Friday, June 24, 2011

News, politics, religion, and pets...

Notes from the news...

In light of the current times in which we live when a 5-4 Supreme Court generally follows the mandate of "government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations," the Obama Administration deserves praise for going to the U.S. oil reserves in order to increase the oil supply and drive down the gasoline prices...and end the institutionalized robbery of the record profit-making oil companies upon the middle class of America. A thumbs-up to Obama on that one.

A thumbs-down to Obama on the war speech that was previously noted in this blog. A few additional statistics for that issue: The Afghanistan War has cost the lives of more than 1,000 soldiers, 10 years, and $443 billion. Some are predicting the United States will spend $1 trillion on the so-called training of Afghani troops to take over before the U.S. involvement is done. That's a terrible waste! And that's not even counting the expense in lives and money for the Iraq War. Wars are dumb morally, economically, and politically. The age of the war, for any competent and successful democratic power, has come to an end.

A thumbs-down to Obama on his "evolving" claim about whether or not he supports gay marriage. Oh, come on. It's marriage equality, as commentator Ron Reagan said recently. If you don't want a gay marriage, then don't get one. But don't discriminate in the meantime. If you are a progressive, Mr. Prez, then you believe in civil rights. Period. If not, you're probably playing dishonest political games for vote purposes. Some people on TV have said that Obama's conflict is a reflection of the conservative nature of the "black" church. That doesn't truly make sense to me, except again in a dishonest political fashion, because Obama comes from the Congregational Church (the church where I was baptised) and it is a liberal church and it came to terms with the issue of gay marriage years ago like the Unitarian Church and other churches. Maybe the first lady Michelle Obama comes out of the conservative black-church setting, but the president doesn't, according to his pre-presidential church history. It is both annoying and amusing when these churches, filled by minority groups who have been discriminated against, decide to discriminate against other groups. But it's about political viewpoint within churches. The liberal churches don't discriminate. The conservative churches discriminate. So, there are previously persecuted minority groups gathered into conservative black churches discriminating against gays, in Mormon churches discriminating against women and gays, in Catholic churches discriminating against women and gays, in Islamic mosques discriminating against women and gays. The fact of the matter is that when people choose their faith, they are often choosing their political attitudes as well. But I would suggest that all church-goers and politicians and evolving presidents read Frederick Douglass' biography to better understand when a church can be "wrong" and on the wrong side of history.

The worst news coming out of Missouri this month had to be the story about the baby who lost seven fingers after a loose pet ferret in the household chewed them off. Some animals are wild creatures generally...and then there are dogs. Most dogs make good pets. Goldfish are gentle enough, but aren't the best pets. Dogs make good pets when they are in the company of good people. Wild, undomesticated animals don't generally make good pets. A recent TV report noted that there is a large number of people who actually have lions and tigers at their homes or ranches in Texas. Wow, again, I just don't think lions and tigers are pet material. Here are some other Sage Street blog recommendations for non-pet status: wolverines, grizzly bears, whales, crocodiles, badgers, ticks, and pythons.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The speech that Obama should give...

Here's what I hope I don't hear from President Obama in his "war" speech tomorrow...

If President Obama announces tomorrow that he is only removing 10,000 U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan for 2011 and 20,000 from Afghanistan in 2012, that just amounts to a fraud.

It was Obama, after all, who "surged" the troop levels in Afghanistan two years ago by 30,000...and, oh, by the way, nothing much is better in terms of conditions in Afghanistan. (Note: At the time of the surge, I predicted that Obama would lose re-election and, with his generally hapless efforts to deal with Main Street unemployment--though I realize he's been hampered all the way by irritating Republicans--I am not going to back down on that prediction. I can't see how Obama re-energizes youth, particularly, as a war president, nor the middle class, as a Herbert Hoover on job creation.) I can't see how Obama wins, with the exceptions of the unemployment rate dropping dramatically or the wars being ended. Then there is the default way of winning re-election...and that is by having a presidential opponent who is so crazy and radical that it puts fear in the hearts and minds of anyone who likes Medicare and Social Security.

So, if Obama just takes out of the war zone the troops he surged in the first place, that still leaves 70,000 U.S. soldiers there (or double the amount that President Bush put there).

That would be a joke. I can't figure out why Obama doesn't see real value and distinction in getting to be the president who actually ends long, wasteful, expensive wars. In many ways, Obama seems like he represents opportunity lost instead of opportunity at hand. Don't wait for the college subcommittee to decide some incremental step. Don't wait for the bumbling generals to determine peace. Make something good and positive and progressive HAPPEN. And if that isn't in the cards for no-drama Obama, then the left needs to find a good presidential candidate. Perhaps Howard Dean would return. If Obama desires to be a Democratic war president, which is contrary to progressive ideas, then perhaps what will be needed is not the return of his youth vote, but instead the return of youth war protests on campuses again. This is certainly a moment and time for Obama to determine where a Democratic president needs to take his country. If he wimps out, I think he loses big time.

