The Truth!

Election!

2008-11-05T01:48:00.004-05:00

First of all I need to apologize to my few readers, as I have failed to write anything in quite a substantial time period. I have taken justified criticism for my absence and I apologize; my new home and career have absorbed most of my time as of late. But now, after working through some family affairs and developing a calmer, steadier daily routine, I can say I am back and hope to write regularly once again.

And what better occasion to return to this than tonight. After all the votes have been tallied and all analysts have thrown in their two cents, we have learned what I have been sure of all along. We have a new President and he is not who I voted for. I gave my support to Senator McCain today, knowing I was betting on a losing horse. All that said, I have a few thoughts on all of this:

President-elect Obama's speech was excellent. Although not written by him it was graceful, humble and inspiring, even on an intellectual level. The audience responded and one could hear them think, about the future and what it would take, even on their part to accomplish the goals set forth by Mr. Obama. It was truly worthy of a President. This includes the respects he paid Senator McCain.
Senator McCain's speech was also fantastic and showed class. Although he lacks a lot of Mr. Obama's charisma and eloquence, he delivered a powerful and honorable speech. I was especially impressed with his call to support our new President in making this a better country, rather than the intuitive " I want him to fail attitude" many people seem to have.
I am very disappointed with the Republicans. Their supporters are bitter and sore losers. Booing Mr. Obama the way the McCain supporters did in Phoenix during the concession speech is indicative of what has become the Republican base's behavior. Republicans have been bitter and angry losers. My biggest disappointment of this election and its campaigns was the often despicable behavior of the Republican party and its supporters. Few should any class, which I believe, is the biggest reason independent and undecided voters ended up supporting Mr. Obama.
I am terribly proud of our country. Two years ago, I would have never believed in the possibility of my countrymen electing a black President. I could not be more proud and impressed. That said, I hope he will be the last "black" President ever elected, eliminating the mention of any minority title preceding the word President for all future to come.

With this election now over, we can all return to our lives and excitedly anticipate January 20th, 2009 and the first 100 days thereafter. I hope our country will not remain as divisive as it is at this moment, immediately after this election. For if all of us could follow John Wayne's credo, we could all unite as Americans. As I have to agree with "The Duke": I did not vote for him, but he is my President and I wish him the best!

Stupid!

2008-06-12T10:10:00.006-04:00

"Just how stupid are we?"

That is the title of a book I heard about last night. I caught the end of the author stating that to this date only one of seven adult Americans can find Iraq on a map. We are over five years into the Iraq war and people have no clue where the country our children are dying in is at? I have heard of this statistic before, yet it re-inflamed my anger last night since I have already been grumbling over lots of other things this week. I am not focusing on anything specific today but rather feel the need to point out some things that should be obvious to everyone, yet seem to get missed completely by most people.

Everybody likes to have an opinion and thinks it to be the right one. But how can you legitimately have an opinion about an issue, such as Iraq, if you have no clue about it? And it isn't just Iraq. I see this everywhere. Oil and Energy, Environment, Law and Crime, Economics etc. I have an opinion too but acknowledge that it is merely my view point, which is fallible just as everyone else is.

What is going on in with our Media? This has been bothering me for years, but it has never been as depressing as it has recently. In our world of Infotainment we are clobbered with 60 days of non-stop coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death on CNN and Fox News. We hear about High School Proms and Oscar night parties. Yet when truly important things happen, there is no mention of it. Don't even bother asking what happened to good investigative journalism. Nobody asks hard questions anymore, save Tim Russert and a couple others. Take this example: Last week the Senate Intelligence Committee, a bipartisan group, reported in its second report that President Bush ignored the CIA's doubts about WMD's, he exaggerated possible threats by Iraq and misused Iraq intelligence. Now, this is a congressional committee that just stated that our President deliberately lied and deceived Congress and the public to start a war against Iraq. And....? Nothing. Not one news stations covered it! A couple of decades ago, this might have led to outrage so widespread, the President would be impeached within a week, then convicted and removed from office. Death threats from upset widows and soldier's parents would be overflowing the White House. Yet nothing! Why? Have we become that numb to our surroundings that we care about nothing anymore. You can't really just blame the Media. After all, they show and write what people want to hear about. Which is these days, after all, American Idol and B/S of the kind. It suits politicians just fine. As long as we don't care, they are free to do what they want. About a week ago, I went to the Indiana Republican National Convention in Indianapolis as a State Delegate. This was a prime example of the sad state of our politics. The parties can't even find people to run for the smallest office. 30% of the seats were unoccupied and the only passionate people there were the Ron Paul supporters.

