So by now none of you wants to hear more about the economy, but I heard this interesting tidbit on NPR today.
The state of Kansas is not issuing any income tax refund checks this year, due to budget issues. Not great news, but it makes sense, considering. More alarming, however, is the fact that state employees have been notified that there is a good chance that their paychecks will not be delivered this Friday, because the state can't afford to pay them. That's right, Kansas is so insolvent that they can't afford to pay their employees for work they have already done.
But remember, tax cuts that deprive governments of funding are the only way to get out of this economic mess. HA!
Showing posts with label General Asshattery on a World Stage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General Asshattery on a World Stage. Show all posts
17 February 2009
15 January 2009
Funny thing, this recession, it even makes socialists compromise their values. Case in point, Hugo Chavez is now allowing Western oil companies, such as Chevron and Shell to bid on oil contracts. Apparently the nationalized oil company in Venezuela is no longer enough to pay the bills, in the face of declining oil prices, but Chavez looks at this as "losing a battle to win the war." Now, I find his new found dependence on the West highly comical, as even though America remains firmly reliant on oil, especially foreign oil, the Obama administration seems quite committed to breaking said reliance.
At his confirmation hearings Tuesday, Secretary of Energy-designate Dr. Steven Chu stated his commitment to nuclear energy, clean coal and alternative fuels. The debate about the safety of nuclear energy, or the very existence of clean coal is highly relevant, but the fact that a high-level appointee seems committed to actual change in energy policy is very promising. Chu even goes as far as to suggest recycling of spent nuclear material as a possible renewable fuel source. He said “We will work very hard to bring up technologies as quickly as possible, but I do think the best thing we can do is work on energy efficiency…that remains lowest-hanging fruit at this time.” Quite creative to say the least, not to mention how potentially damaging this is to a very antagonistic, anti-American regime, such as Venezuela.
On an unrelated political note, there are a handful of recent articles relating to the future of the Republican Party, or lack thereof, that I found particularly interesting. In a WSJ article, former GOP chairman Haley Barbour suggests that the Republican Party must rebuild from the bottom up. He suggests that the GOP build itself up from strong local- and state-level organizations, and get back to its roots as a small-government, tax cutting, cost-reducing party; the GOP of Reagan, while simultaneously catching up to the Democrats in the areas of Internet fundraising and grassroots infrastructure support. While this is clearly a strong idea, there is little to suggest that this is probable, or even possible in the next eight years.
In order to get more mainstream, the GOP must stop fracturing itself at every turn. As the article points out, moderate conservatives in the Northeast are particularly important to this process, but are precisely the type of conservatives that the GOP rejects on a regular basis. They are "too liberal" for the Republicans to tolerate, and highlight the main flaw in the party, the fact that it is actually two different parties, a fiscally conservative party, and a socially conservative party. It would be advantageous to reconcile these two factions, but it will be increasingly difficult, especially when faced with a bevy of young, likable Democratic candidates waiting in the wings.
It would also be advantageous for the GOP if they could get their house in order, and fast. Now, while the plan is sound, no one has apparently informed the state level Republicans. In Tennessee, the GOP regained a majority in House and Senate simultaneously for the first time since Reconstruction. While this is good news, the newly elected Speaker of the House gained his position only by making a deal with Democrats to get elected (the full body elects the Speaker, not just the controlling party). This deal went against a pledge every Republican representative made to vote for another rep for Speaker. Now, the control of the House is unchanged, but how powerful can the Tennessee GOP be if they can't even control a lowly state representative?
In the above WSJ article, it is pointed out that politicians like Sarah Palin are essential to the rebirth of the GOP. This must be music to Democratic ears, well, mine anyway. For whatever reason, Palin continues her crusade against the media and their supposed unfair practices. While she certainly got more than her fair share of attention during the campaign, she was a novelty, and did little to either improve her standing, or help herself look better at any point. The only action she could take was to blame others and name call in the aftermath of a drubbing at the polls. She is precisely the kind of Republican that the GOP does not need; divisive, anti-media and loosely associated with the truth. To be frank, she's my favorite Republican. She can't help but to put her foot in her mouth at every turn, all for the sake of staying in the news and attempting to maintain political legitimacy. I don't believe that the GOP can move on with her in the picture and I also believe that many in the Republican Party know that, but can't stop her from damaging the party's standing further. Good luck to the GOP in figuring out their own mess, but it seems to me that their hole gets deeper by the day.
