Shutdown?

Well, the government shutdown bug is alive and well. It looked like it had died out in the 1990's but no bad idea ever really goes away, I guess. This one has been revived by the same kind of folks who were doing them before, only these characters are more thoroughly nasty than the Gingrich crew.

I don't know what's going to happen, but I do know that every significant financial reversal in my life, except my divorce, has involved Republicans!

Birthers, Flat Earthers, and Others who Deny Reality

I tried to ignore this. Like you do the person who sits down next to you on the bus who is carrying on a conversation with people who aren't there. I was trying to be polite. But now polls show that as many as 28% of Republicans believe the President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

Enough is enough. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts.

As much as one can prove anything, President Obama has proven he was born in State of Hawaii, in the good ol' U.S. of A. He is a natural born citizen, get over it. Also for your information:

The Holocaust happened. Hitler did, indeed, murder at least 6 million Jews and millions of other people in concentration camps and death camps.

The Theory of Evolution is a settled issue. Species emerged on the earth through a complex series of adaptations, gradually changing form as some naturally occurring variations gave certain animals advantages over others, a process called Natural Selection. This process has taken billions of years, so...

The earth is several billion years old. Not a few thousand. Pieces of dinosaurs were not put in the stone by a malevolent god in order to trick us. The Earth is a very old rock (and round).

The earth is, as a result of human activity, gradually getting warmer. The changes exceed normal variations. The results have already been significant and will get more pronounced. We need to change our behavior now.

Oil is gradually being depleted. New oil is developing very slowly. These are fossil fuels and like other fossils, they are billions of years old (see above).

So-called socialized medicine in Europe, Canada, Japan and other civilized nations is not a horror show. If you really think it is, I have a challenge for you. Find a politician in a major political party in England, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, etc., who is willing to run for top political office on a platform of tearing down the terrible death trap that is socialized medicine and replacing it with an American style system of for-profit insurance primarily linked to employment. Go ahead, I'll wait here. [crickets]

There is no Easter Bunny, no Tooth Fairy, no Santa Claus.

There was an election in 2008 and you lost. There was no global conspiracy. You lost because, for the last 8 years, your party ran the country into the ground with incompetence and staggering arrogance. Stop grasping at straws and trying to destroy President Obama and this country. Offer honest and thoughtful responses to Democratic proposals. Drop the fear tactics and the extreme rhetoric. Don't tell people health care reform is a plot to murder old people and stop saying the liberals are coming to take people's guns. Have you guys really no self-respect at all?

Try, please try, looking inside yourselves with some honesty, a capacity you have not shown to date, and try to develop policies, programs and ideas that demonstrate leadership. We need that, any democracy needs at least two strong, viable political parties. I fear, I fear greatly, that you are devolving into a violent gang of thugish mentality, incapable of reason, denying facts that don't support your preconceived notions. This will kill your party, and I really don't care about that. But it won't be good for my country, and that is why, right now, I truly and completely hate the Republican Party.

Please, guys, please, turn it around.

Addendum

I had no sooner posted this than I was watching the news (MISTAKE!) and heard Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina (R-OMG) say that health care reform would lead to mandatory euthenasia for the elderly. She forgot, apparently, to say that a key element of the Democratic plan was a special health care sausage, made from kittens and puppies stolen from children. Once again, how do you debate with people who spew such garbage. She's either a congenital idiot or a conscious liar. I really do despair.

Palin Resigns

Just to think that this pitiful whining loser was, in the imaginations of some, qualified to be President! She can't handle the media pressure of being Governor of a state the size of Charlotte, NC (population Alaska, 2000 census 686, 293, Charlotte 687,456). She thought, McPathetic thought, she could be a heartbeat away? We really lucked out in sending this clown back to Juneau, and now she can head to Wasilla (or, more likely, she can take her self-pitying act to Faux News).

Every democracy (or democratic-republic) needs at least 2 strong political parties with ideas at their core. Instead, we now have a Republican party made up of Ensign-Sanford-Palin-Vitter-Craig and co., who wander from scandal to scandal. They seem to be led by either a war criminal or a drug addict. The drug addict hopes our country fails. The war criminal is hoping for another terrorist attack (like the one he allowed). One of the party's spokesmen was on Faux the other day hosting a traitor who actually expressed that wish, that Bin Lauden would attack and kill thousands, while the fool (Glenn Beck, for those who didn't see it) nodded his head in approval. The quicker the Republican party folds its little pup tent and slinks into the garbage heap of history where it belongs, the better. Then we can get a real, meaningful opposition that will offer ideas and prod the Democrats to do what needs to be done.

"I have said Sarah Palin's political ambition combined with her intellect is like putting a jet engine on a golf cart; lots of horse power and no steering capabilities. Today she proved it." --Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore

G. Washington on Treatment of Prisoners

These were the instructions of General George Washington to troops under his command after the Continental Army captured several thousand Hessians at Trenton:

"should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injur[e] any [of them]... I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause." Any officer who failed to heed this direction, he said, would bring "shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country."

"Shame, disgrace and ruin..."

