THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT OBAMA

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[Matt Gonzales is running with Ralph Nader as an independent vice
presidential candidate. From an article in Counterpunch]

CLASS ACTION REFORM: In 2005, Obama joined Republicans in passing a law
dubiously called the Class Action Fairness Act that would shut down
state courts as a venue to hear many class action lawsuits. Long a
desired objective of large corporations and President George Bush, Obama
in effect voted to deny redress in many of the courts where these kinds
of cases have the best chance of surviving corporate legal challenges.
Instead, it forces them into the backlogged Republican-judge dominated
federal courts. By contrast, Senators Clinton, Edwards and Kerry joined
23 others to vote against CAFA, noting the "reform" was a thinly-veiled
"special interest extravaganza" that favored banking, creditors and
other corporate interests. . .

CREDIT CARD INTEREST RATES: Obama has a way of ducking hard votes or
explaining away his bad votes by trying to blame poorly-written
statutes. Case in point: an amendment he voted on as part of a recent
bankruptcy bill before the US Senate would have capped credit card
interest rates at 30 percent. Inexplicably, Obama voted against it,
although it would have been the beginning of setting these predatory
lending rates under federal control. Even Senator Hillary Clinton
supported it. Now Obama explains his vote by saying the amendment was
poorly written or set the ceiling too high. His explanation isn't
credible as Obama offered no lower number as an alternative, and didn't
put forward his own amendment clarifying whatever language he found
objectionable.

LIMITING NON-ECONOMIC DAMAGES: These seemingly unusual votes wherein
Obama aligns himself with Republican Party interests aren't new. While
in the Illinois Senate, Obama voted to limit the recovery that victims
of medical malpractice could obtain through the courts. Capping
non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases means a victim cannot
fully recover for pain and suffering or for punitive damages. Moreover,
it ignored that courts were already empowered to adjust awards when
appropriate, and that the Illinois Supreme Court had previously ruled
such limits on tort reform violated the state constitution. . .

MINING LAW OF 1872: In November 2007, Obama came out against a bill that
would have reformed the notorious Mining Law of 1872. The current
statute, signed into law by Ulysses Grant, allows mining companies to
pay a nominal fee, as little as $2.50 an acre, to mine for hardrock
minerals like gold, silver, and copper without paying royalties. . . The
Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007 would have finally
overhauled the law and allowed American taxpayers to reap part of the
royalties. . . Later it came to light that one of Obama's key advisors
in Nevada is a Nevada-based lobbyist in the employ of various mining
companies

ENERGY POLICY: On energy policy, it turns out Obama is a big supporter
of corn-based ethanol which is well known for being an energy-intensive
crop to grow. It is estimated that seven barrels of oil are required to
produce eight barrels of corn ethanol, according to research by the Cato
Institute. Ethanol's impact on climate change is nominal and isn't
"green" according to Alisa Gravitz, Co-op America executive director.
"It simply isn't a major improvement over gasoline when it comes to
reducing our greenhouse gas emissions." . . . Obama voted in favor of $8
billion worth of corn subsidies in 2006 alone, when most of that money
should have been committed to alternative energy sources such as solar,
tidal and wind.

SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE: Obama opposed single-payer bill HR676,
sponsored by Congressmen Dennis Kucinich and John Conyers in 2006,
although at least 75 members of Congress supported it. . . Obama's own
plan has been widely criticized for leaving health care industry
administrative costs in place and for allowing millions of people to
remain uninsured. "Sicko" filmmaker Michael Moore ridiculed it saying,
"Obama wants the insurance companies to help us develop a new health
care plan-the same companies who have created the mess in the first
place."

NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT: Regarding the North American Free
Trade Agreement, Obama recently boasted, "I don't think NAFTA has been
good for Americans, and I never have." Yet, Calvin Woodward reviewed
Obama's record on NAFTA in a February 26, 2008 Associated Press article
and found that comment to be misleading: "In his 2004 Senate campaign,
Obama said the US should pursue more deals such as NAFTA, and argued
more broadly that his opponent's call for tariffs would spark a trade
war. AP reported then that the Illinois senator had spoken of enormous
benefits having accrued to his state from NAFTA, while adding that he
also called for more aggressive trade protections for US workers.". . . 
Obama cast the deciding vote against an amendment to a September 2005
Commerce Appropriations Bill, proposed by North Dakota Senator Byron
Dorgan, that would have prohibited US trade negotiators from weakening
US laws that provide safeguards from unfair foreign trade practices

SOME FINAL EXAMPLES: On March 2, 2007 Obama gave a speech at AIPAC,
America's pro-Israeli government lobby, wherein he disavowed his
previous support for the plight of the Palestinians. . .

He wouldn't have his picture taken with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
when visiting San Francisco for a fundraiser in his honor because Obama
was scared voters might think he supports gay marriage . . .

Obama acknowledges the disproportionate impact the death penalty has on
blacks, but still supports it, while other politicians are fighting to
stop it. . .

Obama aggressively opposed initiating impeachment proceedings against
the president and he wouldn't even support Wisconsin Senator Russ
Feingold's effort to censure the Bush administration for illegally
wiretapping American citizens in violation of the 1978 Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act. . .

http://counterpunch.com/gonzalez02292008.html

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