There is another issue that is troubling people (the few that pay attention) lately. The purchasing of American companies and infrastructure by foreign companies and governments. This troubling to a lot of people, not only protectionists. Whether we are talking about our banks, brewers, buildings and roads that are being handed over to foreigners, the outrage is the same, but resolve to fix the problem is absent. Without trying to get into detail about Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) and the dollar, trade-deficits and debt issues that most people can't wrap their heads around, I'll try to explain it plainly: Our dollar is approaching worthless, we owe money to the entire world (mostly Japan, India and China) and our trade deficit is growing each year. Our national debt is approaching 60% of our GDP (virtually all economists say that anything over 30% is catastrophic) and the situation gets worse year by year. All this makes it really easy for those countries that profit from our mismanagement to buy up our country really cheap. And so our children will grow up to be the workers for foreign companies and we don't mind. People complain about NAFTA and the WTO; wait until Budweiser lays of thousands of workers because the Belgian owner wants to outsource!

Politicians have to take the bitter pill approach with the public. Whether it is the national debt, medicare and social security, or energy. It is the only way to avert impending disaster. But as long as the people only want to hear what makes them feel good and only vote for the people that will tell them those feel good stories, nothing will change. If people invested some time to learn about pressing issues, they would see the scary truth and demand people in office who are capable of fixing the problems. In our hubris though, this is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Just look at the energy crisis we are entering! Despite all my love for capitalism and free markets, this is where it fails us. As Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense, "for trade being the consequence of population, men become too much absorbed thereby to attend to anything else. Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and of military defence."

We can' t continue in a world were all we care about is making millions. We cannot leave this world, leaving posterity to deal with our problems. We know what is wrong and have it in our power to rectify it. All it takes is the will of the people. Americans, standing united, have always been able to accomplish anything they put their minds to. All we need today is that same spirit that caused us to win WWII, send a man to the moon, and so many other triumphs. We need to deal with these problems now, otherwise our children and grand children will never forgive us.

United We Stand!!!

-M.P.-

Patriotism!

2008-05-13T21:27:00.005-04:00

God bless the U.S.A.

That is what I feel and that is what I hear at every baseball game, school graduation, political speech and everywhere else. That particular sentence is one of many expressions of patriotism that we display frequently. But what does it really mean to be patriotic. Aside from the egocentric connotation of the phrase "God bless the U.S.A.", as if no one else mattered to him but us, let us focus on how we perceive patriotism these days. I say that because patriotism has changed dramatically from its form in 1776, or at least perception of patriotism has been transformed.

America today is in danger of drifting from its best traditions. We have allowed false prophets of selfishness to obscure our vision. We have grown numb to a creeping cynicism about progress and public life. We crave human connection yet hide behind walls. We worship the money chase yet decry the toll it exacts on us. We allow the market to dominate our lives, relationships, yearnings and aspirations. We indulge in nostalgia and irony and addictive entertainment, then purge from our hearts any true idealism or passion, any notion that being American should mean something more than "everyday low prices" or "every man for himself."

What does it mean to be patriotic? Patriotism means pride. But true patriotism is earned pride: It means appreciating not only what is great about our country but also what it takes to create and sustain greatness. It means being proud of how we treat each other, how we meet challenges and threats. True patriotism celebrates the hard choices needed to create more opportunity for more people, and the values that guide those choices.

