Archive for September, 2009
Incivility and American Politics
President Lincoln shown as an ape
During Barack Obama’s recent State of the Union Address, a Republican Congressman named Joe Wilson shouted “you lie” after the President said:
“That we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now such a charge would be laughable if it wasn’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie plain and simple. There are also those who claim reform would insure illegal immigrants, this too is false. The reforms I am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. (Wilson then shouts “you lie”)
I have a few things to say about Mr. Wilson’s actions. First and primarily, Wislon was wrong to have shouted the words he did. He has been rightly vilified for his actions and apologized. America does not have a parliamentary system like Britain, where Prime Ministers are often subject to such outbursts. Instead, in the United States our President is both the head of the government as well as head of state.
President Barrack Obama: Three Decisions For History
Carl Von Clausewitz
The famed military historian Carl Von Clausewitz called it the “fog and friction of war”. He wrote in his epic treatise On War that battle plans deteriorate as soon as they come in contact with the enemy. Clausewitz informs us there is uncertainty and often chaos whenever opposing interests collide.
In the next 8 weeks or so, we’ll witness the history of the Obama presidency really begin to be told. The President’s decisions regarding three key items will become a lasting part of his legacy. The issues I am referring to are healthcare, Iran and Afghanistan.
HEALTHCARE: I believe Mr. Obama’s political plan for passing healthcare legislation was totally thrown off course by the financial crisis. I believe that without the duress that led stocks to continue their early 2009 decent, the President would have been able to push through a comprehensive healthcare bill within the first few months of his administration.
Racism, Healthcare and the One Word Slur
Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby, comedian extraordinaire, has come forward and said “he agrees with former President Jimmy Carter that racism plays a role in much of the opposition to President Barack Obama.”
I have received comments on this blog from people who indicated similar thoughts prior to the comments of both Carter and Cosby. At the time, I thought those beliefs were far out of the mainstream. Sadly, I now am discovering they might not be.
Perhaps you my dear reader, agree with Carter and Crosby. I for one don’t. As a white person, (or if I were a brown, yellow, red or black person) I am disturbed by the insinuation that disagreements with President Obama’s policies are because this nation is overflowing with people who are racist.
The Collapse of Lehman Brothers: One Year Later
My first night class in college was a macroeconomics course. I know, not exactly the type of course that has people lined up around the block wanting to take. Actually the class was pretty interesting. We learned a lot of things that surprised me. For example, an economist would tell you there is an optimal amount of crime, or pollution or other topics that are not usually thought of in economic terms. (It is optimal for example to have some crime because the alternative would be a police-type state with cops stationed on every street corner)
Anyway, I remember one paper in particular I wrote for that class. The reason I remember it so well is I received a “D” on the paper. I thought the idea in the paper was true then, and I still think it’s true.
Eight Years after September 11th
Eight years ago, forty-one people boarded a Boeing 757 airplane in New Jersey that was bound for San Francisco. The plane never arrived. Four of the passengers were terrorists who had traveled from the other side of the world intent upon seizing the aircraft and crashing it into the Capital Building/White House. They committed their murderous crime in the pursuit of martyrdom. The terrorists died with prayers upon their lips.
The passengers and crew famously voted to charge the cockpit, almost took control of the aircraft, and died when the plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. If you know the story of United Airlines flight 93, you know those passengers displayed exceptional courage and nobility……which is the dictionary definition of a hero.
A REQUEST FOR HELP
I’ve been publishing this blog for about six months now. There are a few hundred people who read it on a fairly regular basis. THANK YOU.
Me and Lyn. Or, is that Lyn and I?
I’m hoping you act upon my request for help. I’m trying to increase the number of readers at randygoldring.com. I’d very much appreciate if you send a sentence to people in your email address book asking if they’d be interested in checking out an informative, reasoned blog that discusses current issues from a slightly different political perspective than what they’re probably used to. Maybe include a link in the email so they can check out this blog and decide if they want to bookmark it for a return visit.
I’m very grateful. Thank you! (Below you’ll see today’s post)
The President Speaks To The Kids
Summer is ending and for many a new school year is ready to begin. To mark the occasion, President Obama will speak Tuesday at a school in Virginia. That speech will be “piped” into many elementary schools throughout the nation. Sadly, and I do mean sadly, even this simple event is being turned into a political brewhaha by those who see every decision by the President as a cause for confrontation.
Florida’s GOP party chairman Jim Greer said in a news release that “As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology,” Right of center political commentators Michael Medved and Michelle Malkin are amongst those managing to find a hidden agenda in the President’s speech. They say he will be “spreading socialist ideology and indoctrinating the children in leftist political thought.”
I find this critique to be pathetic.
The White House address is meant to encourage students to stay in school and understand the importance of their education. The President, whether Democrat or Republican, is the person American voters temporarily entrust to be their national leader. The American Presidency is an office as much as it is a job occupied by a political actor. As such, I believe those finding offense at our President laudably trying to motivate kids to accept responsibility and stay in school…..do themselves a disservice…..as they are rightly perceived as petty and unreasonable.
The Juice in Mannywood
When I was a kid, my neighbor Tom and I had an unbelievable baseball card collection. We had every card of Willie Mays and Hank Aaron from the late 1950’s to 1973. We owned cards of all the greats, from Sandy Koufax to even a couple of Babe Ruths.
Like so many other kids through the generations, I memorized many of the statistics on the backside of the cards. If you would have asked me Mickey Mantle’s 1965 batting average I undoubtably would have been able to tell you. One of the great things about baseball is the game has been relatively unchanged through the decades, and thus comparisons between players from different eras can be made more easily than in other sports.
Then of course came late 1990’s when players started to hit homeruns at a pace never before seen in the game’s hundred year history. Looking back, we now know the reason the statistics deviated so greatly from their historical levels is because the ballplayers were using steroids. What wasn’t known was just how many players were on the “juice”.
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