State of the Union 2014

Tags

2014, congress, Democrat, GOP, McMorris, Obama, president, Republican, Rodgers, State of the Union

My best nonpartisan thoughts? The President was feisty and I enjoyed his promise to exercise executive powers to bypass Congress on issues the White House strongly supports. Whether or not his promises to amount to anything is another story. The speech is sure to piss people off, which won’t help cooperation. Humor was good this year and thankfully no singing but I am unhappy with some of the claims of working with states and others on topics like marriage equality. In reality Obama and the White House have often come down soft on many issues and worked through a more passive support role.

 

The GOP response – well, in traditional fashion it basically said the same things but from a “the other party does not know how to do it right but we do” fashion. However, this might be the corniest thing I have seen in years. Also, why do I need to know about your entire family history? Woman, working background, do-it-yourself-er, mother, wife of a soldier…if only you were young, Queer, and Latina and the GOP would hit all their targets.

 

It’s About Damn Time

Tags

ABC News, bipartisan, congress, Debt Ceiling, Democrat, Harry Reid, House, Mitch McConnell, partisan, Republican, Senate, shutdown

It’s about damn time congress did its job. Henry Reid said thank you for a bipartisan effort despite huge partisan divide – too bad Mitch McConnell followed it up by again blaming Affordable Care Act and insinuating it is an abomination.

“This law is ravishing our economy, killing jobs, driving up premiums, and driving people off the health care they have and like, in droves…and the refusal to delay it reflects the kind of stubborn ideological obsession that will do untold damage to our country. And Republicans remain determined to repeal this terrible law. – PBS article

Sorry, but that is just plain asshole. It’s not like most of the country is pissed off at your party or anything, seeing as it is the GOP that is responsible for the shutdown. Deny it if you want, but there was a budget proposal agreed on by both parties in the house, and then it was dropped in order to “take a stand” against the Affordable Care Act:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you had a conversation at the White House. The Democrats, including Senate Democrat Harry Reid, has said he’s more than willing to have a conference, more than willing to have a negotiation, but not under the threat of a government shutdown, not under the threat of a default.

BOEHNER: So it’s my way or the highway. That’s what he’s saying. Complete surrender and then we’ll talk to you.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s not–

BOEHNER: It’s about having a conversation. I gave the Senate majority leader some advice at the White House about how to proceed. I gave him some advice over a week ago about how to avert this. And yet they refuse to do it.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But Mr. Speaker, he says — and he said it publicly on many occasions, that you came to him back in July and offered to pass a clean government funding resolution, no Obamacare amendments, that was $70 billion below what the Senate wanted. They accepted it. And now, you’ve reneged on that offer.

BOEHNER: No, clearly there was a conversation about doing this.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Several conversations.

BOEHNER: Several. But–

STEPHANOPOULOS: And you offered a clean resolution.

BOEHNER: But I and my members decided the threat of Obamacare and what was happening was so important that it was time for us to take a stand. And we took a stand.

Transcript & video available at ABC News. Starts ~3:10/14:04

Unfortunately, this is only a temporary reprieve until January/February when the budget and debt ceiling return in full force. But at least, for now, our country can go back to its normal operations. Let’s hope Congress takes a break and returns next Monday to make a REAL deal on the budget, none of this temporary band-aid bullshit.

As if.

Bill Nye on Science & Politics

Tags

Bill Nye, Climate Change, CNN, Creationism, Democrat, Environment, Evolution, Media, Obama, Politics, Republican, Romney

Bill Nye, the Science Guy!  If you’re like me Bill Nye and the Magic School Bus were staples of your early educational years.  Well, Bill Nye is getting older but he is no less exciting than he was way back then.  Recently, the famous scientist has been all over the news with his remarks about politics, society, and science.  From creationism to terrible media coverage, Bill Nye is here to say what we don’t want to hear.  Check out some of what he has to say:

Which Presidential Candidate Do You Side With?

Tags

Campaign 2012, Democrat, election, Gary Johnson, Libertarian, Obama, president, Republican, Romney, vote

Not surprised at all. Click the image for more details about my results.

