Palin's Disappointing Convention Speech
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin certainly turned in an impressive performance during her acceptance speech at their convention Wednesday night. By almost every account, she far exceeded all expectations. Her speech was tough, well delivered, and to the point. She did a great job of combining wit, sarcasm, straight talk, and biting humor. Hardcore right-wingers, including Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Pat Buchanan, were probably so ecstatic that they soiled their pants. Convention-goers went wild. Palin nearly brought the house down.
Ironically, she was -- at least for one night -- the rock star and celebrity that Republicans like to accuse Barack Obama of aspiring to. Remember, during the height of The Beatles' popularity, when John Lennon so arrogantly and sacrilegiously remarked that they were "more popular than Jesus Christ"? If he were still with us today, I wonder if Lennon would have been tempted to say the same thing about Palin Wednesday night.
Sarah Palin & The Politics of 'Small-Town' America
After Sarah Palin's speech last evening, American voters are once again doing an end-around on the media, whose venal preoccupation with her destruction has inspired millions nationwide, many never before interested in politics, to take up her cause. Reports from across the country called her performance stellar, and, most critically, her small-town values and big-hearted love of this nation resonated with people in dense urban settings and rural hamlets alike.
Grasping for political purchase, the left has unwisely accused Palin of being overextended, not capable of caring for her family if she assumes the daunting responsibilities of vice president. It's a strange role reversal for aging feminists and their male acolytes who, decades ago said women can, in fact, have it all-- a family and an executive job--and handle both responsibilities well. But it's also a testimony to the fact that the younger generation of women haven't bought the arch feminist pedagogy, which is predicated on an oblique disdain for men and a desperately misguided need to mask their femininity in feigned masculine garb.
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McCain Will Choose One of These Two
Well, tomorrow is supposed to be the big day for John McCain. That's when he is scheduled to make his long-awaited announcement of whom he has selected to be the Republican Party's vice-presidential nominee this year.
Contrary to what some might believe, there is no way McCain will select Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge as his running mate. He knows that too many members of the far right base of the GOP -- who are already suspicious of his conservative credentials -- would abandon him in a heartbeat if he named a pro-choice candidate to the ticket. Of course, they would not vote for Barack Obama -- they would simply stay home on Election Day. He cannot afford to take such a hit and he knows it.
You want help? Oops!
Toward the end of the fourth century, the Romanized Britons realized that the security provided by the Roman Empire was ending. Departing legions were not replaced. Waves of Germanic warriors and settlers flooded into the vulnerable areas of the British Isles and northern Gaul. Appeals for help to Roman military leaders and even to the emperor went unanswered. Britain's Dark Ages began.
A semblance of order was restored in the last quarter of the ninth century when Alfred, the ruler of the West Saxons, stopped the western expansion of the Danes. Historians credit Alfred with founding what came to be called England. He is the only English monarch to be called "the Great."
Obama and McCain: Two Flawed Candidates
As was the case four years ago, we are being asked to choose between two unsatisfactory candidates for President of the United States. And as I did then, I will be passing on the two major party candidates and voting for the Libertarian nominee -- this time, former Georgia Representative Bob Barr. This is a protest vote, of course, as there is absolutely no way I can vote for Barack Obama or John McCain.
There are so many reasons why I oppose Barack Obama's candidacy that I hardly know where to begin. Obama toes the line of the militant gay lobby. That includes opposing "Don't Ask Don't Tell" in favor of allowing gays to openly serve in the military. He also voted against the constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Old man in the games
As President Pervez Musharraf faces impeachment in Pakistan, millions gather in China for the 2008 Olympics. But only few know about the misuse of power and the games played by politicians in the history of Pakistani politics.
Gentlemen, like a narcotic, when the addiction to power permeates the leader of a nation, it is safe to say that the process of social unrest and political deterioration has begun.
Bush & Cheney--lame ducks or dangerous dinosaurs?
Here's a real-life scene worthy of a Hollywood thriller:
Three U.S. senators huddle over a document, closely watched by a team of White House lawyers. The senators have been granted a quick view of a zealously guarded report. They're allowed to scribble a few notes before the papers are whisked away.
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Obama, the Democratic Party and the Absurd
The political events surrounding the Democratic Party and its presumptive nominee has all the makings of an HBO Special. The protagonist (Obama) is initially discounted by the rank and file of politicians, pundits, and harbingers of such eventualities as an interesting contender; nevertheless, one whose time has NOT come. Undaunted the hero challenges the deadly dragon of the all powerful and by utilizing his gift of promising rhetoric and charming good looks suppresses the dragon's fire to a spark; eventually, compelling the dragon into eating its own tail. A grand story of mythical proportions; but surely, such a story is fictional.
Well, the mouse did eat the elephant. Obama is the on-the-cusp-nominee of the Democratic Party for the highest office in the land. The story unlike an HBO special has actually come true. I am NOT an Obama supporter; to be perfectly clear, I could NOT support any candidate that Peloski, Reid, or Dean sponsored, nevertheless, I am amazed, bewildered, befuddled, and confused by the complete lay down by the Democratic Party of the heretofore logical simpllicity of policy criteria and their sensibilities.
