Obama the Laureate

What do all (three) of you think about Obama being given the Nobel Peace Prize?

I'll reserve my particular thoughts on this topic, but will point you to this article: "What Obama Should Do With His Nobel Peace Prize."

Slate chimes in sarcastically with, "It came a week late, but President Obama did win the gold. Last Friday, the International Olympic Committee stiffed him. Today, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He should probably leave his schedule open next Friday, because apparently anything can happen."

They also write: "The award has essentially been given for the president's speechmaking ability... Obama could easily write the justifying language: He's honored and humbled but he has merely articulated the common aspirations of all mankind. As it is mankind's global challenge, no one man can claim a prize with so much work left to be done. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us... Obama would immediately become the favorite for next year's Nobel Prize for Humility."

Political Pandering

Today the AP released this hum-dinger of a reliable piece of news:

BRISTOL'S EX TALKS ABOUT PALIN'S RESIGNATION

The former fiance of Gov. Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter says he thinks he knows why the Alaska governor is resigning — concerns over money. Levi Johnston, 19, whose wedding to Bristol Palin was called off earlier this year, says he believes the governor is resigning over personal finances. [He's 19 and a spurned lover, no bias at all, right?]

..."I think the big deal was the book. That was millions of dollars," said Johnston, who has had a strained relationship with the family but now says things have improved. [Really? You're talking about their finances and things are improving? The Palins must be crazy if that warms their hearts.]

..."It is interesting to learn Levi is working on a piece of fiction while honing his acting skills," Palin family spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. [And yet another reliable source... who is prone to a little bit of snark.]

...Johnston also is pursuing his own book deal. He is working as a carpenter while also pursuing a movie deal. [Was this news-worthy? Can the AP not get better sources than this?]

In related news, check out this satirical video that doesn't seem quite so satirical.


If you're getting this via email, watch the video here.

Where's Uncle Pete?

The White House official Flickr Photo Stream has been made public, and I don't post this to ask, "Does anyone think we're blurring the lines between the office of President and celebrity?" (because that would be a silly question). I post this little tid-bit of info to ask if anyone else thinks that, after Obama's term(s) are up, his daughters will ever ask their parents, "Why doesn't Uncle Pete live with us any more?"

["Uncle Pete" is my idea of what Malia and Sasha call Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer, who is capturing nearly every moment of the Obamas' life in the White House, from Oval Office [pictured at left] to private family chats, [pictured above].]

Winding Up for Winding Down

Can I get a countdown widget on how long until this presidential election is over?

Get this widget!

Thank you.

Now, I'd like to post a link to an article on Yahoo.com, "Obama's prime-time ad skips over budget realities," that was put out on the AP wire. I'm kind of surprised by this (not that there was spin in the politician's informercial); rather, that the AP covered this article from a decidedly anti-Obama perspective. That seems kind of weird coming from the mainstream media.

To balance out all of this presidential ballyhoo ("Here are vague promises that will be difficult to measure whether or not I actually kept them"), check out this advertisement from incumbent Indiana governor Mitch Daniels.

That's refreshing... a politician makeing a promise that can be objectively measured (and a relatively good plan to boot).

Thank You, Joe

Joe (aka, Jason) the plumber came through for me. Yesterday they fixed my hot water heater... the blogging moratorium has been lifted. Yeah!

This work of Joe's makes me think that I need to reconsider who I'm voting for in next Tuesday's election.

Seriously, not really because of my water heater fiasco (which was caused by lime scale build-up because I have hard water), but because of something that happened on Sunday. Our church put this non-partisan insert in the church bulletin listing both of the candidates' views on a number of issues (view the listing that was included in our Sunday announcements by clicking here). At first I didn't really read the insert--I was blinded by my disgust at the church's reference toward politics. Although this declares to be non-partisan material, I have very strong views about the separation of church and state--if we want the government to remain hands-off about our operation, we need to be 100% certain that we're not in any way endorsing or denouncing a particular candidate.

