Editorial on the news of the Day and Review of the Gridlock around the world.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Presidential Paint Ball Game

Here's a great little Paint Ball Game.  All you have to do is select which Presidential candidate you want to be.  Then you navigate through the levels trying to shoot it out (with paintball) with the other candidates both Democrat and Republicans.  I tried it and was able to easily eliminate Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Rudy, but I was stumped by Mitt Romney who shot my Barack Obama in the fourth level.

On a computer the mouse button is your firing button.  The R button is for reload and your arrow keys move you around (never did figure out how to duck!)

FYI

This is just a free flash game you play right from the browser, there is no downloading or anything, just hit play and shoot at the candidates with green paint to you feel content.

NOTE.  If you choose Fred Thompson's character you may wish to stock up on incontinence supplies first.

Bush to Block Money for US Troops to Protect Iraqi Assets

President Bush and Vice President Cheney and a long litany of Republicans have warned us over and over again that Democrats might block the money needed to support our troops in Iraq and NOW President Bush is prepared to do just that to protect Iraqi assets from lawsuits.

The President has snared himself in his own verbal trap.  I have never believed that his attempts to corner Democrats nor Republicans that disagreed with him was the right thing to do, but he used US troops as leverage time and time again to get his way.  He has used the patriotism of the country to drive a bipartisan wedge into capital hill, essentially trying other politicians as unpatriotic troop hating witches or the equivalent.

Now he finds himself in the same position that his own administration has described as despicable or beneath contempt as he prepares to with hold funding that would go to the troops.  It is his veto pen alone that will stop that money from going to the troops.  I guess he is finally getting a small taste of his own medicine. 

He should not be allowed to use patriotism of citizens and US troops like a political wine offered up by the wine of the month club.  Maybe future Presidents might even learn from his mistake and avoid using US troops as leverage in this way as well, its a lever that ultimately proves to be to heavy for any leader that uses it improperly.

Bush to veto bill over fears for Iraqi assets

Saturday, December 29, 2007

The "Bush"-Whacked Administration: We have the top political quotes

For all of you Quote Mongering Birds out there, I have bird feeders full of quotes(and bad analogies) from 2007, but here are four of my favorite quotes identified by  The "Bush"-Whacked Administration blog.

  • “Put your big-girl panties on.” – Education Secretary Margaret Spellings' advice to deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino, who replaced Tony Snow as White House press secretary (Meowwwww
  • “Dumb as hell.” –President Richard Nixon, on tape, talking about Fred Thompson (Being called dumb by Nixon? That’s gotta hoit)
  • “I'm not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody (Vice President Dick Cheney) who has a 9% approval rating.” – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Ouch)
  • “(I have) a wide stance when going to the bathroom.” Senator Larry Craig trying to explain why his foot touched the foot of an undercover police officer in an airport men's room known for gay pick-ups (Gonna take me another 2 weeks to get that image out of my head…)

    The "Bush"-Whacked Administration: We have the top political quotes

  • There are more, but I thought these were the most humorous.  In truth, most of the notable quotes that relate to the Bush Administration just are not terribly funny giving the seriousness of how much the administration has failed over the last 7 years.  After that much failure, bad quotes just ads insult to injury.

    Now that said, I suspect that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid might have said, “I'm not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody (Vice President Dick Cheney) who has a first name of Dick.”

    Friday, December 28, 2007

    The Three Way in Iowa (John, Barack and Hillary)

    There is a true three way race for the Iowa Caucus between John Edwards, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in that order.  Edwards needs to win with a good margin to move into other primaries.  Edwards must beat Obama in Iowa to stay in the race at all.

    Clinton needs to show in either Iowa or New Hampshire, but she can not tank in either and especially not in both.

    Barack Obama, just needs to maintain his place in the top 3 until South Carolina where he will probably walk away with the Democratic primary once the Oprah factor pulls in the female vote against Hillary.

    For now though the attention is on Iowa first and the other trophies will come into play shortly there after.

    Monday, December 17, 2007

    Lieberman Endorsing John McCain - Loyalty and Bipartisan cooperation still exist

    It may be hard to believe, but there is still an ounce of loyalty and bipartisanship left in Washington DC these days.  The evidence will manifest in a few hours when Joe Lieberman (former Democrat and current Independent) will endorse his old friend John McCain (Republican and Potential Independent).

    These two old friends have crossed party lines many times in the past, but these days the bipartisan divide has made it almost uncool to cooperate with the other side.  By default, moderate politicians are out of style.

    One of the things that both of these moderates share in common is that they are both perceived as war hawks.  They are both gambling on a successful war or at least an end to the war.  Things are looking up as a result of the surge, but looking bad as the conflict between the kurds and Turkey heat up and as the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan both deteriorate.

    This pair has been riding an elliptical machine around their respective parties and they have both suffered throughout the ride.  But it just might be possible that if they were to pair up in 2008, they might be able to bring about a resurgence of moderation in politics that is needed to heal the country.  They might even keep each other honest and that triffecta might just be too much to ask for.

    inspiration - Lieberman to Cross Aisle to Endorse McCain

    Sunday, December 16, 2007

    Politicians Pandering to Religion and Weakening the Constitution at the Same Time

     

    After watching a recorded version of Meet the Pressthis afternoon,I wrote a  column on No More Incumbents  about Mitt Romney.  In my opinion, Mitt Romney appears to be one of the most dangerous candidates running for office in either party and a good deal of the potential risks that he brings to politics in the United States was evident in his interview on Meet the Press with Tim Russert.

    Over the last few years politics has taken a nasty turntowards the light of embracingthe mixing of church and state within US politics. In my opinion this is extremely dangerousfor the United States.  The founders of our country may have been religious in their personal lives, but they specifically founded the countryto be separate church and state after witnessing first hand the perils of countries that were led by either religious zealots or political leaders that would take advantage of religions and their followers.

    I am also extremely troubled byall the politiciansin both parties that have embraced the notion that they have to express themselves in terms of their own personal beliefs and religion. There's not supposed to be a litmus test in politicsrelating to religion, however almost every candidate running for officefor president has purposefully made it a central aspect of their campaigns to come out and state their religious beliefs and how important those religious beliefs are in their politics.  Even those candidates that are simply pandering to this notion and coming out and stating things about religion like a corporate employee embraces a laptop rental program, the candidates probably don't even believe in religion any more than an employee really cares what brand of computer they get at work.   These politicians, like Hillary Clinton affecting the persona of a Southern black minister and Barack Obama doing the same, they  are furthering the conversation and embracing the concept that religion is important in US politics and this has the potential to weaken our Constitution and our country.

    To see in depth interviews with each of the Candidates see these netcasts or transcripts on msnbc.

    Meet-the-candidates-meet-the-press

    Wednesday, December 12, 2007

    Mitchell Report on Steroids in Sports Due Tomorrow

    mitchell-report-steroids-baseball Tomorrow many major sports stars are going to be outed for steroid use.  A Congressional report, dubbed the Mitchell Report is due to be released and it is being hyped as either an outing or a bomb shell for major sports stars.

    In recent weeks Barry Bonds has been indicted for perjury in relation to steroid use and Marion Jones was stripped of her Olympic medals today.

    But tomorrow there could be a wave of people identified. So far there has been a lot of focus on the most high profile athletes but tomorrow there could be many A- and B and C athletes identified.  That could end the careers of lesser athletes with little name recognition and might definitely detract from others abilities to earn as much.  Instead of living the life as high rollers they might be kicked to the back of the player bus and get pushed into cheap hotel las vegas as opposed to the swank and posh regime.

    Even more so, some may see time behind bars probably more often for perjury as in the Bonds case than in any other break in laws.

    Reducing Gridlock on Equality in Sentencing for Crack

    The Supreme Court paved the way and today the United States Sentencing Commission voted 7-0 to reduce punishments retroactively for prison inmates sentenced for trafficking in Crack.  This could shave as much as 15 - 17% off the total term of their sentences if the prisoners meet requirements for parole under good behavior.

