The L Comment

Episode 81: The Small Government Paradox

2010-01-27T23:28:00.000-05:00

The notion that “the government which governs least, governs best” is a widely held belief in conservative circles. The idea is a smaller government with less regulation is a more efficient system that will build an economy and trickle down wealth from the top 1% to the bottom strata of the socio-economic pyramid. I do not disagree with the theory entirely, yet time and time again, it is evident that in practice, this political philosophy does not work in practical applications

In layman politics, we tend to view “trickle down” economics solely from a dollars-and-cents standpoint. This is the source of middle class frustration with the “trickle-down” theory: most people never see any tangible benefits of the system, tangible meaning a couple extra zeros in their tax return. If we dive beyond the superficial meaning of the phrase, the trickle down system does to some capacity, work. Take for instance, cell phones. There was a time when only the elite were able to own PDA cell phones like Blackberries. Now everyone and their grandmother own an iPhone. We take it for granted that millions of dollars of investments by regular folk have paved the way for the downsizing of cell phones, and creating a market that drove down the prices of phones and its services.

Unfortunately, this economic model only works in isolated cases. When we apply the idea of small government – one with fewer regulations – to a mass scale, the model becomes broken. The primary reason why small government doesn’t work is because somewhere along the line, being a politician transformed from being a civic duty, to becoming a job, to ending up as a business venture. Elections are no longer about message, agenda, or policies; it is about building a brand. Take for instance, the special election in Massachusetts. Conservatives are quick to chalk up the victory of Scott Brown as a sign of failed Democratic policies, the rising influence of the conservative/libertarian tea bagger movement, or a repudiation of Obama’s agenda. Scott Brown won because he is a better brand than his opponent. Brown ran as the inexperienced, but energetic, charismatic, lofty ideologue. Sound familiar? A hint: it is the same brand message that helped Obama win the White House. As in fashion, one moment you’re in, the next moment, you’re out. Inexperienced lofty ideologues are in.

If there is one thing we can agree on as a nation no matter your political persuasion, it’s that America has lost its path, focus, and vision. We are flying by the seat of our pants double blindfolded. Part of the reason our country has lost its path is because of brand name politics. When politics transformed from civic duty, to becoming a job, to ending up as a business venture, the only part of our democracy we actually control is the process of electing our CEO – err, politician. After we vote someone into office, that politician is on autopilot for as long as their term lasts, barring a major scandal. While on autopilot, their message, agenda, and policy is dictated by the special interest groups that invested into the winning candidate’s election. Obama’s brand for example, which is seemingly stronger than Nike, was largely funded by the people. Middle-class people. Middle-class people who are part of labor unions and federal and state institutions. The auto bailout makes a bit more sense now doesn’t it? Thus when we vote, it makes more sense to focus on the candidates political contributors and not the slogans, rhetoric, or town hall speeches. No matter what any politician says on the stump, they are at the mercy of their investors, just like any other business. Thus, the only politician one could hope to trust, is one who paid for their own campaign out of pocket.

America has, over the last few decades, slowly transformed into an aristocracy. Three hundred million people are being controlled by fifty senators, four hundred thirty five representatives, nine judges, and one president. Add in governors, state senators, and the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and America truly and mathematically is run by the top 1% of its population. Hence the problem with small government ideology: small government causes its citizens to surrender its sovereignty to the top 1% of our population who never has, never intended to, and never will have the best interests of its constituency at heart. The only thing that motivates businesses, and consequently politicians, is money, and an incentive to make more money. The irony is the democrats and republican citizens often go to such great lengths to disturb the political process with incessant bickering, slander, and non-cooperation, while the top 1% continues to profit off our own fears and ignorance. In other words, republicans vehemently defend the very people who are destroying the American freedoms they hold so dear, while democrats ignorantly contribute to the political machine via government expansion that destroys their own “agenda.”

