They may be unlikeable, but there's no denying Tea Party clout in the Republican Party. Let's hope that the light of day finally exposes the Tea Party for the hoax that it is before any more political damage is done.
Last week, the New York Times revealed the results of a poll conducted by Harvard Professor Robert Putnam and Notre Dame political scientist David Campbell. In the Putnam/Campbell poll, Tea Party followers were found to be less popular than atheists and Muslims. I realize that the results of the poll represents a slight to atheists and Muslims, which is totally unjustified, but the fact that the Tea Party image is held in such poor esteem definitely says something about that movement's core philosophy. Manure might be more useful.
Democracies thrive when cooperation rules the day, and the Tea Party's obstructionist ways add nothing positive toward solving our nation's woes. Let's hope their polling numbers continue to fall.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
IGNORING THE OBVIOUS IN TEXAS
It's hotter than ever in Texas, with its record breaking streak of days with 100+ degree temperatures as proof, but Texas governor/presidential candidate Rick Perry says that global warming is a bunch of hooey and his adoring fans keep nodding. Texas is also suffering from one of the longest droughts ever recorded in the region, but Texas governor/presidential candidate Rick Perry says that climate change is just a bunch of hooey, and all his adoring fans keep nodding at that one too. The same goes for melting polar ice caps and the large increase of tornadoes in America. According to Perry, it's all a fluke!
I understand the notion that everything's bigger in Texas, which includes the tales of Texas politicians, but what I can't understand is why Texans suffering under the relentless heat tout Perry as some kind of hero and think all he says is gospel truth. Perhaps the heat has fried their brains and mass dehydration has set in. I hear that both cause hallucinations, which might account for some of the hero worship, but, come on. Perry's education hasn't included a single science class on the environment, so it's not like the guy has any legitimate scientific credentials – unless taking in tens of thousands of dollars of fossil fuel industry donations counts for anything.
Climatologists warn that melting sea ice will raise the height of our oceans by three feet over the next twenty years, but few in the political arena seem to want to confront exactly what that will mean for the tens of millions of folks who live within a few miles of shorelines. Much of that area will be inundated with water, and if folks think that barriers will keep the rising oceans at bay, they are seriously underestimating the power of Mother Nature. Perry's pandering will not hold back high tide, let alone a storm surge, nor will sticking heads in the sand keep folks dry.
Global warming is already here, whether the good folks in Texas want to acknowledge it or not. The proof is right outside their front door.
I understand the notion that everything's bigger in Texas, which includes the tales of Texas politicians, but what I can't understand is why Texans suffering under the relentless heat tout Perry as some kind of hero and think all he says is gospel truth. Perhaps the heat has fried their brains and mass dehydration has set in. I hear that both cause hallucinations, which might account for some of the hero worship, but, come on. Perry's education hasn't included a single science class on the environment, so it's not like the guy has any legitimate scientific credentials – unless taking in tens of thousands of dollars of fossil fuel industry donations counts for anything.
Climatologists warn that melting sea ice will raise the height of our oceans by three feet over the next twenty years, but few in the political arena seem to want to confront exactly what that will mean for the tens of millions of folks who live within a few miles of shorelines. Much of that area will be inundated with water, and if folks think that barriers will keep the rising oceans at bay, they are seriously underestimating the power of Mother Nature. Perry's pandering will not hold back high tide, let alone a storm surge, nor will sticking heads in the sand keep folks dry.
Global warming is already here, whether the good folks in Texas want to acknowledge it or not. The proof is right outside their front door.
SCAMMING YOUR WAY INTO A FIRST CLASS SEAT
The headline on a Comcast Internet article I saw this morning read, "Trick Your Way On To First Class". An airliner was pictured in the background with a note that indicated the article contained tips on how airline passengers could finagle their way into a first class seat. Flying somewhere is not in my foreseeable future, so I didn't read the article, but the headline made me think about a topic I've been mulling over for some time – our society's affinity for get-rich-quick schemes.
