In the "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" department

It struck me today after seeing more critical complaining on the "news" about various politicians, and reading the Newsweek article about Charlie Crist, that neither the news media or the public can quite make up their minds about how politicians should behave.

If they change their policies based on polls, they are accused of doing or saying anything people want just to get elected, but if the DON'T change to go along with the polls, they are accused of not listening to the voters.

Hmmmmmmm

Charlie Crist has been liberated

The rise of Charlie Crist as an independent politician is exciting and reassuring. It's a healthy sign that people in Florida (and probably in the rest of our country) are more interested in reality than ideology, more interested in practicality than dogma. Go Charlie! Here's the Newsweek article about his "resurrection" after the Republicans dumped him.

Sarah Palin in '12? Why She's for Real

Sarah Palin in '12? Why She's for RealShe's attractive; she knows how to manipulate people with emotion; she knows how to play to the media. . . . but for President? That's a scary thought. Let's hope it's not true that a country gets the government it deserves if we vote her in.

Bob Herbert writes "An Absence of Class"

Bob Herbert in the The New York Times writes on Republican Party tactics in "An Absence of Class."

Truth in Advertising

How is it that a purported "news" organization that calls itself "fair and balanced" can get away with spending so much of it's time openly CAMPAIGNING politically? The way I learned it, journalism isn't supposed to be a 24-hour a day campaign for a particular point of view or against a particular party. It's supposed to REPORT, and make an attempt to be unbiased.

There have always been political commentators, but they were open about their partisanship and didn't insist that they were "fair and balanced."

Fox has freedom of speech, but they should be registered as a political organization, not a news channel, and they should be subject of the rules of truth in advertising. "Fair and balanced" should be abolished from their vocabulary. That's rather like a tobacco company advertising it's cigarettes as "air purifying and healthful."

Why solve any of our problems?

I am so disgusted with both the politicians and much of our population. It seems no one is willing to compromise to find solutions. No one is willing to give an inch to make better things possible. No one wants to govern for the benefit of all, just to advance an agenda. We are like lung cancer patients that insist on continuing to smoke. We are not ostriches with our heads in the sand. . . we SEE the problems, but we, as a society, are just so determined not to solve them. It seems to be far more important to follow a party line, not to give up any of our "living standard" or our wasteful ways, than to face reality. No matter what anyone proposes, the opposition not only begins to campaign against it, they imput evil motives to the other side.

Take the health care crisis and the need for universal medical insurance. Those against it insist that it will be a disaster, that we will have "rationed" medical care, that doctors will be "government employees," that you will have to wait in line for care until you die. First of all, I completely doubt the likelihood of these scary stories coming true. If so, why aren't all the people over 65 clamoring for the repeal of Medicare? If a government administered plan is so bad, why are all of us older folks so glad we have it? Why are so many physicians willing to accept it? Why are so many private companies happy to sell supplement policies? Ever meet a senior who is refusing to use his Medicare benefits?

Try telling all those that have NO health insurance that a government plan would be so terrible for them. They have NO insurance now and can't afford to get care. If they go to an emergency room, they are charged premium rates because there is no insurance to negotiate a rate for them. If they can't pay, they are stuck with terrible debts. They do die standing in line for care. And there are more of them every day.

Try telling the families that have a government health care insurance for their children that it's a bad thing, that they should refuse it. it may not be perfect, and nothing created by man ever is, but it's far better than nothing.

Then let's look at our energy problems, our infrastructure problems, our financial industry problems, our trade problems. The same thinking applies. We can't solve any of them because we can't agree. As a society we are more interested in arguing our points that figuring out what works.

We will go to our doom arguing about our problems when we could have fixed them, improved them, or at least tried.

The Horse Race

It was greatly satisfying to hear Brian Williams read email from viewers disgusted with the media coverage of the election, nailing them for treating it like a sports event and reporting only polls, campaign strategy and commentary like calling Hillary Clinton's passionate and emotional reaction a "near breakdown" (hardly!), and asking where the real reporting on the issues, candidates stands on them, and plans is.