    It does not end the disparity in sentences for crack versus regular cocaine.  The commission as well as the Supreme Court have both referred this issue back to Congress to rewrite the rules.  The rules were written twenty years ago, when it was believed that Crack was more dangerous than cocaine.  That assumption has proved to be inaccurate and has led to a severe racial disparity in mandatory sentencing for what is essentially the same crime.

    This is likely to be a hot button topic during an election year, and it will be an up hill battle between politicians looking to provide equality and those looking to appear tough on crime. 

    The White House is against a reduction in sentencing for existing prisoners.  So far the Commission and the Supreme Court have enabled prison officials time to deal with the applications for early release, but there are many concerns about the safety issue of letting a mass exodus of prisoners out of prison, while providing them with the services they need to assimilate back into society successfully, from parole to drug treatment centers, to job training and beyond.

    Retroactively, Panel Reduces Drug Sentences - New York Times

    Friday, December 07, 2007

    Iranian Assessment Result of Military Intercepts

    counter-intelligence-patch-world-war-II In WWII, the US and the UK fed a great deal of misinformation to Germany and Hitler to trick them into believe that the D-Day attack would take place in the South of France as opposed to the beaches of Normandy.  This false intelligence forced Hitler to spread his forces thin across France and enabled the Allies to cut off those troops after the invasion.

    This week we have been subjected to one apparent snafu that would have us believe that the US received multiple intelligence intercepts from signal intelligence, human intelligence and other sources, that when put together painted a picture that Iran had no nuclear bomb intentions or capabilities after all.  The media has portrayed the scandal of this around the fact that President Bush has been pushing us towards war with Iran. 

    But if Iran is even one quarter as smart as the former Persian empire, this could all be a lie designed to misdirect us.  When you know that your communications are being intercepted by your enemy and you can not stop the intercepts, your best defense is to lie with half truths, partial truths and onion peels.  You surely do not state right out over the air waves your most important secrets.

    If the intelligence community has become that gullible (which I do not believe to be the case) then they might as well pack it in and take up a sales job pushing platform beds.  I suspect that this is a multi-leveled ruse designed by Iran to fool us, and the public acknowledgement of the information is designed to do two things.

    1. Make Iran believe that we believe their lie
    2. Trick Democrats and Republican candidates running for President that are on the old guards least favored list into stepping into a pile of intelligence crap so that they will make fools of themselves.

    This appears to have succeeded already where Hillary Clinton is concerned.  Her reaction and the vote pushed by Democrats in regards to Iran makes her look twice fooled by President Bush and even Hawkish on War.  It remains to be seen where this issue will really shake out.

    Info from Iranian officers fed U.S. change in nuke assessment - CNN.com

    Thursday, November 29, 2007

    Sudan Forces Western Teachers to Become Protesters of Islam

    The recent manufactured issue generated by the country of Sudan illustrates a case where Sudan like many fundamentalist countries (I'm not just referring to Islam here but all religions holding fundamentalists strictures) are drawing a line in the sand and forcing anyone that partners with these countries to accept their doctrine, dogma and religious principles or reject them completely and become a protester of that religion.

    The British teacher that went to Sudan to help teach Sudanese children in a private school and was then arrested is a case in point.  Teachers, doctors and others that go to countries like Sudan must either completely accept the governments doctrine or recognize that almost anything and everything that they might do might be a form of protest or rejection of that government.

    In other words, when they go there, they must choose sides and accept the consequences of their choice.  It should be good enough for these people to attempt to help, but of course when politics are localized everything will be politicized.  Sudan has other motives for arresting this teacher.  They are attempting to distract attention from the terrible abuses, crimes, rapes and genocide taking place in Sudan's Darfur region.

    But that doesn't matter for the British teacher in custody, facing a trial and possibly jail time and lashings for her attempts to help teach children and connect with them in their own culture.  Sudan would retract further from the world so that they can continue their abuses, but if they can not do that they will drag every person that attempts to help their people down with them in the mean time.

    Source: British teacher charged with insulting Islam over teddy bear's name | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

    Tuesday, November 27, 2007

    Reducing Gridlock on Your Checking Account

    Somewhere along the way I started to accumulate checking accounts, savings accounts, mutual funds, money market funds, credit lines and everything else.  The result is that my finances are somewhat complicated just due to the sheer number of accounts that I have.

    Every few years I work to cull the herd of accounts and try and get down to just a few accounts.

    Regardless, a few times throughout the year, I will often find myself having my money in the wrong account.  Maybe the money is in a savings account over there, when I am trying to pay an automated bill from a checking account here.

    Now for each of my accounts I often find that there are different rules for their overdraft protection plans.  One account enables the overdraft protection to kick in on any transaction unless the transaction is a bill pay transaction.

    Another account has a stair step approach that enables the flow of funds from my own accounts first before it taps a credit line.

    WaMu, formerly Washington Mutual before they reduced the web gridlock of their own name and decrease the length of their name to WaMU effectively working to brand themselves as young and hip and slangy, offers free checking, but you only get one 'free' over draft protection transfer per year, unless you upgrade to their premium account.

    Personally, that sounds like a bit of a teaser to me and would mean that I would only opt for the Premium plan if I picked their plans.

    Wednesday, November 07, 2007

    Pat Robertson Chooses a Catholic over a Mormon

    So what? 

    That was my first response when I heard that Pat Robertson was endorsing Rudy Giuliani for the Republican Nomination.  I do not care what Pat Robertson thinks, nor who he wants to vote for.  In fact, if anything, I probably like Giuliani less now that Pat has given him the nod.

    Maybe Pat's real motivation here is to get out in front of the religious right, make his recommendation and hope to set himself up in a power play like he set the christian right agenda this time instead of someone else.  His only issue might be if Rudy displays some other vices sometime in the future, maybe pulling a monic lewinsky out of his hat or admitting himself for drug treatment

    Do you supose people submit political candidates to drug screenings before endorsing them?

    So is it really a christian power play or a Republican power play?

    That seems to be the question here.

    Thursday, November 01, 2007

    Professional Nurses Moving to Areas of Need Temporarily Eliminates Gridlock

    There is one group of professionals that are helping to eliminate gridlock in our health care system.  The nursing profession is facing a critical shortage of nursing professionals.  Just as in any ecosystem of professionals, there are times when nurses are needed more in some areas of the country than others.  Many of these needs are seasonal nature and some occur for reasons that are not obvious to people at work outside of health care.

    Based on this concept the nursing profession is starting to embrace the rejuvenated vision of a travel nurse.  This is a nurse that picks up and moves from their city or state and takes on a short to medium term contract, typically less than a year in some area within the United States outside of their normal state of residence.  These nurses go where the work is in a typically pay a premium for doing that. 

    Promoting the Spread of Best Practices in Nursing

    In many ways this can benefit the nursing profession, because it is giving nurses access to other medical facilities, nursing professionals, and doctors from areas of the country that they might not normally encounter.  This in essence enables a cross-pollination of ideas, best practices and techniques and it helps to socialize nurses with other nurse professionals. 

    There is still a shortage in the nursing industry throughout the United States.  As positive as it may be, travel nursing is not the solution to the nursing shortage.  Nursing has a long history of dedicate professionals sacrificing themselves for the benefit of their patients often in thankless conditions and environments.

    Nurses willing to pick up and temporarily relocate are showing the same type of dedication that has been prevalent in this profession for centuries.  Just like in times past, society is benefiting from this phenomena.  Nurses are better able to socialize with each other, find areas that they like, find positions in salaries to equal their own merits, and flow into those areas where they are needed most.

    Wednesday, October 10, 2007

    Iran So Far Away

    With the indelible ability to make provocative statements to a world audience, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had a gem while speaking at Columbia last week. The Iranian president claimed that there are no homosexuals in Iran and that they (Iran) don’t “have that problem.”

    Apparently, the state run television and print media in Iran have obsessively curtailed those comments from the eyes and ears of their citizens. A social taboo in Iran, homosexuality is rarely discussed and is even prohibited in the country to the level of capital punishment i.e. execution.

