Category: politics

Well it seems that the deal to move the Expos to DC to become the Nationals is in jeopardy. Why? Because the DC city council did its job and balked at 100% government financing to refurbish RFK stadium and build a new stadium. The council passed an amendment requiring that half of the estimated $500 million come from private sources.

Now the multibillionaire barons of baseball are all up in arms that DC won’t finance their money makin machine. Oh boo hoo! In these times of limited resources, 100% financing of a venture for private profits is indefensible! So let baseball pack up and look for suckers elsewhere. DC did the right thing, if the deal stinks, just walk away. There’s no shame in that.

They say that dog bites man is nothing special, but man bites dog, now that’s news! I just read that the Bush administration’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, Bernard Kerik, has withdrawn his name from consideration because of questions regarding the immigration status of the nanny he hired. This sort of thing has happened to various nominees in the past, but this is the first time that I know of that a male nominee has met this fate.

This is just ridiculous! This whole nanny issue, while embarassing to those involved, in none of the cases was it truly relevant to the job. But now Bush and the Republicans are having a taste of their own medicine because they have raised the public piety bar so high that now their own nominees are hanging from it. They’ve been hoist by their own petard.

Ironically, they were willing to defend all of the money Kerik made on stock options from Taser International, a pretty strong potential conflict of interest. But a little insignificant nanny thing sinks the ship! Maybe now that a man has been sunk by nannygate they’ll stop this nonsense which is keeping a lot of good people from even considering work in the public sector.

Like a lot of people, I’ve been kinda down since the election on Tuesday. Part of it is of course the disappointment that my guy didn’t win the presidency. But a part of it is just the emotional exhaustion that the whole political season has wrought. Well life goes on, get over it…

One of the most interesting things about the past election is the entry of the terms "red states" and "blue states" into the American lexicon. Not since the Civil War can I remember any terms that so succinctly sum up the division that has developed in this country. Never before in my adult life have I seen such passion and hatred directed at the presidential candidates. And now as the pattern of red states and blue states is etched in my mind, I think I can imagine how people must have felt when we had free states and slave states. It really does feel like we now have two countries where there once was only one, each side wondering how the other can possibly think and live the way they do. Of course, those of us in the blue states are right you know! 🙂

It’s the day after election day and just like 4 years ago, we don’t know who won the presidency of the United States. But you know what? It looks like that dumb ass Bush has won once again and I mean dumb ass in the most positive way… Despite all of the job losses, despite all of the lives lost in the quagmire that is Iraq, and despite our loss of world respect and prestige, it looks like America has chosen Bush again! Not only does it look like he has won, but the voting pattern is virtually the same as the last time. So all of that bad stuff I just mentioned didn’t appear to affect the way people voted. At least here in Illinois, I had the great pleasure of helping send Barrack Obama to the Senate!

There was much talk of the high turnout and many new voters. Well, it looks like most of those voters just went out and voted for Bush. Either that or the voting patterns of the new voters were no different than those who voted in the last election. Bottom line, if Bush can preside over so much bad stuff and still win against a reasonably strong candidate, then America deserves the fool it gets. In the Bible it says that God will give kingdoms to whatever fool He wishes to. Well in last night’s election it looks like that has happened again. God help us!

Want to have some pre or post election day fun? Well a good friend just told me about a couple of web sites that show detailed political campaign contribution information. I think this information has been public record for a long time, but now the power of the web makes it very easy to access.

With a few easy clicks, you can see what your neighbors and coworkers really think because nothing tells you where the heart really is like where people will put their money. It’s particularly interesting when you see someone who gives money to both sides! What snakes! They don’t believe in anything, they’re just trying to buy a candidate! As a candidate, I wouldn’t soil myself by accepting contributions from such duplicitous people.

The only thing more disgusting than that is when you come across a pattern of regular contributions by appointed government officials to their political sponsors. These sure look like kickbacks to me!

Well have fun with these links!

Opensecrets.org

Illinois Campaign Disclosure