Goodbye, For Now

Michelle has decided that she's just not that into politics anymore (as if her lack of posting hadn't given it away). Since she has decided to leave this project, we will be down until I can think of what to do. As always, you can read my thoughts at nospin87.blogspot.com


Thank you for your readership, and hopefully we will see you soon.

"State of the Nation" Thoughts

Last night's speech is being referred to as a "State of the Nation" address, NOT a State of the Union. I thought those were the same thing, but I guess not! I am blogging the speech as it happens, so it might be a little jumbled.

First of all...I never realized how tall the president is. i mean, usually you don't see him around people, so it's hard to judge his height. But dude, he's kind of tall.

First off, I am not a fan of the biblical "day of reckoning" language here. And he is going on about responsibility, yet he is not allowing companies to face up to their responsibilities. A company had sucky policies, it should have to fix itsself, not wait for government to fix it.

And I am still confused about this college credit. Is it $2500 per year for 4 years, or just $2500 for all 4 years?

AHHH...apparently only banks need to be responsible, as Obama says we will save them, but they will be in trouble.

He says we need to have more lending...but we need to make sure we are lending to reliable people. Uncontrolled lending is what got us in this mess.

Ok...I do like his line "The nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it."

His budget will focus on education, healthcare, and energy. Didn't he use up his budget card with the stimulus?

I don't think any politician understands the problem with education. College is overpriced. Make it cheaper, don't send me money to pay for it. Also, let's start emphasizing the arts and english. Math and science are so emphasized that there is nothing for those who are not good at those subjects.

Ok, i do like what he said. We should encourage adults to seek higher education. And he says that dropping out of high school is "no longer an option. You are not failing yourself, you are failing your country and America needs and values the talents of all its citizens." However, I really am too lazy to do community service to get more money for college. And he is absolutely correct in saying that parents need to have a more active role in their children's education. If a parent doesn't care, the children won't care. Lead by example.

Ahhh, time for the debt. I don't like debt, this is why I do not use credit cards. And why is everyone cheering about inheriting a deficit? We shouldn't be excited about the failures of the previous administration, we should be saddened by the failures of everyone and be looking for a way to fix it. Everyone is at fault. the deficit has been around and growing since the dinosaurs roamed the earth, and it isn't showing any signs of stopping. But really, does France still expect us to pay them back that money they leant us in the Revolutionary War?

Obama says that definitively, if you make less than $250,000 a year, your taxes will not go up at all. I guess he's changed his mind from previous tax plans proposed during the campaign.

However, he is totally fine spending forever in Afghanistan, but we need to be out of Iraq...yesterday. I don't get it at all. And closing Gitmo is still a horrible idea. Where are we going to put these terrorists? How are we going to prosecute them?

It looks like we are getting to the local anecdote part of the speech, so I will bid you adieu. I am very sleepy :(

And the Soapbox Goes To...

There is one thing that annoys me more than others.

When people win awards and use that to wax poetic about their political beliefs.

Usually, there is no backlash. Sally Field is doing fine after talking about how "if mothers ruled the world there would be no GD wars" at the Emmys last year.

Michael Moore has not faired as well. After using his win for Bowling for Colombine to go on and on about his beliefs. He lost the award for his second film, and has seemingly vanished.

Last night was no exception. When the writer of Milk won for best screenplay, he used the opportunity to talk about gay rights. Sean Penn did the same thing after winning best actor for the same film.

I know that your film is about a gay rights activist, but I don't want to hear about it. You won an award, say thanks and leave. I don't tune into the Oscars to hear about the political beliefs of actors.

if someone went up there and talked about how they support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I would be just as angry.

It's not hard. Grab Oscar. Say thanks. Leave stage.

Nowhere in there do I want political speeches.

Especially from one who goes down and hangs with Hugo Chavez.

Sorry Guys

There has been a death in the family, so I am taking the week off of blogging. That means it is up to you guys to make sure Michelle does her part!

Sorry :(

Unfortunately, Michelle and I will not be able to blog tomorrow or Saturday, as we will be out of town.

Poor College Kids

You would THINK I'd be more concerned about the economy.  It'd be the mature thing to do.  All of our parents' jobs are at stake, you know?  But it's so hard to care about things beyond tuition when you're in the real-world buffer that is college.

