Truthiness and Laziness

Frankly, I don’t care whether or not Trump paid $130-thousand to keep Stormy Daniels from talking about their relationship. If she did, more power to her. Regardless, the story is a distraction from more impactful concerns. Photo Source: Pinterest

It’s easier to overcome a lack of information than misinformation or disinformation.

—CNN Pundit

Unfortunately, the claim of “Fake News” resonates on both the left and the right. Trump called CNN “The Clinton News Network” during in the election, falsely claiming that the network only carried negative stories about him. For decades, my more liberal friends have referred to Fox News as “Faux News.”

I’m not citing the two claims as equivalent. In a sample of one, I once got a Republican friend of mine to reluctantly agree when I called the Republican Party “the political arm of Fox News” because it certainly seemed that the network established the Republican talking points on a daily basis. At the same time a study found that people who scored worst on a questionnaire about current events listed Fox News as their primary news source while those who scored best said their primary news source was … Comedy Central.

On the other hand, CNN at least tries to rely on factual reporting. They don’t always succeed. And I don’t believe the Democratic Party is organized enough to be the political arm of anything.

Finally, this whole problem with confidence in the media derives from laziness.

When I was a child, Walter Cronkite was the voice of reason and truth. We believed him because he did his homework.

Today, the media seems much more focused on conflict than truth. Reporting is considered unbiased when they bring two talking heads together to argue without fact checking either side of the argument. Arguments are drama, the verbal equivalent of a bloody lead. Facts are boring.

Politicians are eager to exploit this laziness, which enables them to spout whatever truthiness their base wants to believe. This laziness, along with the ever increasing political siloization, brought us to the current government shutdown, at least partially because Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer “are not in the habit of talking to each other,” according to one Senate aide.

Call to Action

We need to hold our leaders accountable for the mess in Washington. That means notfollowing the party line of either major party. It means looking beyond the distraction of the 24-hour news cycle and the endless parade of forgettable pundits. It means doing the work of fact checking with reliable sources.

Here’s a hint: If you agree with most of what you hear on your primary news source, it’s probably not factually reliable. If it relies on attacking the character of its opponents, it’s definitely unreliable.

Truthiness is the enemy of democracy and the tool of authoritarianism.

Good Rhetoric

“Truthiness” is only one of the forms of rhetorical misdirection you have to look out for as you follow what’s going on in Washington—assuming you have’t given up already. Image Source: Roger Pielke Jr.

Why would I lie when there are so many ways to tell the truth?
—Unknown

When I studied communication in college, I had to take a course called Rhetoric and Communication. There I learned a simple trick to understand the truth of what people say in political discourse. It is a simple adage, “Good rhetoric denies itself.” It means we are more likely to believe a persuasive argument if the speaker says he is not trying to persuade us or, as is more common in today’s propagandized sound bytes, states a blatant untruth that feels right. To use a term Stephen Colbert coined, this last bit is called “truthiness.”

Here are a few examples of good rhetoric denying itself. Forgive me if I use Shakes twice from the same speech. It’s just that the Forum Speech uses almost every rhetorical device known to man.

• “I am no orator, as Brutus is, But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man....”
  Mark Antony disparages his own speaking ability to put the crowd at the forum at ease before delivering one of the most persuasive, eloquent orations in the English language.
• “I have come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him.”
  Of course, Mark Antony goes on to paint Caesar in a light that would make Oprah seem vile by comparison.
• “Reason, not rhetoric will win this campaign.”
  As Max Atkinson says, “So here he was using an alliterative contrast, one of the most important of all rhetorical techniques, to tell us that there wouldn’t be any rhetoric from the SDP.”
• “I’m the least racist person you will ever interview.”
  Need I say more.

Moving to Canada?

Photo by Suna

Suna blogged this campaign on the Hermit Haus blog on 2016-10-06, but I helped come up with the concept. And I wanted the graphic to show up in my feed when I scroll back through this blog to remember what I have done in life. Maybe.

