A Rovian style of politics is geared towards eliminating the substance, which is just the way major news outlets like it. The feeding frenzy is easier than actual journalism anyway.

Recently, When Wesley Clark went after McCain’s military service as a qualification to be President, the media went after Clark, instead of going after McCain. What was the real story? I say it was weather or not John McCain’s military experience really makes him more qualified to be president.

I call this style of politics not ‘Rovian” but “Orwellian”. Rove was quoted in the book “Bush’s Brain”:

“When we act, we create our own reality. While your studying that one, we’ll act again, creating other new realities.”

Rovian can be called Orwellian because it employs George Orwell’s principle of Newspeak.

The basic idea behind Newspeak is to remove all shades of meaning from language, leaving simple dichotomies which reinforce the total dominance of the State.

The substance of Wesley Clark’s comments are now gone, McCain evades serious questions as to his credibility. Problem solved again.

Technorati Tags: Clarke, Election 2008, George Orwell, Karl Rove, McCain, Obama

15 hostages detained by FARC for six years in Columbia were freed today. The operation to free them was seemingly brilliant. It’s re-assuring to know that some good things still happen in this world. With so many news stories bringing us all unpleasent news, this is most certainly a relief. Who would have thought that from a country with such a bad reputation, something to good could happen.

What is really interesting, is that the article talks about how Betancourt said a prayer that morning, then she was notified that she was so be set free shortly thereafter. Kind of makes you wonder.

Technorati Tags: Betancourt, Columbia, Hostages, World News

It was indeed a joyous occasion in the National Cathedral, as some clergy that were present are “out” as you will, reaffirming a creed several churches have signed officially accepting those who are Christian and also homosexual. It is indeed proving to the world that the church is faithfully upholding the creeds that Christ has taught it, to love one another, to forgive one another, and to never under any circumstances turn people away. It is unfortunate that many other mainline churches, including that which I’m a part of, the United Methodist Church, have yet to become so inclusive. I guess sometimes the sake of keeping things peaceful, practice what Christ preached can be thrown out. What also is unfortunate is the fight that some conservatives in the Episcopal Church are waging against the denomination. Threatening a schism by aligning themselves with a more theologically conservative church coming out of Africa and South America. They do not seem to realize the fight for civil rights for all people is the church’s fight as well. So often these conservative churches fail to realize the more pressing issues the church must face, such as the war on poverty, spreading the word of love to all those who are willing to hear it, and the ability to provide an end to injustice throughout this world. Now many colleagues of mine are thinking that this schism is going to hurt the church, and that it will never succeed. My friends, I believe that is not the case. I honestly think that the schism will not hurt but will help the denomination grow. No longer would it face the fighting over an issue such as this when more pressing concerns need attention to. Plus it will give those who disagree over this issue the ability to worship and commune with those who they do agree with. Sometimes the schisms are worth it, it is through these schisms church’s can grow. No longer would the fighting go on, and once again the church can be at work, helping those who need it, being the bearers of peace and love. I know this is to be a political blog, but sometimes as much as we try not to be, politics and religion do intertwine. Unfortunately like the church, we as a nation still very much remain divided over this civil rights issue. The granting of basic rights to same sex individuals and couples has become such a sticking point that people plan disgraceful protests throughout this nation’s cities. While fortunately no calls are being made for a split of the nation, one thing is for sure we as a country, like the church, are failing to meet our goals. We are failing to respond to global and social concerns while we bitterly fight for some people’s ability to stay at a hospital with someone they love. People are left starving, but we let our politicians debate the definition of a marriage. Something just doesn’t seem right. Do I believe the US should divide? NO! But I do believe it is our duty to get over this issue and get our country focused on causes that are truly concerning to our country. I thank you for your patience while babble on about a topic I do feel very strongly on, but once again this is just my view as I see it.

Technorati Tags: Baltimore, Episcopal Church, Gay Marriage

See: December 2007 NIE look under “Key Judgements”

Now word has gotten out in an article in the New Yorker that the Bush Administration is “stepping up” its moves against the country of Iran and it’s current regieme. See The Article.

