Entries tagged as ‘liberals’
Quote of the Day: “If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work.” –William Shakespeare, Henry IV
Many of you upon reading this will have just dragged yourself in to work after another unbearably short weekend, and cleared your desk of all that was put off until today, but that can probably make it until tomorrow. You’ve turned, in desperation I dare say, to this humble blog for a bit of wit or wisdom. Rejoice! I’ve something to offer today that will help you through the week, even the remainder of the year. I’ve made an astonishing discovery. There is a holiday hidden within our calendars which we’ve all failed to previously note. Third Week.
What makes my discovery so amazing is how cleverly hidden it has been through all our working lives and those of our forefathers. “Hidden where?”, you may inquire; to which I respond, “In PLAIN SIGHT, MAN!”, where else? Do I make myself clear?
Ok, I’ll explain. Next Monday, it’s a short week because of Thanksgiving. Between the Monday we return to work and Christmas, we all know good and well there is no more real work to be done. You can’t start a new project just before Christmas after all, only to have it set aside and grown stale by January. Oh sure, there are tasks left to accomplish, but no more heavy lifting. It’s also the time of year for Christmas parties and leftover sausage balls and chex mix in the break room. The boss won’t be around after the parties are over out of guilt of one sort or another. At some places he doesn’t want to face the secretary he hit on after too many beers at the office party, and at others he’s slinking out of town to avoid the mob mentality of a dozen or more worker bees whose Christmas bonus has shrunk. Even if a few dedicated souls wanted, nay, needed to work, it would be difficult for all the co-workers using up those last saved days of vacation. And sick leave. Those who remain are glued to their computers (when full of chex mix and sausage balls) doing online shopping and forwarding chain emails about baby Jesus’ visage on a chocolate Santa, a little girl in a hospital who wants her Christmas card read by a trillion people and the liberals who want to take all this away from them. Then Christmas week arrives and work is less than an afterthought. After Christmas, most places open for the sole purpose of letting people in the building to escape any more quality time with their families. No office manager or supervisor has any expectation of work being done from December 27 through New Year’s Eve.
So you see, this is it. One more week in your personal fiscal year. It’s all (giblet?) gravy from here on out. And I for one think the week deserves a name–I’ve christened it “Third Week.” The last real work week of the year. So smile this morning and take heart. You’ve got one more week in the salt mines until you can relax for just over a month. And before you attack the pile of paper that really cannot be put off until tomorrow, or next year, pass this little epistle on to a friend. Then he can pass it to a friend, then they can pass it to their friends, and so forth, and so on, until this holiday week discovery of mine takes hold in the public consciousness or even better, the upper reaches of the AFL-CIO. Before much longer, we might even get a day off for Third Week. Then we’d search everywhere in hopes of discovering Second Week. Shakespeare saw the potential for a permanent holiday season. TB has unearthed the secret after years of suppression by the Man. Where it goes from here is up to you.
Categories: Humor · Life · Philosobaen · Writing
Tagged: Christmas season, holiday, holiday season, Humor, liberals, office politics, Progressive Ideas, wit, work, work sux, working
Quote of the Day “And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security – we support you. And to all those who have wondered if Americas beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope. –President Elect, Barack Obama
It looks like Obama ended up winning about 52% of the popular vote last night along with a commanding majority in the Electoral College. Comparing the popular vote with our last four elections, it was a strong majority. It was roughly equivalent to Bush’s win over Dukakis, and it was substantially below either of Reagan’s margins. So what does it mean?
I think Obama has a mandate to change US policy abroad, but not in a wholesale manner, assuming he even wants to. What I expect to see is a lot more diplomacy and less heavy handedness in our negotiating style. I hope and believe that a change in the White House will lead to America regaining a leadership position in the world rather than trying to enforce domination upon it. A little more carrot and a little less stick, to coin a phrase. That does not mean I think Obama will be weak. As a matter of fact, I fear more that he will feel compelled to turn to the military more quickly than necessary in order to stave off accusations of weakness. Discounting Bush the Younger, our left leaning Presidents have historically done just that while our right wing leaders have often succeeded unexpectedly in diplomacy. The greatest example of that is probably Nixon going to China, something no Democrat would have been able to do without being damaged politically. On the other hand, it was Democrats Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson that got us into wars along with W. But I think Obama will use good judgment, particularly in surrounding himself with thinkers rather than ideologues. Time will tell.