Once I got over my fury, which was manifested through a terse conversation with my sister who was equally disgusted by our church's dalliance in the land of no return, I looked at the paper and considered the options. I had been thinking, after reading another article (see original blog here) that I was in the McCain camp, but then (after considering the issues on this paper) that I should be voting for Obama. I'm a registered libertarian and am quite liberal (compared to my fellow Baptists), but I'm really on the fence about this election. Then I ask myself, "Who cares who is elected as President because, with our system of checks and balances, no single politician can change the course of human history? Also, are we so silly to think that one person can revolutionize our government which is chronically slow to change?"

What really gets my goat about this election is that all the focus has been on the Presidential election and my state hasn't been giving much play to our gubernatorial election, local elections, or the senate/representative races that are going on throughout the state. I need to do some more research to consider my voting options, but we all need to get a grip that the Presidential election is one amongst many elections, all of which are important. My governor is incredibly important in affecting my day-to-day life with the policy that he/she proposes and we have an important referendum being voted on (about the abolition of property tax assessors as an elected office in the state of Indiana) that has hardly been touched at all.

I think, and I understand this is a rant, that our perspective is off in the United States right now. We were a country that was founded on the principle of the power of the States, and we're totally disregarding the importance of those state officials so we can gawk at the celebrity circus of this Presidential campaign.

That was heavy, eh? See, that's what Joe does to me... he gets my plumbing all worked up. (That sounded untoward and wasn't intended as such.)

Do You Need More Money

Early talk is that the federal government is looking into another stimulus package (because that worked so excellently last time).

Thoughts?

Quote of the Day

I was watching television this morning (kind of a rarity for me), and was unlucky enough to catch a segment on The Today Show where Matt Lauer was giving somebody a pretty good pounding regarding the House's rejection of the Bailout Package Bill. Below is what was said:

Congressman Clyburn (D-OH, Majority Whip): We promised 50% of our conference, they promised 50% of their conference. We produced 60%, and they produced 33%.
Lauer: Yeah, but in fairness Congressman Clyburn, the Speaker of the House couldn't even produce 50% of the Democratic Delegation from her own state.
Congressman Clyburn: Well, that may be true, but zero from Arizona voted for this and it seems as if the Presidential candidate McCain came in, and he said he brought everybody to the table, but if you check, Matt, you will see that not a single Representative from Arizona voted for this legislation. So here is what we have to do going forward: I think it is time to set aside blaming, set aside all of this extraneous stuff like a speech that may have been delivered on the floor of the House. It's amazing to me that we can be so sophomoric to believe that a politician would not give a political speech.
Lauer: Well, Congressman Clyburn, let me ask this. You say we should set aside blaming right after you talked about the Arizona situation where they didn't vote... Do you understand why people in the country might say, 'A pox on all their houses.'? We've got these partisan speeches and then news conferences after the vote pointing fingers; that's not what's required here.
Congressman Clyburn: If you are going to sit there and solve this problem as adults, I don't think adults would be blaming a speech on the floor of the House. Now, to me, the country comes first. Senator McCain has been saying that all year, and now I believe it is necessary for us to put the country first, and you do that by sitting down in a mature way, coming up with legislation (as we did), and you deliver the votes you promised. Now, they did not keep their promise on the other side. We kept our promise and did better than we said we were going to do.

Those poor people in Ohio, they have a mentally retarded person representing their interests in Washington. He says you're not allowed to blame or point fingers, unless fingers are pointing at the Republicans who didn't deliver on their promise of 50%. Talk about sophomoric...

I hold no great hope of Washington figuring anything about this out. [At the bottom of this post I've put in the video so you can hear the comments from Senator Price, a nice juxtaposition to the special needs Representative from Ohio, and you can make sure I didn't misquote anybody.]

On to something that does give me hope:

• Quote of the Day from "Mad Men" over at "What Was I Watching?"
• A new musician who might need to stay on the radio over at "What Was I Listening To?"
• A teaser of the homo-erotic kind over at "What Was I Reading?"
  
  

Mad About Money

This post is in response to my earlier post about Washigton Mutual's recent buy-out. [This was forwarded to me via email by an old friend from college... I take no credit for, except for being a genius and re-posting to the internet... I'm totally a genius in that regard.]

I'm against the $85,000,000,000 bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85 billion to America in a "We Deserve It" Dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+... So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals $425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a "We Deserve It Dividend." Of course, it would NOT be tax free.

