Pat Buchanan Sticks it to the NeoCons

Pat Buchanan isn't one of my favorite people but his syndicated article today is called "Blowback from Bear-Baiting". It's obviously about the Georgia-Russia conflict, but here is the part I like the best and agree with the most:

Americans have many fine qualities. A capacity to see ourselves as others see us is not high among them.

I also like this one:

Bush, Cheney and McCain have pushed to bring Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. This would require the United States to go to war with Russia over Stalin's birthplace and who has sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula and Sebastopol, traditional home of Russia's Black Sea fleet.

When did these become U.S. vital interests, justifying war with Russia?

It is quite disheartening to hear John McCain talk about how there will be a "dramatically different relationship with Russia" if he is elected President. Just what we need, a new cold war.

We are all Georgians - That Was Yesterday

Yesterday John McCain informed us that we were all Georgians. But that was yesterday. Today he says,

"We, we will decide in subsequent days as whether degree of provocation and whe-- who was right and who was wrong".

And the Military Supports Whom?

If you measure support by the amount of money donated to the Obama and McCain campaigns.... it's Obama who wins military support with a significant lead. OpenSecrets.org reports the following:

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain's haul.

John McCain is a Liar

Listen to this political ad. John McCain approves it, thus John McCain is a liar. Liar, that is a word the media cannot bring itself to use. Now go here, to factcheck.org and read the truth about Obama and his tax increases.

As far as who will get tax cuts under Obama or McCain as President I suggest you do a little research. If you are very wealthy and want to continue to increase your income far faster than middle class workers, then you should definitely vote for McCain. If you are a middle class worker and are struggling, do yourself a favor for a change and vote for Barack Obama.

Yeah, the wealthy are going to get a tax increase. But the wealthy have had good times for the last 8 years. Now it's time to get them to pay for the party.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

McCain says: "In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations."

Where to Live and Play - Saranac Lake

Saranac Lake is dying. You hear people saying that all the time. They are wrong. Saranac Lake has a great future. National Geographic magazine agrees with me. See the National Geographic list here. Now we just need to change the attitude of those who don't like "newcomers" with "disposable income".

McCain Loves the Casual Style of His Home

Architectural Digest visited one of John McCains 8, 9 or 10 homes. I'm not sure how many homes McCain has and he's not sure either. But you can tour this particular home by going here. Cindy says John loves the casual style of the house. So would I. Who wouldn't love to have an outdoor barbeque "area" and a guest house.

Yep, John McCain is just a regular guy you'd like to have a beer with....just like regular guy G.W. Bush.

Subtext: Hot (white) Chicks Dig Him

Yes, you now know that Obama wants to sleep with your white daughter. Nevermind that it is John McCain who is the adulterer. Unfortunately, Obama cannot call McCain on his subtle racist message because today, in America, it is worse to suggest that subtle racism is being used in the campaign than to actually practice it.

Invasion of Georgia

Here is something really ironic. An editorial in todays New York Times, called Russia's War of Ambition says "There is no imaginable excuse for Russia’s invasion of Georgia." I find this ironic because the New York Times found all kinds of excuses, imagined or not, for the USA to invade Iraq. Needless to say, G.W. Bush finds himself in the same position as the New York Times. Do as I say, not as I do.

Puppies at 4 weeks old

The puppies that were born in my Anatomy and Physiology class are 4 weeks old as of 8/7/2008. Oh yeah, and everyone passed the course with flying colors - the students that is....not the puppies

Most People are in Favor of Offshore Drilling?

The conventional wisdom, gleaned from polling data, is that most people in the USA desperately want more drilling for oil and they don't much care where we drill for it. But according to David Moore, author of The Opinion Makers and former vice-president of the Gallup Organization, this isn't quite accurate.

A couple of polls addressed the energy issue a bit differently, and they found a more ambivalent public. Pew Research, for example, asked which of two approaches should receive higher priority: "expanding exploration, mining and drilling and the construction of new power plants, OR, more energy conservation and regulation on energy use and prices?" Instead of overwhelming support for more oil drilling, the public was evenly divided between that approach and conservation (47 percent to 45 percent respectively).

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll offered five different approaches to dealing with the energy problems. Almost half (46 percent) opted for energy conservation and more emphasis on wind and solar, while 40 percent chose offshore oil drilling and drilling in protected areas in Alaska, while 10 percent preferred nuclear power.

And the CNN poll actually measured intensity of opinion, by asking if people "strongly" or "mildly" favored, or "strongly" or "mildly" opposed increased offshore oil drilling. The results found 46 percent "strongly" in favor, with 18 percent "strongly" opposed. More than a third, 35 percent, held only "mild" opinions. (In all discussions of the CNN results, however, there was no mention of the "mild" and "strong" opinions. The two groups were combined according to favor and oppose, which is typical of the way poll results are treated.)

Would you be in favor of offshore drilling for more oil even if it didn't lower gas prices or didn't contribute to energy independence? I'm certain there is a segment of our population that would say go for it. But a large portion would answer in the negative. Polling questions concerning opinions need to be designed correctly to determine how deeply someone holds a certain opinion. Then, the media needs to report the results correctly.

Mike Oot Interview on Public Radio

You can listen to a recent interview of Democratic candidate for Congress Mike Oot here. Mike Oot has been in Saranac Lake twice now and will be returning on August 12th. John McHugh, where are you?

The Party of Stupid and Pandering

Good opinion piece by economist Paul Krugman in the New York Times. He is talking about the Republican party but clarifies what he means here.

What I mean, instead, is that know-nothingism — the insistence that there are simple, brute-force, instant-gratification answers to every problem, and that there’s something effeminate and weak about anyone who suggests otherwise — has become the core of Republican policy and political strategy. The party’s de facto slogan has become: “Real men don’t think things through.”

It's also called pandering. It's just common sense to drill for more oil. Nevermind that we all know that more drilling will do nothing towards making us more energy independent. Pandering is portraying your views based on what a certain population of voters believe (even if you don't believe in these views), rather than on actually solving a problem. The Republicans are not stupid. They just like to win elections. Governing and solving problems is not of concern to them, thus, they are not very good at it.

Today, again in the New York Times, Tom Friedman points out how a good government responds to a specific problem. In this case, Denmark's response to the 1973 oil crisis.

Frankly, when you compare how America has responded to the 1973 oil shock and how Denmark has responded, we look pathetic.

In 1973 Denmark got 99% of its energy from the Middle East - today its zero. It's unlikely the USA can do exactly what Denmark did to become energy independent. But Denmark showed it can be done. And, they make money by being energy independent. They are the number one supplier of wind turbines in the world today and have an unemployment rate of 1.9%.

Unfortunately, Americans who consume 30% of the world's energy supply, think they somehow have a Sheva-given right to consume more and more at a cost of bottled water. Drill more - drill now is not an answer to our short-term or long-term energy problem. Neither is more pandering.