At a time when our nation is experiencing severe economic distress, lotteries have grown more popular by the day. Games with the highest payouts attract the most players despite the fact that the odds of any given individual winning are infinitesimal at best. Casinos and gaming parlors are spreading like wildfires with promises of new found wealth and riches. Almost daily, our newspapers reveal that another Ponzi scheme has been uncovered. What do they all have in common? The promise of riches for next to nothing in return!
Whatever happened to making money the old-fashioned way – by working for it?
I remember the first time I stepped into a jet airplane and started walking down the aisle toward my seat in the rear of the plane. I glanced at the "suits" sitting in the first class section and wondered what kind of work each of those passengers did to earn the kind of money necessary to afford a first-class seat. It didn't occur to me to scam my way into first class or think such a seat would fall into my lap. No, I wondered how much work it would take to earn my way there.
It's not like that anymore. It seems like a lot of people are more interested in the scam than the work, which is regrettable, because society suffers when a day's worth of labor is ignored and devalued. The truth is a nation of workers can become wealthy quicker than a nation of scammers, but it takes effort and appreciation of labor to do so. Those things have been in short supply lately, and unfortunately, our nation has produced little fruit because of it.
At a time when our nation is experiencing severe economic distress, lotteries have grown more popular by the day. Games with the highest payouts attract the most players despite the fact that the odds of any given individual winning are infinitesimal at best. Casinos and gaming parlors are spreading like wildfires with promises of new found wealth and riches. Almost daily, our newspapers reveal that another Ponzi scheme has been uncovered. What do they all have in common? The promise of riches for next to nothing in return!
Whatever happened to making money the old-fashioned way – by working for it?
I remember the first time I stepped into a jet airplane and started walking down the aisle toward my seat in the rear of the plane. I glanced at the "suits" sitting in the first class section and wondered what kind of work each of those passengers did to earn the kind of money necessary to afford a first-class seat. It didn't occur to me to scam my way into first class or think such a seat would fall into my lap. No, I wondered how much work it would take to earn my way there.
It's not like that anymore. It seems like a lot of people are more interested in the scam than the work, which is regrettable, because society suffers when a day's worth of labor is ignored and devalued. The truth is a nation of workers can become wealthy quicker than a nation of scammers, but it takes effort and appreciation of labor to do so. Those things have been in short supply lately, and unfortunately, our nation has produced little fruit because of it.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
DRAFTING SUSAN IN 2012
I've tried to convince my wife, Susan to run for the Republican presidential nomination. I know she's not particularly interested in spending the next fifteen months traipsing around the country on the campaign trail, and I'm positive she's not keen on the idea of moving from our humble abode into the White House, but after watching all the hoopla surrounding Michele Bachman's so-called victory in the Iowa straw poll last week, I know Susan would be a contender! Here's why:
Bachman laid claim to a resounding victory in Iowa's Republican presidential candidate straw poll after collecting only 4,823 votes from across the entire state of Iowa. That's one vote for every 2,073 hogs Iowa produced last year, but who's counting? In 2009, when my wife ran for judge here in York County, she garnered 3,869 votes in the Republican primary. Granted, that number is approximately a thousand less votes than Bachman registered in Iowa, but Susan's votes were just from this county (Pennsylvania has 56 counties) and Bachman's votes were from an entire state.
Put in another perspective, while Bachman took first place with 4,823 state-wide votes and Ron Paul took second place with 4,671 statewide votes, the third-place finished (Tim Pawlenty) drew only 2,293 votes, which means that Susan would have been the third place finisher with 3,869 votes – ahead of Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Huntsman, Cain and Rick Perry…not a bad showing since she never campaigned in Iowa.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that Susan couldn't have duplicated that show in Iowa. Au contraire!
Like Bachman, Susan was born in Iowa – Clinton, to be exact. Like Bachman, Susan grew up in the Iowa. Unlike Bachman, Susan attended high school (Clinton High) and college in Iowa (Cornell College in Mount Vernon) and visits relatives in the state on a frequent basis, not just when an election rolls around. Susan's late mother, Doctor Margaret Smythe Emmons, was a well-known philanthropist in the state who supported many local and state organizations and educational institutions. I realize one shouldn't rest on the laurels of their parents, but Susan's generosity and sense of obligation to her community doesn't fall far from her mother's tree. People in Iowa appreciate that kind of thing.
