August 2008 Archives

Somehow the McCain camp gained enough confidence from the whole born in Panama problem, to select Palin as his running mate. Despite a life long career in comedy and being a British citizen, Palin is an excellent pick for VP because of his foreign policy experience gained in his numerous documentary series about travel and exploration of different cultures.

Soon we'll look forward to the long promised metric system in the states and perhaps even an inspired Department based on England's own Ministry of Silly Walks. Palin's numerous roles in the Monty Python series and movies makes him an excellent choice for VP given the range and depth we've become accustom to in the twentieth century.

Remember when Hillary & Company played Captain Jack by Billy Joel just before her announcement for US Senate in 2000 ? Yeah . . that's a tough one to recall. It's such a depressing song and the campaign seemed so clueless about it.

I only caught the last 10 minutes of the national hagiographic stage to nothingness on CSPAN, so I'm not at all sure how the battery of talking heads handled it, but was Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' about change or hope ?

As eighty thousand weepy eyed conformists and collectivists determine the inevitable tone and direction of this land, so much has changed and stayed the same since I was born in 1967 I can hardly manage it anymore. Here goes anyway . . .

Did the Texas Red and Blue screwup ? Not likely, but it's nice to see the fear of the electoral gods put into the smug minions of the two gangs running our lives.

Those in the know or in the borg, simply dismiss it as the law and proudly assert the superiority of their own as we are played as the silly rubes who dare to defy. Join us they say, we will provide !

Of course the defiant soldiers of dissent and resistance never fall prey to this siren and even the best of us professionally, economically and intellectually still carry the banner amongst the unwashed when we prostrate our souls, begging to compete in their fixed Electoral Thunderdome, in the hottest, most grueling days of the year (at least in NY).

Bozeman (Apple Cart News) - August 27, 2008

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer revealed a critical aspect to the plans for a unified government in North America in an eerie replay of Stan Jones' speech during a CSPAN debate in the 2006 US Senate race.
Unnamed sources are confirming a plan by the recently minted 'petro-dictators' to establish an office in Bozeman in order to advocate media control, night time curfews and random spot checks for oil abusers. They say that anyone caught with oil on their breath will not be tolerated and summary ejections from the city could result if their plan is accepted.

EA (an Helena based group called Energy Alarmists) is decrying the plan. Spokesman Ira Green feels that " addiction is a real problem, if we just banish people who can't control their carbon footprint, it's only a matter of time before the shoe is on the other foot".

I thankfully had other pursuits at the end of my long summer rather than watch the Democratic National Convention. I could care less about the Michelle speech or the Kennedy idolatry, but that would require energy spent when it wasn't necessary. The protesters are hitting my radar though.

Are the anarchists behind all this ? Fortunately, that's not a copyrightable thing, so we can only assume that those "A's" in the middle of the anecdotal evidence that anarchists were in fact present. There were no similar incidents during the LP convention in May, but maybe they lay off a party that claims 30% membership of their own (pfffft - yeah right). Or perhaps, as what is all too often repeated, they aren't anarchists.

Over fifty million is being spent on security at each of these conventions. Better to spot light the jackboots busting up the skate boarders (my apologies in advance to that cool and peaceful group) than to look into the more nefarious aspects of surveillance and control. We need a 100x 1968 effort in Denver right now . . .

I stumbled past a local news broadcast last night involving a women who had dropped her baby during an alcohol related incident. Aside from the information that one could drop off their baby for five days with no questions asked somewhere, what stuck me were the comments of the seventeen year old witness. Citing her account of the awful event off camera, she said the mother was basically a good person, but unless or until she attended some parenting classes or alcoholic anonymous she probably should wait to get the baby back.

Now it may be that the mother is overwhelmed or unsuited for the job. Certainly it was a bad situation. The length of the report and the sensationalism of flashing a baby's bloody head on screen over and over again is questionable. A lot a people may in fact identify with a similar situation that did not involve a 9-11 call and news report. But when a seventeen year old witness starts calling for classes for the errant mother, is it any wonder that certain college presidents are calling for a lowering of the drinking age ? At what point is the line crossed from childhood to adult ? While the state prohibits certain behavior, it also encourages opposite behaviors during a control freak bout of insistence and cool reassurance.

I would submit that biological age is not sufficient anymore and that a certification should be given to the presumptuous thirteen year old or the bumbling twenty-nine year old. Of course that range can be adjusted as we get data about the implementation and suitability of the test.