Both sides are so divided and hate each other so much that Canada has actually been talking about their immigration offices being overrun with inquiries. We got to thinking, “If so many people want to leave the country, they must want to sell their houses. Right? Let’s see if we can buy some of them.”

Suna found the clip art and put the sign together. We all put them out. One of them is in front of our Cameron office. Let’s see if it works.

Fifth Picture Meme

“Elect John Oliver for ‘Your Commissioner’”

I already did a version of this meme on Facebook, but Dragonfly tagged me with a slightly different variant—sorta like having two different types of flu, I guess.

Anyway: fifth folder, fifth picture. Since I have many, many folders, I just kept recursing the fifth folder portion of the instructions until I found pictures. Then I took the fifth picture I hadn’t already posted, which turned out to be the sixth one. So in my math, (3 • 5) + 5 = 6.

Suna and I had gone to see my Dad last year. We stopped for gas or something and I started laughing as soon as I got out of the car. John Oliver is one of my favorite commentators on The Daily Show, and there he was running for commissioner in DeWitt County, Texas.

I love the fact that he has “Elect John Oliver For” professionally printed, and then he hand writes “Your Commissioner.” It’s like he can run for anything on a moment’s notice.

Happy Days Are Here Again

Still, lingering doubts remain—mostly about what the Greater and Lesser Evils might do. I’ll let you figure out who I’m talking about.

Image Source: The Arkham Bazaar

Happy days are here again

The skies above are clear again

So let’s sing a song of cheer again

Happy days are here again

—Milton Ager

As happy as the election was last night, I dreaded waking up. I was afraid it would all have been a dream, and we would be in the same place we were when I got up yesterday. I waited until the sun in my eyes became irrefutable.

Then I studiously avoided the news. I did look at Facebook, where the comments and status updates of my friends were somewhat reassuring.

I don’t think it really started sinking in that we had won until I was driving to work. NPR covered all the regular stuff, but I missed their election recap. When it was over, John Aielli’s show started. I usually avoid Eklektikos because I find Aielli pretentious and annoying. He has been known to play 15 versions of the same song in a row—even the same version of a song three or four times in succession—because he feels like it. Who cares what anyone else thinks? He is something of a grumpy old man who has control of a radio station for a few hours every day.

This morning he started out with Streisand singing “Happy Days Are Here Again” followed by a string of celebratory orchestral music. I listed to the full five minutes I got to hear without even being tempted to hit the button. That is something of a record.

At work, most people are happy and relieved. I hope we can put the financial and cultural devastation of the last eight years behind us quickly.

Obama Wins!

This survey map from back in March seems to be uncannily accurate. Some of the colors will be different, I’m sure, but …

Image source: Surveys, USA

I hope I’m not going to repeat history with that headline. The election is not settled as I write this. Suna and I are spending a very nice evening at home watching the election returns. The kids are watching downstairs.

They are talking on TV about the real America and how John McCain insulted most of America by suggesting that only white rural areas of the country were the real America. We are now an ethnically and culturally diverse nation. Only our enemies try to stereotype us as white Christians. The Taliban says that about us, not admitting that there are more Muslims in this country than in Iraq. McCain made the same mistake.

The popular vote is very close as I write. I am starting to relax as Obama’s victory is starting to feel more certain. I hope that he wins the popular vote, too. I hope he can win with an indisputable mandate, something that hasn’t been done in a very long time.

We’re switching to the Daily/Colbert election coverage until we get more news about my home state. Or not. Maybe I’ll just start using Swagger from Old Spice.

Politics and Mondays Always Get Me Down

Go team!

Photo source: John F. Zur

Well, you’ve seen how busy the last month has been and how much we have accomplished. And you’ve seen how the election has turned nasty over the last month as McCain’s chances for victory evaporated. In a way, having been too busy to pay much attention to politics has been a good thing.