Every time I see an article in our campus newspaper about the economy, it always seems to include a cheerful quote by some higher-up saying that IU will not be TOO affected by the crappy economy.  That should make me feel pretty good, I guess.  Right now, it's all abstract money.  Loans to be paid off when I actually HAVE money.  To semi-quote "How I Met Your Mother," that's a problem I'm going to let Future-Michelle deal with.

Maybe that's why I've been so lazy about blogging.  Want to know a secret, boys and girls?  I despise politics.  And yet I can't force myself to go a day without discussing these kinds of things.

For example, something that DOES affect me in a fairly direct way is the cost of room and board here.  All the dorms here have gone up in price by about $400 per year.  Boo.  No good.

I'm going to be a little critical of Obama here for a minute, so fellow Democrats, try to bear with me.  I really had high hopes that he would make lowering the ridiculous cost of higher education a priority.  But so far, it hasn't been, really.  I don't need a check!  I don't need a rebate!  Why can't we heal the problem at its source, and just TRY to make college less expensive?  People would be getting better jobs, spending more money, living comfortable lifestyles, and be better educated.

I'm dropping the "Michael Savage" rant.  Not because I "don't have anything to come back with," but because I'm exhausted with it.  I can be a Democrat and not support every kind of social freedom.  I never said I was going to align PERFECTLY with the left.  I don't support obscenity like Michael Savage.  Whether it really IS slander (which I'm sticking to) or merely hate-speech, I don't think the man should be paid to puke his hateful guts out over the radio.  End of story.

Back to the economy, though, we've still got Obama campaigning for his Bill.  I know Ashley thinks it's dumb that HE campaigns while IN office, but hey.  He was damn good at it the first time around, so maybe that's just his method.  But if he says anything along the lines of, "We need to act swiftly" one more time, my ears might bleed.  I'm tired of all the writing, and voting, and revising, and re-writing.  That's certainly not the "swift action" Obama's been calling for.  But, it's a little bit of everyone's fault, really.

Woo!  My radiator is fixed!  I'm going to enjoy it.  That's all!

Are You Afraid of the Economy?

So, Michelle has missed another blog...how shall we punish her?

Several times on this blog I have been accused of hypocrisy. I don't believe these accusations are correct, but to each his own.

However, someone else is now a hypocrite...in a HUGE way.

President Obama continuously on the campaign trail denounced the politics of fear he accused the Bush administration of using.

However...he himself is now employing fear to sell this stimulus package.

In his press conference, and his town hall meetings, the president continually speaks of the impending doom that apparently awaits if this package is not passed. Apparently, the Earth will stop spinning and a giant black hole will eat us all if this bill is not passed. At least, that is what the president would have the public believe.

However, this bill will only make things worse. Where will the money come from? No one will lend to us, so we have to print it. And that will cause inflation to skyrocket. I don't know about you, but I'm not strong enough to bring my wheelbarrow of money to buy bread.

Not even that, but there are all sorts of hidden pet projects in the bill, including a measure towards universal health care! I bill call for making all medical records electronic. This is a good thing, as it will allow doctors across the country to receive the files of their patients.

However, this measure also allows the government to approve medical procedures and disapprove procedures they do not agree with I am not ok with the federal government overriding my doctor when it comes to my medical care.

Maybe this measure will be worked out in committee. Maybe the price tag will go down. I highly doubt it though, and the doom the president says will come if this bill is not passed is sure to come if it does.

I Charge $5 An Hour

Before we get to serious matters, a question: who watches the kids when the Obama's go out?

They went to an opera or something the other night, so I started wonders...are there federal babysitters, or is babysitting part of secret service training? I hope it is the later, for I love the idea of secret service agents playing hide and seek, using their walkie talkies to help each other.

Onto serious matters. President Obama is...on the campaign trail? Did he not get the memo that he doesn't have to do that anymore?

He was in Elkhart, Indiana today. Apparently, Elkhart has the highest unemployment in the country, which is odd when you figure that my home state of Indiana is in a surplus and Governor Mitch Daniels is awesome and stuff.

But when you look at the fact that the town's entire economy revolves around the production of RVs, it isn't as surprising. Only diversified economies can survive a crisis, and Elkhart isn't one of them.

