in his own words.
Nice.
Dumb.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008
poor sportsmanship, even poorer statesmanship
Wow, John McCain is really going to go out like an ass. That is a shame. I’m sure we all know the saying, a sort of consolation in the face of defeat; “it’s not whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game”. It’s the principle of good sportsmanship and indeed a good barometer of character – something demonstrably lacking in McCain and his campaign, especially given their attempt to paint their opponent as someone of moral turpitude.
I had lost respect for McCain about a month ago, seeing where he was steering his campaign, even when things were starting to turn positive for him. It was genuine respect carried from his bid in 2000 all the way through September of this year. But coming down to these last few weeks and days, the desperate and misrepresentative rhetoric of socialism (even hinting at, gasp, communism), dishonesty and “shady” associations just seem vile and disrespectful, especially towards the electorate given the serious issues this country is facing. While going on the attack, McCain has failed to offer the people his plans. Oh sure he’s said he knows how to do things, but offers no details, not even high-level outlines. He knows how to win wars. Oh really? How? The "Surge"? Sorry, but that is only a tactic (despite your incorrect insistence to the contrary), not a strategy. And one that's not particularly useful in every and all situations. He knows how to fix the economy. Oh really? How? In fact, his attempt to fix the current crises had been panned. Twice. Suspension of his campaign to work on the bailout? Result, the campaign was not suspended, he sat in a meeting in which he urged the president to arrange and said nothing and did nothing, blamed Obama for “phoning it in” when in fact all McCain did was spend his days in DC on the phone, he went to the debate anyway before a deal was reached after saying he would not debate unless a deal was reached and in the end the bailout did not pass anyway. Then he rolls out another economic plan that solved nothing and missed the very point of why the economy tanked in the first place (and why didn’t he mention this brilliant strategy when he first suspended his campaign and flew back to Washington). He says knows how to find and capture Bin Laden. Oh really? How? And you mind telling us why you’re waiting until you get elected president? He says he’s been tested? Oh really? How? What were those tests? What bearing do they have on your presidency and experience? What were the results of those tests? The one real true test he had during this campaign as a reflection of his presidency and he spectacularly failed it. His choice of vice president, the embodiment of everything wrong with politicking of late – incurious, vacuous and vainglorious. Sure looked good on paper, but put into practice… horribly, horribly wrong. It’s what happens when you don’t fully consider your choices and we’ve seen, over these last eight years, what kind of result that kind of government stewardship entails.
McCain and his campaign have offered nothing but platitudes, familiar Republican rhetoric sprinkled with some change and maverickiness and of course incessant attacks of his opponent (most of which are mischaracterizations or flat-out untruths). The mere fact that he can stand there and claim to be proud of the campaign he’s waged and, carte blanche, dignify the lowest common denominator of an electorate demonstrates either an incapacity to distinguish between virtuosity and debasement or an inability to care in his ambitious quest to be president. Or perhaps he’s just a curmudgeon.
In any case, his debacle of a campaign will be over soon and the rest of this nation, whether with hope or trepidation, will look forward to change.
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Sunday, October 26, 2008
a nice gift
I voted today! Now let's see how this thing plays out. : )
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Thursday, October 23, 2008
majority is no way to rule
The intelligence of the masses? That is an oxymoron if ever there was one. There may lie intuition in the masses, but intelligence? No. Every time I hear an argument for letting the masses decide, let the people decide their own fate as a whole, I can't help but to think of two quotes:
A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.
~K
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.Forgive me, but yes Brian, you are willfully ignorant if you believe three hundred fifty million people can govern themselves effectively. As long as the majority of people remain ignorant, willfully or not, about their environment, their history, their accountability, their education, their understanding of the world, their understanding of people not like themselves, their own lives and how they intertwine with others, the People would be worse off if left to their own devices.
~Margaret Mead
And stop messing up your hyperlinks and jacking up my stuff.
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Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Al the shoe salesman
If the McCain campaign is all for the "real" Americans and average... grrrr.... Joes, then what about Al the shoe salesman?
By the by, even Joe the plumber gets more of a tax cut under Obama's plan than McCain's. Guess math isn't his strong point.