But the election is at hand, and I am still nervous about what will happen. No matter who wins, I will be nervous for awhile.

Still, as I mentioned in church the other Sunday, I am grateful to live in a country where politics is discussable. So many people die worldwide over politics. So many people die for saying things that are not nearly so nasty as what our politicians say about each other on a good day. So many people die for their politics—over even minor difference in ideology.

No matter how I rant about neo-fascist Republicans, I am glad to live in a relatively free and peaceful society. I am also glad that this round is almost over.

Uninsured and Unacceptable

Nonelderly Adult Uninsured Workers by Firm Size, 2006

This chart shows that even larger employers are not providing health care for their employees. Small employers just can’t afford to do so.

Source: Cover the Unisured

“Texans without Insurance” is a really scary story. It is also why I urge everyone to vote against John McCain this election. The Republican health care initiative will only exacerbate the current situation.

According to the article, two-thirds of people without insurance in Texas also work. This number includes both Suna and I. Finding insurance as a contractor that costs less than a catastrophic illness is a daunting task. The Republicans just don’t get it.

Dad Hates Smell Apples. Did I Tell You That?

Dad shows off his smell apple pulling skills. Not bad for 85!

Well the politicos in Washington have figured out a way to give more money to the corrupt in the name of saving the country from the greedy, corrupt, nasty, idiots who have been running things since Reagan gave them a license to steal (my Dad’s phrase even if it is an Al Stewart song, but I agree). I just can’t go on with how angry I am right now, and more angry that both Presidential candidates backed the theft. So much for change and hope.

Speaking of Dad, I went to see him again this weekend. It’s very irritating to listen to him go on and on about the state of the country—especially since he’s right. Most irritating is when he starts reminding me that he won’t be around that much longer—again because he’s right. I will really miss him irritating me then.

So for today, I’m grateful that I’ve been able to have him around this long. I hope to be able to be irritated by him for decades more.

Cowboy Bush

I always knew that boy just ain’t right. Once again, he wants the taxpayers to bail out his buddies.

Photo source: List of the Day

Last night our Supreme Leader issued a call for the American taxpayer to rescue his cronies from their own greed. In what is the largest cash-grab in our history, Bush proposes giving billions—maybe trillions—of dollars to his drinking buds on Wall Street to keep them from going broke.

Bush does paint a relatively accurate picture of how we got into this mess, but he blames foreign investors and consumers. While these people were culpable to some degree, I believe it was a shameless financial industry—or as my dad would say, the worshipers of Mammon—that got us into this mess.

Since good rhetoric always denies itself (“I come here not to praise Caesar…”), let’s take a look at what he actually said:

“Financial assets related to home mortgages have lost value during the house decline, and the banks holding these assets have restricted credit. As a result, our entire economy is in danger.”

The banks and consumers may be overreacting, but what got us there in the first place was deregulation and greed. The housing bubble was driven by an unrealistic expectation that home prices could inflate to infinity. Deregulated financial institutions were able to relax their lending standards to lend money to people with absolutely no chance of ever paying back those loans. They did so in the expectation that when they foreclosed on those mortgages the properties would be worth more than the loan or that the purchasers would be able to flip those houses for a profit.

In some cases, purchases were not even required to be able to pay the interest on the loans; the amount over a specified minimum payment would be rolled back into the loan. After making payments for several years, the consumers would actually owe more money than they originally borrowed. Even Bush admits, this.

Many mortgage lenders approved loans for borrowers without carefully examining their ability to pay. Many borrowers took out loans larger than they could afford, assuming that they could sell or refinance their homes at a higher price later on.

Then the bubble burst. Again.

Bush swears he only wants to help us all.

This rescue effort is not aimed at preserving any individual company or industry. It is aimed at preserving America’s overall economy.

