response to Bellum omnium contra omnes

to the question of changing ones mind, political expediency, and other question we like to talk about politically...

In response to the statement "I vote for the best person," my understanding of such a comment is it refers to the individual (political)actions of the candidate in question. This is (possibly/hopefully) not based on quotes and political spin alone. My interpretation of "the best person for the job" refers to a belief justified by quantifiable data from established agencies recognized as being unbiased and nonpartisan. Such sources vary in methodology as far as the gathering of sources. Such examples of reputable sources of information are www.factcheck.org, www.vote-smart.org, www.ontheissues.com, www.politifact.com, www.thehill.com, etc.

Politics is coalitions... a vote for John McCain empowers a guy like Lynn Westmoreland to promote a destructive economic agenda...

Assumption is the candidates are both at least competent for the job... one may be more qualified... but coalitions is the name of the game with politics...

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Jim Nichols
A Speculative Fiction
www.JimNichols4.com

Bob Barr quote

"They have this sort of idea in their minds, bless their hearts, that nobody should do anything to upset the Republican nominee. This notion that the political world swirls around two galaxies only, Republican and Democrat only, and anybody else who enters that fray is going to affect the other two and that's bad —- that's a very myopic notion." --Bob Barr **

Its up to us...

...to hold the media accountable. There was a great segment on PBS's news hour...

Paul Sheilds was dead on and I quote his best points below. But its up to us to do something about it. Politicians lie, Politicians pander (on all sides) but its our duty to protect the Republic. If we don't speak out we have to look ourselves in the mirror and realize its our own fault.

Please get innvolved, please write letters to the editor. Also send me links to any good stories, examples of politics of divisiveness, nonsense, or invective. I was shocked at the negativity and also hate of many of the emails that came across my desk at the Georgia Assembly.

If articulate, respectful dialogue is not sustained and rises above the the crassness then we all lose. Share things with me you find, hold others you know (myself included) accountable when we fall short of such standards. Just a quite: Hey thats out of line can go a far way.

Little things like the fact that 40% of our veterans come home disabled in some way and our Presidents Budget has not included the long term costs of taking care of their health--both mental and physical. That should be spoken out loudly against. I'm watching the generation after mine be pulled under every day by our lack of accountability and lazyness.

We are to blame if we don't speak out. I think the condecending tone of Obama's preparitory remarks was a decent question to at the very least question and move on from. But a flag pin?

But there was no more egregious example of sort of the macho-swagger, press-pass, take-no-prisoners prosecutor attitude than asking Senator Obama, "Why don't you wear a flag lapel pin?"

And I'd just give you two quick examples on this, because this is the kind of question -- the explanation to ask? "It's all over the Internet." I mean, so are theories about John Kennedy's assassination and the United States government blowing up the Twin Towers. That's no reason.

I mean, Jim Webb, Democratic senator from Virginia, who was a company commander in the -- Marine company commander in Vietnam and won the Navy Cross, the second-highest award the country can give, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts, and opposed the war in Iraq, does not wear a lapel pin.

Dick Cheney, who during the 1960s sought and received five deferments to avoid military service and explained that he did so because he had other priorities than military service, supported the war in Iraq and wears a flag lapel pin.

So I guess the question then becomes: Why doesn't -- should it be that why doesn't Jim Webb do it? I mean, this really bothered me. Now...

MARK SHIELDS: Judy, we found out on the Rand report this week that one out of five veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome or depression, one out of five. That's over 300,000. We have no plan for them as a people.

Now where is the patriotism? I mean, the flag lapel pin, I mean, is so fatuous, is so absolutely silly. I mean, if one wears -- if one is an uncritical supporter of the United States' invasion and occupation of another country, that makes him a patriot and someone who opposes it isn't? And you wear a flag to show that?

MARK SHIELDS: They've [obama and clinton] locked themselves in and they were dishonest, because let's be very frank about it. Judy, we've seen this week the FAA is not working. The Food and Drug Administration says that they can't even begin to test medicines and medical devices. We've had, in addition to that, we've had, today, the Wall Street Journal reported we can't inspect meat that's going into our children's schools.

