Diary of a mad dog

May 6, 2012

With the support of 1.69% of Americans the winner is: Mitt Romney

Filed under: Politics & Media — admin @ 9:05 am

Enjoying our nation’s politics these days? I’m not. There are just so many aspects to our electoral process that are out of whack. The whole system screams for serious overhaul – but the likelihood for reform is slim given the current disjointed political environment. There are just so many problems with the primary voting schedule, voter participation, and funding of our nation’s presidential election (primaries and general) – it’s no wonder the average citizen has tuned-out, turned-off. Consider this one fun-fact: Mitt Romney has secured votes of just 1.69% of the population in those states that have conducted a primary … and everyone says he will be the Republican nominee. Ponder that for a moment.

1.69% of Americans who live in 33 states that have held primary elections, plus the District of Columbia and a few island territories, have decided who will be the Republican candidate for President of these United States. If you don’t reside in one of those early primary states you’re out of luck. From Iowa in January, through Rhode Island in April only thirty-three states have had a chance to step up to the plate and cast a vote. And the last batch: NY, PA, CT, DE, along with RI did not get to vote until after most candidates had already dropped out of the race. Gone are Pawlenty, McCotter, Cain, Johnson, Bachmann, Huntsman, Perry, Roemer, Santorum and Gingrich. If you live in one of the nation’s most populated states (TX, CA, NJ, NC, MO, IN) – sorry…your voice does not matter. Puerto Ricans got to vote…surfers in California and cattle ranchers in Texas have not (yet). Nearly 40% of the population never had a chance to decide. If you’re interested in Michele Bachmann, and live in Southern California – sorry – Bachmann packed her ’12 campaign tent in January…long before you had a chance to cast a vote.

The Republican campaigns that began in the summer of 2011 essentially has put most legislative activity in our US Congress "on hold" until the November 2012 election. Only the most urgent legislation is being addressed in Washington DC – and even that activity is not going smoothly – and most likely nothing will get accomplished for the next six-months. Only the campaigns will discuss the many serious issues facing the nation and the world; Congress is too busy doing nothing and obstructing…citizens will just have to resolve whatever issues they can by themselves regarding jobs and the economy. That is probably just as well, anyway. Whomever wins the November 2012 contest will have about 100 days to fix/change/modify all that they wish to accomplish before the 2014 mid-term campaigns get underway. Then in early 2015 there will be a brief window as a new Congress gets settled in….by summer of 2015 all serious chances for business getting handled by Congress will vanish as the 2016 election campaigns begin. It’s pathetic and shameful.

Shared responsibility - Typically primary elections bring out about 20% of the American voters; mid-term elections 33%; national Presidential elections 50-55%. At best, barely half of adult-aged voters bother with their civic duty…which is really the central/core problem in all of this election mess. The above dysfunctional primary voting schedule could be resolved in enough citizens were clamouring for change.

Follow the money - funding, wasted resources, excessive influence – Citizens United/super pac – Over $1.3 billion (with a B) was spent in 2011 on assorted Presidential and congressional campaigns … significantly more will be spent throughout 2012. Ads, staff, travel, consulting, robo-calling. It all adds up. Especially when someone like Mitt Romney runs, essentially, an 8-year campaign for a job that pays $191,300 … or about half what Mitt “gets speaker fees from time to time, but not very much.” It’s
all about ego. And it’s become an industry by itself – from the journalists who cover the campaigns, strategists and analysts who discuss how the campaigns are going, to the focus groups and pollsters who monitor every aspect of the campaigns. And through the entire process not much gets done. Solution? My ideas would dump that mindless political apple-cart on its head…which is exactly what needs to be done. Nuke the current primary system and culture – and replace it with a national primary election. Citizens in Des Moines and Sacramento can vote on the same day. [cue music: " This land is your
land;] Yes my friend….this land is my land, (too). From California to the New York island; from the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters. This land was made for you and Me. Time we all began to act like it.