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008
talk about pandering
I thought you were supposed get them to vote for you? Love the "wait, what?" responses.
Most patriotic? What about the rest of "real" America?
I guess we're not done trading in this patriotism currency. Hey wait, where is your flag pin Senator McCain? Why won't you wear it? Are you not patriotic?
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Thursday, October 16, 2008
going all in
You know, if you’re going to be dishonest or at the very least, insincere to the American public, at least learn to control your tells.
Certainly a feisty debate last night. Not sure what were my favorite laugh out loud moments, McCain still unable to remember the names of black people (her name is Michelle, John), the “Oh Noez! WTF do I say now!” look McCain had when busted on Joe’s healthcare (Zero. Zero!?. Zero. Oh Noez!) or when Obama informed McCain even Fox News agreed with his statement, WTF no teacher certifications?! – oh and have the baby dammnit! Your health be damned. “Senator Government!”. How dare you assail my angry, "low-information", borderline racist, mobs, I'm so very proud of them! At least the “my friends” were kept to a minimum.
Congratulations President Obama. You’ve got a hell of a mess to clean up
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Friday, October 10, 2008
what will happen?
What happens when the American Dream is no longer “mainstream”? What happens when coming out of a broken, low middle-class household to put yourself through one of the most prestigious education programs in the world, not only that but to graduate with honors at the top of the class – what happens when that is not a story to admire and be proud of? What happens when forgoing millions on a well-paved path to a lucrative career to instead help a community and devote your life to aspirations of serving the greater good isn’t something that stands as a worthy testament to character?
The latest attacks leveled by Sarah Palin and now Cindy McCain (why is it Senator McCain has to have women do his dirty work?) have driven another spur under my skin regarding the tone and level of discourse in this presidential campaign season. He doesn’t see America as you or I see America? He’s different than you or I? He’s not one of us? In what way Charlie?
The latest comment by Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Sen. McCain's best friends:
"I want John to have a positive approach to solving America's problems, but John has to show that there's nothing mainstream about Sen. Obama."is a comment that has me scratching my head. Nothing mainstream? A loving father of two beautiful little girls? A wonderful (though maybe a little forgetful) husband by his wife’s account? Owning the one house with the one family car? Working your way through college? Taking decades to pay off student loans? Aspiring to help the community? Wanting to have a greater role in doing good works for his fellow citizens? I mean, there’s nothing mainstream about Obama? Nothing? Perhaps, in all this time, I’ve been deluded or misinformed about what is mainstream.
Senator McCain lost any shred of credibility I had for him shortly after the Republican Convention. While I’ve unabashedly supported the Obama ticket, I at least had some hope that if McCain did win he could have been a decent president. But after watching his campaign devolve from a standard one-size-fits-all conservative platform (those liberal guys are going to tax and spend America into bankruptcy!) into another win-at-whatever-cost and the complete capitulation to the Bush-Rovian campaign strategists (the VERY SAME people that slandered him to defeat in 2000) McCain has proven to be an ill-equipped, ill-advised, ill-tempered, ill-suited leader to see us out of the havoc wrought by the worst administration the United States has ever seen. And believe me, I’m not being melodramatic, the George W. Bush administration will be written as the worst by historians (and most of them arrived at that conclusion before the economy collapsed).
But watching McCain, now floundering under the immense pressure and increasing poll numbers in favor of Obama, attack a man who by most accounts is a worthy and admirable man by culling the worst traits of his supporters (jingoism, racism, nationalism) by indiscriminately calling his opponent a liar, saying he’s a person who is politicking on the failure of the troops, saying he’s person that doesn’t view America like other Americans, saying that he isn’t like other Americans. It’s petty. It’s disturbing. And continuing to stoke the fires of us vs. them (last I checked we’re all Americans and we’re in a pretty serious situation that requires us to all band together) does nothing to explain what McCain would do for America. McCain “knows” how to win wars. He “knows” how to fix the economy. He “knows” how and where to get Osama Bin Laden (um yeah, on that one, why are you holding out on America Senator?). Well his knowledge hasn’t done much now has it in his twenty-something years in office. This much lauded experience has done what exactly for America?