Susan has a proven record of public service accomplishments that far outshines anything that Bachman has achieved in her brief congressional career. That matters to Iowa voters too. Plus, on any given Saturday in the fall, Susan wears a Hawkeye sweatshirt. You won't be seeing Bachman wearing one (She's a Golden Gopher fan)!
So, to any Bachman fans out there who might accidentally come upon this liberal blog, you can thank your lucky stars that Susan is married to a guy with more skeletons in his closet than a Wal-Mart superstore could hold. Otherwise, you wouldn't have such silly grins on your faces and Bachman would be looking up in the polls at a much more qualified candidate.
Maybe it's a good thing that Susan has no interest in running for the Republican nomination. As her liberal Democratic husband, I have a vested interest in keeping peace in this household.
Bachman laid claim to a resounding victory in Iowa's Republican presidential candidate straw poll after collecting only 4,823 votes from across the entire state of Iowa. That's one vote for every 2,073 hogs Iowa produced last year, but who's counting? In 2009, when my wife ran for judge here in York County, she garnered 3,869 votes in the Republican primary. Granted, that number is approximately a thousand less votes than Bachman registered in Iowa, but Susan's votes were just from this county (Pennsylvania has 56 counties) and Bachman's votes were from an entire state.
Put in another perspective, while Bachman took first place with 4,823 state-wide votes and Ron Paul took second place with 4,671 statewide votes, the third-place finished (Tim Pawlenty) drew only 2,293 votes, which means that Susan would have been the third place finisher with 3,869 votes – ahead of Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Huntsman, Cain and Rick Perry…not a bad showing since she never campaigned in Iowa.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that Susan couldn't have duplicated that show in Iowa. Au contraire!
Like Bachman, Susan was born in Iowa – Clinton, to be exact. Like Bachman, Susan grew up in the Iowa. Unlike Bachman, Susan attended high school (Clinton High) and college in Iowa (Cornell College in Mount Vernon) and visits relatives in the state on a frequent basis, not just when an election rolls around. Susan's late mother, Doctor Margaret Smythe Emmons, was a well-known philanthropist in the state who supported many local and state organizations and educational institutions. I realize one shouldn't rest on the laurels of their parents, but Susan's generosity and sense of obligation to her community doesn't fall far from her mother's tree. People in Iowa appreciate that kind of thing.
Susan has a proven record of public service accomplishments that far outshines anything that Bachman has achieved in her brief congressional career. That matters to Iowa voters too. Plus, on any given Saturday in the fall, Susan wears a Hawkeye sweatshirt. You won't be seeing Bachman wearing one (She's a Golden Gopher fan)!
So, to any Bachman fans out there who might accidentally come upon this liberal blog, you can thank your lucky stars that Susan is married to a guy with more skeletons in his closet than a Wal-Mart superstore could hold. Otherwise, you wouldn't have such silly grins on your faces and Bachman would be looking up in the polls at a much more qualified candidate.
Maybe it's a good thing that Susan has no interest in running for the Republican nomination. As her liberal Democratic husband, I have a vested interest in keeping peace in this household.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
RANGER RICK MOUTHS OFF
The Republican's newest presidential candidate, Rick Perry of Texas told a radio talk-show audience the other day that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was guilty of committing treason for carrying out the Federal Reserve plan known as "quantitative easing". The plan entailed the Federal Reserve printing extra dollars and using those funds to purchase municipal bonds on behalf of the federal government. The plan's intent was to add more liquidity to our nation's money supply and promote investment and job growth by making more cash available for businesses to borrow. How much success the plan garnered is a debatable question, but doing nothing – as Hoover did, which caused the Great Depression – was not an option and the Federal Reserve was trying to achieve a public good.
Unfortunately, for Tea Party folk like Perry who hate the Federal Reserve and see it as a front-man for "big government", anything the Federal Reserve does to stabilize financial markets and promote job growth is treasonous. Ordinarily, I'd pass Perry's comment off as just another wing-nut rant, but Perry is the guy who, earlier this year, said that Texas should secede from the Union. Perry calling Bernanke a traitor sounds a lot like hypocrisy to me. Then again, Perry is no stranger to hypocrisy.
