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Jan
09

Taking “Occupy” To The Next Level

By | Blog, Culture, Politics

Angry SignI’m not necessarily a big Occupy guy although I understand and sympothize with the ideas. Occupy needs to move beyond camping, however, if it’s going to start effecting real change. Occupy is also going to have to cooeless around some clearly communicated values and goals. It’s going to have to start trying to wrest the reins of power from the very 1% it rails against. This is what has made the Tea Party so effective. They turned their movement into a political power. Like it or not its political power that effects change.

Occupy likes to think of itself as an ultra-democratic, grass roots, no formal organization and leaderless body. That’s great for a utopian dream, but impractical in today’s reality. You can take your hippie-dippie values and shove ‘em, the only thing that counts is real change and real change takes leaders and solid ideas. Unfortunately or fortunately the only way to make real change is to wield the levers of power. The two levers of power in this world are money and politics. So either Occupy finds some very rich support or they had better start figuring out how to get folks elected to local, state and national office. I’m sure most Occupy folks abhor money and politics but if they don’t get over this problem soon, they will amount to a hill of beans. Yell, scream and shove signs in my face all day and I don’t care. Why don’t you pick up a shovel and get to work already. Stop shouting and DO something.

Again, this is where you have to greatly respect the Tea Party. They did their protests in the park and waved their signs, and then they got to work getting people elected. They realized the current folks in power were not going to pay attention to them, so they worked to get them out in favor of candidates who held values closer to their own. It didn’t always work and they lost plenty of times, but they moved the needle.

This is how it works and unfortunately I don’t see any ambition or organization in Occupy to do anything like this. People WILL tire of your bitching and complaining if that’s all you seem to do. 2012 is the make or break year for Occupy. Time to stand up or fade away.

Dec
16

Ron Paul – The Only Intellectually Honest Republican

By | Blog, Politics

Ron PaulI’m a Democrat. Pretty much always have been and I support President Obama, for the most part. I certainly wish he would play a lot tougher with the Republicans who, no matter how much good will he may show them, will never truly respect or want to work with him.

I am watching with great interest the Republican process to see who will challenge Obama next year. It has been quite shocking to see the collection of candidates they have to choose from. And here we thought George W Bush was not very smart. Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Michelle Bachman; these guys make Bush look like Albert Einstein. When did dim witted become the new black in Republican politics?

Of course even those who are not completely out to lunch are full of s*it. Politicians have always been full of s*it, but they used to be better at hiding it. These days, it seems, you don’t even need to.

I am not a big fan of Ron Paul and I’m certainly not a Libertarian. Yes, remember Ron Paul isn’t even a real Republican, he’s a Libertarian. Twice he was their candidate for President. However, the more I watch and listen this campaign year the more it becomes painfully obvious that Ron Paul is the only intellectually honest Republican left. I don’t agree with most of Paul’s positions and I wouldn’t vote for him for president, but what a breath of fresh air he is into a room full of skullduggery. It’s no wonder he gets good support from young people. The youth these days can sniff out bull crap a mile away and they’re sick of it. Young people know Paul is the only intellectually honest Republican and they love him for that.

Despite being a Democrat, I don’t think the country would be a better place if everyone was a Democrat. We need a strong two party system, at least two parties. But the Republican party is not strong and full of intellectually honest people. It seems to only value the dim witted, completely non flexible types. Donald Trump, Christine O’Donnell, Sarah Palin. This is your new Republican party. I can’t help think William F. Buckley himself would be embarrassed.

Dec
12

Why Romney Feels Like Hillary Clinton

By | Blog, Politics

insane clown posseIn 2008 the Democratic primary was Hilliary Clinton’s to loose. It was pretty well known even a year before that she would win the contest. She had everything going for her, no way she could loose. Then, out of nowhere, comes Barack Obama and completely by surprise, steals the primary from her.