Unfortunately, in too many quarters patriotism is understood to celebrate might for its own sake, power as its own end. Patriotism has become a cheap brand, a soundtrack and package of graphics signaling complacent conformity: wave your flag, but don't rock the boat. Patriotism, to many Americans, signifies only empty swagger. It has been wrested by self-satisfied salesmen singing, "You're with us or against us." It has been used to justify dubious acts of war-making and lawmaking. It has been stolen to silence dissent.

There are two kinds of patriots. False patriots, and true patriots. False Patriots think that wearing their little flag lapel pins is the full measure of their patriotic duty. True patriots know that acts, not badges are the true marker of devotion to country. False patriots say that dissent and the public discussion of America's shortcomings are unpatriotic and comfort our enemies. True patriots know that only by pointing out what is wrong, can we unite to fix it; that what is good deserves conserving and that our capacity for disagreement and synthesis is what truly frightens our enemies.

I could continue on and on about my quarrels with the status quo about patriotism but I think you get the gist. I have recently come across a small little book called: The True Patriot! by Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer. Although they are open Democrats the book is very well written and contains a lot of my thoughts on this issue. There is a certain amount of disagreement of course, especially on economics, but it is worth reading. It is very short and contains some famous photographs and speeches from our nations past. I have taken the liberty to use some excerpts in this entry.

The one quote that really sums everything up for tonight is by a former U.S. Senator: "Our Country - when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right."

-M.P.-

The Environment!

2008-04-25T22:53:00.005-04:00

Having just witnessed another edition of the annual earth week (and the little notice anyone took), I thought I would write a little about the environment. I am a conservative, which seems to insinuate these days that I advocate environmental destruction. While this is certainly true for most of the Republicans in our country, I don't exactly consider them to be conservatives. Teddy Roosevelt said once, "Beauty is a Resources too" and he was the biggest advocate for environmental conservation the Republican party has ever seen. I would like to note that in today's world of science and unbridled knowledge, conserving the environment means more than just opening national parks and bird observatories. We need to protect the planet from the peril she is facing. Some people today like to say the jury is still out on global warming and climate change. To those, I say you are idiots! I am sorry if that upsets you but think for a second. You have 99% of all scientists agreeing and then one guy comes along and says I have another idea, these people cling to that one guy as if it was the gospel. Ignorance is bliss and so it makes people feel less guilty about their wasteful lifestyles, believing that they are not doing any harm. Let us just pretend for a second there was no global warming or climate change. How would you live?

I don't need to see scientific proof that industrial emissions are bad for the environment. All I need is one second of driving next to stinky dump-truck with its black smoke, or coming down the Chicago Skyway and seeing a cloud of nasty brown smog hovering over the city. Common sense is an uncommon virtue these days and I don't understand why people don't get it. Are we all so self-involved with our miserable lives that we don't care about the world we leave for our children. As if it wasn't enough that we reproduce like jack-rabbits while everyone's life-expectancy increases. Nearing seven billion people and skyrocketing resource demands are tearing this planet apart.

I love freedom. I would rather die than lose my liberties; but we all have to sacrifice somewhere. People will not work hard enough to clean this world up on their own. They just don't care enough. Sure, in a perfect world everyone would be self-governing and respectful of their neighbor and respect their right to breathe fresh air. That is just not happening. I believe in limited government. Very limited to be exact! I think government only needs to protect those that cannot fend for themselves. That is neither you nor I. This includes children and the environment. If you burn my house down, I can kill you very easily. If you dump barrels of toxic waste in the Gulf of Mexico because you are too cheap to dispose of it properly, what can the ocean do? Kill the fish and make us go hungry? As if that ever changed anything around here! We have to force people to be mindful of the natural resources that we have.

