Wimps Rule

From the Time's James Poniewozik:

"To watch CNBC today is to enter an alternative universe, where élites are populists, Wall Street is Main Street and bank executives are the oppressed."

Full text of the excellent editorial is here:

CNBC Under Fire

I have no symapthy for stock-speculators that suddenly can't speculate as recklessly as they did just 18 months ago. The aorta of our economy isn't meant to be manipulated like a penny-exchange.

While I disagree with many elements of the our latest federal budget, I also laugh at "pundits" who for 2 years denied the looming financial crisis and now choose to blame a 45-day old administration for the inevitable collapse.

We're wimps.

Nobody has the guts to admit they were wrong; and not only is punditry a shallow game of "blame the other half of the country that doesn't think like I do", these pundits also pretend they are victimized for being held accountable for being proven wrong.

Pundits take all the credit when they are proven right, and blame everyone else when they are wrong, and they receive massive attention and ratings for doing so. They can't lose, because they are too wimpy to lose; they'd rather whine than lose; they'd rather blame than solve; they'd rather scream than learn.

To put it into personal perspective: My 401K is a mess. Do I think Barack Obama is the reason why - or do I think a massive feeding frenzy of bad credit, fake accounting and manic greed is to blame?

Is it possible that scapegoats are irrelevant? That we all need to stop whimpering, whining and blaming one another; pull up our socks? That perhaps we should save instead of spend for a while, work as hard as we can and see this crisis through?

It strikes me that if Pearl Harbor had taken place in December 2008, instead December 1941; we'd still be arguing over who was to blame for the attack - instead of arming ourselves and winning a world war.

This is our generation's world war...this is our big test...and so far we're failing. We're failing because we're wimps. We guard own egos and opinions instead of summoning the courage to find solutions to complex problems.

Progress for Gay Right's Movement

Gay rights are important, fight for them.

If there is anything that disturbs me about today’s protests it is that this is exactly the kind of grassroots/viral campaign that would have defeated Proposition 8 to begin with. As I said before, the original campaign ads were an embarrassment.

One more thing, the gay rights movement has the right idea as it moves towards a louder, prouder and fiercer campaign about rights and equality. On the other hand, singling out Mormons and African-Americans as scapegoats, is not only hypocritical it can hinder the movement’s progress. Rather than blaming those who campaign against you, simply state your own case louder and with more determination than ever before. It worked for the civil rights movement of the sixties, it will work again.

Gay marriage provides legal equality with straights. Any other compromise, (civil unions for example) is a “three-fifths” solution, a second-class solution and therefore they are unacceptable to anyone that treasures civil rights.

Gays deserve the same rights as straights, no more, no less. Period.

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Goodbye Nader, Goodbye Nader Supporters

It's not often I agree with wacKOS, but today they hit it out of the park when they ridiculed the hypocrisy of the Ralph Nader movement:

I doubt "history" gives a rats ass about the "Nader/Gonzalez initiative" (they used to be called "campaigns"), and after I hit submit "post" on this little piece, neither will I.
-- Markos

Then of course, the Nader-heads, in their usual zealous and over-bearing way descended upon him like screeching vultures they are:

It is for this reason that I will no longer read the Daily Kos. If the Kos were to issue a retraction or apology, I would quickly reconsider my decision, as the Kos is one of my favorite sites to visit.

And Markos in his usual "my britches are bigger than yours" way simply responded:

Fuck Ralph Nader, and fuck his supporters. If the past eight years hasn't smacked any sense into their addled brains, then nothing will. This site caters to the reality-based community. No one else need apply.
-- Markos

On this point, I could not agree more. Nader supporters need to wake up and smell the gin on Ralph's breath. The man is an aging embarassment to political progress, and his recent comment on the historic election of Barack Obama, a disgusting epilogue to his career.

This was the last election Ralph Nader will even be an option on the ballot. For those of us who have seen Nader hinder progress for the sake of his own ego; for those of us who watched him take as much money as he could along the way (and from any source willing to donate it), it is indeed good riddance.

And Ralph, get yourself to a 12-step program and fast...

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A digital loop to "The Great Depression"

We have been hearing about this for at least a year: just a couple of months away from now it will be time for older televisions to be upgraded to digital. Those with regular old rabbit ear antennas on their Panasonic, Sharp, or even Zenith TVs - who have not stepped into the digital television realm, could be the very ones who may have the hardest time affording it in this economy. I'm just saying. People who haven't upgraded whether their reason be fear of change, because they are clinging to the past, no access to cable/digital service or affordability, face the loss of staying in touch with "the World" at some level.