You know, the federal government needs more resources. It needs more money to do its job. We need to rebuild bridges. We need to rebuild roads. Everybody says that.

Obama does it again...

So two issues close to home for me are health care and labor issues. After going over a year without health care coverage during a catastrophic health care crisis in my life, health care and those who are for getting people covered AND stopping the right wing nonsense on the issue is a big deal for me. Currently working in a low skill occupation with no labor union causes me to be defensive of and stand up for labor unions who are protecting workers rights. I work in retail and the shareholders are doing quite well I assure you. But the work force is neglected, taken advantage of, and manipulated. And I DON'T work at WalMart. So anyone who takes right wing shots at unions looks bad in my book. Obama has used conservative rhetoric to attack the universal plans of Edwards and Clinton, and is now attacking unions alla conservative rhetoric. This quote really says it all

“I’m taken aback that somebody like Obama would think that Oprah Winfrey has a greater right to participate in the political process than the 4 million people I represent,” Edward J. McElroy, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, which has spent $799,619 on New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s behalf, said, referring to the television host’s high-profile support for Obama. “It’s sour grapes. It sounds just like the charges the Republicans make.”

I'm also throwing this one in the political hobgoblin tag for unions being special interests...

This is the kind of substance I like in candidate speeches...

That's the soul of the American Dream. It is what draws people from around the world to our shores; it is what has sustained the optimism of the American people; and it is what has helped build the wealthiest nation in history.

But if you go out and talk to people around this country, they'll tell you, they still believe in the American Dream – they just think it's out of reach.

It's hard to call it the American Dream when fewer than a third of Americans thinks life will be better for their children than it is for them.

It's understandable that they feel that way. For the last 20 years, about half of America's economic growth has gone to the top 1 percent.

Today, the top 300,000 Americans now make more than the bottom 150 million put together.

Productivity is up but median income is down. People are making more, while they're making less. Men in their 30s today earn less in real dollars than the men did 30 years ago. More and more women have gone to work, and now married couples with children are working an average of 10 hours a week more than their parents did. Working families with breadwinners in their 40s are almost three times more likely to fall in to poverty than they were a generation ago.

What does all this mean in real terms? It means that our system rewards wealth, not work.

The gap between CEOs and the average worker is out of sight – today, the average CEO makes 400 times what the average worker makes.

Our tax system has been rewritten by George Bush to favor the wealthy and shift the burden to working families. That is simply wrong – and even those who benefit the most from our current system know that it is wrong.

Warren Buffett once complained that his receptionist loses more of her income in payroll taxes than he does. He called it "class welfare," and he meant welfare for the rich.

The candidate is John Edwards

Not a good sign...

I don't want Hillary Clinton to be President. I think she makes a great Senator--which is exactly why I don't think she'd make a good President. But aside from those feelings. Things like this make me not like her policy positions

"I want to have universal health care coverage by the end of my second term."

Ezra Klien makes a great point

Her hypothetical second term happens after the 2012 elections, when Democrats will have to defend a whopping 24 seats while attacking only 9, an even worse schedule than McConnell faces today. How will waiting win us more Senate votes than we're likely to lose then? (And what if she doesn't win a second term?) I don't know whether to doubt Hillary's strategic grasp on how to pass universal coverage, or her desire to do so.

Different world on the same globe...

My Dad in the Philippines notes that...

Poll violence fatalities (murders) during the current election campaign reached 100 this week.

And its not just poll violence in my eyes

Of the 100 fatalities in the campaign for Monday's polls, 52 were candidates and politicians, 36 were identified as their supporters and 11 were civilians, police said.

52 were candidates. That is assassination, no? I mean its poll violence but at least here in the States you think of poll discrepancies as having something to do with poll workers, voters, political activists; half of these deaths were candidates. Its kind of a small example of the problem they are having in Iraq. How do you get people to run for office challenging a status quo that needs to be challenged, but every time you challenge it you end up shot in a ditch?