The media got their comeuppance in the new Hampshire primary. Kudos to the people of New Hampshire for not allowing media polls to tell them how to vote! Whether you're for Hillary or against her, you should applaud and welcome this scenario in which all the pollsters and pundits will be forced to reevaluate. NO ONE should be "anointed" as the nominee this early in the process. Let the voters have their say without being told their candidate is already out of the running or bound to win. Make them rethink polling that fails to take into account that people change their minds, that events can change minds, and that candidates continue to evolve. Do not let them hijack the process!

While we're at it, let's remember this campaign as something special in the history of American politics, where a woman, an African American and a Hispanic all ran as serious and creditable candidates for the presidency of our nation, and realize that among the voters, there may be more pulling us together than pulling us apart. Let's hope the policitians get it.

Let's hope whoever wins the nonimations will be up to the job and truly understand the important problems facing our nation and the world.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

It's an ultimate irony. George W. Bush insists "we" brought freedom to Iraq by deposing Sadam Hussein's government, but have we unleashed and given freedom to a spirit of hate and persecution? Tonight, 60 Minutes showed a report on the persecution and murder of Christians in Iraq. We've seen reports of terrible treatment of women, those women that Bush was so proud of having liberated, who are now worse off than under the dictator Sadam. We have liberated the sectarian violence. If freedom were only the freedom to live a good life and respect one's neighbor, it would be a desirable outcome, but if "freedom" means violence, hatred, death and destruction, anarchy and chaos, what have we wrought?

We keep hearing that the news out of Iraq is "better." Better because there is less killing, not because it has stopped, not because the Iraqi government has risen to the occasion to unify the country, not because the country is pulling together to find a common, peaceful future. Well, it's a start . . . but will it lead anywhere? Anywhere we can be proud of? It looks grim to me.

Disgusted with the lot of them - and us

They talk a good game about working together bipartisan to solve problems. Then they turn right around and call each other names, misstate each other's positions, and stymie any progress. The lot of them. When did it become more important to block the other party than to govern the country? When did it become more important to misrepresent the facts and the opponents than to work on real solutions? When did it become acceptable to spend wildly and act as though taxes to pay for it was irresponsible? Have they all gone completely nuts?

When did causing anarchy in a country, killing its citizens, ruining its infrastructure, and trying to engineer disruptive, fast social and economic changes equate to bringing freedom? Is freedom really, as the song says, "just another word for nothing left to lose"?

Where is a real statesman, stateswoman, who looks at all the immense problems facing our country and the world and is more interested in truth and solutions than playing word games to win?

Where are real voters who care more about truth and issues than reassuring platitudes, more about major issues than symbols, emotional issues, and avoiding paying their fair share? Where are people who realize that American can't and shouldn't rule the world, who respect other countries and cultures, who realize we can't change them to fit our specifications? Where are Christians who even recall the Golden Rule?

Even if a real statesperson ran and won the presidency, the opposition party would see to it that he or she could not govern, could not get a program through Congress. They are more interested in a political football game than in our country. They all talk a good game, sure, love to throw in what they think Americans want and how patriotic they are, but when do they look at the big picture? When do they look at what will WORK?

We love to quote Harry Truman, but what politician today is willing to let the buck stop with him or her? Willing to talk plain truth and tell it like it is?

Where is it written in the Constitution that political parties have this kind of power? Did our founding fathers have any clue that we would have politicians running up unimaginable debt and not be willing to pay for it? Would they be horrified at the attempts to create an imperial presidency and negate the carefully crafted checks and balances? Would they be rightfully frightened at a president that encouraged the formation of private armies, paid more than our military, to avoid keeping the military we need?