The solution to the problem is not clear cut. Nor will it be solved any foreseeable future as it requires a great many people to surrender the power they enjoy. However there are a few ideas I hypothesized that would at least be a step in the right direction. First, we must abolish special interest funding in political campaigns as well as special interest lobbyists. Obama has pledged to do this, and it is indeed an empty promise, for he is just as connected to the political machines as his conservative adversaries. Second, we must limit the number of terms any politician can serve. The politicians most deeply and inextricably intertwined with the political machine are those who have been in office for decades. We need to put the “public” back into public service, and extricate the private sector out of politics all together. Then perhaps there is a chance we can once again reclaim our democracy.

Episode 80: Politics Is Depressing =(

2009-10-23T00:16:00.003-04:00

May God bless the souls of all those who have the strength, courage, and fortitude to make daily, more many days a weekly blog entries, newspaper, and magazine articles about politics. There was a time when talking about politics was kinda fun wasn’t it? The topic du jour would be something like health care reform, or clean air, or green tech. We used to debate about our ideological differences. If there is one thing about this blog that makes me proud, every single person (we... almost everyone) came to the debate with great ideas and expressed them in intelligent ways that got a really good dialogue going.

Part of what made these debates great was the having fresh topics to talk about. Topics that really get the brain juices a-flowing. When I read the paper or watch the news, nothing is really interesting. It is the same ol’ same ol’. Mission failed Mr. President. It’s not entirely your fault Mr. President. I mean, your own teammates on the left side of the aisle showed so much promise during the election. The way you united the democratic party is a feat that has never been accomplished in politics. Let’s face it, democrats are notorious for lacking a single cohesive message. However Mr. President, even your magnanimity isn’t enough to prevent the levies of democratic hodgepodgery™ (copyright TheLaw©2009) from breaking. And by the way, F Olympia Snow. Seriously. Her stance is basically “if you take this perfectly democratic bill, strip it of all its merit and benefits so it is basically a republican bill (lacking substance and almost completely ineffective), I will put my tentative signature on it that MAY change later.”

And the republicans? That party is a complete joke. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it a third time, a complete joke. Did you hear about the Minnesota senator who proposed that there be an amendment to a government contract to give women the right to sue if they have been raped? The victim in question was gang raped ladies and gentlemen. What should be an obvious no-brainer was met by opposition from… ding ding ding! the republicans! They’re a joke. Did you hear about the crowd of people who cheered because the United States was rejected from getting the 2016 games? They talk about patriotism, and then sneer at the most public display of national pride! A joke! Did you hear about Rush Limbaugh who is a closet racist who wanted to buy an NFL team in which 70% of its players black? LMAO. And this is news from the past month! The list is too long.

Politics is too depressing, especially during football season. Football makes me happy. I don’t feel like being sad and depressed anymore when thinking of the future of this nation, so I think for the time being I'll take the "ignorance is bliss route, and listen to ESPN radio lol. There is nothing to talk about anymore. All you get from republicans is “Obama sucks.” All you get from democrats is “republicans suck.” No matter how many stats and number people throw out there, we’re no longer having useful conversations about politics, because it’s not happening in the media, and most importantly in Washington. I suppose this is why most Americans don’t even bother trying to get this stuff. Maybe when our elected officials decide to act like grownups again, politics would be fun to talk about again?

Episode 79/Episode 2: Obama’s Peace Prize

2009-10-13T00:18:00.002-04:00

Before I begin, I have a new format. For now on, when a post has a corresponding L Comment radio show topic, there will be two episodes posted. That way, when you leave comments, I will respond to them on the radio show! I’m figuring out how to do a live broadcast, but that’s still some time away, so this will have to do!

Now, moving on to the story, I will begin by saying, congratulations Mr. President! Look, the Nobel Peace Prize is not just an achievement award. It is also a political tool to promote peaceful agenda. Obama is the leader of the free world. No matter what our shortcomings are as a nation, we are the ones the world looks to first for answers. We have a president who is willing to listen to all sides of the argument, no matter who is delivering it. That kind of mentality goes a long way towards breaking down years of mistrust. We’re already seeing better cooperation in Russia and China.