Even though the digital set top box converter is a reasonable price, and the coming of this conversion has been widely promoted, I still believe there are at least a couple of things to take into consideration, the first being the procrastinators who live in this country. Most likely those who do not have a digital TV or converter will go without for a while and then realize they do not miss the majority of the trivial drivel they have been been exposed to (as referred to in previous posts seen below).

Others will just simply have to put their money elsewhere as there are many people losing their jobs and homes daily. It brings to mind the old days of The Depression when there was no TV; when families gathered around their radios to hear about current events. This may be an extreme comparison, though more and more families are being forced out of their homes, most likely having to move in with relatives. Our country could now begin to resemble the days of "way back when" that our grandparents have been telling us about for years.

Is this such a bad thing? That era was certainly not perfect (are any of them?), but we do have the ability to learn from those days, take what we like from them, add our accomplishments, and leave the rest.

Genetic Breakthrough with AIDS?

I discovered this wonderful piece of news while browsing Andrew Sullivan's blog.

I work in medical research myself, and I tell you, the amount of science and discovery that will be gained in the decades ahead because of increased understanding of genetics will astound us.

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Dogs and Seances Instead of Corporate Welfare Investigation?

The amount of analysis over Obama's brief and rather inconsequential press conference yesteday is rather annoying.

Annoying because there was more focus on a marginal PR event, than there was about the strange situation going on with the American car companies. We just handed 25 billion dollars to the American car industry, and a mere 30 days later, all three companies are crying they are already broke again and require more welfare?

Can a qualified journalist please investigate this kind of chicanery? Isn't it possible these bailout packages are rewarding companies who continue to cry the loudest? What is this? Anti-capitalism, where the poorest most inefficient companies on the block get the most money and capital?

And why was this kind of question not asked, instead of questions about dogs, mutts or strange jokes about seances?

Look, I thought Obama handled his press conference well, but the left blogs are proclaiming the conference as some kind of political triumph, and the right blogs are claiming it is proof that our president-elect is a disaster. Michelle Malkin claimed the press conference was proof we just elected Homer Simpson president.

Can someone please shut up the whackos and wing-nuts and find out why all these companies are suddenly so cash poor, that they require a second bail out just 30 days after receiving the first?

Somewhere in the middle of this partisan-cacophony lies a possibility that companies are getting rewarded for squandering their bailout money, and then turning around asking for more. A little less opinion, and a lot more journalism from our media and blogs would be nice.

Does anyone have additional blogs, sites or data on the current situation with the auto-industry?

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Minnesota Recount Chicanery Starts Soon

Recounts are just so ugly. Here in Washington, State our "recount" crisis during the Governor race just a few years ago, ended in chicanery and a lot of meddling by both parties to incluence the recount.

Now Minnesota is about to have their own recount debacle, this one over a senatorial seat.

Let me be clear: I loathe Al Franken.

I've listened to his radio show, I read his book and he's a jerk. He hides behind the "satire" to say irresponsible things about his opponents, or indeed anyone who dares contradict his narrow point of view. He's the kind of liberal, many of us independents loathe, because he's more focused on demonizing the other side of the political spectrum, than he is about offering solutions, researching facts, or providing real leadership.

His opponent in Minnesota is a very weak counter-proposal to be honest, and really the independent candidate that is running in this race, would have probably received my vote.

However, despite all this, Franken is right, in that he deserves to have the ballots recounted. In fact, he doesn't just deserve it, the law demands he gets a recount. So on this issue, Franken and I agree.

My only word of warning is, watch how quickly the recount is politicized, and watch how much the recount skews the current totals. Recounts are a huge mess, and all kinds of tricks and games come into play, and both the left and right make no apologies in warping, skewing and altering the final totals for their cause.

When a recount triggers, I wonder if it would behoove us all, to simply have an entirely new vote instead? Perhaps, the candidate list should be trimmed to the top 2, so that those who voted for the third and fourth candidates are now forced to choose, similar to the "run off" vote that Georgia will go through in a few weeks.

This would seem to me, to be a more fair way to resolving a race this tight, otherwise ballots suddenly go missing, or suddenly appear (as they have already), or suddenly polling officials claim they "mistyped" their results; and what we get is more about legal manuevering and tricks, than actually determining who the people voted for.

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