Buffalo Boy's Blog
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I Hate Political Coverage
I watch political coverage whether its CNN, Headline News, MSNBC or Fox News and the same crap gets covered time and time again. How candidates change and shift their positions and how this is a bad thing and the constant questioning of their shifts in opinion and plans.
How are politicians so much different from any other human being on the planet? Anyone else who starts a project and gets into it and realizes they need to change what they are doing in order to finish their task and succeed would stop, shift their point of view and change their plan.
The only person in the world who doesn't do this is George W. Bush who starts something and has to finish it the way he started it (see the Iraq war as an example). The Bush administration started a crappy agenda and is finishing with flying colors with an even crappier one.
So this morning Im watching political coverage on the NBC Today Show and they are talking about McCain's and Obama's shifting views as bad that they are not allowed to shift their points of view on issues.
These politicians are expected to provide answers on the spot, no one realizes how much work it is for them to be out there campaigning, doing their respective jobs as senators and researching the issues so that they can be as informed as possible.
In a position like the presidency of the United States, why should our president not be willing to shift his point of view on issues based on the data that he gets? George Bush refused to do this during his term and we all want him out of office. Id rather have a guy who is willing change what he is doing, think on the fly and come up with a new plan of attack when somehing isn't working.
We live in a world that is constantly changing and we need to be able to adapt with those changes or risk failure. For our next president, failure is not an option. 8 years of failure can not be followed by another 4-8 years of the same thing. That is why Im voting for the one most likely to change and adapt to what is being thrown at him. Through the Clinton campaign, Obama was able to do that effectively and he will no doubt defend and change as needed his policies against John McCain.
Category: Politics
Jan Schakowsky on the Stephanie Miller Show
Stephanie Miller talked with Representative Jan Schakowsky yesterday and among other things they talked about oil and drilling. 68 million acres of land is currently leased by oil companies for drilling and they want ANWAR. How bout using the land ya got first.
Add to that the fact that the oil companies would drill more but they are currently at a loss for equipment to drill with!!!! How are you supposed to drill more if you don't have the rigs built to drill? Take a listen, shes a great lady who represents her constituents well. Stephanie Miller is a great radio gal as well. Download the mp3Charlie Black- McCain's Scum Bag
Here is an example of who John McCain has working in his campaign. He is not just any campaign worker, he is John McCain's senior advisor. He hasn't been fired yet but should be after he said that John McCain would benefit from another terrorist attack on US soil. If anyone in the Obama campaign had said anything remotely close to that they would be hung out to dry. The Republicans will obviously stop at nothing to get back into the White House and now you have to wonder if a terrorist attack on US soil will not only be secretly allowed but encouraged by our own government to test that theory. Personally, Charlie Black couldn't be more wrong. Spoken like a true asshole. His statements are ridiculous and he have been fired long ago for the germs he has dealt with in the past including many former dictators and terrorists he represented as a lobbyist. Another terrorist attack on US soil will do more harm than good for the Republican party and probably would slam the door shut on them period. Who wants another terrorist attack to benefit anything much less a presidential campaign? Another terrorist attack would show not just US citiizens who already have the lowest ever opinion of this president and his party but would show the world that the Bush administrations claims and the republican parties claims of them making the world safer over the last eight years are all a bunch of crap.The Cafferty File on CNN says as much:
This is an ad, it shows some of the scum Charlie Black has lobbied for, he is a true scum bag. Want to know what you are getting when John McCain gets your vote, this scum bag in the White House:
How Can You Not Agree With This
Barack Obama came out tough on child rape saying that the penalty of capital punishment should be considerer in the most narrow of circumstances when it comes to child rape.
Freddie P has been all over this since his days on CFNY and MOJO. Its absolutely true that there should be higher punishments in these cases because most of the time, these sickos get off with a penalty that does not match the crime. What is even nicer to see is that a politician, one running for the highest office in the land, has finally come out and said as much. Any rapist should be at the very least thrown in jail for life but when it comes to child molestation/rape, they should get the kitchen sink thrown at them. Look at how our judicial system works and you can understand, most cases that deserve a heavy punishment don't get whats coming to them, the ones that don't get more than they deserve half the time. The death penalty is appropriate for murder, it should also be appropriate for rape, especially child cases.Religious Whack Jobs, STAY OUT OF POLITICS!
Another religious reference to Barack Obama. Enough is enough. This time its and Evangelical wacko, (they all are wackos in the Evangelical world, each and every one of them) James Dobson saying that Barack Obama distorted the Bible.
Who cares? Obviously 90% of America. That story came out today that 90% of US citizens believe in God. Come on, you have to be kidding me on that one. 90%? Not all of those 90% believe in the same God or the same religion so how can you make that blanket statement? Thats besides the point.