Dr. Ruwart is correct that an encroaching attitude of elitism may be contributing to a decline in interest in the Libertarian Party. The ironic part is that the quest for contributions is perhaps the reason. Before Angela Keaton self-censored her Anarchist Bitch blog, I left a comment on one of the posts also describing this trend of the LNC in regards to my own experience. As I cannot find that post or a reasonable copy, I'll re-hash the basics and add some other notes after the jump.

Perhaps the loss of Mary Ruwart as the nominee can be reconciled by her election to the LNC. I do find it difficult to just send money when so much of my actual time is given freely, often at the expense of my own self-employed billable hours. After spending close to 15K on my own campaign in 2006, it wasn't that I was unable to donate, but money was tighter for a bit. I was able to offer my time and willingness in regards to fund raising as an LNC member, but between LPHQ staff and the volunteer coordinator no opportunities really arose. But perhaps there was more to it . . .

Ralph Nader and Bob Barr ought to consider a national debate tour like the famed Lincoln Douglas debates. Both are making the case that they should be included. Most likely they will be excluded by the Presidential Commission for Debates and such a tour might compliment their efforts better than a gamble to shoot for the Big Show.

I'm sure McCain and Obama would struggle on some level with either opponent. Nader stakes many claims in the American Polis and Barr also has a claim to a national spotlight more so than the Greens and Constitutional Party. To be sure, Barr and Nader should participate in any such third party debate, but one can certainly appreciate their tactics and goals in the matter.

Charlotte Grimes offers some insight into the process of political coverage by journalists in my own regional paper. It seems to be making the blogosphere rounds too. One of my State Chair colleagues in Washington (Scott Lindsley) responds in kind;

The fact that you are addressing the issue of third party media coverage is encouraging.

Of course there should be reasonable barriers for entry into the news and the debates. But should they be so high that one has to mortgage your home to be heard just because you chose to be of a less popular party?

Here's my crack at it (after the jump).

Dave Ridley has some decent advice about how to deal with cops if you have to. It never is good to provoke the folks with guns and a presumed monopoly on local or 'state' power. This is especially true at the outset of a special family trip. Fifteen years ago I didn't back down when the trooper told me I had a suspended license and shouldn't be driving to a Red Sox game. Fortunately my 'client' (the reason I considered it work) flashed his license and volunteered to drive after realizing we might miss the game if I didn't back down quick.

A couple weeks ago, I backed down because I didn't want to disappoint my wife and son as we set out for a game this summer. I always slow down when I enter East Chatham because I too, live in such a small hamlet just over the hills. In fact, the trooper who passed just before this one, didn't have cause to stop me in the village proper as we passed. Apparently the one who sits right at the sign that changes it to 55 did, as I naturally increased my speed leaving the village down the straight away. As we were pulling into the house right there, he flew past and had to turn around at the Cottage Diner. It was enough time to shuffle everyone inside before the incident continued. While I'm no Dave Ridley, my limits of respect and caution are honed enough to know the limits of my rights and his presumed authority over me. I was none too happy about being told to get back in the car and he knew it.

Ever since the maudlin meandering of NBC and the diminutive big headed Bob Costas took over Olympic coverage, who knows how many years ago now, I haven't been exactly glued to my seat watching. If you tune in at eight you get twenty five minutes of the American wunder story of the day and by nine you get the event itself, which if Googled, one knows or finds the results immediately before the superficial drama that helps sell the Venus Breeze.

While I kind of felt bad for Marion Jones when she was shackled by the self righteous State for simply lying to it, the whole gotta win attitude coupled with the worship my wholesomeness didn't have my tears caught rolling down a cheek. So when the two young men from Latvia beat the self-assured and spoiled American stars of "beach volleyball" that I happened to actually catch today, I found myself taunting my overly inoculated six year old patriot-USA(!) with chants of 'Latvia ! Latvia !

The chorus of derision John Edwards has provided fodder for in the lead up to the two 'National' conventions is quite extraordinary considering the obvious phoniness that the candidate has provided all along. The 'Two America's' theme lost any resonance for the politically savvy when the Play Station gaffe did it's rounds. Whatever spin Joe Trippi could counter with about the haircut fiasco it already set the tone with too many critics.

Whatever the reality of the MSM failure to accept or pursue this latest scandal of a revered figure in politics it is endemic of the general malaise that has confounded decent journalism since the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. If Joe Trippi had pushed his sense that they should have pursued the nomination right up to a brokered convention, we might an adulterous liar acting as kingmaker between Obama and Clinton. How do these schleps manage for so long ?