FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GEORGE’S HOUSE RUN VALUES PEOPLE, IDEAS OVER DOLLARS

Congressional candidate determined to be true representative

FORT MYERS, Oct. 15, 2008 – Independent U.S. House candidate Jeff George believes democracy is about how you can best serve the people, not how much money you can take from them.

George, a Cape Coral resident up for Florida’s 14th District Congressional seat, cut back on fundraising during recent months to focus instead on meeting fellow Southwest Floridians and hearing what they have to say about the issues that affect them the most.

The campaign on Wednesday released its financial statement for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 to the Federal Election Commission. George collected $2,301, bringing the total to $17,451 since he announced his run in September 2007.  Of that total, he’s contributed $9,207 of his own money, including all but $200 for this quarter.

“After raising the money for qualification, I found myself obsessing more and more over funds, until I realized I was starting to turn into exactly what I vowed to run against,” George said.

The U.S. Army veteran has taken part in more than a dozen forums and public events across the district designed to bring the candidates and voters together, and plans to attend several more before Election Day.

“No doubt, fundraising is part of the election process, but in the end, democracy is about one person, one vote,  not one dollar, one vote, and that’s what we should focus the process on, representing the people, not their money,” George said.

Keeping in close contact with Southwest Floridians is a top priority for George, who wants to bring accountability to Washington. He is part-owner of a video production company, and is videotaping the entire campaign and making the footage available online.

People can see the videos, find out more about George, speak with him in live online chats and get involved with the campaign at www.jeffgeorgeforcongress.com.

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Posted by admin | Filed in Uncategorized

Worst week ever?

I’d like to say the worst is behind us now, but I’m afraid that’s not the case. Yet, in the long run, I am optimistic that America and the world will come out of this crisis better for it.

We will turn away from the institutionalized greed that has overtaken virtually every aspect of economic life, and reevaluate the underpinning of an economy and monetary system based on perpetually escalating interest and debt.

We will recognize the need for global cooperation on trade, but with transparent international institutions that aren’t run behind closed doors by only a few wealthy, powerful interests, but through truly democratic representation and sound market principles with accountability at all times to the people.

We will restore the Constitution of the United States to ensure that the full rights and liberties of every American are protected, reassert the rightful balance between the three branches of federal power, and ensure that the rule of law applies equally to all without exceptions to privilege, wealth, and power.

We will face the challenges of threats without borders such as global climate change and war and terrorism based on a ideological and religious extremists, and reforge the bonds of unity, justice, and liberty that define us all as Americans, and together we will set a true example through our actions for the rest of the world by having the courage of our convictions to stand up for these values both here at home and around the world.

This is the brighter future we can all share if we choose, and now is the time to make it happen.

We have to act now and stand up for the principles this nation was founded on while the world seems to be turning upside down, or else events that we the people are truly in control of now will seem to spin hoplessly beyond our control. We are not powerless. The market is not some arbitrary force that rules over America, we the people chart the course of this nation!

 On November 4th of this year, we have what may prove to be one of the most important opportunities ever for us to determine the destiny of America.

Last week, I was out on the campaign trail trying to do my part to make that future happen, and we posted a number of raw videos on Google of those events.

Monday: For the first time, all four candidates in the race were present at the Fort Myers News Press editorial review board.

Tuesday: I had the privilege of attending The Lee Ccunty Black History Society 2nd Annual Luncheon with the President of FGCU, Dr. Wilson Bradshaw as the keynote speaker.

Wednesday: We had our weekly 3:00 PM Chat Time over at JustinTV.

Thursday: We have some great behind the scenes footage of the filming of my candidate staement for FOX 4.

Friday: The Alliance of the Arts in Fort Myers held Too Hot to Handle: A Politticle Issue Show which featured some fantastic and thought provoking art from a number of talented local artist.

Saturday: First up was the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) Forum in Cape Coral, and the Politics in The Park in Lehigh Acres.