Nobody amazes me more than Christians. And the evangelicals lead the pack. They run around on their "City on a Hill" pretending we are the best thing that has come to this world, that god loves us and we are his servants. The bible is truth, evolution is heresy, etc. etc. I am not a religious man but I have read the bible (most of it), and I don't know in how many passages it says: "Ye shall love the earth"? In theory, every Christian should be an environmentalist. In reality though, in our sad little world, the biggest god fearing, Jesus loving people, are those bigots in the south driving the biggest gas-guzzling pick-ups in the country, throwing Budweiser cans into the woods, yelling: God bless the U.S.A!

And so we don't think anything is our fault because god loves America and only us, it doesn't matter that we use more resources than the rest of the world combined and pollute this planet at the same rate. After all it is our birth right. Gasoline is what is always in people minds; everyone is complaining about the fuel-prices and how it is impossible for them to pay the cost. They are lying! They are lying; I still see everyone going through the drive-through at McDonald's and the bank because they are too fat and lazy too park and go inside. Nobody besides me shuts off their car when we sit at a train crossing for five minutes. Why do people still leave their car idling for 15 minutes outside the school when they pick up their kids. Gas is not expensive yet!

I wish that I knew what to do!

Our people don't care and neither does our government. They won't until the people do. That means the only way we can change things is we pressure our lawmakers. The rednecks in this country are the first ones to call me a tree-hugger or some other derogatory slang. They say they don't care for this "liberal, leftist crap". They just love to go hunting and fishing!

Does it really take a genius to realize that if you destroy the planet, there will be no fish or deer left to kill? I am a sportsman just like the next guy, but I realize that if we don't et busy, the only hunting our grandkids will do will be in video games. Every year this world loses 25,000 animal species. They go extinct because of our sprawl and environmental disregard. When will we wake up?

The next election will be dominated by Iraq and the economy. Surely we all need jobs and money, but is that all that matters. I fear no man, but I am terrified of this old Indian proverb becoming true:

Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realise we cannot eat money!

-M.P.-

Iraq!

2008-04-22T10:37:00.006-04:00

I have thought long and hard whether I should even write this post. It may be my most polarizing piece yet, but I have been building this up for too long and I just can't remain quiet anymore.

We have now been in Iraq for five years. We have spent over one trillions dollars on this war (That is: $1,000,000,000,000.00) and the total bill, if we stopped right now, would be around three trillion dollars after all bills are paid and the veterans are taken care of. And this is just the financial cost, I dare not attempt to estimate the human cost of the thousands dead, tens of thousands wounded, and god knows how many families destroyed. In a normal and just war I would say, this is a necessary price to pay because "FREEDOM ISN'T FREE". We all heard that before. And so we have, we have paid a huge price; or rather promised to pay sometime in the future. Anytime we need money we just print it and hope our grandchildren will pay it back.

Now that we paid this "price", did we actually preserve our freedom or possible even gain any? The former is up for the debate, the answer to the latter is clearly: NO! I say we have only lost freedoms as this war proceeded; what is worse though, is that we are being manipulated to believe that it is a good idea to give up essential liberties. This administration has managed to scare the people into believing that dissent is unpatriotic. After all, we are either "with him, or against him." All of this is so aggravating that I will save the topic of liberty for another day. I want to focus exclusively on why we are (still) in Iraq:

We invaded Iraq because President Bush was "told by God" to so. We are still in Iraq because the administration does not want to lose face. They have this false idea of pride and honor that makes no sense. Their evidence supporting why we should stay, even less:

