Wadiblog

At the heart of a democratic system is the core belief that WE the People do not relinquish our sovereignty. However, to maintain this sovereignty over ourselves, rather than merely becoming tools for sometimes well camouflaged tyranny of special interests – citizens need to be well informed before we vote. Our vote is our voice into the system – singly and collectively. Only through great vigilance and conscious analysis will we exercise our true voice, else, we are mere puppets, echoing someone else’s will, perhaps someone whom we don’t even agree with.Having been a member of the League of Women Voters (an organization which dates back to 1920 and which also includes Men since the 1970’s) I have found it to have consistently useful resources. It has a sterling reputation for holding fair and impartial candidate forums and offering both pros and cons for ballot measures. The League is organized along the same lines as our governments: national, state, regional and local.

The LWV of California has wonderful website, www.smartvoter.org which includes information on everything from where to find your polling place to links to the legislative information on ballot measures. The site also offers a free public service to all candidates to put up a webpage. At this url http://www.smartvoter.org/voter/links.html - one can find links to other political resources.

LWV US also has a site: http://www.vote411.org/ which provides information on the Presidential candidates.

Also useful sites are the County registrar of voters and of course the California Secretary of State website. I have included the Alameda and the Santa Clara County registrar of voters sites below:

California Secretary of State
http://www.sos.ca.gov/

Alameda County Registrar of Voters
http://www.acgov.org/rov/

Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters
http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/rov

Remember that “democracy is not a spectator sport”

The First Black Presidential Nominee….

As Americans, we dream of a President who is honest, personable, intelligent, and wise.

We want a leader with courage and integrity who has known the struggles of an everyday American. A lot of people have stopped believing that may even be possible.

I haven’t stopped believing. I support Barack Obama because he is that leader.

Join me in supporting Barack Obama, by making a donation to my personal fund page.

Still not convinced Obama is the right man for the job ?

Read on…

Top 10 Reasons to Support Barack Obama
by Sabrina Akhtar

1. He is the only presidential candidate who voted against the war in Iraq, his foreign policy record shows he voted for bills that plan to end the war in Iraq, gradually withdrawing troops, engage in diplomacy with Iran not war. He is against torture/abuse of any kind of criminals whether at home or abroad.

2. His campaign did not take one penny from lobbyists or corporate interest groups

3. Provide universal health care, nearly 47 million americans lack healthcare coverage, his health care plan helped 3 million children in the state of Illinois.

4. Obama has plans for our energy independence and creating more jobs from clean (clean fuel, alternative fuel) technology.

5. Tax relief for the middle class by providing “making work pay” tax cut. Expand child & dependent care tax credit as well as expand the earned income tax credit (EIC), which he implemented in the state of Illinois that provided 100 million of tax cuts to families

6. Help small business succeed by cutting self employed tax, providing health care for those who has their own business, eliminate capital gain taxes for start-up business, expand loan programs for small businesses.

7. Create universal mortgage credit which means more Americans will be able to afford to buy a home, for ex: his 10 percent credit will benefit an additional 10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 per year.

8. Make math and science education a national priority. Improve our education in schools by providing K12 plan-incentives for good teachers, support college outreach programs, tax credit for college students & their families which will make going to community colleges absolutely tuition free.

9. Invest in sciences & technology: Obama will double federal funding of basic research & innovation.

10. And lastly, he began a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America’s addiction to oil, he’s working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels.

Now more than ever, Barack Obama needs your help. The battle has just begun.

Show your support…

Click to make a donation to Obama Campaign

 

Cross-posting to Siliconstani

Shame on Uncle Sam, give hard working American’s hope of an economic stimulus tax rebate, only to surprise them on their tax return - how sly is that?

According to US News & World Report:

The IRS estimates that payments will start going out in early May, in amounts generally ranging from $300 to $600 for individuals and up to $1,200 for couples filing a joint return—plus up to $300 more for each dependent younger than 17.

What they fail to mention, is higher-income tax payers will have their rebate reduced, or eliminated. According to TurboTax,

If you adjusted gross income is above $75K ($150K if married and filling jointly), the rebate is reduced by 5% of the AGI.

What if you had no income in 2007, take a look at the message TurboTax flags:

Unfortunately, you don’t qualify for the tax rebate for 2008 because you didn’t have enough eligible income….your qualifing income is less than $3.000 and you didn’t owe any taxes. Qualifying income includes:

- Earned Income, such as wages
- Social Security benefits
- Veteran’s disability benefits
- Railroad Retirement benefits
- Survivor pension benefits
- Nontaxable combat pay

Given this, one can’t help but ask what was the intent behind the Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate? What about folks who had no income, such as students who don’t qualify as dependents, not to mention are pilled up high in student loans? Or, perhaps TurboTax has got it wrong - whats the truth? Is the Economic Stimulus rebate meant for all, regardless of economic status, or what?

Shame on Uncle Sam for giving hardworking American’s hope, only to pull back. What about the Silicon Wadi denizen’s, who’s per-capita income, though may be higher than the National average, have to suffer the excruciating rising cost of living in in the Wadi - from increasing Rents to rising gas prices how are the Wadiwalleh to cope?

The old cliche about down being up in certain cases just came up in my day job as a tech writer in the semiconductor industry; apparently, in this industry, sometimes, DOWN can be UP and UP can be GROUND.