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 Home  My Thoughts Politics |
Politics  Politics
Essays, commentaries, suggestions, on issues affecting Americans and what just plain annoys me. My grandfather Shaw wrote a political column for a paper back in IL, so I guess this runs in the family.
Politics do matter. To everyone. If we want to live in a compassionate and just society, we need to elect politicians that will represent the people and not special interests. Pay attention to what they do, not what they say.
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 Is
Cheney a True Believer?
5/17/09
So, I have been thinking a lot about what Cheney must be thinking.
Mostly, I think he is just trying to cover his *ss. After all, he is the central
figure in a conspiracy to commit torture. He is most likely going to go to jail
at some point, unless he can convince the American public that what he did was
legal and necessary. Of course, the more he talks, the more he admits his crimes,
regardless of his motive. But also in the course of his ranting, it has dawned
on me. He might truly believe what he says. Think about it. If he really believed
that there was a link between Saddam and Al Qaida, even though there is no evidence,
then, in his mind, torturing suspects to get them to confess to a link (even
if they made up their stories to stop being water boarded) would have been considered
a success by him. And that may indeed be what he is referring to as evidence
that will vindicate him. I don't know what is more scary. An evil mastermind,
or someone who truely believes what he thinks he knows that just ain't so.
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 Obama
and the Notre Dame controversy
5/17/09
Ok, I admit it, I didn't listen to the speech and I haven't read
any transcripts. I am simply not that interested and have other things to do,
like laundry. But I am amazed that anyone cares about this story/controversy.
I suppose I understand, what with 25% of the American population is Catholic
and with the speaker being, you know, the President and all. But normally internal
disputes amongst the Catholics don't gain national attention. And this time
only about 10% of the Bishops are upset. A small number when you think about
it. What I think is going on is that the rest of the Christian population, even
though they haven't formally acknowledge the authority of the Catholic Church
for at least 300 years, still treat the Catholic Church as if they have some
residual authority. Kind of like children that have grown up and left their
parents home still defer to their parents even though it is not required. Except
these children, Christians, had sometimes violent disputes with their parent,
Catholic Church. I guess no matter how far we stray, some kids just can't shake
off the yolk of arbitrary authority.
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 Mass Murder
4/7/09
The number of mass murders is growing. It used to be that when someone killed a whole room full of people, it was big news. Now it is so common we hardly notice it anymore. There has of course been lots of speculation as to what we can do to control these homicidal maniacs, and as it turns out, we can’t. We can’t even predict it. But, what is missing in all this discussion is the obvious. It used to be that getting your hands on a gun capable of killing lots of people quickly wasn’t easy to do. Now, it is fairly easy to get such a weapon. Make it harder to get these weapons, and you make it harder for homicidal maniacs to kill large numbers of people. So… yeah – we are talking serious gun control. I am not even sure it is feasible in this day and age. But we should at least try and get some common sense measures in place. We won’t be able to stop the drug cartels, but if we can stop an unstable individual with revenge on his mind, isn’t it worth it? We should at least consider gun control as an option. Write Comment (0 comments) |
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 Climate Literacy
4/6/09
NOAA's Climate Program Office recently published a set of guiding principles for making informed decisions about climate change. It is a very good set of princples definitely inspired by Humanism. This makes me very happy because, I believe that Humanism, as a methodology, is one of the best methods of problem solving. It starts with a belief that we can take constructive action as humans to make things better (as opposed to simply praying or offering sacrafices). And as a method of problem solving, it insists on having accurate information about the problem we are trying to solve before attempting to solve it. Yeah - I know, its a radical idea (even after all these years). Anyhoo - NOAA has decided that the public needs to have a basic level of literacy about climate change if we are to have a rational discussion on how to solve this problem. How very Humanist of them. The entire document can be found here. A synpopsis of the principles is below. Write Comment (0 comments) |
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 Bachmann, Boehner Overtime
3/29/09
Musings on current politics: So Michelle Bachmann has called for armed insurrection against our democratically elected government. Pretty sure that is treasonous. However, I don’t like the idea of tamping down on anyone’s free speech. The problem is that her base is just as nutty as she is and the likelihood that they do indeed have arms they can raise is scary. So, as of this moment, her nuttiness isn’t amusing anymore. She is potentially encouraging real nutbags to violence against their fellow citizens. Not good. As for Representative John Boehner, is it just me? Or does he look like an early stage rummy? Seriously, every time I see him speak, I think he must be drunk. He just seems like the sort of guy who takes a 3-martini lunch and then goes back to work and thinks no one can tell. Why they allow him to speak to the press in such a state is beyond me. But if he has big boss aspirations, it would certainly explain why no one was able to stop him from holding a big press conference to unveil the republican’s non-budget budget. If Bachmann and Boehner are really the main voices of the Republican party, the GOP is in big trouble. Can someone tell them their 15 minutes are up already? Write Comment (0 comments) |
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 The Morality of Stem Cells
3/14/09
The other day – some moms I know were lamenting Obama’s stance on stem cell research. I jumped up and down in joy. This led to a discussion I wish I hadn’t had. Mostly because I like these women and I don’t want to be rude. However, I have just about had it with Fox viewers who aren’t just ill informed, they are misinformed and spoon fed paranoia and somehow think they are getting a balanced view of the issues. Makes me sick and I am tired of it. Anyway – I wasn’t at my best, and they put forth a straw man argument against using waste blastocysts for stem cell research that I had never heard before and it caught me off guard. They also went off on a tangent against in vitro fertilization and again – it was off topic and again, it took me by surprise. The stem cell debate is all about answering the question, “What is the moral thing to do with waste blastocysts? Should we keep them frozen, throw them away or use them for research? Keep in mind we are talking about a group of undifferentiated cells (see photo on above right).
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 Did Cheney have Pat Tillman killed?
3/13/09
Ok – that header seems a wee bit conspiracy theory-ish. But hang tight. We have recently learned from Seymour Hersch that Cheney had an executive assassination squad that bypassed all oversight and reported directly to him. This squad operated in several countries apparently. They would go in, kill someone and leave. What I want to know is whether Pat Tillman was one of the ones Cheney had killed. There is a very good chance that Pat was intentionally murdered. (for more details click here) So, it stands to reason that if Cheney was having people killed and if Pat Tillman was indeed murdered, then Cheney could very well be the one who ordered him killed. Since the assassination squad was an elite unit – it would explain why no one has talked about what really happened yet. But they will. Too many people know what really happened and someone will eventually talk. Write Comment (0 comments) |
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 To Prosecute or not to Prosecute
3/4/09
Keith Olbermann really wants Bush et al prosecuted for war crimes. I do to. But… I think the rush to have them all charged now is misplaced. First off, there are several cases already in the courts regarding torture and other activities. Ethically – Obama should stay out of those proceedings and allow them to take their course, which is what he is doing. At the moment, what really matters most is that we get the budget passed and health care, alternative energy, education reforms passed as well. War crimes prosecutions will get in the way of getting those bills passed. Once we have them, then we are free to go after these criminals. If we set up a truth commission, it will be just for show and a huge distraction. I cannot see us passing the other reforms if a truth commission is going on. So lets all calm down. Get needed reforms passed and then lets see whether the Obama justice department uses the time it is being given to put together rock solid cases against the outgoing administration or not. If not, then feel free to get your panties in a bunch. Write Comment (0 comments) |
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