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Tag Archives: Politics
Osama bin Laden, DEAD
This is truly good news. Osama bin Laden, evil fuck, killed by American Special Forces, his body taken by those forces and now in our possession.
I wish it had happened sooner, but I am very happy it happened. There are few human beings that can cause me to cheer at their demise, but this fucker was one of them.
There are those who will ask does this affect the 2012 political season; those questions are for another day. Put donw your R’s and Put down your D’s for one flippin’ moment and just enjoy the fact this evil evil man not only is dead, but had his death handed to him by our best and our brightest.
Libya
So we are flying sorties and dropping explosives in yet another middle eastern country. really I do not see the pressing US National interest that compels this action.
I feel for the Libyan rebels. Their dictator is insane and I will not shed one tear for him when he finally is shoved off this mortal coil, but that doesn’t mean we should be the ones directly shoving. We have much more important matters to deal with, such as our debt and the coming crush of debt if we do not do something about our expenditures.
As far as the wars in the middle east, we should get out of them. Libya? Not our concern. Iraq, wasn’t a pressing need for that war to big with and it’s up to the Iraqis — whoever they are — to fix the situation. Afghanistan?, frankly I don’t care if that go back to playing stick and ball with each others heads, as long as there is not a base of operation for our enemies to operate out of.
Al Queda I think can be handled at the Special Forces level of military operations now, not the carrier group level. Let them fear the dark and the bad rough Americans who wait for them there, but let’s stop this foolish fighting the current war like it is the last one.
Punting our Problems
So, a few weeks ago the White House released its official budget proposal and while it offered some cuts it did not take a stand on the most pressing issue on our budget and that is the big three, Entitlements, Defense, and Social Security. Those three areas are huge and no serious attempt at taking on our spending problem can be amassed without addressing those three areas. Obama punted, plan and simple. He may have punted from practical political purposes, let the Republicans take the lead and the heat on these issues, but it is a punt and we need leadership not punting.
While we were in the throes of the nastiest recession in many decades I was willing to wait and let the man handle the crisis before judging him on the long term. Well, we are growing again, sadly very slowly and job growth is beneath anemic, so now it is time to turn to the long term health of our country.
In a few weeks, April I think, the Republican Congress will put forth their budget. They have promised to take on the big problem and I hope that they do. We will see. If they do not seriously address the big three, and I mean in the short term not some plan to fix them with massive changes years and years down the line, then we will know that they are not serious either.
The Pernicious Prevarication of The Instapundit
So there I was doing political blog reading the other day when I came across this posting from Instapundit:
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: ObamaCare Repeal Would Save $1.4 Trillion.
This is a very typical type of posting from Professor Reynolds. Short, makes a dramatic point, and linking to further information. It is also an excellent example of how he prevaricates with this short pithy posts. Someone who was justing reading down the numerous posting for that day would read the slug, come away with the impression that repealing Healthcare reform would save us 1.4 trillion dollars, and move on. I followed the link because it seemed at odds with what knew of the situation. Maybe I was wrong and I wouldn’t going to dismiss the concept out of hand. Continue reading
Some thoughts on the Wisconsin Issues
First: Once again we have the horribly heated rhetoric in which your opponents are automatically the equivalent to Hitler and or the Nazis. This, as it was with the protest on the right, is simply absurd. While the move to break a set of public worker unions is a major political step, one certain to generate intense feelings, it is not in any way comparable to the degenerate, racist, insane positions of the NAZI party. This is a perfect example as to why I dislike extremes in nearly all its forms, it is blinding and when you are cocooned in its comfortable black-and-white world you are unreeachable by reason or rational thought. Continue reading
Sarah Palin®
So it turns out that Saint Sarah Palin, Profit of the Republican party, has trademarked her name. (h/t to TPM for the story.) Now some people of a less than clever nature have thought that this is an attempt by Sarah Palin® (gods that’s fun to type) is hoping to use the ® as a method of shutting down her critics. This is utterly wrong. You can trademark your name until you reach George Lucas levels of absurd legalisms (after all his company did try to trademark Nazi) and your opponents can still use your name and print all the horrid stories about you that they want. A trademarks will not stop that, nor will it stop satire and other forms of political attack. Further more I fully believe that Sarah Palin® knows all this and people who think this is her motive grossly underestimate her.
No, I think she has very good cause and reason to file for this trademark. Sarah Palin® is about celebrity and making money, she must move to protect her most valuable asset, he name and image. To protect any potential line of products, speeches or seminars she must trademark or risk getting ripped off by copy-cats and other intellectual property thieves. This is a smart and savvy business plan.
What this indicates to me though is she is not going to run for president. (As I have theorized at this blog before.) Those, like Andrew Sullivan, who quaked with fear at a Sarah Palin® candidacy were trembling at shadows. This woman is in her happy spot and I fully expect her to stay there for as long as it lasts. I suspect that will be until 2012 when it becomes clear that she is not running and interest in her wanes. She will not have a long politically oriented entertainment career like Rush Limbaugh. Hers will be brief and bright.
Despotism and the Tea Party
Just a quick observation. There are those — and I am not saying all or even a majority — within the Tea Party movement that like to call the initiatives of the Obama ‘socialism’ or a move towards tyranny. This sort of hyperbole is pointless. However, as I watch the Arabic world erupt with people longing to overthrow the despots who have ruled over them. (Often in very socialist-like setting) I can’t help be feel that these people who like to hurl Nazi themed insults and comparisons are acting like spoiled teenagers. They live in a system free enough for them to whine that they are not free.
(edited for clarity)
The Tucson shooting
I have deliberately waited several days before commenting on the events last Friday in Tucson Arizona. My reasons for waiting were manifestly simple; I wanted to have more information. The earliest reports are always the most sketchy and the least reliable. Eye witness testimony is notoriously untrustworthy. (Consider that for decades we though the RMS Titanic was one piece because eye-witness testimony said is did not break up and sink, but merely sank.) Continue reading
Excellant News
Before President Clinton’s DADT policy gays were banned from serving in the military, but it was a policy that could have been over turned by executive action only, just like President Truman overturned President Wilson’s segregation of the military. Because Bill Clinton singed into law DADT it really required an act of Congress to undo it and now they finally have done just that.
The prohibition on homosexual persons serving in our nations armed forces was a senseless relic from less enlightened time and I rejoice at this repeal.