The president also took questions from the audience. One woman asked how he can expect Americans to pay their taxes if his own cabinet appointees can't. President Obama told the crowd to stop booing, and that it was a legitimate question. He again admitted his mistakes.

A man told the president that the stimulus needs to stop going to banks and companies and "straight into my mailbox." The president basically told the man that that isn't really possible.

The president touted a part of the bill I knew nothing about: a $2500 tax credit per college student for families. Now, i am all for free money, especially since my parents have a parent plus loan for me hanging over their heads. However, this doesn't tackle the problem. The problem is not that families need money for college, it is that college is too expensive.

People complain about the high cost of health care, and the high salaries of doctors. However, when you see that these doctors graduate college several hundred thousands of dollars in debt, their high salaries are a little more understandable. If you lower the cost of education, health care costs go down as well!

If college is less expensive, it also allows more people to attend. If we have a larger group of highly educated people, our country can improve greatly. However, you can run into a problem there, as people will demand better work and higher wages. But for the most part, it would improve our country greatly.

I am still not a fan of this stimulus bill, mostly because it has been completely distorted by Nancy Pelosi and her followers. Maybe the president's speech tonight will sway me. I highly doubt it, though, as I am missing an episode of House due to it, and am not happy about it.

I am a "good" liberal, whatever that means...

First of all, to Andrew: Perhaps you should look it up in the Oxford English Dictionary.  Slander is most certainly a case of falsehood *OR* defamation.  This is probably most clear in definition #2, but definition #1 states it as well.

Also, the Legal Dictionary at Lawyers.com mentions "slander" as being "false OR malicious" statements several times.

But I didn't need dictionaries to know this, alright?  I go to Indiana University, one of the best schools for journalism on the globe, and I trust that they won't teach us improper meanings of terms.  These people are professors, so who am I going to trust?  You and a few dictionaries, or professionals AND some dictionaries?  Besides, it's pretty childish to keep arguing a technicality when the more important question is of morality, not law.

And we liberals DO have morals, you know.  We're out to benefit ALL people, from the dregs of society to the political masters who rule us all.

Also, you're allowed to voice your dislike for a public figure.  Michael Savage is a public figure, so calling HIM an idiot isn't technically "malicious speech."

On to the issue of me being a "good" liberal or not.  Am I in any way a hypocrite because of my stance on Michael Savage's hate speech?  Let's ask THIS question instead.  Which is worse: An angry man putting down Muslims, blacks, children with autism, gays, and sometimes even women? Or telling him he can't be PAID to scream nonsense over the radio?  Which form of freedom would a "good" liberal support?  Because you can't have both.  Only one.  I choose the less damaging of the two.

Fire Savage.

Now!  If it'll ever be allowed to be DROPPED (my goodness, I hadn't intended to make my "Fire Savage" rants a theme, but that's how the comments ended up flowing, so hey...), I'd like to continue with the current events.

Okay, so we all know that the nearly-trillion-dollar stimulus package has been cut down significantly, but which areas took the biggest hits?  Some things were thrown out entirely, and some were merely reduced.  Personally, I agree with some of the cuts, and disagree with some others that I think could have helped create jobs in America.

For example, I can understand cutting out the $300 million for federal prisons.  I don't see how that would add jobs, you know?  It'd just make prisons "nicer," and in my opinion, prisons are homey enough for lawbreakers.  I understand the cuts from NASA, a few wildlife preservation organizations, and some scientific research.

And I'm GLAD that $600 million was cut from No Child Left Behind.  Personally, I have no idea why that ridiculous act hasn't been repealed yet.  It's such a misnomer!  It HARMS quality education.

But on the other hand, funding for construction of new high schools and institutions of higher education has been eliminated, and I think that's a bad idea.  Manual labour jobs are in pretty high demand right now, with the masses of factory workers being laid off, and I really think that building schools would have been an awesome way to pull an FDR on this recession.  

$40 billion is also being cut from state aid that would help prevent worsening recession on a more local level.  I'm not sure whether or not I even understand how that part works, so I can't really make a decision.  But that part seems to be the biggest controversy.