All these religious attacks on Obama for his religion, his church, his pastor (who by the way last I checked he cannot speak for or control what comes out of his mouth) are nonsense. They HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS OR THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE.
Don't even get me going on the likes that McCain associates himself or has in the past. Who is Dobson to say anyway whether Obama distorted the Bible or not? There is probably millions of different interpretations of the book depending on who reads it. Dobson and his Evangelical followings take it way to seriously and literally making him a dangerous man, Obama can and has every right to interpret the damn thing any way he please just like anyone else who is religious has a right to their own interpretation.
Chalk another religious leader who proves my ongoing point that if religion is not going to stay out of politics and trying to influence political races, then we should start taxing churchs. Think of the revenue that would bring in and what programs that could go to......say,,,,universal health care.
CFL VS. Incandescent Bulb
Listen to this jack ass republican give you every reason why you should not save energy and thus money on a CFL bulb. No mention of the energy saving benefits and how they will actually cost you less than the traditional light bulb.
I have all these bulbs in my house and here is what I noticed. My electric bill went down $10-15 PER MONTH on average. Since we made the switch in April 2007, not one of these bulbs have burned out. They last 8x longer than the traditional incandescent bulb. So for every eight incandescent bulbs you are now using in your home, you only need one of these. So not only have we saved money on our electric bill, I haven't bought a light bulb in over a year now. I have a few extra of the CFL bulbs but haven't had to touch them.
One of our bulbs broke because of the dog and I took it to......HOME DEPOT where they gladly take them back to recycle them. Wow, theres a brilliant idea. This guy makes it out to be a war zone if one breaks and paints a horror story for anyone looking to save energy and thus money.
Would anyone be surprised if the oil and gas companies who by the way supply these resources to our power plants lined this hicks pockets with some chump change to get up there and make it sound like these bulbs are impossible to use.
Sorry Tom Edison but every good invention gets replaced at some point, the turntable got replaced by the compact disc and the CD is being replaced by the MP3 yet there are no congressmen getting up there making jackasses out of themselves. (okay maybe you do on that last change over)
He has a worry that these bulbs are produced in China, big deal! Its another example of how America isn't the smart, economic power we used to be. Why didn't we come up with the idea first? Our automotive industry is going through it now too, Japan and foreign automakers are putting our plants out of business because we can't build an energy efficient fleet of cars, Brazil and Iceland are energy independent, Canada, Cuba, France, Britain amongst others figured out how to have universal, affordable healthcare. So add Tom's light bulb to the latest things that we as a country have been out done on.
Maybe if we as a government and as a people had a little more faith in science instead of Bible thumping, we wouldn't be getting shown up by the rest of the world.
Lets look at another video which actually show the benefits of Americans switching to the new bulbs, which by the way, is supposed to take place in 2014.
Some other figures for you out of USA Today from last December: Consumers will save $40 BILLION DOLLARS from 2014 to 2030. (Im all for that, I already started). IT will avoid the construction of 14 coal fired power plants and cut global warming gas emissions by 51 million tons per year"
Id rather have that money in my pocket. Are the new light bulbs perfect, probably not, but like I said, if you are interested in saving $10-15 a month on your electric bill (I live in a two bedroom apartment, so some of you could save a lot more).
By the way, my wife is watching TV right now, NO interference what so ever so Monday Night Football is on at my house this fall. Again, trying to coerce the public from doing the right thing, conservation of resources and instead painting a dark picture over something that will help. The microwave we have in our kitchen causes interference with the radio in the kitchen when I turn it on, lets get a congressman to tell us how shitty microwaves are.
Oil Companies and Government Are LYING
All this hog wash about how the oil companies need more permission to drill off the continental shelf they need more areas to drill is a bunch of crap. They are also lying about the Chinese drilling off the coast of Florida. Show me proof of that and Ill shave the Yankees logo into my head. The Chinese aren't drilling off the coast of Florida, Cuba or anywhere close to the Gulf of Mexico. Its all a story. They are also feeding us a line of bull about the reasons why refineries haven't been built since the 1970's.
First, the big oil companies in this country have over 10,000 permits/leases with which they have permission to drill on 44 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico, the continental shelf on both coasts and on PUBLIC LANDS, thats right public lands!!!!. They are not using any of these permits or very few of them so even if there is oil, they have permission they just aren't drilling.
Second, the Chinese are not drilling off the coast of Cuba or Florida or anywhere in the Gulf, its a story to get house and senate leaders to give them more rights than they already have, more than the 10,000 permits they are already using!!!!!!!!
