"itty bitty" political affiliations

I was reading a recent article on the Boston Herald (linked from Drudgereport.com) about Senator Brown in a Martin Luther King Jr. address and found it to be quite interesting in its implications. First of all the reason it was on Drudge is because it would raise eyebrows within the furthest Right of the Republican party. Many of them would be concerned that he diminishes his party affiliation and gives the impression that he is someone who could be a target of the Democrats in close votes. This is a valid concern since he has been one of the more malleable Republicans since taking his position in a shocker election last January. While many would see this treating his party as an after thought as a problem I see his speech in the larger context.
He was promoting the seating for the State of the Union address coming soon. Seating that forces Democrats and Republicans to sit next to each other is a great political symbol. The voters in general are fed-up with division and partisanship and even a relatively pointless symbolic gesture like this is going to speak to the populace. A strictly adversarial attitude as both parties have demonstrated lately is not going to get the public the results they expect. Republicans are in control (for now) because they offered hope that the spending, Obamcare, and deficit would be addressed and the sooner that Democrats embrace that the sooner bipartisanship can begin. Senator Scott Brown is trying to demonstrate to Republicans that the most important thing that they have to bring to the table is themselves and not their party affiliation. The "itty bitty" R or D that tells us the "team" they're on is not something that should exist because they're all on the same team America's team. It's about time they demonstrated it less in rhetoric and symbolic gestures and more in actions that benefit the country.

Hiding behind the news of the day.

The tragic shootings in Tucson this last weekend have the political world in an uproar.  Talk radio is on the rage because the liberals are blaming them or at least implicating them morally.  The politicians are either trying to upstage each other in their condolences to the families or their efforts to "find a solution" to this type of problem.  Has anyone thought about the real problems?  Not to make the tragic loss of life and senseless act of violence less important...it's very important to the people who are directly involved...but much less so to the country as a whole.  By making this tragedy a national issue they are taking off the table the real national issues.  China is testing a stealth fighter, getting ready to trade their currency in the US, and generally assuming the role that America once held unquestionably.  National unemployment is sickeningly high and there are no economic indicators that it will change any time soon.  The national debt (most of it held by China) is getting close to making our nation bankrupt.  Our borders are a no-man zone running wild with criminals trafficking guns, drugs, and people.  Our education system is losing ground to almost every developed country and most developing countries.  This list isn't short and it's only getting longer as long as our politicians continue to make national issues out of isolated incidents.  The news cycle on this apparently needs to make it long enough in the national story line for American Idol to start its new season.  Then we'll be talking about Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez and the next William Hung and this national crisis will still be played out on capital hill because "something must be done" and with have a dozen proposals and bills waiting to be debated this is the perfect thing to "do" instead of the things that really matter.

Related articles

• Fox's Future Hangs On Jennifer Lopez, Simon Cowell And Lots Of Dinosaurs (blogs.forbes.com)
• "Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, Randy Jackson & Ryan Seacrest Visit the Tonight Show" and related posts (mjsbigblog.com)
• The Note: 2012 Politics Gets Tangled In Arizona Shooting Aftermath (blogs.abcnews.com)

Tragedy in Tuscon is made all the worse by politics.

Today 19 people were shot.  It doesn't really matter who they were or what they did because in the end human life was extinguished and the reason is still not clear why.  Several of the people injured or killed today were political figures.  That doesn't diminish the tragedy.  It also doesn't mean that politics should diminish their lives because they were for or against a particular policy.  A nine year old girl was shot in the back and died while heroes tried desperately to save her.  Several people died on the scene and others are fighting for their lives.  There's a reason that I don't mention a single person by name, even those with names that would mean something to people outside the families who are suffering right now.  There really isn't a good reason to name them.  They are people, humans, and they deserved life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and tragically it was taken from them by someone who didn't care or who was just as tragic as their victims.
Today there have been people from all walks of political persuasion that have been decrying this as a result of lack of gun control, lack of border security, Sarah Palin, tea party anger, the health care law, the list goes on and on.  Leveraging the tragic loss of life for political gain is tantamount to grave robbing.  Nothing is quite so despicable as political hacks one uping each other during a tragedy.  It makes things all the worse because we're left with bitterness at politicians instead of grief for the loss of life.  My heart goes out to those who are suffering right now.

Brilliant movie/cartoon

Thanks to David Price I was entertained by this incredible video that describes our modern banking system and economy in terms that are "South Park" like and yet inescapably simple.  It tells us how the world became dependent on credit and how our founding fathers wanted to escape the system that ruined Europe.  It shows how the economic crisis we're suffering now is really the result of centuries of economic foolishness.  It also does a fine job of demonstrating how the average American is ignorant of the Federal Reserve and it's beginnings and the impact that it has on our government and even our everyday lives.  I would suggest that you watch, laugh, and more importantly, learn. 

Let's Compare: Obama's Katrina.

There has been a lot of comparisons between the Bush Administrations response to hurricane Katrina and the Obama Administrations response to the DeepWater Oil Leak.  I'd like to do an informal analysis of the media's coverage of these events.  I'll be short on citations (I'm lazy...they do exist but I don't want to take the time to find them) but since most of you lived through both of these events the analysis should still make sense.

First...Bush warned residents of the Gulf States in a Nationally broadcast speech to leave for higher ground.  He had already dispatched National Guard members to ready the evacuation (again three days before landfall).  This is a good example of how urgent the situation was regarded by the administration.  The urgency demonstrated by the Obama group is a little different.  On April 24th evidence of the leak is reported to Homeland Security.  Three days later when updates are showing significantly higher leak issues than on the 24th (from marginal leak on the 24th to potential of over 110000 gallons per day on the 28th) the President...with opportunity to show his administrations response at a Midwest tour decided to ignore it in his speech that day.  Now, nearly 2 months into what will eventually be the biggest oil spill in American history, President Obama is finally out to correct the issue.  Of course his sitting on the sidelines for well over a week while Gov. Jindal begged to get help and approval to set up barrier islands to protect the fragile coastal lands of Louisiana was just one example of laziness, ineptitude, carelessness or general unresponsiveness in general, or quite possibly all of the above.  The Presidents "ass-kicking" is a little late and his search for said "ass" should start and end in the oval office.

But you don't have to take my word for it.  The public has spoken.  The White House in a recent poll on the handling of this tragedy shows that 69% polled rate the response negatively.  Again for comparison purposes that is higher than the 62% rating given to the Bush White House for its handling of Katrina.  Let's see how well President Obama wears that  label.

NOTE:  The crude reference used above is quoting a President of the United States in a broadcast interview at an hour when children may have been present for his speech.  Make you own judgement on the appropriateness of that for yourself.  I'm personally not impressed.