Overall, though, I guess I'm okay with the stimulus package as it is right now.  Maybe when the most vital things are taken care of, other organizations can receive the money they deserve later on down the road.  I mean, I'm all about the science, nature, and outer space stuff...but maybe they should be separate.  A lot of that stuff wouldn't create too many new jobs, anyway.

But we'll see where it goes.  Currently, the House favours a bill that works primarily on the state and local levels, whereas the Senate is really liking the bit about cutting taxes.  And Obama's getting pretty pissed, it seems, that no one can agree on anything so we can just get this show on the road.

I'm getting pretty impatient too.  This recession had better be over by the time Ashley and I are out of this buffer that is college, because we're big fans of money, and actually having it...

Comments Ahoy!

Ok, it's Saturday! And that means comment response time! Let's get to it!

In response to my post about the "real" Barack Obama...he did campaign on the fact that he was NOT a Chicago politician, that he was a good guy and didn't play the games that the rest of politicians did. However, he always has and he knows it. The book I cite has 50 pages of footnotes and citations and the writer has appeared on numerous talk shows. I believe his work and its credibility.

Hypocrisy is a lovely thing. I do not feel that by holding the president accountable and by loudly voicing my opinions I am going against what I have said I despised from the far left during the Bush years. I cannot tell someone that because they believe in abortion no matter what, believe no one should have guns, and that everyone in Gitmo is innocent that they are wrong and a hypocrite, because they believe those things to be true, just as I believe that Gitmo is necessary, President Bush succeeded in keeping America safe after 9-11 and it was President Clinton's fault Osama bin Laden was allowed to live to do those acts, and that Bush used the politics of FACTS, not fear to get reelected.

And yes, I believe that Congress should listen to the concerns of republicans on this bill, as it will have long-standing and far-reaching consequences. As far as I can recall, although I may be wrong, but there were many bi-partisan bills in the Bush administration. However, Nancy Pelosi believes she is the end-all be-all in the government, and refused to hear from republicans, as she doesn't need them. The Senate, however, did try and has come up with a "deal" that will be further debated. This cut off over $100 billion from the bill, which is a start.

And it was not the fact that President Obama refused to hear republicans' concerns, it was the tone with which he referred to the republican party in his speech, and the mocking language he used. He seems to have no respect for those who do not share and support his ideology, and I find that deplorable. Nearly all of my friends are liberals, and I do not insult them for their beliefs and ideas, I accept our differences and respect them and their ideals.

Just a note: please keep the comments polite. They are starting to become very rude and sarcastic, and that is not what we created this blog for.

Bad Jokes, Bad Bills, Bad Bees

I am writing this Thursday night becasue President Obama has just given a speech in front of a caucus of democrats, and I have a few things to say about it.

For starters, Obama basically yelled for the entire 20-ish minutes. Not very presidential, eh?

He also basically said Republicans needed to just get with it and vote for the package without trying to change it. What happened to the cooperation and working together of earlier this week?

And apparently if this bill isn't law by February 16 all hell is going to break loose and we are all going to die and the stock market will hit zero and the Earth will explode. At least, that's what I'm getting out of this absolute deadline.

Also, it seems the speech was not meant to be televised, as the feed was cut right afterwards, and before the question and answer session. Was this because the White House knew it would be such a strong speech and didn't want to alienate people?

The speech was also filled with many jokes at President Bush's expense and soaring rhetoric that President Obama uses to perfection to distract people from the lack of substance in his speeches.

There is so much stuff in this bill that doesn't belong. I can see the validity of honeybee research and building safe-houses for prostitutes...but it does not belong in this stimulus bill. I hate piggybacking pet projects into bills like this. it slows down the process and prevents help from actually getting to whom it is needed.

The president will be speaking to the public Monday night. Maybe that will be a less-heated appeal for their support of a $920 billion dollar "stimulus package."

Are My Missing Tax Payments In Your Cabinet?

I think Blago has found new employment.

As cabinet appointee researcher for the Obama administration.

Seriously, how can you pick THREE people who all have big tax payment issues for your cabinet?

What's worse, how can Congress approve the worst offender TO HEAD THE TREASURY!!!!

And I love the hypocrisy of Mr. "we're all gonna have to turn our thermostats down and conserve energy." According to Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric was sweating after her interview with the president, and he said the Oval Office was incredibly hot. Seriously? Get a fricken Snuggie and turn the thermostat down. Why should I conserve when he wont? And why is he spending my tax dollars on his heat. I know he's seen the commercials...you can do ANYTHING in a Snuggie!

