Recently in Politics Category

George Osborne, who would become the chancellor of the Exchequer if the Conservative Party wins the next election in the UK, gets the reality of the situation they face in the UK and that we face here in the US - we want our government to provide us services (yes, we all do - stop driving, stop eating food you don't grow yourself, etc., if you believe otherwise), but we don't want to pay for them.

Osborne speaks like an adult speaking to other adults.

He says he doesn't like how high taxes are, especially for the wealthy, but that's life, he doesn't want to cut those taxes until the poor aren't being asked to scrimp.

He tells members of his party to stop insulting government workers.

He proposes cuts to programs that don't work, even ones that go along with his political philosophy.

Nobody wants to be in charge when the retirement age is raised, but he set a timeline for doing it. Not someday, but in 5-10 years. If we did that, Social Security would avert the upcoming crisis everyone is afraid of.

Why don't our politicians treat us like adults? We all know we can't go on this way. We all know that the situation can't be resolved by only cutting programs or only raising taxes (if you don't know that, it's time to put aside your ideological blinders and take a good look at the way the government works).

See David Brooks op-ed piece on Osborne's speech for details.

If you listen to this and are not moved, if you watch this and still think that health care reform is something we shouldn't do, I feel sorry for you. Your politics have so blinded you to a compassion that is at the core of being human.

Rachel Maddow had Tom Ridge, the first head of the Department of Homeland Security agency under President Bush, on her show last night.

Ms. Maddow asked some very pointed questions, but let Mr. Ridge answer them completely. She was civil, even when his answers seemed, I thought, to be hogwash or logically untenable.

In the final segment, she told him, point blank, that she thinks Mr. Ridge, and the Republican Party, will never gain back any credibility on national security until they admit that invading Iraq was a mistake, one driven by policy decisions, not by poor intelligence. Mr. Ridge didn't agree, and she let him explain why. Repeatedly. Without interrupting. No one on Fox News would have allowed a guest that disagreed with the host to do that. None of them would have treated a guest with the respect she gave Mr. Ridge.

Mr. Ridge knows it, too. At the end he said so. He said, "I really appreciate the civil way we've had this discussion. Frankly I think we would advance the interests of our country a lot further and a lot faster if we could have discussions such as this".

This is the way to do it Fox News.

Folks, I don't care what your politics are, be civil with people that don't agree with you.

Craig Newmark, said, in Why Craigslist is Such a Mess this:

People are good and trustworthy and generally just concerned with getting through the day.

Politics doesn't change that. People are basically good. We all want the world to be a better place. Be kind and respectful to people with different opinions. Don't yell at them because they don't agree with you. Don't call them names (especially names like Socialist, Fascist, baby killer, Nazi, etc. that are so inflammatory they just lead to ending the discussion). Don't judge someone as being a bad person because you don't agree with them.

Lest you think I'm saying this just because a Democrat is President, look back a past posts. I believe in civility in political discourse, regardless of which party has control of the White House.

So, let me say it again, in closing, to try to make this point stick - I don't care what your politics are, be civil with people that don't agree with you.

In 1993 Congressional Republican's did everything they could to keep the Clinton administration from passing their budget. In the end, Al Gore, as Vice President, had to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

At the time, Republicans were full of predictions about how bad the economy would suffer.

Said Dick Armey, the House Minority Whip,

It is a recipe for disaster. This plan is not a recipe for more jobs.

New Gingrich, on much the same note, said, the package would lead to "a job killing recession".

There are a lot of similar quotes like that. I won't bore you by listing any more What happened? As has happened time and time again, exactly the opposite of what the tax cutters claim - the economy improved. Not just a little, a lot.

Because of their staunch resistance to the fiscal restraint of the Clinton administration, the Republicans could not accept any credit for the improved economy during those years (which is part of the reason why they changed course and went after Clinton on moral issues rather than economic issues).

Now, in 2009, they are in the same situation. The Republican's, especially those in the House, made a conscious decision to resist Obama's plan. Not due to any belief that stimulus wasn't needed; nope, merely because of their own partisan politics. I mean, heck, it's the largest tax cut ever! When did Republicans start voting against tax cuts?

They voted against the stimulus for purely political reasons. They know that agreeing with Obama will not gain them anything politically, and resisting him might result in political gains. Suspect anyone that gives any other reason for voting against the package.

Arlen Specter, a Republican that voted for the stimulus package, said that several other Republican's congratulated him on his courage voting for the stimulus package. They couldn't because they were worried about the political fall-out for doing the right thing.

That's sad. I hope, just like in 1993, the predictions of the Republicans are wrong. I'm worried, though, that they aren't. Too much is being lost to tax cuts. Too much spending was cut out of the final bill.

The Republicans are putting themselves back into the same spot they were in 1993, but this time, maybe, they may have done enough damage to the package that their hopes come true. I hope not, but the Obama administration, I think, is going to have to get busy and get some more spending packages passed. This package seems too small and too slow.

Today I learned about Sam Seder, a comedian/commentator. Here's a great clip of him talking about the inane idea that there is a "War on Christmas".

Anyway, while looking for more by him, I read this hilarious review on amazon

Sam's book illuminates why Air America is a failure and why the Left and Liberalism is dieng in America. Thank God! The only followers they have "left" are the mentally ill and drug addicted.

How foolish do you have to believe something like that? I'd feel the same way if someone said that about conservatives, too. Just because someone doesn't agree with you, doesn't mean they are mentally ill.

Image via Wikipedia

Wow. Just wow. Republican's have sunk so low these days. One Republican staffer said that one agency would spend it's share of the stimulus bill on wetlands, including protecting the habitat of a wetland mouse. That became,

When you look at some of the spending in this bill, it will do nothing about creating jobs in America. Tell me spending $50 million for a mouse in San Francisco is going to help a struggling auto worker in Ohio?

and

$30 billion for mice in San Francisco. Mickey Mouse is no longer the mouse with the greatest network. Now there is a San Francisco rat that has edged him out. The Democrats are spending $30 billion on rats.

See these and more quotes at Congress Matters

See the truth at Bay Area mouse spurs national debate over stimulus bill

Here we are at last. The beginning of the Obama administration. At our house, we got up early and started watching. I took the day off of work. My sister-in-law, her husband, and their daughter, who is 12, is joining us. My niece is taking the morning off from school and we're all watching the inauguration on TV.

It's so exciting, to think what the next 4 years will bring. It's hard not to cheer the end of the Bush administration, but I'd rather think about the future, than focus on the past. What will the next few days bring? Closing of the Guantanamo prison? The end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"? A stimulus package? Whatever it brings, I am full of hope, but I am also dreading the day that I know will come - when he does something that disappoints me.

Want to let the Obama administration know what you think needs to change in our government? Visit the Citizen's Briefing Book, based on salesforce.com's Ideas application.

This site allows you to join a community that creates and votes on ideas for changes we want to see. Create your own ideas, vote for ideas that are already posted that you agree with, vote against ideas you don't like.

This is one of the first signs that the Obama administration understands that we, as citizens, need new methods for letting our government know what we want. I'm proud of the Obama administration for implementing it, and I'm proud to be part of the company that enables them to do it.

It's not just that, they are using our products other ways, but some details of how they are using salesforce.com will have to wait until they unveil them.