Political Soup

Clinton dishonest? No....

2008-04-16T06:47:00.000-07:00

Ha! What a joke.

Finally, today polls are coming out that show that HRC is loosing the confidence of many, if not most people based on her Bosnia sniper fire story (among others). But is appears the sniper fire story is the proverbial nail in the coffin of American's trust in her. Like her campaign, Americas trust in her should have been buried long ago.

Article here: Wash Post - Poll shows erosion of trust in HRC

Teen Girls Beat others

2008-04-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

I just read today that the girls who beat the other girls in FL may get life sentences.

I say good for the prosecutors. It may seem a little harsh -- but I say it is just. Besides they will get parole in a few years probably anyway. But a statement to the teens in our country needs to be made that this kind of behavior is unacceptable. If the girls just get their hands slapped, then we will see more and more of this.

CNN Story

The Clean Energy Scam

2008-04-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

So I was driving around doing some errands last week and decided to tune in to Rush. He was spouting off about how the biofuel craze was driving up the cost of food and causing famine in some 3rd world countries.

Now of course I take everything Rush says with a bucket of salt. I used to think he was cool in High School, but my political mindset has changed over the years.

Anyway, I came across this article in Time talking about how Clean Energy is some cases actually costs more than then energy required to produce it. For example it has been quoted elsewhere that it takes 1.2 gals of gas to produce 1 gal of Ethanol from corn. If that truly is the case, then we need to rethink how to address the energy crisis. On the other hand, the article says that not all clean energy is bad -- for example it takes less energy to produce ethanol from Sugar as is done heavily in Brazil.

Just something to think about when you are hearing/talking about green/clean energy. We need to make sure that the energy really is green/clean and doesn't just divert attention from the true cost of that energy.

The Clean Energy Scam

Remaining States Predictions

2008-03-28T23:32:00.001-07:00

Ashish over on 411mania breaks down his predictions for the remaining democratic primaries and delegates, state by state.

http://www.411mania.com/politics/columns/71527

The Long Painful Road for Clinton

2008-03-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

5% chance of winning but won't sacrifice out.

Pathetic!

The Long Defeat (NYTIMES)

Great article by David Brooks

Chelsea dismisses Lewinsky question

2008-03-25T16:06:00.000-07:00

Good job Chelsea -- sounds like you handled this one well.

Regardless of your party affiliation and whether you like the Clintons or not... what a totally inappropriate question to ask!

CNN - Chelsea Disses Question

McCain says no to mortgage bailout

2008-03-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

I have to agree with Mr McCain on this:

He says that “it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.”

McCain Warns Against Hasty Bailout

As I watched the housing bubble go unseemingly up up up the last few years, I followed several blogs http://www.housingbubblecasualty.com/

http://bubbletracking.blogspot.com/

http://piggington.com/

and others. The discussion was essentially that borrowers were screwing themselves due to the easy flow of cheap credit and stated income loans.

I myself, almost fell prey to the Stated Income loan - I was going to purchase a condo in SoCal based on my lender doing some paperwork magic (everyone was doing it after all and housing just was not ever going to go down). However, after we went into escrow I got a sick pit in my stomach and decided that I would not go through with the purchase/loan. It was a hard conversation as the condo was my best friend's and he and his wife were relying on me to purchase so that they could upgrade to their new $500K home. It was a difficult time for us for a while, but within a few weeks they had another offer and everything worked out for each of us (except perhaps for the person who purchase the condo in the end).

However, as I watched the home buying frenzy around my in SoCal - it was difficult to not get caught up in the idea that we were in different times. But, keeping me grounded were the blogs above with their voices of reason and graphs showing the EXTREME jump in housing prices that in my gut I knew could not be sustainable.