Let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.

What would you do with $297,500.00 in your pocket?

• Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved
• Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
• Put away money for college – it'll be there
• Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs
• Buy a new car – create jobs
• Invest in the market – capital drives growth
• Pay for your parent's medical insurance – health care improves

As for AIG – liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being
American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters
cut it up and clean it up.

Banks Crashing... What About My Credit Cards

So, I read online today that Washington Mutual was purchased by J.P. Morgan Chase for $1.9 billion because they weren't able to "safely transact business" (the 13th such financial institution to do that this year). MSN.com says it's the largest financial failure in U.S. history.

I say, "Does that mean that I don't have to pay my credit card to Washington Mutual?" If you're looking for something else to peruse while you're online paying your credit card bills, check out the other daily blogs in the "What..." family:

• What Was I Watching?" has a sneak preview of this week's movie premieres, and they're doing it Quote of the Day style.
• "What Was I Reading?" has the book review for City of Ashes up for you to read.
• "What Was I Listening To?" discusses the Clay Aiken homosexuality "scandal."

Our Government Is A Hot Mess

I’m not going to lie—American politics sometimes befuddle me. Granted, I did a little research today on two constitutional monarchies (those of the United Kingdom and Australia) because I’d heard somebody talking this past weekend that their Prime Minister wasn’t an elected position and people could be overthrown by their own party on any given Sunday, and that sounded fishy to me. Truth be told, it’s not quite that willy-nilly, but still a little less than formalized (i.e., the Prime Minister isn’t an official office outlined in their constitutions).

Anyway, there’s a whole slew of craziness going on in Washington, D.C., right now to get the banking debacle straightened out. John McCain is suddenly a work-a-holic who wants to postpone tomorrow evening’s scheduled presidential debate so that he and the other Senator can return to their real jobs of helping to run the country. Apparently, Barrack Obama fancies himself a multi-tasker and has given McCain a little public dressing down saying something to the effect of, “Get your head screwed on straight—you should be able to debate me and vote on the Financial Bail-Out package,” (regardless of the fact that you can’t actually vote if you’re not present to vote).

There was talk today on CNN’s Headline News that I was watching while at lunch (Qdoba was so yummy) about what the viewers thought of this situation: Postponing Debate v. Not Postponing. One caller felt that this was all a ploy on the part of McCain’s campaign to delay both this and the subsequent Vice Presidential debate so they could continue to shelter Sarah Palin from the public spotlight. Another caller said that both of these guys are being paid to be state Senators and they need to get back to Washington and do the job they were elected to do (here, here!).

My editorial comments aside, I think that McCain and Obama both might be on to something…


(Onion News Network Video: “McCain’s Economic Plan: Everyone Marry A Beer Heiress”)

Re-Post: CNN Political Analysts

This post was originally put on the now defunct "What Was I Thinking?" blog on March 5, 2008. Reposted here for your enjoyment.

Last night I was watching a little bit of Primary-palooza coverage on CNN. Wolf Blitzer (still not sure that's his real name) was holding things down in "The Situation Room." What surprised me was that Wolf introduced his co-anchors as the "Best Political Team" on television. How pompous do people have to be to start referring to themselves as the "Best" at something?

I think I'll start calling myself the "Best Pie Eater" in the world. Apparently, we can all call ourselves whatever we want. Give yourself a title.... go ahead, it's fun. Do you want to refer to yourself as "Assistant Undersecretary of Coasters"? Have at it. "Ambassador to Victoria's Secret"? It's yours.

By the way, I looked around the "Best Political Team's" Election 2008 website. Apparently being the best means having games about delegate counts and funny cartoons about political spin. Oh those crazy political analysts, what will they think of next?

Re-Post: Quote of the Day

This post was originally put on the now defunct "What Was I Thinking?" blog on September 23, 2008. Reposted here for your enjoyment.

On Tuesdays I like to hit you all with great snippets that come from the internet or radio, and lately I've been inundating you with info from NPR. I've decided today that I'd like to bring you a Quote of the Day from a great online news source that "rivals" NPR--The Onion.