On the home front, I will candidly say this was not the tsunami I was expecting or hoping for. Still, it was a huge Democratic victory with either 5 or 6 Senate seats gained and around 24 House seats. The two races I was watching most closely were the Senate campaigns in North Carolina and Minnesota. In Minnesota, it looks like Norm Coleman will hang on–a very surprising result in my eyes from a “liberal” state in the midst of a Democratic wave. On the other hand, in moderately conservative North Carolina, Libby Dole was soundly defeated. It was a split decision in the culture wars. I believe Dole lost due to her despicable ad trying to convince voters her opponent, a Sunday School teacher, was godless. I don’t have an opinion as to why Coleman hung on. But I do have a ten-cent opinion on what the elections told us, from President down through Congress.
The Republican Party lives and remains strong. Conservative ideas are alive. But outside the Confederacy, southern dominated conservative politics are dead as a doornail. Only in the deep south do campaigns focused on race or sexual orientation or McCarthyism style demagoguery still thrive. The rest of the country is fed up with it, and the outer edges of the South are getting there. Southern style social conservatives are consuming the old Reagan coalition. As I have said on this blog many times, I think the conservative thesis that all government is bad is simply wrong. It is, like all generalizations, overly broad. However, conservatism focused on limiting government’s power still makes good sense. Tyranny by corporations replaced by tyranny of bureaucrats is no good trade. If the thinking conservatives can re-take their party from the religious fundamentalists, false patriots and race baiters, it will not be long before they reassert their strength. In the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see whether the Romney wing of the party or the Palin wing wrests control. Huckabee is a wild card who would probably make a good leader if he’d just get educated on evolution and when the dinosaurs lived.
As for the Democrats, the election shows the country believes there is a place for progressive ideas and legislation. We have heard it so long that most accept it to be true without question or consideration–America is a center-right country. TB accepts nothing without question or consideration when it comes to politics. In my opinion, such a statement is another over-generalization. There are so many issues. To say we are collectively center-right is both a misstatement and non-sensical. On gun ownership, we are far right. On taxes, we are center. On freedom of speech, press, and religion, we are far left. On new issues, like global warming and alternative energy, it remains to be seen. I believe we are center-left on what will become, maybe has become, one of the most important issues of the day. My point is, each issue is different and no simple categorization is sufficient to define a country as large and varied as the USA.
I am looking forward to the Obama Presidency. I have high expectations of him. They are not so much in what accomplishments I expect as they are in how his administration conducts itself. I expect integrity, respect for civil liberties and human rights, strong and sensible diplomacy and political courage. If he indeed has these traits, as it has appeared to me over the last two years, his tenure will be a success.
Categories: Politics · Ten Cent Analysis · current events
Tagged: Conservatives, Democrats, Election, idealistic political post, liberals, Obama, Politics, President, Progressive Ideas, Progressives, Republicans, Ten Cent Analysis, United States
Quote of the Day “Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief.” Alan Greenspan, last week
Henry Waxman asked former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan last week if his conservative ideology pushed him to make decisions about the economy he now regrets. Greenspan said “yes, I’ve found a flaw.” The flaw is astoundingly well summed up in today’s quote of the day. It seems so simple, yet very few of us saw it, and even though the great Warren Buffett DID see it and told us about it, none of us listened. The individuals running our great financial institutions were looking out for themselves, and did not see their interests as aligned with those of their companies. They made deals to create short term wealth and illusory wealth to appear on balance sheets. In return, they received millions of dollars in bonuses. What happened after they cashed their checks was none of their concern.