"If we left there would be chaos"! I am sorry, is this coming from the people that claimed to know how things would go after the initial invasion? They were wrong then, why would they be right now? Besides, I don't know how hundreds of attacks each week, decapitated bodies littering the streets, a million displaced refugees, curfews, no-drive zones, etc. are not considered chaos. The same type of people (the Nixon administration) predicted chaos and disaster in Vietnam when we left, and while the North temporarily took over, economic strength caused the south to reject them and now they are one of the strongest emerging nations.
"If we leave, we are open to attack by more terrorists"! Right, because they can't get into this country now. If you don't believe me, take a look at GAO, DOJ, DHS and NSC reports. By fighting in Iraq we recruit more fighters, and they can grow them faster than we can kill them. So instead of protecting our borders here, all we do is move towards a police state by curtailing as many civil liberties as possible. One by one, so no one really notices. I guess the reasoning behind that is: The terrorist hate our freedom, so if we get rid of our civil liberties, we give them less to hate. Sure, that makes sense!
"Ours soldiers want us there"! Every time McCain comes back from Iraq he claims that is what they tell him. First of all, he spends most of his time taking to REMFs, or for non-military folks, service-men that never leave the base and instead eat steak & lobster three nights a week, go to the movies, have private, air-conditioned rooms with showers and collect tons of combat pay. Second, what else are they going to say? "Send us home now! This war is crap. It makes no sense; why am I over here for the fourth time! Third, they are not even allowed to voice their opinion. FYI, servicemen have no protection under the "bill of rights". After a handful of soldiers called for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation in 2006, the UCMJ (Military Criminal Law-book) was modified to provide for courts-martial for anyone publicly denouncing governmental policies. How many of them are willing to risk their careers for something that probably won't change.
Third and most regretfully, and I want you to think about this for a second before you cry foul: Everybody wants to feel useful, wants to feel that there is purpose in their work. Whether it is a guy building a house or a teacher educating pupils. It is essential to feel job satisfaction. Well, soldiers need this more than anybody. Without purpose, their sacrifice seems worthless. Soldiers need their actions justified by a higher cause, their losses and sorrows vindicated. If those that support the war, which are usually the more gullible, less educated and younger service-members, declare all of this useless, they will become bitter because their service will have become "worthless". Nobody wants to feel that way, so they satisfy what is called their "confirmation bias". They believe only what supports the pro-war stance and avoid any cognitive dissonance.
Almost everybody knows somebody who is, or has served in either war. Therefore the above applies to all of those to some capacity. None more than the families who actually lost someone. And because we are to scared to desecrate their sacrifice, we will acquiesce to the believe they "died protecting their country".

Believe me, I am not trying to take anything away from our troops. Thousands have given their lives without thinking twice about it. There are some real heroes fighting this war. I am merely pointing out why we are too scared to face the truth and say: Yes, this is a mistake, let's pack up and go home. This war cannot be won!

And that is the whole point of this post. This war cannot be won. Never in history (PLEASE correct me if I am wrong, I have looked unsuccessfully) has a insurgency been effectively defeated. Iraqi families are very large, about 200 members strong; killing one means making 199 more hate you. How can you defuse this. Certainly not with the money we try to buy their silence with. How many other wars are we fighting that cannot be won? How about the war on drugs? 28 years later, another trillion dollars spent, two million Americans locked up, and no end in sight. Or maybe the war on poverty? Over 40 years and counting, while the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And now the war on terror. As if that was winnable! Terrorism has existed ever since civilization has. It is part of this world just as drugs and starvation are. We can only protect ourselves from it and try to convince people that we are good and mean no harm; that it is not "us against them" and we need to try to coexist. However, there will always be some who hill hate us. If they attack us then on our own turf, kill them, kill them twice. But don't try to go all over the world and try to get rid of them. You'll just breed more hate.

Finally, may I remind everyone how this country managed to establish itself. Washington's army was outnumbered, outgunned, out trained, out-everything. They won because the British were the occupiers and the Americans had more at stake. They fought a 18th century insurgency! We are Americans today because our forefathers were to the British then, what the Iraqis (and foreign fighters) are to us today.

Think about it!

-M.P.-

Bailouts!

2008-04-15T10:12:00.011-04:00

I think that every American, at least to some extent, is a free-market capitalist. The American populace has rejected socialism and most of its attributes continously. Or so they think! What we are currently experiencing in our financial markets is not the precedent but merely a continuation of what has happened to often. But as time goes on these bailout that we are seeing right now, increase. Why is that I ask myself? After long thought and eliminating all half-truths and implausible explanations I have arrived at the truth: We don't hold people accountable for their actions anymore!

