Sunday Thoughts

Well the sun is going down on another Sunday and another long week of crap will begin anew tomorrow morning. Here are a couple of random thoughts about tonight and the past week.

The Oscars are tonight. Always a tough night for me because I hate "Hollywood" and all the "stars", but yet I love movies. So I will probably watch some of it because I would like for a few movies I saw to do well. I really enjoyed No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, and Juno. One cool thing about each of these is that there aren't any "Hollywood types" in them. So I'm pulling for each movie and all the actors in them. Just spare me the George Clooney's of this world.

This week the New York Times made their first attempt to discredit a Republican candidate. The great thing about this is that many liberals are even calling it weak and I see it as a sign that this dying rag of a "newspaper" is on their way out. They are no longer relevant and their bias just keeps getting exposed year after year. People are tired of it and their falling subscription rates and upcoming firings prove this. You can only print jokers like Frank Rich and Paul Krugman for so long before people see you as nothing but a joke. The crossword remains as the only thing "fit to print". The weird thing about the story is that they have been holding it since December, but yet endorsed McCain before Super Tuesday. So they knew they had this story and that they were going to use it against McCain, but yet still endorsed him.

Fidel Castro stepped down as the leader of Cuba this week and his brother was selected to replace him today. On the nightly news tonight they interviewed a bunch of Cubans in the local government ran markets and listened to all the complaints about food shortages, long lines at healthcare facilities, and low wages. Isn't socialism great!! Nothing beats hungry, underpaid, sick people watching state tv and reading their state newspaper!! Oh wait...that sucks. Surely the nightly news has it wrong though. Michale Moore took sicks veterans to Cuba for treatment because of their great healthcare. So who is right? Actual Cubans or a liberal propagandist trying to persuade uneducated Americans like Oprah?? I'll go with the actual Cubans. The moral of this story? When you walk into that voting booth in November think about those sick, hungry, and underpaid Cubans. Look at their leaders and how much the government runs their lives, then compare that to the candidates we have. For those of you who aren't catching on I will spell it out for you. Put fatigues, a beard, and a few wrinkles on Obama and you've got Castro.

Enjoy your Sunday evening and I'll see in the bread lines!!

Interesting Stuff

Two interesting things I have read in the last couple of days. One is from the latest issue of Forbes magazine. The piece is an editorial written by Steve Forbes himself. Mr. Forbes has had some interesting ideas over the years, but his favorite cause has been the idea of a flat tax. His editorial this month comments on Rudy Giuliani's very interesting ideas on tax simplification. I'm very intrigued by the ideas mentioned, but sadly my vote doesn't count because I don't live in Iowa or New Hampshire and I will never know what could have come from these ideas. ANYWAY...here is the link to the online version. Check out the hard copy if you get a chance because it shows a sample tax form under the Giuliani plan and it is simply amazing. Oh yeah...there are multiple editorials on this link, but the tax part is under the heading "Reagan Would Applaud".

http://www.forbes.com/columnists/forbes/2008/0211/019_2.html

The other interesting thing I read was an interview in the Gazette that came out today. The interview is with Senator Tom Coburn who just visited Iraq and came away with some interesting observations. I was honestly shocked to see this in the Gazette since they hate Senator Coburn, but I think his disagreement with the Bush Administration on the handling of the war and war spending is what got him in this weeks issue. Senator Coburn remains as one of probably ten people who actually belong in congress. It gives me hope for Oklahoma that we elected Coburn and sent lying jokers like Brad Carson packing. Coburn has announced that he is not interested in being VP, which I would have loved to have seen, but we still have him in the Senate fighting for Oklahoma and for what is right. If only we could get a man like Coburn to be our Governor. Henry has failed and it is time to find someone qualified for the job.

Ahh The Weekend

Another weekend is winding down and I'm faced with my least favorite time of the week....Sunday night. Sunday nights are terrible because you know what you face the next morning. In twelve hours I will be walking into biometrics for another lecture about something I will never use. Depressing thought.

This was a weird weekend. I worked until midnight Friday night and then came home and passed out. The storm woke me up once or twice during the night, but it made sleeping in a beautiful thing. The only problem is that the rain didn't stop. It just rained and rained and rained. Amazing how something is so great when you are sleeping and then sucks so bad when you are awake. Every minute of my week is planned except for the weekend. So when it rains on the weekend it flat out blows.

One positive is that I got some good studying done, but the weekend should be more than that. I also watched the movie Fargo for the first time. Great movie. I have no idea why I have never seen it since I enjoy so many of the Coen brother's other films.

Well I better go...here comes Monday....

Iowa Doesn't Speak For Me

Short blog for you today. In this political season we have a HUGE problem and I have the easy solution. The problem is the way we go about electing our President. Right now we have individual states deciding when to hold their own primaries. There are many problems with this, but the main problem is that essentially we have the people of Iowa and New Hampshire deciding which 2-3 candidates from each party get to move on. Why do they get to decide that?

