The originator of one of the best quotes of all time is dead.
Tom Moody was the 44th mayor of Columbus, and served from 1972 to 1984. During his time in office, the Columbus Public School District was desegregated and the city's freeway system underwent significant expansion. The downtown skyline also grew during Moody's time in office. The city saw development of the Huntington Center, One Nationwide Plaza and the AEP Building.
He was notable for his response to police when pulled over for suspicion of drunk driving: "I'm not drunk, I'm inspecting the city".
Tom Moody passed away on Thursday, October 30, 2008 of natural causes, at Riverside Hospital. He was 78 years old.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Obama volunteers move to Ohio -- to help us out....
NPR's Morning Edition had a story on today about the out-of-state Obama volunteers that have moved here to Ohio to help us decide how to vote (my characterization).
Quite a few liberal volunteers, mostly from New York, and the most in "forever", per NPR, have moved here, and taken up residence for the Election season.
Interesting stuff.
Quite a few liberal volunteers, mostly from New York, and the most in "forever", per NPR, have moved here, and taken up residence for the Election season.
Interesting stuff.
Monday, October 27, 2008
For "Serious" Believers in the Future of Independent Politics....
Follow my tortured reasoning here. This is the best time to vote a 3rd party candidate. McCrazy is toast. Viva La Revolucion.
The Future Is At Stake
Here's why you "real" Conservatives should vote for Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, to register a serious protest vote, and further the cause of Third Party politics in America.
Pulling the lever for McCain will not help the chances of any future for 3rd party politics in America in any way. The larger Obama's margin of victory - and make no mistake, the margin will be huge anyway -, and the more attention his huge monetary advantage gets, the better it will be for the chance of future serious 3rd party candidates.
And here's why:
People need to see that the impending Democratic landslide combines a Congress that will start with enactment of the "The Fairness Doctrine" and soon proceed down the path to a dreaded ratification of some form of "The UN Small Arms Ban" with a President who is going to make Jimmy Carter look like Ron Paul. The future looks good for a one-party Demo overrun of the Three Branches. And this revelation of the imminent threat of total one-party control might be just enough to spur a resurgence of interest in 3rd party candidates, especially on the Conservative side, now that the Neo-Cons seem to firmly control what used to be the Republican Party.
Things have GOT to get worse - and they will, from a freedom standpoint - before we, as either a Nation or a remnant of Independent Anti-Government people, decide to make things better.
So Viva La Revolucion! The sooner the better.
We need to start cultivating the Spirit of Revolution here and now. The best way to legitimately access publicity and the advantages that come with it, is a strong 3rd party showing in a major election. And at this point, "strong" doesn't have to mean more than 2-3 percent.
McCain and Obama BOTH want to take away your freedom through the "Nanny-State".
Remember the Mel Brooks' line "It's good to be the King."?
A lot of people are fine with "spreading the wealth around" -- except if it's their wealth. And remember that the "wealth" concept is subjective. To an extremely poor person, even a lower middle class person is "wealthy".
Well who decides? It's good to be Robin Hood. Not so good being the rob-ee....
Giving "tax refunds" (which are basically bribes - a “tax cut" which is more accurately described as wealth redistribution) to people who don't pay taxes in the first place is Socialism in action.
Promoting Class Warfare through redistribution schemes (which both McCain and Obama are proposing) simply results in costs being passed on down the line, with the rich continuing to get richer, while the poor get poorer faster, and the middle class totally vanishes.
What do you think happens when the tax man shows up at the widget factory and tells the manufacturer that taxes just went up? Exactly. The factory raises the price of widgets and costs work on down the line. This is the REAL "trickle-down" economics.
Tax collections for corporations that take their profits offshore, or transfer profits to private income need to be redesigned totally.
When the government takes revenue generated by taxes and gives it to someone else, be that entity a defense contractor for weapons, a soldier as salary, a builder for a new library, a congressional staffer for research or a non-taxpayer for no reason at all, that is what we used to call spending.
You can call it "Make work pay", or whatever you please, what is really proposed is nothing more than a massive new spending program. Calling it a tax cut is pure BS.
"Hi there, Mr. Mug-ee".
You're gonna find that from your middle-class perspective, with rising costs of everything being passed on to YOU, that while it might be great to be the mugger, mug-eeville is not where it's at!
My worry is that "Yes We Can," an excellent campaign slogan, will continue to morph into "Because We Can," an evil method of governance.
So, even given the fact that Obama may very well try to appoint the entire 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to the SCOTUS, I can't pull the lever for McCain. Both of these men and their programs will be Long-term Bad for America.
Vote a 3rd party ticket, please. Do it for the future of America.
The Future Is At Stake
Here's why you "real" Conservatives should vote for Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, to register a serious protest vote, and further the cause of Third Party politics in America.
Pulling the lever for McCain will not help the chances of any future for 3rd party politics in America in any way. The larger Obama's margin of victory - and make no mistake, the margin will be huge anyway -, and the more attention his huge monetary advantage gets, the better it will be for the chance of future serious 3rd party candidates.
And here's why:
People need to see that the impending Democratic landslide combines a Congress that will start with enactment of the "The Fairness Doctrine" and soon proceed down the path to a dreaded ratification of some form of "The UN Small Arms Ban" with a President who is going to make Jimmy Carter look like Ron Paul. The future looks good for a one-party Demo overrun of the Three Branches. And this revelation of the imminent threat of total one-party control might be just enough to spur a resurgence of interest in 3rd party candidates, especially on the Conservative side, now that the Neo-Cons seem to firmly control what used to be the Republican Party.
Things have GOT to get worse - and they will, from a freedom standpoint - before we, as either a Nation or a remnant of Independent Anti-Government people, decide to make things better.
So Viva La Revolucion! The sooner the better.
We need to start cultivating the Spirit of Revolution here and now. The best way to legitimately access publicity and the advantages that come with it, is a strong 3rd party showing in a major election. And at this point, "strong" doesn't have to mean more than 2-3 percent.
McCain and Obama BOTH want to take away your freedom through the "Nanny-State".
Remember the Mel Brooks' line "It's good to be the King."?
A lot of people are fine with "spreading the wealth around" -- except if it's their wealth. And remember that the "wealth" concept is subjective. To an extremely poor person, even a lower middle class person is "wealthy".
Well who decides? It's good to be Robin Hood. Not so good being the rob-ee....
Giving "tax refunds" (which are basically bribes - a “tax cut" which is more accurately described as wealth redistribution) to people who don't pay taxes in the first place is Socialism in action.
Promoting Class Warfare through redistribution schemes (which both McCain and Obama are proposing) simply results in costs being passed on down the line, with the rich continuing to get richer, while the poor get poorer faster, and the middle class totally vanishes.
What do you think happens when the tax man shows up at the widget factory and tells the manufacturer that taxes just went up? Exactly. The factory raises the price of widgets and costs work on down the line. This is the REAL "trickle-down" economics.
Tax collections for corporations that take their profits offshore, or transfer profits to private income need to be redesigned totally.
When the government takes revenue generated by taxes and gives it to someone else, be that entity a defense contractor for weapons, a soldier as salary, a builder for a new library, a congressional staffer for research or a non-taxpayer for no reason at all, that is what we used to call spending.
You can call it "Make work pay", or whatever you please, what is really proposed is nothing more than a massive new spending program. Calling it a tax cut is pure BS.
"Hi there, Mr. Mug-ee".
You're gonna find that from your middle-class perspective, with rising costs of everything being passed on to YOU, that while it might be great to be the mugger, mug-eeville is not where it's at!
My worry is that "Yes We Can," an excellent campaign slogan, will continue to morph into "Because We Can," an evil method of governance.
So, even given the fact that Obama may very well try to appoint the entire 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to the SCOTUS, I can't pull the lever for McCain. Both of these men and their programs will be Long-term Bad for America.
Vote a 3rd party ticket, please. Do it for the future of America.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Media Double Standards....
If you are one of my Liberal friends or loved ones, you better just not read this. It is guaranteed to make you mad. Remember, if you do, that "the truth will set you free".
After this week of Biden quotes, I'm pretty sure Obama selected Biden because the Senate wants to get him as far away from foreign policy matters as possible, and the VP slot is it. Seriously. Get him off the committee if he's gonna walk around making irresponsible statements. Has anybody actually asked the reason for running off at the mouth like this? This guy just plain likes to hear his own voice. Secretaries of State and Foreign Ministers all over the world just swallowed their chewing gum.
"... "Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. ... Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said … we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."
A "generated crisis"? By whom? Moscow? Beijing? Tehran?