    Ahmadinejad’s exact comment was, "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it." In addition to this provocative statement, Ahmadinejad spoke at the United Nations with similar anti western fervor.

    Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia does show that Universities can actually be more important on a world stage.  They can make a difference and are not always about the NCAA Tournament sports hype that they normally get news coverage for.

    more

    Tuesday, October 09, 2007

    Climate Change; Part of Axis of Evil

    camel-caravans-north-carolina

    U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulsen spoke last week regarding President Bush’s concern over the effects of climate change. Apparently President Bush is deeply concerned over the issue of climate change even though he neglected to address the issue at the United Nations general assembly on Monday. The assembly was widely regarded as being a summit of sorts for discussion on global climate change.

    Secretary Paulsen spoke of Bush’s concern, but stopped short of rehashing the president’s stance of refusing to set a firm stance on emissions and carbon dioxide reductions that have been adopted across the civilized world. Although the president’s approach has been criticized far and wide, Paulsen reassured the press that Bush is “serious about finding solutions.” Maybe those solutions are in Iran or Syria, but they definitely do not appear to be in any agenda that is actually on a table anywhere near the President.

    Here in North Carolina, we can't even protect the mud, the lakes are evaporating so fast.  Forget finding a good real estate agent, to help you find that beach front property in Kentucky, start thinking about how you can import a few camel herds so that when the South East turns into a barren desert we can all still engage in free interstate commerce.

    The Republicans Strike Back

    All we need is the epic Star Wars theme and opening text crawl. All joking aside, Republicans responded last week toward criticisms and grievances aired from the Democratic debate last week on MSNBC.  It held a common unifying thread as Democrats ceaselessly attacked the Republican Party on matters of Middle East policy as well as domestic policy and everything else with the exception of their choice of cufflinks.

    Mitt Romney was the first to speak out Thursday morning regarding Democratic responses toward Israel protecting itself from hostilities via Iran. Romney said that he was appalled that none of the leading Democrats would support Israel defending themselves in the event of an attack from Iran. Romney had no comment in regards to Democrats claiming that their leadership will usher in an era of change whereas Republican leadership will move America back 50 years.

    Monday, October 01, 2007

    Myanmar Officials Sanctioned

    I was traveling most of the weekend (since Thursday) and trying to keep up with the news mostly with the browser on my phone and on my laptop during those few times when I found not only a free wireless connection but a wireless connection that worked.

    The United States took political action Thursday by ordering sanctions against officials in the Junta leadership in Myanmar who authorized deadly force to quell peaceful protests organized by religious leaders over the passed week. In addition to the deaths, several monasteries have been all but destroyed and their leaders taken captive.

    The economic sanctions will freeze assets of 14 Junta leaders who have finances in U.S. banks or other financial holdings under U.S. jurisdiction. Thursday’s demonstrations that killed nine protesters mark the tenth day of protest toward the militaristic regimes crackdown. The protestors could be heard shouting, “Give us freedom, give us freedom!”

    More

    Al Gore Stirs Controversy In U.K.

    Al Gore’s award winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” is stirring up controversy again in the outdoor kitchen we call Earth.  The thing is, this time it is doing so on an inconvenient scale. The film, which has been distributed to schools in the United Kingdom, has been viewed as containing a number of inaccuracies and biases according to lawyer Paul Downes who represents the claimant who is a school governor in Dover.

    The DVD will be distributed to 3,500 secondary schools in the nation as part of a government funded environmental education program. Critics claim that the inaccuracies stated in the film are politically driven and in fact the film is, as Paul Downes states, "just over half scientific material, 30 percent pure politics and about 20 percent sentimental mush - mush there to soften up the viewer for persuasion." The DVD is distributed to schools with a packet that attempts to balance out the presentation as well as inform students that the film is an individual’s view of scientific fact.

    More

    Obama Trespasses in NYC

    After the debate in New Hampshire Wednesday night, Barack Obama spent a little time in New York City calling out Hillary Clinton. Drawing momentum from the debate, Obama drew several distinctions between he and Sen. Clinton. He also mentioned that change isn’t an easy choice in a manner that echoed the sentiment that some things are worth fighting for.

    In a moment of levity Obama brought to light a moment from Wednesdays debate where a local reporter asked candidates whether they supported the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox. Obama reiterated the fact that Hillary can’t give a straight answer to the simplest of questions. Clinton’s response to the question was along the lines of, “it depends on who’s asking.”   If it has a pulse, if it breathes air (unassisted or assisted or even medicated with a pulse oximeter) Clinton will find a way to tailor her answer to resonate, barely, with the lowest common denominator.

    More .. . .

    Do It For The Children

    This week the senate passed legislation that would add approximately 4 million children to a number of popular healthcare programs over the next few months. The landmark legislation will arrive on President Bush’s desk by the weekend where it is all but guaranteed to receive a veto due to the attached rider to raise taxes on tobacco products to secure funding for the program.

    Unfortunately both chambers must ensure a two-thirds majority vote in order to override a presidential veto.  Although the veto is all but certain to send congress back to the drawing board, President Bush has handed Democrats a campaign issue that they will undoubtedly carry into the elections next fall.

    It's not likely to get past the Presidential veto and in that its almost a hollow effort.  The DC insiders will probably end up tail gating to Crawford chuckling over beers as they lean over their billet grilles on gas guzzling over sized trucks.

    More Info

    Friday, September 21, 2007

    Norman Hsu: Sycophants Gone Wild

    Norman Hsu may be the ultimate sycophant, chasing after politicians for admiration and respect as he forced his investors to provide contributions to politicians like Hillary Clinton, who took in approximately $850,000.

    Now, I'm sure that a few thousand dollars here and there can slip under the radar, but when someone sends you close to a million dollars, and you are in a race to raise money, you will notice.

    I find it highly suspect (and par for the course with the Clintons) that Hillary and her team did not notice that almost a million dollars of her budget was coming from a crazy man.  Someone contributes $5 to your $100 million campaign and you might not notice if they are wanted.  They give you $1 million before you have hit $30 million in total, and I think you should be able to pick up on it a little better. 

    We are talking about a million dollars and not a free t-shirt or a North Face jacket or a bumper sticker or even a plate of food at a fund raiser.  Hillary's excuses on this one just don't smell right.

    Feds: Fund-raiser Norman Hsu suckered investors for pol $

    Hillary and Obama won the battle and lost the war

    Last night Joseph Biden ran away with the debates in Iowa. He was the only one that even seem to show up for the debates even though there were four other people on the stage. Barack Obama didn't even make a physical appearance.

    Over and over again Senator Biden stole the show. It might just be possible that his tactics of saying it like it is saying ‘it’ intelligently might pay off in the long run. The other candidates have been working and moving very early to capture attention. They seem to have won the popularity contest early, but it was a very shallow win. As the pain starts to flake off the candidates like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, candidates with more substance like Joseph Biden are actually starting to look and sound better even though they haven't changed their message since the beginning. It might just be possible that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama won the early battles only to lose the war. The leading candidates seem to have purchased a second rate pulse on the nation radar detector, while Biden may have picked up the best radar detector years ago.  If there's something that the American public definitely doesn't want, it's a presidential candidate that wins battles and loses wars.

    Friday, September 14, 2007

    Bush Acts the Coward and Hides Behind Yet Another General

    President Bush, our Commander in Chief, has shown cowardice yet again this week.  Instead of standing up as the leader of our troops and of our country, he has chosen as is his pattern to hide behind a sacrificial General. 

    He sent General and Secretary of State Colin Powell to sacrifice himself at the UN.  He did the same thing with a series of generals following the Abu Grahib scandal.  He has since gone through General after General most recently settling on General Patraeus to venture to Congress to profess the utter garbage that the Surge is working.

    Bush didn't even wait for the General to get out of town, before he stepped in to dismiss the General's politicized assessments and tell everyone that a small draw down would take place.  That move, shortly after Patraeus said that things were progressing basically undermined yet another General's credibility.

