Hope and Change?

I saw a sign today hanging on someone's tree that read: "No Hope; No Change; No Democrats" and couldn't help but ponder that statement. After some critical thinking (something few people seem to have the ability to do these days), I decided that the sign was just wrong and whoever it was that hung it for all to see is probably as ignorant as those babbling lunatics on Faux News.

Think about it, the whole "Hope and Change" thing came around when Obama was running for prez two years ago. So have we seen "Hope and Change" in these two years? I say yes. Here's why:

1. We're out of Iraq (for the most part anyway; we're at least done fighting there). Two years ago, we didn't even have an exit strategy. As far as everyone was concerned at the time, we were just going to be there forever. That has since CHANGED. And we have a plan for the war in Afghanistan - a welcome CHANGE from two years that makes me HOPEful we'll actually see an end to that waste of time and lives.

2. Despite constant antagonization from the other party, we've managed to pass health care reform. That makes me HOPEful that we'll actually see some good things in the years to come. If nothing, the CHANGEs it has already brought with it have forced the insurance companies to play nicer and quit denying people with "preexisting conditions." Some twenty-plus million people now have access to coverage who didn't have that option a couple years ago.

3. Our financial system has been smacked with some seriously beneficial regulations. Have you looked at your credit card statement lately? It's easier to understand now, thanks to the new regulations which also just so happen to force creditors to play nicer such as by granting a mandatory grace period and applying payments over the minimum to the highest interest-bearing balances first. Now that's CHANGE I can believe in.

4. Despite the fears many NRA-membership-boasting conservatives had a couple years ago, gun control has actually gone their way via multiple rulings by the supreme court and by the assault weapons ban expiring. In fact, to my knowledge, not a single piece of gun control legislation has been passed by this administration. And at the local level, Iowa, under a democratic administration, has actually made it EASIER to obtain a concealed carry permit. I'd say the archaic view of Democrats being gun-melting, NRA haters is behind us. Give it up, Sarah Palin.

5. Here in Iowa, our governor is a Democrat. Terry Branstad, one of our previous governors, is running against him largely on the topic of state finances. Branstad claims the state budget is in disrepair and it's high time for a change. Not sure where his information is coming from because a recent report revealed that Iowa's finances are run better than 47 other states, and the state's unemployment, though still at 6.8%, is still better than 42 other states'. We closed this fiscal year with $335 million left (even better than the $100 million we were projected to finish with) and another $419 million in reserves. And next year looks even better. I don't know where Governor Branstad thinks the $1 billion deficit is coming from, but it's not from this budget.

So the "No Hope, No Change" claim, I'm afraid, is bullshit. We've had plenty of change lately, most of it for the better. Yeah, maybe things are still tough, but that's life. We're heading in the right direction and a little patience will go a long way. The most negative change I've seen is from the Republican side with all their efforts to incite anger, hatred, intolerance (think NYC mosque, Don't ask/don't tell policy), divisiveness and partisanship (think every day in congress), dishonesty, and ignorance (think every political ad on TV).

Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that Democrats are in real trouble this election because nobody has any fucking patience and the Repubs have done a great job of scaring everyone shitless.

Obama looking forward to a "Post-America World"?

This photo is from a forwarded email I received from a staunch Republican friend who commonly sends me shit like this. The first lines of the email read: "If each person sends this to a minimum of twenty people on their address list, in three days, all people in The United States of America would have the message. I believe this is one proposal that really should be passed around."

The email goes on to say: "The name of the book Obama is reading is called: The Post-American World, and it was written by a fellow Muslim. "Post" America means the world After America! Please forward this picture to everyone you know, conservative or liberal. We must expose Obama's radical ideas and his intent to bring down our beloved America!"

Well, I couldn't agree more. This should be sent to everyone in America...with the right information to accompany the photograph. And it should be sent back to every ignorant, mindless propaganda-forwarder with a caption that reads, "Get the facts, you moron."

A little research (accomplished in less time it takes to have a sip of coffee) reveals that yes, the book is real (no surprise there) but the rest of the information in the email is bullshit.

According to a Snopes article, the book is neither Muslim nor does it have anything to do with the fall of "our beloved America." Quite the contrary actually. The book, written by an Indian-born (but now a naturalized, legal US citizen) political journalist is actually an optimistic view of the 21st century and its future. It's not about the decline of America, but the rise of everyone else: the growing prosperity of developing countries, the associated decline of violence...things of that nature. In fact, the book predicts that despite some blunders at home and abroad, America will stay strong.

Well, that's hardly fodder for the likes of Limbaugh and Beck. Yet their disciples continue to forward crap like this photo, complete with outright bullshit descriptions to accompany it. No wonder fewer and fewer people are taking the Republican party seriously these days.

