Political Rantings
The Other Mac Attack
Sunday, February 24th, 2008If you haven’t seen the New York Times’ recent article about John McCain yet, it’s here. Allow me to summarize by reading through the article and pulling out the relevant points sequentially (all emphasis is mine):
Eight years ago, McCain’s campaign staff thought he was having an affair with a lobbyist, Ms. Vicki Iseman. Without telling him, they met with her and told her to stay away from McCain. Even if they weren’t having an affair, his advisors were worried that too much contact with a lobbyist would damage his reputation as “the ethical candidate.”
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Castro goes out with a whimper, not a bang…
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008Fidel Castro has resigned as Cuba’s President, turning the position over to his brother Raul.
Here’s what President Bush said about it:
The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy. Eventually, this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections – and I mean free, and I mean fair – not these kind of staged elections that the Castro brothers try to foist off as true democracy. [If Cuba remains much the same], political prisoners will rot in prison and the human condition will remain pathetic in many cases.
Unless he knows something we don’t know (and that’s entirely possible, of course), I would think this is a giant missed opportunity. Why not invite Raul Castro to Washington, DC on his very first day in office, and then get him in a private meeting and explain to him the untold benefits (financial and otherwise) of forging a strong and lasting alliance with the United States. If he demurs, we’re no worse off than we were, except now we have the moral high ground. If not, Americans instantly have better cigars and a new vacation hotspot in the Carribean.
Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst at George Washington University’s National Security Archive, believes the next U.S. President will probably take this kind of tack, but “the current U.S. president is unlikely to make any changes in a hostile position towards Cuba.” He doesn’t say why, but I think if history has taught us anything about George W. Bush, it’s that he really doesn’t like to change his mind…
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The 2008 Elections – Indexed for your reading pleasure…
Friday, February 8th, 2008I’ve been a big fan of Jessica Hagy, author of the Indexed blog, for some time. Now, she’s done a 2008 Election roundup for alt.campaign which is excellent. Here’s my favorite, but you should definitely click through and see them all.
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James Lileks sums up Super Tuesday
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008Once again, James Lileks does a masterful job of describing exactly how I feel about something that’s happening in the world:
“I’m going to vote for President Hillary,” (G)Nat said when we got home. I asked her why.
“Because she is a woman and she seems like a good leader.”
Well, let’s just Godwin the hell out of this for grins.
“Would you vote for Hitler if he was a woman?”
She stopped and glared. DAD.
“I’m not saying she’s anything like Hitler,’ I said. ‘She’s not at all. But would you vote for someone just because they were a woman?”
“And she seems like a good leader I said. Hitler was not a good leader.”
I considered noting that Hitler was an effective shaper of public opinion as well, but decided to ask her what made a good leader.
“Deciding the best things for people.”
We had a little talk about taxes, and she was surprised to find that the President and the Congresses can just take your money. “That’s wrong.”
Sigh. Careful. This is civics, not brainwashing.
“No, it’s not wrong. We all agree to pay taxes for things we need. We don’t always agree on how much to pay, or what to spend them on. But if they take too much, then we can’t go to Disneyworld.”
Okay, now it was brainwashing. Her eyes grew wide. “I vote for Obama.”
“He might raise taxes, too.”
She looked bereft: “who else is there then?”
Welcome to the club, child.
My own 7-year old asked me the other night who I was “rooting for” in today’s election. I told him that we call it “voting” and not “rooting,” and that I really wasn’t sure yet, so I wasn’t going to vote for anyone.
Tough civics lesson, there – I’m sure they’re drilling it into his head that it’s his sacred duty to vote when he turns 18, and here’s Dad telling him he’s abstaining because he has no opinion just yet. The truth is that I knew my ideas lined up pretty well with Rudy Giuliani, but now that he’s not running, I simply don’t know enough about McCain or Romney to make an informed choice. According to Wikipedia (Dems, Reps) there have been a total of 43 debates so far, and what little I’ve seen of them has not encouraged me to watch more. And so I’ll sit out the New Jersey primary, and do my research on the two who are chosen (by others) to run.
I supsect that most people are as uninformed as I am, but are voting today anyway. I’m not sure how I feel about that. If you don’t know anything about the candidates, what’s more important? Excercising your sacred right to vote, or not muddying the results with an uninformed vote? Maybe we should have 43 debates on the topic…
Taking the point a bit further, I also suspect that a significant segment of the population feels informed because they’ve been hearing about poll results for the last nine months, and are simply voting for the person about whom they’ve heard good things lately. Case in point: there was a man on the street corner in front of my train station this morning holding an octag sign. I didn’t have a digital camera with me, but I’ve recreated the sign to the right. Basically, this says to me, “Vote for Obama – he’s winning.”