Here is why....the media. The media has somehow romanticized the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. They paint it as some grand historical event that somehow makes American politics great, but they are wrong. Lets say you live in Oklahoma and wanted to vote for John Edwards or Rudy Giuliani...you couldn't. Well I guess you could have, but it wouldn't have mattered. So here is the big question. Why have a system where you don't get to put your support behind someone because of where you live? The issues that the people in Iowa are voting on might be different than those of people in New York or Alaska or Oklahoma.

The solution is obvious....a national primary day or primary weekend. Put it in early February and you can cut down on the incredible costs associated with being a candidate. It would still be expensive, but imagine how much money these people could save on commercials, transportation, staffing, print advertising, etc. I think you would also need some regulation on when someone could start campaigning so we don't have people starting even earlier in advance of this early national primary. I think this would level the playing field and allow everyone to support the candidate of their choice.

Lastly, it would force people who already hold office to do the job they were elected to do. The people of New York and Illinois each have one senator who is not currently doing the job they were elected to do. Obama and Clinton should both step aside if they aren't going to represent the people that elected them. They were elected to serve, not to run for other offices.

And Then There Were Three

I was at work last night and was kind of bored (nothing new) so I picked up an old issue of Time magazine. It was an issue previewing the New Hampshire primaries, which were the following week. Inside the magazine they had some behind the scenes type stuff from McCain, Clinton, and Obama. There were pictures of each, but something about the pictures struck me as odd. In at least one photo of each you could see a campaign sign of some sort that had the word "Change" somewhere on it.

Now probably every election that has ever taken place for any office from school boards to class presidents to President of the United States has had at least one candidate running on a platform of change. So I guess I shouldn't surprised to see the photos of our final three candidates, but the word "change" seems to be used more in this campaign than any other I can remember.

All of the Bush bashers out there like to throw the word change around a lot and they like to tell you why their candidate can bring this change (whatever change means), but are people out there really this dumb?? Lets take a step back and look at a few things. First, what do the three remaining candidates all have in common? They are each current US Senators. They have already been elected by their home states (weird because I thought Hillary was from Arkansas, but whatever) to go to Washington and serve. Clinton has been in office since January of 2001, Obama since January of 2005, and McCain since January of 1987.

So I ask you this. Haven't they already had plenty of opportunities to "change" whatever it is they want to change? If they think things need to be changed then aren't they proposing to change something they were a part of? Why are grown people showing up at political rallies and dancing and cheering for candidates talking about changing something they created?!?! THEY ARE THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is why I supported Rudy Giuliani for President. His record of public service is one of ACTUAL change, not just some campaign signs with the word written across them. In four years we will be watching another campaign season unfold. Some of these same characters we have seen in this campaign will jump back in again. They will all complain and bash the incumbent. Some of the faces may change, but the message of change will still be there as we continue to elect people who are happy with business as usual in Washington.

In my opinion America won't elect a real leader of change until many of you reading this aren't able to retire because Social Security has gone bust. When it messes with your bottom line you will support real change. Until then get those flashy campaign signs ready and cheer for the candidate (problem) near you.

Politics, My Blood Pressure, and the Super Bowl

I can't prove it, but there is a direct correlation between politics and my blood pressure. Surely I know someone in the science building who could hook me up to an ECG and bp monitor while I watch a debate or while I read something political. It would be interesting to watch my pulse rate make a quick journey upward as Obama and Clinton are flashed on the screen. This isn't good news since the election is still quite a ways away, but I'm already seeing commercials for both of them. Commercials in general are bad enough, but being lied to in a commercial just makes it even worse. If I wasn't poor I would have Tivo and I could eliminate the madness.

On a side note. If you have never read about all of the suspicious deaths surrounding the Clinton's you should Google it. Crazy stuff.

The Super Bowl is tomorrow evening. I'm not a huge NFL fan, but it is the Super Bowl. There is some history involved with the Patriots trying to become the first team to go 19-0. I think I'm going to pull for the Giants though. The Patriot's coach is a real first class asshole and I think that is reason enough to pull for the Giants.

Is Being Unemployed A Job??

I think being unemployed could suddenly become steady work for some Americans if Democrats in the Senate have their way. Many in the Senate have said that the recent economic stimulus package should include extended unemployment benefits! WHAT?!

Have we learned nothing from Medicaid and other programs that are designed to help, but ultimately get taken over by abusers. When will Democrats learn that giving people an option to do less than is expected of them will be taken and exploited EVERY time.

I'm sick and tired of hearing about unemployment. We have an unemployment rate that is extremely low!! The 2007 average was 4.6%. Bill Clinton ran an entire reelection campaign touting his 5.4% unemployment!! So it appears to me that there are jobs out there. A steady drop in the unemployment rate over the last decade tells me that people are finding jobs.

We are a society of enablers and its about to get worse (Obama).