Advertisers are avoiding the Crazy Tree

Looks like an awful lot of advertisers want to avoid getting hit by the rotten fruit falling from the Crazy Tree. Somewhere between 20 and three dozen major advertisers (including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Travelocity) have insisted their ads not run during Glenn Beck's show on Fox News (here's one article on it). Why? Because he took his anti-Obama rants a touch too far and apparently really alienated some people. Seriously guys, cool off a bit and start making some intelligent, fact-based arguments and maybe you'll scrape up some semblance of credibility before 2012. Fail, and you're doomed to another four years of barking up a dead crazy tree.

The Dying Party

Seriously, what is the deal with the frenzy that the health care issue has caused? I see on the news where people are screaming and yelling at congressmen in "town hall meetings" or whatever you want to call them. Then there are people out there claiming that the new legislation promotes euthanasia (or as Sarah Palin put it, "Obama's Death Panel") and takes away Medicare, and...you name it, someone has made the claim. I even heard that the new legislation has Nazi influences. Euthanasia? Nazis? Really?

Obviously, by sheer merit of there being so many conflicting claims of what the legislation actually posesses within its pages, there must be some misinformation out there. But why? Who makes up those faulty claims? And who perpetuates them? Why?

Who: Republicans mostly.
Why: 1) because they're pissed that, if this passes, and works, they won't get credit for dealing with a f***ed up system when they should have (i.e. sometime between 2000 and 2008)...and 2) because if this passes, and works, their already floundering party will be rendered completely irrelevant and they'll have next to zero chance of regaining any significant political power for at least a generation.

That's just my opinion - formed largely on the basis that with every new effort, the Republican party looks more and more desparate. Rush Limbaugh sunk so low (as if "lower" was possible) as to claim the Dems have Nazi ties; Fox News had some guy in a "Crazy Tree" with a whiteboard basically claiming Obama was a Communist; and Rep. Virginia Fox (R-NC) was shown on C-SPAN claiming the legislation promotes euthanasia. And to think some people buy this crap...and still vote for the people who make it up.

All the while, these same people are doing everything in their power to prevent the single most beneficial piece of legislation this country (and maybe world) has ever had the opportunity to put in place to solve an awful lot of our problems: The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). Through this bill, we could create millions of jobs in the clean energy sector, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and actually make strides toward combating global climate change. That one bill has the potential to pull us out of the recession by creating jobs that cannot be outsourced, transition us to a clean energy economy, break our slavery to oil-producing nations (another benefit to the economy), and start addressing the single biggest threat to the human species we've ever faced. But the Republicans fight tooth and nail to prevent this bill from passing.

Even if the Republicans do get their way, and Obama fails...it will be too late for them to do anything about it and their party will collapse anyway...only it will bring the rest of the country with it.

Tale of the Tape clarification - with sources

So there's this nice little email floating around that compares Sarah Palin to Barack Obama. It can be found on Redstate (and can also be found on this blog - where I posted this rebuttal). The post is very superficial so I had to take the opportunity to address some of those comparisons AND back them up with the sources - something the original post does not do.

Current job: Palin - Governor of Alaska (population 683,478); Obama - Junior Senator from Illinois (population 12,852,548).

Previous public jobs: Obama - Community organizer (of the grassroots kind that won women's suffrage, ended slavery, keeps the Red Cross going, funds the NRA, and gives the 'common man' a voice in DC).

Dealing with corrupt individuals: Palin - Received gobs of media attention by resigning as chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission after deciding that she hated the structured hours, commute, and $122,400 salary - a job that was handed to her by then-governor Murkowski even though she had no qualifications for it. Upon finding out that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) had engaged in some unethical behavior, she used her resignation as a strategic media-grab opportunity to garner her the reputation as an 'ethics reformer' (source).

Earmarks: Palin - "Opposed bridge to nowhere" only AFTER supporting it to win votes.

Said Alaska should avoid relying on federal money for projects, yet she employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 MILLION in federal earmarks for her town of 6,700 people while she was mayor.

Energy: Palin - believes energy independence is a matter of national security; for drilling in ANWR (even though McCain is not). The problem is that drilling, unfortunately, will not solve anything. According to Energy Information Administration, "It is expected that the price impact of ANWR coastal plain production might reduce world oil prices by as much as 30 to 50 cents per barrel [in 2025]." There are 42 gallons in a barrel - so basically that translates into a penny or so per gallon. "Don’t spend it all in one place, American public!"

Environment: Palin - Announced plans to...address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in AK - even though she is "not one to attribute it to being man-made."

Oh and where's the mention of her stance on polar bears and their subsequent federal protection? In her own words, "I strongly believe that adding polar bears to the list under the Endangered Species Act is the wrong move at this time." Oh, so they're not in danger? I must've missed that memo.

Obama on energy - He's surrounded himself with A-list advisors and it just so happens that he has a legitimate, comprehensive, sensible AND sustainable energy plan backed by plenty in the environmental scene.

On a final note, be sure to dig a bit deeper for the facts, then make a decision. Don't base a vote on a shallow, superficial email floating around.