Sunday:  Be sure to check out the Congressional Race coverage in the News Press, especially the Q and A with Jeff George and District 14 U.S. representative race: Nonparty candidate makes hight-tech run.

Posted by admin | Filed in Economy, Election

Posted by admin | Filed in Economy

This evening I’ll be at the Cape Coral Civic Association Candidate Forum  from 6:30 -9:00 PM.

One of the issues that will no doubt come up is stock ownership, and exactly who is getting the most out of the market, so I prepared a handout. You can check it out here: Who’s Getting Paid?

The Naples Daily News ran a great article today that asks another important question: Where’s Connie?

I cam across an intersting press release from Sen. Phil Grahm from 1999 when a key piece of legislation that contributed greatly to the current crisis was passed.  I’ll  write about this more later, but for now it’s worth pondering the lack of foresight demonstrated by this quote:

“We are here today to repeal Glass-Steagall because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom.

“I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulatory bill. I believe that that is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reality.”

Posted by admin | Filed in Economy

I was scouring the Net today and all weekend trying to find actual details on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s $700 billion+ bailout plan.  I’m not encouraged by what I’ve found.

While I too agree that something needs to be done, I have some serious reservations about this plan. Aside from the dubious wisdom of handing over to the President even more unchecked power (this time over banking and the market), and aside from the very real question of how the government is going to do any better at fixing a value to these bad loans than the private sector, the question that is foremost in my mind is who’s going to pay?

As Newt Gingrich points out, Before D.C. Gets Our Money, It Owes Us Some Answers. He notes “Congress has an obligation to protect the taxpayer. Congress has an obligation to limit the executive branch to the rule of law. Congress has an obligation to perform oversight.”

There are are other options besides writing the government a 700 billion blank check of taxpayer’s money. Economists have proposed a number of other options beside the Paulson plan, such as having the government order banks to cancel dividend payments and require healthy banks to issue new equity.  Another potentially much less risk option is to have the government simply buy an equity stake in the banks themselves instead of trying to figure out the value of all those bad loans.

But as both the Republicans and Democrats in congress already seem sold on the proposal now on the table, the fundamental question  that none of them seem to be asking is Who’s going to pay?

Perhaps at this moment in history, no one better exemplifies the need for truly independent voices in congress, and why I’m running with no party affiliation, than Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who is one of the few elected officials in Washington D.C. honest enough to actually answer that question:

“This proposal as presented is an unacceptable attempt to force middle income families (and our children) to pick up the cost of fixing the horrendous economic mess that is the product of the Bush Administration’s deregulatory fever and Wall Street’s insatiable greed. If the potential danger to our economy was not so dire, this blatant effort to essentially transfer $700 billion up the income ladder to those at the top would be laughable.

Let us be clear. If the economy is on the edge of collapse we need to act. But rescuing the economy does not mean we have to just give away $700 billion of taxpayer money to the banks. (In truth, it could be much more than $700 billion. The bill only says the government is limited to having $700 billion outstanding at any time. By selling the mortgage backed assets it acquires — even at staggering losses — the government will be able to buy even more resulting is a virtually limitless financial exposure on the part of taxpayers.) Any proposal must protect middle income and working families from bearing the burden of this bailout. “ 

And, in case anyone has forgotten, the United States has a national debt that is currently over a  $9.7 trillion dollars (as of this writing: $9,733,011,228,509) that is growing by 2 billion every day. And now, we’re about to add hundreds of billions more with no relief in sight, and yet neither presidential candidate nor the leadership of either major party has made any realistic proposals to raise the revenue necessary to pay for all of this. In fact, both Senators McCain and Obama are still proposing tax cuts!

I guess I may be one of the few candidates out there who still actually remembers those famous last words “Read my lips, no new taxes!”  

It’s time to face the truth: America can no longer afford to try to spend it’s way out of debt.

Anyone who is proposing more tax cuts while the United States is trying to maintain a military empire overseas and heroically buying up all of Wall Street’s bad debts is either lying to you to get your vote, or just incapable of basic math.

