Trust

Here we go again - someone restarted the Spin Cycle.

I've been seeing an awful lot of angry feedback about the ABC interview focusing on how the Media can't be trusted, they are so "liberal," "slanted," and using a "double-standard"; they "always get it wrong," and "nobody trusts the Media anyway." One comment I read obnoxiously stated that "...she could have bombed it and nobody would care either way..."

I just want to say this: aren't we focusing on the wrong issue?

We already know (or should know) the weaknesses and limitations of the Media. Yet the question in point remains: Can you trust the Candidate?

Tension Breaker

And now for something a little lighter...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3aMDJP4VxY4&feature=related

Let's Bomb the Russians Too

If you were not frightened earlier, you should be after the Charlie Gibson interview....which could have aired on primetime as "Dancing with Sarah Palin."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNPGnZurs1k

I encourage everyone to watch Part 1 of the recent ABC interview. Candidate Palin just showed the entire viewing public that she really hasn't a clue about foreign affairs, let alone our current administration's policies.

At one point, Charlie asks her what her interpretation of the Bush Doctrine is.

"His world view?" she responds, testily.

Well...not exactly. Charlie proceeds to spoon feed her. At that point I am squirming with utter discomfort - not for her mind you - but for the rest of us. A cold shiver ran down my spine. You could almost see her saying to herself "Oh...you mean that pre-emptive strike thing."

She not only made hardline statements about how we should conduct foreign policy, but just about threatened conflict with Russia. In the meantime, she really never answered any of the national security questions, instead dancing around and deflecting to "energy independence."

Yes Sarah, we ALL know you recognize what OIL is. Now it's time to find out what DIPLOMACY is.

Well done, Candidate Palin.

p.s. My condolences to the team that coached her before this interview. They probably just lost their jobs.

The Final Sense

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953

I recently heard a reading of his "Chance for Peace" speech, part of which I quoted above. I was really moved by some of the forward-looking commentary, considering the context within which it was delivered.

Election Frustration, Part II

Here's Part 2 of a recent rant:

Actually {name withheld}, that is one thing we can both agree on - it's what I was trying to say in my initial wrap up below - Americans do get the government they deserve - there is no doubt there. But when 51% determines the fate of the other 49%, it's a scary precipice to be teetering over. It is now time to change this fate.

In the current scenario, if we're going to be this blind, this distracted, then we truly deserve Sarah Palin (we know who everyone's coming out to rallies to see - it's not McCain). I repeat - Americans love a good hanging. I just wish they would instead start hanging the establishment and abolish the 2-Party deadlock.

To me, and to many hopeful Americans, Obama represents the most forward-looking candidate we've had in decades. I'm as cynical as they come, so I don't realistically think he's going to get all his promises accomplished. No President EVER has (FDR perhaps coming closest). But he will try, and he has a Democratic-majority in Congress to support his policies. It's our absolute best chance at changing the face of America, and domestic and foreign policy over the next 4-8 years. And perhaps we can show the ever growing minority segment of our population that there is hope for making a difference in an otherwise scared white establishment.

Indeed government control of health care scares me to some degree, but frankly not as much as the system we currently live with. The state of health care in this country may look rosy to the privileged few, but to most citizens it seems utterly unsustainable. Insurance costs increasing at double digit percentages each year. Millions of uninsured citizens, including a generation of otherwise healthy 20-somethings that is forgoing health insurance because it costs too much (a potentially catastrophic future problem). Insurance companies making record profits while doctors are financially punished, and are fleeing malpractice lawsuits left and right. Assembly line treatment at your physician's office, where the proper tests may not be ordered because they cost too much. Small businesses that can't afford to cover their workforce, or pass a large percentage of that cost onto them. It's an insane mess. Government has sat back and accepted special interest money and let it grow into a totally out-of-control situation.

Clearly there is no simple solution to this. I don't believe that Obama is necessarily proposing, for the long term, an entirely government-controlled health care system. We certainly need to look to other countries' examples, and realize that collective health care CAN work, and work well. We need to stop being so scared of change, stop paying insurance companies to jerk us around, stop conceeding to corrupt corporations, and reform this system. There needs to be accountability, if nothing else. If you compare some of USA health care stats to countries with "socialized" medicine, you'll note that we are beat out time and time again.

Why? FOR PROFIT INDUSTRY. Our system is completely at odds with the Hippocratic Oath.

So I just don't see how the GOP is looking forward at this issue. Abating the scare of "socialized medicine" does not solve a looming crisis.

Just because they have nominated a woman (and let's consider how many years it took the GOP to do that after the Dems nominated G. Ferraro) does not mean they are looking to change anything. They've picked someone who has a background and position that resonates with the far-right (who IMHO must be the most narrow-minded voting block there is). The fact that she is a woman is merely a sensational trump card in a truly historic campaign, where very real boundaries have already been broken by Senator Clinton. Let's also not forget that Palin never had to campaign for the VP nomination - she was plucked out of her remote Alaskan village and seated at the right hand of the father.

Most of what Palin represents really scares the bejesus out of me. I can't actually speak for modern women in this Nation, but I know that if I traded my Y for an X, I'd be feeling pretty uneasy right now about this person representing me. In fact, I think I'd be insulted.