And what about the "free press" that is supposed to keep us informed? What passes for "news"? They report on the the political campaign as though it were a football game or a horse race. They focus on who is ahead in the polls, who spends the most money, who has the best television ad, who made a mistake or misspoke, but NOT ON THE ISSUES, not on whether any of them have plans that work, not on their previous records, other than to make passing mention of it here and there. It's like a long beauty contest, reality show, or sports event. Where is the serious reporting?

The so-called debates give us a little bit of a chance to see the candidates in action, but it's really a series of farces. None of them have time to really explain any answer, or to actually DEBATE each other. It's more like a spelling bee. A bunch of would-be presidents standing up there answering shotgun questions with very short time limits on the answers. About all you really find out is how fast they think and how well they can position themselves.

If you really want to know about them, you have to go and dig, spend a lot of time, and hope you aren't getting a bunch of biased "information" put out by someone with an axe to grind.

We've had eight years of bad government. The saying is, we get the government we deserve. Let's hope we don't continue to deserve anything like this!

And, let's hope we quit looking for miracles and voting to avoid paying for what we want . . . or give it up and decide we don't want our government to do it. Until the public uses some sense, we can't expect Washington to do it. They want to get elected, and they will do just about any damn fool thing we want to get what they want. Be careful what you wish for. You might get it.

The Invisible Elephant

I just listened to the Democratic debate in Iowa. While I like the candidates, they, just like their Republican counterparts, and the journalists questioning them, are all ignoring the mammoth invisible elephant. Sure, we want a lot of things, but how are we going to pay for them? We can't pay for what we are doing now! We have become the world's largest debtor nation, our excesse being financed by foreigners. Thirty years ago we were told that the federal debt and deficit spending didn't really matter because we "owed it to ourselves."

That has long since ceased to be true. We are mortgaging our present and our future and risking our way of life by spending beyond our means, and far beyond our willingness to actually pay for it. I think too many Americans think Uncle Sam has deep pockets lined with excess cash he can just throw at anything we decide we want. Wake up! He not only doesn't have cash in those pockets, the only way he gets any is from our taxes or borrowing from China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and the like. We are like children who don't see why our parents can't buy everything we ask for. We don't see the consequences of our unwillingness to pay our own way.

Our federal government is like a family spending it's way into bankruptcy, paying the mininum due on a raft of credit cards, juggling the debt and spending more and more, but no one in the family is willing to cough up something to pay down the principal, or refuse to spend more. And the Republican "religion" that taxes should be cut is crazy. Like the family saying, well, we have all this debt, but let's take a salary cut and make it even harder to pay our bills. (Yes, I know, they think it will stimulate the economy and bring in more taxes, but where's the proof? Faith is not enough.)

The current financial industry and housing market meltdown is part of the same foolish psychology -- unregulated companies loan too much money to people who can't pay it back. Greed is great until they start to feel the pinch - and then ask Uncle Sam to help out. Who is more foolish? The lenders? The people who spend more than they can pay? Our government doing the same? It's a country and society-wide illness. We all need a 12-step program for overspenders!

There are many deserving programs that we would like to have, but it's time for an across the board evaluation of what the basic needs are, not the extras we would like to have. It's time to figure out how we are going to really pay for the things that matter most and admit to ourselves we can't have it all.

And let's stop pretending "welfare" is a bad word if the government is going to hand out corporate welfare in the billions. Go back to some reasonable regulation and make corporations behave in a fiscally responsible manner so we don't have to bail them out -- with Chinese dollars.

Are any of the candidates on either side courageous enough to tell the truth about this? Or are they all just going to keep promising more and more that we can't pay for?

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore should be required reading. This passionate account of the assault on our constitutional freedoms and the lack of informed citizen participation in our democracy is moving, critical, and compelling. If you care about America, if you care about the Constitution, if you care about where our country is headed, read this book. Don't take the freedoms you have for granted, and call your government to account. And use the internet for more than surfing and buying stuff. Stand up for net neutrality and preserve and help to shape the internet as a tool for democracy and good government.