Polls are not in a dead heat , Obama still leads. These "debates" are frauds. Their purpose is to generate revenue for media outlets, and they are saving a ton of money by not having to buy content for these time slots. All that needed to be done was to run some adds claiming that they are important. Viagra and feminine hygene products are flying off the shelves around these dog and pony shows, Prediction, Romney will be the dog tonight.

Both parties are committed to the pravitization of schools . The point of the exercise in Chicago, done by Barry, Rahm, and Arnie was to set out the blueprint for this. How these billions of taxpayer dollars will be handed over is now set down as policy.

While I don't disagree with you, Obama has to do more than just call out Romney's lies. George Lakoff has spelled out several times recently what Obama needs to do. See AlterNet on 10/2/12: http://www.alternet.org/print/election-2012/george-lakoff-what-watch-presidential-debates Lakoff says that "all politics is based on moral values and that all issues are conceptually framed. Effective political speech uses language based on one's own frames and avoids language based on the opponent's frames." Hopefully those who are prepping Obama for the debate will work with him to be more than a policy wonk, using some of Lakoff's clear and direct suggestions.

that are partially true but also rememebr those seniors also have retiremnt accounts as well as social security. i am not talking about age groups i am talking about fair taxation, period. why should someone with taxable income 20k more be able to pay 70%+ less tax then 2 school teachers in teir 50s? and if you quantify the scew imagine if people where all taxed fairly how much more revenue there would be. just saying!!!

These truths are self-evident, not so say I. That famous phrase in our Constitution where we hold these truths to be self-evident all men are created equal may need adjustments in its definition.

What does one inherit at the time of birth besides body and mind in good spirit and shape. With a chuckle and a laugh, the reality is a bank account with abundance, or “no account” start zero. Worse in the “Hole mortgaged deep in education” yet to climb out. Or, the popular political hand off in a free fall economic market hot potato dive.

Now from the Republican driven economy by war profiteering, treasury coupon swindling, Bail out derivatives in legislative ear marks so big they fly like a Dumbo the elephant of back door closed door screw ups.

All “chained to al qaeda” in a fear mongering terrorist driven power dive is destroying America. A runway train called the Wahhabi special fronted by the Carlyle group.

Kudos to Mr. Hartmann for having the courage the other day to openly declare the real ownership of Fox News. For me it was more than great. I had no axe to grind with the Republican Party, too, but after reading Gerald Posner’s book “Secrets of the Kingdom” and Russ Baker’s book “Family secrets”, my mind is changed. Today’s Republican mind is not only off message it is completely perverted from our Constitution. So much that America is an open class war that was structured decades ago not just by these politicians but by the educated elite of our current culture and, and influenced by foreign countries. The classical mathematics shows that America is out of balance.

Huge money exchanges via computer numbers are controversy through secret deals by our very treasury using derivatives within securities driven coupon market that has been secret and paid for by the American citizen, via bail out. Our tax dollars helped test their formula.

The suggested mystery is to the tune of hundreds of trillions of dollars in a coupon derivative scandal market by insider banking with the Federal Reserve that reeks of treason.

Simple, lie to the public that is treason.

The Bond trading done within the twin towers was totally wiped out, yet no mainstream media follow up. That was perhaps what Mr. Hartmann can call a redistribution of wealth done in a very, very ugly way. Open door politics, or hold the door open for Al qaeda. Of course redistribution is a natural thing in nature. It’s also inevitable that most man made distributions will balance out.

It is my view that the only real way to know when this is resolved, is when the perpetrators that swindled the treasury, give back or unbundle what they sacked by opening the job market. Or, being greedy find they will lose everything. Typified by a market crash, Grand juries to lose everything and jump out window. Or instead of dealing with the mobs outside shoot themselves in the head. Better yet Hollywood style confessions where Allen Greenspan and Andrea Mitchell openly must confess on open electromagnetic media, I use that expression for the future use if they are not convicted of fraud at least recorded and condemned in history on what they know and what they did.

Unions are for the laborers and the laborers vote for who represents them where their union is concerned. Laborers can't vote for who their CEO bosses are or what their bosses do, so your comment is bunk.

Who's Gary Johnson? Corporate media has kept third party candidates out of the public eye so I doubt a third party candidate is going to upset anything but I can only hope they will.

"The only wasted vote is one that goes unusedPOSTED BY JILL STEIN FOR PRESIDENT 1851.80PC ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2012 · FLAG

Though, if you prefer to see America continue on its current path, a vote for Green Party Candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, would be a wasted vote.

Holding both parties accountable for 30 years of this country's largest transfer of wealth to the rich means coming to terms with the fact that neither are in a position to solve the challenges we face. While some partisan Democrats are once again claiming that a vote for the Greens is a vote for the Republicans, that argument falls flat with millions of disenfranchised voters who believe we can do better.

These are Americans who believe we must stop our descent into economic disparity, the erosion of our civil liberties, and the corruption of our political system by corporate power and massive wealth. They are Americans who understand the Democratic Party has been complacent, if not complicit, in this process and is now, as evidenced by an administration that has kept the policies of George W. Bush largely in place, institutionally incapable of any real reform.

The fact is, political parties change over time, so why shouldn't our votes change as well?

This is not the Democracy the revolutionaries of 1776 envisioned. They had just lived through a long, bloody war to throw off the shackles of an oppressive regime that had denied them rights and representation while pillaging their resources and their labor. It was not their intention that we live under a duopoly political system where a tiny handful of people control the pursestrings and allegiances of both parties.

Votes aren't being stolen, they are being bought.