And as I am completely annoyed with U.S. generals who have contributed to the longest war in U.S. history, I would not do what some of the Republican presidential candidates suggested in seeking the advice of the generals before changing paths with the wars. About the only thing I would ask generals, if I were president, is what kind of toilet paper should be ordered. Otherwise, I would ask privates and sergeants and people in the real world of the war for an honest evaluation of the war effort.

Then I am also growing weary of the fact that NATO can't get one lousy dictator named Gadhaffi out of the picture. If that dictator can't be eliminated (as dictators should be) by the end of the year, then I will change my position on Libya involvement as well. When it comes to war, length almost always means loss. Speed is victory.

Here's the speech that Obama should give:

The troops will be leaving Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as they can get on the planes. We will leave some expert Navy SEALS units to strategically target actual terrorists who like violence. We will provide any woman who thinks her husband is going to follow the conservative and archaic ideas of the Taliban with a heavy frying pan, as the guy has to go to sleep some time. We will provide foreign aid for education for all genders, for the building of schools and hospitals, and for the training and benefit of honest police officers, lawyers, and politicians.

By saving $120 billion a year or so on the expense of the Afghanistan War, we will put much of that money into infrastructure projects, like FDR's WPA, for jobs for soldiers leaving the service and others who are currently jobless. In further channeling the wisdom of FDR, we will establish a CCC program for young people, providing summer jobs and, instead of money, the student workers, including children of illegal immigrants, will be granted free college tuition, board, and room for a year at colleges or universities (the colleges and universities who want to continue to receive federal funding and Pell grants for incoming students). And that will just be the start of our new jobs creation effort.

And God bless the United States of America.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Accidental surfing and depressed endurance...

The first four paragraphs are about accidental moments in surfing on the TV. The last two paragraphs are about being subjected to a Republican TV debate...

In switching TV channels, I hit CBS, I think it was, on the evening of the Tony Award show. "The Book of Mormon" won the Tony for best Broadway musical play this past week. It is a play by the guys who created the cartoon series "South Park" on cable TV. At that particular moment, the song "I Believe" from the play was being performed, which noted that, among other proclamations according to Joseph Smith, the Moses with the tablets for the LDS church, Jackson County in Missouri is the site of the Garden of Eden.

One day, I landed on a TV channel where conservative author Ann Coulter was being interviewed. Semi-interviewed actually, as Coulter was avoiding anything personal. But she did repeat her idiotic statement about public school teachers being "tax-paid parasites." I wonder why Republicans never say she should apologize for her off-the-wall rudeness. Do they agree with her?

I landed on MTV one day with the show "16 and Pregnant." It apparently is a reality series about 16-year-old girls dealing with a pregnancy. I watched it for 20 minutes mainly because it was like watching a train wreck. Wow, parents should require their teenagers to watch that show. No teen would want to get pregnant nor hopefully even want to be around a potential loser of a boyfriend if they watched one or two of those shows. It is the best promotion for "abstinence" that I have ever seen!

I saw another bunch of talking heads on TV continuing to fuss over the Congressman Anthony Weiner scandal. I know I made my share of blog fun at his expense. I mean, geez, how many naked chest shots would someone want to take of themselves and then share? If you are a model, go for it. But if you are politician, I don't think a naked chest adds much to understanding the issues. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder why he should resign from his position. It is true that he will probably be rather ineffectual legislatively in being associated with tawdriness, though others have risen beyond their scandals and transgressions, such as Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. I can see Weiner having to give up his cell phone with a camera and to stop using Twitter. Please do! I hope he's already done that. Beyond that, this "scandal" is sexless. At least as far as we know now. Maybe it is good if any "scandal" can remove a politician from office. But it makes me wonder if the media aren't just playing to tabloid mentality by chasing the congressman down the street. As they used to say about Bill Clinton and his scandal compared to George Bush and his war, "At least when Clinton lied, no one died." The Weiner scandal is a mere Vienna sausage in the realm of meaty matters. Sorry, I couldn't resist!

And do young people today also use immediate technology in various regretful ways...and will it come back to haunt them later on? The immediacy of technology in the hands of some college students in bars at midnight might mean the future of electronic messaging devices will include the feature of a breathalizer in order to prevent their use at ill-advised times.

Going to CNN for the recent debate by the Republican presidential candidates was not accidental. I always feel like it is my duty as a citizen to keep up with national politics...and consequently I have watched a lot of bad TV in process. I thought the TV debate on CNN was badly orchestrated for the most simplistic and boring sound bites yet to bite viewers. There wasn't much that the short-answer format provided, but it is understandable that if there'd been a longer answer period the candidates probably would have just droned on with canned rhetoric. So, it was lose or lose for the viewers. For the longer questions, often the wrong candidate addressed them. I already knew how Ron Paul, the only anti-war candidate probably up there, would respond to the Afghanistan War. The quick questions to supposedly give us more of the personal side of the candidates were stupid. "Conan or Leno?" Geez, who cares?! It reminded me of the famous "Boxers or briefs" question to Bill Clinton. Like that made a big difference, either. Better quick questions could have been "their favorite book, or most recent book they have read, or, like with some of those questions from Katie Couric to Sarah Palin, what Supreme Court case they believe in or their favorite Supreme Court justice. For more personal questions, I would like to know if all of Mitt Romney's sons are still Mormons and if they all married Mormon women. Just curious, as to see if the Romney immediate household is the least bit religiously diverse. The quick questions at the debate were just bubble-gum. I hate being bubble-gummed by the media.

