11/05 Morning Report

I do not often trump the Wednesday Hero post. Today, I thought it was appropriate, since we have a new Commander-in-Chief.

I have been super busy lately finishing college. I have been following the election process. I am proud to say that my children have been doing the same, asking some great questions, and learning a lot. I hope, if you have them, you have been doing the same with your children. They will be the ones who assume control and leadership of our nation when after us.

I will say that I am very glad a black man has been elected to the highest office in our nation. That is a huge milestone of change for America. I do, however, think there is too much being made of this issue by the media. They seem to be creating a new group of smoke and mirrors so people are kept from recognizing real issues.

I will also say that I disagree with his ideas. I do not believe that government is the savior of men. I do not believe that government should have the responsibility to say who should have what. I will also say that I intend, however often I can write it down, to continue to point fingers at the media for not doing their job. Bias allows many evils. The media has many liberal biases they need to deal with.

Barak Obama ran a good campaign. He didn’t really do anything more sneaky or behind the back than anyone else in politics. But the result is he becomes the new Commander-in-Chief. As such, I will pray for him, and support him with honor. I will not name-call. I will not slander. I will disagree, because that is my right and my responsibility. And, they are not just mine. We all have the same ones. I hope you all exercise your rights and responsibilities well.

10/23 Morning Report

The media seems to be really convinced that Governor Sarah Palin is not qualified to be Vice-President. It is a common theme when the elections are being discussed—by the media. It wasn’t an issue among people. Just the media. Well, I have a question for the media. If the Governor of Alaska is not qualified to be Vice-president, what made the Governor of Arkansas qualified to be President? Or the Governor of Georgia? Apparently, it only matters when it involves conservatives.

(…but…there is certainly no bias in the media…no favoritism at all…)


Speaking of the media nitpicking Palin, there’s the story from Politico about her wardrobe. But, then again, there is this story in USA Today that picks apart Politico’s arguments.

(…sorry…forgot…no such thing as media bias…)


Meanwhile, the candidates have been spewing lots of new plans and ideas for saving the American economy. The Economist had some interesting thoughts on that. It seems that, for all his talk about McCain’s plans only benefitting the wealthy and those that don’t need it, Obama has slipped into the same pattern:

on October 13th the Democrat upped the ante. The priciest part of Mr Obama’s new two-year plan would be a $3,000 tax credit for each new employee a business hires, which presumably is likely to benefit a lot of companies that would be hiring anyway. Mr Obama also wants to allow everyone to withdraw up to $10,000 from their retirement accounts tax-free (as with the McCain version, not a good way to encourage saving), and he wants a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures. Such indiscriminate intervention in the mortgage market may be very nice for homeowners whose prospects are looking up, but it would do little in itself for those who can’t afford their mortgages in the first place.

Benefitting those that don’t need it…not helping those who have already been hurt and only assisting those who might later…sounds like the things McCain is being accused of by Obama. And, Obama’s plan to finance everything with taxes on the oil companies seem to be going into the toilet with the drop in crude prices.

(…I wonder where he will make up the money now…)


Meanwhile, India launched a moon mission!

The unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft blasted off smoothly from a launch pad in southern Andhra Pradesh to embark on a two-year mission of exploration.
The robotic probe will orbit the Moon, compiling a 3-D atlas of the lunar surface and mapping the distribution of elements and minerals.

The launch, clearly a step into the long expected commercialization of space, will leave whoever “wins” the White House in a difficult position. The US is India’s 3rd largest trading partner. But, what that means and how it will be handled remains to be seen. Will Obama, who hasn’t ever seem to have made a decision on his own without changing his mind actually make a decision and act on it? I bet the media portrays McCain as laying down the law that “we were there first”? One thing is certain: it will make for interesting politics.

10/03 Morning Report

It could have been any country that started the financial crisis cascade, as an article at The Economist indicates. Unfortunately for America, it wasn’t another country. The crisis exists in America, and is affecting other countries as the waves of illiquidity spiral out. . The governments of several nations have already stepped in to bail out their banking industry.

