Nancy Pelosi for the Democratic House Minority Leader
Of course, I’ve never been one to opine on a political matter (yeah, right!). However, after having seen some FB friends make comments about the results of the recent mid-term elections, I thought I’d toss in my $0.02 worth and add support for Nancy Pelosi’s nomination as the Democratic House minority leader in January. You go, girl!
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/nancy-pelosi-minority-leader_514993.html
Too Much TV?
For the past several weeks I have been tracking how much time I spend watching TV. I wanted to find out how much time was spent in an already over-scheduled day watching TV rather than spending time reading or playing guitar. The answer: Too much. The things I wanted to do got squished out by TV.
Today I spent 4 hours on the internet catching up on my RSS reader, Face Book messages, email, Hulu and YouTube. Digital Media (TV, internet, iphone, etc.) seems to be overtaking my life. It’s time for a little balance.
A recent letter to the Editor to the Northern Wyoming Daily News in Worland, Wyoming had this to say:
To the Editor:
I object and take exception to everyone saying that Obama and Congress are spending money like a drunken sailor. As a former drunken sailor, I quit when I ran out of money.Bruce L. Hargraves
USN Retired
Worland
Lesson learned – after the fact, of course
I was talking with our neighbor a while ago who was concerned about buckthorn trees growing between our houses and thought it best to clear it out as buckthorn is invasive and will eventually poison the surrounding ground and kill off everything else. We set up today as the day to cut and hack and otherwise do manly work clearing out all of the buckthorn trees. After many trees had been cut down, three huge piles made with all the debris and a couple of guys standing around admiring our efforts and feeling the satisfaction of a job well done, a neighbor comes over and asks why we’re cutting down the ‘cherry’ trees? Huh? Apparently – and (of course) unbeknown to us, cherry trees and buckthorn look a lot alike with regards to leaves and bark and it’s only when you cut away a chunk of the bark that one can tell if it’s buckthorn due to the orange color just under the bark. I immediately felt sick at the thought of having cut down good trees. I hope I didn’t look as embarrassed as my neighbor. Still, we looked closer and cut away at some of the bark of the felled trees. Arrrgggg!!! I don’t even think the handyman’s secret weapon – duct tape – is going to be able to fix all the wrongly felled trees which constituted the majority of our labors. Oh well. Lesson learned – after the fact, of course.
It could have been so much worse!
Thankfully, neither my daughter who was driving this car or the driver of the other vehicle were seriously injured. However, slightly higher speeds, or the other driver hitting my daughter just a fraction of a second sooner – and the outcome could have been much, much worse. Cars can be fixed or replaced. Nothing can replace my daughter.
So, what’s going on with the Texas Board of Education?
Anyone outside of Texas heard about a controversy revolving around the Texas School Board’s decision to put conservatism, Christianity, and southern culture in a more positive light? I’d like to believe that everyone can agree that history text books used in schools ought to accurately reflect the who, what, where, when and how given historical events occurred or otherwise came about. Nevertheless, in reading this (article), I’m hard-pressed to know if the author is being serious or flippant. However, I’m reasonably certain the author is making an attempt at humor. Nevertheless, articulating rational objections and points of contention (to me) enhance one’s authority to speak to a given matter. In this case, nothing is provided in the way of legitimate criticism toward the Texas Board of Education. Rather, I can only surmise that Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post is someone who is more comfortable bashing conservatism in general and Christianity in particular and that he doesn’t really want to debate the merits of decisions made by the Texas Board of Education.
Do I hear an amen? Oops! Sorry – sort of.
What’s the Tea Party’s Impact?
A coworker sent me the below link and asked for my $0.02.
My $0.02 worth of a response went as follows:
Dear Joe,
Sorry, but I’m rather pessimistic if only because so many people are receiving all sorts of government assistance and/or their jobs are tied into an expanding government. When Nancy Peolsi can get away with claims that the new healthcare initiative will immediately create 400,000 jobs – and no one (so far as I heard) bats an eye that these will be federal government jobs to deploy and monitor Obamacare, it tells me that not enough people understand macro economics, the necessity of reigning in the size of government, and how the size of government has a direct effect on individual freedoms.
To that end, I believe very few people will actually be willing to shrink the size and scope of government and cut themselves out of something they feel they’re entitled to. How many parents will turn away Pell Grants for the college aged children? How many people will say “No, thank-you” to receiving Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid? Will my neighbor, who just retired from 30years in the military be willing to reduce his $85,000/year pension? Is it possible to reduce the expenditures towards education – say, to the percentage as it was in the mid 1960s? What farmers are going to forgo farm subsidies? Why the hell are tax dollars still supporting (at least to some degree) National Public Radio? Give me a little time, and with hardly any effort, I bet I can come up with >100 programs in which people are dependent on continuing government spending.
I don’t see that the current Republican leadership, as listed in the article, has the courage to go after big government spending and entitlements because they’re too concerned about getting re-elected. And realistically, I believe part of that lack of vision, direction and leadership is driven by the memory of what happened with the Contract for America circa 1996 when the “masses” supported the Democratic side of the isle with regard to shutting down parts of the government when there wasn’t appropriated money. It is unfortunate, but I think the relatively few numbers of people who comprise the heart and soul of the Tea Party will be voted down by the masses such that the Tea Party is doomed to be a vocal minority. I regret to say that the liberals have won. And the long term effects, I believe, mean that this country has in essence lost its ability to be self-governing. We have become a nation of spoiled children who’ve grown up with no one ever saying “no” to our neverending demands to acquire what we want through someone else paying for it. That’s where I’m at. Moreover, I see it as futile effort to spend my personal time and money to ‘right’ (pun intended) the ship.
Lets face it, those in Washington, or even at state and local levels are fulfilling the “desires” of that for which they’ve been voted into office. Perhaps I should take comfort in Scott Brown’s election to the Senate to replace Ted Kennedy. But I guess I don’t. At least not yet. Hopefully it doesn’t come to this – but it may be necessary for a severe economic depression to bring about monetary policies and changes in government spending that current leaders in both the Republican and Democratic parties are unwilling to do. Until then, I will certainly vote for – and maybe even support with my money – those whom I believe will limit and hopefully reduce the size of government. I guess that’s all I can do.
Todd
Bob
Daren
jeph
