Too Much Clout for Iowa (and New Hampshire)! Too much Power for Evengelicals!
Am I mad. You bet I am. Every four years, two people get nominated to run for President of our fair country–all fifty states. Do I have any say in who gets nominated? Hell No! Do you have any say in who gets nominated? Not unless you live in Iowa or New Hampshire or possibly South Carolina. That’s right. The caucuses and primaries in two, sometimes three, rarely four under populated, relatively insignificant states, for better or worse (usually worse) always choose our candidates for president. The other ninety-seven percent of the population can go to hell.
Now, if you happen to live in one of the three or four deciding states, please don’t take what I say personal, you lucky dogs. I personally think the time for a national primary has arrived, but assuming things aren’t going to change, you people have an obligation to choose the best candidate for the rest of the country and frankly you haven’t. In hindsight one could argue that in 2000 and 2004 you gave us the worst candidate and Iowa, in 2008 you may have done it again. Mike (Huckster) Huckabee?
Ahhh. The Evangelicals. I’m about to ruffle some feathers here. It never ceases to amaze me how selfish this group can be. To the detriment of everything else their main concern always seems to be social issues. They got their man in 2000/2004 and look what it got us, two wars (one unprovoked and unwarranted), two trillion in additional debt, three, soon to be four dollar a gallon gas, disdain around the world, tax relief for the rich and an epidemic of corporate greed and fraud to name a few.
To the Evangelicals, think about it. Do social issues have anything to do with prosecuting a war, dealing with national emergencies, dealing with our former friends and enemies overseas, dealing with the energy crisis, curbing our national debt, providing affordable health care, or dealing with terrorists?
Mike (Huckster) Huckabee? The only candidate that has stated he believes in creation. Forget billions of years of sedimentary and fossil evidence. Forget Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. For this man, the earth and life upon it began seven thousand years ago. (sometime after the first pyramid was built.)
Yes, Mike Huckabee is likable and charismatic, but I think we’ve learned that charisma doesn’t run a smooth government. The man was an apprentice to Jerry Falwell. He was a preacher for chrissake. Evangelicals, if you want to be taken seriously, go do some good in the world and stop trying to shove your religion down my throat.
Society’s Third Rail – Abortion
The Bottom Line The way I see it, is that one side wants to control the lives of the other side.
I decided to tackle the mother of controversial subjects – Abortion.
Do I have an opinion? Heck yes, I have an opinion, but my opinion isn’t whether abortion constitutes murder or not. I happen to think that a woman should have a right to choose, but it doesn’t matter. Why? Because I’m a man. There is no way a man can interpose themselves into the place of a woman, let alone a pregnant woman, so they (including me) should just butt out.
The abortion rights debate should only be between women. Yet, it seems that a large majority of the Right to Life supporters are men. Deplorably all the violent actions perpetrated by this group against clinics and doctors have been men. Unfortunately, these actions tend to cloud the real issue and the way I see it is both sides have rock-solid issues.
The practice of abortion preempts the birth and therefore the eventual life of the fetus. (I personally believe that life doesn’t begin at conception but I’m a man, so that doesn’t count) In any event, it is a regrettable procedure, which should not be entered into lightly without pre-procedure counseling.
There can be many factors, which enter into a woman’s decision of whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term. Things like abandonment, a woman’s health, her mental suitability, her financial ability, the viability of the fetus, quantity of existing children etc. To the pro life/anti abortion backers, these factors may seem trivial.
Though it seems reasonable that a woman who becomes pregnant as a result of the unconscionable act of incest or rape are entitled to an express pass for an abortion, yet here too, most right to lifer’s line up against this reasonable assumption. Are we to compound the crime that has been inflicted against these women by forcing them to have the child of the perpetrator, thus forcing her to raise and live with a living breathing memory of her attacker for her the remainder of her life? This is the equivalent of a life sentence for the victim.
Some states have passed laws that make all abortions, even the ones protecting the life of the mother, illegal. Since, I know of no state legislatures that contain a majority of women, this is another case where men are involving themselves in a woman’s issue. It is much too easy for men to moralize about this issue, when they are on the outside looking in.