Then why does the money all go to Wall Street, the ones whose greed caused the problem? Mr. President, the amount of money you’re talking about equates to almost $300,000 per adult in this country after taxes. If you simply gave that much money to the people, almost all of us could pay off those mortgages on which you blame the problem.

What happens if we don’t save the rich? Bush essentially says we’re screwed.

• America could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold.
• More banks could fail, including some in your community.
• The stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account.
• The value of your home could plummet. Foreclosures would rise dramatically.
• And if you own a business or a farm, you would find it harder and more expensive to get credit.
• More businesses would close their doors, and millions of Americans could lose their jobs.
• Even if you have good credit history, it would be more difficult for you to get the loans you need to buy a car or send your children to college.
• And, ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession.

So the options presented are either to save the rich, or we all go down together. Is it better to go down together or drown keeping the heads of our betters above water? Isn’t there another option? What about just using that money to pay off those troubled assets and giving working class people a break? That’ll never happen here.

The irony is that under the Republican free-trade regime, the United States is about to become the most heavily socialized country in the world—without doing a thing to promote social justice or take care of those most at risk. But then, as one friend of mine put it, “We socialize losses. We privitize profits.”

Is that what Bush meant when he said,

The government is the one institution with the patience and resources to buy these assets at their current low prices and hold them until markets return to normal.

If so, let’s all hope that the government can turn a profit on them—eventually.

What Country Are You?

The National Symbol of Argintina. I couldn’t use the bikini bottom from the profile. I didn’t fit.

Photo source: Yahoo! Answers

Since Friday’s Feast appears to be down for the count, I decided to take one of those so-called psychological profiles that I got from Jo’s blog. I say “so-called” because it’s hard to see how they can distill key points of your personality from seven questions, but this one seems to have me nailed down fairly well. Here’s what it had to say about me:

You are a set of contradictions, and it often seems like you live in two worlds.

You are introspective yet outgoing. You are modern yet traditional.

You are warm and honest. Your life is petty much an open book. You are a hard worker, and you don't mind putting in long hours. And then you’ll go party til dawn! [Not so much anymore. It hurts too much.]

Argintina, huh? No wonder I despise G.W. You know…the one who stole two elections and then talks bad about others who do the same.

Bumper Sticker Politics

As I was leaving church today, I saw a bumper sticker that sums up the political legacy of George W. Bush:

One Nation…Under Surveillance

And there was another one for this Fall’s Presidential campaign:

Jesus Christ was a community organizer. Pontius Pilot was a governor.

BTW: Feel free to add your favorite political bumper stickers in the comments—or anything you feel like.

A Fitting Legacy

This poster relates to my blog today in only one thing. But I like it.

Photo source: Unrepentant Hippie

[Georgie] said, “My, my!

Other people’s problems do get tedious by and by.”

—Al Stewart

Here’s an honor for Still President Bush that I can really support. Writing in the New York Times, Jesse McKinley asserts that a group calling itself Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco wants to rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant. They want the new name, the George W. Bush Sewage Plant, to take effect on 20 January 2009—the same day as the new President is sworn in.

I am firmly in favor of the sentiment behind the plan. In fact, I think we should rename sewer plants around the country after Bush.

But I do have one problem with this idea. The Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant is a quality unit. It has won numerous awards over the years. Shouldn’t we honor Bush by renaming a sewage plant that is more in line with his environmental record? Maybe some decrepit dumper or a nuclear waste stockpile.

One thing is certain. No matter who wins in November, the average IQ in the White House will go up. I just hope he puts the ranch in Crawford up for sale and retires somewhere else. But where else could he have such an elaborate security system without having to pay for it.

Politics and the Feast

Two more weeks until I join the ranks of the unemployed again. I am a bit worried because the local economy seems to be following the national economy into the toilet. Thanks, Republicans. You took a balanced budget and turned it into something worse than the “tax and spend Democrats” could have done under Tip O’Neil. I have a new term: Don’t tax but spend anyway Republicans.

