Why I Want Leaders to be Educated November 21, 2009

It’s simple: because I just got through listening to Glenn Beck (I know, here we go again), and I was struck by this insight: from grade school through high school, you learn how to read.  In college you learn how to read.

The emphasis above is important: it’s the difference between being able to quickly and accurately ingest the words, and being able to understand what you’ve read.

Beck talks about having read various books and documents, and I don’t doubt that he has read the pages.  But he clearly hasn’t understood them.

And that is why I want leaders, including opinion leaders like Beck, to be educated.

Prosecuting Terrorists in NYC November 14, 2009

How odd.  House Minority Leader John Boehner says:

The Obama Administration’s irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people. The possibility that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found ‘not guilty’ due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American pause.

I, on the other hand, trust our laws and our system of government to reach the right conclusion.  Which of us is being patriotic?  Which of us is standing up for America?

Final Healthcare Thoughts November 5, 2009

I think the divide on healthcare nets out to a misguided notion of American exceptionalism on the part of reform opponents: they think that the U.S. healthcare system is somewhere between “best in the world” and “extremely good,” and they’re just wrong.  I’m sorry to burst the bubble, but the facts just don’t bear that out.

Were you aware, for example, that a young mother in the U.S. is 11 times more likely to die in childbirth than a mother in Ireland?  Or that a child in the U.S. is two-and-a-half times more likely to die by age 5 than a child in Singapore or Sweden?

Nicholas Kristof wrote what is (I think) an absolutely critical primer on this topic for the New York Times.  And as it deals in facts and data (and not in opinion), it is REQUIRED READING.

Off-Term Election: Yes, it Mattered November 4, 2009

I’ve been listening to liberal pundits explain to the rest of the world how yesterday’s elections are not a referendum on President Obama, and how there really is no message sent by the drubbing that Democrats took in Virginia and New Jersey.

Baloney.

I think that this hard swing back to the right, fueled by the nonsense spouted on the airwaves and through the ridiculous “Teabagger” movement, is evidence of a gullible and uninformed electorate.  But at the same time: them’s the facts, folks, staring you right in the eyes.  These folks, informed or not, voted in droves while Democrats stayed home.  The Republicans are a machine, and we’ve pissed off the machine.

The most nonsensical “victory” for the Democrats was in NY-23, where our guy held off — a third party candidate, after the Republican candidate stepped down.  And then just barely.  Yes, we picked up a seat, but we’ll almost certainly lose it right back when the GOP gets their act together.

What’s scariest to me, and I really mean it when I say it’s scary, is how NY-23 showed the level of control that is currently in the hands of the Christian right.  I say this as a committed pro-religion, go-to-church-every-Sunday guy: these folks are frightening.  Their intent is to instill something as close to Biblical law as they can get in America, which would be great (I suppose) if it weren’t for this niggly Constitution thing.  Read “Republican Gomorrah” by Max Blumenthal, and you’ll begin to understand how terrifying this trend in America really is.  (And let me remind my fellow Mormons, who are currently boot-licking this bunch: They don’t like you.)

Overall, though?  A really bad day for Democrats.  Let’s not sugar-coat it.

 

Here is Where I Begin Banging my Head on my Table November 4, 2009

Meb Keflezighi became this weekend the first American to win the New York City Marathon.  Which is pretty cool.

But not, apparently, cool enough for some sports guy from CNBC named Darren Rovell, who said it was a little hollow because Keflezighi wasn’t born here.  He emigrated with his parents from Eritrea 22 years ago, when he was a 12-year-old, but that’s not good enough for Rovell.  Because he’s an idiot.

 

Paying for EVERYTHING November 3, 2009

Let me completely butcher the sacred cow: the U.S. spends waaaaaay too much on the military.  So much, in fact, that if we were to carve the military back just a bit we’d be in much better financial shape.  Just ask yourself if the following seem necessary:

• The United States accounts for 47% of the world’s total military spending.
• The U.S. outspends the next 15 countries…combined (That’s China, Russia, Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India, Brazil, Italy, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, and The Netherlands).
• Did you notice that the list above is comprised primarily of allies of the U.S., who presumably serve to limit our need to spend more?
• As I’ve noted before: if you had spent a million dollars a day since the time Jesus walked the earth, you would still not have spent as much money as we’ve spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
• If you include spending on our current military, on our past military, and on the wars, you’re now talking about over half of the U.S. budget.

Now, I don’t want you to walk out on me entirely, so let me be clear: I’m not anti-military.  I’m just saying: if I were CEO of this country’s budget, the first thing I’d do is look to see what I could cut out of defense without significantly harming our ability to defend ourselves… and I’m sure that I could find a lot.  A lot.  A small percentage of a huge number is a really big number.

Simply put: spending more than the next 15 countries combined is overkill.  It just is.  It’s as though we’ve built a house and installed a huge gate, a moat filled with crocodiles, security cameras covering every square inch, a top-of-the-line alarm system with flashing lights and sirens, and we’re employing an armed guard for every nine feet of perimeter, 24 hours a day.  Do I feel safe?  Yes.  Could I feel just as safe with a lot less?  Also yes.

It’d be like finding your entire mortgage in the couch cushions.  Just a little effort would pay for everything.

That’s all I’m sayin’.

Free Speech November 3, 2009

Minuteman leader John Gilchrist was recently disinvited to speak at a Harvard forum.  This came after a woman with close ties to him, Shawna Forde, was arrested for murder in a botched home invasion designed to “fund” their group.  One of the victims was a 9-year-old girl.

Gilchrist has bellowed about “free speech” after his removal from the Harvard forum.  But here’s the thing about free speech, Mr. Gilchrist: it gives you the right to speak your mind, which you’ve done all over the airwaves, and which you’re welcome to do on a street corner or to your neighbors.  It does not guarantee you the right to speak at a private forum at a private university.  They get to pretty much choose whomever they want, and apparently you’re not it.

Little factoid I thought might be worth pointing out.