In a word, I would define the Republican TV debate as "depressing." About the only issue that the candidates were for was cutting taxes for corporations. Otherwise, they were against almost everything. Against NASA, against the EPA, against the auto industry bail-out, against unions for workers, against separation of church and state, against the government spending any money on social programs, against abortion rights, against gay marriage, against...against...and against. If those candidates are the future, why did they sound like the past? And not just recent past, either but decades-ago past, if not longer. Wow! Depressing!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Poetry in commotion...

A Sarah Palin poem:

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
of Sarah Palin's version of
the midnight ride of Paul Reverse,
who put his pickup into "R" (for Republican) gear
and sped away backward, with shots so clear,
from guns a-blazing, always first.
He warned the Danish that Americans had guns,
lots of guns, and they would lose.
One, if by land; two, if my sea;
three, if by Fox News.
And he shot a partridge in a pear tree.
Nevermore. Nevermore.

An Anthony Weiner poem:

Everyone's a twitter
for Tony to consider
that sending pictures "obscenie"
makes him quite a wienie.

A poem for politics:

I would rather vote for a lizard than for Newt.
I would rather vote for Abel than for Cain.
I would rather vote for a baseball glove than for Mitt.
I would never vote for Sarah plain.*

* Note: Well, "Palin" didn't rhyme, but both words have the same letters.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

News at 10...

This just in...

A new study finds that if your friends look like Cirque du Soleil characters, you have really unique friends.

Congressman Paul Ryan's budget plan to finish off Medicare looks like it is going to finish off Republican candidates nationwide. And what's really strange is that the Republicans are running like lemmings off a cliff to embrace the Ryan budget plan.

National Geographic channel plans to do a special report on lemmings and Republicans.

Right-wing social engineering has hurt Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign. He shrugs off the problem with occasional shopping trips to Tiffany's jewelry store. He was pleased about the bargain deal he got for a tie tack. A mere $20,000.

A couple were criticized by some people for raising their new baby "gender-less," meaning they weren't going to tell others the gender of the baby. Well, heck, it's not like there are hundreds of possibilities to speculate about. The baby is probably either a girl or a boy.

Singer Pink recently had a baby girl. People are guessing that she will dress the baby in "pink."

Have you ever felt like you could star on a TV show "The Biggest Loser" but the show is not about weight loss?

News media people have been chasing after TV reality show star Sarah Palin while she is on her recent bus tour, despite the fact that she hasn't announced a campaign for running for anything. So, tell us again, why is she in the news?

An unfortunate incident occurred when Sarah Palin's bus ran over candidate Mitt Romney while he was announcing his candidacy for president in New Hampshire. But Romney is okay. His Mormon underwear protected him.

Sarah Palin's version of the historical ride of Paul Revere was so "entertaining" that birther Donald Trump has decided to produce a new TV reality show called "Sarah's History Lessons." It will appear on that other SyFy (Science Fiction) channel, Fox News network.

This blog was recently spanked for breaking the rule that children of politicians are off limits, even when those children are paraded around, put on TV shows, and used as media blockades. This blog promises to not make fun of Bristol, Piper, Moose, Twitter, Tinsel, and all the rest and whatever their names are, when and if they ever fade from public spectacle.

Just think when presidential candidate Michelle Bachman's 28 children start getting on TV reality shows?!!

China, please don't hack this site. Please! There are many better sites far more worthy of your hacking, censoring, infiltration, and denial.

Congressman Anthony Weiner said his Twitter account was hacked and a photo of overwhelming briefs was sent to prank him. Weiner isn't sure if that photo is of him or not. Meanwhile, 20 million American men have already claimed that the photo is of them. One Twittererererer said, "Hot dog!"

Current U.S. generals were ranked as the worst in history as wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue endlessly with weekly soldier fatalities. With $113 billion estimated for another year in Afghanistan, the generals are at least hoping to turn a corner, as they eye Pakistan.

The World Health Organization has cautioned about the potential of brain tumors from using cell phones next to people's ears. People also shouldn't wear hats that microwave buttered popcorn.

A new study warns that people who always bite the heads off of animal crackers with their first bite are more likely to make dogs eat dried dog biscuits.

It is hoped that "Arab Spring" will land right on top of the Syrian dictator, the Libyan dictator, the Bahrain dictator, the Iranian dictator, the Yemeni dictator, the Saudi Arabian dictators, and all other Middle Eastern dictators with a big ka-thump.

Women are secretly practicing their driving of cars in Saudi Arabia, using highway cones as designated ruling dictators.

In this week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels," Arnold Schwarzenegger admits to furnishing the nuts and John Edwards warns against hunter mentality. There is a special song from Lady Gaga, dressed as a pecan.