Last night Bush showed me why Obama will win this election. There was nothing of any interest in Bush's talk whatsoever. We've heard it all before and none of it changes anything.
Cursed earmarks! Who cares? In fact none of the electable candidates give us any sense of anything new at all--except Obama. That's not an endorsement; it's an observation of why he will win the election.
Frankly, he scares me a little. I like his heart. I like his priorities. I'm a little afraid of what it would look like in reality.
Economy--I think taxation tends to cripple an economy. That's why an Obama scares me in this area even more than a Clinton. But by the same token, this 600 dollar stimulus package, funded courtesy of money borrowed from China, makes no sense to me at all. Strangely, Huckabee has made the most sense to me on this issue.
Foreign Policy--Obama will immediately go light years toward healing our relationships with the rest of the world. I hope he will not plot some precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. Ironically, although our invasion of Iraq was the defining stupidity of Bush's entire presidency, I am not gun ho about setting timelines. We screwed up. We bear some responsibility for the damage control.
Education--Obama will heal the short sighted approach to education known as "No Child Left Behind." Tell me, is it more important for a student to be able to know how to get along with others and fit into the world or to get a good score on a Geometry test. You take the test in Algebra 2, Bush, and if you pass we'll talk about what is most important to learn in the public schools to succeed in life.
Immigration--It is hypocritical in the extreme for Americans to get indignant about illegal immigration. We have looked the other way for twenty years, and businesses have been happy to have the cheap labor. We bear some blame for this problem, and now we're going to get "righteously indignant" that they're here--especially big business Republicans. Go take a log out of your own eye.
The Christian attitude to have is to be compassionate toward the non-criminal illegals. I guarantee we can find sins you commit equal to their crossing the border against the law (ever walked along a train track--it's against the law). In God's eyes, you're not worth one dime more than them. And the only practical thing to do is to secure the borders and find a way to mainstream the good people who are here. Say what you want, but this issue teems with hypocrisy, prejudice, and economic suicide.
Health Care--There are smart enough people to figure out how to insure everyone without killing the economy or watering down quality. Politics is the only thing that keeps such things from happening. This will happen. The question is how.
Environment--Whatever you attribute it to, the climate is warming in ways that are going to change the complexion of the planet significantly in the next 50 years. My advice, move away from Florida. Those expensive beach properties are going under water.
The only appropriate course of action is to work aggressively on the use of hydrocarbons. And why not, we should be working on technology that eliminates our use of oil period, foreign and domestic. The ethanol kick is a joke.
If I had the time, resources, and know how, I'd be building a pedal powered car to go back and forth to work in right now. Yes, you could finagle the gear ratios and maybe give a little help with a battery to go 40 and 50 miles an hour without great effort. Man, I'd love to build something likethis and stick it to the oil industry and OPEC. Again, only big business has kept the right things from happening in these areas.
My thoughts, filled with my frustration with how politics nurtures insanity.
5 comments:
Daaaang, you get my endorsement Dr. K.S. I think I'm right with you on most of these.
I will ask: How do you think we can face off with climate change issue without significant taxes (cap-and-trade still being a "tax")?
They do already have a pedal-powered transportation unit, you know. Well, I suppose you'd better wait until these winter storms die down a little :) Either that, or join the scooter brigade (oh wait, you have kids) or join the IWU Prius brigade (oh wait, you have kids).
Thanks for the (non) highlights.
Do they have one with a shell around it? None of my original thoughts are ever original, as you know. I've seen the fancy lean back bikes, but do they have pedal powered ones you can drive on the by pass?
I guess I see a tax on emissions a little like a tax on cigarettes--if you switch to alternatives, you're not going to be taxed as much.
I will restrain comments on Obama and most of these issues that I have already taken position on...but on the economy:
--I think high taxes can make the economy sluggish but we must remember that some of our greatest competitors have higher taxes than we do...
--To me economically the more important issue is the deficit and national debt. Borrowing billions from China keeps today's economy from becoming sluggish but it does so at the expense of our children's lives... this is Bush's greatest economic sin--he took a nation that was paying DOWN the national debt under a lecherous Democrat President and put the whole economy in the toilet... then borrowed money for tax cuts so we can think we are living well when we're only living on a a national credit card and expect our children to pay it off.
The students I teach in college have a huge debt to pay--either to pay down the debt with huge taxes that we transferred to them by cutting them for ourselves... or they are headed for a a greatly slimmed down lifestyle... so we gradually become more like China and India instead of Japan and Germany.
I know, I know..I sound like a Deficit Hawk in McCain's corner... and I guess on THIS issue I am... for me at least it is morally wrong to spend money wildly and hand the bill to my students and grandchildren.
If you try to take a bike on the by-pass, you will surely die. Please do not die. However, from your 'hood, Becky and I took "D" street to 9th to the Cardinal Greenway to Nebraska to IWU for a semester and it wasn't too bad :)
Heck, you can barely walk on the by-pass. The sidewalks are intermittent - I'm sure they were an afterthought in the development planning.
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the professors in the new university village housing development can't bike the >1 mile to campus without extreme traffic.
Good point, Dr. Drury. Few people realize that an irresponsible fiscal policy affects more than just luxuries and items of comfort. Think of our priorities right now. When you consider all the things that we're NOT spending money on--food, medicine, education--the deficit really is a matter of life and death.
And do people really believe the oft-stated claims that cutting taxes actually increases revenues, making our national budget better? If so then we could cut the tax rates to 0% and revenues ought to shoot sky high. The argument seems a little suspect.
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