Step forward, Peer Steinbrück, Germany’s finance minister, who rashly declared on September 25th that America was “the source…and the focus of the crisis”, before heralding the end of its role as the financial superpower. Within days, the focus shifted and Mr Steinbrück and his officials were obliged to arrange a €35 billion ($51 billion) loan from German banks and the German government to save Hypo Real Estate, the country’s second-biggest property lender.

I talked a couple days ago about how debt obligations are bought, sold, repackaged, and so on. Well, the painful truth is that debt obligations are traded on a global scale. That fact will drive the US government to do a bailout/loan package. It is a foregone reality because of the international realities involved.


Meanwhile, we have the Hot Topics of the elections. Iraq: US combat deaths down 86% from a year ago. Strange we did not hear about that in the Vice-presidential debate, considering how much they talked about Iraq. But, then again, inspite of Tom Brokaw’s statement ON CAMERA that “The Democrats are lucky there is only one Vice-presidential debate,” the NY Times claims the GOP merely survived a test. All things considered equal, I think Sen. Biden did a better job in the closing statements than Gov. Palin. But, over all, the fact that she could go step for step with him is telling of the ability of the McCain/Palin ticket. I suspect that if they can create distance between themselves and the Bush administration, the GOP just might be able to hold the Whitehouse this election.

09/09 Morning Report

Well, Obama’s positions are pretty clear. If you’ve had doubts, or confusion on some points, you can go read Biil O’Reilly’s article in full. Here are a couple of excerpts…

As far as philosophy goes, Obama is convinced that the federal government should be in control of income distribution and, to some extent, should regulate the free marketplace. That is a classic liberal position and he promotes it well.

In other words, I don’t get to say what my money buys or who gets to spend it…the government does. I may not be quite that blunt and hard lined, but that is what it boils down to.

The senator also believes that poor Americans have a basic right to free health care and monetary supplements from the government with no strings attached. The American substance abuser, for example, would derive the same benefits as would a hard-working, laid-off worker.

Now, do not get me wrong. I think everyone in hard times needs help. That is supposed to be a basic tenent of most religions, though many religious (Christian and non-Christian, by the way) tend to practice it only towards those in their particular religious group as opposed to all men. But, here is my beef…why should those who abuse the system, and break the law, get that kind of treatment? It’s a lot like illegal immigration. If we make everyone provide proof of citizenship, how is that discriminatory towards any group?

(…but liberalism is what it is…and it does not make sense to me very often…)

Meanwhile, one USA Today article said that Republicnas got a HUGE lift from the convention (,,,duh…)

McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican's biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before the convention opened in St. Paul. Then, he lagged by 7 percentage points.

Meanwhile, one USA Today article said that Republicnas got a HUGE lift from the convention (,,,duh…)

McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican's biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before the convention opened in St. Paul. Then, he lagged by 7 percentage points.

In another article, a so-called “fact-check” on “the Bridge to no where”, the same news agency points out that:

As a candidate for governor, however, Palin supported the bridge.
"We need to come to the defense of southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table, like the bridge, and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that's so negative," Palin said in August 2006, according to the Ketchikan Daily News.

Here’s my problem with these things. Liberal candidates are allowed and regularly reported to have done similar things, and changed their minds later. This is considered admirable. Obama has even done on issues involving Iraq, which the media thinks nothing of. So why is this any different?
(…maybe it relates to…say…liberals being behind in the polls?...oh I forgot…there is no such thing as media bias…how silly of me…)

9/04 Morning Report

I've been gone for a while. It's been really busy around our home. We now have two teenagers here. We are buying a house. I'm still trying to make it through college. And...I made the mistake of taking up online gaming...oh boy!

Anyway, I thought I would weigh in with a quick comment (someone else's) on the McCain/Palin thing...



Enough said.