And then there's Perry second comment about Bernanke. Perry said that if Bernanke came down to Texas, they'd treat him ugly. You know, that's what the Taliban in Southern Afghanistan say about American troops, and we all know what the Taliban mean. That's what white Southerners said about Black people, and we all know what the Southerners meant. That's what Perry meant too.
A politician threatening American citizens with death over political differences does not belong on American soil, so it's time for guys like Rick Perry to be soundly rejected by everyone. Dictators and brutal regimes do that kind of stuff. Americans should never tolerate it, no matter what party the politician represents.
Unfortunately, for Tea Party folk like Perry who hate the Federal Reserve and see it as a front-man for "big government", anything the Federal Reserve does to stabilize financial markets and promote job growth is treasonous. Ordinarily, I'd pass Perry's comment off as just another wing-nut rant, but Perry is the guy who, earlier this year, said that Texas should secede from the Union. Perry calling Bernanke a traitor sounds a lot like hypocrisy to me. Then again, Perry is no stranger to hypocrisy.
And then there's Perry second comment about Bernanke. Perry said that if Bernanke came down to Texas, they'd treat him ugly. You know, that's what the Taliban in Southern Afghanistan say about American troops, and we all know what the Taliban mean. That's what white Southerners said about Black people, and we all know what the Southerners meant. That's what Perry meant too.
A politician threatening American citizens with death over political differences does not belong on American soil, so it's time for guys like Rick Perry to be soundly rejected by everyone. Dictators and brutal regimes do that kind of stuff. Americans should never tolerate it, no matter what party the politician represents.
FALK ON THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
Richard Falk, the Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University recently wrote a powerful essay for Aljazeera entitled, Why the Afghanistan War Wont End Soon. Falk's piece details America's collective lack of understanding regarding the dynamics of Afghanistan and our failure to recognize that military intervention is not the answer for achieving a lasting piece in that region and other places around the globe. It's a very thought-provoking piece and I'd urge everyone to read it. The article can be found at the following web address:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/201181592644232878.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/201181592644232878.html
ASSAD'S KILLING MACHINE CONTINUES
Syrian President Bashar Assad apparently didn't get the Koran memo about not killing his own people during the Muslim holy month of Ramadam. He's ordered his military to lay siege to the Syrian city of Latakia where his regime's opponents have seized control of the local government and inspired other anti-Assad protests around Syria. For a guy like Assad, that's not the kind of protest a brutal dictator can tolerate. After all, look what happened to Mubarak in Egypt. Mubarak allowed Egyptian protests to take hold and he ended up in jail facing trial and calls for his death. Assad read the tea leaves. He's opted to use violence to quash the rebellion and the Syrian military is only too happy to comply.
Syrian navy vessels have bombarded the city of Latakia from coastal waters with rockets and scores of Syrian tanks have attacked the city from the east with a constant stream of mortar fire. Innocent civilians, whose only crime is their desire for freedom from tyranny and oppression, are caught in the middle of an unmerciful assault intended to level their city.
We've seen this story countless times before, in places like Iran and Libya and Bosnia, where brutal totalitarian regimes resort to senseless violence to hold onto power, and are willing to sacrifice any number of innocent civilians in the course of doing so.
I wish political would come to appreciate that killing is not the answer. Dare I dream?
Syrian navy vessels have bombarded the city of Latakia from coastal waters with rockets and scores of Syrian tanks have attacked the city from the east with a constant stream of mortar fire. Innocent civilians, whose only crime is their desire for freedom from tyranny and oppression, are caught in the middle of an unmerciful assault intended to level their city.
We've seen this story countless times before, in places like Iran and Libya and Bosnia, where brutal totalitarian regimes resort to senseless violence to hold onto power, and are willing to sacrifice any number of innocent civilians in the course of doing so.
I wish political would come to appreciate that killing is not the answer. Dare I dream?
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