Critisism of George Will

Once in a while I read George Will's column in Newsweek. I generally find him annoying. Aside from the fact that most conservatives often annoy me he additionally has the habit of using, in my opinion, too many big words. For example, from a recent column: heepism, (heepism is a made up word) cognitive dissonance, histrionic humility, flamboyant empathy, apocryphal, Metternichian guile, architectural determinism. Now I'm not an ignoramus and for the record I do know some of the terms, in fact I particularly like the term cognitive dissonance. And I also don't believe writers should dumb down for their audience but how many readers of Will's Newsweek column are familiar with these terms? I'm not sure why it bugs me but it does. Will is a conservative who's using some rather erudite language here. Who's he writing for? The one Republican I know happens to like Will's column so I asked him if he understood the terms. He said no. Bottom line, I think Will is trying make conservatives sound smart when they're not. He uses a lot of big words to make his readers, who really don't know what the hell he's talking about, think he must be real smart and therefore knows what he's talking about. Call me crazy.

In this week's column Will says the current economic climate isn't so bad. Oil prices are way down for example and Christmas sales are expected to be slightly higher than last year. And if housing prices are down that's okay because they were too high anyway. This all may be true but what he conveniently neglects to mention is the gigantic 700 Billion government bailout which was done so in fact there wouldn't be an economic meltdown. How can you talk about the economy without mentioning this giant bailout? Omitting this topic pretty much negates the whole of the rest of his argument in my opinion. And what's with the pot shot at FDR which I've noticed Republicans have been doing a lot lately. Are they trying to deflect attention from those saying the current economic crisis is due to the Republicans constant push for deregulation?

If any fans of George Will read this I invite them to defend him here if they think I'm wrong.

More presidential trivia

What U.S. President had a nervous breakdown at the age of 24 and spent time in a sanitarium?

In 1889, at the age of 24, Warren G. Harding had a nervous breakdown and spent several weeks in a sanitarium.

Presidential trivia question

When was the last time the Republicans won the White House without a Nixon or a Bush on the ticket?

Answer: 1928

Fiscal responsibility or give up?

I've read quite a few articles about the financial crisis trying to understand what's going on. But for all the explanations and information I still only have what I would describe as vague answers. My first question was how is it that all of a sudden there is a huge financial crisis? Where were all the economists for the last five years, year or six months? As you can imagine, there were people who saw the problem and wrote about it their voices just didn't make the evening news or the front page. In February Ben Stein wrote an article in the NYT, "The Unending Allure of the Free Lunch." A few lines from the article: "ultra-high-interest lending and borrowing, come to mind as I contemplate the subprime problems that face this great nation. In a few words, here is what happened in the subprime debacle:" He then goes on to give a lengthy example that does a pretty good job of describing the problem. But apparently the subprime issue is only part of the problem.

My second question was whose fault is it? The answer to that one seems to be as complicated as the crisis itself. But back to Ben Stein's article, we need regulations to protect us from all the crooks out there. And as much as I would like to just blame the Republicans and their push to deregulate the truth is there is lots of blame to go around. The best thing is to get on with trying to fix the problem. There is a decent article in Newsweek by Fareed Zakaria, "There Is a Silver Lining". He basically says it's time to pay our bill, words that need to be said again and again - Americans borrow too much. The federal gov. has been borrowing an ever increasing amount of money almost since it began. Former Comptroller General David Walker was on Bill Maher's show recently. He was there basically to make the point that America is in deep debt, not 10 trillion but 55 trillion, something like $450,000 per household. On the show he didn't explain this number but his website or rather the foundation he is the pres of, Peter G. Peterson Foundation, states the additional amount is due to Medicare and Social Security. I think we all have to expect to make sacrifices. We should be forgetting about cutting taxes and focus on cutting spending. And if you look at the federal budget it's easy to see that Social Security and the military are where the only meaningful cuts can be made. Those two costs alone make up more than two thirds of the budget (over 800 billion military including our wars, 1.5 trillion for SS and Med.). It seems to me the longer we wait the worse it will get. But one of the problems with a democracy is that difficult choices are not made. Both sides play off each other to the point that taking a stand on difficult issue means political suicide. So it's up to the voters to educate themselves adequately so they can request and then support the needed diffuclt changes. But in reality this will most likely never happen at least not until disaster rains down upon us. Can you say risk management? Time to be an umbrella salesmen.