This is an astonishing statement from a chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee who has access to the same intelligence as George Bush. Joe was warning of a crisis like the Berlin Wall of July 1961, where JFK called for a tripling of the draft and ordered a call-up of reserves, or the missile crisis where U.S. pilots like John McCain were minutes away from bombing nuclear missile sites in Cuba and killing the Russians manning them.
Is Russia about to move on the Crimea? Is Israel about to launch air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites? What is Joe talking about?
If one assumes Joe is a serious man, we have a right to know.
Instead, what we got was Obama's airy dismissal of Joe's words as a "rhetorical flourish" and a media – rather than demanding that Joe hold a press conference – acting as Obama surrogates parroting the talking points that Joe was just saying that new presidents always face tests.
Had John McCain made that hair-raising statement, he would have been accused of fear mongering about a new 9/11. The media would have run with the story rather than have smothered it.
Contrasting McCain with his hero, Joe declared a few weeks back, "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and ... said, 'Look, here's what happened.'"
Nice historical reference. Except when the market crashed in 1929, Hoover was president, and there was no television....
... Joe also has a record of 36 years in the Senate.
Has anyone ever asked Joe about his own and his party's role in cutting off aid to South Vietnam, leading to the greatest strategic defeat in U.S. history and the Cambodian holocaust? Has anyone ever asked Joe about the role he and his party played in working to block Reagan's deployment of Pershing missiles in Europe, and SDI, which Gorbachev concedes broke the Soviets and won the Cold War?
In the most crucial vote he ever cast – to give Bush a blank check for war in Iraq – Joe concedes he got it wrong.
(Joe has a record of being wrong with the most important decisions.)
"I've forgotten more about foreign policy than most of my colleagues know," says Joe humbly. Given his record, it is understandable Joe has forgotten so much of it....
... Is there a media double standard? You betcha."
After this week of Biden quotes, I'm pretty sure Obama selected Biden because the Senate wants to get him as far away from foreign policy matters as possible, and the VP slot is it. Seriously. Get him off the committee if he's gonna walk around making irresponsible statements. Has anybody actually asked the reason for running off at the mouth like this? This guy just plain likes to hear his own voice. Secretaries of State and Foreign Ministers all over the world just swallowed their chewing gum.
"... "Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. ... Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said … we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."
A "generated crisis"? By whom? Moscow? Beijing? Tehran?
This is an astonishing statement from a chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee who has access to the same intelligence as George Bush. Joe was warning of a crisis like the Berlin Wall of July 1961, where JFK called for a tripling of the draft and ordered a call-up of reserves, or the missile crisis where U.S. pilots like John McCain were minutes away from bombing nuclear missile sites in Cuba and killing the Russians manning them.
Is Russia about to move on the Crimea? Is Israel about to launch air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites? What is Joe talking about?
If one assumes Joe is a serious man, we have a right to know.
Instead, what we got was Obama's airy dismissal of Joe's words as a "rhetorical flourish" and a media – rather than demanding that Joe hold a press conference – acting as Obama surrogates parroting the talking points that Joe was just saying that new presidents always face tests.
Had John McCain made that hair-raising statement, he would have been accused of fear mongering about a new 9/11. The media would have run with the story rather than have smothered it.
Contrasting McCain with his hero, Joe declared a few weeks back, "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and ... said, 'Look, here's what happened.'"
Nice historical reference. Except when the market crashed in 1929, Hoover was president, and there was no television....
... Joe also has a record of 36 years in the Senate.
Has anyone ever asked Joe about his own and his party's role in cutting off aid to South Vietnam, leading to the greatest strategic defeat in U.S. history and the Cambodian holocaust? Has anyone ever asked Joe about the role he and his party played in working to block Reagan's deployment of Pershing missiles in Europe, and SDI, which Gorbachev concedes broke the Soviets and won the Cold War?
In the most crucial vote he ever cast – to give Bush a blank check for war in Iraq – Joe concedes he got it wrong.
(Joe has a record of being wrong with the most important decisions.)
"I've forgotten more about foreign policy than most of my colleagues know," says Joe humbly. Given his record, it is understandable Joe has forgotten so much of it....
... Is there a media double standard? You betcha."
Thursday, October 23, 2008
The Racist Vote -- Black and White....
Re.: the racist vote, Black and White.
I am going to address this because of a question I was asked on another blog. And I am going to answer it as truthfully as I know how.
There are several blacks at my workplace who have never voted. (I asked.) You bet your a** they are registered, voting and are very aware of what is going on -- this year.
There are a couple blacks who work there that have been registered and vote every election, but the rest are ALL newly registered. I asked. They were happy to tell me.
As gently as I can (and I can do this, because I'm not just some nosy white guy, I'm the guy that talks to them about everything else...), I try to narrow it down, and when it comes down to it, it is not for any other reason, even though they may list it as something else (economics, mad at Bush, etc...). When you ask them in any depth about economics, and why they're mad at Bush - no matter that they didn't register a protest vote in 2004, what prompted them to register this time, it comes back to Obama -- and yet they can't really give a reason why HE inspired them to register. None of them comes out and says "Hey, it's time for a black President."
So, even though it may piss a few of you off, I think that most blacks who are newly registered, especially people who have had the opportunity to register and vote before, are doing it this time because a (partially) black man is running. And that's that.
As far as the anti-black, White, traditionally racist vote, McCain will not benefit from any supposed cross-over vote. From the historically racist areas, and from voters who are already registered, there is gonna be NO substantial group of newly registered voters that are registering simply to vote against Obama. In fact, and I've said this before, the Democrat White racist voters (see WVA, KY, Al, GA, etc...) are simply gonna stay home, or not vote in the Presidential. The 'pubs are not going to see a cross-over vote of any size from these people.
The pollsters are radically wrong if they think this race is close right now. That's not saying it won't get closer, as it always does in the last two weeks, but the newly registered Dem voters are going to have the say in what happens this election, and that say says Obama will be the next President.
I am going to address this because of a question I was asked on another blog. And I am going to answer it as truthfully as I know how.
There are several blacks at my workplace who have never voted. (I asked.) You bet your a** they are registered, voting and are very aware of what is going on -- this year.
There are a couple blacks who work there that have been registered and vote every election, but the rest are ALL newly registered. I asked. They were happy to tell me.
As gently as I can (and I can do this, because I'm not just some nosy white guy, I'm the guy that talks to them about everything else...), I try to narrow it down, and when it comes down to it, it is not for any other reason, even though they may list it as something else (economics, mad at Bush, etc...). When you ask them in any depth about economics, and why they're mad at Bush - no matter that they didn't register a protest vote in 2004, what prompted them to register this time, it comes back to Obama -- and yet they can't really give a reason why HE inspired them to register. None of them comes out and says "Hey, it's time for a black President."
So, even though it may piss a few of you off, I think that most blacks who are newly registered, especially people who have had the opportunity to register and vote before, are doing it this time because a (partially) black man is running. And that's that.
As far as the anti-black, White, traditionally racist vote, McCain will not benefit from any supposed cross-over vote. From the historically racist areas, and from voters who are already registered, there is gonna be NO substantial group of newly registered voters that are registering simply to vote against Obama. In fact, and I've said this before, the Democrat White racist voters (see WVA, KY, Al, GA, etc...) are simply gonna stay home, or not vote in the Presidential. The 'pubs are not going to see a cross-over vote of any size from these people.
The pollsters are radically wrong if they think this race is close right now. That's not saying it won't get closer, as it always does in the last two weeks, but the newly registered Dem voters are going to have the say in what happens this election, and that say says Obama will be the next President.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Shaky....
I don't often post my songs here. This one I will.