Third, the reason why there have been no refineries built is because no one has asked to build one! Since 1975, there has been ONE count them 1 permit submitted to the EPA for permission to build a refinery and permission was granted! So, they haven't applied for permits. They can't bitch that they can't due to restrictions, they haven't applied or asked to build any refineries.The one they did get, was approved!!!!!!! All they have to do is ask.
The fact is that this governement and big oil would rather have prices where they are so they are happy with the status quo.
The fact still remains, that even if they get any major field online, which Bush was quoted in the paper as saying that there could be 18 billion barrels, sounds like a lot, but 18 billion barrels at our current consumption of 20 million barrels a day, is about a years worth of oil for our country and that is assuming it came out of the ground that fast.
Realistically they keep throwing different figures around, Ive heard 18 billion, I have heard a trillion which would only be about 20 years worth, which would give us some room but again, unless that comes out of the ground in 20 million barrel a day increments, we need imported oil.
So, no matter what comes of this drill or not to drill, A) our government and big oil are lying through their teeth and B) we still need to develop alternative fuel sources that are not oil or gas and C) we need to improve fuel standards/technology and our habits to increase conservation.
Future of US In Iraq
Over the coming months, Obama and McCain are going to battle on the issues, one of which is the Future of the US in Iraq.
McCain is going to argue that the US needs to stay in Iraq, for 100 years if necessary, Obama wants out, the sooner the better.
McCain is wrong, Obama is right, there is no denying that. This thing has gone on long enough. Obama wants to pull out of Iraq and really, if we do, no matter when it happens, there will still be violence and unrest. The most important thing is that we start taking care of our domestic interests.
This "war on terror" is not one that is going to be one or lost overseas and especially not in Iraq. It has already been proven and shown via official investigations and documents that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no WMD's. So, the question remains, why are we still over there.
The only reasonable answer is: oil. Its all tied to our energy needs.
We need to get our troops home and let the CIA, FBI and law enforcement fight the good fight on terror. Prevention here at home is the way to fight it with good intelligence and precision strikes if need be overseas if and only if we get credible intelligence on a plot that leads us to the bad guys.
We need to pull back and concentrate on our energy needs. Yes, this will be oil, but domestic drilling is not the long term answer. No one can deny that. What ever we dig up domestically will not wet our massive appetite for oil no matter how much we drill here, no matter what we do at home to produce we will not get to a point where we are free from the middle east and OPEC unless we develop the technologies to get us off foreign oil.
Alternatives, fuel economy, conservation and just being smarter about the way we use energy. We are 5% of the worlds population yet hog up 25% of the energy. Thats excessive to say the least. If we do learn to change our ways, we don't need our troops in Iraq or the middle east. We don't need anything from that part of the world, except good middle eastern food. Thats about it.
So, when John McCain is telling you how we need to stay in Iraq blah, blah, blah, remember we don't have to be there and when you listen to Obama, you will realize he is the sensible one of the two. There is no reason for us to be there. The only reason we should be over there is to finish tracking down the real bastard who caused 9/11, his name is Bin Laden, The Bush administration failed us miserably for not having gotten the real culprit and instead lying his way to Iraq. And Bin Laden was not and is no where near Iraq.
Gore's Environmental Agenda Not Political
Al Gore does not have a politcal bone in his body when it comes to the environmental issues he so dearly supports. This article basically sums up where Al Gore is headed and despite last week's endorsement of Barack Obama, its not back into politics. He was just showing his support for the candidate he feels will be best for the environmental causes he supports.
His roots are as an environmentalist even if he started as a politician. His plans are to stay out of Washington, except to provide his voice on environmental issues. You can look at his track record dating all the way back to his days in congress and he has always been pro-environment. He has written more books than just An Inconvenient Truth. He wrote Earth in the Balance in 1990 that is a very solid and informative read for those who do have an environmental bone in their body.
I wanted Gore to run because I thought that he could make a huge difference in a time when we need someone to lead, but I respect his choice to stay on the outside looking in. He'll provide his expertise when needed Im sure, but he will pick his spots. His number one passion is now and really always has been the environment and "green" causes. No matter how you view him, you have to respect him for avoiding the spotlight.
He could have easily made it very interesting and jumped on board with Obama back when the primary was still a dead heat, but he stayed out. He wants people to recognize that hes not doing what he is doing for politcal reasons but for the right reasons. Hes doing it for that blue ball we call home.
Category: Global Warming | News | Politics | environment
Tim Russert 1950-2008
I found this video today and I think it says it all. The song is beautiful and so are the pictures that go with it. I thouhgt it was very well put together and worthy of a post, I woke up this morning and turning on Meet the Press and I thought it was very tastefully done by Tom Brokaw, I have no idea how he held it together.
