Category: government

Sarah Palin not guilty, for once

On By Rick McIn government2 Comments

President Palin is a reckless menace. But to blame the shooting of tragic shooting in Tucson of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others by an Army trained a deranged kook is taking it too far, even for me.

Here’s the graphic posted on her Facebook last year. It targets Gabrielle Gifford’s Arizona district.

She’s all unrepentant bluster. The closest I’ve seen to a renunciation of the killings was in an email to Glenn Beck:

“I hate violence. I hate war. Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence. Thanks for all you do to send the message of truth and love. And God has the answer. – Sarah”

This tragedy is not a reason to shun candidate Palin.

The reason not to vote for her is that her IQ is too low for the job. She’s neither quick witted enough nor diplomatic enough to be President. And as her administration flounders, she’ll gladly take the USA to another unWINable war that the US taxpayers can’t afford.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” reality TV show will be canceled after the first season. And she will fade into Fox News pundit oblivion.

has America’s obsession with the Middle East been worth it?

On By Rick McIn governmentLeave a comment

Economist does a nice summing up of the mess …

THE Middle East holds a giant chunk of the world’s energy reserves, and also generates its biggest political headaches. Small wonder that the United States has long had an outsize interest in the place.

Since September 11th 2001, and the rise of radical Islam as the sole violent challenge to an American-shaped international order, America’s focus on the region between the Nile and the Indus rivers has been obsessive. Yet all the attention would seem to have been in vain. America’s influence has dwindled everywhere with the financial crisis and the rise of emerging powers. But it seems to be withering faster in the Middle East than anywhere else. …

Is there any hope of getting out of the “Mesopotamia“. Economist doesn’t think so.

Four thousand reasons to be a pacifist

The conclusion:

… At the same time, the two things most consistently cited by Arabs and Muslims as their main objections to America—and which therefore serve as the biggest rallying calls to jihad—are its support for Israel and the regional presence of American forces. Neither of these is likely to change. That may one day lead Americans to ask why they invest so much in a troubled region with such poor returns. …

Great sacrifices, small rewards

American 2010 debt $10,429.64

On By Rick McIn economics, governmentLeave a comment

They owe $10,429.64 in new debt for each and every one of the 308,745,538 people counted in the United States by the 2010 Census.


111th Congress Added More Debt Than First 100 Congresses Combined: $10,429 Per Person in U.S.

Does the American debt really matter?

Ask the folks in Argentina and the PIGS: Portugal, Iceland, Greece, and Spain.

good day for Obama

On By Rick McIn good news, government, things getting betterLeave a comment

Congrats Mr. President.

Globe and Mail – Obama finding a way through the legislative ‘gridlock’

Though most of the positive press features DADT, I’m far happier about the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). A symbolic event, perhaps.

But if it ever comes to nuclear war, we need Russia and USA to stand together against the aggressor.

START is a step forward, supported by former President George H. W. Bush and all six former Republican Secretaries of State.

I want to thank the 13 Republicans who defied their party’s leadership, voting to ratify the treaty.

… Before we get excited that the USA has got their act together, check the latest misguided CIA initiative:

WikiLeaks Task Force = … WTF

Is there a brain in that organization? WTF ??

faint hope for USA politics

On By Rick McIn government, things getting better2 Comments

I was close to declaring the highly entertaining American political scene dead to me.

A two party system constantly polarized is usually deadlocked.

Deadlocked in a fiscal death spiral.

Yet something happened:

… Eight Republican Senators voted in favor of repeal of DADT (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell): Scott Brown (Mass.); Richard Burr (NC); Susan Collins (of Maine, and a co-sponsor of the repeal effort); John Ensign (Nevada); Mark Kirk (Illinois); Lisa Murkowski (Alaska); Olympia Snowe (Maine) and George Voinovich of Ohio.

I’m impressed. Nevada. Alaska.

Those are politicians with guts. They could have taken the easy way out. As McCain did:

McCain’s vigorous opposition to the DADT repeal is not the first time he’s found himself swimming against the tide of history. As a congressman in 1983, he voted against the creation of a federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — a vote he later regretted.