Pretty strong words. We were in a much more basic and existential conflict then than we are now, but Washington knew that our honor, our self-respect and the very nature of our nation was on display in how we treated prisoners.

SOCIALISM!--Or, "Now You Have Cholera"

Follow this link to a wonderful video highlighting the dangers of socialism. We all need to be alert to this encroaching menace that threatens our American Way of Life. As the man in the video says, "we don't want our government doing anything for us." Soon we can all say, "I have cholera," the cholera of FREEDOM!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0&feature=player_embedded

Bipartisanship

You can't negotiate with crazy. As long as Republicans can only offer more and more tax cuts as their sole solution to this (or any other) problem they're useless. I have to give credit to blogger John Cole for this quote, which I think accurately summarizes efforts at bipartisan action in the current environment:

"I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years. "

Cautious Optimism

I've been trying very hard to tone down my expectations and to remain realistic, but optimistic. In my opinion, President Obama will inherit a more complex and difficult situation than any president in my lifetime, and the solutions to these problems will require a long, difficult course of action. Things are very likely to get worse before they get better. It's taken us 28 years to dig this hole and we won't be out of it quickly.

My tone of caution, however, was shattered this morning when I was on my way to work, listening to NPR, and heard a children's chorus singing "God Bless America," and I realized that maybe, just maybe, this was MY country again. I've been in tears ever since. The 8 year nightmare is over. I hope, oh how I hope, a time of reason and thoughtful action is here.

"But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."--President Barack Obama

Nothing is more important to the future of our nation or the world than understanding that we cannot put off unpleasant decisions any longer. We've lived for too long as though we thought our past assured our future. We've used limited resources as though they were endless and we've rung up debts that our grandchildren will struggle to pay, all without keeping our house in order. We have to face some years of struggle and sacrifice. There will be those who will tell us that our struggles are foolish or that our sacrifices are not needed. These people are liars.

Tagged reply

I've been told that the convention is to post the response to one's own blog, so here it is, with "Thanks" to Becky:

3 Names:

Jim, Grandpa (my favorite), Dad

3 Restaurants:

The Double Muskie (Girdwood, Alaska)--this is on the same little dirt road as Ted Steven's remodeled house, the house that (with any luck) got that obnoxious old coot out of the Senate and into a pleasant prison cell; Louisiana (Baltimore); Thai Siam (Seattle).

3 trips this year:

Philippines/Thailand, Baltimore, and Philippines again
3 pets:

Lady, Max, Sputnik

3 things I did yesterday:

Fly from Seattle to Boston, take pictures of my grand-nieces, talk to my mom

3 things I ate today:

Turkey sandwich at Panera, Frank's Lasagna (pretty good), bagel

3 fears:

John McCain elected and then dies (SHUDDERS!!!!), continuing financial collapse, delays in dealing with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

3 things I will do today:

Drive to Long Island, take my mom to get her car at the mechanic, go to bed soon

3 favorite Holidays:

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July

3 favorite drinks:

pass

Addenda: Mom's car wasn't ready. The number 3 restaurant may change at any moment. It may not be coincidence that numbers 1 and 2 are cajun. I really think I need to visit New Orleans. I will be visiting Bangkok in a couple of weeks and maybe then a native Thai restaurant will be added.

Estee Lauder Politics

Last weekend it was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, now, we have Wall Street continuing to collapse, with Lehman Brothers seemingly bankrupt, Merrill-Lynch needing to be sold to someone so they can avoid that fate, and Washington Mutual endangered. We found out that we're importing tainted baby formula from China. Hurricane Ike has brought back $4 gas (what a surprise, a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico). Unemployment continues high and foreclosures have set another new single month record. American casualties mount in Afghanistan and we have illegally invaded Pakistan, a nation we've in the past described as a critical ally in our so-called "War on Terror". And the debate among TV's talking heads? Makeup on farm animals. This nation is descending into idiocy.

In the prior post about Governor Palin, I removed the statement that she was a supporter of Buchanan in 2000, as it seems she actually supported Steve Forbes, and I clarified that she has been associated with the AIP, but has not been a member. Her greeting to their convention as Governor was way to friendly and First Dude Todd is a member, but she's been a faithful Republican since 1982. I apologize for the errors.

On trying to get her brother-in-law fired, this is a high school civics issue. You don't use public office for private gain or to further your private interests. When you're a public office holder and you run into an issue that involves your private interests, you recuse yourself to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest. The personal failings of the individual in question are not an issue. For all I know he's a terrible police officer who should be fired. It doesn't matter. These things should be handled in a manner consistent with law. Ms Palin appears, instead, to view holding public office as an opportunity for personal aggrandizement and for the settling of personal scores. It is exactly that separation that distinguishes our Constitutional form of government, in which power and authority are vested in an office and incidentally in an office holder, from a monarchy, in which power and authority are held by an individual as an individual. For the Latter-day Saint readers, I would refer you to the 121st section of the D&C.