Mike’s sources for information: Primary schedule and preliminary results:

Washington Post
US Census data 2010
Federal Election Commission 
Wikipedia 


October 9, 2011

denier-in-chief: ‘no heat records’

Filed under: Business,General,Politics & Media — Tags: — admin @ 9:34 am

relief from the heatWhata’ buffoon! In July (7/27/11 to be precise) Rush Limbaugh denied that the summer of 2011 heat wave was setting any records.  The denier-in-chief, the guy who proclaims he runs America said: “We have this – there’s a heat dome over half the country. Midwest is moving East. And it happens every summer. Every summer.” Limbaugh went on to say: “almost no temperature records were broken” during the recent heat wave and that media outlets who reported on “record-breaking” heat were telling “a bunch of lies” to “advance a political agenda of liberalism.”

Limbaugh is such a jerk in so many ways. The above accurate quotes are just one non-political example. Limbaugh was  especially disgusting this summer through this entire debt ceiling debate, urging the freshmen Tea Party members of Congress to ignore the warnings about the nation facing a credit default. “We will not default on anything. And moreover, it is more likely that the country’s creditworthiness would go up around the world since we would finally be doing something to address our out-of-control spending and indebtedness if we were not to raise the debt limit. We would be perceived around the world as serious for a change, and responsible for a change. Otherwise we are headed for junk bond status.”  He advocates driving the world into the ditch just to feel the thrill of seeing his soldiers marching to his drum beat. His ego is almost as big as his bloated $35 million annual income. So when I opened my USA Today newspaper the day after hearing Limbaugh’s mindless rants about the weather – and his opinion that all the hype in the lame-stream, state-controlled media was part of a liberal plot to advance climate change theories, I was delighted by the front page story that I found: “Blistering July heat leaves records smoldering.”  I admit it, I get giddy whenever I find a factual error by “the man who runs America” – the guy who boasts in all seriousness his 99.6% accuracy ranking…which by the way, is “audited”. USA Today went on to report: “It’s official: July was a scorcher. High temperatures in communities across the USA broke or tied records 2,676 times, almost double the number (1,444) of a year ago, the National Weather Service reports.”
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2011-07-31-heat-record-july_n.htm

Let’s see….I bet the famed El Rushbo “accuracy index” trends downward after the above mindless rant. Or, at least it oughta’. So by my unofficial count the score so far this year is actually: Rational Thought 256, Limbaugh 0.

PS: I began writing this post the day after Limbaugh’s stupid comments back in July…but I got distracted with a rash of summertime projects (basement drainage, geothermal ground source heating & cooling, solar power, Mom-related duty….so pardon the delay, please).

June 19, 2011

Rinse and repeat

Filed under: Business,Politics & Media — admin @ 9:19 am

Sarah Elizabeth Cupp

Marketing paradigms of old were pretty straight forward. A Val-Pak coupon obviously is geared to generate business for the advertiser. The Tide commercial on TV builds and reinforces brand awareness: buy more soap. Vehicles for marketing are evolving thanks to this web-machine we call the internet, and I doubt that many cyber junkies give it a second thought that YouTube links and assorted cyber-based news clips are indeed geared to persuade and build traffic for our new non-manufacturing economy. If you have followed my random thoughts at this site you know I’m very much tuned-into political issues. I watch and read the news, and enjoy being fairly well informed. I stay in touch with a handful of political websites of all sorts – liberal, progressive, even conservative. Many of the news and political sites include lots of links to various video news clips, like therightscoop.com, which is essentially an index of video links related to the news of the day…campaigns, comments, interviews, scandals, and more. All the topics at “rightscoop” seemed to be cut from the same cloth so I wondered: who’s behind a website that indexes video clips and articles that espouse only the conservative “viewpoint”….as if being conservative means you have to believe in and/or agree with a particular set of opinions on a certain, specific subset of topics. Doesn’t that notion strike you as being a bit strange?