P.S.- I'll not be discussing Bush's speech tonight, that aired as I was typing this post. It was too far detached from reality to merit a post. Sorry to anyone who was interested. I'll liveblog the Inauguration to make up for it.
At his confirmation hearings Tuesday, Secretary of Energy-designate Dr. Steven Chu stated his commitment to nuclear energy, clean coal and alternative fuels. The debate about the safety of nuclear energy, or the very existence of clean coal is highly relevant, but the fact that a high-level appointee seems committed to actual change in energy policy is very promising. Chu even goes as far as to suggest recycling of spent nuclear material as a possible renewable fuel source. He said “We will work very hard to bring up technologies as quickly as possible, but I do think the best thing we can do is work on energy efficiency…that remains lowest-hanging fruit at this time.” Quite creative to say the least, not to mention how potentially damaging this is to a very antagonistic, anti-American regime, such as Venezuela.
On an unrelated political note, there are a handful of recent articles relating to the future of the Republican Party, or lack thereof, that I found particularly interesting. In a WSJ article, former GOP chairman Haley Barbour suggests that the Republican Party must rebuild from the bottom up. He suggests that the GOP build itself up from strong local- and state-level organizations, and get back to its roots as a small-government, tax cutting, cost-reducing party; the GOP of Reagan, while simultaneously catching up to the Democrats in the areas of Internet fundraising and grassroots infrastructure support. While this is clearly a strong idea, there is little to suggest that this is probable, or even possible in the next eight years.
In order to get more mainstream, the GOP must stop fracturing itself at every turn. As the article points out, moderate conservatives in the Northeast are particularly important to this process, but are precisely the type of conservatives that the GOP rejects on a regular basis. They are "too liberal" for the Republicans to tolerate, and highlight the main flaw in the party, the fact that it is actually two different parties, a fiscally conservative party, and a socially conservative party. It would be advantageous to reconcile these two factions, but it will be increasingly difficult, especially when faced with a bevy of young, likable Democratic candidates waiting in the wings.
It would also be advantageous for the GOP if they could get their house in order, and fast. Now, while the plan is sound, no one has apparently informed the state level Republicans. In Tennessee, the GOP regained a majority in House and Senate simultaneously for the first time since Reconstruction. While this is good news, the newly elected Speaker of the House gained his position only by making a deal with Democrats to get elected (the full body elects the Speaker, not just the controlling party). This deal went against a pledge every Republican representative made to vote for another rep for Speaker. Now, the control of the House is unchanged, but how powerful can the Tennessee GOP be if they can't even control a lowly state representative?
In the above WSJ article, it is pointed out that politicians like Sarah Palin are essential to the rebirth of the GOP. This must be music to Democratic ears, well, mine anyway. For whatever reason, Palin continues her crusade against the media and their supposed unfair practices. While she certainly got more than her fair share of attention during the campaign, she was a novelty, and did little to either improve her standing, or help herself look better at any point. The only action she could take was to blame others and name call in the aftermath of a drubbing at the polls. She is precisely the kind of Republican that the GOP does not need; divisive, anti-media and loosely associated with the truth. To be frank, she's my favorite Republican. She can't help but to put her foot in her mouth at every turn, all for the sake of staying in the news and attempting to maintain political legitimacy. I don't believe that the GOP can move on with her in the picture and I also believe that many in the Republican Party know that, but can't stop her from damaging the party's standing further. Good luck to the GOP in figuring out their own mess, but it seems to me that their hole gets deeper by the day.
