Backyard Politics: Benches for Barack
Here’s one way for Democrats to make a campaign contribution that promises immediate payback. For 40 bucks, Benches for Barack — a grassroots fundraiser advertised on lampposts and on Craigslist — will build you a garden bench. $25 goes toward building supplies and the remaining $15 gets donated to the Obama campaign. A pair of…
Here’s one way for Democrats to make a campaign contribution that promises immediate payback. For 40 bucks, Benches for Barack — a grassroots fundraiser advertised on lampposts and on Craigslist — will build you a garden bench. $25 goes toward building supplies and the remaining $15 gets donated to the Obama campaign.
A pair of bright neighborhood kids, 18-year-old high school grads Harry Fishbein and Emma Dillon, build these sturdy benches in the basement of Harry’s Cobble Hill home and cheerfully deliver them to doorsteps around Brooklyn, free of charge. The benches are 18 inches tall, 4 feet long, and about 10 inches wide, and turnaround is quick. We received ours, which is painted a muted sage green, within hours of sending an email to Benches for Barack.
Harry and Emma made their first sale on Friday June 20 and by time tomorrow’s deliveries are done, they’ll have sold 38 benches — enough to donate $570 to the campaign. They don’t have any furniture-making background, but during Harry’s high school career, he built “a suspension bridge out of cardboard and fishing line that could hold 800 pounds and was 25 feet long,” and “a 7 foot tall geodesic dome out of electrical conduit.” We’re not entirely sure what that means, but one can safely assume that the kid’s benches are gonna hold up.
They’ll be buidling benches and other custom carpentry projects — like wooden trash can containers, sheds, picnic tables, and kids’ bathroom stools — throughout the summer, but in the fall, Harry’s going to Lafayette for engineering and Emma’s heading to Tufts for international relations.
CMU is back with his deceit and disingenousness. You know full well that those at the bottom pay no taxes, those slighty above bottom actually pay negative taxes after EIC and the like, and then the working people above pay progressively more tax of each dollar they earn than the ones below them. Your beef is with the super-rich NOT EARNING INCOME AS SALARY. I’m shouting because you never seem to get this point. You also know full well that those earning 150, 250 and 300K pay a greater percentage (not just a greater amount) of their income in taxes than those earning 20K or 50K.
I’m not touching Obama – he’s way too involved in religion, church-going and pushing religion. Not spoken to by God like the current loon in charge, but still too much for any sane person.
war hero = zero in this day and age. McCain is a fake conservative dingbat who will continue bad policy.
Wow, it’s patently obvious from reading these responses that McCain supporters are, like our honorable Bush, significantly more edumecated than their opponents. The great thinkers of our time would doubtless bow in awe of the blinding reason and razor-sharp conservative wit.
Thank you 9:30.
I call it like I read it Commie filth.
“Is bxgrl not logging in again but still posting? Some of this silly drivel sounds like it came out of the mouth of a loser liek her.
Posted by: guest at July 7, 2008 7:17 PM”
Why should I bother? A loser like (not liek, FYI) you posted and saved me the trouble 🙂
Obama will win. These kids are great and I can’t wait to order my bench!
cmu you’re not reading the facts. We do not by any stretch of the imagination have the flat tax you describe.
If you look at link to the analysis by the Tax Foundation based on the actual reported tax returns from the IRS (the latest data available is 2005) you’ll see:
“The 2003 tax cut was the second in three years, but the tax code still remains highly progressive. The average tax rate in 2005 ranges from 2.98 percent of income for the bottom half of the earning spectrum to 23.13 percent for the top 1 percent.”
Can’t we agree that if the richest 1% earned 20% of the income and paid 40% of the taxes that that’s a progressive tax code?
Obama is the great politician without a record.
He speaks therefore he’s great.
McCain is a war hero.
I’d never vote for an actor over a war hero.
McCain will win. Obama will lose.
“Every corporate scandal “takes” Only a fool wouldn’t see that. Idiot. Calling someone a “commie” is practically a compliment these days when you look at our sorry-ass country in the eyes of the world. Are you proud of the war in Iraq?”
We’re not talking about corporate scandals. We’re talking about regular individuals making a living. And am I to understand your thinking goes war in Iraq = bad, so therefore so is capitalism? Or did you just not really think that one out?