On a related matter, the same faction who vehemently rejects abortion, claiming it’s an extreme form of birth control, tantamount to murder, also reject logical steps to avoid pregnancy such as various forms of the morning after pill. I find their position on this peculiar, since restricting use of these contraceptives would lead to more unwanted pregnancies and by extension, more dreaded abortions.
Even more curious, is the right to life bloc’s position on stem cell research, using extra, unused embryos that are scheduled for destruction. It is widely held within the medical community that such research will pay giant dividends, potentially leading to break through cures for everything from Parkinson’s disease to Spinal Cord rejuvenation. Yet, the sanctimonious right to lifers would rather flush these embryos down the drain than allow them to be put to work for medical research. In this case they seem to be out of touch with an overwhelming majority of Americans and even a few of their own Congressional representatives, as the President had to veto a bill recently, which allowed government funding of such research.
Perhaps the President would feel differently if his mother suddenly developed a case of Alzheimer’s disease or if one of his daughters became pregnant. Personal hardship has a way of moderating one’s views.
Social Security – America’s Trojan Horse
December 19, 2004
Social Security has always been a hot button for me.
I don’t know if had anything to do with me but in 1992 shortly after being inaugurated, President Clinton seemed to be proposing gradually raising the age of eligibility for social security retirement, a suggestion that I made by letter two weeks prior outlining my rationale and the benefits of doing so.
Of course, after just mentioning such a possibility, the opposing party and most elderly people jumped on the idea and squashed it thoroughly, even though the average recipient now lives twenty-five percent longer than they did in the beginning.
Social Security has been called the third rail of politics – touch it and you die. It has also been called a boondoggle and a Ponzi scheme, all of which have the fruits of truth.
Now our illustrious leader wants to tackle Social Security himself by allowing taxpayers to invest up to two thirds of their contributions into a private retirement account.
This idea leads to many more questions. What about the Medicaid portion? Will Employers still match a private account contribution? If not who makes up the difference? Who will protect these people from their own bad investments? Will private accounts be regulated for security and stability? Will only these accounts be restricted to Mutual Fund style accounts which spread out and diminish both risk and gain? If Private accounts are approved, how will the large shortfall be made up in the short and long run? If sums are to be borrowed for this endeavor, who will be responsible for repayment?
These and many more questions need to be answered. We don’t need any more open ended endeavors
The News Keeps Getting Worse and Worse.
Dateline April 9, 2012, Baghdad, Iraq
“There is lots of news to report today but first we take you now to Beverly Watson in Baghdad where a bold new terrorist event is unfolding. Beverly?”
“Thank you Brian.”
“Starting at two PM Baghdad time, three car bombs were detonated simultaneously this morning in the middle of a celebration of the eighth anniversary of the fall of the Statue of Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad. As police and paramedics approached the scenes of the explosions, rocket propelled grenades were launched at their vehicles destroying them and killing or wounding scores more. Shortly afterwards, as if on cue, rooftop insurgents started raking the remaining bystanders with automatic rifle fire killing or wounding hundreds more and herding the onlookers to a portion of the square where four more bombs went off.”
“At this point no one has been able get to the dead and wounded to provide medical treatment or to assess the damage. Iraqi troops were sent in to confront the insurgents, but have been pinned down. Both the Iraqi soldiers and the insurgents have been taking heavy casualties. Coalition troops with heavy equipment including tanks are en-route to assist the bogged down Iraqis.”
“Of the estimated twenty-five thousand celebrants, it is feared that as many as two thousand may be dead or wounded. That would make this the third largest onslaught of Iraqi civilians since the war began. These casualties are eclipsed only by the three thousand killed and seven thousand wounded in the Baghdad soccer stadium. That was shortly before the mysterious helicopter crash which killed the President and two members of the Cabinet on their flight back from Camp David in 2008. Then there was the twenty-five thousand killed and wounded in the clash between Sunni an Shiite militias which set off the Civil War in the summer of 2007.That was shortly after then Vice President Cheney’s visit and speech to the Iraqi people after and in conjunction with the execution of Saddam Hussein and six of his most vicious henchmen.”
“Back to you Brian.”