“On the Martin Luther King issue, we all learn, OK? We all learn,” he told NBC in 1999, discussing his vote. “I will admit to learning, and I hope that the people that I represent appreciate that, too. I voted in 1983 against the recognition of Martin Luther King….I regret that vote.” …

The Atlantic

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was not the most important issue facing the USA.

This was the right decision. Let’s hope they can move forward with more good decisions, rather than continue to stagnate.

Bill of Rights in Cyberspace

On By Rick McIn government, internet, things getting worse1 Comment

There are many Bills of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for example.

Jeff Jarvis is working on a Bill of Rights for the internet:

I. We have the right to connect.
II. We have the right to speak freely.
III. We have the right to assemble and act.
IV. Information should be public by default, secret by necessity.
V. What is public is a public good.
VI. All bits are created equal.
VII. The internet shall be operated openly.

I think he’s more on the right track than anyone else.

Corporations often try to deny you those rights to maximize their profits. Especially internet service providers.

Politicians try to deny you those rights when corporate lobbyists buy their votes.

Citizens will have to demand their “rights” online, or they’ll be eroded. … Imagine a nation where you must log-in to the internet with a passport, and the only website you can access is the Central Propaganda Department.

Read more – Bill of Rights in Cyberspace, amended

Things are getting worse on the internet right now. I’d like to think it will sort itself out in the end. Eventually people will demand freedom. Politicians will still pocket money from lobbyists, but explain they can only do so much.

what Confucius Peace Award?

On By Rick McIn ethics, governmentLeave a comment

Beijing blundered. This is funny.

Irked that jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize, they created a competing award called The Confucius Peace Prize.

I’d be happy to accept the $15,000 cash prize and two Pandas. But they chose instead a Taiwanese Lien Chan for fostering relations with the motherland.

… Only problem, they seem to have forgotten to tell the winner.

Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan’s (連戰) office yesterday dismissed a report by The Associated Press (AP) that Beijing had chosen him as the recipient of the Confucius Peace Award and would award him the prize today.

“We’ve never heard of such an award and of course Mr Lien has no plans to accept it,” said Ting Yuan-chao (丁遠超), director and spokesman of Lien’s office. …

Taipei Times

job in Nova Scotia $243,000/yr

On By Rick McIn government, things getting worse1 Comment

Hey Anne,

You should run for the job of chief of the Glooscap First Nation northwest of Halifax.

Tax free, of course.

You’d be replacing this lady.

It’s hard work, though, as that band has 87 people.

… Maybe you’re better off to only run for councilor, a job paying between $210,000 and $260,000.

Isn’t Canada a great country?

important anti-bullying video

On By Rick McIn government, TVLeave a comment

Powerful.

Part of the noh8 campaign, in reaction to gay suicides and the November 4, 2008 Proposition 8 ban of same-sex marriages in California.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Jon Stewart ripped John McCain a new one on Monday night. McCain has waffled back and forth on a no win issue for Republicans, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

His wife, Cindy, appeared in that video saying:

… “Our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future … They can’t serve our country openly,” she said on the video.

Then later tweeted:

“I fully support the NOH8 campaign and all it stands for and am proud to be a part of it. But I stand by my husband’s stance on DADT,”

You can’t have it both ways, Cindy.

Cindy McCain

McCain’s daughter wants DADT repealed. Must make for some awkward family meals.


noh8campaign.com

need a passport to get on the internet?

On By Rick McIn government, internet, things getting worse1 Comment

One day we’ll wish we listened more closely to Cory Doctorow and Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig, two spokesmen who can explain today why your internet freedom is at risk. And why copyright law is the beginning of the end.

Thought provoking.

One entertaining example of the benefits of free internet: a TED talk –Re-examining the remix

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube (20min).

There’s a war happening right now and most people don’t realize it. Dinosaurs fighting change. … I really hope dinosaurs go extinct.

Governments have a big role to play in deciding internet freedom. Many of the American politicians who supported a free internet lost in the mid-term election. It looks bad in the USA.

In transit at the Beijing airport yesterday I had to swipe my passport to access the internet, same as in Rome earlier this summer. Is that the future of your internet?