This nightmare senario is playing out again four years later, but this time it’s on the Republican side and the victim is Mitt Romney. This was Romney’s primary to loose. He has had everything on his side; the money, the establishment. Newt Gingrich’s primary was over before it even began. In the first week of his run, Gingrich imploded in spectacular fashion. Over, done. Now, the one thing that Romney could not afford to happen has happened. With all the other Republican candidates worn out, the anti-Romney votes have all coalesced around Newt Gingrich. As a commentator I heard recently said, Romney has been playing not to loose rather than to win. But, in fact, the more Romney opens his mouth, the more he puts his foot in it. The Bret Baier Fox interview, the $10,000 bet debacle. Romney looked a lot smarter when he hardly said anything. I could easily see Gingrich taking this primary from Romney and then loosing to Obama. People forget, outside of the far right, Gingrich has pretty high negatives. His ego is out of control  and he can often be a pompous ass. It’s ironic too because the anti-establishment tea party is about to help choose the most inside guy you could imagine for the Republican candidate for president in 2012. The entire Republican field this year has resembled the Insane Clown Posse more than a group of serious people with solid solutions for these difficult times. I think Obama has done some good things in his first term, but also has made some big mistakes. He needs to get a lot tougher in the second term and start calling bullshit on more people.

Apr
08

Donald Trump: First Class A-Whole

By | Blog, Politics

I wrote earlier in this blog on how I thought Donald Trump could make an interesting and compelling presidential candidate. I take back everything I said as it turns out Trump is a complete and utter joke.

Trump’s big advantage is that he is an outsider to Washington, a practical businessman who knows how to deal with complex business situations. Instead of focusing on his strength and what people actually care about, namely the economy he decides to focus all his effort on Obama’s birth certificate. This issue has been largely relegated to the sidelines, reserved for only the most looney provocateurs. But Trump can’t stop talking about it and every time he does he sounds more inane.

Even when he gets off the birth certificate most of what he has been saying makes little or no sense at all. This is not the thinking of an educated mature adult but more like that of an impulsive teenager. Add to that the maniacal ego and this guy has no shot at the nomination nor the outright election.

Jan
26

Steampunk Palin Comic

By | Blog, Culture, Politics

If I didn’t see it for myself I might think it wasn’t true, but there is indeed a new comic book featuring Sarah Palin in a Steampunk adventure. You could create a lot of different comics with Sarah Palin, but somehow the Steampunk genre fits well. I don’t think I’ll get or read the comic mostly because I don’t want to add any more monitory value to her name in any way even in jest. Still, I think it’s cool.

Nov
20

On “American Exceptionalism”

By | Blog, Politics

American FlagMore politics. Sorry, I can’t help myself. It’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to…or something like that.

I really liked this article by Matt Miller in the Washington Post on American exceptionalism. I’ve always thought the whole concept was a bunch of bullshit. Not only that, it’s obnoxious and arrogant. America is awesome and everyone else sucks. If you don’t believe in that, than you suck too. Really?

Is America a great country? Absolutely. Would I rather live somewhere else? Nope. Unlike some proponents of American exceptionalism I have traveled the world some and experienced other countries that I though were really great. How can someone like Sarah Palin crow about American exceptionalism when she’s barely been out of the country? How can you know everyone else sucks so much compared to us? Just a completely uninformed opinion which is much like many of her other opinions.

I think America is awesome and so are some other places I’ve been and that’s ok. There’s plenty of awesomeness to go around. And let’s just get it on the record, America has plenty of problems too. We’re hardly the perfect country. If we close ourself off to other countries and become unwilling to believe we might have something to learn from others, that’s our loss and we will be weaker for it.

I love my country but excuse me if I don’t thump my chest and wave my flag in your face to prove it.

Nov
19

Trump For President? Actually, Yes

By | Blog, Politics

Donald TrumpDonald Trump has been talking about the pressure he is getting to run for president in 2012. He is taking the typical stance of I don’t really want to do it, but gee, if you really, really want me to…

I actually think Trump would have an excellent chance to win and might even make a decent president. Here’s why.