Hey! This wasn’t supposed to be a political rant. Let’s eat something. I think I’d like a fried Republican.

Friday’s Feast

Appetizer: Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?

Like Suna, I prefer to think of myself as a realist. At the same time, I choose to be upbeat about most things that happen in my life. Every life has good and bad events that work together to shape who we become. Take away anything and we are someone else. Not that I like the icky parts. But I know they are inevitable. So why not cherish the growth that results from them?

Soup: What is your favorite color of ink to write with?

Black.

Salad: How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them?

Uh…Never. I’m a guy.

Main Course: Have you ever won anything online? If so, what was it?

Nope.

Dessert: In which room in your house do you keep your home computer?

My work computer is in the office. My home computer is in the entertainment center in the media room. There is an old laptop in the guestroom—mainly because the keyboard died and it can’t be used as a portable anymore.

Bush Administration at It Again

This New Guinea Impatiens isn’t a bush, but it has performed like the Bush Administration. First, it exceeded expectations (because they were set so low) by surviving the winter. Then it has failed to produce a single flower so far, not one tangible result.

I found this article to be particularly disturbing. It shows the current administration’s obsession with border security at the expense all else—including common sense, not to mention economic growth. Hasn’t free trade been one of the tenets of our economic policy for the last few decades?

While the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) hasn’t lived up to the expectations of any of its signers, the Bush Administration should not unilaterally decide to abrogate any of its conditions. But then, when did they ever do anything in any way other than unilaterally? They certainly don’t seem to take the will of the people into consideration in anything they do.

But am I paranoid to think that there is a deeper purpose at work here? Walls and fences that keep other people out, also keep us in. Is this a move to prevent the steady trickle of educated workers who have been moving north for the last few years in an effort to escape the totalitarian tendencies and corruption of Bush/Cheney? Are they trying to force Canada to retaliate by closing its border with the US?

Unless McCain “wins” the election this fall, I will be surprised if the current administration relinquishes power without at least attempting a coup. But I don’t really expect them to do that. It is so much easier to rig an election, as they have shown in the last two.

Ideopathy

Thanks, Trackgrease. I wish life could have been easier for you, but then you wouldn’t be who you are now. At least, you learned how to fight the ideopaths.

Beneath the complexity and idiopathy of every cancer lies a limited number of “mission critical” events that have propelled the tumour cell and its progeny into uncontrolled expansion and invasion.

—Evan & Vousden (2001)

I take today’s quotation from wordsmith.org’s word of the day. Wordsmith defines idiopathy as “A disease of unknown origin or one having no apparent cause.” From this entry, I looked for the word ideopathy, which I found in use but not on any of my favorite dictionary sites. It makes sense to define ideopathy as an idea or political movement that has become pathological. In this case, it fits the description of cancer that Evan and Vousden provide above.

Which leads to my decision not to vote in the Republican primary this year.

The other day, Suna got a recorded call from John McCain. In the recording, he promised to further the Bush administration’s attacks on the Constitution, fairness, and choice. He vowed to continue the war against science. While I realize McCain was probably trying to appeal to his rabid base, his (hopefully) disingenuous rhetoric convinced me that he is now owned by the ideocrats (read ideopaths) of the far right.

Perhaps Cthulu would be the lesser evil. Besides, he is the heir apparent to the Republican nomination. Voting for him in the primary would accomplish nothing.

That leaves Ron Paul, who has as much chance of being the nominee as I do. Voting for him would also be throwing away my primary vote.

So I am back to my usual course—voting in the Democratic primary—and my original dilemma. I still can’t decide which candidate to vote for. Clinton has the baggage that comes with experience. Obama has the vague optimism that speaks of inexperience. I still have a few days to agonize over this decision.

Grateful Monday

So that is what I am grateful for today. I am grateful that I live in a country where I can agonize over such a decision and speak publicly about that agony without fear of repression or reprisal—at least not yet.