Let us start with the mortgage mess and credit crunch:

The Bush administration is being pressured to bailout homeowners who are defaulting on their mortgages. An Obama or Clinton presidency would have done so a long time ago already; and Bush will fold too. Public pressure is too great. Especially during an election year of such magnitude. Therefore I only blame Washington for being gutless for not standing up for what is right. I blame the people for being myopic and socialistic.

I ask all of you: How is it my fault if my neighbor is too lazy too read his mortgage contract or the bank too greedy to make a save investment? How is it the average American's fault that his neighbor thinks it is a good idea to pull all the equity out of his house, overextend his credit and go on a spending spree? I would like to meet the person audacious enough to say it is my fault. Then why do I have to pay for all of this (and you)? I am not trying to give you a lessson in finance or economics, but I'll try in short: If the government bails out homeowners in any capacity, they either use our tax-dollars, or more likely engage in deficit spending. The deficit does a lot of bad things, but most visible to most people is increasing inflation and the need for higher taxes to increase revenue. There are many more problems that I won't get into but I think you get the point. Besides, isn't it a matter of principle. After all what kind of message are we sending to people.

This is much worse in big business. If you have looked at what happened to Bear Stearns and how that has been addressed you would probably get dizzy out of anger (I certainly did).

Some people call it a bailout, I call it a handout. A handout to some of the richest people on earth paid for by the American taxpayer. I understand why the Federal Reserve did what it did with Bear Stearns. The FED was doing its job -- acting as the lender of last resort, pumping money into a dying system. It wanted to prevent a run on the bank and economic chaos. It was a very creative financing move, using the FED's magic checkbook to pump more liquidity into a thirsty market.

My problem with the move is that the FED saved this patient because it's a wealthy one. Saving the biggest investment banks in America is welfare for the rich. Would the FED do that for you or me if we screwed up our investment portfolio? If I'm a small-business owner and fall behind on my taxes, is the Fed going to pay my taxes for me? If I can't pay off my college loan, will the FED pay it for me?

Aren't these investment bankers supposed to be the smartest guys in the world? Aren't they the people we entrust with our investment and retirement money? Aren't they supposed to be financially fit? Some blame subprime borrowers as the culprits in this mess, but the supposedly brilliant investment bankers bought their mortgages. Was that smart? To top it off, Bear Stearns paid out BILLIONS in bonuses just a few months ago. If the Fed had allowed the Bankruptcy to continue they would have to return that money to the stockholders that have been screwed by them. But now they get too keep it and nobody (sans the CEO who might lose his job, albeit leaving with a $100 Million) will be held responsible for their failure.

This bailout was a signal to Wall Street that the Fed stands behind them -- that they're on the same team. It was a thumbs-up to the super-rich: "Do what you want. If you screw up, we'll cover your blunders. In the words of Ralph Nader's father, and I really hate to quote HIM: "Capitalism will never fail because Socialism will always bail it out." The truth in that is saddening.

But why not allow a Bankruptcy to happen? Pundits will have you believe it is bad for the economy. But it isn't! They just need something to justify their actions so they don't seem so self-serving. A system needs to cleanse itself. Good companies survive, bad ones go under. When mal-investment becomes pervasive, things need to crash in order to reset. We cannot have only the positives of capitalism and not the negatives. Historically, when Capitalism stumbles like this, chaos erupts. So I looked up some examples to help me demonstrate this:

• In 1897, the Russian ruble was pegged to gold and a period of relative economic growth followed. Russia went off the gold standard to finance World War I. The government fell to the Bolsheviks in 1917, and the Russian mafia took control of the economy.

• After World War I, the German middle class was wiped out and Adolf Hitler was voted into power in 1933.

