Category Archives: Politics

Politics

Okay, here’s some outrage, finally…

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Well….I have to point out this new set of hypocrisies coming out of the righties and their attempts to paint the Obama administration as a failure. Throughout the Bush administration, even when their policies were objectively abject failures, (read that Katrina, lies to get us into Iraq, etc.) the supporters of Bush and his cronies, and Bush himself, had not one word to say on the failures or even a word of criticism of his dilution of civil liberties that the courts have since ruled were illegal.

So what do we see happening now from the right wing attack machine? They have now taken to comparing the oil spill in the gulf as Obama’s Katrina, now trying to make the point that Bush’s handling of Katrina was a failure. Well guys, you can’t have it both ways, your beloved GW was incompetent (which most of the evidence points to as being true) or the comparison could not be made. I’ve had it with these supposed “experts” whose only claim to fame is that they have been the upholders of a failed philosophy; not unlike the southern apologists who are still revering the south’s role in the civil war. Geez…

Politics

False equality in the news

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Well….I am fed up with the tendency of commentators and of the righties to push the proposition that there is an equality in the bias that runs through the reporting of the cable news networks. I want to make this as clear as possible…Fox news is the Pravda of the American news channels and the others that are held up for comparison, i.e. MSNBC, NBC,and CBS are in no way close to being the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party as Fox news is to the Republicans. I hope you remember the bad old days of the Soviet Union when Pravda (ironically, Pravda means truth in Russian) would print blatant lies that were used to keep the populace stirred up and in line; but one of the sad things that is different about these two organizations is that the Russians had no choice but to read Pravda, it was the only news the Soviet rulers would allow. In America, the righties choose to listen to the propaganda that spews from Fox…but the result is the same; a significant part of the population that has abdicated their responsibility to think; succumbing to the visceral hatred of all things Obama or Democrat that makes them feel good but bodes I’ll for the continuing success of our society. Geez….

Politics

News and how we get it..

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This is just a placeholder for now. I want to talk about how people get their news and what I think we’re missing by limiting our exposure to opposing ideas.

Back later for more…well, I’m back and to elaborate on the title…and try to make sense to both you and me. This post was in response to the news of the week that the news magazine “Newsweek” has been put up for sale with a future that looks like what has happened to other icons of the American news scene; it’s eventual closure. This has made me somewhat nostalgic for the news environment that I grew up in…that included Life, Look, and other magazines where we could get an unbiased, in-depth type of news that exists in few places today. But, I think I’m using nostalgia not as a wistfulness for what was, but more to point out the differences in the news and it’s reporting from my youth and what it is today; a partisan tool that is used for distraction or political gain.

I think I was really fortunate to grow up in my time, where you could trust the media to report the facts but that has handicapped me somewhat for today…I still trust some outlets to report facts and I am well-read and intelligent enough to be able to see those that don’t. As I talk to my youngster friends and others, I see a large problem that has arisen from this polarization of media and government in general…the public been taught over the past 20 years not to trust anyone; and that their analysis of the news etc. no matter how puerile or shallow , has the same value as someone who is an expert in the field. In this environment, opinion has taken on the same weight as fact, and facts seem to be changeable related to how many times you repeat falsehoods.

As more and more of the truth-tellers in the media fail and disappear since the appetite for truth has been replaced by polemic, the opportunity for a person to get to the truth is drowned out by the loudest, most well-funded voices. Geez….

Politics

Delusional Trust Fund Babies

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Well…have to comment on the recent speech by Eric Prince (founder of Blackwater) in Holland and the coverage that the comments have been given in the Grand Rapids Press. Let’s be clear, Prince is the founder of a mercenary organization that is still under investigation for the murder of Iraqi citizens and has damaged the U.S.’s reputation in the world with it’s cowboy antics and lawless behavior. It’s sins were so egregious that Prince changed the name to XE services to try to hide in plain sight, knowing that the activities of his organization had irreparably damaged the name Blackwater.

But now to the comments that were quoted in the Press that ranged from “he’s a wonderful man” to “this country would be a better place if there were more people like Mr. Prince”. More people that were born on third base in life and was taught that he hit a triple? More people that used his daddy’s money and connections to feed at the public trough? More people that have lived the life of privilege and feel that the rules don’t apply to him? He went so far as to impose a condition for his speaking that there would be no press at the luncheon; he did relent to allow press but still would not allow any audio or video recording of his speech.

Mr. Prince is just another of the class of GW Bush and others who, without his family connections or money, would have ended up managing a McDonalds somewhere and no one would be listening to them. I’m tired of these types that have never had to work a day in their lives telling me what is best for me or the middle class. Geez…

Politics

Read the 14th Amendment, Joe…

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Well…here we go again, the people who have sworn to uphold the constitution are trying to tear it apart again led by Joe Lieberman. His proposed new law that would allow the government to strip citizenship from people accused of being associated with terrorist organizations is in direct conflict with 14th amendment as defined in the Afroyim v. Rusk case that clarified the law and found that no government agency can strip a citizen of his citizenship. Long-settled law from the 1800′s.