Buuuuuut I digress. Who would have thought the easiest confirmation in the Obama cabinet would be Hillary Clinton? All the buzz leading up to the confirmation hearings was all about how foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation or whatever would create a conflict of interests, but she got through like nothing compared to these other folk.

Although, I am not surprised by these picks. Knowing the crows President Obama hung with back in Chicago, these people are nothing.


Unfortunately, this post is going to be cut short. I'm not feeling too well today and I have a stack of reading that needs done.

Million, Billion, Trillion

Everyone keeps complaining about the bailout bill, and I'll admit that I have my own doubts.  But today I realized that taking ANY action at all is more than what a Republican administration would do.  Stuff never gets done under Republicans.  Well, it does, but it usually takes a lot longer.  And the economy isn't getting any better on its own.

Okay, so we've got people being naughty on both sides of the aisle, recently.  Two of Obama's nominees for various offices turned out to have shady tax records, and they've decided to step down from his nomination.  Obama even said to the press that he "screwed up," which is something a lot of people have trouble with.  But at least the guy admits his mistakes and fixes them.  Bush never did that.

On the Republican side, we've got business owners using bail-out money to give themselves million-dollar bonuses, while their companies crash and burn at their feet, leaving many out of work and at the mercy of the tight job market.

FACTOID!  I found this at CNN's website: One trillion $1 bills stacked one on top of the other would reach nearly 68,000 miles into the sky.

Christine Romans wrote a pretty interesting tidbit about how people are becoming desensitized to numbers, and how people tend to lump the words "million," "billion," and "trillion" together.  She quotes this math professor guy, John Allen Paulos, of Temple University, who points out, "A million seconds is 11.5 days.  A billion seconds is 32 years, and a trillion seconds is 32,000 years."  I never really thought about it like that, but I guess there is a GIANT difference.  To think that our national debt is 10 trillion!  Yowza.

And this bailout - Which was supposed to be, what, 819 billion at first? - is now nearing one trillion dollars.  I'm skeptical, but Obama promises that the majority of the money goes STRAIGHT to the people, and the remaining money gets put into creating new jobs.  And I do trust his decisions.  He actually LISTENS to his advisors, anyway.  And at least he's taking immediate action.  Experts predict that just standing by for too much longer could make this situation grow exponentially worse.  Yuck.

Remember when a million bucks was a lot?  Well, me either, but then again I'm young.  At this rate, though, I'm willing to bet I'll one day be able to say, "When I was your age, a trillion dollars was a lot."  Ah, numbers, numbers...

To Andrew, my favourite commenter, I'd like to point out that slander means false OR malicious claims.  It's fairly illegal to publicly denounce someone with the intent of damaging their reputation.  And is what Savage said NOT malicious?  Even if the man was openly gay, the way in which Savage worded his ill-formed insults was deliberately harmful.

Sure, Andrew, "sodomite" is the dictionary word for homosexuality.  But remember what kind of connotations come along with the word.  It's derived from the Biblical place, Sodom, and depicted as "sinful," and later still, illegal.  No respectful person in this day and age calls a homosexual a sodomite without malicious intent, especially not in a public setting.  It's the same word that people used to condemn homosexuals, or execute them.  The dictionary may not define it as such, but everyone knows that if someone calls someone else a sodomite, it means they view the act as a crime.  And THAT is defamatory.

At any rate, even if it weren't slander, it is still obscene.  As was the time Savage called autistic children "brats."  If a man started yelling that on the street, he'd be arrested for public indecency.  Radio is public.

Monday Musings

Like the alliteration?  Yeah.

FIRST on the agenda.  Someone said that my open distain for Michael Savage is hypocritical, since I support the first amendment's social liberties.  It's VERY common for people to make this argument; in fact, Savage himself has a "donate money to me and keep the first amendment protected," which, to me, translates to "donate money to me so that my lawsuits are covered whenever I take it too far."

Don't get me wrong.  I'm all about the free speech.  I mean, I'm totally appreciative of the fact that we can have this blog and say what we think without having to worry about getting thrown in jail or shot or something.

