Ted Stevens, senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations committee, and architect of the famous "Bridge to Nowhere" is finally put on the short bridge to oblivion. Let's all wish him a fast journey.
(Hah, you thought this was a Chappaquiddick story, didn't you?)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Al's Weather Report
And by the way, our weather sure is getting strange, isn't it? There seem to be more tornadoes than in living memory, longer droughts, bigger downpours and record floods. Unprecedented fires are burning in California and elsewhere in the American West. Higher temperatures lead to drier vegetation that makes kindling for mega-fires of the kind that have been raging in Canada, Greece, Russia, China, South America, Australia and Africa. Scientists in the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science at Tel Aviv University tell us that for every one degree increase in temperature, lightning strikes will go up another 10 percent. And it is lightning, after all, that is principally responsible for igniting the conflagration in California today. -- Al Gore, July 17, 2008
Like the old-timer on the front porch, he sits there in the rocking chair and nods knowingly like he's seen it all before. It's easy to dismiss his rantings as another in a long line of retired people who can't hear enough of his own opinions. Old people like to talk about the weather. But this is a twist, because now the old timer is saying the weather is worse than it was in the good old days.
He's right as far as that goes. We probably are having more weather than when he was a boy. I can attest to the 95 year flood in central Indiana. I can note that we are under a severe storm watch today, while having dealt with a drought a year ago. And just like the other old-timers sitting on the porch, Al Gore has exactly no chance of ever changing the weather. Zip. Regardless of how many trillions of our dollars he persuades our government to spend.
Yet, here he is, getting all sorts of added attention, movie and book deals, awards, and such just for giving his opinion on the weather (where do I sign up for that gig?). But here's the thing. Weather is a verifiable fact, and Al has no monopoly on that. We can all see the statistics if that sort of thing interests you. What's different is a matter of opinion. Al's opinion -- if you look at it in the context of the old-timer in the rocking chair -- is that (get this) ...the rest of the neighborhood caused the bad weather. Instead of nodding back, pouring him some iced tea, and changing the subject, we literally beg him to go on blathering.
Al will be gone before the damage he creates here will be attributed to him. He is getting a lot of attention for an old-timer, he can say whatever he wants and watch the fun go by. When the US finally figures out that his cause was an enormous ineffective rat-hole that will suck up enough resources to make The Great Society look like a trip to the Safeway, it will be too late to catch up to the rest of the world.
Pass the iced tea.
Like the old-timer on the front porch, he sits there in the rocking chair and nods knowingly like he's seen it all before. It's easy to dismiss his rantings as another in a long line of retired people who can't hear enough of his own opinions. Old people like to talk about the weather. But this is a twist, because now the old timer is saying the weather is worse than it was in the good old days.
He's right as far as that goes. We probably are having more weather than when he was a boy. I can attest to the 95 year flood in central Indiana. I can note that we are under a severe storm watch today, while having dealt with a drought a year ago. And just like the other old-timers sitting on the porch, Al Gore has exactly no chance of ever changing the weather. Zip. Regardless of how many trillions of our dollars he persuades our government to spend.
Yet, here he is, getting all sorts of added attention, movie and book deals, awards, and such just for giving his opinion on the weather (where do I sign up for that gig?). But here's the thing. Weather is a verifiable fact, and Al has no monopoly on that. We can all see the statistics if that sort of thing interests you. What's different is a matter of opinion. Al's opinion -- if you look at it in the context of the old-timer in the rocking chair -- is that (get this) ...the rest of the neighborhood caused the bad weather. Instead of nodding back, pouring him some iced tea, and changing the subject, we literally beg him to go on blathering.
Al will be gone before the damage he creates here will be attributed to him. He is getting a lot of attention for an old-timer, he can say whatever he wants and watch the fun go by. When the US finally figures out that his cause was an enormous ineffective rat-hole that will suck up enough resources to make The Great Society look like a trip to the Safeway, it will be too late to catch up to the rest of the world.
Pass the iced tea.
Friday, July 18, 2008
McCain buys Gore-baloney
"If the vice president says it's doable, I believe it's doable" -- John McCain
Thursday, July 17, 2008
"Post-Industrial"?
"But just as importantly, what Americans need now is leadership to get moving again -- rather than more platitudes about hope, squabbling about race and gender, and endless rhetoric about who is really a maverick or a true conservative or the most liberal. What we need to know from our two presidential candidates are specifics about how to jumpstart America." -- Victor Davis Hanson
Sunday, July 13, 2008
McCain Hammers on Republicans, Throws Gramm Under the Bus
There shouldn't be any further question that there still and again two democrats on the campaign trail. John McCain is finding new things every day to hammer fellow republicans over. He has consistently voiced his disapproval of current administration policies.
I'm as anti-Bush as anybody this side of the Daily Kos, but fortunately for us, Bush is different from McCain when it comes to Campaign Finance, Immigration, and pesky matters like Stem Cells. McCain is closer to Obama on most of the issues that really count.
The latest Republican to be cut off at the knees is Phil Gramm.
Phil Gramm is one of the best economic thinkers of our time. And McCain has publicly admitted he doesn't understand the economy. So, McCain needs guys like Gramm. and needs them desperately and thoroughly. Still, he tosses the good ones aside. Phil Gramm is as republican as they come, and McCain (maverick that he is) can't wait to attack republicans, especially those that are on the correct side of any issue.
I voted for Phil Gramm (even though he's a republican, and even though votes don't count much in a May primary). I still think he would make a great president. I'd vote for him today over anybody else out there running.