Last Friday on Bill Mayer

"He's not an Arab he's a good man." Ben Affleck brought up this statement by McCain on last Friday's Bill Maher show. He made the point that just labeling someone an Arab is basically saying they are somehow a bad person. We all know how this came about but I think it behooves us all to fight against the urge to stereotype people we don't understand. I'm glad Mr. Affleck brought it up.

Also on the show were Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont (I) and Martin Short. Senator Sanders had a long list of good talking points, one of which was about McCain's robo calls. He said that if McCain wins there will be millions of Americans who are angry that McCain used dishonest means to get elected and if McCain loses there will be millions of Americans who think their president is a Muslim terrorist.

Below is an excerpt from the show.

Collin Powell - POW!

The NYT, "Powell Backs Obama and Criticizes McCain Tactics"

"WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president on Sunday morning, calling him a “transformational figure” who has reached out to all Americans with an inclusive campaign and displayed “a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity” and “a depth of knowledge” in his approach to the nation’s problems."

What if the tickets were reversed?

My sister sent me the following email which was sent to her etc. The point isn't new but it is interesting to see it written down.

Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin, what if things were switched around?.....think about it. Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could racism be the culprit? Ponder the following:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes? Correction - It was five planes.
The first crash was a training accident, the second crash was the result of "Flying too low over the Iberian Peninsula, he took out some power lines which led to a spate of newspaper stories in which he was predictably identified as the son of an admiral,"
the third crash was due to a flameout, the fourth happened when a rocket from an F-4 Phantom accidently hit his plane while he was waiting for takeoff on the USS Forrestal, and the fifth crash happened during his 23rd mission over North Vietnam in 1967 when his A-4 Skyhawk was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. McCain ejected from the plane and parachuted down into Truc Bach Lake near Hanoi breaking both arms and a leg in the process. I'm just trying to get the facts right. Some of the crashes may have been his fault and maybe he was reckless at times but you can't fault the guy for being shot down while he's flying a mission.

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

Educational Backgrounds:

Barack Obama: Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations. Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden: University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science. Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester. North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study. University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism. Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester. University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.

McCain robo calls

These last few weeks of the McCain campaign has done several things for me, none of which are good. One, I will be very disappointed if McCain wins. And two, my opinion of McCain has sunk so low I will not have respect for anyone who votes for him. This is no longer about issues this is about who McCain is as a person. McCain has shown himself to be a deeply dishonest and corrupt individual. I had trouble with people who voted for Bush Jr. because I believed he was not qualified and therefore he posed a serious threat. But McCain disturbs me in a different way. He could be worse that Bush Jr.

A NYT article on robocalls.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins is calling on Sen. John McCain to stop paying for automated phone calls.

 

McCain has crossed the line

In my opinion McCain has sunk as low as is humanly possible for a politician. He's shown recently that his ambition knows no bounds. He's adopted the Carl Rove playbook heart and soul thereby abandoned any shred of decency, honesty, or ethics. He's reached so low he's gone to the bottom of the well and continues to tunnel on down.

My apologies to the republicans for such a cheap shot

It's funny though isn't it.

The conservative point of view?

I went looking on the web recently to try and answer the question of why there is so munch rancor among people on politics. And maybe it was because I focused more on conservative blogs rather than liberal but the conservatives seem to be the angriest. But maybe that was just a coincidence. However no one can dispute that that there is much anger and out there. Unfortunately my humble search revealed no real answers so I am left to speculate. Here are my theories.