It’s time for a real change…

Posted by admin | Filed in Economy

In the past 8 years, we have seen the uncomfortable pairing of religious extremism and political power not only in the Middle East and the Islamic world, but in the halls of power in Washington D.C.

Gov. Sara Palin may not look the part, but her views seem about as close to an American version of the Taliban as any candidate that has ever been put up for the office of the Presidency. Forget hockey moms and bulldogs, perhaps the question should be what’s the difference between a dangerous Islamic fanatic and a dangerous Christian extremist.

As of last weekend, nearly 28 million copies of the anti-Islamophobic, pro-war propaganda DVD Obsession went out in newspapers (including the Fort Myers News Press) in key battleground states. with the very obvious purpose of playing to the politics of  fear in an effort to help ensure the success of the McCain/Palin Ticket.

It is time to challenge the religious extremist in our own country who seem bent on maintaining a culture of war head-on, and none of the other candidates in this race have the courage to do it. 

Don”t let the fact that I am a Muslim confuse you. This isn’t about any individual candidates personal religious convictions. This is America, and it shouldn’t matter if the individual is a Christian, Muslim, Jew, atheist or anything else. No religion has a monopoly on the virtues of Truth, Justice, and righteousness, and more importantly for the purpose of elections, no religion has a monopoly on the government of the United States of America.

The issue is not any individual’s religion, but how it will affect his or her judgement on crucial issues. Someone who is willing to disregard the Constitution and laws they swear before God to uphold for the sake of some scriptural interpretation that they claim is the exclusive version of the religious and scientific truth is not fit for office.

Anyone who is willing to allow some apocalyptic End of Times vision guide what they view as the future of humanity certainly has a constitutional right to do so as an American citizen, but as a policy maker, they become a direct threat to the safety and welfare of America and to the world at large. 

It doesn’t matter if they are enacting policies that guide bombers to their targets or march suicide bombers off to market places, religious zealots who divide the world into “us” and “them” in terms of their own petty interpretations of religious faith are a small minority that cause a self-perpetuating loop of fear, violence, and ignorance to drag down the majority of us all.

It is not a war between Christians and Muslims, it is a crisis of leadership between a small handful of extremists who have seized power and the rest of us who know there has to be a middle way.

Osama Bin Laden and Sara Palin along with their ideological and religious cohorts are two sides of the same hateful, fearful, and ignorant coin, and it is time for us to cash it in for the currency of common sense, reason, and a faith in the message of our shared Judeo-Christian-Islamic religious heritage that doesn’t require us to kill each other, but to live together in unity “under God.”

As a further primer to our side of the problem here in the U.S, the article Religious comfort for bin Laden by James Carroll of the Boston Globe does an excellent of beginning to identify the problem, and I urge everyone to check it out. 

Posted by admin | Filed in Religion

Posted by admin | Filed in Election, The Constitution

Not too long ago, a constituent sent me an e-mail asking about my worldview. This week with the Republican Convention and the typical GOP focus on certain issues, I thought this would be a great opportunity to post those questions and my answers.

I realize there are areas where some may disagree, but I hope that despite these differences, we can all find enough common ground to continue to help guide this nation on the right path.

1)  At what point does a baby get human rights?

I believe that the questions of when human life begins and when the government has a right to assert it’s authority over life are two separate issues.

Does life begin at conception, birth, or somewhere in between? God only knows. I personally believe that it is wrong to snuff out even a potential life without exceptional circumstances such as rape, incest, or danger to health and well being of the life of the mother.

When we talk about the legality of the issue, I believe that the choice of aborting an unborn life is a complex moral and personal decision that is ultimately between the mother and father, and God. The state has no business in imposing and enforcing its will in this matter.

I understand some may disagree with me, but all I can say here is if my wife were pregnant and her life was in danger, I would not want to wait for an act of congress to decide her fate.

2)  How do you define marriage?