Palin does not reflect change when her positions suggest such antiquated ideals. Overturn Roe v. Wade? Rape the environment to drill all the crude we can squeeze out of the ground? Teach Creationism? Restrict Choice? Shield children from proper sex-education? Teach Abstinence to teenagers instead of contraception - in 2008? You might as well ask rabbits to politely refrain from reproducing. She needs to seriously wake up. Let's solve social problems by educating people, not burying our heads in sand and pretending we're not human! These are not conservative policies, they're ludicrous policies. Bristol Palin seems to me a poster child for why such policies don't work. (Sarah was perhaps so busy lobbying for that Bridge to Nowhere that she forgot to give Bristol the abstinence policy notes).

As far as I'm concerned, "moral" hypocrisy IS an issue in this campaign. If you live by that moral sword, you should be prepared to die by it too (figuratively speaking, of course). By this I mean that if the same shoe was on Hillary's foot, the Right would NOT be making such excuses for Hillary. They'd be making political hay. They would pillory her from their "family values" pulpit from here to Sunday. It is hypocrisy at it's extreme, and I just can't stomach the bull any longer. Obama came right out and tried to re-direct attention away from this issue. But the Dems could have made this a much bigger stink. I'm partly glad they took the high ground here, but considering the cheap shots and hostile tactics being used against them regularly, they could very well loose the election for being the "nice guys".

So I may represent part of what the Right likes to call the "intellectual elite," but frankly in this day and age I'd rather be accused of having thought through a policy decision using logic, than be seen as praying for supernatural intervention to inspire the right course of action. I see the very same strain of misguided hubris in Palin that we saw in Bush...perhaps even more so. Can America really afford for her to be a heartbeat away from the Highest Office in the Land?

Heaven indeed help us.

Election Frustration

I know I haven't posted in a while. OK, a looong while. But I have been writing a lot of emails to friends and family recently, expressing some perspective on the recent election developments, especially in this post-convention period. So I thought I'd begin sharing some of those thoughts here. I'm only going to present my own views to protect the innocent (and guilty). Here's Part I of a recent rant:

I don't know about you, but I am utterly flabbergasted at the tune being played by the GOP in recent weeks. I think we need to pause, take a deep breath, and remember that it's absolutely essential we remain aware of the facts - not just the spin - about so called "outsiders" and "reformers" who are going to swoop in and change Washington politics for the better.

Clearly each side shares equal portions of guilt in the climate of out-of-control, pork barrel spending. But I'm sick and tired of accusations of "flip-flopping" and other bunk claims against the "liberals" when we need to remind ourselves of Washington realities:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080911/pl_bloomberg/alulrclkxig4

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/10/palin.earmarks/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/10/earmark.check/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/09/palin.earmarks/index.html#cnnSTCText

[Oh, and let's keep training that GOP Pit bull to spin her history, because the media is (rightfully) going to skewer her, otherwise:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a7ZOLqyDWVsc]

I should note here that Bloomberg and CNN are not exactly the most Liberal part of the "Liberal Media Conspiracy".

I could post another dozen news articles like the ones above exposing Palin (and the McCain campaign) as playing fast and loose with the truth. These folks are unabashed liars. And they are so desperate to win, the campaign has decided that if they just repeat the lies enough times people will continue to believe them - even when presented with the truth.

This seems to be working, and I for one am physically sickened by it. I am embarrassed that Americans can continue to live in this world and be so blind to its realities. There are plenty of sources of information but some people (frustratingly) continue to look to campaign speeches for facts instead of the actual record.

For instance, Palin's record speaks for itself - just not the same message you're hearing tossed out at every campaign stop, over and over, and over again. (Let's hear that folksy "Thanks...but No Thanks" slogan once again, Sarah.) The campaign has masterfully ignored recent history, re-casting Palin as a champion of reform instead of just another politician with hands in Washington (e.g. OUR) pockets. In fact even now she is actively pursuing additional millions in earmarks for Alaska. She may not entertain lobbyists in her Juneau office, but the Alaska "delegation" in Washington has no trouble with them. Let's get real and call a spade a spade, shall we?

I really expected a much more honorable and honest approach from John McCain at the beginning. I actually held a lot of respect for the man. But when his hand looked too weak to win, he began to bluff. He hopped right on board the Goebbels Express with the rest of the GOP propagandists, and he's towing the party line like never before. In the past several weeks, truth has become a long-forgotten casualty, and continues to be cast aside, utterly...callously.

I don't think I've ever witnessed such boldfaced hypocrisy. They claim to be so "outraged" at out-of-context "lipstick on pig" comments? COME ON PEOPLE. It's probably the most overused turn of phrase in Washington. It's completely irrelevant. But desperate situations call for desperate plays, don't they? So we have to realize who's playing gender politics now.

Sadly, it works. It's sensational. It pushes our emotional hot buttons. Americans love a good hanging, and refuse to look past the distraction. Remember the Wizard of Oz? When are we going to start looking for the guy behind the curtain?

In the end I readily acknowledge that it's entirely possible that this GOP ticket is going to win the election. They're running a very clever and overtly deceptive campaign that is focusing on irrational fears and cosmetic issues that appeal broadly to the less informed amongst us, rather than the substantial issues that will affect those same uninformed people directly, in the long term: health care, economy, foreign policy, etc. I give the GOP credit - they may not be so good at governing, but they're damn good at distracting us from the real issues, the real crises. If this was a football game - where truly the only goal is to win - they'd be winning the game, because they've got a fatter book of trick plays. Unfortunately, in an election there's much more at stake than a Super Bowl ring and a trip to Disneyland.

It's probably a disappointing reality that approximately half of us continue to cling to an America of The Past in world that is rapidly leaving that idealism behind. It seems that regardless of how bad the situation gets, they remain bound and determined to drag the America of the Future down with them.