It does to me. While visiting the “rightscoop” site I noticed a plug for an “author” S.E. Cupp. I’ve seen her on Hannity’s TV show and always wondered why Hannity had her on as a guest (more than a few times) because none of her comments ever seemed all that remarkable – and figured she was on the show simply for eye-candy appeal as many folks may consider Sarah Elizabeth Cupp to be physically attractive. More than a few web monkeys and web developers identify her, and her images, as “hot”, but she says it disgusts her that some men look at her with lust. (Seriously.) Cupp’s website has a link to a CSPAN book reading “event” at the National Press Club, where the self-proclaimed Atheist proceeds to vocalize her very thin, shallow critique of the “main-stream” liberal media’s attack on Christianity. Not much is offered in the way of evidence or proof to the charge, and the whole premise of an atheist defending Christianity seems a bit absurd. Even CSPAN’s brief descriptive summary of the video clip say Ms. Cupp “tries to hold the liberal left and liberal media accountable for what she says is an assault on religion and the nation’s heritage.” Tries. Unconvincingly.

Media and culture critique is an industry all by itself. A radio or TV program like those hosted by Limbaugh, Levin or Hannity can profit very nicely with average ratings. The highest rated broadcast TV shows for the week of May 30, 2011 captured less than 10% of the viewers – which is quite typical for top-rated programs. In this case the leaders were the NBA finals, certainly not conservative or liberal talkshows or news programs. Leading cable TV shows capture 3.1% of the audience. Attract three people out of 100 and you’ll fulfill your “champagne wishes and caviar dreams”. Reruns of Judge Judy: 6.3%. Oprah rocked the world with 5.9%.

My point is, the ratings do not have to be huge for a show to be successful and very profitable. So, like any industry that generates profits there are bound to be others who want a piece of the action. It’s all about money. If you build it they will come. (Though the actual quote from the movie was “if you build it he will come”.) Say something provocative and audiences will tune in. The key is to build traffic – generate interest. That’s where your favorite blog comes in – they’ve become one of thousands of tiny points of light that lure viewers, that attempts to generate interest – to build an audience, which generates profits. As a viewer you become a pawn…a piece part in the equation that funds the political game.

Rinse and repeat.

April 28, 2011

He’s not worthy

Filed under: Business,General,Politics & Media — admin @ 9:40 am

unexpected gusts of hot air

ABC News reported today: “In exploring a run for president Donald Trump has repeatedly accused China of taking manufacturing jobs from the U.S., saying “the problem with our country is that we don’t make anything anymore.”

“But an array of Trump-branded products from ties, dress shirts and other clothing in the Donald J. Trump Signature Collection, to hats, stuffed animals, cufflinks and tie clips are stamped “Made in China.”"

“Visitors to the Trump Store in the lobby of the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City, or to the displays of Trump clothing at Macy’s in New York?s Herald Square, would be hard-pressed to find much labeled “Made in the U.S.A.”"  http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-labels-state-made-china/story?id=13472355

“When it comes to manufacturing, China is making all these products. They could be made in North Carolina. They could be made in Alabama. They could be made in lots of our places and right now they’re not,” he told CNN earlier this year.  Hypocrite.

Let’s see….the Donald supported a woman’s right to determine chose her own reproductive health options – but than flipped to appeal to the angery radical right-wing by adopting their anti-abortion platform. Then Trump becomes a “birther” attacking President Obama’s certificate of live birth – the President trumps Trump by producing the long-form birth certificate. Trump and other birthers then question the legitamacy of the document, and begin new rally cry to investigate the President’s academic achievments.

Why is it that anyone listens to anything this guy has to say?   He is not worthy of the attention he garners.

Update (05.01.11):   the President effectively trounced Trump at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner – here’s a “must see” link to YouTube video.   Featured speaker at the same event was Saturday Night Live comedian and head writer, Seth Meyers who also provided a wonderful thrashing of Trump and his supporters.

April 21, 2011

nearly half don’t pay income tax

Filed under: Business,Politics & Media — admin @ 8:21 pm
45.4%

Americans had jobs last year

Newspaper headline in cartoon reads: “nearly half don’t pay income tax”.  Anytime I’d hear that stat repeated on news shows I’d cringe.  Just doesn’t seem right, does it?  Then the other day there was an article in USA Today that went slightly deeper into the point than just a sound-bite.  Turns out there are lots of good reasons for that statistic and while the actual percent of citizens who do not pay taxes varies year-to-year, it’s been in that general range (+/- 10 pts) for decades.  The overall population has too big segments on both ends that factor into this equation: kids and seniors.  Children should be learning at home or in school (and not in sweat shops like in the far east where we keep shipping our manufacturing base).  Senior citizens should be enjoying life and hopefully good physical and mental health…not standing at a big-box store greeting customers.  So after those to big chunks of population are subtracted from the base, “only 45.4% of Americans had jobs last year — the lowest percentage of citizens working in 27 years, back to 1983 when only 40.4% of Americans were working,” says Bruce Walker of the New American magazine (http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/commentary-mainmenu-43/7125-lies-damned-lies-and-unemployment-figures).