    These days its hard to tell who is the bigger coward, and I do not use that term lightly as I have a high degree of respect for officers in the military, President Bush for hiding behind Generals or the Generals that allow themselves to be used as pawns.  The military is supposed to serve and protect the constitution and not undermine it when a coward is unable to stand up and take responsibility for his actions.

    If President Bush were not a coward, he would not send a sacrificial lamb from the military to spout bull, he would go make the case himself.  The President can not do that because he doesn't have the credibility nor the courage and opts instead to stand in the wings protected by Generals and adult diapers.  Regardless, the Generals are only loosing their credibility, their self respect, their pride, and the opportunity to protect the Constitution.  While the President and his men follow this destructive path, Privates and Sergeants and Lieutenants and others are paying with their lives and limbs.

    The Slow Boat out of Iraq

    The US is pulling out of Iraq, slowly.  There is one thing that is absolutely certain.  The troops will not pull out of Iraq entirely before Bush leaves office.  Not because its right for Iraq, not because it will be good for stability or peace in the middle east, not because its the right thing for the US troops, the US will not pull out of Iraq until Bush is gone so that the Democrats can be set up with a failed war.

    The thing is that it is almost a certainty that the Democrats will screw up the real pull out of Iraq as badly as President Bush screwed up the war in Iraq in the first place.

    The reason for this certainty can be found in the Democrats inability to to forego political games and hold the Bush Administration and Republicans accountable on the way in. 

    America is on a slow boat out of Iraq.  The rail head order is drafted but its post dated for sometime in the middle of 2009.  Whichever Democratic President is elected in 2008, they will only have a successful second election if they can devise a successful plan out of Iraq now.  The Democrats need to get some boating experience now and practice for the future exodus.

    Saturday, September 08, 2007

    Nagin Not For Governor of Louisiana

    Nagin-Bush-airforceone-neworleans-katrina

    I was watching the news yesterday morning and learned that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, is not going to run for governor of the state of Louisiana.

    Big surprise there, great Nagin and the current governor of Louisiana are two of the most unpopular people in New Orleans. When hurricane Katrina Kaman decimated the city, there were three levels of government that failed the people of New Orleans, the federal government, the state government, and the city government of New Orleans. I find it absolutely ridiculous that Mayor Ray Nagin even considered running for governor of Louisiana.

    He does have some supporters in New Orleans, but as I see it that must indicate that there are some pretty poor opposition candidates to run against Nagin. It defeats the mind how the city of New Orleans, the state government and the federal government were unable to successfully collaborate and come up with a plan to save the people of New Orleans and save the city.

    Now I know it's not as easy as going out and purchasing the latest collaboration software even with a 30 day free trial, but the almost inexhaustible amount of gridlock that prevented these groups from working together especially in a time of crisis is just absurd and definitely in the make of the nature of what is wrong with government in the United States today.

    Santa will be Sad without Safe Goods for Christmas?

    SadSanta-Takeshis-Hiraoka-portfolio With all the product recalls of kids toys and things that kids really like or use, it's going to be very hard for parents to come up with safe Christmas gift ideas this year. You might avoid the Barbie doll because they are poisoned with lead and choose crayons (Koreans according to the voice recognition program I’m using) or colored markers or even water colors hoping to inspire the artist in your child only to discover that that's poisoned with lead also. It's downright crazy that we can't trust the products that we’re buying, however the reality of the situation is that we are consumeraholics (consumer a hall ask per DNS9), this is sometimes referred to as affluenza (affluent plus influenza equals affluenza).

    It's enough to make Santa Claus Sad.

    We are shopaholics too. We buy things just to buy things and we teach our kids to want things just to want things. Maybe the best christmas gift idea this year will be to buy nothing at all. Think about it, a Christmas with no gifts, not because Christmas did not come, but because Christmas didn't need to come in the form of gift giving.

    Instead of spending that money on potentially poisoned stuff for your young ones, we can take a trip go on a vacation, see something interesting, or share some time together. There are a number of alternatives to celebrating Christmas or any holiday that don't have to require buying a lot of junk especially buying junk that's poisonous.

    I'm sure that my suggestions here will go completely ignored and that Christmas will come in the form of gift ideas, but this year when people go to return stuff, They may find that they are returning stuff not just because the kids fell out of love with the item a day or two after Christmas, but because those things are on the brand-new recall list of items poisoned with lead paint.

    Friday, August 31, 2007

    CNN Expects Gay Republican Senator to Flame Out for Good

    CNN is reporting that Republican Senator Craig of Idaho is expected to flame out and resign effective September 30th.  The senator is embroiled in a controversy over both his sexuality as well as the lurid allegations by the investigating officer that sat in a restroom stall next to the soon to be former Senator.  He will probably settle down to retire (out of state) and spend some time on the links knocking around golf balls instead of picking up toilet paper on the floor in restroom stalls in the airport.

    During their encounter the Senator is alleged to have spied through the crack of the stall doors multiple times, reached under the stall with his left hand, and touched the police officer with his leg before the police officer revealed his badge.

    Republicans seem to be very embarrassed about this latest scandal for multiple reasons:

    • They can't accept yet another homosexual politician in their midst
    • They aren't happy with the revelation of yet another ReStallSexual politician in their midst (ReStallSexuals are politicians that enjoy being outed in restroom sex stings.)
    • They aren't happy to lose such a strong proponent of heterosexual family values.
    • They are even unhappy about losing a Senator and exposing the party to a Senate seat defeat in 2008.

    Note the headline reference of Senator Craig Flaming out is a reference to a CNN quote and not my own writing.

    Wednesday, August 22, 2007

    Mortgage industry crisis driving people to look for Debt Solutions

    Regardless of the state of the U.S. economy, there are usually people who make poor money management decisions due to a lack of experience in dealing with tangible money issues and possessing intangible expectations of themselves.

    Once the irrational exuberance is over and the tangible reality sets in, these families become so overwhelmed with debts that the pain flows through our society like a tidal wave.

    The current mortgage industry crisis has caused great pain to many families, from foreclosure to losing jobs. Beside the basic high interest home loan bill, they are also facing the possible problem of "max out" credit cards.

    What does a family do when the revenue is the same, home loans are hard to get and credit card debts are mounting higher and higher? Emotional pressure becomes grand especially when the collectors are calling everyday

    The best Debt Relief solution for those who possess "max out" credit cards debt could be a rapid refinance to a fixed rate mortgage, second mortgage, or as a last resort a  Credit Card Consolidation  might enable people to live to pay their bills another day.

    Does it Take a Massacre to Make a Religion a Religion?

    Background

    There are many announcements and promotions about the new movie coming out titled September Dawn.  September Dawn is a movie that will generate a great deal of scandal similar to movies like Passion of the Christ and The Last Temptation of Christ.

    The movie is about a massacre allegedly ordered by the elders of the Church of Latter Day Saints.  LDS is the acronym for the name of the church and the religion is commonly referred to as the mormon religion or mormonism.  Mitch Romney a presidential hopeful for the Republican party is a mormon and his religion has been a minor lightning rod for Republican Christian Conservatives that are typically comprised of other Christian denominations outside of mormonism.

    The film chronicles a massacre of settlers traveling through Utah in the 1800's.  Mormons allegedly ordered a massacre by inspiring a type of religious fundamentalism that is often associated today with Islamic fundamentalism or Bible belt fundamentalism that would have countries and people subjected to a religious form of law as opposed to a secular law or government.

    Mormons were the victims of a massacre in Southern Illinois in the 1830's.  They were massacred by Christians that were intolerant of their religion.  The massacre inspired an exodus to Utah.  The movie shows the religion coming full circle and ordering a defensive massacre of their own.

    Does a Religion Become Official When it is Orders a Massacre?

    Now throughout the history of man, religions have come and gone.  Without assigning blame to the religions, most religions have conflicted with each other.  These conflicts have often created conflict, warfare and massacres.

    All religions seem to be subject to the potential for fundamentalism and in turn violence, warfare and massacres of the defenseless.

    The Mormon religion seems to have both suffered and ordered massacres, much like almost every other older religion around the world. 