Shaky
I got shaky hands and leaky eyes
Tired of shilling compromise
Of lying liars' lying lies
And the way we eat it up
The full debt due is dreck and doom
The end of days might be real soon
We’re slouching toward a ready ruin
And the fire door is nailed shut
Oh my hands
Oh my eyes
Here we stand
And useless I
Wish wishes win
One last, once more
Hold the course
Steady on
Toward that distant shore
We fenced the range where freedom rang
Where Woody, Jack and Utah sang
Shining cities felt the pang
Slid down the hill in doubt
Cloud slides over Harvest Moon
John Smith and Pocahontas too
Thanksgiving came and stayed and grew
'til the turkey all ran out (Chorus)
Farmer Brown and Plumber Joe
Run the race, they place and show
Bankers take it all, foreclose
Class warfare by a nose
The framers never could relate
We're reined in, tamed, been replaced
With ruthless change for change's sake
And then they count the vote (Chorus)
Cross my heart, hope to die
Boots off, loved one by my side
No shaky hands, no leaky eyes
Burn it down and start it over
Burn it down and start it over
Burn it down and start it over
© DDC ‘08
Shaky
I got shaky hands and leaky eyes
Tired of shilling compromise
Of lying liars' lying lies
And the way we eat it up
The full debt due is dreck and doom
The end of days might be real soon
We’re slouching toward a ready ruin
And the fire door is nailed shut
Oh my hands
Oh my eyes
Here we stand
And useless I
Wish wishes win
One last, once more
Hold the course
Steady on
Toward that distant shore
We fenced the range where freedom rang
Where Woody, Jack and Utah sang
Shining cities felt the pang
Slid down the hill in doubt
Cloud slides over Harvest Moon
John Smith and Pocahontas too
Thanksgiving came and stayed and grew
'til the turkey all ran out (Chorus)
Farmer Brown and Plumber Joe
Run the race, they place and show
Bankers take it all, foreclose
Class warfare by a nose
The framers never could relate
We're reined in, tamed, been replaced
With ruthless change for change's sake
And then they count the vote (Chorus)
Cross my heart, hope to die
Boots off, loved one by my side
No shaky hands, no leaky eyes
Burn it down and start it over
Burn it down and start it over
Burn it down and start it over
© DDC ‘08
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The "Crack" in Joe's Story....
Ok. There's a lot of anger out there from the mostly Neo-Con side of the Conservative blogassphere, and all of it directed at the Liberal-in the tank for Obamamania-media. This is badly misplaced. In fact, it's hilarious, when you give it a little thought.
Anytime a Presidential Campaign decides to use a person as the main focus of their publicity, that person will be vetted by the press. What's amazing about this, is that the vetting wasn't done by the more-and more-amaturish appearing McCain Campaign.
And... any time a Presidential Candidate chooses a running mate, you would have expected that person to have been fully vetted by the campaign. Right? Right.
Update: “Plumber Joe” isn’t a licensed plumber at all? According to AP, he “works for a small plumbing company that does residential work.” He doesn’t need a license “because he works for someone else.”
Also, he won’t be affected by any of Obama’s tax increases on people making over $250K because he doesn’t make that much; he just thinks that, if he ever succeeds in buying the plumbing company where he works, he might make enough to have to pay the taxes. In addition, I assume, to paying the fees for a plumber’s license.
Also, he evidently owes the State of Ohio $1200 in unpaid taxes... AND, he may not even be registered to vote. You'd think McCrazy would have checked, right? Right? Right.
Watch for Faux News to claim he's an Obamamania double-agent plant.
But still:
The difference between two philosophies:
One wants Joe to act like a man, help him and society by encouraging him to pull his own pants up. YEA JOE! Way to go!
The other wants to take Farmer Brown's over-alls and give them to Plumber Joe, so we don't have to stare at his crack. Poor Joe. Boo-hoo.
After all, Farmer Brown has two pairs of over-alls. He can wear his Sunday pair all the time.
And Plumber Joe won't ever have to worry about pulling his own pants up....
The debate:
I was listening, not watching. It makes for a better understanding of what is actually said, and I thought it pretty much a wash except when it came to the Supreme Court question. McCain won this.
Neither one really repeated what the negative ads were saying to the other’s face.
Obama killed McCain on health care. Again.
If I were the moderator, I would have asked three questions:
1- Do either of you support the UN's Small Arms Ban Treaty, and if so, why? (This would really separate the candidates, but might be a little too involved for most of the viewers. Pity.)
2- Do either of you think the Constitution is a "living document", and will you pick "activist" Judges for the SCOTUS, and what is your definition of "activist Judge"?
3- What are the advantages of allowing Health Care companies to set up shop in states with lower regulation, thus lower care; and how does this relate to the McCain health care plan.
I admit the last question is loaded.
Obama's Health Care Plan is better.
BUT, I would rather have McCain picking the SCOTUS Judges. Obama's stand on that scares me. He is going have a "Litmus Test" that excludes many of the most qualified jurors. Obama will pick people who want to MAKE LAW, not determine the Constitutionality of Law.
Anytime a Presidential Campaign decides to use a person as the main focus of their publicity, that person will be vetted by the press. What's amazing about this, is that the vetting wasn't done by the more-and more-amaturish appearing McCain Campaign.
And... any time a Presidential Candidate chooses a running mate, you would have expected that person to have been fully vetted by the campaign. Right? Right.
Of course, any American who is givin the chance, has a full right to ask questions of Senator Obama, including Joe the Plumber.
Update: Now, it turns out that "Joe the Plumber" is related to Charles Keating. Oops. Should we say that again? A big, Palinesque "You Betcha!" Oops.Update: “Plumber Joe” isn’t a licensed plumber at all? According to AP, he “works for a small plumbing company that does residential work.” He doesn’t need a license “because he works for someone else.”
Also, he won’t be affected by any of Obama’s tax increases on people making over $250K because he doesn’t make that much; he just thinks that, if he ever succeeds in buying the plumbing company where he works, he might make enough to have to pay the taxes. In addition, I assume, to paying the fees for a plumber’s license.
Also, he evidently owes the State of Ohio $1200 in unpaid taxes... AND, he may not even be registered to vote. You'd think McCrazy would have checked, right? Right? Right.
Watch for Faux News to claim he's an Obamamania double-agent plant.
But still:
The difference between two philosophies:
One wants Joe to act like a man, help him and society by encouraging him to pull his own pants up. YEA JOE! Way to go!
The other wants to take Farmer Brown's over-alls and give them to Plumber Joe, so we don't have to stare at his crack. Poor Joe. Boo-hoo.
After all, Farmer Brown has two pairs of over-alls. He can wear his Sunday pair all the time.
And Plumber Joe won't ever have to worry about pulling his own pants up....
The debate:
I was listening, not watching. It makes for a better understanding of what is actually said, and I thought it pretty much a wash except when it came to the Supreme Court question. McCain won this.
Neither one really repeated what the negative ads were saying to the other’s face.
Obama killed McCain on health care. Again.
If I were the moderator, I would have asked three questions:
1- Do either of you support the UN's Small Arms Ban Treaty, and if so, why? (This would really separate the candidates, but might be a little too involved for most of the viewers. Pity.)
2- Do either of you think the Constitution is a "living document", and will you pick "activist" Judges for the SCOTUS, and what is your definition of "activist Judge"?
3- What are the advantages of allowing Health Care companies to set up shop in states with lower regulation, thus lower care; and how does this relate to the McCain health care plan.
I admit the last question is loaded.
Obama's Health Care Plan is better.
BUT, I would rather have McCain picking the SCOTUS Judges. Obama's stand on that scares me. He is going have a "Litmus Test" that excludes many of the most qualified jurors. Obama will pick people who want to MAKE LAW, not determine the Constitutionality of Law.
Nasty Campaign Ads....
Repost from Terry Smith, Managing Editor of The Athens News.
Negative ads: Nasty is as nasty does
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH ran a fascinating story Monday headlined, “Attack Ads Unpopular But Effective, Party Official says.”
The party official in question, Scott Borgemenke, chief strategist for the House Republican Campaign Committee, has a key role in devising the advertising strategy for Republicans running in Ohio House of Representatives districts across the state, including the 92nd District that includes Athens County.
So he would have to claim some responsibility for the repulsive “death-penalty” mailers the Ohio Republican Party sent out against the Democratic 92nd District candidate, Debbie Phillips. I wrote about these mailers last week, so I won’t go into full detail, but they basically made the argument, in Technicolor negativity, that because Phillips opposes the death penalty, she is therefore an “ally” of brutal murderers and child rapists.
This is not unlike GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s recent offhand remark that Barack Obama “pals around with terrorists,” based on his acquaintanceship with a man whose domestic terrorism occurred when Barack was 8 years old.
The article actually cited another noxious ad campaign that Borgenmenke is involved in this election season, a homophobic mailer whose underlying grievance against the Democrat in a House race (opposition to a bill that would ban gay adoption) would have applied just as well to GOP House Speaker Jon Husted and a majority of Republicans who opposed the same bill, according to the Dispatch.
In the article, Borgenmenke freely admitted that this sort of campaigning is bad. “I don’t think it’s a good thing for the system,” he said about the negative ads. “It just works.”
His attitude is so cynical and corrosive that I’m not going to waste your time explaining why. If you don’t see the moral bankruptcy of using scare tactics and outright deception — completely divorced from any reasonable discussion of issues — to win an election, you’re just Borgenmenke’s type of voter: Stupid, gullible and impressionable.