This is the achilles heal of conservative economic theory. Conservatives, including TB in past times, have always believed that if the top echelon of wealth holders were doing well, it was in their interest to keep a well funded underclass to keep the machine churning out ever more wealth. The middle class would benefit from successful American businesses by buying their stock and getting an ownership interest in the economy they were supporting. Too much regulation by government, often derisively termed “interference”, would simply siphon off corporate profits, leaving less for the middle class to share. So the interference was removed over the course of thirty years or so, bit by bit, piece by piece. Even most Democrats went along with the effort, notably Bill Clinton.
But we all overlooked the most obvious pitfall. We equated the businesses themselves with the individuals who run them. The businesses, in the end, have failed–GM, AIG, Merrill Lynch, Wachovia, Bear Stearns, and so many more. The men who ran them have not failed. Like DB Cooper, they jumped out of the planes with all the cash and a golden parachute. But DB at least had the courtesy to leave the plane functional when he leapt. These guys destroyed the engines, then jumped.
Someone once famously said those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. We ignored the lessons our grandparents and great-grandparents learned back in 1929, and now history is repeating itself to a large degree. There is a reason for government regulation. Sure, it slows down business growth to some extent. But it stops many of those individuals who would loot businesses and their shareholders in their tracks. It shines light on their schemes. Just like a football referee, the government is never popular, especially when its presence in the game is obvious. No one likes a game marred by too many holding flags, and its often said there is holding on every play. Similarly, in regulating business, the government will undoubtedly throw too many flags sometimes, and miss other times it should’ve thrown one. But without the refs, the game is just a street fight over a ball. And without government regulation, our economy is just a street fight over control of wealth. It’s time all conservative thinkers admit their flaw in philosophy.
There is common ground between American liberals and conservatives. That is that most everyone agrees the ultimate goal is to make increased wealth available to all. There is legitimate difference of opinion on how that should be accomplished. Conservatives must first admit, like Greenspan, that all of their assumptions are partially based on a faulty premise. And liberals, poised to have a chance to implement their own ideas, must remain aware that a faulty premise most likely lurks inside their own ideology. Both sides must learn to concede the points on which they have been obviously wrong and use the other side’s ideas to improve the collective action our government must take. I haven’t seen that in many years. I hope the next administration controls its hubris enough to remember this lessen from the dying conservative movement.
Categories: Philosobaen · Politics
Tagged: Big Business, Conservatives, current events, damn political post, Democrats, government, Greenspan, liberals, Politics, regulations, Republicans
Quote of the Day “It’s clearly a budget. It’s got a lot of numbers in it.” George W. Bush
Paul B. Farrell is a financial columnist with over 1000 articles to his credit. He appears regularly on all of the major news networks as an expert in his field. He has authored four books, worked as executive vice president for Financial News Network and was an investment banker with Morgan Stanley. This is all I can find out about him, but it seems enough to be satisfied he’s a capitalist. Here is a link to his article A Nation of Warmongers on marketwatch.com.
You can read it for yourself if you’re interested, but here are just a few of the assertions in it that TB finds meaningful:
Americans spend 54% of their tax dollars on the military. This figure represents 47% of the total military spending of the entire world. Is it really necessary to spend that much? If we cut it down to 40% of the budget, what could we do with that money? Many people who call themselves Conservative because they believe in balanced budgets and restrained government size and spending are deluding themselves if they think their goals can be met while continuing to fund the military at these levels. And TB believes in having the strongest military in the world, believes that our military personnel deserve support, and even believes that its necessary to use them on occasion. Wisely. But clearly, an inordinate proportion of our national resources is devoted to war.
Farrell also asks why it is necessary to spend over $200 Billion on no-bid private war contractors numbering 180,000–more personnel than the entire allotment of enlisted soldiers in Iraq. This is where a big chunk of that unnecessary military spending is being wasted. Remember Gomer Pyle having to do KP duty? Wouldn’t happen in this day and age because a contractor peels the potatoes. And gets a lot of cabbage to do it. There are also a bunch of Blackwater employees carrying guns and expecting immunity from prosecution when they misuse them. And making our actual soldiers look bad far too often–these dudes ain’t building schools and hospitals.