So, it seems to stand-to-reason if less than half of the country are working, less than half of us are paying income taxes.  Realizing that was one of those “duh” moments….thinking of decades of trivial news clips my brain had absorbed over time that built in this auto-cringe response.  “Waaaah – unfair!”  Maybe it was Walter Cronkite reading the evening news, or Roger Mudd, Eric Sevareid, Mike Wallace.  The source makes no difference – over time my head was conditioned to think this situation was totally unfair (especially since those were my prime income generating & taxation paying productive adult years).  Yet, it turns out that number is not substantially different today than it was 40-50 years ago.

April 7, 2011

Whoa. Time for Fact-checking before pointing fingers.

Filed under: Business,Politics & Media — admin @ 9:06 am

Cut the theatrics. The budget is out of whack for a reason: 8-years of Bush/Cheney policies drove the country to the brink of disaster and only massive reinvestment by the Federal government was going to save the country from another great depression. Refresh your memory banks: in late 2008, early 2009 everyone was freaking out – everyone was worried, savings were being wiped out, housing values tanked and no one knew when we were going to hit “bottom”. Mr. Bush and his Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson were scrambling…incoming President Obama was handed a complete financial mess to resolve. Even Mr. Boehner cried on the House floor pleading with Republicans to vote for TARP.

So now we flash forward a few years – and extreme the radical right-wing-nut conservatives and Tea Party act as if they have amnesia and have calculated that Americans will buy their brand of repackaged history – blaming Democrats for all that ails the world. Its balderdash. Simply put, George W. Bush squandered a budget surplus built during the Clinton administration. Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Carter, and G.H.W. Bush all had budget deficits. 1998-2000 was the first period in 40 years or more where the government did not spend more than it collected. Enter George W. Bush who spent like a drunken sailor – and his Republican Congress allowed it to happen. If we were to take all the cash Bush spent on two illegal wars, unfunded Medicare prescription drug plan, and unfunded tax cuts for rich and wealthy – and apply those dollars to the deficit, and subtract dollars President Obama had to invest in the stimulus package (to save the country’s bacon) and we’d likely have a no budget deficit and we’d be paying down the national debt. You can scream all you want at the progressives, calling the union workers Thugs and blaming the Democratic Congress for the mess we’re in. But the facts don’t agree. The deficit we face today is the responsibility of George W. Bush, and the GOP, and citizens need to stop paying attention to the radical, extreme right-wing nuts who are systematically ruining America. Consider the chart below.

Admittedly with the Baby Boomer generation approaching retirement age, the current medical costs associated to Medicare plan will continue to mount. My analysis above is not meant to say we don’t have problems – or that the national debt is not a major issue. I’m just saying: do we pay attention to the party who got us into this mess, or the party who have, thus far, proven to be not only more interested in solutions, but also have demonstrated a track record of success.

put it on George's tab

February 6, 2011

Need more pie!

Filed under: General — Tags: — admin @ 12:49 pm

“Need more pie.” It’s a perennial favorite line from TV’s West Wing…Communications Director Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) enjoyed his pie. I do too. But the bar has been raised recently when a really kind person delivered a piping hot homemade apple pie, fresh from the oven. Sometime early one evening last week the doorbell rang…”good, you’re home!” our neighbor said as she dashed to her vehicle to fetch the most amazing warm apple pie I’ve ever seen. “Careful, it’s hot.”

