The Worst of the GOP

I just read a disturbing story about a top GOP website designer dying in a plane crash shrouded in mystery. Michael Connell, founder of New Media Communications was a skilled pilot and the reason for the plane crash is yet to be determined. Now this is both disturbing and at the same time not surprising. So I thought back on all the "mysteries" that have occurred in the past eight years and compiled a sort of list.

Lets see first up... the Valerie Plame Affair... somebody in the Bush Administration hears something from the CIA and Robert Novak finds out and publishes an article leaking an undercover CIA agent's name. Eventually, Lewis "Scooter" Libby is indicted for some connection to the leak, but he is most likely just a scapegoat for one of the big boys

Next... Iraq and those damn invisible WMD's? Are there really any nukes? And is Al-Qaeda really based in Iraq? So far, it seems the answers to those questions are no and no.

Abu Ghraib... Since when does the US engage in sick, twisted, torture techniques? Need I say more?

Guantanamo... see above.

Attorney Gate... basically they decided to reject a bunch of smart qualified people for some Sarah Palin clones.

And lastly, those little things, like Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, Jack Abramoff, Trent Lott, Tom DeLay, Larry Craig, and I probably forgot a few.

Good old Gipper, always a scandal around the corner.

Senator Franken...? (knock on wood)

Its sure got a nice ring to it. The Minnesota recount has been reviewing the thousands of challenged ballots by each campaign. Most recently, the Minnesota Star Tribune projects that Franken will win by 79 votes. Currently, Franken holds a lead of 266 votes. Could the Democrats win this seat and hold onto to the other seats vacated by Cabinet appointees to hold a 59 seat majority? The chances of the full 59 are dimming, but I can easily see 55 or 56 seats. With less than a month until the 111th Congress, what does a bigger Democratic majority and a Democratic president mean?

Responsible fiscal policy. The only Democrat who has been in office for the past 20 years was Bill Clinton, who managed to create a budget surplus. Wow. We havent had one of those in years.

A Better Global Standing. Democrats are historically less hawkish on foreign policy, but they have successfully led us through two of the biggest wars in history. With leadership like that of Wilson in WWI and FDR/Truman in WWII, we should be able to resolve our war on terror and create a global cooperation against terrorism.

Universal Health Care. It sounds relieving just to say it.

Environmentally Friendly Policies. We could just save the world. And our economy at the same time. Say goodbye foreign oil. Hello solar power.

The Kennedy Question

As a New Yorker, I'd love to see a Kennedy in the Senate. I dont care what everyone else is saying about dynasty politics. We voted the damn Bushes in didnt we? Who's the wise guy now. Then there's the comparisons to Sarah Palin, saying she is the Sarah Palin of Democrats, but about the only things they have in common are boobs and a vagina. First off, Caroline Kennedy has a law degree from Columbia. Second, she has been an active public figure for years now, and served on Obama's campaign and transition teams. Running for a Senate seat isnt running for President, or Vice President for that matter. Its not like Caroline Kennedy is a heart beat away from the Presidency. Was this the case, I might have other thoughts, but shes running to be the junior Senator from New York. Plus all the women I know are saying we need to replace Hilary with a woman. Any better ideas?

There is a great post by Chris Kelly at the Huffington Post. Check it out.

God... save us

High School Musical in Russia? Of all places. Although Disney's happy, hoppy, conformist joke of a movie probably fits with the Russian propaganda, I mean media, machine. I wonder if the press will take a picture of Putin watching it shirtless.

“Russia is an extremely important market for Disney and this new Disney channel is a great way for us to expand our brand and business,” said Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive.

Wow, even his name sounds Russian...