“One Question, Beverly. Do you have any idea who or what is behind this attack?”
“No Brian, at this time no one has claimed responsibility but because it occurred during a celebration for the toppling of Saddam Hussein, it is suspected that it was the work of Ba’ath terrorists but with over two hundred active terrorist organizations, no one will know unless one of them claims responsibility.”
“Thank you Beverly.”
“To recap America’s longest declared war, it is entering it’s ninety seventh month (longer than all three declared wars in the Twentieth Century together) and to date has cost America the sum of two trillion dollars, equivalent to $60,000 per American or a quarter million for a family of four. Estimated Iraqi casualties in this this ongoing eight year war and the associated civil war are estimated to be about two million with a half million dead, about twice what Hussein was alleged to have butchered. Coalition casualties exceed sixty thousand with about twenty thousand dead, mostly American.”
“On an unrelated matter, we now take you to Bill Thomas in Caracas, Venezuela?”
“Venezuela has announced that, with the assistance of Iran and North Korea, it now has a nuclear bomb, joining them, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and South Africa as newest members of the Nuclear Club.”
“President Hillary Clinton has been in contact with the Venezuelan President For Life, Hugo Chavez urging him to reconsider, promising substantial foreign aid and further promising to buy Venezuelan crude at two dollars a barrel over the international average price, which is currently a record one hundred and twenty-four dollars a barrel.”
“The Governors of our fifty-first state, Puerto Rico and fifty-second state Cuba as well as our President have also lodged protests with Venezuela over their alleged underground nuclear test on an uninhabited island off the coast of Venezuela, which the Venezuelans claim was nothing more than an earthquake.”
“Back to you Brian.”
“Bill you spoken with President Chavez. Did he give you any idea why his country is going the nuclear route?”
“Yes Brian, he did. He claims the reason is self defense and the country started working on nuclear weapons after the late President Bush had added Venezuela to his Axis of Evil in his 2007 State of the Union address. He said and I quote, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder and so is evil”. He goes on to point out the only member of that dubious list that has been invaded, is Iraq, which didn’t possess a nuclear deterrent and claims if we hadn‘t been bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, we would have attacked Venezuela.”
“Thank You Bill.”
“Meanwhile, Secretary of State, Obama has been in contact with the mayors of Cleveland, St Louis and Miami where the ongoing riots seem to be petering out. The riots are still going strong in Philadelphia and Gary, Indiana. On the international scene new riots have started in Karachi, Pakistan and Birmingham, England while the violence has finally subsided in Paris where a terrorist plane had knocked off the top third of the Eiffel Tower, causing several hundred deaths last month.”
“When we return, we will discuss whether the reconstituted draft or the astronomical price of gas and oil which reached as high as $8.79 per gallon, precipitated the riots and what the present administration is prepared to do about the ongoing environmental problems, with the Secretary Obama.”
OF COURSE IT’S FICTION, like I had to tell you that, but really, so has what the present administration has been force feeding us since 9/11. Fictional rational to go to war. Inadequate planning, Totally underestimation of the enemy. No exit strategy. Stationing only enough troops to perpetuate a stalemate. Continuously overlooking all the bad news to point out the paltry good news. 3,000 plus dead since the declared end of hostilities.
Regarding my scenario, let’s hope nothing like this ever happens. Impossible you say? I say improbable but not impossible. Prepare for the long long,long haul, unless the new congress throws up their collective hands and says Enough!
I posted this for the first time over two years ago. I suppose it’s safe to say that this fictional scenario is closer to reality than the the crazy upbeat ravings of Administration officials.
Propose National Presidential Primary
Letter to the Editor, November 2004
I am a Republican who voted for Kerry. That doesn’t mean I was enamored with Kerry. Quite the opposite, I was one of the many that voted against Bush sensing that he wasn’t up to the job.
I never see this mentioned but I think the way the candidates are selected is atrocious. Why should the whole country be forced to vote for presidential candidates usually selected by the insignificant states of Iowa or New Hampshire.
I propose a nationwide primary three months before the general election to select the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates. This would save time and money cut down on negative campaigning and gives everyone a say on every candidate
Silly Things 