Negative ads: Nasty is as nasty does
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH ran a fascinating story Monday headlined, “Attack Ads Unpopular But Effective, Party Official says.”
The party official in question, Scott Borgemenke, chief strategist for the House Republican Campaign Committee, has a key role in devising the advertising strategy for Republicans running in Ohio House of Representatives districts across the state, including the 92nd District that includes Athens County.
So he would have to claim some responsibility for the repulsive “death-penalty” mailers the Ohio Republican Party sent out against the Democratic 92nd District candidate, Debbie Phillips. I wrote about these mailers last week, so I won’t go into full detail, but they basically made the argument, in Technicolor negativity, that because Phillips opposes the death penalty, she is therefore an “ally” of brutal murderers and child rapists.
This is not unlike GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s recent offhand remark that Barack Obama “pals around with terrorists,” based on his acquaintanceship with a man whose domestic terrorism occurred when Barack was 8 years old.
The article actually cited another noxious ad campaign that Borgenmenke is involved in this election season, a homophobic mailer whose underlying grievance against the Democrat in a House race (opposition to a bill that would ban gay adoption) would have applied just as well to GOP House Speaker Jon Husted and a majority of Republicans who opposed the same bill, according to the Dispatch.
In the article, Borgenmenke freely admitted that this sort of campaigning is bad. “I don’t think it’s a good thing for the system,” he said about the negative ads. “It just works.”
His attitude is so cynical and corrosive that I’m not going to waste your time explaining why. If you don’t see the moral bankruptcy of using scare tactics and outright deception — completely divorced from any reasonable discussion of issues — to win an election, you’re just Borgenmenke’s type of voter: Stupid, gullible and impressionable.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Real Life Differences Between Liberals and Conservatives....
Are your friendships and personal relationships suffering because of politics?
Do you find yourself "treading lightly" in your day-to-day interactions with people, simply to avoid conflict or discomfort?
Is it actually causing you anxiety?
Is it just me, or has anyone noticed this difference between Liberals and Conservatives?
In my experience, Liberals are more aggressive in On-Line give and take, while Conservatives seem to be more aggressive face to face, but in "real life", Conservatives more readily forgive and forget.
Liberals who take their politics very seriously seem to view non-agreement as almost a criminal offense. If you “make a point” that contradicts their views, basic tenents or beliefs, they are much more likely to let political disagreements damage or limit personal and social relationships.
I've had a conversation turn plain ICY, just over the slightest observation, much less a difference of opinion.
At first I thought that the difference was Rational vs. Emotional, but I don't think that's the case now. I do know there is a lot of anger on the Liberal side over the last eight years, and believe me, as a Libertarian, I am extremely angry over the NeoCon highjacking of both our Country's policy and the Conservative label -- BUT it still doesn't explain this seemingly basic difference in the approach to discussing politics.
Do Liberals take political disagreement more seriously and it is more likely to affect their every day interaction with other people, or is this just my experience?
Do you find yourself "treading lightly" in your day-to-day interactions with people, simply to avoid conflict or discomfort?
Is it actually causing you anxiety?
Is it just me, or has anyone noticed this difference between Liberals and Conservatives?
In my experience, Liberals are more aggressive in On-Line give and take, while Conservatives seem to be more aggressive face to face, but in "real life", Conservatives more readily forgive and forget.
Liberals who take their politics very seriously seem to view non-agreement as almost a criminal offense. If you “make a point” that contradicts their views, basic tenents or beliefs, they are much more likely to let political disagreements damage or limit personal and social relationships.
I've had a conversation turn plain ICY, just over the slightest observation, much less a difference of opinion.
At first I thought that the difference was Rational vs. Emotional, but I don't think that's the case now. I do know there is a lot of anger on the Liberal side over the last eight years, and believe me, as a Libertarian, I am extremely angry over the NeoCon highjacking of both our Country's policy and the Conservative label -- BUT it still doesn't explain this seemingly basic difference in the approach to discussing politics.
Do Liberals take political disagreement more seriously and it is more likely to affect their every day interaction with other people, or is this just my experience?
Here's a fresh example: On Thursday, my boss, the owner of our company, came out for Obama publicly -- in a company-wide meeting.
If it had been for the other major party candidate (I am voting for Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, so I have no dog in this tussle.), I think that probably complaints would have been filed -- whether or not there was legal recourse.
Friendly discussion, anyone?
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Old Hop on the Economic Collapse....
Some condensed and edited comments from Chuck at Old Hop's Hideout:
We are in a Depression.
Austrian School economists have been predicting this since 2002. Our economy, inextricably linked to an unconstitutional central bank called the Federal Reserve, is dis-contorting itself from false, manipulated credit and has entered the crack-up phase of the boom-bust cycle. If ever the prescient wisdom of Thomas Jefferson and John Taylor of Carolina was to be proven, it is now.
Central banking is the ruination of any economy.
The harder the Federal government tries to fix the problem the worse it gets. Chicago School economist and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman demonstrated that a series of time-lags (recognition, decision, and implementation) results in government fiscal and monetary interventions only exacerbating market convulsions. George W. Bush has embarked on the same disastrous policies taken by Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930's.
Both Presidential candidates John McCain and Barak Obama have supported the infusion of yet more false liquidity into the financial markets, proving that neither understands the Federal Reserve System as the cause and aggravation of the business cycle. Neither of these men have the economic acumen to solve this crisis, regardless of their political demagoguery. Whatever policies either of them pursues will only deepen and protract the suffering.
Meanwhile, the only candidate who understands how the economy works, Ron Paul, was roundly rejected by American voters.
It does not take an economist with a Ph.D. to intuit that days of debt-financed high living have to meet with an inevitable end.
In a free market, business failures are absorbed by the market with minimal impact to the general public. More efficient players buy up and reallocate the assets.
Under our managed economy inefficient players -- in many cases large inefficient players -- are allowed to continue operation, propped up by subsidy and/or loose liquidity. They then become "too big to fail," and their losses are socialized and passed on to the public. Marc Faber used the metaphor of a crack addict (where "crack" is credit) to describe our economy.The main lesson the Austrians teach us: credit is not the engine of economic health; saving is.
We're hearing and will continue to hear from a chorus of boo-birds blaming the "free market" and "capitalism" for all of this. But the fact is that we don't have free markets; they are actually managed markets, especially the financial markets that led to the bust.
The great danger in times like these is for a public outcry for more regulation and tighter government controls. There is always a Hitler out there waiting to oblige.
We are in a Depression.
Austrian School economists have been predicting this since 2002. Our economy, inextricably linked to an unconstitutional central bank called the Federal Reserve, is dis-contorting itself from false, manipulated credit and has entered the crack-up phase of the boom-bust cycle. If ever the prescient wisdom of Thomas Jefferson and John Taylor of Carolina was to be proven, it is now.
Central banking is the ruination of any economy.
The harder the Federal government tries to fix the problem the worse it gets. Chicago School economist and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman demonstrated that a series of time-lags (recognition, decision, and implementation) results in government fiscal and monetary interventions only exacerbating market convulsions. George W. Bush has embarked on the same disastrous policies taken by Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930's.
Both Presidential candidates John McCain and Barak Obama have supported the infusion of yet more false liquidity into the financial markets, proving that neither understands the Federal Reserve System as the cause and aggravation of the business cycle. Neither of these men have the economic acumen to solve this crisis, regardless of their political demagoguery. Whatever policies either of them pursues will only deepen and protract the suffering.
Meanwhile, the only candidate who understands how the economy works, Ron Paul, was roundly rejected by American voters.
It does not take an economist with a Ph.D. to intuit that days of debt-financed high living have to meet with an inevitable end.
In a free market, business failures are absorbed by the market with minimal impact to the general public. More efficient players buy up and reallocate the assets.
Under our managed economy inefficient players -- in many cases large inefficient players -- are allowed to continue operation, propped up by subsidy and/or loose liquidity. They then become "too big to fail," and their losses are socialized and passed on to the public. Marc Faber used the metaphor of a crack addict (where "crack" is credit) to describe our economy.The main lesson the Austrians teach us: credit is not the engine of economic health; saving is.
We're hearing and will continue to hear from a chorus of boo-birds blaming the "free market" and "capitalism" for all of this. But the fact is that we don't have free markets; they are actually managed markets, especially the financial markets that led to the bust.
The great danger in times like these is for a public outcry for more regulation and tighter government controls. There is always a Hitler out there waiting to oblige.
The Yard Sign Test....
Every Sunday morning, I drive from our place east of Athens, to Lancaster, where I look after my mom while my brother goes to church.