But I truly don't believe that the things Savage says should be protected.  In a journalism class I took last semester, we learned that there are actually different levels of protection for various kinds of speech.  Obscenity is the least protected.  I mean, Savage once took a gay caller, didn't let the man get two words in, and yelled at him for being a "pig" and a "sodomite."  A private citizen.  Technically, isn't that slander?  Yeah, folks, it is.

And there's where the line is drawn.  Freedom of speech is limited when it violates others' rights or is considered slander.

The man is a hypocrite himself, anyway.  He's always yelling about how people shouldn't be gay, or that Muslims are all terrorists, or that autistic children are "brats."  And yet things like religion are protected under the same amendment that he so brazenly abuses.  He makes me sick.

Here's a sample of him being ridiculous:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpmTivdGl54

Okay!  On to the news.

People.  I can't believe this is still an issue.  If President Obama doesn't want to wear his suit jacket, he doesn't have to.  People do their best work while they're comfortable.  Give it a rest.  It's not even that big of a deal.

There's a lot of debate recently about whether or not Obama is giving Republican senators higher offices so that their positions in the Senate can be filled with Democrats, giving them a filibuster-proof majority.  I don't know if that's true, necessarily, but I know that I wouldn't MIND it if that were one of Obama's motives.

Filibusters are cheap and completely illegitimate.  I'm not even going to go into it.  If you've got any sense about you, you understand that talking a bill to death is absurd.

A lot of people criticized Obama for having a Superbowl shindig.  McCain ditched, for whatever reason, but was on the invite list.  I don't see any problems with him taking a few hours away from his job to participate in one of the biggest events in American culture of the year.  I, personally, don't follow sports or anything, but I think it's great that Americans make a day of Superbowl Sunday.

Women are starting to take a stand in Iraq, running for council seats in regional elections.  I'm pretty excited about that.  Hopefully these women won't be murdered, like so many have for doing similar things.  Oh, gender.

Well, that's Monday.

The Gloves Are Coming Off

I came to a realization after my last post. I finally, in that post, wrote what I wanted without fear of being too conservative, too republican, or too anti-Obama. And I liked it. I have always wanted to be one who was not blinded by ideology and thought for herself. I still consider myself that type of person, but I have worried about being pigeonholed by others as not. However, I decided today that that doesn't matter anymore. My last post sounded like a rant form a far-Right loon, and that is what I intended. I was incredibly angry about that topic and wanted to express that frustration.

So today, the gloves are coming off. I don't care how trivial, I am going to write about it. Starting with something that irritates Michelle to no end: President Obama's refusal to wear his jacket in the White House. According to those who worked there, President Bush was seen only a handful of times in eight years without his jacket, yet it seems Obama has been seen the same number of times WITH his. This is a huge deal in the cultural of the office. The lack of jacket seems to put out a feeling of disrespect for his office; that his job is not important enough for him to dress the part. When they are out with the people, I am totally find with my politicians dressing informally. But when they are in the Oval Office making like or death decisions, I want me president dressing the part and treating the office with the gravity it deserves.

Point two: I don't know if anyone has given him the memo, but the President of the United States has MUCH bigger fish to fry than changing the college football championship procedures from a ranking system to a playoff system. Seriously, how is this something for the PoTUS to be dealing with! This angers me to no end. You have two wars and a recession on your hands, and you're throwing a Super Bowl party, talking to Matt Lauer, and trying to convince the BCS to go to a playoff system! Someone is vacationing on Planet Blago.

Lastly: Calling out Rush Limbaugh. Um...doesn't the president know that by calling Limbaugh out...he gives him credibility? Yes, the point was to denounce Limbaugh and to take away his credibility, but by putting his name out there the opposite happens. Yes, he is a bit crazy at times, but Limbaugh is the loudest voice of conservative ideology and I think it's a bad idea for the president to try and take him on. Plus, it belittles the president, having him engage in a schoolyard "don't listen to him! he's a meaniehead" argument.

Well, that's all for now. Maybe Michelle will blog today...maybe not. Please leave ideas for punishments for her missing her blog Saturday, and even worse ones if she misses todays too! I'm thinking that making her listen to all three hours of Sean Hannity and blogging throughout would be pretty sweet, eh?