Check out this quiz.  It is obviously not perfect but I think it does an excellent job in that it provides more than just false dichotomies and allows you to mark how important each issue is to you.  You can even write in your own answers, although this of course reduces accuracy.  Are you surprised by your results?  Did you look up more information about the topics after taking the quiz?  Are you proud of your results, or do you a little embarrassed by your results?

I encourage you to take the quiz and share both your results and thoughts in a comment here.

Also, food for thought: look at the candidate maps on the homepage.  I find it interesting that Romney has almost no “strong” states despite the fact that in reality this race in going to be between only Obama and Romney…

Real People, Real Politics

Tags

Abortion, Conservative, Democrat, Education, Health Care, Isms, Liberal, Obama, Obamacare, Republican, Romney, Welfare

Today I enjoyed an excellent conversation over dinner with my peers. Two conservatives, a European socialist (as an ignorant conservative might describe her), two fairly neutral onlookers, and myself came together to .  If only our politicians would embark o our conversation.  Perhaps then our country would not look so foolish.

We were quick to agree the media frenzy and poor advertisements from both parties were a kick in the face to the American people.  Fake birth certificates?  Had Obama not been truly American I doubt this fact would have made it through his time in the Senate let alone a campaign and three years in the White House.  And indirectly insinuating that Romney caused the death of a woman through Bain Capital’s closings?  The stupidity of such an unbelievable notion only weakens any true connection between his career at Bain and his presidential aspirations.

Tonight we passionately but civilly discussed everything from abortion and the political right of religion to the purpose of welfare and the ignorant utilization of economic and political isms.  We found common ground on the need to focus on the issues and the policies rather than the people and party politics.  This is what we found:

Restrict the Vote! Voter ID Legislation

Tags

Democrat, Discrimination, Election 2012, Republican, Voter ID, Voting

In the last few months, as the campaign for the White House gains steam, the spotlight has returned to the slew of Voter ID legislation posed in the last few years.  The concept of the legislation is relatively simple: each state is free to determine what type of identification  a voter must show before being allowed to cast a ballot in an election.  In some state this is as simple as showing something with your name and address such as a recent utility bill or bank statement.  In other states this is much stricter and may require the [show] of a valid, non-expired photo-id.  The map below is a snapshot of the current legislation in the United States.

What You Did Not Know About Presidential Debates

Tags

Democrat, Gary Johnson, Libertarian, Politics, Presidential Debate, Republican

Presidential debates are a duopoly.  Yes that’s right a duopoly.  A monopoly run by two owners, not one.  Of course I’m speaking of Democrats and Republicans.  Since 1992, when Ross Perot ran as an Independent and participated in the presidential debates, the  official Commission on Presidential Debates created a new rule to limit the competition.  Now, to be allowed into the debate, a candidate must:

1. Have their name on enough ballots to theoretically be able to win the election.  This requires each candidate to hold enough ballots to have 270 electoral votes, the minimum needed to win the presidency.
2. Each candidate must be polling at least 15% in the polls leading up to the election.

Obviously, this really does not affect the Democrats or Republicans.  They will surely always be on the ballots and the day enough loyalists turn on their party is the day our nation begins its evolution.  So who does it affect?

Johnson says he’s more liberal than Obama on social issues and more fiscally conservative than Romney. Coming at the Left from the left while going at the Right from the right? I’d consider voting for him just because he breaks the laws of physics. Oh, and he’s climbed Mt. Everest.

Gary Johnson.  Two-time governor of New Mexico, Mr. Johnson represents the libertarian party.  They have succeeded in obtaining ballots adding up to well over the 270 electoral votes needed, but Johnson is only polling at 8%.  So as it stands he will be passed by this October as the debates continue in what we can only guess will be a completely bipartisan debate of what is good for the people.

Does this seem fair?  Surely a big reason Governor Johnson is polling so low is simply because people do not know who he is.  Hell, a week ago neither did I.  But I tell you this: he won’t be gaining any attention if he isn’t in these October battles of words.

I won’t tell you how interesting his platform is compared to the eye-watering partisan platforms we see today, and I won’t tell you to vote for him.  But I will tell you this: poll for Governor Johnson.  Including a third-party in the debate will surely curb some of the partisanship we’ve come to know so well, and perhaps he might even say something you like.