Outdoors the temperature was somewhere in the lower single digits and here is this wonderful but coatless person delivering a thank you gift for plowing a bit of snow. Louise and I were dumbfounded, but delighted. The pie was a thing of beauty – nearly as attractive as it was tasty. Before dropping a knife into it I had to capture a few photos – partly ‘cuz it was so darned gorgeous, but also to capture and preserve the special moment. It is humbling to receive something this special as a thankyou gift. A nice Hallmark greeting card woulda’ been swell, but this amazing taste-treat just blew us away. Perhaps the best pie I will ever have the pleasure of tasting. Thanks, Deborah.

UPDATE 02.27.11: Sad news from neighbor – Deborah, the master pie maker mentioned above, passed away suddenly yesterday at McLaren Hospital of an aneurysm. Tragic.

January 8, 2011

he-lacked

Filed under: General,Politics & Media — admin @ 7:58 am

no dicePresident Obama is not the only one who has experienced a sound thrashing…a total and thorough shellacking. In my case it’s related to a simple wager on the 2010-2011 college football bowl games. There are 35 televised games and if you don’t subscribe to cable TV you got to see four*…but that’s fodder for another blog post. Three college bowl games remain, but based on the results of the first 32 games played neither Louise or I will be called upon to share our bowl-picker prowess…Louise picked half the winners, while I’m accurate just 30% of the time. In this contest, anyway, I am not exactly prognosticating like Jimmy The Greek.

Examining the picks in this years college bowl games, I tend to pick teams I want to see victorious (or in some cases, picking teams I’d like to see lose). Generally speaking I support the Big Ten conference schools – but only three Big Ten teams won their games: Iowa, Illinois & Ohio State. Meanwhile five teams lost: Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan, Penn State, Northwestern. While some delight in the fact that eight out of eleven teams in the Big Ten were invited to post-season contests – the fact remains most Big Ten teams were out-played and out-coached. Louise’s picks were more calculated – she studied the regular season…analyzed results (who beat who), considered intangible factors: travel, previous bowl record – and made some really great selections.

It’s best that I stray clear of all forms of gambling given my lack of success. Matters not the contest: games of scrabble or backgammon? Loser. Lottery jackpots bulging to record heights so Mike buys a ticket. Loser. Two families out west will split the $390 million jackpot. “Why not me?” Mike whines.

* traditional network broadcasts: Sun Bowl (CBS), Outback Bowl (ABC), Cotton Bowl (Fox). The Rose Bowl was simulcast on ABC and ESPN. All the rest were shown on one of ESPN’s networks. Not a cable subscriber?

[postscript] final tally – Louise picked 18 winners, Mike lagged with just 14. Also, the viewer ratings for virtually all games, compared to previous years, was down…hmmm. Wonder if advertisers are beginning to ponder the wisdom of broadcasting the bulk of the games on ‘cable-only’ stations. ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Plus?

December 9, 2010

Google me this, Riddler…

Filed under: General,Politics & Media — admin @ 7:42 pm

A few Sundays ago Louise and I were cracking up over a Saturday Night Live skit we saw the previous night which portrayed a remarkable parody of the Rachel Maddow Show. (OK, I admit it I’m an addict and rarely miss her show….9 pm, MSNBC….hint-hint.)   Since my trusty and highly valued micro-cute ‘puter, Ned, was handy I proceeded to check the web to see what sorts of reviews I might locate.  A blistering fast Google search revealed a ton of hits including a blog  with YouTube like video clips.  Wow, I thought…that was quick.  Just a matter of minutes after SNL aired some writer had written a brief review and captured a complete transcript of the show.  Whew!  I was a impressed and wrote the author to tell her. I noticed a few more entries on her blog and made quick comments on those, too.  A day or two later I revisited her website, and sure enough - my comments had been posted and she’d written a half dozen more stories; so I wrote to her hoping to learn her secret for being able to access transcripts so fast.  She’s never responded but I do return often to her blog.  Turns out she’s a fairly conservative sort of person – by that I mean, I’d guess her to be Republican, and while she does not write a lot what she does say is a bit snarky…at least I find it to be very negative and critical of others.  A few fans seem to love her and the shear volume of things she posts tells me this is more than just a casual news viewer – this woman is a full-fledged news junky….local news, national news, international news.  It’s all here – captured on her site – and quickly!   There are plenty of links to video clips and articles…but only a few notes from the blogster, herself.   The other day I responded to something she’d written about President Obama.  Not that he relies on me defending him – but I couldn’t help posting my views.

