Politics

Politics, political discourse, rights and freedoms.

Miscalculation

April 7, 2005

The Washington Post has a story today confirming a memo laying out the perceived political benefits to be gained from the Senate's intervention in the Terri Schiavo case. After weeks of disclaiming political motives the memo puts the lie to the story.

Of course the polls on the subject suggest that the desired political outcome was an all-around miss. "This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue," the memo states. Polls taken a few days later suggest a majority of Evangelical Christians felt the Senate's action was wrong.

Who will pay?

March 28, 2005

Last week brought us several news stories of great sadness. In Red Lake a teenager committed a horrendous killing in his school. The week began with President Bush signing into law a piece of legislation allowing Federal Courts to intervene in the case of Terry Schiavo. And the Social Security Trustees' 2005 Report was released.

This may seem an odd pairing of events to contemplate. However, the report by the Social Security Trustees clearly shows America is coming to a crisis point. The need for action is immediate and the consequences of inaction are severe. The problem lies not with Social Security, but with Medicare. While several hundred hours were spent by politicians last week attempting to weaken the sanctity of marriage by inserting the government between a couple's wedding vows, little time was spent on the coming medicare calamity.

"The financial outlook for Social Security has improved marginally since 2000," wrote trustees Thomas Saving(R) and John Palmer(D). "In sharp contrast, Medicare's financial outlook has deteriorated dramatically over the past five years and is now much worse that Social Security's." What is missing from the current conversations about saving Social Security is this comparison. Social Security will reach the point where benefits exceed tax revenue by 2017. Medicare reached that point last year. The Social Security trust fund is projected to be exhausted by 2041 while projections place the date at 2019 for Medicare's trust fund.

Medicare is headed for a catastrophic situation with potentially devastating consequences for Americans and our government is more concerned with undoing marriage vows between a husband and wife.

Schiavo and the Senate

March 24, 2005

This article suggests both sides of the fight over judicial nominations may gain arguments from the Schiavo case. On the liberal side of the isle the case serves to support the idea that we need strong non-political judges to stand up to Congress. On the conservative side of the isle arguments come that the judiciary has overstepped their role. One important point in all of this is that the courts did what a strong majority of Americans want. Across the board, including evangelical Christians a majority of Americans support the right of a family to make family decisions in private and not have the Congress step in.

Republicans in the Senate are pushing to drop filibusters on judicial nominations so that controversial nominees can be more easily appointed. It is important to remember, however, that the Bush Administration has named judges who can't keep their licenses current for these positions.

Nevada political happenings

February 10, 2005

The Committee to regulate and control marijuana is unhappy with Nevada Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins' comments at the opening of the 2005 session of the Nevada Legislature.

Meanwhile on the National scene The Red State Rebel takes issue with the GOP's anti-Harry Reid memo from earlier this week. Among other things the memo labels Reid's efforts to block conservative judicial appointments as blocking a Republican "talkathon," on delaying tactics.

State of Fear by Michael Crichton

December 26, 2004

Traveling over the holidays gave me some time to catch up on listening to audiobooks. On the way home tonight I finished Michael Crichton's State of Fear. Wow. A lot to think about.

There is a central theme I'm sure I agree with. We must find a way to separate the funding of scientific research from the political process. Especially as the political process of the United States increasingly falls into religious realms the problems become greater. When we can label a disease such as AIDS as a "sinners" disease (and yes I know that is not proper, but it is an observation not an endorsement) it becomes easier to dismiss it as something that doesn't impact people like me, and therefore it can be ignored. With today's political funding of scientific research we're more likely to get the results that are desired by the funders than those representative of independent investigation.

Juris Prudence

November 17, 2004

"The issue is not whether the decision should have been decided in the Florida or U.S. supreme courts, but that the Constitution had been violated. ... The only decision was to put an end to it after three weeks and looking like fools to the rest of the world. It was too much of a mess." said Justice Antonin Scalia.

There is an old addage that says it's better to keep one's mouth shut and let people think you a fool than open your mouth and prove it. Thanks to Justice Scalia for collectively proving to the world what they only thought until then.

Of web policy and foreign policy

October 28, 2004

Today the news comes that the campaign website for George W. Bush is blocking traffic from outside the US. The change means that for "security reasons" those outside the United States cannot view the site. So the short version of the story is that the man wishing to be elected by the American people to lead (and defend) our country, cannot get security experts who can secure their websites.

Are taxpayers being duped into paying for George Bush's reelection?

October 23, 2004

As the Internet has grown (into multiple internets according to a recent presidential malaprop) the White House has always had a site. Not surprisingly this is a site paid for by the citizens of the country. There are collections of information on the site. One of those documents includes this March 2002 press release in which President George W. Bush says about Osama Bin Laden, "I don't know where he is.  I  --  I'll repeat what I said.  I truly am not that concerned about him."

One might be tempted to look this up after the recent debate where the same President lied to the people once again and said that he'd never said such a thing. The problem is you would have a tough time finding it if you went to look at the March 2002 press releases. Here are three images from February, March and April 2002's Press Release pages on the website.

So it all boils down to a government official trying to change the story on what they did in the past.

A passing grade?

October 8, 2004

It's pretty scary to think that nearly half of the residents of the United States give W a passing grade on being president. When will folks wake up to the real record he has on defending America?

Maybe there are just too many people overcome by Bush II's speaking abilities.

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