I looked hardest at conservative articles because that is the point of view I generally disagree with most often and I would very much like to better understand the opposing position. But I am honestly at a loss as to why conservatives believe what they do. And I say that without any intention of trying to antagonize those with a different point of view. I believe one explanation for the anger is the large amount of misinformation being pumped to the public via numerous organizations whose sole purpose is to persuade the American public that the science and facts are incorrect and instead the organization's information is the only truth. For example, there are numerous websites whose sole purpose is to dispute the existence of the climate crisis, A, B, C are a few. I suppose these sites can be convincing if someone has little knowledge of the science as I'm sure is the case for most people – to be honest. One thing these anti climate crisis sites do is to supposedly quote science and scientists but unless you actually know the science yourself you would have no way of knowing that they are making this stuff up. And I chose the climate crisis issue because I know something about it but I think the same could be said for a great number of other issues.

The next question then is why would whole websites be created to refute the claims that there exists a climate crisis or any other issue? To find the answer would mean having to look no further that the corporations who stand to gain (or lose) something. That's pretty obvious. But in addition to corporations or more importantly I think are the individuals involved. Who makes the money, when and where because it's either about money or power or both. Interestingly or maybe not the anti-climate crisis websites will say the same thing. They come up with reasons why Al Gore, for example, is profiting from his crusade against global warming.

So what else is it besides misinformation? I suppose conservatives by nature do not want change they are by definition about the status quo. And the climate crisis is all about change whether we like it or not. So is that it? Does that explain the conservative position? Reluctant to change by nature and fed a steady diet of misinformation? Have I oversimplified? Probably. I never mentioned religion which I think is in fact at the heart of modern American conservative ideology. Anyone care to agree or disagree?

Cruelty to animals

Departing from my usual format I felt compelled to spread the word as best I can. The following link is to a website that has an undercover video of a pig factory. I suggest you only view it if you have a strong constitution. I for one could only watch part of it. I think it's a very sad commentary on the human race.

The overeducated?

My friend Charlie sent me a NYT article by David Brooks called, "The Class War Before Palin". In the article Brooks talks about how the Republican party has driven away conservative "intellectuals". Personally I think the article is baloney from top to bottom. I've seen Brooks many times on PBS's NewsHour and have always thought the guy was a lightweight. Never mind that he writes things like, "Palin is smart, politically skilled, courageous and likable. Her convention and debate performances were impressive". That's just the usual partisan BS but what caught my eye was this line, "The nation is divided between the wholesome Joe Sixpacks in the heartland and the oversophisticated, overeducated, oversecularized denizens of the coasts". Please please please someone show me anyone who is overeducated? Is he kidding! How can someone be overeducated? Only a conservative could celebrate ignorance and only someone who is undereducated could complain about someone being overeducated.

Yet another nail in Alaska Gov's political coffin

The latest on Trooper Gate or how about this one on Ms. Nasty.

The Double Talk Express

Rolling Stone has a long article in the current issue about John McCain. It covers pretty much every topic although it is obviously biased toward Obama. But regardless if anyone wants to learn about McCain this article is a good place to go.
In case anyone hadn't already noticed McCain has flip-flopped like a fish out of water. Another thing I noticed is that while McCain was indeed a Vietnam POW he didn't do anything heroic. Not like John Kerry.

Good article by Fareed Zakaria on Palin

In a recent issue of Newsweek Fareed Zakaria wrote about Katie Couric's interview with Gov. Palin. He provides a full excerpt of one of the questions along with Palin's answer. I've seen parts of the interview on MSNBC but I think seeing the words in print makes a much bigger impression.

Excellent article on Iran

The October issue of Smithsonian magazine has an excellent article on Iran. Unless you're knowledgeable on Iran I highly recommend the article. It includes a brief history of Iran which explains why Iranians and others in the middle east hate America. There is also some background of the relationship between Iraq and America as well as at least one parallel between Iran and the current Iraqi conflict.