Finally, Farrell asks why the President and party (and he didn’t mention McCain, but should have) associated with “supporting our troops” opposed passage of a new GI bill. He should also have asked why the same group has let health care for wounded vets be conducted in rat infested, overcrowded hospitals. If it were me, I’d just as soon do without their so-called “support.”
If you’re a die hard Republican who can’t figure out why TB went off the reservation and joined up with the lefties, read this article. Even if you decide its all BS, it will at least give you a good idea of why TB and so many others are fed up with the neo-cons.
Categories: Money · Politics
Tagged: Budget, Cons, Conservatives, damn political post, economy, Election, Issues, liberals, Military, Money, Politics, Spending
Quote of the Day “O wad some power the giftie gie us, To see oursel’s as ithers see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us.” – Robert Burns, from “To a Louse”
The Pascagoula Class of ‘88 finally reunites this weekend. I posted awhile back about the reservations I had, but those have pretty much disappeared. The only part of me not looking forward to the weekend now is the little red devil in charge of lazy, lounging on my shoulder, and occasionally whispering, “aw man, 200 miles is a long way; wouldn’t you rather just be sittinathomebaen this weekend.” Fortunately, I can usually–ok, often–defeat that annoying little bastard.
One never knows how he is seen by others, and part of being twenty years out of high school is not caring nearly as much about it as we formerly did. On the inside, we come to know ourselves during those decades, and today I consider how I’ve changed since the spring of 1988, and how I’m the same.
Then–All I thought about was girls, in general; Now–All I think about are girls, two in particular.
Then–Listened to Jimmy Buffett, Hank Williams Jr, Motley Crue; Now–Jimmy Buffett, Robert Earl Keen, and Todd Snider–but the Crue is definitely still on the Ipod.
Then–Slightly worried about going off to college and how I’d do the next year; Now–slightly worried about business and how I’ll do next year.
Then–In shape; Now–Not in shape.
Then–Didn’t like to travel and be away from Pascagoula; Now–Glad I grew up in Pascagoula.
Then–Miller Lite and Vodka Tonic; Now–Pinot Noir and Malbec.
Then–Subaru with 90,000 miles; Now–Acura with 180,000 miles.
Then–George Bush and you can’t trust liberals; Now–Anybody BUT George Bush, preferably a liberal.
Then–Youth; Now–Youth is wasted on the young.
Then–No money, no problem; Now–all the money I really need, but it never seems enough.
Then–Drunken BS late at night; Now–sober bloggin, late at night.
So am I still the same guy I was back then? Yes, but a lot different too. I wonder if anyone else will think I’ve changed much? I hope they’re all just the same as I remember. Well, most of them anyway.
Categories: Life
Tagged: change, class reunion, liberals, Pascagoula, Pascagoula High School, Progress, Scottish jibberish, youth
Quote of the Day: “And don’t forget what we’re celebrating….that a bunch of rich white guys didn’t want to pay their taxes.” — approximate quote actually. I’m too tired to look up the actual, but a no-name teacher said this in “Dazed and Confused”
Late night reflecting on the 4th, always a favorite holiday of mine because it comes at the height of summer, the best time of the year even if it is unbearably hot. A bit bittersweet too, as it means the mid-point of summer and the unavoidable fact that the new school year is drawing near. Sure I’m 37 and not a teacher, but I really didn’t like school and I guess the trauma remains.
I’m thinking of the great men who founded this country and considering their motives, pure and personal. I’m sure there were both, though we rarely hear about the financial interests of the icons of 1776. I’m also thinking about how both Dems and Cons like to claim direct descendancy from these men, though the claims of both are untenable. Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Washington, et al were radicals. Radicals with money and the ability to inspire enough Jimmy’s and Joe’s to pick up a musket and go huntin German Redcoats in exchange for worthless paper currency. I’d like to see some radical thinking on certain issues of the present day, though I wish we didn’t have worthless (well, diminished value) paper currency and I’d just as soon not have the populace toting guns–oh wait a minute–nevermind.