Of course, people are free to vote for whatever reasons they choose, but if this truly is the trend, I wonder whether all of these opinion polls are affecting the outcome (see the Observer Effect). And if that’s the case, I think perhaps we could do with a little less information about what everyone thinks.
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A Good Enough Actor to Fool God?
Friday, January 25th, 2008Jason Bennion points us to a story about the Westboro Baptist Church in Topkea, Kansas, who plans to picket Heath Ledger’s funeral because he played a gay character in “Brokeback Mountain.”
I tend to view blatant homophobia, as well as most other kinds of bigotry, as some combination of ignorance and stupidity. I feel like the vast majority of society has gotten past these hangups, and tends to view folks who still walk around hating others as the exception, rather than the rule. To be sure, there are still nuances around the edges of prejudice that we need to work through, but as far as institutionalized or formalized hatred, I think it’s at least on the rapid decline, if not altogether eliminated. Call me optimistic, call me naive, just don’t call me late for dinner…
Anyway, the folks at the Westboro Baptist Church are doing their best to test my theory. Check this out:
“You cannot live in defiance of God,” [Shirley Phelps-Roper, spokesperson for the Church] said. “He got on that big screen with a big, fat message: God is a liar and it’s OK to be gay. Heath Ledger is now in Hell, and has begun serving his eternal sentence there.”
So what they’re saying here, I think, is that it’s not only wrong to be gay, it’s wrong to pretend to be gay as well. I’m no expert, but even if you’re in the “homosexuality is a sin” camp, you would think that God would be able to tell the difference.
Although I guess if you take this ridiculous logic to its ultimate conclusion, it’s possible that Mr. Ledger is in pretend Hell, serving his eternal sentence for his pretend sins.
But wait, there’s more:
Started 1955, the Topeka, Kan.-based church has conducted over 34,000 peaceful demonstrations opposing the homosexual lifestyle, according to their Web site, GodHatesFags.com. The organization runs various Web sites, including GodHatesAmerica.com and others that condemn lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Muslims, Roman Catholics and Jews as well as certain nationalities, according to Wikipedia.
“God hates fags,” [Ms. Phelps-Roger] said. “The wrath of God has been revealed before the eyes of this nation with the death of Heath Ledger. . . . This nation worships the dead almost as much as they worship their filthy sex acts. America is doomed.”
The article also says the group is known for picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. So many people to hate, so little time…
So there you go – ignorance and stupidity, or evidence of systemic intolerance? I’m hoping that folks like Jason and I are the majority now, and the disgust/disbelief we have for people like this reflect our society’s norms. Who’s with me?!?
Categories: Movie Talk, Political Rantings | 5 Comments »
A Politics Two-fer
Monday, January 21st, 2008Two quick political points to report:
First, these two pages are fascinating to compare. To summarize: Hillary Clinton has raised almost $91 million in this campaign. Barack Obama has raised over $80 million, Mitt Romney – $63 million, Rudy Giuliani – $47 million, John McCain – $32 million. Mike Huckabee? Just under $2.5 million. Only Dennis Kucinich, Duncan Hunter and Mike Gravel have raised less. And this is the guy who won the Iowa Caucus!
Second, this story just made me laugh and laugh:
A mailer from [Texas congressional candidate, Dean Hrbacek] contains a photo of his head attached to an image of a different body that makes him look thinner.
The photo is presented as a true image of [Hrbacek], a Republican former mayor of Sugar Land. In reality, it is a computerized composite of Hrbacek’s face and someone else’s slimmer figure, in suit and tie, from neck to knee.
Campaign manager Scott Broschart acknowledged to The Houston Chronicle that the image is a fake. Hrbacek has been so busy that he had no time to pose for a full-length photo for the mailing, Broschart said.
“He may appreciate that we took a few pounds off him,” Broschart said. “I think the voters … are more concerned with the issues as opposed to pretty photo shoots.”
Yes, the issues. Like, for instance, can we trust the candidate to be truthful with us when his own campaign brochure contains a doctored photo of the candidate himself. Or the issue of what else he’ll decide to fake because he doesn’t have time to do it the right way. Maybe some congressional votes?
I mean, seriously, I’m sure being a Congressman is a tough job. But can’t we find 435 people who can get the easy stuff right, and then judge them on how they handle the hard stuff? Is it really that hard?