If you're unfamiliar with The Onion, they're an online (and print, I believe) satirical news source, poking fun at our modern times and riffing on the news "establishment." They have a channel over at YouTube that is definitely worth subscribing to, and today's quote comes from their video, "Obama Vows to Shop America's Shitty Jobs From Going Overseas."

Obama is quoted as saying "We must stop the outsourcing of our most tedious and dangerous jobs to other countries... That shit work can and should be done by Americans."

McCain's camp responded, saying, "America needs to focus on the shitty jobs of the future, like telemarketing, customer service, and mind-numbingly boring office jobs."

The Onion is seriously funny (if you can understand that everything they do is satire, which some aren't able to comprehend). If you'd like another clip of how great The Onion is, watch this video (spoofing The Today Show) where Disney Labs announce their plan to launch the newest wave of genetically-engineered Disney Channel stars.

Re-Post: I'm Not the Only One

This post was originally put on the now defunct "What Was I Thinking?" blog on September 10, 2008. Reposted here for your enjoyment.

I'll keep this brief...

A little while ago I posted a blog with some political musings. Apparently, my idea that many Americans are idiots who aren't qualified to vote has caught on. Check out this book, Just How Stupid Are We? by Rick Shenkman (who, by the way, happens to be much smarter than me).

After you've taken a peek at the book, drop a comment and let me know who you think is most likely to play Sarah Palin in her biopic... Tina Fey, Megan Mullally, Linda Cash, Julia Louis-Dryfus, or somebody else.

Re-Post: South Carolina Loves Unwed Mothers

This post was originally put on the now defunct "What Was I Thinking?" blog on September 3, 2008. Reposted here for your enjoyment.

I'm not an overly-political person, registered as an independent and falling somewhere between conservative democrats and liberal republicans. This weekend I read an article in Relevant Magazine that helped me be 99% sure of who I would be voting for this November.

None the less, I thought I needed to share this with you all. This morning on NPR I heard a story titled, "South Carolina Evangelicals Upbeat About Palin." The best quote from this report is:

"This group is totally upbeat, even about the teenage pregnancy in the Palin family."

I think the reporter might be slightly misrepresenting the South Carolina delegates--are they excited about the teenage pregnancy or merely unruffled by the news?

The second-best quote in this report is:

"Maryanne Riley is from Spartanburg. I asked her about the party's position on abstinence. 'This was one of the first things I thought about too. Is here we are talking about family values, and abstinence, and all this, but kids are going to be kids no matter what. Once you're out of sight, we're in love, you're going to do all of these things, so this is just the times right now. In fact, more people can probably identify with her than not.'"

Granted, Maryanne Riley is not the official spokesperson for the GOP, John McCain, or the RNC; however, if you know that most kids "will be kids" when they get away from their parents and experimenting sexually is just "part of the times right now," then is abstinence education the best option? I'm not advocating for or against the policy, just wondering if the delegates who are at the convention, representing the American people have thought through the issues in depth.

On a side note, Kirsten Dunst is an idiot who also doesn't understand the civic duty that is inherent in responsible voting. Check out this snarky bit about her idiocy... she shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Post in the comments and answer this question: "What celebrities do you think are idiots and shouldn't have the right to vote?"

Re-Post: France is Full of Bull

This post was originally put on the now defunct "What Was I Thinking?" blog on July 23, 2008. Reposted here for your enjoyment.

So, there's an awesome blog (Paris Daily Photo) that I check out on my feed reader. Today's post was about how the nation of France wants to ban the drink Red Bull because it contains an acid, derived from bull tissue, that has unknown effects on humans. I think this is awesome for a couple of reasons...

1. What is the deal with France? Aren't there bigger issues to deal with in the country? If no, then things are good in France and I'm going to be putting in for a transfer to this utopia post-haste.

2. Can you imagine the results of this study? Seriously, they're likely going to find that consuming copious amounts of Red Bull over an extended period of time leads to cancer or something. Next thing you know, all of "Young, Hot Hollywood" is going to develop cancer.

Red Bull is going to single-handedly cripple the entertainment industry of the United States because celebrities seem to exist on a diet of Red Bull and cigarettes. Kudos to Red Bull!