confused by the way people touch the screen.

If we are trusting the bedrock of Ameican Democracy--our vote--to machines that get confused and have to be treated like a hothouse flower--WE NEED TO DUMOP THE MACHINES.

If 2 people to my little radio show have discoverd these mistakes. How more didn't discover the problem? and a WRONG VOTE was registered. How many other haven't called a radio show? How many other areas of teh state and nation are seeing these problems?

This is serious stuff.

SERIOUS stuff.

(sigh)

I can't even build up a head of good ol' anger any more.

John McCain's coninued intentional lies about the Obama tax plan will just keep on coming--despite they are factualy and provably wrong.

At each of the last 2 debates McCain raged that "My Friends, Obama wants to raise your taxes". Then Obama clearly and calmly outlines his plan--which means a small tax hike ONLY for those earning above $250,000 in adjusted personal income.

And McCain completely ignores the facts just presented right to his face, shrugs and repeats 'My Friends, Obama wants to raise your taxes".

Of course McCain probably WAS talking to his friends--who are the ultra-rich. Just remember he's NOT TALKING TO MOST OF US.

And.....he's NOT talking to "Joe The Plumber"....the man McCain made the centerpiece of debate #3 and who we now know will likely be HELPED by Obama's tax plan, not hurt.

Only 2% of American small business owners will reach the threshold for an Obama income tax increase. It is highly unlikely Joe will be among them.

It's not clear from the exchange just what Joe means when he says the business "makes" up to $280,000 a year. Is he talking about total revenue? Profits? That's an important point here and it's one that Obama and Joe the Plumber never discussed. Based on Obama's proposals and current tax policy, for Joe's taxes to rise Joe would have to "make" $250,000 in net profit, after deducting all his expenses: his employees' pay, his supplies, his truck, his fuel costs, and other legitimate business expenses. He'd have to be an extremely successful plumber.

In response to McCain's statements during the debate, Obama said only 2 percent of small businesses would be subject to the tax.

It seems likely that Obama is right, according to data and an analysis from the experts at the Tax Policy Center.

But if Joes DOES make that kind of personal profit, then the McCain plan will give Joe about $775 in saving over Obama's plan. Which, on a $250,000+ income would seem to be a small amount to pay to the country that provided the platform for your success.

(At some other time, I'll talk about the variety of tax breaks, incentives, and governmental assistance --like SBA loans--that are available for small businesses. Things those "nasty taxes" actualy make possible. As I had to remind my friend Hoppy Kercheval and DC pundit Chris Stirewalt on a recent Talkline show---among the 3 of us, THE DEMOCRAT (me) was the only one who actually OWNS a small business.)

ANOTHER YEAR AND IT'S STILL UNDONE

19 months ago the Wheeling Tunnel renovation work got underway. It was going to be a 111 day project. 19 months later they are planning to re-open the Eastbound tunnel. And it's still not right.

Walker said some tile of various sizes were used at the entrance of the eastbound lanes. He said some of the old, larger terra cotta tiles were replaced by much smaller 4-inch ceramic tiles.

"Clearly, those are not the desired tiles, but they are functional,"

So we'll have a tunnel with different sizes of tiles, and a grate that doesn't meet specs.

Walker said a similar theory is being applied to a storm sewer grating that catches surface water at the face of the eastbound tube. Replacement grating used during last year's renovation work proved to be made of a lighter gauge steel than required.

Project Engineer Dustin Neely said WVDOH had planned to replace the grating with a heavier gauge product, but the plan was abandoned because of the Nov. 1 opening deadline.

19 months after the 111 day project began. And it's still not right

And there is STILL no clamour by anyone in state government to demand an investigation.

FUN WITH DICK AND HOWARD

Former Clinton strategist and Fox News Commentator Dick Morris was a guest speaker at West Liberty College this week. I had a chance to interview him for the At Issue TV show on wlTV (click the link in the sidebar to watch WLTV's entire schedue).

We don't agree politically at all, but he was fun to spar with. Morris says everyone in Ohio and West Virginia should support McCain, because he is the only candidate that supports coal. I had to remind Mr. Morris that there is a difference between "coal" and CLEAN COAL which Obama is a supporter of.

Morris says McCain used to be the kind of politician that would never waver in his principles to acheive a greater good. But he thinks McCain isn't acting that way any more. Morris says when he worked with Bill Clinton, Clinton would ask Morris for advice on decisions. Surprisingly he says Clinton was a better President than a "principled" McCain would be.

Morris autographed a copy of his book for me. Signed it to "Howard Obama".

The latest presidential debate is over.

What a bore.

As I predicted earlier today on The Morning Show there is little we learned we didn't know. Each man repeated what they have said before, made the same charges and responses we have heard before. Neither made any major mistakes and neither did anything substantially "interesting" to make us sit up and take notice.

I wish Tom Brokaw would have allowed them to talk more directly to each other. And I wish the candidates would have insisted they be allowed to do so. There were numerous times where I think a good verbal battle would have been enlightening.

Ho Hum.

Obama still on track to be our next President.

Disagree? Just post your comments here.

Ohio State Senator Jason Wilson joined us to talk about coal and other energy issues. He feels it is the key to Ohio economic development--especially in our region.

"Mojo" says the Mountain State economy is not being pushed as badly as other parts of the country. In a Morning Show interview this week, Governor Joe Manchin outlined what he sees are some positive fundementals for West Virginia--including a banking industry that didn't get caught up in the bad mortgage movement. If you missed the show, you can listen here.

And WVU Economic Professor Russ Sobel was our guest arguing against a federal bail out. The author of Unleashing Capitalism says the goverment just needs to get out of the way. Sobel also touched on the economic impact our court system has. He'll be issuing a white paper on that later this month and will be back on our show to tlak more about it.