(Post below relates to this topic.)

Radical thought: formulate opinions and comments based on facts

Filed under: Politics & Media — admin @ 3:27 pm

“…formulate opinions and comments based on facts and not myths, lies and falsehoods.”  The was the advice some hack gave me at a conservative blog (mentioned in posting above)…his feedback caused me to ponder.  Seems the root cause for so many disagreements is based on what information is factual – and deciding what to believe and what to dismiss or ignore. It’s what defines us as individuals. I listen to Sean Hannity, frankly far more than I should. Not because I like his show - I listen to gain some understanding of another point of view.  That’s something I have not yet been able to recognize.  It’s like listening to an alternate universe sort-of experience…a George Costanza opposite moment.  Hannity acts as if Ronald Reagan oughta’ be elevated to sainthood or something, claiming, among other things, that Reagan’s policies lead to the greatest peacetime economic growth the world has ever seen – advocating essentially that it is time to “return to Reagan’s conservative values”.   Uggg.  Maybe it’s just the revenue from Heritage Foundation which prompts his nostolgia.  My recollection is that while the economy stalled and then boomed, and so did the national debt and a host of related problems.  I will have to refresh my memory and dig into that a bit more very soon - but for now, I am guilty of drifting off course.

Pondering the positions of the conservative right wing and trying to understand their mindset I have engaged in conservative blogs, articles written by Republicans, TV and radio programs.  And far more Fox News than is healthy.  I have to absorb their material in very small doses because I find most of the rhetoric is difficult to take.  Actually that’s why I am no longer a Republican.  No, it’s not Fox News’ fault!   (Wondering – was there a “Fox News” in the ’80s and ’90s….don’t think so….ah, there’s another tid-bit to research.)

Anyway, leading up to the 2000 election there were several folks vying for the Commander-in-Chief job and among the candidates George W. Bush was buried deeply at the bottom of my list.  Mr. Bush just did not seem like “Presidential material” to me. I could not visualize how this good looking guy, born with silver spoon in his mouth, who had failed or largely messed up throughout his youth and early business ventures…could get elected President of the USA. The fact that he had served as Governor of Texas amazed me.  (Though given the fool they’ve got in office today, I guess getting elected TX Governor is not quite the distinction it may have been once.)  It just did not compute with me…things Mr. Bush said either made little or no sense, and his supporters were saying so many things that sounded suspicious or down-right false.

So I began checking into the facts and found that Mr. Bush’s critics were often correct. I also found my personal beliefs aligned less with Bush and more with his opponents.  I doubt I will ever get over the way Bush stole the election through the courts – Gore had won the popular vote: 50,999,897 to 50,456,002. It was a relatively thin margin, but the Supreme Court decided to stop Florida’s recount process giving Bush the Presidency. Federal Election Commission figures show Gore was behind by 537 votes in Florida when the recount was halted – so all of the ballots with “hanging chads” never got counted…and Americans will never really know for sure the actual count in Florida. Nationwide, Gore had 543,895 more votes than Bush, so charges will forever persist that George W. Bush and his legal team stole the election. As Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in the Bush v. Gore dissenting opinion:  ”Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law.”

Those of who still align themselves with the Republican party, I suggest you keep an open mind and inquisitive ear. Question overly simplistic answers or positions. When candidates say they want to “take our country back” and advocate conservative values, reduce the deficit, a smaller government – the voters must demand specifics. Here we are barely a month removed from the last election and already Congress is ignoring their own promises and planning legislation that will add $700+ billion to the growing Federal deficit. More examples of inaccurate or incomplete GOP rhetoric are sure to surface. This afternoon Talking Points Memo reports: “Leaked Fox News Emails Show Deliberate Slant On Health Care Coverage”. I can just about predict the response: the right will deny it, the left will rant “see? told ya so!”

Links:
2000 election data based on reports by the Federal Election Commission http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/2000presgeresults.htm
Read the dissenting opinion Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Bush v. Gore, dated 12/12/2000 - http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/pdf/00-949P.ZD (.pdf file)

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