    Many times people claim that newer religions are not a 'true' religion.  This accusation has been pointed at Mormonism, which claims that Jesus Christ was resurrected in the Americas to teach a tribe of Native Americans (a lost tribe of Israel) Christianity.

    However, as the religion is put under the microscope, it seems that their victimization and their crimes might in part be some of the things that cement their definition as a true religion.

    Does the world need such terrible events to cement a religion as a religion?

    Will the world not accept Scientology as a religion until they experience a massacre or worse yet initiate a massacre.  Will that actually get them clear of labels of being a tax shelter or a cult. 

    Religions have long been accused of inspiring people through fervor and fundamentalism to take intolerant positions that result in clashes and violence.

    Its an ugly question, commenting on the flaws in our humanity that dates back thousands of years and probably will only be supported by repeating examples as the days and years proceed.

    Saturday, August 18, 2007

    Back to School or Back to the Draft Boards

    The Bush administration is learning and ugly lesson about going to war when you are not prepared. The lesson they are learning is that you have to utilize more human resources to fix a problem if you start something when you're not ready for it, and in human terms that means that the United States is going to have to reinstitute the draft.

    Draft-card-elvis-presley-1953

    I am completely opposed to the draft myself. I served in the Army voluntarily for four years, and due to the role that I served I can be called back in the military at any time up until age 60 (that's no mistake right up until the time before I retire). Regardless of my own responsibilities, I am completely opposed to a draft or involuntary requirement for any citizen of the United States to serve in the military. You can call it the draft, you call it conscription, you can call it slavery, you call it anything you want, I am opposed to it.

    So as many parents prepare to send there recent high school graduates off to college and as many parents prepare to send their children to high school and even junior high, the reality is that the draft is likely to come back and be reinstituted within the next two years. That means that many high school students today will be drafted out of high school to serve in the military. It also means that many college students will be drafted out of college to go serve in the military regardless of their grades.

    In the past, college students that failed out of school were sometimes drafted into the military. The reality today is that the military needs smart people just as much as they need people that are having trouble in school. The same type of individual that makes a good student makes a good soldier. At the opposite end of the spectrum, many people that fail out of college need a little discipline in their lives and the military can help.

    Regardless, I don't think it's right for the United States to run a draft or require anyone to serve in the military. I would whole heartedly encourage people to serve in the military voluntarily, but we are supposed to be the land of the free and nobody should be forced to do anything even if that means that as a people we choose to lose a war or lose our freedom. I'd hate to see it come to that, but that's really what freedom is all about. Having the ability to make your own choices regardless of the consequences.

    So as you prepare to send your children to school this year stocking up their dorm rooms with bunk beds, posters, and cheap furniture consider, you might be sending them off to war next year or the year after that with body armor, a long shot record and duffle bags filled with desert or cold weather gear even.

    If you're not paying attention to politics today and you have a problem with sending your children off to war, you better get off your butt and start paying attention and getting involved otherwise the choice will be made for you. You will lose a little bit of freedom and your children will lose a great deal of freedom at best.

    Cold War Gridlock Making Resurgence - Russia sends long bombers back on patrol

     So you thought the Cold War was over, well think again.  Russian President Vladimir Putin runs country that is no longer bankrupt.  Russia is longing for its former glory and is starting to exercise its new financial might generated by oil revenues.

    Russian TU160 bomber 1979

    He is also exercising some of his newfound political power that has largely resulted due to taking a stance in opposition to the United States.  Russia is partnering with Iran, China and several other countries in Central Asia to thwart the perceived rise of the United States in the region.

    As an example, Russia recently staged war games and training exercises working jointly with China, and they announced this week that they are putting bombing patrols back into the air around the world for the potential launch of cruise missiles.  So we are once again going to compete for real estate in the skies around the world.

    Putin reviewed the first Russian-Chinese joint exercise on Russian soil before announcing that 20 strategic bombers had been sent far over the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans—showing off Moscow's muscular new posture and its growing military ties with Beijing.

    Russia sends long bombers back on patrol

    The Bush administration played down these recent developments hinting at the decrepit nature of the existing Soviet military infrastructure.  The reality is howeverbut the Soviet Union has new found wealth and the United States is rapidly losing its wealth.  The mismanagement of the United States by the Bush administrationhas not only put the country at riskwith terrorists,but it is put the country at riskof financial ruinand potentially relegatingthe countrybelow the status of world powerin the same exact fashion that the United States formally defeated the USSR.

    Thursday, August 09, 2007

    2008 Campaign Enters Hypocrite Season

    The campaign for 2008 is rapidly entering the hypocrite season. I know, I know its hard to tell hypocrite season from the normal political season as there are politicians involved and all politicians are hypocrites.

    Here's how you can tell that it's hypocrite season 

    1. check to see if the politicians lips are moving, odds are if they're talking there about to make themselves a hypocrite
    2. check to see if anyone's listening or if the politician is being videotaped, if either of those two activities are occurring there will be evidence that they are a hypocrite when they talk
    3. if the politicians lips are moving and they are party to a debate there's a 99.9% chance that they will be hypocrite.  Despite their preparation for the debate the politician has to think of their feet just a little bit and odds are it will reverse a position that they've had previously.
    4. Typically half the country is watching to see if a politician screws up so that they can point them out as a hypocrite, but during a primary 75 to 90% of the country is watching to see if the candidate will make themselves a hypocrite.  Even the politician's own party is looking to point out their weaknesses.

     

    So it wasn't too surprising when people started calling out Hillary Clinton as a hypocrite on her recent (change) in perspective that nuclear options should or shouldn't be on the table when it involves terrorism/Iran/Pakistan etc.  She has been quick to point out that Barack is the new kid on the block, but the reality is that she was the new kid on the block just a few short years ago and therefore she has a lot of hypocrite potential.

    No topic is safe from skin care products to global nuclear warfare. 

    dunce Now, Barack actually is somewhat shielded from the hypocrite season.  He has no experience and not much of a record so there is very little for him to look foolish over.  Hillary never really had that luxury even when she was a new Senator.  She burned her novice political capital to get and keep Bill elected.

    With Hillary and Barack its race between the fool you know and the fool you don't know.

    Conflict on Clinton’s View of Nuclear Weapons - New York Times

    Thursday, August 02, 2007

    After Tragedy Gov Pawlenty Develops Sense of Urgency

    I'm watching the news conference, taking place the afternoon after the Minneapolis bridge failure tragedy.  Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is calling for emergency inspections of bridges identified several years ago on a list of over 160,000 bridges from around the country that were identified as being in danger of failure. This bridge was initially classified as structurally deficient seventeen years ago in 1990.

    He seems to be doing the right things after the fact to investigate things that happened and other bridges.  He and every single governor around the country seem to have neglected to make this a priority. 

    He also seems to acknowledge that before anything substantial can be done to fix anything, the funding has to still pass through the gridlock of Congress both at a Federal and State level.  So before the massive amount of debris can be demolished and removed and before any structures can be rebuilt, politicians are going to have to get off their rear ends and get to work accomplishing results.  Spending a little less time staring at their fancy Century furniture pieces and start writing and signing effective legislation.

    Sunday, July 29, 2007

    No recordings leaking from White House yet

    I find it completely amazing that no recordings, videos, or even pictures have leaked out of the White House yet.  The last seven years have brought amazing developments in the technology of small electronic consumer devices from cell phones, to handheld recorders, and you can even find recorders built into a digital camera off the shelf.

    It doesn't surprise me that the tape recorders have been removed or turned off in the White House since the days of Nixon.  It does surprise me though that no one has used the power of handheld technology to capture some key conversations and turn them over to the public.

    I'd like to bet that a number of key people in the White House administration have probably been banking personal recordings for several years now so they could CYA when the time came. Maybe that's how Scooter Libby really got his quasi pardon.

    Maybe Mr. Libby captured a recording of Vice President Cheney issuing an order to destroy Valerie Plame and her husband and expose her as being a CIA agent.  We have all seen the legal shenanigans that Cheney is pulled in relation to this event just recently as he's claimed that he is not a member of the executive nor the legislative branches of government.  It's obvious that they didn't think of that logic loop until recently otherwise they could have used in the very early days and they would have never needed a scapegoat like Libby.