P.S.- I'll not be discussing Bush's speech tonight, that aired as I was typing this post. It was too far detached from reality to merit a post. Sorry to anyone who was interested. I'll liveblog the Inauguration to make up for it.
03 December 2008
He must be stopped. He cannot be allowed to get away with this.
Let me repeat that one more time, just so we all understand: He. Must. Be. Stopped.
Instead of attempting to help this country out of a horrific economic meltdown (no events at all on his public schedule today), George W. Bush is spending the last 50 or so days of his administration, attempting to rewrite history. He and his top-level advisers such as Karl Rove and Karen Hughes are working on the "Bush Legacy Project," which seeks to undermine the facts as we know them regarding some of the worst actions undertaken by Bush and his cronies.
It is now widely known how inept the Bush Administration was in such large-scale disasters as Hurricanes Katrina and Ike, the War in Iraq, torture and the current economic meltdown (I try not to call it a depression, but we're probably there already). What the BLP is essentially doing, is coming out in force to revise history to fit the administration's opinion of itself, facts be damned.
Perhaps the most disturbing statement to come out of this effort thus far is Karl Rove stating, "Absent that [WMDs], I suspect that the administration's course of action would have been to work to find more creative ways to constrain him like in the 90s." So, let me get this straight: If you knew there were no WMDs in Iraq, Bush would have favored sanctions, not war. But wait a minute, he DID KNOW that there were no WMDs in Iraq, but went on ahead and continued his father's war anyway. The BLP would also have you blame "faulty intelligence" for the war, concluding that even though it was ultimately Bush's decision, as if there is even a scintilla of questionable evidence, YOU DON'T GO TO WAR. Bush has echoed Rove's statement in recent TV interviews, and even attempted to divest himself of any responsibility in the latest crisis, the economy. To wit, when asked by Charlie Gibson if he bore any responsibility for the current crisis, he manages to stumble over his answer and this gem comes out:
"You know, I'm the President during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived..."
So wait, this mess is his dad's fault? I'm confused. When in doubt, duck and cover and blame everyone else, including your own family? These tactics must be made to fail. We, as Americans, can not allow this man to get away with abusing the truth and our own history the way he has abused this country for the past eight years. Please, for the love of God, keep your ears and eyes open, and preserve our nation's history, unsavory as it may be, and preserve the real Bush legacy, so that future Americans can understand how poorly this country was run, and who is responsible for the messes we find ourselves mired in.
Let me repeat that one more time, just so we all understand: He. Must. Be. Stopped.
Instead of attempting to help this country out of a horrific economic meltdown (no events at all on his public schedule today), George W. Bush is spending the last 50 or so days of his administration, attempting to rewrite history. He and his top-level advisers such as Karl Rove and Karen Hughes are working on the "Bush Legacy Project," which seeks to undermine the facts as we know them regarding some of the worst actions undertaken by Bush and his cronies.
It is now widely known how inept the Bush Administration was in such large-scale disasters as Hurricanes Katrina and Ike, the War in Iraq, torture and the current economic meltdown (I try not to call it a depression, but we're probably there already). What the BLP is essentially doing, is coming out in force to revise history to fit the administration's opinion of itself, facts be damned.
Perhaps the most disturbing statement to come out of this effort thus far is Karl Rove stating, "Absent that [WMDs], I suspect that the administration's course of action would have been to work to find more creative ways to constrain him like in the 90s." So, let me get this straight: If you knew there were no WMDs in Iraq, Bush would have favored sanctions, not war. But wait a minute, he DID KNOW that there were no WMDs in Iraq, but went on ahead and continued his father's war anyway. The BLP would also have you blame "faulty intelligence" for the war, concluding that even though it was ultimately Bush's decision, as if there is even a scintilla of questionable evidence, YOU DON'T GO TO WAR. Bush has echoed Rove's statement in recent TV interviews, and even attempted to divest himself of any responsibility in the latest crisis, the economy. To wit, when asked by Charlie Gibson if he bore any responsibility for the current crisis, he manages to stumble over his answer and this gem comes out:
"You know, I'm the President during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived..."