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Obama: The Perfect Leader For a Self-Absorbed Generation
In one sense, Senator Obama's recent speech in Germany is the perfect cultural balm for a world weary of the travails of modern existence. That's only to say he has perfect pitch when it comes to blending in with those for whom hope is a defense, for whom a Statist response to every ill, real or perceived, is comforting.
One of the bleaker symptoms of this generation is its peculiar insistence that, for everything from child-rearing to advancing one's career to dealing with one's impending mortality, its challenges are unprecedented. It's also the case that its arrogant self-regard and intellectual hubris has assured them that the only goal of countless generations that silently toiled throughout the centuries was to prepare the world for the gift of this generation.
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Blue tide or red squeaker?
This is presidential election silly season. Everyone has a different prediction. Many spin their predictions to favor the candidate of their choice. Some look backward at previous elections to guide their forecast. Others look forward, armed with issue surveys and new voter registration lists.
Because so many pundits use so many different methods to predict November's result, some websites throw all the surveys and predictions together to come up with a composite or average. Recent elections show that approach to be as valid as any other. After I tried to peer through the mist last month and suggested that the election may not be decided on election day, but could rival the cliffhanger 2000 balloting, I got several emails and calls asking if I could provide more details. Remember, not only the devil is in the details. My wrong assumptions, mistakes and prejudices of a lifetime in electoral politics are in these details. Reader beware!
When Is Enough-Enough?
I have a small business; the business employees less than 30-people. My business is highly regulated and subject to scheduled audits by my sponsoring banks, as well as, VISA and MasterCard. Naturally, like every other business in America I am required to risk capital and resources so to meet current obligations; it is understood that if I do not create cash flow and profits I will loose my capital. I understood going into the investment that there are no guarantees issued by the US Government to insure my investment; I also understood, that if I did produce a GAAP measure of profit those profits were subject to a federal tax of 35%. Additionally, if the business issued a dividend to the shareholder that dividend was taxed at 15% and depending on my tax bracket I could be taxed once again on my personal income tax obligation at 35%.
Of course, I, as well as, my fellow citizens could be responsible for state, city, even county taxes and fees; plus, of course, we all pay sale taxes and a bundle of user fees as we traverse our way across the street of life. I am omitting property taxes, and other applicable taxes and fees simply because it will take up all the space on this blog.
Can Obama pay the pump price?
The meeting was depressing, sometimes frightening. True believers are always a bit grim and these anti-nuclear energy zealots were no exception. They refused to listen to anyone who suggested that nuclear power could be part of the solution to America's continuing energy crisis.
Several times, they cited Presidential Candidate Barack Obama as a friend in their campaign to prevent not just expansion of nuclear energy but also to prevent increased production of oil and natural gas. They loudly opposed any further drilling in Alaska or off the coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico. They called for excess profits taxes on oil companies and the automobile industry.
Three Cheers for the U.S. Supreme Court
I believe the U.S. Supreme Court is to be applauded for its last three major decisions. I'm referring to its recent decisions to guarantee habeas corpus rights to detainees at Guantanamo Bay, strike down the death penalty for child rapists in Louisiana, and invalidate the handgun ban in the District of Columbia. In each of these cases, it has sided with common sense over zealotry.
Denying habeas corpus rights to anyone is un-American, even when it's being done to foreigners suspected of committing acts of terrorism against the United States or conspiracy to commit such acts. And according the Supreme Court's ruling, it's also unconstitutional. What did it accomplish anyway? It certainly didn't make us any safer. The only thing I see that it did is make the rest of the world hate us. Is that what we wanted?
On Religion & Politics in America
Few issues in America are as contentious and divisive as religion, and the recently released study by the Pew Foundation on religion and public life is sure to reanimate the nation's differences. Some of the findings merely confirm what most people intuitively know, for example, that overwhelming majorities have a belief in God, or, to characterize it in the parlance of our cultural cognoscenti, a supernatural being.
More nuanced are the findings that about seven in ten believe that many religions can lead to eternal life and that there is more than one interpretation of the teachings of their own religion. Of course, those beliefs fundamentally clash with the precepts of those religions, which is only to say that if all religions are equal, by what standard would one choose one over another. Moreover, it casts one's thoughtfulness in a poor light if, after a lifetime of study and reflection, choosing Catholicism over a protestant religion is a difference without a distinction.
Who Will Be the Next Moderator of "Meet the Press"?
The unfortunate and untimely death of Tim Russert means that NBC will soon have to pick someone to succeed him at its long-running Sunday morning interview program, Meet the Press. While the general consensus seems to be that retired NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw will take the job on an interim basis (probably until after the presidential election in November), it is anyone's guess who the new permanent moderator might be.
NBC has many potential candidates -- including a lot of young talent -- within its own network and its cable affiliates MSNBC and CNBC that it could consider. Of those, I believe longtime correspondent Andrea Mitchell (no relation this writer) is an early favorite to be selected. There is precedent for a female moderator on the program. Martha Rountree, who was also the show's founder, was the original host when it debuted in 1947.
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