    That suggests to me that they've known the problem existed for a long time and they just them looking for a way to talk your way out of it.

    The Real Reason why The Surge Was Doomed

    I with like to share with you the real reason why the surge was doomed before it began in Iraq.

    surge_logo

    Before explained this however, let me emphasize that I do feel the surge was the right thing that needed to be done to fix the problem.  There was however something that sabotage the efforts of the surge from day one.  Many people could see this problem sabotaging the surge from day one and that's why many people are against it, in addition to the people that were against the surge primarily on the basis that they wanted the troops in Iraq to leave immediately regardless of the consequences to the Middle East or the people that live there.

    You see the thing that doomed the surge and sabotaged it at the same time was bad leadership.  This is the same thing that is doomed the entire Iraq war, which I was also in favor of.  The Iraq war has been plagued with bad leadership over and over and over again.

    Al Qaeda and terrorist insurgents have all taken their toll in a very real and physical way, however their success was largely possible due to the very poor leadership emanating first and foremost from the White House and working its way down through the Pentagon and possibly even seeping into the joint Chiefs and some of the commanders at high levels in Iraq.  When you lead by example with bad leadership, eventually that bad leadership example starts to permeate through the culture and take its toll on the troops.

    We would have been better off if our commander in chief today have remained commander in chief of the bar stools instead of commander-in-chief of the military.

    Saturday, July 28, 2007

    SackVick.net

    I am extremely disgusted by the Michael Vick thing.  I am also disappointed to see the Falcons, the NFL and the corporate sponsors take so long to suspend Vick (although the sponsors are making some initial moves finally).

    One of Vick's co defendants will be entering a plea on Monday an will likely turn against Michael Vick.

    I do believe very firmly that Vick is innocent until proven guilty.

    I also believe very firmly that regardless of his legal culpability, he had a moral responsibility to manage his affairs and property better.  If he had been spending just a fraction of his money to insure that no one was abusing dogs on his property or using his property for deviant behavior 60-70 dogs would not have been put to sleep and countless others would not have died on his property or soon after.

    So I organized a site to protest Vicks suspension without pay.

    What I am doing about it

    1. The site is SackVick.net.  I've collected almost a dozen petitions from around the web where you can take action and make your own thoughts known on the subject.
    2. I've established a blog carnival to collect other bloggers perspective on Vick.
    3. I have collected close to 40 different groups that have hundreds of members each that are working to sack vick.
    4. I've also collected dozens of video clips from news, to protest videos and a couple parody videos.  Plus, sponsor commercials of Vick including one with Vick and his Pitbulls in what looks like a dog fighting ring, the commercial is for Nike.

    There is lots that you can do

    • Please stop by and sign one of the petitions or
    • blog about the situation and submit your article to the blog carnival. 
    • You can also link to the site and we will include you in the blogroll of bloggers supporting the sacking of Michael Vick.

    Friday, July 27, 2007

    Fiscally Ir-Responsible Administration Mad about Fiscally Ir-Responsible Farm bill from House

    The White House is upset with members of Congress in the US House of Representatives, which pushed out a $284 billion Farm bill filled with pork for all.  The Administration had promised to veto the bill if it passed, but the House voted it up any way.

    The bill now goes to the Senate.  The Senate is expected to slice and dice the bill a bit, but the White House is worried that this bill will harm international trade negotiations and might bring WTO penalties as well.

    Unfortunately the Fiscally Ir-Responsible Bush Administration has no moral ground to stand on as it bemoans the expensive Farm bill.  Its hard to complain that the House is eating too much ham, when the President has a mouth full of Pork Roast.

    Odds are you can probably catch any of these politicians breakfasting on ham and eggs at a Pennsylvania bed and breakfast sometime soon. They say one thing in public, but that won't stop them from eating off the same plate outside of Washington.

    Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

    Inter-Racial Romance

    There was a time in the United States not so long ago when the concept of Inter-Racial Romance was entirely taboo.  That taboo was based largely in prejudiced or racists beliefs and to some extent a reliance on the status quo of not rocking the boat.

    Now anyone that has read this blog probably has started to grasp the notion that I am a firm believer in rocking the boat for the boat's sake in part and in part because the status quo is too often converted into dogma and then turned into something much uglier and dangerous. 

    Now, I have been married for almost 14 years now and so I am no where near being active in the dating scene.  That said, I find the concept that there is a site dedicated towards promoting interacial romance fantastic.

    I'm not suggesting that people should get together just because they are from a different race.  But I do think that people should come together without a concern for the race of their potential partners.  I completely buy into the concept that America, all the Americas for that matter, have been strengthened significantly by the melting pot effect.  Our culture, our history, even our gene pool is much richer for the diversity that we have shared and the diversity that we can share in the future.

    Furthermore, I think its very healthy for young people today to be open minded to the concept of interracial dating.  Again it helps us as a people get to know each other better.  When we date we are learning something about a potential partner, their family, their history, their culture, background, race and more.  Plus, we are sharing that same information with them.  We are in effect each ambassadors and bridge builders to the world and each of these romances and relationships are opportunities to help bring the world together a little closer.

    Final Point

    In this article I am specifically referring to the concepts of interracial dating and romance in part because I wanted to hold up the example of the website that I had found on the topic.  Personally, I just view it as dating or romance.  To put the word 'interracial' in front of those terms is kind of like putting the word 'blue' in front of sky or 'wet' before water.  I suspect there will come a day when races cease to exist in large part due the combining of races from around the world. 

    Thursday, July 26, 2007

    The Sack Michael Vick Campaign

    I do not normally find common cause with PETA.  I love to eat steak and do not have a problem wearing leather shoes or coats. 

    I do not subscribe to believing in animal torture or dog fighting.

    So I have found common cause with PETA attempts to have Michael Vick Sacked.  I enjoyed watching him play football.  I cheered him and the Falcons on (I live outside Atlanta, but am originally a Bears fan from Illinois.)

    His involvement in allowing dog fights to take place on his property is a perfect example at a minimum of someone allowing something bad to happen while possibly maintaining the ability to say, I didn't know so I'm not responsible.

    That doesn't work for Vick, it doesn't work for Bush and if Hitler were trying to hide behind that type of excuse, it wouldn't work for Hitler either.  All three have allowed bad things to happen in areas of their responsibility and at worst ordered or promoted those bad things to happen.

    That's why Vick needs to be sacked by the NFL.

    That's not enough though.  Vick needs to be sacked by Nike as well.  So PETA has just offered up a link where you can make your voice heard at Nike headquarters and let them know that you do not support a company that supports a dog killer.

    Send in your Petition to Nike today.

    Friday, July 20, 2007

    Hillary Tattles on Big Daddy Pentagon

    There was a big breuhaha today over the fact that an underling at the Pentagon attempted to dish out some Bush like propaganda to Senator Hillary Clinton.  Telling her that her request for the Pentagon to build out an exit strategy and plan from Iraq, played into the hands of terrorists.

    So she published the letter that the Pentagon underling has used to try and put the Senator in her place.  She effectively tattled on Big Daddy Pentagon, showing the stooges at the Pentagon that she may not know much about war but she is battled tested in the art of political warfare.

    The Pentagon now knows that they have been in a fight, but the fight has not furthered the cause of actually building an exit plan.  That should probably not come as a surprise as there is no way in the world that the Pentagon is going to cede hard fought territory in Iraq.  They won it in battle and do not want to let it go regardless of what the politicians want.  The reality is that through Iraq the pentagon now has its fingers on the pulse of America and that pulse is powered by oil.

    The last thing they are going to do is open up the tonneau cover on their bullet proof gas powered duelly and start handing out freebies to politicans like Clinton. Clinton knows the power of politics, but the Pentagon knows the power of the gun and the power of oil. Gun and oil will typically when a real dog fight every day of the week.

    Some of Todays video Highlights

    It has been a strange week for news from nuclear reactor leaks during an earthquake to a volcano like explosion in New York City to the tales of dog torture by NFL super start Michael Vick and lets not forget about that time when the Senate decided to pull an all nighter at work as opposed to in the house of the Rising Sun.