I would expect any conservative to be appalled by her actions. These are the kinds of things that have marked the Bush administration's most significant failings, the belief that the President is above the law (as one of his spokesmen said "the President is always right") and that public office is an invitation to pillage the public purse (Halliburton). We're a government of laws and not of men. The growth of police powers and their partisan use--as exemplified by Justice Department officials asking political and religious questions of would-be attorneys--is a shockingly inappropriate use of power. If you're a Republican (or if you won't admit you're a Republican and you're a "conservative") just imagine what you'd think if similar questions are asked in an Obama administration.

OK, One more break for politics

No promises that this is the last one, but I'll try to control myself.

I would say that recklessness is not a quality I would want in a President. I think Mr. McCain has demonstrated breathtaking recklessness.

To me, it is reckless to nominate as Vice President someone who has not been vetted, someone who is not broadly known to the American people and someone who has major questions of political judgment.

This woman was associated with a secessionist party--the Alaska Independence Party! The last time a secessionist ran for office in the USA was 1860! That coincides nicely with her first statement when her nomination was announced, that she had to consider what she could do for Alaska as Vice President. UMMM, attention please, the office is Vice President of the United States (all of them), not VP for Alaska.

Then there is the issue of possibly firing a state official who would not fire her ex-brother-in-law as a state trooper. If true, this kind of personal use of official power is exactly the kind of stuff that has been the worst aspect of the current administration.

Can anyone seriously tell me that out of all the Republican office holders, this is the person most qualified to be President of the United States? Until Friday, had anyone even of thought the possibility that she could be POTUS?

We cannot afford to have another (thank you Sue/Ray) reckless, thoughtless, shoot-from-the-hip President!

A break for politics

I mostly intend this blog for lighthearted discussions of family, posting pictures and that sort of thing, but I feel compelled to take a break from that for a bit and talk the serious business of politics.

I think this is a crossroads election. As a nation we've been traveling down the wrong path most of the time since the unfortunate election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, and when the Supreme Court awarded the Presidency to the current incumbent, the speed of that wrong-way travel increased exponentially. We are now hurtling towards hell at breakneck speed in a very shopworn basket. The politics of fear, division and hate have allowed these evil people to steal our civil liberties, fight an unnecessary war to enrich their cronies, deny basic facts (global warming) to enrich other cronies all while American lives were being lost at home and abroad. Electing John McCain will mean 4 more years of these policies and will leave an America broken at home, disrespected, even hated, abroad, and deeply in debt, while fueling the ambitions of a man who sees war as the first alternative for settling international disputes. His election will mean death and destruction--not metaphorical, but real--and could lead to the end of the USA as we have known it. In 2000 we allowed an unelected president to steal the office because we valued internal peace too much. We cannot allow that to happen again. In 2008 we must win clearly and cleanly (as we did in 2000) and then not allow the inevitable attempt to steal the election to go unchallenged.

We must elect Barack Obama in 2008. His politics are not perfect, but they at least stop the insane swing towards the ultra-extreme right that we've been making. I regret that he voted to expand FISA, but I have some hope he will curtail the illegal eavesdropping and surveillance of political opponents that's going on now.

I have some hope that tax rates will be restored to somewhat less insane levels, with the very wealthy asked to pay their share and with the overall tax burden eased on middle and working class Americans. The current tax policies, along with this administration's policies of contracting out basic government services, have led to a situation in which the government is performing a massive income transfer--from the middle class to the upper classes and the largest corporations. No reasonable government with even the slightest intention of acting on behalf of the people would ever have such a policy. At the same time, we've accrued an enormous debt (does anyone remember that in 2000 there was debate about what to do with the surplus?), and most of that paper is held by China.

Our position as a great economic power is at extreme risk. The debt mentioned above is one reason, but deregulation of our economic markets has led to bubble after bubble as irrational investor optimism in tech stocks and real estate has been fueled by deceptive practices, once again enriching the wealthy few and leaving middle class and working class Americans holding the bag. This deregulation of business has been accompanied by increased levels of regulation on labor unions, making an uneven playing field even less even. I know that many people, especially the young, think that the relative affluence of working Americans happens because people work hard, but that's only partly true. People have worked hard for centuries and have nevertheless lived and died in poverty--lives that were, in the words of Hobbes, "nasty, brutish and short." It was the emergence of powerful organized labor in Western Europe and North America that led to better lives for working people. It is not a coincidence that the years in which America has had the most widely shared prosperity has been the years in which labor unions had their highest membership. Big corporations don't give anything to workers, the workers have to take it! Regular Americans forget this at their peril! If you think large corporations give high salaries, good vacations, health benefits and such willingly, take a look at their pay scales in the third world. To quote Dennis Kucinich, "wake up, America!"

I have some hope that we can restore our reputation abroad by returning to the international community and reversing our current policies of acting like a one-nation vigilante posse. There is in the world, I think, still a reservoir of sympathy for basic REAL American values, and we can tap into that again if we begin to act as one nation among many rather than pursue independent policies based in an irrational belief in American exceptionalism. We cannot act ourselves in ways that we would not tolerate from other nations. It is clear that Mr. McCain does not understand this--reference his statement in response to Russia invading Georgia that "in the 21st Century, nations don't invade other nations."