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?

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.

Short Version of Why I Support a Public Option October 15, 2009

…because as long as your healthcare and mine are controlled by companies whose fundamental motive is to limit our access to healthcare, then no amount of fiddling around on the edges will make things any better and costs will continue to rise twice as fast as inflation.

My wife, who runs HR at a tech company here, was thrilled to discover that her company’s insurance costs only rose 15% this year, so long as she cuts some benefits.  Isn’t there something wrong with being happy about that result?

Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize October 12, 2009

A few observations:

• What, precisely, is President Obama’s accomplishment? Simple: the re-establishment of American moral authority in the world, and re-instituting America as the world’s best hope for peace.
• Is that an accomplishment worthy of the Nobel Prize? Well, umm…I probably wouldn’t have done it.  But of course it doesn’t matter what we think.  The fact is, the Nobel Prize Committee thought so.
• Who makes the decision? A committee of five people chosen by the Norwegian Parliament.  They are almost always former Norwegian politicians.

Importantly, here is what the Nobel Peace Prize is not:

• Partisan.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with Republican/Democrat/conservative/liberal agendas.  It’s five guys chosen by the Parliament of Norway.  Period.
• Affected by the U.S. press and its presumed “liberal bias.” These guys aren’t listening to MSNBC.  Or Fox, for that matter.

Look, no matter what you think of President Obama, this is a proud moment for the U.S.  At its essence it is an acknowledgment of how important America is on the world stage.  That’s a good thing, right?

A final note that I just cannot help but say: Rush Limbaugh threw a fit, in which he called Obama a “worldwide joke” and a “laughingstock.”  After the president had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  I’m sure that even someone with Limbaugh’s limited education can see that the data set simply does not fit the hypothesis there.

Because I’ve Been Paying Attention… October 12, 2009

…I’m not listening to Republicans who have the frickin’ gall to suggest that they have a clue how to prosecute the war in Afghanistan.  That they are trying to call out the President on his decision-making in Afghanistan is insulting to our intelligence.

They apparently believe that you and I are such irredeemable simpletons that we’ve forgotten that these are the exact people who suggested, only a few years ago, that we divert our attention away from Afghanistan and towards an Iraq that (a) had not threatened us; (b) had not harbored Al-Qaeda; and (c) did not have weapons of mass destruction.  And all of this was completely knowable before the fact.  When they did that, Afghanistan became by degrees worse and worse, and more and more of the hornet’s nest it is now.

Now they want to act like they’re the experts in national security.

Watch It October 9, 2009

1. I used to watch Keith Olbermann, but he just wore on me.  He is too often so over-the-top, and he too often plays gotcha journalism.  But this… this is just too good to pass up.
2. It’s long.  All five videos will take you 45 minutes or so.  But still.  Watch this:  Keith Olbermann special comment on healthcare.

Because the Government Wants to Control Your Puking!! October 6, 2009

Glenn Beck is now doing a show on whether or not you should get the flu vaccine.  “You won’t hear these honest questions asked anywhere else!” he cries.

Well, yeah.  The government could curtail your freedom to stick your tongue in a light socket, too.  And you wouldn’t want that, would you?  These totalitarian socialist Nazis…