• In the 1930s, China was the only country on the silver standard. In 1935, the nationalist Chinese government started issuing paper money. In 1937, in order to fight the Japanese, the government began printing funny money. The value of their currency went from four yuan per dollar in 1936 to a trillion yuan per dollar in 1949. In May of 1949, the Chinese government fell to Mao Tse-Tung and the Communists.

• In 1984, Yugoslavia hosted the Winter Olympics just as their currency, the dinar, began to devalue. In 1989, the IMF recommended more devaluation and the freezing of workers' wages. Rioting broke out, and in 1989 Communist party leader Slobodan Milsoevic was elected into power. Yugoslavia broke apart as war and ethnic cleansing began.

Is that what we want. It is certainly where we are heading. If people weren't so ignorant and reliant on government to fix their ills we could avert chaos. But since that is apparently not possible, it is only a question of when and not if!

So everyone, pull yourselves up by your bootstraps!

Apathy!

2008-04-11T17:55:00.005-04:00

Why doesn't anybody care in this country anymore? While I certainly wasn't alive 200 years ago, I find it hard to believe that the people back then cared as little about anything outside their little lives as they do today. Just as everyone has their own ideas on how we have come about this; mine is that our apathy is a byproduct of our (almost) blind patriotism. Now before you call me unpatriotic, hear me out, because if you know me, you should have no doubts about my patriotism. But what I take issue with is the blind patriotism under which we operate. We believe that we are the best country on earth, created by infallible men under the watchful eye of God himself. This train of thought is created by brain-washing our kids from birth by reciting the pledge of allegiance every day and singing the national anthem at every opportunity. While I think it is great to show pride in your country, this unfortunately also leads to the belief that we have nothing to worry about and nothing to improve, we are after all the greatest. And so people just go about their lives; not worrying about what our government is doing, because after all, we don't make mistakes. Furthermore, because we love our country so much, we are convinced that our way of life is perfect too! We have millions of people working sixty hours a week for minimum wage causing them to be too busy too care. We have millions of Americans making six-figure incomes yet are still broke because they are drowning in debt. Our consumer based economy is enslaving us to the point where we cannot afford to care. I realize that sounds cynical; I am exaggerating a little for dramatic effect after all. Then again, do you remember after 9/11, when the President had the huge opportunity to heal the nation and instead said: "Go out and spend money!" Our economy is dependent on the same wasteful spending that is holding us hostage. And so people are forced to work themselves to death to either make ends meet, or because they think they have to keep up with the Jones'. This does not leave time to care about the neighborhood or politics. And so nobody cares to change anything. Why else have we over the course of the last forty years, changed so much from the society where people were proud of their communities, cared about the welfare of their neighbors, and watched real news and read real newspapers to get actual information. Nowadays we might still be able to do live by those same values, if only we were able to pry ourselves away from our "Playstation" and nightly dose of "American Idol" for a minute to consider what is happening. Then again, we are Americans, mankind's last great hope. Everything is fine and we don't have to worry or ask questions. God has blessed America and so we just keep our blinders on and continue as the sheep we have become.

-M.P.-

Single Issue Voting!

2008-02-24T08:11:00.008-05:00

Before I start my diatribe I must declare that this blog, though called "The Truth", is of course the truth as I see it. Every single person in this world has his own version of the truth; everyone is biased to some degree. Only numbers tell the truth, and even those can be spun to support any thesis. I am not a political scientist, I hold no Ph.D; I therefore can't measure and statistically support all assertions I make. However, I speak from the heart and therefore feel that my opinion is right and best, not necessarily for me, but for this country. That is what this blog is all about. If I have one good quality in this world, it is that I try not to seek what is best for me, but what is best for all of us; and more importantly for those who shall follow us!

It is this belief that causes me to detest the pervasive single-issue voting dominant in our country today. Very few people go to vote in the first place, and those who do (often) only vote for one issue. I don't know how many people have I spoken to that made outrageous statements such as: "I don't know what the Democrats stand for, but I am for abortion, so they will get my vote"; or "I don't know what Republican is running for President but I will vote for him because I love my guns".

Are you f#&%*!g kidding me?