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Historical Primary/Caucus Results
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008If you’re like me, you’re wondering whether these caucuses and primaries really matter, or whether it’s just something to occupy the news media until the nominating conventions. Here’s some data that may help:
| Iowa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Democrat | Nomination? | Republican | Nomination? | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | John Kerry | Yes | George W. Bush(*) | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | Al Gore | Yes | George W. Bush | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996 | Bill Clinton(*) | Yes | Bob Dole | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992 | Tom Harkin | No | George H.W. Bush(*) | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1988 | Dick Gephardt | No | Bob Dole | No | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1984 | Walter Mondale | Yes | Ronald Reagan(*) | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1980 | Jimmy Carter | Yes | George H.W. Bush | No | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1976 | Uncommitted | No | Gerald Ford | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Categories: Political Rantings | Comments Off on Historical Primary/Caucus Results Random Acts of Blogging IIIThursday, December 20th, 2007Lots of little things today: 1) 2007 Top 10 Finalists – Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest (Hat tip: Lisa Fiorenzo) 2) Soundboard.com – 78,000+ sound files, broken down into 6,000+ “Soundboards.” Find “soundboards” from your favorite movies, tv shows, celebrities, etc. It’s the YouTube of sound clips… 3) Just when you thought Britney Spears was as messed up as she was going to get:
But here’s where it goes beyond messed up to just plain weird:
This is wrong on so many levels, just the thought of typing it all up makes my head hurt. 4) Time’s Person of the Year for 2007 is . . . You again! No, just kidding. It’s Vladmir Putin. The title of the article is “A Tsar is Born.” Clever title, although I think he wins for being infamous as opposed to famous. Yet another contest Al Gore could have won but didn’t, me thinks. At any rate, this site is kind of cool. It shows you the covers for all the Person of the Year issues, dating back to 1927, and lets you view them by category – US Political and Military Leaders (30), International Leaders (31), Business and Technology (5), Science and Medicine (5), Religion and Philanthropy (3), and Concepts (7). 5) Finally, a quick Instapundit roundup. Glenn was chock full of blogabble stuff today: – Did you know that 70 Senators, including 22 Democrats, voted to extend the Iraqi war funding by $70 million on Tuesday? Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that Democrats were vowing to end the war? The 2006 Congress marked the “end of the rubber stamp Congress,” right? Maybe this had something to do with it. – Did you know that printer ink costs roughly $8,000 per gallon? And that ink monitoring software tells you the cartridge is out of ink when it is an average of 20% full? The worst offender, by the way, is Kodak’s EasyShare 5300 which would have you waste an astounding 64% of the ink! I’ve never understood why people don’t just turn off those ink monitors and print until the printouts start degrading (always keeping a spare cartridge handy, of course). That way, you know you haven’t wasted any… – Did you know that the free market seems to be doing what the Kyoto treaty could not do? Some fascinating stats, comparing 1997 (the year before Kyoto was signed) to 2004 (latest available data): That’s all for now… Categories: News and/or Media, Political Rantings, Random Acts of Blogging | Comments Off on Random Acts of Blogging III And the Winner of the Mitt Romney Look-alike Contest is…Wednesday, December 19th, 2007…his father, George Romney:  I’m not usually one for the whole “he looks just like his father thing,” but my lord – this picture is eerie, no? When I first saw it in the paper, my reaction was, “why is that picture of Mitt Romney in black and white?” Looking more closely, I still have trouble believing it’s not him… Categories: Political Rantings, Random Acts of Blogging | Comments Off on And the Winner of the Mitt Romney Look-alike Contest is… Continued Improvement Plagues Iraq WarWednesday, December 19th, 2007Two weeks ago, the Washington Post called good news about Iran’s nuclear weapons program A Blow to Bush’s Tehran Policy. Today, Instapundit pointed us to this set of Iraqi war statistics. Some samples:
The site also points out that we’ve found (and cleared) almost 6,200 weapons caches so far this year, up from less than 2,700 in 2006 (and just over 1,700 in 2004). So, two questions: First, why isn’t this front page news? It was certainly front page news when the numbers were going in the other direction, or when every politician and their mother was running to a podium to declare the “Surge” a failed strategy before it even began. Is the war only a story of national interest when it’s going badly? Second, and especially for the Bush-haters out there, isn’t now the time to call out the President on the original purpose of the Surge? If I remember correctly, our goal was to control the violence so that the Iraqi government could take the political steps necessary to maintain their own security, so that our men and women could come home. Why isn’t President Bush using this golden opportunity to publicly hammer the Iraqi government about showing demonstrable progress? For that matter, why isn’t Nancy Pelosi doing the same? Or are we only interested in bringing our troops home when things are going badly as well? I’m sure as Christmas approaches, they and their families would disagree. Categories: News and/or Media, Political Rantings | Comments Off on Continued Improvement Plagues Iraq War
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