Pure political posturing that shows either that he is ignorant of the constituition or he is willfully playing on people’s fears when he knows that no court in the land would uphold it. He needs to stop wasting the people’s time on this kind of bs and get on with solving the real problems of this country. Geez…

Politics

Michigan’s texting law again…

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Well…I just can’t let this one go…you all know about the new law in Michigan that makes texting while driving a primary offense…that means that the police can stop anyone they “suspect” of sending or reading texts, or reading e-mail while driving. While this sounds like a good idea to some folks given some highly publicized accidents that have happened while the drivers were texting, let’s look at exactly what that means. What are the actions that would make you a suspect? Basically, anything that you do in the car now makes you liable to be pulled over. I have an MP-3 player that is attached to the stereo in my car that any officer can say looks like a phone if I’m looking at it to change the music. What if I’m looking at maps that I need to get where I’m going…how can they see in my car to see that it is a map and not a phone…and what about the smartphones that many people use instead of maps? What about the handheld gps systems that can be mistaken for a phone? What about ford’s Sync system that can provide e-mails to be read in the car? Which, under this law is illegal. I’d be selling my Ford right away.

That said, I do believe that when you are in the car, you should be driving; not talking on the phone, eating, reading, or putting on makeup.

Where are the Repubs who are howling that the healthcare bill is a direct attack on their freedoms when this bill is so much more of a direct attack on the fourth amendment and the guarantee of protection from unreasonable search and seizures?

And, let’s think of the primary driving force behind this bill; the insurance companies who have spent millions lobbying for it’s passage. The reason for this is, as the police write tickets for this offense, guess who gets to raise the rates of people that have been ticketed? Given the history of police departments abusing the powers granted to them by vague laws, do we expect any different here? Geez….

Politics

Remembering Kent State

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Hmmm…40 years ago today, 4 students were killed by the national guard that were called in to keep order on the campus of Kent State University. Being a 17 year old kid at the time (and one who generally supported the government) I didn’t know what to think about our government killing people who were not much older than I was and whose only crime was to exercise their constitutionally protected rights of assembly and protest. I think that day opened my eyes and set me on the path that has led me to where I am now…believing that government can be good or evil; it depends on the humans that are making up that government….

No citizen, or no human should have to pay that high a price for his or her beliefs…but I know that’s how change happens; and it’s cost is sometime almost unbearable. Thank you to those who have had the courage to bet it all on making this country and world a better place.

I still get chills whenever the first notes of “Ohio” by CSNY come on the radio…

“What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?”

Politics

what happened to the reasonable people?

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I’ll be filling in my thoughts tomorrow…this is kind of a placeholder until then….tune in later…
HI…I’m back, I was reading the newspaper a couple of days ago and there was a story about the increase in violence that has been occurring in many of the road rage incidents that happen across Michigan. There have been shootings, stabbings, and beatings along with the mayhem of using a two ton weapon to what? Protect your manhood? Or womanhood, since these incidents are not exclusively a male phenomenon. But, the road rage incidents are not really the topic today; it is just a symptom of what I see as a lack of reasonableness that is polluting society today. It is one of the things that the great author Robert Heinlein saw as a signpost in the decline of any civilization; the lack of manners and common courtesy that the citizens show each other on a daily basis.

I know I was going somewhere with this…..well…I guess I just want to say that most times, you can choose how you react to the things that happen in life…I know I was taught that it was a value to think and to react to life and politics in a thoughtful, measured way, and the shouters were idiots that did not deserve attention. What happened??

Politics

Arizona and Immigration

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Well….reading all of the furor over the new immigration law that was just signed in Arizona, and the predictable stances from the left and right, I think of one question that is not being asked: Why are the illegals there? I think it’s pretty well settled that they are there for jobs. Then, that drives you to a second question: who gives them the jobs they are there to fill? I think that question is a little more complex and the explanations have run the gamut but center on the assumption that they are there to do jobs that Americans won’t do.

I can’t fault the people of Arizona for being frustrated that 6-7 percent of their population are illegals, but I think their anger is misguided; Why aren’t they mad that employers in their state are creating the problem by hiring illegals? Why aren’t these employers being held up as unpatriotic because all they can see is the increased profits that come with a workforce that is an unethical company’s dream: non-union, non-voting people who can be abused at will. But, by using the illegals, they are just passing on the costs that would come from an American workforce (higher wages and healthcare, pensions, etc.) on to Arizona’s and the U.S. society as a whole since it has been argued repeatedly by the right that illegals send their children to our schools and use our emergency rooms for their health needs. This means higher profits for the company and bigger bonuses for the managers.

I’ve always thought that business needs to be socially responsible and pay it’s employees enough for them to have the chance to do what our founding father’s codified in the founding documents; “the pursuit of happiness”.

You and I pay our fair share as members of our society. Why shouldn’t business? Geez….

Politics

All deficits are not created equal

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Well…the latest rant from the righties is that Bush’s deficits were nowhere near as large or bad as the one’s that have come from the Obama administration. What most people of both right and left fail to realize is what I think is the core distinction between the two: The Bush deficits were done by the choice of his administration to give tax cuts when we were fighting two wars. On the other hand, the Obama deficits are, to some extent, inherited from the Bushies, but mostly are a result of the economics that anyone learns in econ 101: in the midst of a severe recession, one of the best ways to stimulate the economy and help end that recession is for the government to deficit spend. Is the problem that deficit spending will help keep the middle class working? It’s been clear for a long time that the Repubs don’t really care what happens to the middle class…and yet so many of them keep believing the lies they are being fed and keep voting for the same people that gave us Enron, Blackwater, and how many other instances of looting from our society. Geez…