For those of you who don’t have Tivo, don’t stay up late or live on Mars;).
The slightly less funny cold open:
Category Archives: politics
Don’t Trust Politicians
I started watching John Stossel’s special on 20/20 (love Tivo) and he was talking about how people trusted the candidates who are running for president. Ah! That is everyone’s first mistake.
We are not elected a messiah or even a Moses. We are conducting a nation wide job interview. It is time people treated it as such. So what does that look like? Well, think about your own job experience. You give the prospective employer you resume then based on that and your interview they decide to hire you. You decide to accept the job based upon the expectations that were outlined for you.
NerdDad is currently working on a software feature with another person. The employer can’t hold NerdDad accountable for the other person’s productivity but they can hold him accountable (read: fire him if he doesn’t produce) for his work. NerdDad didn’t get his job to miracoulously produce every product for his company but to complete his job.
This is how we should view the presidency. There is a job with requirements. Then we look at the candidates’ interview, evaluate how their experience and temperament line up with the position and choose. Keep in mind that you are hiring for the position of President, not be all to end all. The first thing to do is go , brace yourself, read the Constitution! The Founding Fathers did a decent job of laying out what is expected. Then keep in mind that if either of these candidates could fix all of our and the government’s ails they would have done it already. They wouldn’t have been dependent on our little votes. They are just humans and therefore defecient in many areas and mostly jerks (who else would want the job?).
So take the emotion out of this election. Know what the Presidential job is and don’t confuse it with the whole Congress. Look at the candidate’s history and resume. Then choose. Wisely!
Ben Stein, Paulson and the Economy
The NY Times has a very good article from Ben Stein. He really helps to offer a perspective as to what has caused some of the economic issues. He also talked about how Paulson had the chutzpah to ask that he not be held responsible for the $700 Billion he wanted in the bailout.
(HT: Bridget Johnson)
Another T-Shirt Incident
Here is the basic situation: a school is having one of those themed dressing days. This time it is red, white and blue. A kid comes in with a homemade red, white and blue anti-Obama shirt. He is told to wear it inside out or be suspended. He chose suspension. Oy!
(HT: Electric Venom)
More Government Growth?
It looks like we are getting a Cabinet level Copyright Czar. Now copyright infringement was already being persecuted by the Federal government so does it really need to be grown to this level? Is this growing the nanny state and just taking more tax money or do you think it actually protects the capitalist society?
Biden the Idiot (Again)
So what did Senator Joe Biden do this time?
From Senator and Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Biden on CBS News:
Part of what a leader does is to instill confidence, is demonstrate that he or she knows what they’re talking about, and communicates to people, if you listen to me, and follow what I’m suggesting, we can fix this. When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on television, and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed, he said, look, here’s what happened.
So what is the problem? Well, FDR wasn’t President when the Stock Market crashed and the Depression began. Even if he was, tv isn’t how he would have communicated with the public.
Volokh cuts Biden slack saying that he is just tired and speaking off the cuff. But I don’t give him the same slack. He wanted to show how great the Democrats were and didn’t have a real life example so he made up something somewhat believable.
Christianity and Taxing the Wealthy
Chris B over at RedBlueChristian has a great piece on why taxing the rich at a higher rate and therefore charging them their “fair share” is wrong. A thought I am left with is if God had a flat rate in tithe, where do we get off having a sliding scale?
Yet Another Reason We Homeschool
Recently my inbox has been flooded with pieces talking about how something needs to be done about the proposed Harvey Milk Day in California public schools.
I have to say that I am a bit ambivalent because it seems to fall in line with the purpose of socialized education. Which is to inhibit the development of Judeo-Christian values. This is what is called a “Dog Bites Man Story”. If a man bites a dog, that is news. But is a dog bites a man, not so much because that is what dogs do. Homosexuality has become mainstream within the school system. So what makes you think that they wouldn’t be looking for pioneers to celebrate? Just like when school became integrated we then began celebrating heroes of the integration (such as Martin Luther King Jr.). I am not saying that these people are equal in achievement. Harvey Milk is famous for being an openly gay politician who was killed for it. So he is the perfect martyr.
What worries me more is the situation that arose recently in Dos Palos where a kid was punished for wearing a shirt that depicted the US flag. And why?
The assistant principal initially thought Shelly’s T-shirt violated a clause of the school dress code that does not allow “shirts/blouses that promote specific races, cultures, or ethnicities.”
As NerdDad said when he heard about it, we have to be careful to not offend anyone who doesn’t like America like the teachers. While I understand that the schools don’t support my values but now they are blatant about their dislike for America. I think at this point, these type of situations are more dangerous than Harvey Milk Day.
But the overriding issue? I don’t know what to say to parents who have their kids in school who are angry about Harvey Milk and say,”Call the Governor”. My gut says, “You already handed you kids over to the school system. What did you expect? And do you really think a phone call will fix it all?” I know it is harsh but unfortunately true. If you don’t like the influence of the system on your child (Harvey Milk Day, etc) the only thing you can really do to stop it is to remove the child from the situation.
Now do I just abandon the school system? No, I vote for change (and not Obama;) and do try to change things but not at the cost of my kids.
There is my rant for the day.
Preach It Girls!
Yet Another Reason for McCain/Palin
I remember when I no longer wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. It was when I was in 6th or 7th grade and my mom was in law school. There was all kinds of dumb things going on but when someone took books out of the law library so no one else could use them for the class assignment (according to my mom, I do not know this first hand) and they would be guaranteed the best grade. That did it. I was in junior high and realized how immature they all were. I wanted out of junior high and they all seemed to be clamoring to get back to it.
That taints my over all view, I admit it. I know good lawyers but on the whole… And these 2 dorks aren’t going to be the exceptions to the lawyer stereo types. So don’t vote for Obama/Biden.
(HT: American Digest)