It seems that the Bush Administration despite having engaged our military forces in two unsuccessful and unproductive operations in two Middle Eastern countries, will not rest until it causes chaos in Iran as well. Doesn’t this disturb anyone else besides me? Our forces are spread very thin, taking military action against Iran would be suicideal at best! We would have the United Nations, NATO and every other civilized nation screaming at us! The NIE said that Iran wouldn’t be able to produce enough Uranium to make a weapon until at least 2010. That leaves plenty of time to explore other options to solve the “problem”.

Technorati Tags: Iran

Perhaps he is vying for a VP position? Well Duh! Of course he is. He is also the perfect person to go after McCain in these areas. He has the military experience as well as the political clout to make his words known to a wide audience.

There have been calls from the McCain side of the fence Obama to condemn the comments. Seems like wishful thinking from the McCain camp. I do not see the need for him to condemn anything! I will leave you all with this:

John McCain served his country. He was captured and taken prisoner. That was very brave and honorable. How does flying a plane and getting shot down make you qualified to be the President of the United States? It just makes you a bad pilot, that’s all.

However, I feel that the reasoning that he gives for his refusal is a bit convoluted. I think that Sen. Obama filp-flopped here and he will get caught red-handed. The underlying question becomes: Does the money gained by this decision outweigh the loss due to the flip-flop? I say yes, the potential money to be gained here far outweighs all else. What do you think?

With the Iowa flood waters came the rise in price of corn. The crop is now being charted at a record high of eight dollars a bushel. Some market insiders do not expect the price to just sit at eight dollars. They now project that before the end of summer we could see prices upward of seventeen dollars a bushel! That’s bad news for all you corn lovers out there.

But corn will not be the only thing to suffer, remember anything that has anything to do with corn will go up in price. Milk, steak, and fuel just to mention a few things that could and more than likely will be affected by the flooding. If there are a few of you out there scratching your heads as to what corn has to do with milk or fuel you’re not alone. A vast majority of all the corn grown is fed to live stock which produces or becomes what you and I sit down at our tables to eat. It then becomes clear that if farmers have to pay more for the corn then that cost is put right on our plate as consumers right next to that steak. That only leaves fuel and we all get screwed onthis one no matter if your car uses ethanol or not. You will feel the pain. In ever y gallon of gas you pump there is a percentage of ethanol which is a fuel additive made from corn. So no matter if you use 100% gas or you use E-85 ethanol your price is going up.

It has never been clearer that we as a people need to diversify our energy sources. As we are currently seeing, one problem can be set us back very easily. That is why the only real option on the table is a blending of solutions. In a way we need to put as many eggs in as many baskets as possible, so if one is knocked over set back or just plain destroyed as in the case of the corn in Iowa we have other places to turn and prices can stay about the same as they were before. That needs to be a focus for our country, not only finding new power but preserving what we have. Are we as safe energy and food wise as we all think? Just ask yourself that the next time you pick your kid up from soccer practice in that SUV or when you’re looking at prime cuts of meat at the store. Till then pass the fish and green beans, I am eating cheap and saving up for the pump.

It seems to me that the campaign needs to keep the big “M” going. The “momentum” that they gained from Obama becoming the nominee was reinforced by these two endorsements. Many people say that Gore should have done this during the Obama primary campaign. What good would it have served in the overall goal of getting rid of GWB? The endorsement coming at this point does much toward continuing the momentum of the Obama campaign and uniting the Democratic party.

I feel that this is an excellent idea. The Center on Congress at Indiana University states that the average age of a United States Representative is 57 years and the average age of a United States Senator is 61 years old. These are no spring chickens here, folks. These people were in high school in the 1960’s and 1970’s. They did not grow up in the computer age. I know many people around this age right now who can barely turn on a PC, let alone protect themselves from cyber crime. My mother is in her late 40’s and she calls me once a week with computer problems. She can barely open a webpage.

My point is this, if my parents can barely use a computer, then our elected officials should be expected to at least be able to complete the basic everyday tasks on a computer. But to expect them to grasp the concept and implementation of computer security without some sort of in depth training is simply ludicrous! Training would be a potential solution. However, shouldn’t our all high and mighty government take care of it’s own computers and let the lawmakers do their jobs? Isn’t there a branch of our government assigned this task? I certainly hope so.

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