I personally define marriage as my Faith dictates as a union between man and woman. But again here we have a question of legality and what is the proper role of the state in personal relationships.

We live in a free society, and that means that except in cases when an individuals actions directly harm or impose upon others, they should be given the choice to make their own decisions. In terms of the law, I see a marriage as a binding contract between individuals. It is up to those individuals, and their community of Faith to give that relationship meaning before God.

 3) Does evil exist? And if it does, what should we do to counter it?

Evil exists in the hearts and minds of men and women everywhere. It is expressed in actions that spread violence, fear, greed, anger, and hatred around the world everyday regardless of the petty reasons that people chose to try and justify such acts. I also believe in the power and potential of redemption, and so to counter evil, it is not for me as a mortal human being to say that any man or woman is good or evil. We must judge people based on their actions, and the principles of human rights and the rule of law must apply equally to all.

4)  Should all citizens have the right to publicly profess and observe their religious faith?

The right to publicly profess and observe one’s faith is an essential American value. The separation of “church and state” that is enshrined in our constitution exists not only to protect the institutions of government from the undue influence of any single religion, but also to guarantee that the state does not impose its will on any religion.

That’s why it is essential that when we come together as Americans to decide the course of government affairs, we be guided as individuals by our Faith, and speak and act a nation within the common framework of the constitution and laws that we all share without citing religious laws and beliefs that may divide us from each other.

Posted by admin | Filed in Domestic Issues, Religion

I’m confused by this ad, is John McCain running to be the President of Israel?

Is there a not too subtle message here to right-wing Israeli supporters showing a giant Israeli flag over East Jerusalem, which last I checked was still occupied Palestinian territory? Or, is just trying to alienate the entire Muslim world further in an effort to provoke an attack Iran?

This along with his increasingly needless belligerence and provocation against Russia is a good example of the why thought of President John McCain continues to scare the hell of me.

I have so far endeavoured to stay out of the presidential race, but this sort of election season fear mongering has real world consequences outside of the candidate’s base. I know Senator McCain is new to the Internet, but maybe someone needs to explain to him that people outside of the US can also watch YouTube!

Given growing military threat around the world, the increasing deterioration of government control in vital areas such as Pakistan, and a growing scarcity of natural resources such as water and oil, the threat of a new era of global war is a real, clear, and present danger. So far both the Republican and Democratic leadership in Washington DC have been heedless to this threat, and the American people stand to lose everything.

The sort of ignorant, pandering, fear-mogering on display in this ad has got to end. It should be unacceptable to every American that this sort of dangerous radical posturing is coming from anyone that doesn’t live in a shack in Montana, let alone one of the top candidates for the position that determines national policy!  

Regardless of who wins the presidential race, it is clear that we are going to need voices in congress that are willing to stand up for the constitutional system of checks and balance, and to reign in the almost imperial level of control that has been seized by the executive branch of the government under the Bush Administration.

It is up to Congress, not the president, to declare war, and when any president violates the law, it is the duty of congress to enforce the rule of law and hold the president accountable, regardless of how politically risky impeachment or any other actions may be.

If congress had done its duty over the past eight years and reigned in the fiscal, military, and diplomatic irresponsibility of the Bush administration, we would not be on the precipice of war and economic disaster we now stand upon.

Voters in this district need to take a good long look at this ad and ask themselves:

Does Connie Mack support this position?

Is this the sort of foreign policy leadership we can expect if Burt Saunders gets into office?

Would Robert Neeld end up as anything more than another voice in the impotent and oblivious chorus of congressional Democrats?

It is time for a real change…

Posted by admin | Filed in Foreign Policy

Today is Primary Election today. Even if you’re not registered as either a Republican or a Democrat, you still have an important say in the school board elections, plus you get a chance to try out the new voting machines.

And if you want another opportunity to take a look at the candidates, you can check out the footage from last Thursday’s Greater Fort Myers Area Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum that went up this weekend here.

Posted by admin | Filed in Election