I have a sincere question to ask of Republicans or those who only vote in such a way. After eight years of having your guy in office, did you get what was promised to you? You got lower taxes? Really? How much did you get back compared to the guy who made over a million? How much did your property taxes go up? How much did your living expenses go up? How much did your income go up? Compared to the amount you got back in taxes was it worth being in the position you are now financially? Did you get a united nation? As far as I can see, we’re still just as polarized, if not even more (ironic that the one consensus we did get from the Bush administration is that we mostly all agree that he has been an abject failure). Not only that, Congress has fared worse. They’re even more divisive and uncompromising (things we don’t necessarily need if we’re to get things working). And their approval rating is worse. No nation building? Only got two words on that: Iraq. Afghanistan. No Child Left Behind. The “education” president did get his education reform past. After eight years are we testing better? Are schools better? Have our rankings improved on a global scale?Oh that strong economy and job creation? Um yeah.
Perhaps it’s time we try something else, no?
In another sad note, James T. Harris is simply a sad joke. I’ve no problem with his ideology (even though the party he supports claims to be of the same mind but have failed to live up to those standards when put in action) or believing that one candidate would truly be a better president than another. I’m not making accusations of race traitor or calling for his purging from the black community because we all have differing points of view. But when you, as a black man, implore your white candidate to denigrate, disparage and character assassinate a very model of what an American black man can be what is that?
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Wednesday, October 08, 2008
town hall? that was a focus group
Second debate down and the only thing I got out of it was how much I really do miss Tim Russert. How sad he wasn't able to see this election to its conclusion.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008
who is the real... slim shady?
Feeling like it’s in a death spiral itself, the McCain campaign has decided to go balls to the wall desperation of slander, smear and distraction. Doing the gool ole tried and true Republican strategy of spreading FUD (Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt). A shame really considering this is the candidate that insisted on staying above negative campaigning and said quote:
I just have to rely on the judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later the American people or going to figure out that if all you run is negative attack ads you don’t have much of a vision for the future or you are not ready to articulate it.So now he and his lipstick wearing pitbull are all about smearing and offering no articulation on what they’d do about the economy, foreign affairs, energy policy, social security, education, immigration or even taxes and government spending. You know, stuff voters might want to know about considering how things are going in this country. Nope, instead it’s all about “vote for me because that other guy is un-American, hangs out with terrorists, a liar and we still have no idea what his plans are.”
Never mind Obama has a sixty page “brief” on his plan for America in addition to an entire website full of details and references and even a wiki entry detailing his positions on issues. Never mind he’s got two autobiographies about himself, written by him. Never mind that he’s got many in-depth articles about him and his politics. Apparently Senator McCain and Governor Palin have an aversion to reading and like to get their news from surrogates or sound bites. Not a good sign for our would be leaders.
But I suppose since they’re discussing past associations and actions as indicators of judgment and character, perhaps McCain could shed some light on his own past indiscretions?
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Monday, October 06, 2008
a moment with Spinoza's God
Last night I believe I reached a crescendo in my rage at the events playing out in our country and in our time. My fury at watching America fail to live up to the hopes and dreams of the many generations past held me hostage. Frustration swirled around me all weekend trying to reconcile the words of Andrew J. Bacevich with what seems to be reality now. The impotence of stopping a great nation from faltering and taking too many steps along a precarious path that only leads to self-dismantling can really drive one to near madness. What can you do? What can anyone do when the majority of the population and its leadership seem so fundamentally inept and incapable to make honest assessments? What else can we do but scream helplessly in the maelstrom.
But then last night God provided me with some perspective and helped diffuse my roiling acrimony. While fuming I happen to catch a National Geographic documentary on the Hubble Space Telescope. In a moment of watching a spiral galaxy being placed among the vastness of Hubble’s Deep Field image, an image described as
Representing a narrow "keyhole" view stretching to the visible horizon of the universe, the Hubble Deep Field image covers a speck of the sky only about the width of a dime 75 feet away. Though the field is a very small sample of the heavens, it is considered representative of the typical distribution of galaxies in space, because the universe, statistically, looks largely the same in all directions. Gazing into this small field, Hubble uncovered a bewildering assortment of at least 1,500galaxies at various stages of evolution.I felt God put things to rest.