So wait, this mess is his dad's fault? I'm confused. When in doubt, duck and cover and blame everyone else, including your own family? These tactics must be made to fail. We, as Americans, can not allow this man to get away with abusing the truth and our own history the way he has abused this country for the past eight years. Please, for the love of God, keep your ears and eyes open, and preserve our nation's history, unsavory as it may be, and preserve the real Bush legacy, so that future Americans can understand how poorly this country was run, and who is responsible for the messes we find ourselves mired in.
09 October 2008
I'll take poor syntax for $200, Alex.
“I’m not saying he’s dishonest, but in terms of judgment, in terms of being able to answer a question forthrightly, it has two different parts to this. The judgment and the truthfulness and just being able to answer very candidly a simple question about when did you know him, how did you know him, is there still — has there been an association continued since ’02 or ’05, I know I’ve read a couple different stories. I think it’s relevant.”
Guess Who
“I’m not saying he’s dishonest, but in terms of judgment, in terms of being able to answer a question forthrightly, it has two different parts to this. The judgment and the truthfulness and just being able to answer very candidly a simple question about when did you know him, how did you know him, is there still — has there been an association continued since ’02 or ’05, I know I’ve read a couple different stories. I think it’s relevant.”
Guess Who
19 September 2008
02 September 2008
[A]s mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor.
From Time
Remeber folks, this woman could be one heartbeat away from the presidency, so use your heads.
From Time
Remeber folks, this woman could be one heartbeat away from the presidency, so use your heads.
24 August 2008
As chronicled in a pervious post, I'm something of an Olympics junkie, and with the closing ceremonies tonight, I'm a little sad to see it all end. Sad, and a bit outraged that China was even allowed to host the Olympics in the first place. A few interesting thoughts from various media outlets:
That’s what this country is about. Here, the government, not the people, controls what you say, what you read, what you do and how many babies you can have (one).
A million and a half residents expelled. Free speech strangled. Elderly women jailed. That's what it means when a police state like China hosts the Olympics... That's what happens when the free world cons itself into believing that China's Communist rulers, who sustain genocide in Sudan and torture nuns in Tibet, will refrain from doing whatever it takes to turn the Olympics into a vehicle for totalitarian self-glorification.
Along the way, government critics were pre-emptively rounded up and jailed, domestic news outlets tightly controlled, foreign journalists denied full access to the Internet and thousands of Beijing’s least telegenic residents were evicted from their homes and out of camera range. On Friday, the Chinese police confirmed that six Americans protesting China’s rule in Tibet had been sentenced to 10 days of detention.
So now that our fellow countrymen (and presumably women) are the ones being trampled on, do we care? Probably not. There are many Americans being deprived of basic human rights in our own country and no one cares; why would we care now? It's nice to hear about how much people want to change the way things are in China, but by giving them the Olympics, haven't we just validated their actions? That is what makes me really sad.
That’s what this country is about. Here, the government, not the people, controls what you say, what you read, what you do and how many babies you can have (one).
A million and a half residents expelled. Free speech strangled. Elderly women jailed. That's what it means when a police state like China hosts the Olympics... That's what happens when the free world cons itself into believing that China's Communist rulers, who sustain genocide in Sudan and torture nuns in Tibet, will refrain from doing whatever it takes to turn the Olympics into a vehicle for totalitarian self-glorification.
Along the way, government critics were pre-emptively rounded up and jailed, domestic news outlets tightly controlled, foreign journalists denied full access to the Internet and thousands of Beijing’s least telegenic residents were evicted from their homes and out of camera range. On Friday, the Chinese police confirmed that six Americans protesting China’s rule in Tibet had been sentenced to 10 days of detention.
So now that our fellow countrymen (and presumably women) are the ones being trampled on, do we care? Probably not. There are many Americans being deprived of basic human rights in our own country and no one cares; why would we care now? It's nice to hear about how much people want to change the way things are in China, but by giving them the Olympics, haven't we just validated their actions? That is what makes me really sad.
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