So, I'm a bit torn and agree with McCain that there should be no major bailout - especially for speculators. However, the thing we need to be careful of is that we let housing bring down the entire economy -- if it looks like that is the case, then I'm in favor of some kind of help from the government - even thought it pains me to say so. I don't want to see people loose their homes, but I don't want to see them get a free ride --- "oh you bought a $600K home and now you can't afford it -- here you go --- we'll knock of $200K from your mortgage if that'll help" -- that is not fair either. If someone buys a car they can't afford - does the government subsidize that when they can't make the payments?

Why has McCain got a free ride?

2008-03-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

Seems like the media may lightly touch on some of McCain's foibles in the past:

Keating 5
His "Straight Talk" that is really nothing such
His flip flops (he loved to call out Romney on that - when he was a huge flopper)

I wonder if more attacks on McCain will surface once the Hillary/Obama thing is sorted out.

An interesting book about this phenom: Free Ride

Does Hillary care about anyone but herself?

2008-03-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

This article argues that if Hillary can't win - she would rather have McCain win than Obama - just for spite.

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/03/24/does-clinton-want-obama-to-lose.aspx

Clinton point blank lies about landing under fire in Bosnia

2008-03-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is just too good.

Video of Clinton "recalling" her trip to Bosnia in 1997 supposedly landing under heavy fire - ducking from Snipers...

Just so happens she had a nice little greeting and sang songs with Sheryl Crow...

HA!!!! Caught!!!

- If she lies about stuff like this -- you can only imagine what other stuff she is lying about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BfNqhV5hg4

Enjoy the video

Single Issue Voting

2008-03-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Great article from The Prometheus Institute on the pitfalls of Single Issue Voting.

These guys are smart, witty, and enjoyable to read. They are mostly self-professed "Libertarians" and offer a different view (non-CNN/Fox) to what is shaping our political landscape and the issues that matter.

Single Issue Voting

Why this blog?

2008-03-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

Most of my friends and family are not able to discuss politics in a non emotional way. Most people I find are too tied to politics like their favorite sports team -- they are loyal no matter what. That tends to cloud the issues -- they hear what they want to hear and won't listen to anything that might change their view.

I was born and raised Republican - listed to a lot of Rush in high school and a little in college. I have to admit, I voted for Bush 8 years ago because I thought that Gore was just a doof --- after all - can you trust a politician who supposedly claimed to have invented the internet?

Wasn't too long into GW's presidency when 9/11 hit and I could see that here was a guy who had basically been handed the presidency on a silver platter - now was stuck in a major international crisis --- and he looked like a deer in headlights. Wasn't too long before I started to question his intelligence and judgment. After seeing him on the news day after day stumbling through questions by reporters, his words in general, I started to question my judgment in voting for him. The problem was that when it came time to vote again in 2004 I just couldn't fathom voting for Kerry. Guy just rubbed me the wrong way. So - I plugged my nose and voted for Bush again. Doh!!!

Now, almost four years later... I can't wait to see Bush and Chaney and their warmongering policies gone. They have destroyed our nation in the perspective of most countries around the world. We have lost our "goodwill", our respect, and our role as the country that others want to be like. I love America - I just want to see our self respect restored along with the respect others have for us. We are such a great people and have been led astray these last 5 years on a wild goose chase for WMD and "protecting our borders" from terrorists.

Hillary and Greenspan

2008-03-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hillary is asking for Greenspan to join a panel on housing to help the US deal with the foreclosure mess. What a joke? I thought she had better judgment than that.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080324/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_housing

Isn't Greenspan the guy that was ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL during the last six years - setting rates too low, then taking too long to bring them back up? Isn't he the one that constantly reassured people that there was no "housing bubble" except in very specific cities/regions - and that everything was OK?

Everyone used to look at Greenspan as a God. I think he is one of the main reasons we are in this mess. I used to watch and read his speeches very carefully for any clue that he was actually realizing what was going on with house and was usually disappointed as he would continually assure that the risk was manageable. Kind of reminds me of Jim Cramer "Mad Money" saying not to sell Bear the week before it crashed.