Disney Channel to Enter Russian Market

Let's relax and give not-yet President Obama some optimism. He called on you for hope, he asked you for change and you gave it to him. Now he needs patience until he assumes the presidency and fixes this mess of an economy.

is oil really the world's most precious resource?

take oil. just this week it fell to $46.58 per barrel. now this "barrel" really contains 42 gallons of crude oil which equals out to roughly 28 gallons of gasoline. this puts the price per gallon of gasoline at $1.66, but hey, everyones gotta make a profit. now lets take bottled water. supposedly the safe alternative to tap water, but in truth it usually is tap water. what if the world runs out of reservoirs, and our population of 6 billion+ snatches up all the ground water left. well were stuck with bottled water, which currently sits at $3 a gallon, or $126 a barrel. then there is the expenses of water. the waste we produce with our bottles is expensive to clean up, especially when it damages the wildlife. if everyone recycled their water bottles or reused them, it wouldnt be such a problem. so be active in encouraging a recycling program in your community. we probably wont see a shortage of water in our lifetime, but it certainly is an up and coming problem. maybe wars will be fought over water instead of oil in the near future. though the new james bond was a little lacking in story, the main idea of manipulating the water supply was a good point.

between the buried and me....

anyone ever heard of these guys? imagine what happens when six guys with music degrees get together and decide to play hardcore music. if you can stand the vocals you will probably be blown away. after i listened to their latest album, Colors, i had to go change my pants. check them out.

http://www.betweentheburiedandme.com

http://www.myspace.com/betweentheburiedandmeband

a plan to save the world

lets start with a solar factory, funded by the government. we start producing efficient solar panels for home use, increasing supply and therefore lowering the price. with a new factory comes new jobs, so now we have begun an alternative energy initiative and brought some help to the ailing middle class. now we offer the workers discounts on the solar panels that are made in the factory. they save up to buy one, install it on their home and receive extended government tax refunds for running their home on clean technology. soon enough we get a factory of middle class americans who run their homes on solar panels, see a decrease in taxes and dont have an electric bill anymore. they take the extra money they save and put it towards a hybrid car and suddenly they are a practically green family with no electric bill or fuel bill. now do this but in hundreds of factories across america. wouldnt that be great?

hello!

hey everybody, i'm new to blogging and decided i should put all my ideas to some kind of use so here i am. i like politics, am relatively liberal, and will probably write most about the economy and current events. however, i am also a jazz fanatic, guitar player, and i run track, so expect to find a lot of different things on this blog. later.

the auto bailout

I’m sure you’ve heard the news lately. Another bailout!? What has America come too? Well, surely our good democratic society will shake this neo-socialist trend in a little while, but for now lets get the bailin’ started! Up next… the Auto Industry! The Big Three! Detroit! Good old American cars. Now in case some of you don’t know why in the world the American auto industry needs to be bailed out, here’s a brief background. Think a few years back to when you or your parents went out and bought that brand new SUV. Comfortable, clean, luxurious… who cares about the gas mileage right? Well, it turns out we do care about the gas mileage when gas is $4.30 a gallon, so we stopped buying those gas guzzling monsters. So now, the Big Three has a ton of SUVs that no one will buy on their hands.
Now, the smart financial types and CEOs at the car companies are warning of bankruptcy if they don’t receive some sort of assistance. Lets think about what bankruptcy for just one of these companies would mean. One in 10 jobs are related to the auto industry, so immediately we would see a sharp spike in unemployment. We are talking about moving from 6%, which is high for the US, to almost 10%. Second, most of these jobs are middle class, blue-collar jobs. This means that an entire section of America will lose their ability to shop at community stores, pay their taxes, send their kids to school, and heftily contribute to the base of the American economy.
The House of Representatives has just churned out 14 billion for the autos, so its a step. But this bill is going to be smacked around the Senate till it has almost no life left in it. Why? Because the big time Senators (mostly Republicans) will claim that it is not in the American people's interest to give another industry a "blank check". First of all, why not let the government borrow the money if need be? Wouldn't that make more sense? On the downside, with huge sums of money being borrowed, we may see rampant inflation, but on the upside, thousands of people as well as the government would be able to payback loans upon loans with less valuable dollars. Now the financial industry is hurting but they've got their own bailout and we find our selves got in a vicious circle. The possibility that inflation would rise high enough to really hurt the American economy is slim at best.
So bail them out I say. And if you say it’s the auto companies’ own damn fault for being greedy and think they should burn in their own mistakes, don’t ask me why you’re burning too.