Election Season

I hate it. The 2 party system is broken and corrupt.

Instead of whining about it, here's a great article on how the "Tea Party" has no idea what they are talking about regarding the Constitution and how their supporters have often pushed for additions to the Constitution that has been so horribly altered and abused.

Nice.

Why Do I Expect Consistency of Belief?

Here's a link to a column/blog by a libertarian. Its a nice little read and points out much of what I find wrong with the "Tea Party" movement.

I'm not a libertarian, I feel its a simple recipe for disaster. But I can respect people who are libertarian and have consistency of belief (for the most part. We all struggle with this to certain degrees.)

Many Tea Partiers whine about the gov't, but don't really try to do anything serious about it. They have no proposals except "cut taxes and spending." They never say HOW they are going to do it. Well, getting rid of "entitlement" programs like Social Security (privatization like Bush wanted would have decimated the system like it did people's 401K's and private investments) and Medicare (old people love it) would be starts, but I'm sorry, that's not realistic.

They like to yell and scream about "social issues" like immigration and an Islamic YMCA with a mosque in it built by Ground Zero, but they don't offer solutions except wanting to take away rights from people they don't agree with or who aren't like them.

Is illegal immigration a problem? YES! However, they keep pointing to the wrong statistics on why its a problem. Crime is not a problem. Even jobs isn't the real issue because by and large Americans don't want to work the long hours for crappy pay that illegals will work. (And not even just illegals, immigrants in general.) They ignore the fact that illegals come here and work for Americans who often are KNOWINGLY flaunting the laws, and if nothing else our desire for ever cheaper prices on meat, produce, housing, hotel rooms, etc. are what have driven the wages on jobs so low that the only people who will take them are those here under frequently dubious circumstances.

But, we have too many laws, too many regulations, we just need to build a fence and police the border and question anyone with brown skin who gets pulled over in a car and seems "suspicious."

Seriously, when you have some actual courses of action, when your positions aren't simply emotion built by ignoring the facts, get back to me. We can discuss, and disagree, but actually have a conversation. For now you offer nothing but rhetoric and a mistrust which looks a lot like intolerance of anyone who isn't like you.

Misplaced Anger

There has been fury unleashed at BP lately due to the oil spill in the Gulf. Much of it is warranted. They screwed up, cut corners, lied, lied again, lied a few more times, finally admitted they were completely wrong, and now are trying to clean up and keep the company solvent. (Is solvent like the disperents they sprayed all over which just cause the oil to sink to the bottom of the ocean?)

Anyway, some people have called for boycotts of BP, and that's fine I suppose. Just remember, while this happened to BP, it could have been ANY of the oil companies and the response would have been the same.

The problem isn't BP. The problem is are the oil giants and their cozy relationship with those in power. AND America's refusal to change their lifestyles and stop relying on oil.

So, what am I saying? First, something like this was going to happen. It really was. It might have happened to Shell, or Conoco-Phillips, but it was going to happen. And no company would have known what to do, and all of them would have lied just like BP. This is not exonerating BP, merely stating the entire industry is corrupt and used to doing whatever they like.

America, we need to get over our love for oil. Is cheap gas, oversized cars, inefficient roadways, and personal selfishness more important than polluting the oceans and coastlines and putting thousands of jobs at risk? The economic fallout from this is going to be felt for some time.

So America, be mad at BP, but be mad at all oil companies, your government who for too long has turned a blind eye, AND yourselves for continuing to live in ways that encourage this kind of risky behavior.

Perspective

Now, everyone talks about a balanced budget, but here's a bit of real perspective on it.

From Chris Weigant on Huffingtonpost.com

Last year's budget, for instance, spent $3.55 trillion while it took in
$2.38 trillion, for a deficit of $1.17 trillion. [.....] Four items -- the
Pentagon, Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, and the interest on the debt --
together add up to roughly the money the government takes in. Meaning that
everything else the federal government does would have to be cut completely --
zeroed out -- in order to balance the budget.

So, there you have it. And, umm, good luck trimming ANY of those significantly enough to make a difference. Old people vote.

This is Sad

Not having CNN, I never watched the Campbell Brown news hour. I don't know if she was a good or bad anchor. I do know the reasons she is stepping away are both noble and sad.

She flat out says she will not change her journalistic style to the frothing opinion "news" that she is slated against. And since her rating are so much lower, she's stepping away to let CNN figure out what they want to do.

Pound another nail in the coffin of journalistic integrity and get ready for even more screaming heads blabbering on cable news channels.

A Call for Real Change

While I wish I could enjoy the implosion of the Republican Party at the hands of the Tea Partiers, I can't, because the party isn't imploding, its becoming even more far-right and hardline than it was. That's a bit terrifying.

The Democrats aren't doing anything about it, attacking the radicals (for that's what they are, I'm serious, they are uncompromising radicals), pointing out their hypocrisy and racism to gain points for the November election or anything else useful.

Why? Because its becoming apparent (not that it was exactly hidden) just how bought off they have been.

There has not been a better time for serious change in the political landscape of America recently. The time for real reforms.

With incumbents in both parties at risk, passing real campaign reform laws and term limits would be brilliant.

Oh, I know, it won't happen. But unless people start demanding real reforms the same mistakes are going to keep happening over and over again as politicians continue to be bought.

The only ones who won't be bought are those too toxic in their beliefs to take much money openly. But, they'll still get plenty funneled to them as well.

This is rambling, my head hurts and I can't be coherent.

America is in ugly shape. The time for real, hard changes is during the hard times. We're quickly losing our chance to make reform.

I can dream right?

Drill Baby drill...oh shoot...

I'd love to think that if any good came out of the oil spill in the Gulf it might be someone will finally tell Sarah Palin to shut up and go home.

Drilling for more oil is not the short or long term solution to America's energy problems.

The technological marvel that is deepwater drilling is showing the dangerous side. If things go catastrophically wrong, there is pretty much nothing we can do about it quickly enough to stop massive environmental disasters.

President Obama correctly put other deepwater well's on hold until more is found out about what happened to cause this disaster and what can be done to prevent future ones.

Even if there is only a 1/10000th chance of this sort of thing happening again, can we risk it for the miniscule gain?

Don't kid yourselves, we cannot raise domestic production to levels that will make a difference. We can't drill fast enough to have any real effect on gas prices. The kicker is too, we have limited (and aging) refinery space to handle any new oil coming in. (This is a bottleneck that frequently drives up the price of oil.)

Oil is necessary, we aren't getting away from it anytime soon. But, if we keep feeding our addiction for little gain (except the pockets of large corporations) no real change is going to happen.

We MUST invest heavily in alternative fuel sources while creating incentives for people to carpool, use mass transit, or buy highly efficient small commuter vehicles.

Change is hard. But it must happen.