Occasionally you forget to level set. We sometimes get so wrapped up in our own dimension that we forget our relation to the world, to the Universe at large. It’s funny, regardless of your philosophical or theological persuasion you look at the Deep Field image and can’t help but come away with an affirmation of God. In what form It exists is certainly up for debate, but there is no doubt that there is something greater than what we could ever hope to know. And when faced with such a realization, you can’t help but be humbled and put back into place.
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Friday, October 03, 2008
FURIOUS.
The American people just got took. We were held up by the banks, the same banks that didn’t do their fiduciary duty and got us into this economic mess, and for their recklessness we give them money. Nothing about this seems right. They took our money, played dirty with it, lost our money and now have come back to us demanding we give them more or else.
Perhaps this farcical “bailout” could right the ship, and god I hope so, but it still doesn’t address the fundamental problem with this country and how it allowed itself to get in this mess. Credit. Credit. Credit. I’m so incensed right now I can’t even finish my thoughts on this.
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Thursday, October 02, 2008
when everyone is special, no one is.
Something in me just gets bent out of whack everytime I hear someone say that they want to vote for so-and-so because they're just like them. Unless that person is Jesus, Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or Queen Elizabeth I, I say why would you want that? Sorry to say, but your average Joe or Jane six-pack is NOT who I would want making decisions for me. Actually, I wouldn't want anyone who is normal or average making decisions for me that affect my life, my future and my country. Below is a sentiment I ran across that pretty much sums up my immediate frustration and rage when people ask why isn't someone normal acceptable for the job of President of the United States. You'll have to forgive the raw language, I left it in because it does capture my visceral reaction.
It's not politically correct to say so, but for fuck's sake YES.Being president isn't something you should sell as something anyone can do it. We've seen what happens when you just let anyone do it.
I don't want my fucking plumber being the god damn president.
I don't think my auto mechanic knows fuck all enough about foreign policy to run the senate.
And likewise, I don't think my well educated dentist would make a terribly good carpenter, and a genius financial analyst is going to be a piss poor sous chef.
The reason is pretty damn basic. People are best at things when they focus on one particular skill set and work hard at that. I may think Barack would make a great executive, but I wouldn't ask him to fix hardware problems on a Mac.
Obama has demonstrated considerable aptitude for the law, by coming up through Harvard, becoming president of the Harvard the law review, and being a legislator for several years. He's worked at the state and federal level, with various different politicians coming from multiple perspectives. He's shown the ability to lead and orchestrate a very successful campaign, deliver a great speech and inspire. These are all exactly the qualities I want in a president, at the very minimum.
Jack and shit are precisely the qualities of the "average joe" I wouldn't want in leadership.
So, NO, ordinary people are not good enough to lead.
"Unexceptional" people are not good enough to be president.
I want someone very fucking exceptional. Yes, fucking elite. And some rich boy son of an admiral who has been handed his wealth and career is not that, where a working/middle class Black kid who worked his way through a top law school, graduating Cum Laude, to be the first major party minority candidate is very exceptional.
Fuck normal people.
Normal people get normal lives.
Normal people do not get to be the fucking president, no matter how much of a personal fantasy that would fulfill. I'm sick of all these Mary Sue jackasses trying to vote someone just like them into office so that they can tell themselves that they're just as capable of the job.
kill bill, vol 2.