Name Recognition

It goes without saying Trump has the biggest name recognition of any potential Republican candidate. What’s better, I would bet his positive ratings are fairly high. It’s pretty easy to accomplish when you have never held elective office and had to answer to anything. Still, name recognition is critical in elections and Trumps got it.

A True Outsider

There has been so much talk about “outsider” candidates lately, people are in love with anything that doesn’t appear to come from Washington. But the truth is, many of the Tea Party candidates are not outsiders at all. Many had previous dabblings in and around politics. Trump is truly an outsider as he has been a pure businessman his entire life and everyone knows it. Trump seems to be the least tainted with anything vaguely political. While he surely is a Republican, I don’t see any grand political agenda which frees him up from having to cow tow to any particular interest group.

A Straight Shooter

For all his bombast, ie. You’re Fired, Trump is known as a straight shooter. He’s going to tell you the way he thinks it is and he’s not afraid to fail now and then. He may decide to run for president but if he doesn’t make it, it’s not going to kill him. Some of these other candidates I get the feeling they want it too badly. Trunp’s straightforwardness would be refreshing and I think people would really respect that.

Its The Economy Stupid

If the economy has not recovered sufficiently by 2012 and the jobs are not there, it’s going to come down to who can finally fix the economy. What better man for the job than someone who has already proven himself a master of economics.

Achilles Heel

Of course the big weakness in Trump is going to be his experience outside of economic issues. Does he have enough foreign policy and non economic domestic experience to get the rest of the job done? Generally Trump is regarded as a pretty smart cookie, so he may be able to slide on this one but if he is too much a one trick pony, he may fail.

Nov
05

Politics 2012 – The Breaking Point

By | Blog, Politics

breaking pointI rarely do politics here, but I’m going to give you my analysis of the state of our nation as it stands politically and as we move into the presidential election year in 2012.

We are in a state of continual political overreaction. The pendulum always swings, but lately it has been swinging harder and faster than ever before. When the Republicans were swept out of office completely in 2008 their reaction was to believe their problem was they had not been conservative enough. The Tea Party was born and Republicans took a hard right turn. Now Democrats have been swept out of office just as dramatically in 2010. What will their reaction be? I am already hearing it. Progressives, liberals, whatever you want to call them; the hard left of the Democratic party has decided their problem is that they were not liberal enough. Too much compromise with the Republicans will be their diagnosis. The Democratic party is going to take a hard turn to the left going into 2012.

Where will that leave us? Going into 2012, Republicans dug in hard on the far right and not giving an inch. Democrats dug in hard and not giving an inch on the far left. When you have two opposing forces pulling that hard in opposite directions, I think we will be reaching a breaking point. As the saying goes, something’s got to give. Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity was great and well meaning but I fear it was a shout into the darkness. What are true moderate independents like myself to do when left with these choices? I’ve often lately wished for a third party, the Reasonable Party I call it. Anyone else interested?

Jan
22

Great Parody Ad: Democrats Get Balls

By | Blog, Politics

I love it when someone makes content that expresses exactly how you feel about a situation. Democrats have been so incredible wimpy and inept this year, letting Republicans and conservative pundits bully them around. It’s one of the reasons I am on the hunt for a new political party or more likely political philosophy, independent of party as I am thinking more and more when you get yourself into a “party” situation, that’s when things start to fall apart.

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Dec
11

The Irrefutable Stupidity of Sarah Palin

By | Blog, Politics

I have known this for a very long time and others have hinted at it but now the truth can be told. It has nothing to do with sexism or agism or any other “ism” you want to point to. It’s just a simple, unfortunate fact. Sarah Palin is not very smart. Sorry conservatives but it also has nothing to do with the fact that anyone is scared or her or threatened by her or much of anything else but the facts. This article on the Huffington Post lays it out in simple terms.

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