How can this country move forward when our political priorities are so screwed up. While I certainly have a lot of antipathy for people like Alexander Hamilton, I can understand the reasoning behind their arguments to only allow society's elite to vote, especially after having experiences such as those mentioned above. Of course, all people should have the right to vote and they should be encouraged to do so, since that is the only means of changing anything in this country (short of a revolution). But most of them don't, and those that do have hardly any idea what they are voting for. Such ignorance is dangerous, for it gives the incumbents a blank check to do as they wish. If people don't know how the candidates stand on the issues, how will they ever know what H.R. 155 is; or what next year's budget includes.

They won't! What is more frightening is that they don't care.

And if they do ever disagree or feel angered, chances are they have forgotten about everything by the time the next election comes around.

If we wish to continue as a free and prosperous society we must examine everything our politicians do. If we choose to ignore their actions, they will get lazy and corrupt. We need not unite in opinions, as a matter of fact we must not do so, for open discourse is the only way any nation can move forward. What is truly necessary, is a change in the way we think and vote. We have become so focused on only advancing our own lives and promoting our own agendas, that we have become willing to leave everyone else in the dust. While Darwin was certainly right about "Survival of the fittest" in general, if we expect to remain the world's only superpower by not caring about the nation as a whole, we are sadly mistaken.

-M.P.-

Drawer Thinking!

2008-02-13T15:11:00.011-05:00

So I thought I would make my very first blog entry about one of my very favorite subjects, Politics! Actually, chances are most my entries will discuss politics in some capacity or another. Now is the one time every four years where it seems as if I am not the only one who cares, so how better suited could it be than to discuss some very disturbing things.

I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent man, yet I fail to see how our political parties can continously attempt to stuff every politician in a drawer. If he doesn't fit that particular drawer, then he has no business being in that party! That is the sort of reasoning too many idiots, pundits especially, engage in today. Case in point: John McCain! I personally don't agree with the man most of the time, but he is a Republican and a conservative (at least by today's standards). I don't care what you try to make him out to be. What idiot came up with this "conservative checklist" to begin with?

The religious right, more than anybody, seem to insist that in order to be a good Republican/conservative, one must want to control the world by the threat of military force. If a candidate does not wish to engage in war with the entire world (or at least the muslim part thereof), he is not a feasable candidate. Give me a break. But wait! McCain supports "staying in Iraq as long as it takes, a hundred years if necessary". Personally, I believe that to be one his more idiotic statements and goes to show how the man's POW experience has clouded his judgment. According to the right-wingers however, that is not "conservative" enough. Let's see what else he advocates:

Banning free speech - check!
Supporting USA PATRIOT and Military Commissions Act - check!
No pork barrel spending - check!
Deregulation of healthcare and businesses - check!
Anti Abortion - check!
Preserving the 2nd Amendment - check!
Federalism (a mild version) - check!

Those are all pretty important "conservative" stances, so what's the outrage all about? Well, it's mainly about two things: The man wants to step up our environmental programs and, keep the illegals here while granting them a path to citizenship (commonly referred to as amnesty)!

Oh what a buffoon! This idiot! I cannot believe this!

Republicans are not allowed to care about the planet. Didn't you know that. A good conservative insists on destroying the environment as fast as possible, that's on the checklist, remember!

Keeping the illegals, while it violates the ideals we claim to uphold, one must admit it is rather realistic. Sure I would like to see them all deported right away; they can then, if I was in charge, apply for re-entrance, be checked and interviewed and then come back. But unfortunately that is a matter of principle and not reality. And therefore some claim, John McCain is not a conservative. If there were anybody out there stupid enough to believe a word that comes out of Ann Coulter's mouth, we might even think he is more liberal than Hillary Clinton!

Where do idiots like Coulter come from anyways?

Of course the Democrats have the same drawer system, though their drawers are a little larger, but I'll save my complaints about the reason for the existence of such systems (the two-party system) for another time!

-M.P-