I usually start out about 6:30am and I don't have to be there until 8am, which gives me a little extra time. I do this on purpose, because this is my personal time for "thinking", and I do my best thinking while I'm driving slowly through small towns and countrysides (Kinda my early Sunday afternoon drive -- so don't tailgate me, I'll drive even slower. I promise).
I go through Logan and take the back roads up through Hideaway Hills area, across Paradise Road (I love the name "Chicken Coop Road". How can you not?) and angle northwest so that I end up coming in on Duffy Road south of Lancaster. I take the small town and countryside route because I am a small town/country boy, and I love this country. It also keeps me rooted in what's important; for instance, when I see a house or a piece of land that somebody has done something special with, I relate it to me and mine, wondering if we could do THAT for our place and our family. The older I get, the more insular and family oriented I seem to get.
But, all I'm sayin' is that I keep "an eye out", and one of the things that I have noticed is the political yard sign biz.... So here's what's hap'nin' with that:
Eight years ago, in Southern Ohio, the Presidential Campaign yard signs ran 3-1 across the board for Bush/Cheney. Four years ago they ran 3-2 for the 'pubs.
This year the small towns are running for Obama, while the countryside/rural areas are running even. Bad (really bad) for McCain/Palin.
Even more amazing is the number of obviously 'pub households with ALL the 'pub candidate's yard signs EXCEPT for McCain/Palin. BUT, of all the Dem' yards with multiple signs, half of them did not have an Obama/Biden sign.
It is "beyond my pay grade" to figure out exactly what all this means, and statistical analysis needs a little more than an early morning drive, but it can't be good for the 'pubs.
Right now it looks worse than the end result of the Dole campaign....
I usually start out about 6:30am and I don't have to be there until 8am, which gives me a little extra time. I do this on purpose, because this is my personal time for "thinking", and I do my best thinking while I'm driving slowly through small towns and countrysides (Kinda my early Sunday afternoon drive -- so don't tailgate me, I'll drive even slower. I promise).
I go through Logan and take the back roads up through Hideaway Hills area, across Paradise Road (I love the name "Chicken Coop Road". How can you not?) and angle northwest so that I end up coming in on Duffy Road south of Lancaster. I take the small town and countryside route because I am a small town/country boy, and I love this country. It also keeps me rooted in what's important; for instance, when I see a house or a piece of land that somebody has done something special with, I relate it to me and mine, wondering if we could do THAT for our place and our family. The older I get, the more insular and family oriented I seem to get.
But, all I'm sayin' is that I keep "an eye out", and one of the things that I have noticed is the political yard sign biz.... So here's what's hap'nin' with that:
Eight years ago, in Southern Ohio, the Presidential Campaign yard signs ran 3-1 across the board for Bush/Cheney. Four years ago they ran 3-2 for the 'pubs.
This year the small towns are running for Obama, while the countryside/rural areas are running even. Bad (really bad) for McCain/Palin.
Even more amazing is the number of obviously 'pub households with ALL the 'pub candidate's yard signs EXCEPT for McCain/Palin. BUT, of all the Dem' yards with multiple signs, half of them did not have an Obama/Biden sign.
It is "beyond my pay grade" to figure out exactly what all this means, and statistical analysis needs a little more than an early morning drive, but it can't be good for the 'pubs.
Right now it looks worse than the end result of the Dole campaign....
Saturday, October 11, 2008
You might be a Golfer if... and National Debt....
... "You might be a golfer if you clean the walnuts out of your yard with a sand wedge." -- courtesy of my brother.
Also, there are not enough walnuts in the State of Ohio to match the number of dollars in the National Debt....
Also, there are not enough walnuts in the State of Ohio to match the number of dollars in the National Debt....
Friday, October 10, 2008
Waiting For The Barbarians....
“In our time, the curse is monetary illiteracy, just as inability to read plain print was the curse in earlier centuries.” - Ezra Pound (1885-1972)
Mises meets Poetry.
And they think that it will only be a "recession", but Here's what I said some time ago....
Hope springs eternal.
Evidently.
In fools and wise men alike.
We can't help it....
The Neo-Cons have no idea how they, in the form of the Republican Party, have alienated the populace over the last 8 yrs.
Conservatives haven’t been conservative for a long, long time, and we are going to pay the price.
We are paying it....
Now we are just Waiting For The Barbarians.
Mises meets Poetry.
And they think that it will only be a "recession", but Here's what I said some time ago....
Hope springs eternal.
Evidently.
In fools and wise men alike.
We can't help it....
The Neo-Cons have no idea how they, in the form of the Republican Party, have alienated the populace over the last 8 yrs.
Conservatives haven’t been conservative for a long, long time, and we are going to pay the price.
We are paying it....
Now we are just Waiting For The Barbarians.
Yeah, we all could use a little mercy now
I know we don't deserve it
But we need it anyhow
We hang in the balance
Dangle 'tween hell and hallowed ground
Every single one of us could use some mercy now
- Mary Gauthier "Mercy Now"
Thursday, October 9, 2008
What Is a Right and How Do We Know?
What Is a Right and How Do We Know?
By Bill Whittle
During the presidential debate Tuesday night, Barack Obama was asked if he thought health care was a “right.”
He said he thought it was a right. Well, if you accept that premise, I think you can ask some logical follow-up questions: Food is more important than health care. You die pretty quickly without food.
Do we have a “right” to food in America? What about shelter? Do we have a “right” to housing? And if we do have a right to housing, what standard of housing do we have a right to? And if it is a right, due to all Americans, wouldn’t that mean that no one should have to accept any housing, or health care, which is inferior to anyone else’s… since it’s a right? Do we have a right to be safe? Do we have a right to be comfortable? Do we have a right to wide-screen televisions? Where does this end?
See, by taking something to a ridiculous extreme, we can illuminate the problem here… what is a right? How do we know? What’s the difference between the right to free speech — which is enshrined in the Constitution — versus the “right” to health care, which is not?
Well, back in the day, we would simply say that a right has legal authority — it’s in the Constitution and therefore it’s a not just a right, it’s a birthright. So why shouldn’t we amend the Constitution to include the rights to health care, food, housing, education — all the rest? What’s the difference between the rights we have and the “rights” Obama wants to give us?
Simply this: Constitutional rights protect us from things: intimidation, illegal search and seizure, self-incrimination, and so on. The revolutionary idea of our Founding Fathers was that people had a God-given right to live as they saw fit. Our constitutional rights protect us from the power of government. But these new so-called “rights” are about the government — who the Founders saw as the enemy — giving us things: food, health care, education... And when we have a right to be given stuff that previously we had to work for, then there is no reason — none — to go and work for them. The goody bag has no bottom, except bankruptcy and ruin. Does that ring a little familiar these days? Because isn’t the danger here that if you’re offered something for nothing… you’ll take it?
Only it’s not something for nothing. “Free” health-care costs us something precious, and no less precious for being invisible. Because there’s a word for someone who has their food, housing and care provided for them… for people who owe their existence to someone else.
And that word is “slaves.”
By Bill Whittle
During the presidential debate Tuesday night, Barack Obama was asked if he thought health care was a “right.”
He said he thought it was a right. Well, if you accept that premise, I think you can ask some logical follow-up questions: Food is more important than health care. You die pretty quickly without food.
Do we have a “right” to food in America? What about shelter? Do we have a “right” to housing? And if we do have a right to housing, what standard of housing do we have a right to? And if it is a right, due to all Americans, wouldn’t that mean that no one should have to accept any housing, or health care, which is inferior to anyone else’s… since it’s a right? Do we have a right to be safe? Do we have a right to be comfortable? Do we have a right to wide-screen televisions? Where does this end?
See, by taking something to a ridiculous extreme, we can illuminate the problem here… what is a right? How do we know? What’s the difference between the right to free speech — which is enshrined in the Constitution — versus the “right” to health care, which is not?
Well, back in the day, we would simply say that a right has legal authority — it’s in the Constitution and therefore it’s a not just a right, it’s a birthright. So why shouldn’t we amend the Constitution to include the rights to health care, food, housing, education — all the rest? What’s the difference between the rights we have and the “rights” Obama wants to give us?
Simply this: Constitutional rights protect us from things: intimidation, illegal search and seizure, self-incrimination, and so on. The revolutionary idea of our Founding Fathers was that people had a God-given right to live as they saw fit. Our constitutional rights protect us from the power of government. But these new so-called “rights” are about the government — who the Founders saw as the enemy — giving us things: food, health care, education... And when we have a right to be given stuff that previously we had to work for, then there is no reason — none — to go and work for them. The goody bag has no bottom, except bankruptcy and ruin. Does that ring a little familiar these days? Because isn’t the danger here that if you’re offered something for nothing… you’ll take it?