Name calling is a bit out of my character, but I have to say, the Republican Party is a joke. Why is every single thing in this political landscape about scoring political points? The right wing in this party is so far out of touch with the way the world works it’s incredible. Forget Rush Limbaugh, as far as I’m concerned, if Obama ended world hunger, he’d spin it as a leftist big government controlling the food supply. I’m talking about the Boehners and the Steeles of the party who fail to recognize the challenge the Nobel committee bestowed upon the country. In fact, the republican game ball goes to John McCain when he said "we're proud when our President receives an award of that prestigious category… but I think part of their decision making was expectations, and I’m sure the President understands that he now has even more to live up to.”

Way to go McCain. That’s really being a maverick. A damn shame, when being a maverick means doing the right thing. Of course the right wingers will say “well John McCain isn’t a real republican… he sold out.”

This peace prize in my eyes is the world asking America to step in and take charge of the global peace initiative. What better icon than arguably the most popular man in the world to lead the charge. Can we for once, as Obama said in his inauguration, set aside childish things, and come together as one nation and help our president lead the way to a safer America and safer world? Or would you rather bicker and argue until it’s too late to get things done?

Agree with me? Think I’m full of crap? Leave your comments below, and they will be addressed on tomorrow’s show.

Episode 78: Sanction This: Political Chess Games

2009-09-26T01:11:00.001-04:00

Before I begin, I have an announcement: The L Comment is 1 year old today!! This blog is my 5th try at blogging and this is the first one to bear fruit. I want to thank all the readers of this blog for reading!! This blog has accomplished my main goal of having civilized political discourse with people from many political persuasions. And may I say, the kind of dialogue has FAR exceeded expectations. You guys are awesome, and I thank you very much for coming back for more debates!

Onto the news of the day, it seems Iran has come clean with a new nuclear facility being built. Now if Bush said Iran was developing a nuclear program and not Iraq, we’d have to re-evaluate history because he’d be right. I’m not surprised by this, and I doubt anyone in Washington is either, because all the candidates of the election brought up this possibility during the 2008 campaign. Furthermore, we already knew about one facility and its location, information that Obama has shared with Russia and China to get them on board to place sanctions on Iran.

From the same CNN article linked above, this passage is key:
"It is not at all surprising that Iran would want this news to come out now," Ingram said. "It strengthens their hand."

The fact that Iran has proactively informed the world helps Iran diplomatically in conducting nuclear negotiations, Ingram said, adding that to characterize this second facility as a covert operation is misleading. The Iranians have yet to start production at Qom and are revealing it before that happens.

"It will be seen as an indication that they are willing to play by the rules, and this will make it more difficult to persuade them to abandon enrichment," Ingram said.

I’m not a doomsday conspiracy theorist by any means, but we have to read between the lines here. Iran’s aggressive approach has failed every single time they’ve tried it. Now with the US, China, and Russia in the fledgling stages of a alliance here, Iran is backed against the corner. Typically when the enemy is backed against a corner, they fight harder than ever before. As Muhammad Ali proved, the rope-a-dope strategy works pretty well…

This is how I see this playing out. Iran pretends to cooperate. They follow all the rules, abide by the sanctions, and the world let’s go of the leash a bit. Meanwhile, in a cave somewhere, weapons are being developed. Now if they attack, their target will likely be Israel. If this happens, we have to defend our allies. If our relations hold up, we’ll have Russia and China, as well as England, France, and Canada as allied nations. Iran will have Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq as allies. That’s going be a really tough fight.

This development has made me revisit my previous post. Afghanistan is no longer about the Taliban. If this impending war happens, Afghanistan is going to be a very important piece. The equivalent of the center squares of a chess board. Having Afghanistan as an ally gives the US Allies a strong position on the battlefield. If the Taliban take over the region, a war with the Middle East will prove to be very difficult. Thus, in light of this story, I think it may not be a bad idea to fight the Afghan war because all of a sudden, we have a very good reason for winning that war. The objective is simple: eradicate the Taliban.

I hope to God that I’m wrong and this is all gross over analysis. However, if I’m right, or even 50% right, it is very possible the 2,000 year struggle in the Middle East may be over in my lifetime. WWIII may very well be called Jihad for real, perhaps Crusade II. The main advantage would be that this war is against countries, not ideology. There are parameters for victory and failure and its nation vs. nation, rather than nation vs. terrorism.