Hundreds of millions of dollars from a small group of individuals are being spent by the two establishment parties to control the national conversation and convince Americans they have a clear choice. That sum of money and their record provide clarity enough. It is not a choice, it is maintenance of the status quo. It is a further grab for power by those who are threatened by recent cracks in the national conversation opening to issues of money and politics, the polarization of wealth, ecological responsibility, and the preservation of civil liberties.

The choice to be made is: Do we wish to be truly represented? Do we need to set a new course as a country? Do we need a real opposition party immediately capable of new ideas and energy, that isn't subject to the approval of the most rich and powerful?

Evil vs. Eviler.

Choosing the lesser of two evils keeps things exactly as they are. Fear tactics have worked well in the past to keep party stragglers and independent voters in check. But today's America is not the the America of 2000. We've seen first hand that the lesser of two evils isn't lesser at all. Arguably, it is worse because we are encouraged to hope against history, yet the outcome is the same.

If Democratic operatives were only concerned with the 2012 election results, they would not be aggressively fighting to keep people from voting Green in states like New York, California, Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts, and many more, that have absolutely no chance of going GOP due to the Electoral College system. These tired tactics and failed arguments of the two dominating parties are beginning to be seen for what they are: the last remnants of a fear-based political landscape that is changing.

The election IS spoiled, but not by the Greens.

Even though the Republican and Democratic Parties were once third parties themselves, they have shored up the political system to keep third parties out. This battle continues over the issue of the presidential debates. Neither of the establishment candidates wishes to share to stage with a candidate like Dr. Stein who freely speaks truth to power - a candidate who stands on a platform of building a sustainable economy and creating a future that puts the dignity of Americans ahead of corporate interests.

Including Dr. Stein in the debates would do something unthinkable to the Democrats and Republican candidates: show them as two peas from the same, spoiled, pod. An alternative voice is urgently needed and Dr. Stein's deserves to be heard.

Vote what you believe.

A simple enough statement. If we all found the courage to do so, we would begin to rebuild the country we deserve instead of settling for what gets left behind.

The Green Party and our 2004 presidential nominee made the Ohio Recount possible. If not for the continued determination of elected Greens, we would not have municipal sick leave or minimum wage and living wage policies in cities across the country. There would be no movement to amend the Constitution to overturn the Citizens United ruling and end the toxic influence of money in our political system. The cause of equal marriage rights would not be as far along as it is (because of Green mayors and mayoral candidates defying anti-marriage laws in CA and NY). And the 100s of cities that passed anti-war and anti-PATRIOT Act resolutions would likely have been many fewer, since those efforts were also led by Green elected officials.

Meanwhile the establishment parties try to avoid our discontent by changing the subject from the real problems we face, and making elections all about preventing the other party from winning. In a way, the Democrats and Republicans are each correct. Either one of them winning would mean more of the same for America: maintaining a status quo that continues to ruin what is best about the United States.

The Green Party and the Green New Deal will shatter the status quo by addressing the real economic, social, and political challenges we face at their root causes with specific and already proven solutions. Vote for Jill Stein for President. Give a mandate for the Green New Deal.

Join us and come be part of the solution. We are all in this together." (http://www.jillstein.org/only_wasted_vote)

I noted this after Citizen's United won it's supreme court case.

I've also noted that next on the agenda are behavioral interviews that will select the preferred right-wing, republican, fascist, and quite frankly and most likely 'white' employees.

It's UGLY and UNAMERICAN and NON-DEMOCRATIC.

Citizen's United is giving the wealthies donors the ability to give past the minimum personal gift allowed. In this, via the coroporate boards and creme de la creme investors. These people are double-dipping their wallets.

And, on the very nature of being an employee: Why should I allow a corporation to give its excess wealth to a preferred political agenda and party. In the OLD days, when businesses saw excess wealth they returned some of this to the employees in the form of higher wages and/or holiday/yearly bonuses.

Corner us enough and WAR begins to brew . . .

I honestly think Herman Cain was on the right track. The USA needs a national sales tax on all goods, services, property transactions, etc. of at least 10% with up to 30% of that 10% going to state and local governments. Why tie in state and local governments? If people fail to pay it, they get triple prosecution. Most governments around the world have a national sales tax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates). It is the only way to tax a foreign corporation outside of tariffs. In turn, income tax can be adjusted accordingly. Many companies are moving overseas. Much more money can be accrued using a sales tax verses income tax of a US based company. I do want to see transacation taxes for securities as Nader and others have suggested. Our current tax system is asking people to pay for foreign produced goods and services to be subsidized by US taxpayers. Taxing on the sales price given higher markups simply helps to level the playing field, especially considering the associated modification of personal and corporate taxes. In addition to a sales tax, anything sold in the USA should meet USA labor standards if not European labor standards without exception. The USA should not in any way condone or fail to address slavery, crime, human rights violations, equality, child labor standards, or any other USA and European standard.

No Rick, I am not joking. This is way to important to joke about. Can America take four more years and 5 trillion more debt?

The Koch brothers are clearly delusional in their belief that a 2nd Obama presidency would be the end of capitalism as we know it, and I think they really believe that. One pre-requisite of being a republican these days is being conspiratorial about and afraid of everything.

I imagine that most of Georgia Pacific employees are rational enough to realize that (A) their overlords are nut cases; (B) if Obama is elected, there will be no change in their job status; and (C) since their votes will be cast in private, there will be no individual repercussions.

I have received emails from division VPs in the semiconductor industry "suggesting" that we support certain (republican) candidates and that it would be advantageous to our careers to donate to their campaigns. To which I have always ignored and never suffered repercussions.

The only employees who buy into this nonsense are those who are themselves conspiratorial, thus already republicans. Net gain =0.