I also wonder how many Americans know we won that war because England wasn’t interested in fighting it? That’s right, they were in a war for commercial dominance of the seas and the European seaports with France, our noble ally. That’s where all the good English soldiers and sailers were busy and that’s why we drew a bunch of uninterested Hessians to fight in those Red Coats.
Still, cynic that I am, I admire those men. The famous forefathers and the forgotten farmers. I admire the ideals they wrote about and I believe they meant them. I can’t help but be troubled that these same men could allow slavery to continue and couldn’t even put in to place a plan to rid ourselves of it so the issue wouldn’t eventually lead to crisis. It was a colossal error, and one we continue to pay for today. Fortunately, they did so much right that we at least have the mechanisms to one day get past that and to even address current and future issues that could result in crisis anew.
But are there any courageous radicals these days who can lead and is the citizenry prepared to support them if they emerge?
Categories: Life · Politics
Tagged: England, forefathers, France, guns, lawyers, liberals, Money, radicals, Revolutionary War, slavery, United States
- Why do people jump all over John McCain for saying he doesn’t know much about economics? It’s one of the few things I applaud him for. I’d much rather have the President be candid with himself about his strengths and weaknesses than to fake it. Haven’t we had enough of a President faking it? After all, the head man’s primary job to my way of thinking is to choose good advisers. What McCain needs to do is seek out the top economic minds in his party, meet with them, learn the basics of their philosophies, and choose one to be his Senior Advisor. So let’s not run down this rabbit hole. There is plenty of fertile ground on which to criticize McCain without using this.
- Why isn’t there some sort of outcry from someone besides me about the mileage reimbursement rate the IRS is using? Am I the only one that drives in his job? When gas was about $1.10/gallon, I was getting 30 cents a mile. Gas has almost quadrupled, definitely more than tripled, and the allowance is only up to 50 and 1/2 cents. This benefits big business in paying out less than value to travelling employees and the government by lowering the amount deductible on taxes. Thanks again neo-cons.
- If life begins at conception, and this is an important part of the Republican platform, why didn’t the Republicans pass a law entitling parents to claim a tax deduction for their little fetus if it was conceived in one year, but born the next? Has no one at Cato thought of this?
- Why would someone want to drive the same speed, side by side, with another vehicle on the interstate?
- That first guy that thought about making sausage. How hungry was he? (No doubt in my mind it was a he). How smart was this guy? If he had put his mind to something like physics how far advanced would mankind be now?
- That first guy that thought about making words and pictures and instant communication out of 1’s and 0’s. How crazy smart was this guy? (may have been a girl for all I know). And how far back would mankind be if he’d put his mind to something like stretching his food budget a little further by using hooves and snouts?
- Why are there so many people out there that still send me emails that end with some variation of the line, send this to 5 people and you will (select one)__win money; __have good luck __have bad luck if you don’t; __save a little girl; __get a free meal at Applebees; __save the world from liberals like travellinbaen? And why haven’t these people bookmarked Snopes yet?
- Who starts chain emails, urban myths, and traffic jams?
- What program, major or minor have liberals passed at the Federal level without Republican help since the 1970’s? I would argue none since Republicans had the Presidency from 1980 to 1992 and 2000-2008, a Republican majority in Congress from 1994-2006, and a filibuster proof Senate since 06. The one chance the liberals had was during Clinton’s first two years and all they managed was to allow gays to stay in the military where they had always been. So here’s what I’d like explained: how can someone say the liberals or radicals are going to be so bad? I’d like to see them pass something radical myself–Social Security, the Clean Water Act, OSHA, establishment of EPA, the Civil Rights Act…these radical plans turned out ok. The Republicans sure didn’t abolish any of them when they were ascendant, though to be fair, a few did talk about getting rid of Social Security briefly.
- Math
Quote of the Day ”To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.” –Benjamin Disraeli
Bonus Quote of the Day ”A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or others crazy?” –Albert Einstein
Categories: Humor · Life · Politics · Uncategorized
Tagged: chain letters, computers, Disraeli, driving, Einstein, Election, email, gas prices, Humor, John McCain, liberals, math, Politics, progressive, Republicans, sausage, tax deductions, taxes, traffic jams, urban myths