And I want to thank Trackgrease for doing his part to help ensure that I have something here to be grateful for. He served four years in the Army and eight years in the National Guard. The operative word here is served. He was not an officer or a decision maker. He simply did what he could to put his nation’s safety and health above his own.

Let us all do what we can this year to protect and serve our democracy. If nothing else, vote. As Edmund Burke said, “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Let this be the year we stop doing nothing.

References:

Gerald I. Evan and Karen H. Vousden (17 May 2001). Proliferation: cell cycle and apoptosis. In Cancer. London: Nature. In Wordsmith.org (13 February 2008).

Wordsmith.org (13 February 2008). A.word.a.day—idiopathy. Available: https://wordsmith.org/words/idiopathy.html

Children of the Night

The source of today’s lyrics and one of the best albums of all time. Photo source: Amazon.com

Sure must be fun to watch a President run

Just ask the man who owns one

—John Kay

I recently participated in a survey of registered voters who plan to vote in the Republican Primary. Since that is my current plan, I answered in the affirmative. It was a fairly stilted survey. The questions were not as poorly written as some. There was nothing like, “Would you rather be safe by giving up all your rights under the Constitution or help the terrorists rape your family and farm animals while you watch?”

Some of the questions were:

Who do you plan to vote for: Ron Paul, John McCain, or Mike Huckabee?

I pressed 1 for Paul. As my mom used to say, “As often as this country gets screwed, we need a gynecologist in Washington.” He’s a good man. My family has known him all my life. But I still wouldn’t really vote for him. He’s just a little too whack for me.

What is more important to you: the economy or the war on terrorism?

Duh! If the economy goes to hell, we can't afford a war on terrorism—as if we needed one. It’s always the economy, stupid.

Only after the survey was over was I informed that the poll was paid for by the McCain organization. I wonder if I would have had the opportunity to answer the other two questions if I had not pressed 1 to say I was going to vote in the Republican primary. Probably not. I wouldn't have mattered then.

That was a little over a week ago. Today, McCain all but has the Republican nomination in hand. The pundits say that if Huckabee wants to be VP, he should bow out of the race sooner, rather than later. But I don’t think he wants to be VP, Romney wants that job. No, Huckabee wants to drive the party platform to the right. So, I apparently don’t need to vote Republican to get my least-evil choice.

But I still don’t really care for either of the remaining Democratic contenders. They both cancel each other out.

And last night, Obama won his ninth straight primary, and the pundits are starting to talk as if he has already been anointed. So, I still don’t know who to vote for in March. Oh, well, it won’t be the first time I’ve made up my mind while looking at the ballot.

Maybe I will vote per the bumper sticker I saw the other day. “Cthulu for President: Why choose the lesser evil?” Probably not.

Bold Marauder

If you think my views are extreme, check out the source of this lovely illustration.

Photo source: Project for the Old American Century

And we will dress in helmet and sword, and dip our tongues in slaughter

And we will sing a warrior’s song and lift the praise of murder

And Christ will be our darling and fear will be our name

—Richard Farina

I came across the following quote at wordsmith.org while reading the Word of the Day posting.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed—and hence clamorous to be led to safety—by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

—H.L. Mencken

Makes you wonder how Mencken knew what GWB would be doing 50 years after he died. Maybe Nostradamus was right when he said, “The more it changes, the more it stays the same.”

So that begs the question: Who are the real terrorists?

I think there are many correct answers. The Bush Administration is correct when they label people who want to cause harm or death to innocents with that moniker. They are wholly incorrect when they label anyone who disagrees with them as a terrorist. The United States was founded on the right of citizens to disagree with the government. The Second Amendment was not designed to protect citizens against foreign invaders. It was designed to protect citizens against their own government. The Founding Fathers had first-had experience with a terrorist government.