Only it’s not something for nothing. “Free” health-care costs us something precious, and no less precious for being invisible. Because there’s a word for someone who has their food, housing and care provided for them… for people who owe their existence to someone else.
And that word is “slaves.”
Republican Party's Shame -- 6 Degrees of Separation in Action....
My brother made this astute appraisal of this year's particularly venomous political ads:
"It's like 6 Degrees of Separation. If you went to high school with a murderer, you're guilty by association."
I hate to see this. I support Jill Thompson. This is really bad.
From The Athens News - Editor Terry Smith
Worst political mailer ever:
Whenever I think I've seen it all with regard to negative campaign literature, something gets left in my mailbox that out-stinks what’s come before. Something so despicable and sick that the word “evil” isn’t an exaggeration.
The Ohio Republican Party funded the hateful mailer I’m referring to, which attacks Athens City Council member Debbie Phillips. The Democrat is running for the 92nd House District seat against Republican Athens County Auditor Jill Thompson.
The cover of the mailer shows a mugshot of a bearded man, and states, “Frederick Mundt KILLED a little girl… And,” the mailer continues on the inside, “Debbie Phillips is his ally.”
It then states, “Debbie Phillips opposes the death penalty, so murderers like Frederick Mundt aren’t punished.”
The mailer then describes the terrible kidnapping, rape and murder of Mundt’s 7-year-old victim. It concludes by saying, “Debbie Phillips may be a murderer’s ally, but she shouldn’t be our representative.”
Let’s be clear here. Debbie Phillips and Fred Mundt are not connected in any way. They don’t know each other, probably have never heard of each other. The Ohio Republican Party, however, is so desperate to retain this House seat that they will do anything, including trying to deceive people into thinking this basically decent Democrat is allied with the worst of the worst, a child rapist and murderer.
And it’s not just bending the truth. It’s flat-out lying to say that people who oppose the death penalty don’t think murderers should be punished. Inmates serving life terms in America’s prison hellholes would be shocked to hear that they’re not being punished.
A lot of good people oppose the death penalty on moral and ethical grounds. (I oppose it because of the possibility that we will mistakenly condemn and kill someone who’s innocent.) To say this means that death-penalty opponents are “allied” with the murderers is not only idiotic; it’s mean, malicious and sick.
Not to mention, using these tactics betrays how the Ohio Republican Party feels about you, the voters. They think you’re stupid, since anyone with a sixth-grade education can see through the pre-school logic used in the Fred Mundt mailer.
Jill Thompson probably didn’t authorize or endorse this mailer, just as Debbie Phillips didn’t authorize a union-funded mailer that unfairly and dishonestly attacked Thompson based on her use of sick days over the years.
But I do blame the Ohio Republican Party for this immoral garbage. And while I consider myself an independent when it comes to local and regional candidates, this makes it unlikely that I’ll look favorably at any candidate endorsed by the Ohio Republican Party anytime soon, including Thompson.
"It's like 6 Degrees of Separation. If you went to high school with a murderer, you're guilty by association."
I hate to see this. I support Jill Thompson. This is really bad.
From The Athens News - Editor Terry Smith
Worst political mailer ever:
Whenever I think I've seen it all with regard to negative campaign literature, something gets left in my mailbox that out-stinks what’s come before. Something so despicable and sick that the word “evil” isn’t an exaggeration.
The Ohio Republican Party funded the hateful mailer I’m referring to, which attacks Athens City Council member Debbie Phillips. The Democrat is running for the 92nd House District seat against Republican Athens County Auditor Jill Thompson.
The cover of the mailer shows a mugshot of a bearded man, and states, “Frederick Mundt KILLED a little girl… And,” the mailer continues on the inside, “Debbie Phillips is his ally.”
It then states, “Debbie Phillips opposes the death penalty, so murderers like Frederick Mundt aren’t punished.”
The mailer then describes the terrible kidnapping, rape and murder of Mundt’s 7-year-old victim. It concludes by saying, “Debbie Phillips may be a murderer’s ally, but she shouldn’t be our representative.”
Let’s be clear here. Debbie Phillips and Fred Mundt are not connected in any way. They don’t know each other, probably have never heard of each other. The Ohio Republican Party, however, is so desperate to retain this House seat that they will do anything, including trying to deceive people into thinking this basically decent Democrat is allied with the worst of the worst, a child rapist and murderer.
And it’s not just bending the truth. It’s flat-out lying to say that people who oppose the death penalty don’t think murderers should be punished. Inmates serving life terms in America’s prison hellholes would be shocked to hear that they’re not being punished.
A lot of good people oppose the death penalty on moral and ethical grounds. (I oppose it because of the possibility that we will mistakenly condemn and kill someone who’s innocent.) To say this means that death-penalty opponents are “allied” with the murderers is not only idiotic; it’s mean, malicious and sick.
Not to mention, using these tactics betrays how the Ohio Republican Party feels about you, the voters. They think you’re stupid, since anyone with a sixth-grade education can see through the pre-school logic used in the Fred Mundt mailer.
Jill Thompson probably didn’t authorize or endorse this mailer, just as Debbie Phillips didn’t authorize a union-funded mailer that unfairly and dishonestly attacked Thompson based on her use of sick days over the years.
But I do blame the Ohio Republican Party for this immoral garbage. And while I consider myself an independent when it comes to local and regional candidates, this makes it unlikely that I’ll look favorably at any candidate endorsed by the Ohio Republican Party anytime soon, including Thompson.
Issue 6....
Issue 6
A gambling proponent said that Casinos often sponsor Gamblers Anonymous groups and that "everything should be done in moderation".
That's like the MedellÃn Cartel opening up a Methadone Clinic franchise, or MS-13 moonlighting as Guardian Angels.
The casino scam just moves money around. It doesn't create any real product. Right now we're in the middle of a mess caused by just that type of business.
Gambling proponents start with writing some pretty big checks to our politicos. Once entrenched, it then takes money from people who don't understand the odds (Sound familiar?) and funnels it into the pocket of mostly out-of-state interests. Then it throws a little chump-change into the pockets of the working poor, half of whom have gambling problems of their own and just pour it back in, not helping the economy at all. Then it skims off to the state a token in the interest of publicity ("Do it for the kids.").
Gambling is often referred to as “an Industry”. Wrong. An "industry" creates a durable product. It's a business, and the jobs in the gambling biz don’t make up for the extended misery it adds to lives and the money it takes that people need to live.
Gambling is designed to NOT be profitable for the consumer. The only way it exists is that success depends on the ignorance of that consumer, and a society that believes it can get more out of this scam than it puts in is just the sucker they are looking for.
For those of you who say that gambling should be allowed in the "interests of personal liberty", let's just take that to the extreme and put up Casinos right NEXT to schools. If it’s good for society, you shouldn’t have a problem with that. In fact, why don't we incorporate the schools into the casino system by setting up "Blackjack dealer 101" as an advanced math class? Instead of a test-out for college credit, there’s a test-out for a casino job.
The idea of gambling paying for public services is silly - the casino scam as a way to pave streets. It basically exists as another TAX, just like booze and smokes, and if you are pro-tax, you are pro Government involvement in the gambling biz. We pay enough taxes for that, to our mostly ineffective local government. And this is very important: the more taxes raised from Gambling, the more influence the Gambling biz has over your Government, compromising the legislative process.
That is not a good thing.
A gambling proponent said that Casinos often sponsor Gamblers Anonymous groups and that "everything should be done in moderation".
That's like the MedellÃn Cartel opening up a Methadone Clinic franchise, or MS-13 moonlighting as Guardian Angels.
The casino scam just moves money around. It doesn't create any real product. Right now we're in the middle of a mess caused by just that type of business.
Gambling proponents start with writing some pretty big checks to our politicos. Once entrenched, it then takes money from people who don't understand the odds (Sound familiar?) and funnels it into the pocket of mostly out-of-state interests. Then it throws a little chump-change into the pockets of the working poor, half of whom have gambling problems of their own and just pour it back in, not helping the economy at all. Then it skims off to the state a token in the interest of publicity ("Do it for the kids.").
Gambling is often referred to as “an Industry”. Wrong. An "industry" creates a durable product. It's a business, and the jobs in the gambling biz don’t make up for the extended misery it adds to lives and the money it takes that people need to live.
Gambling is designed to NOT be profitable for the consumer. The only way it exists is that success depends on the ignorance of that consumer, and a society that believes it can get more out of this scam than it puts in is just the sucker they are looking for.