    All that crazy news will just want to make you want to hole up for an extra week in a Orlando rental home somewhere with the family before the world finishes its trip in a hand basket to a place a lot less fun than Walt Disney.

    Wednesday, July 18, 2007

    Log Cabin Republicans Present Romney Boy? - Presidential Campaign Turns Vampy

    So none of the Presidential candidates are supposedly behind this but now Obama, Giuliani and Hillary Clinton all have sexy girls singing about them. 

    Yes even Hillary, do not pretend to be surprised, its 2007, she's a Democrat, and her husband is a repeat cheater, what would you do?

    Now Sex and Politics have always been very closely related but now the world of sexy music videos is apparently here to change the political landscape once again. 

    Just like GoDaddy.com learned or proved during the superbowl a sexy girl sells and lets face it all these politicians are looking to sell themselves completely.  If sex will help them do it, I doubt that any of them will forego the turnout because of a scantily clad vampy girl singing and shaking to the sexiness of their preferred candidate.

    Now the only thing missing from the campaign is a scantily clad male dancer from the Log Cabin Republicans strutting down a cat walk in short shorts with a T-Shirt that Says "Don't Take your Mitt's off Me Romney" facing off against Hillary Girl singing in a string bikini for that other Clinton.

    The Video's So far

    The Original - I got a crush on Obama - by Obama Girl

    The face off - Obama Girl v Giuliani Girl

    Hot 4 Hill - That's the real title and it is sexual (I'm not inserting over tones.)

    Its not all love, here is an attack ad against Obama.

    Boobs for Obama - Is it just me or does this anime remind you of Ann Coulter with a shorter hair cut?

    Thursday, July 12, 2007

    Sara Taylor's Oath to the President

    So this was probably a freudian slip on Sara Taylors part, but the reality is that the views expressed by the Bush administration begat this slip.  Politicos can only double talk so long before the truth starts to slip out.

    Its been a long time since we had a President that could double talk for 8 years straight with out exposing his lies (ergo Clinton's Is is really is or is it not is double talk).

    Friday, July 06, 2007

    King George 'Pinochio' Bush Photo Contest on NoMoreIncumbents.org

    I am running a  King George 'Pinochio' Bush Photo Contest on my blog at NoMoreIncumbents.org.

    Here is what you can win!

    The winner of this contest will receive a free 16' x 16' photo on an enlarged canvas featuring King George 'Pincohio' Bush.

    king-george-pinochio-bush-photo-contest

    The rules are simple!

    1. Subscribe to No More Incumbents via our Email Newsletter (see sidebar in left or Subscribe to No More Incumbents here)
    2. The Contest is open to anyone living in the United States
    3. A random drawing will be held on July 31st.  The winner will be contacted via the email they provide for their delivery subscription.  If they do not respond within 5 calendar days, we will hold a follow up drawing repetitively until we have a winner.
    4. The winner will need to provide a shipping address in the United States and we will deliver the Canvas Free!

    Our sponsors  CanvasOnDemand supplied the excellent craftsman ship on this enlarged photo.  We mashed together some images to come up with the King George Pinochio Bush concept.  Many people have spoofed King George and Pinochio Bush, as far as we know we might be the first to mash it together, and I'm sure that we are the first to blow it up and put it on a big canvas that you could hang on your wall at home or in the office.

     This type of enlarged photo will work great for our contest, but would also make a great birthday present or anniversary gift.

    So if you are interested in signing up for the contest head over to NoMoreIncumbents.org/blog/ and Subscribe via email to enter!

    Technorati tags:

    Tuesday, July 03, 2007

    Contest Moving Along King Pinochio George

    I mentioned last week that I was trying out a new service and was looking into running a contest to offer up a free large canvas of a picture.

    Well I was able to get the picture submitted successfully today and soon hope to have a 16 x 16 inch canvas of this picture.

    King Pinochio George W Bush

    I haven't figured out how I will run the contest yet, but will settle on that after the 4th of July holiday.  I'll let you more as this moves along.  If you have any contest suggestions, I would be glad to accept your comments or emails.

    Note the contest is going to be run in conjunction with a contest on my site NoMoreIncumbents.org as well.

    Saturday, June 30, 2007

    Internal Versus External Threats

    The British are facing an old foe, internal terroristic threats.  After years of trying to thwart the IRA, the United Kingdom now finds itself under attack from disenfranchised and extremely aggravated muslims.  Unlike the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the attacks against the United Kingdom over the last couple years seem to have been carried out largely by people coming from the inside of their country as opposed to foreigners temporarily infiltrating their borders.

    The United Kingdom has a significant amount of police experience in investigating these attacks, but the sheer volume of the plots involved seems to be taxing MI5.  The attacks are inspired essentially by copy cat extremists, but over time they will be inspired by their own success and they will become more sophisticated. 

    The United Kingdom is faced with the challenge of trying to stop the threats before they happen, treating the symptoms.  But they also need to find a way to treat the cause of the problem.  They have millions of people that are unemployed or underemployed that do not believe in Democracy and want to instate Islamic law in the United Kingdom.

    The United Kingdom is being slowly attacked by a surge of Muslim fundamentalists looking to remove the government.  This is a marked shift.  In many ways this is a half step beyond terrorism.  They are not just trying to make a statement or strike fear or strike back against opression real or perceived.  They are looking to take power.

    The US and the UK have launched a War in the Middle East pitting Democracy against Fascism.  That war has been hijacked by sleeping fundamentalists who have defended the territory with Muslim fundamentalism.  Now Muslim fundamentalists around the world are witnessing the power that a religious assault can have on a democracy.

    Democracies and Theocracies can not coexist.  There is no room for a democracy when a god of any stripe rules that democracy.  This is why the founders of the United States sought to separate church and state.  They had seen that a king, annointed by a god, took freedom away from mankind.  They established freedom and a bill of rights.  They also new that the democracy would perish if handed or ceded over to a god puppet.

    Muslim fanatics are attacking democracies at their weekest point, their susceptibility to be hijacked by religion.  President Bush has fought back pitting his religion against the Muslim religion.  This has fueled more converts to the fundamentalist  cause and has destablized many more regions.  They would have likely destabilized anyway after the Iraq war.

    The problem with Bush's approach is that even if he succeeds and fights off the Muslim religion with the Christian relgion, democracy will still fail as it will have been seized by religion anyway.  It is extremely difficult for any country or army to fight off against a religion.  It can only lead ultimately to genocide if the religion is to be stopped.

    When religions fight against religions, genocide is sometimes avoided, because new converts can sometimes be won within the ranks of the opposing forces. 

    Ultimately its a nasty paradox.  Genocide on one hand as an ultimate result or Genocide on the other hand on the other and Theocratic rule on either side too.

    Its bad news all the way around, unless more moderate people can be mobilized to actively participate.  Currently the majority of the world is not involved in this war.  They are merely sitting on the sidelines not choosing sides.  They are going about their jobs as teachers, and doctors and students and business people and real estate brokers and construction workers. 

    They are letting other people fight the war and choose its direction.  This is almost certain to result in a final solution that all of these people will not like.

    Internet to Local Store Shopping Options

    Sponsored Article

    Our sponsors Krillion.com have recently provided a press release citing the usefulness of their online shopping search tools. Their website enables internet shoppers to comparison shop, fact check, and research the best prices of products that are immediately available in their local area.

    Their release cites an example with Whirlpool Dryers and the ability to search for a product by a specific brand and then refine the search according to other filters like model or price.

    A large number of people that surf the internet use the internet as a research tool. They search online stores for information about products and then go to a different store in their local community and buy the same product. Krillion enables people to do the same thing they are already doing, but gives them the ability to target their internet searches to match their real world shopping opportunities. That's good for consumers and good for retailers both as it brings buyers and sellers together more efficiently and more realistically as consumers do not go to a retailer looking for a price that was offered on an unheard of web store at a teaser rate, solely intended to lure a customer into the site in the first place.