So, I think it is a disservice to all of us that McCain pushes away yet another person who would have saved his candidacy. Instead of Bush III (which would be about the best we could expect this time around) , we are going to get Carter II, and we'll all be glad when that's over.
Maybe Phil Gramm could be elected president of Belarus, and show us how an economy is supposed to work.
I'm as anti-Bush as anybody this side of the Daily Kos, but fortunately for us, Bush is different from McCain when it comes to Campaign Finance, Immigration, and pesky matters like Stem Cells. McCain is closer to Obama on most of the issues that really count.
The latest Republican to be cut off at the knees is Phil Gramm.
Phil Gramm is one of the best economic thinkers of our time. And McCain has publicly admitted he doesn't understand the economy. So, McCain needs guys like Gramm. and needs them desperately and thoroughly. Still, he tosses the good ones aside. Phil Gramm is as republican as they come, and McCain (maverick that he is) can't wait to attack republicans, especially those that are on the correct side of any issue.
I voted for Phil Gramm (even though he's a republican, and even though votes don't count much in a May primary). I still think he would make a great president. I'd vote for him today over anybody else out there running.
So, I think it is a disservice to all of us that McCain pushes away yet another person who would have saved his candidacy. Instead of Bush III (which would be about the best we could expect this time around) , we are going to get Carter II, and we'll all be glad when that's over.
Maybe Phil Gramm could be elected president of Belarus, and show us how an economy is supposed to work.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Economy Stupid
We still have nightmares about 2000 and what happened in that election — it was wrong. Many of us believe that the candidate who got fewer votes was inaugurated president. -- Hillary Clinton, Florida, May 22, 2008
So I want to say to my supporters, when you hear people saying – or think to yourself – “if only” or “what if,” I say, “please don’t go there.” Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward. Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been. -- Hillary Clinton, June 7, 2008
What a difference two weeks makes, huh? Let's hope it is Hillary's last hypocrisy for a while.
So we are down to McCain and Obama. One is a Democrat, always thumbing his nose at our traditions and what we hold as important. Wishing to out-do Bush in the compassionate part without being conservative. And the other guy is Obama. The worst voting record in each of his three years in the Senate.
I'm thinking that it won't take much of a third party effort to disrupt and impact this election. Consider that Ross Perot was chosen by over 19% of the electorate, running solely on economic issues.
Even though Bill was the lucky recipient of the welfare vote, he realized that ending welfare (as we know it) was necessary, because, after all, it was "the economy stupid". The best way to improve the economy was to get more productivity out of the people. Putting them to work did that.
George, on the other hand is putting a lot more people to work, but unfortunately he is doing it on foreign soil, to the benefit of someone else's country. It's not hard to see why the dollar continues to tumble. We're throwing dollars around in Iraq, instead of in ANWR, where they are really needed.
So, George doesn't understand all this. He grew government and shrank the economy. McCain by his own admission doesn't get it. Obama? I doubt it, because he voted for every liberal hobby horse trotted out in front of the senate. Unless he will all of a sudden be his own man, instead of being a Harry Reid puppet; chances are he will only make things worse.
So, the situation is very ripe for someone to come along and mount a reasonable third party campaign. It will fall short, of course, but we might, in the process, accidentally elect someone who learns the lesson like Bill did.
Managing our resources does not mean retiring our military, which was the other part of Clinton's legacy. Our enemies would love us to take our eye off the ball the same way Clinton did. Certainly if we train effective fighting units, we ought to preserve their use for fighting. The rest of us should be doing things that benefit us and our own economy, and not that of a country we are trying to prop up.
So I want to say to my supporters, when you hear people saying – or think to yourself – “if only” or “what if,” I say, “please don’t go there.” Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward. Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been. -- Hillary Clinton, June 7, 2008
What a difference two weeks makes, huh? Let's hope it is Hillary's last hypocrisy for a while.
So we are down to McCain and Obama. One is a Democrat, always thumbing his nose at our traditions and what we hold as important. Wishing to out-do Bush in the compassionate part without being conservative. And the other guy is Obama. The worst voting record in each of his three years in the Senate.
I'm thinking that it won't take much of a third party effort to disrupt and impact this election. Consider that Ross Perot was chosen by over 19% of the electorate, running solely on economic issues.
Even though Bill was the lucky recipient of the welfare vote, he realized that ending welfare (as we know it) was necessary, because, after all, it was "the economy stupid". The best way to improve the economy was to get more productivity out of the people. Putting them to work did that.
George, on the other hand is putting a lot more people to work, but unfortunately he is doing it on foreign soil, to the benefit of someone else's country. It's not hard to see why the dollar continues to tumble. We're throwing dollars around in Iraq, instead of in ANWR, where they are really needed.
So, George doesn't understand all this. He grew government and shrank the economy. McCain by his own admission doesn't get it. Obama? I doubt it, because he voted for every liberal hobby horse trotted out in front of the senate. Unless he will all of a sudden be his own man, instead of being a Harry Reid puppet; chances are he will only make things worse.
So, the situation is very ripe for someone to come along and mount a reasonable third party campaign. It will fall short, of course, but we might, in the process, accidentally elect someone who learns the lesson like Bill did.
Managing our resources does not mean retiring our military, which was the other part of Clinton's legacy. Our enemies would love us to take our eye off the ball the same way Clinton did. Certainly if we train effective fighting units, we ought to preserve their use for fighting. The rest of us should be doing things that benefit us and our own economy, and not that of a country we are trying to prop up.
Wizer One-Liner #19
As if taking pot-shots at GWB was even necessary, let alone sporting; we have to hear it from a press secretary bad enough to be fired by Bush.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)