For those of you who say that gambling should be allowed in the "interests of personal liberty", let's just take that to the extreme and put up Casinos right NEXT to schools. If it’s good for society, you shouldn’t have a problem with that. In fact, why don't we incorporate the schools into the casino system by setting up "Blackjack dealer 101" as an advanced math class? Instead of a test-out for college credit, there’s a test-out for a casino job.
The idea of gambling paying for public services is silly - the casino scam as a way to pave streets. It basically exists as another TAX, just like booze and smokes, and if you are pro-tax, you are pro Government involvement in the gambling biz. We pay enough taxes for that, to our mostly ineffective local government. And this is very important: the more taxes raised from Gambling, the more influence the Gambling biz has over your Government, compromising the legislative process.
That is not a good thing.
Voter Fraud... Is it happening on BOTH Sides?
Amazing, but both sides of the "blogASSphere" are all a-twitter with stories - albeit unverified, for the most part - of VOTER FRAUD (Jaws theme plays in background).
With the Dems, it's the spector of poll-fixing, where the machines take over! Dum-da-da-daaa-DUMMMMM!!!!
With the 'pubs, it's ACORN, the New Jersey Mafia of the Voter Registration Scam, only less competent... but still with the evidence riding around in the trunk.
You can check my experience watching ACORN work here.
I wonder if ANY of it is warrented.
From "Gordon Gekko" on the Thurber's Thoughts blog:
With the Dems, it's the spector of poll-fixing, where the machines take over! Dum-da-da-daaa-DUMMMMM!!!!
With the 'pubs, it's ACORN, the New Jersey Mafia of the Voter Registration Scam, only less competent... but still with the evidence riding around in the trunk.
You can check my experience watching ACORN work here.
I wonder if ANY of it is warrented.
From "Gordon Gekko" on the Thurber's Thoughts blog:
"... When you consider that you can register on line, in person at the BOE, and fill out the registration form enclosed with your tax returns, this seems ripe for just this kind of activity.
At what point does a citizen have a responsibility to seek out and act on their "right to vote"?
If the only way to vote is have an ACORN rep show up at a supermarket (or a Likker Sto') for you to fill out the forms, it doesn't appear to me that you consider your civic duty all that important."
I promise to pursue the truth... at least as far as the next beer. (Oops. Make that Bloody-Mary. I'm on a diet.)
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
First take on tonight's debate - McCain down in flames....
“My friends”. How many times? Thirty?
McCain missed too many openings. He didn’t listen to Obama’s replies and let too many opportunities pass. He referred to his notes to remember the questions and his talking points, and that looked weak.
Obamamania didn’t turn in a strong performance, but McCain would have done better if he hadn’t shown up.
McCain lost almost every point. He was especially weak on health care.
Of course his plan is written by the HC lobby and designed to effectively take the very chance of coverage away from those who most need it.
He missed the opportunity to really connect the Dems and the Fannie/Freddy debacle.
He had a chance to go for the kill on that and either chose not to, or flat-out wiffed.
No mention of Ayers either, but that may not have been a mistake. That is only flying with his supporters right now.
Only on the Pakistan and the Russia questions did he sound as if he knew what he was talking about.
The Iran waging war on Israel question was idiotic. How long would that last? 5 minutes?
Most importantly, he lost the “look and act” test. Unfortunately that’s what counts for most viewers. It left me wishing I’d listened to it on radio, so I could make-believe it was a tie.
McCain missed too many openings. He didn’t listen to Obama’s replies and let too many opportunities pass. He referred to his notes to remember the questions and his talking points, and that looked weak.
Obamamania didn’t turn in a strong performance, but McCain would have done better if he hadn’t shown up.
McCain lost almost every point. He was especially weak on health care.
Of course his plan is written by the HC lobby and designed to effectively take the very chance of coverage away from those who most need it.
He missed the opportunity to really connect the Dems and the Fannie/Freddy debacle.
He had a chance to go for the kill on that and either chose not to, or flat-out wiffed.
No mention of Ayers either, but that may not have been a mistake. That is only flying with his supporters right now.
Only on the Pakistan and the Russia questions did he sound as if he knew what he was talking about.
The Iran waging war on Israel question was idiotic. How long would that last? 5 minutes?
Most importantly, he lost the “look and act” test. Unfortunately that’s what counts for most viewers. It left me wishing I’d listened to it on radio, so I could make-believe it was a tie.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Voter Registration -- OHIO STYLE....
Today I was on an errand, and happened through Northern Lights Shopping Center off of North Cleveland Avenue in Columbus.
Today, October 6th, was the last day to register to vote in this year's General Election.
Two of the Center's major tenants are a Thrift store and a Liquor store, and being the first Monday of the month, there was quite the little steady stream of people heading into the "Likker Sto'" for their noon bag and lotto tics.
As I drove through the lot near the Liquor and Thrift stores in the Center, I noticed two cars at the curb and three people, volunteers of some sort, waylaying the people on the sidewalk in front of the liquor store and approaching cars that were driving past. They had clipboards, and were conducting what appeared to be a shuttle service, carting "prospective voters" to the registration and early absentee voting.
I noticed they were approaching every car that came near, so I drove around the lot and then coasted by really slow, my window rolled down and looking "interested". No luck. I did it again. Still no luck.
Then I noticed a couple of guys across the lot -- they had cameras and appeared to be documenting the scene.
Now, it's not against the law to talk to people outside of liquor stores -- AT 12:00 NOON on a MONDAY; but if you're looking for a certain type of prospective voter, then you're outside of a liquor store in a certain part of town at 12 Noon on a Monday. Right?
Right.
I'm a-bettin' they weren't Republican volunteers. Know what I mean?
Today, October 6th, was the last day to register to vote in this year's General Election.
Two of the Center's major tenants are a Thrift store and a Liquor store, and being the first Monday of the month, there was quite the little steady stream of people heading into the "Likker Sto'" for their noon bag and lotto tics.
As I drove through the lot near the Liquor and Thrift stores in the Center, I noticed two cars at the curb and three people, volunteers of some sort, waylaying the people on the sidewalk in front of the liquor store and approaching cars that were driving past. They had clipboards, and were conducting what appeared to be a shuttle service, carting "prospective voters" to the registration and early absentee voting.
I noticed they were approaching every car that came near, so I drove around the lot and then coasted by really slow, my window rolled down and looking "interested". No luck. I did it again. Still no luck.
Then I noticed a couple of guys across the lot -- they had cameras and appeared to be documenting the scene.
Now, it's not against the law to talk to people outside of liquor stores -- AT 12:00 NOON on a MONDAY; but if you're looking for a certain type of prospective voter, then you're outside of a liquor store in a certain part of town at 12 Noon on a Monday. Right?
Right.
I'm a-bettin' they weren't Republican volunteers. Know what I mean?
The Fine Print Scam of the Debates....
The Candidates don't really want to hear the people's questions....
It's called The Memorandum of Understanding.
What a joke.
McCrazy and Obamamania don't want you to understand s**t!
It's called The Memorandum of Understanding.
What a joke.
McCrazy and Obamamania don't want you to understand s**t!
Coming to grips with the Healthcare Crisis....
As a "Paleo-Conservative", Libertarian oriented American, this has been a tough one to deal with -- but I've done some research, and having recently come to grips with the inadequacies of our health care system, I've also had to come to grab hold of the fact that, in this instance, my economic ideals are trumped by belief in the righteousness of mercy, by logic and by need.
If Jesus healed the sick, should we not at least try to do likewise?
McCain is wrong on healthcare.
Simple.
If you ask the right questions.
The healthcare lobby, who wrote most of McCain's "health care program", pits the healthy, the young, and the wealthy against the poor in a Class War. And the poor cost us much more money.
Given the current economic facts, many more of us are soon to be poor. Which means that without some kind of national plan, many more of us will very soon be without healthcare.
The economic facts are CLEAR. As a nation, we would save money by enacting a one-payer, national healthcare system.
The Insurance Lobby will not let that happen.
And Obamamania is not much better. He's not in bed with the big business lobby as much as McCrazy, but his party is....
If Jesus healed the sick, should we not at least try to do likewise?
McCain is wrong on healthcare.
Simple.
If you ask the right questions.
The healthcare lobby, who wrote most of McCain's "health care program", pits the healthy, the young, and the wealthy against the poor in a Class War. And the poor cost us much more money.
Given the current economic facts, many more of us are soon to be poor. Which means that without some kind of national plan, many more of us will very soon be without healthcare.
The economic facts are CLEAR. As a nation, we would save money by enacting a one-payer, national healthcare system.
The Insurance Lobby will not let that happen.