I am sad to say that we are growing painfully close to knowing the type of government our Founding Fathers knew. We have now have a government based on lies and fear. We need to find out if there is still anything left of our democracy after two stolen elections. The only way to know is if the Bush Administration hands over power to the opposition after a free and fair election.

I hope Stephanie is right, and this is the Dawning of a New Day. But I’m not that optimistic. I think McCain is a good man with good intentions, but can he tame the fascist wing of his party? I’m not confident that he can. All I know is that if the Republicans stay in power this year, the terrorists win. Maybe not the ones with fuzzy beards, but the ones who have raped the Constitution for six years now—the ones who hold power and pull the puppet’s strings.

God help us if Huckabee wins. No one else will.

On the lighter side: We Must All Do Our Part To Preserve This Climate of Fear

Mother Freedom

This photo actually has nothing to do with what I’m writing about, except that it’s a protest. And I like the sentiment.

Photo source: You’ve Been Haacked (and you like it)

Hey, tomorrow

Now don’t go away

’Cause freedom

Just might come your way

—David Gates[?]

In an apparent admission that the Constitution is still in effect, the City of Georgetown (Texas) is considering legalizing spontaneous protests (Lorez, 2008). On 8 January, a group of citizens gathered on the sidewalk to protest a measure being considered by the city council. The protesters were threatened with arrest because the did not have a permit. Current law requires the protesters to apply 30 days before the event, which means that the protesters would have had to apply for a permit to protest a proposed ordinance before they knew when it would be considered.

The Texas Civil Rights Project—not everyone in Texas is a Republican—sued the city. They have also sued Georgetown over a requirement that people addressing the meeting give a week’s notice if they aren’t going to talk about something on the official agenda.

Grateful Monday

And that brings us to this week’s Grateful Monday. Even with the way the Republicans are continuing to erode the Constitution, I am glad that I still live in a society where at least some people are willing to stand up to them instead of cowering under their torrent of fear mongering. I hope that I can find the opportunity and the backbone to do more in this regard than I have done heretofore.

---

Lorenz, Andrea (January 26, 2008). City may change protest law: Officials considering allowing demonstrations without permits after civil rights group sues. Austin American Statesman. Available.

I’m Down

I always thought Edwards was the right man for the job, in spite of the expensive hair cuts. He did let Dave Letterman mess up his hair one night. Photo Source: Transition Governance

I’m down—I’m really down

I’m down—down on the ground

I’m down—I’m really down

How can you laugh when you know I’m down?

—[The Beatles]

OK. Maybe it’s not as bad as all that. But yesterday, my main man withdrew from the race for President. John Edwards will have to wait a few more years before he assumes the nation’s highest office, if he ever does.

This changes my strategy for the primary. For the second time in my life, I may have to vote in the Republican primary. Why? Mitt Romney scares me to death. He is as ruthless as Bush and wants to incorporate right-wing Christian values to bridge Church and State, but he is smart. While I don’t think Romney cares about the country any more than Bush, he is smart enough to try to appear as if he has people in his heart. If elected, Romney will have no qualms about continuing Bush’s pogrom to rape the Constitution, establish a police state, suppress free speech, and destroy the middle class.

I would much prefer that John McCain were the Republican candidate. He was willing to risk his life to serve this country, and he has shown a common sense approach to government since he has been in the Senate. Romney has attacked McCain’s “conservative credentials” because he has been willing to work with Democrats to get things done.

So why not vote in the Democratic primary? I don’t care which of the two remainders wins. Either of them will do, even if one will as divisive as the current President.

Their strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out. There doesn’t seem to be much overlap in their skills. They would make a great President if we could smash them together. But, as David Gurgen, once pointed out, the Democratic Party tends to eat its candidates alive. I don’t see having both names on the ticket in November. They may not even be speaking to each other after the convention.

It looks to be an interesting year in politics, but I’m not sure I like living in interesting times. Can’t we all just get along? Ah, well. Maybe Edwards can run for VP again.