I really hope the house rejects this next bill again. Once again, I still feel like it’s a big waste of taxpayer dollars that’s not going to prevent what needs and what will indeed happen which is a seizure and recession of our economy. Why would I say that? Because I believe (and what do I know, I’m just some guy but it’s my blog and you’re reading it so you’re getting what I believe) that much of what has driven our economy in the last decade was pushed by credit. Nearly free, easy access, buy what you want now credit. Just like our government, the people borrowed a ton of easy money (the whole low interest rate thing) to go out and spend like they were making a ton of money. But the fact is didn’t make a ton of money and shouldn’t have been spending like they did. See the quote below as I’ve understood the situation:
The burst bubble that people need to worry about isn't housing. It's credit. Housing was just the pin that caused the credit bubble to burst. The days of easy credit are officially over. The businesses that got along by depending on easy credit to generate profits will soon be joining Wall Street's investment banking giants in the dustbin of history. Wait what? Businesses using easy credit to generate profit? Yeah, think of it like this:Some of that was a bit hyperbole, but the core of it, at least I believe, still applies. Much like the banks that got us into the mess, so to is our government and population. Over leveraged, and for far too long have relied on credit to live out a standard of living it could not really afford. The truth of the matter is that we all need to get back to living within our means. And that sucks for most of us because that actually means we’ll have to live well below the standard of living we’ve gotten used to (or had sold to us through hyperactive advertising and an administration that told you to spend, spend, spend) because one, most of us have debt to pay off already and since we’re not earning more that’s going to require spending less and two, because gas, healthcare, food and insurance all cost so much more and our incomes haven’t adjusted along with those costs we’re really making less now.
I borrow money on a low APR credit card to pay my rent and car note, and invest my income in something that offers a higher return. That’s right, I’m borrowing money to pay my bills while taking the money I make, which should be used to pay my bills, to invest in other things that generates a return in excess of what I’m paying to borrow the credit. But I don't do that. Why not? Because if something happens and I miss a payment the credit card company jacks the APR way up. Then I'm well and truly screwed. Not only am I paying out the ass in interest on the money I've already borrowed, my credit rating just got hosed and it's going to cost me more money to borrow from anyone in the future. In the meantime I've got to scramble to cash out my investments and pay down the mountain of debt on the credit cards before the high interest kicks my ass.
And now you can see the problem if what you invested in turns out to be worth jack and squat. And so when you hear of these business that need credit to survive, you can bet that some of them did just the aforementioned. A smart way to make extra money if it works out, but way risky and really worth putting your business in jeopardy for? Perhaps some of them deserve to be put out of business for being dumb with their accounting.
Of course it's much, much worse than Paulson/Bush/Bernanke and company have been making out. Easy credit is the only thing that has been propping up the American economy for the last 20 years. We've offshored all our manufacturing. Most of our high tech lead went with that. We've "transitioned to a service economy" that can only be sustained by massive borrowing from other countries. Nearly all of the consumer goods we buy come from other countries at the cost of an enormous trade deficit. The costs of our "service economy" are about to skyrocket as the Boomers hit retirement and start hitting SS/Medicare. Savings are gone. Pensions are gone. Wages have been stagnant for 30 years while inflation has increased and healthcare costs have skyrocketed and employers have killed off pensions. The only way people have gotten by is by drastically reducing their standard of living or by borrowing. If borrowing is no longer an option, that just leaves reducing the standard of living.
We haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg yet. Even if the big banks are stabilized and they start lending again, it will be on a much smaller scale and far more conservatively than we've seen in a generation. There is going to be a massive die-off of businesses, coupled with high unemployment and personal bankruptcies.
This $700 billion bailout plan does absolutely nothing to address the disease. It is just a treatment for one of the many symptoms of the disease. It doesn't change the fact that 50% of the people who have taken out mortgages in the last five years are upside down. It doesn't change the fact that we're looking at massive numbers of resets on ARMs over the next three years. It doesn't change the fact that the deflation caused by the housing bubble bursting is destroying the value of property to the tune of trillions of dollars. What it does do is impose a massive drain on the taxpayers at precisely the time that they're least able to absorb the hit.
And the whole problem with the reigning in spending, making cuts and living below your means? It’s going to hurt the economy because no one can afford to spend like we’ve been spending and all the excess that had built up in the credit-spending craze will have to be cut away. More job losses, more unemployment, more bills that can’t get paid, more homes being foreclosed on - more misery. But it’s the end result of spending more than you could afford. Hitting up your parents or your friends or your next door neighbor or, you know, taxpayers for more money isn’t going to help if you can’t control your spending.
And another thing that's been bothering me is that attempt to blame this WHOLE mess on the Community Reinvestment Act (of nineteen freakin seventy-seven) and the GSEs, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae). Um yeah, no. Here's a good write up on why you shouldn't believe people who either don't know what the hell they're talking about or are trying to take blame off themselves.
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