And Obamamania is not much better. He's not in bed with the big business lobby as much as McCrazy, but his party is....
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Replies to "Religulous"....
Bill Maher picks the easy targets throughout this heavily edited Moorer-like expedition into "Religion". I have not seen the movie -- just as I plan not seeing American Carol, but from what I've read, it is just an expedition into the ego of Bill Maher in the form of a very weak rant, unburdened by any actual intellectual exploration of world-views. Evidently, when anyone says anything remotely sensible, Maher takes the easy way out, using the magnetics of editing it until the compass points to his previously decided conclusions....
Here's the skinny:
"... At one point, he interviews a scientist who believes in God and sees nothing inconsistent with science and religious faith. This man is no hick, and it would have been nice to hear what he had to say. But Maher doesn't give him a chance to talk. Maher's not interested in talking."
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
“Maher can target Christians because, if they take their calling seriously, they will heed the words of Jesus, which include: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" -- or in this case "mock you". It would be helpful if Maher would expand his definition of religion a bit and discuss worldviews. I'm sure he has one and wonder if he would be willing to articulate it.
If not, some questions: How did we get here? What time is it (i.e. in history)? What is our purpose in life? What is the source of [his] truth? It sounds like he is judging religious people against some moral standard he expects them to recognize as valid. Great, he should tell them how he stumbled upon it or how it was revealed to him.
There are people (atheists and theists alike) who are taking this discussion much more seriously and demonstrating some intellectual rigor in the process.”
Here's the skinny:
"... At one point, he interviews a scientist who believes in God and sees nothing inconsistent with science and religious faith. This man is no hick, and it would have been nice to hear what he had to say. But Maher doesn't give him a chance to talk. Maher's not interested in talking."
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
“Maher can target Christians because, if they take their calling seriously, they will heed the words of Jesus, which include: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" -- or in this case "mock you". It would be helpful if Maher would expand his definition of religion a bit and discuss worldviews. I'm sure he has one and wonder if he would be willing to articulate it.
If not, some questions: How did we get here? What time is it (i.e. in history)? What is our purpose in life? What is the source of [his] truth? It sounds like he is judging religious people against some moral standard he expects them to recognize as valid. Great, he should tell them how he stumbled upon it or how it was revealed to him.
There are people (atheists and theists alike) who are taking this discussion much more seriously and demonstrating some intellectual rigor in the process.”
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Biden Wins Debate, Palin Wins "Most Improved"....
Some fact-checking on the debate. As usual, the candidates lied about or distorted a number of things.
Amazing the difference between the way the Con and Lib blogs are spinning this. Each one saw a different debate and very few of them seem to have actually heard the answers (or, in most cases, the non-answers).
I wish there was a way to actually get candidates to answer important questions… so here's Palin's Debate Flow Chart.
I'm sick and tired of both of them (especially Palin) droppin' the G off of everythinG. I get why she does it -- evidently she's goin' fer what someone is telling her is the countrified/illiterate vote, but why does Biden have to match her? Brings both of them down in my eyes (Biden didn't have far to fall anyway.).
Palin narrowly lost the 1st 3rd, won the 2nd (Energy) and massively lost the last third. But then I was actually listenin' to what was actually said.
She avoided most of the questions. To be fair, Biden avoided them when it was convenient, but he won point by point. Some of her answers were not even in the same Galaxy in relation to the questions, while he was on point almost across the board.
Funny quote from Reason Mag's blog: “I think it was clear that Palin rolled up her sleeves, went a-rufflin' some feathers, winked a few times, was a maverick somethin’ somethin’ and is not from the East Coast. That's good enough for me to think she can handle the job.”
I do think it’s clear that everybody loves Israel. Except that both candidates were talking to Christian Zionists – not Jews.
The upshot is that Biden won the debate, and Palin won the "most improved" award, simply because expectations for her were (and rightly so) soooo low.
Ifill did a terrible job. She didn't make them ANSWER. Probably the debate format and her revealed book deal had something to do with it. Still, she was not an aggressive questioner at all.
I'm sick to my stomach listening to the various spin-meisters doing their fact-avoidance. The obvious is that our “News” providers are becoming more polarized. Each is a functional non-stop press-release of a particular party. Nobody "reports" anymore. They just spin, and spin, and spin, and spin, and....
Amazing the difference between the way the Con and Lib blogs are spinning this. Each one saw a different debate and very few of them seem to have actually heard the answers (or, in most cases, the non-answers).
I wish there was a way to actually get candidates to answer important questions… so here's Palin's Debate Flow Chart.
Candidates very often ignore a question they don't want to answer and go about espousing whatever line of tortured reasoning gives them an out and they think makes points with the viewers. It's a common debate tactic. However, few have ever done what Palin did by announcing: “I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you (Biden) want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people.” In other words, silly debate rules don’t apply to me, even though the McCain-Palin campaign negotiated and signed off on those rules.
This "folksy" speech crap has gone too far.I'm sick and tired of both of them (especially Palin) droppin' the G off of everythinG. I get why she does it -- evidently she's goin' fer what someone is telling her is the countrified/illiterate vote, but why does Biden have to match her? Brings both of them down in my eyes (Biden didn't have far to fall anyway.).
Palin narrowly lost the 1st 3rd, won the 2nd (Energy) and massively lost the last third. But then I was actually listenin' to what was actually said.
She avoided most of the questions. To be fair, Biden avoided them when it was convenient, but he won point by point. Some of her answers were not even in the same Galaxy in relation to the questions, while he was on point almost across the board.
Funny quote from Reason Mag's blog: “I think it was clear that Palin rolled up her sleeves, went a-rufflin' some feathers, winked a few times, was a maverick somethin’ somethin’ and is not from the East Coast. That's good enough for me to think she can handle the job.”
I do think it’s clear that everybody loves Israel. Except that both candidates were talking to Christian Zionists – not Jews.
The upshot is that Biden won the debate, and Palin won the "most improved" award, simply because expectations for her were (and rightly so) soooo low.
Ifill did a terrible job. She didn't make them ANSWER. Probably the debate format and her revealed book deal had something to do with it. Still, she was not an aggressive questioner at all.
I'm sick to my stomach listening to the various spin-meisters doing their fact-avoidance. The obvious is that our “News” providers are becoming more polarized. Each is a functional non-stop press-release of a particular party. Nobody "reports" anymore. They just spin, and spin, and spin, and spin, and....
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Palin/Biden Debate....
I've decided to ignore the economy and concentrate on something a little more fun: The Heart-beat Away Debate, or McCain's "Damn. I should have picked Christine Todd Whitman." moment.
Re.: Hard questions for candidates: "Why should a politician/candidate for high office have an easier time of it than a Doctoral candidate during the oral portion of an examination?"
I say "put 'em ALL on the grill", and not just for an hour debate, either. I'm talkin' serious, hard questions asked in front of the American people, complete with instant fact-checking of the answers -- on TV.
But we all know that could never be allowed -- at least by the American people, who would immediately get bored and flip to reruns of American Idol.
On the VP debate, I've changed my mind. No prediction here. I have no idea whether Palin will be able to handle the pressure.
The most important thing is that Gwen Ifill will decide the questions and I believe that very few of them will be what is expected. The questions will be calculated to highlight any unpreparedness of either candidate -- and give them rope to hang with....
Re.: Hard questions for candidates: "Why should a politician/candidate for high office have an easier time of it than a Doctoral candidate during the oral portion of an examination?"
I say "put 'em ALL on the grill", and not just for an hour debate, either. I'm talkin' serious, hard questions asked in front of the American people, complete with instant fact-checking of the answers -- on TV.
But we all know that could never be allowed -- at least by the American people, who would immediately get bored and flip to reruns of American Idol.
On the VP debate, I've changed my mind. No prediction here. I have no idea whether Palin will be able to handle the pressure.
The most important thing is that Gwen Ifill will decide the questions and I believe that very few of them will be what is expected. The questions will be calculated to highlight any unpreparedness of either candidate -- and give them rope to hang with....
I'm a-bettin' that while the candidates are prepping for the debate, Ifill is cribbing up on foreign policy questions. (Who's the Pakistani Assitant Minister of Defense?)
"... If you want to start your watch, it's 49 and a half hours before Gwen Ifill is accused of sexism and bias against moose-hunters."
Of course, Palin's team knows that, and they will try very hard to ready her. She may be a quick study. Or not.
Will be interesting.
Why McCain Will Lose....
The indictment of the Republican Party.
It no longer knows what it believes.
It no longer knows what is important.
It no longer knows what it believes.
It no longer knows what is important.
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