    What Might the Purpose of the New Attacks on Great Britain be?

    There are many things that are happening and may have happened that terrorists may be using as an excuse or opportunity to attack:

    • Salman Rushdie was recently Knighted
    • The new Prime Minister took office yesterday
    • The new Prime Minister is Scottish ( but not traveling through Glasgow this weekend)
    • Its close to the 7/7 attack anniversary
    • All three attacks have so far been attempted at areas that had high concentrations of people
    • Tony Blair Became a Middle East Envoy
    • The US and UK signed a Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty on June 26th
    • Wimbledon is almost half way through the tournament
    • School Holidays had just started today and the airport was unusually busy

    None of these things justifies an attack for any reason, but terrorists may use the opportunity for symbolistic reasons, for leveraging past terror attacks to raise the level of fear. They may even use it to motivate the members or people participating in the attack.

    One witness to the Glasgow attack indicated that one of the people that got out of the car was a large South Asian man, on fire and speaking gibberish. Both people were trying to throw petroleum around and get into the back of their green landrover. Many people think they might have been trying to get at more petroleum or some other device. This definitely does not appear to have been an accident and then men were not doing something mundane like trying to get at incontinence supplies. The burning man remained on fire while he attempted to get into the vehicle a second time. Authorities extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher and then arrested the man.

    The US has indicated they do not have any information about potential attacks here in the US, but aiports around the US will increase their security presence as a precaution.

    DNA test Identification for Dogs First

    Earlier today I wrote an article half in jest suggesting that some day soon we might all have to show up to the polls to vote and provide a sample of our DNA.

    We are not there yet, but DNA tests have been in the news today.  First, and least important, Eddie Murphy was confirmed as the father of one of the spice girls through a DNA test.

    I guess she told him what she 'really really' wanted.

    Then I was reading this article about a town in Australia that is looking at identifying all dogs by DNA.  They are hoping to be able to confirm a suspect dog is the right pooch after it attacks someone through DNA (dna from saliva on the wound, or from other clues left at the scene).  This will help authorities insure that they put the right dog down and will help them be sure that they are taking action against the right dog owners.

    It strikes me that in this age of rampant identity thievery, we are probably only about 5-10 years away from everyone submitting their DNA to a mass database where our identity can be confirmed.  The next time you want to withdraw cash from the ATM or vote, you might have to suffer a pin prick or maybe a throat swabbing for that DNA match.  It starts with some bad doggies down under, you might be next!

    Link to DNA test to collar dangerous dogs | | The Australian

    Chinese Officials Going to Jail for not Dumping their Mistresses

    In an attempt by the Chinese government to crack down on the epidemic of bribery and corruption throughout the country and government, stiffer rules are being forced on Communist rulers by themselves.  Apparently after years of not being able to police their own morals, they are now going to police their own morals.

    No longer will ministers be able to keep a second wife, a mistress or extra girlfriend.  Government officials and businessmen alike often keep a mistress or second wife as some sort of status symbol.

    But those extra mistresses also increase the ministers financial needs making them more susceptible to bribery and corruption (not like they aren't extremely susceptible anyway).  So they are looking to dispossess a number of second wives of their husbands and mistresses of their sugar daddies.

    The Communist government is taking this very seriously as they are concerned that this may threaten the party's grip on power.   

    Link to Crackdown on officials with mistresses - Yahoo! News

    Tuesday, June 26, 2007

    Build out of Online Educational Services

    Today I've been trying to get a theme that the United States needs to reeducate its entire workforce.  I've mentioned several times that like to repeat that it is technically feasible to do this.  We have the educational and for structure in the United States to educate people by the millions.

    It would take some growth by universities and colleges in order to handle the volume of educating millions of people at a time each year in addition to the people are already in the system.

    A recent release indicates that there are over a 1,300 institutions that provide online degrees through online programs.  Those same colleges and universities provide over 9,000 different degrees.

    Educating people online is definitely one of the ways that we can as a country pull together and reeducate our entire work force en masse and prepare our country to advance into this new century and new millennia that we've already begun.

    Paris Hilton Out of Jail - Did the US learn its Lesson

     Okay so Pearsall is finally out of jail, big deal.  It makes me wonder not whether or not Paris is learned her lesson, but whether or not the United States has learned its lesson.  There's absolutely nothing important about Paris Hilton going to jail.  There's nothing important about her getting favors and getting out of jail.  The media that is sidetracked the nation's attention away from more important matters to focus on Paris Hilton's comings and goings is a very serious problem.

    As a nation we've allowed our attention to be moved away from important issues by the sleight-of-hand of the fourth estate.  It's absolutely ridiculous and just as we need a change of leadership in the White House, we need a change of leadership in the fourth estate.  The media are not elected representatives however that means that a change is going to be much more difficult.

    Link to Paris Hilton leaves jail for Bel-Air mansion - US

    Superbug Cometh; Superbug Taketh Away

     For anyone that's ever read a Michael Creighton suspense novel, you probably have a pretty good idea of what a superbug could do to the United States or even to the world.  The situation is however all too real as recent estimates indicate that the level or preponderance of superbugs attacking patients in the United States is much higher than originally estimated.

    The estimate is about 10 times the rate that some health officials had previously estimated.

    Source: Superbug may strike 5 percent of hospital, nursing home patients - CNN.com

     

    Basically the superbug is growing and it's growing faster than what we originally predicted.  Fortunately, the superbug has not had a devastating impact on the population at large yet.  That doesn't mean that we shouldn't be more prepared or take action now.  It's not a reaction of fear, but he reaction of preparation.  The United States and the world needs to more to prepare for this and I would suggest that one of the first steps is in reeducating the American labor force.  We need more highly educated people capable of dealing with problems like these on a massive scale.

    Don't End up on CNN as the Tragedy du jour - Be Prepared when you Travel

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    We definitely live in a turbulent time. For a few short years there seemed to be peace mostly around the world, however we didn't realize that we were living on borrowed peaceful time in violence and mayhem is erupted almost around the world over the last several years.

    We as Americans need to continue to engage with other countries and peoples around the world as we are part of the global society. That said we have to be extra careful and more prepared when we travel abroad. In years past, many people took international travel for granted.

    We now know that need to be extra careful because just about anything can happen will work traveling. That doesn't mean we should let fear rule our lives and stop traveling, it just means we need to take extra precautions to ensure that we are prepared for whatever comes up.

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    Fixing Gridlock - Infrastructure, Education, Rejuvenation

     I've been considering what it would take to fix this country, and I've come up with a couple items that would definitely need to be part of the plan.  The first thing that needs to be fixed and it can be done in conjunction with the second, is to begin repairing our aging infrastructure.  A recent estimate indicates that it would cost approximately $700 billion to improve our infrastructure in order to bring it up to a passing grade. 

    Some of these deficiencies have very real costs to economic growth. The poor condition of roads, the engineers estimated, costs $120 billion a year in repairs, operating costs and time wasted in traffic - that's equivalent to a full percentage point of the economy.

    "There's a tremendous need," said Larry Roth, a professional engineer who is deputy executive director of the engineers' group. "Not only are we not keeping pace with growth, but we're not keeping pace with the maintenance that's required. As a result, our infrastructure is simply crumbling."

    To eliminate its weaknesses, the United States would have to spend about $160 billion a year over five years, Roth added. That total of $800 billion is not so different from the $700 billion in estimated direct spending on the war in Iraq.

    Source: Is aging infrastructure slowing the U.S.? - International Herald Tribune

    We also need to entirely re-train the US workforce.  If were going to compete in a global economy we need lots and lots of the smartest people working on the toughest issues of the day.  We need millions of super educated citizens.

    These two goals do not have to be mutually exclusive.  Many citizens as they go back to school to receive their first or second bachelors degree, could work part time in a nationwide project to improve our infrastructure.  In essence we could kill two birds with one stone, funding the education of American workers and literally repaving our roads and rebuilding our infrastructure nationwide.

    At the end of the project we would have a brand-new infrastructure, and we would have a re trained highly skilled and highly organized workforce capable of rebuilding a country.