Episode 77: P.S. We’re In a War

2009-09-22T03:19:00.001-04:00

If you take a look at the news programs and blogs of late, the topic du jour is healthcare, and rightly so, as we are nearing a vote that could have a profound impact on the lives of Americans for several generations to come. Diving deeper into the subject, we find a lot of hyperbole from both sides of the isle, using buzzwords like “death panels” and “if we don’t reform healthcare, you’ll die faster” etc. Taking a glance at the blogosphere I took a hiatus from for a bit, it seems no one is talking about the fact we’re in a war. And generals want MORE troops!

I’m having a lot of trouble understanding what a victory in Afghanistan looks like. Does it mean we establish a free democracy there that the people don’t want? Do we secure an oil interest that doesn’t exist in that country? Do we capture a rugged, mountainous region, with awful weather (really, really hot or really, really cold), and surrounded by enemies in each direction to gain some kind of tactical advantage?

I’m of the opinion that we need to cut our losses and just bring our troops home. After eight years, a few blown opportunities to catch the true enemy Osama bin Laden, and the non-existent support from home and abroad, there is no victory to be had in Iraq. Let’s say we found Osama tomorrow and he caught him, hung him, and put his head on a rusty iron platter (because silver would be too good for him), then what? Is the War on Terror, sorry, the War on Al Qaeda, over at that point? Did we really spend $10 Billion to capture and kill one man? As far as I’m concerned, bin Laden is a target of opportunity at this point.

I have good news however. I know how to win the war on whatever you want to call it. The answer is so simple, you may kick yourself for not thinking of it sooner. The answer is to flat out leave Iraq. This is what happens when we do: The Taliban will declare our withdrawal as a victory. From an article from the NY TIMES, Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban was recently reported saying “Today we have strong determination, military training and effective weapons,” the message said. “Still more, we have preparedness for a long war, and the regional situation is in our favor. Therefore, we will continue to wage jihad until we gain independence and force the invaders to pull out.” Given Afghanistan’s nearly perfect track record of thwarting all forces that have invaded them for the past 2000 something years, I’m inclined to agree with him.

In response to our leaving, most of the “alliance” will also pull out. The Taliban will not attack America because they got what they want – the removal of western influence from their land. The Taliban will complete take over Afghanistan. Then one of two things will happen, their regime will be so suppressive, the world will have to rejoin the war effort under the banner of human rights (ie. WWII and Kosovo) or Afghans will spent about 5 years being miserable. If scenario 1 happens, the world will be dragged into another unwinnable war until a smart guy like me concludes we need to leave, and the process starts again and moves to scenario 2 – the Afghans will engage in a civil war against the Taliban. The people will rebel the oppression, and crush the Taliban forever. Then a coalition led by the U.S. will come back in a humanitarian mission to rebuild Afghanistan, establish a working democracy, and other nations in the region, empowered by Afghanistan’s success will follow suit.

The main point is, victory from oppressors have never been achieved from outside forces extinguishing the problem for the oppressed. From the Battle of Thermopylae, to the storming of the Bastille, to War of 1812, or from The American Revolution, Civil War, and Civil Rights movement, no struggle has been solved from the help of external powers. The same is true for Afghanistan. It has been said there’s no such thing as good wars, but there is such a thing as necessary ones. I think the only way to truly secure American security interests is to leave and let them fight their own battle. They will win, because the oppressor always loses in the end. We will win because we’ll have an ally and will be safer from terrorist attacks. The world will win because young people want to blog and twitter, and new governments in the region will rise that will allow their people to do those things.

Let’s refocus our lens back to the present day. We talk about how much money healthcare is going to cost, but I don’t hear those detractors talking about the budgetary black hole of the war in Afghanistan. The generals there want more troops which mean more money. We’re fighting an enemy that is damn near unbeatable with no real understanding of what victory means. It makes very little sense with respect to our domestic interests to continue to invest in a war with no end and no exit strategy. Wars cannot be fought unless the economy is in war mode. This means domestic production of tanks, armor, guns, bullets, etc. Wars shouldn’t be a part of the budget ledger like Medicare, Cash for Clunkers and office supplies. If we are unwilling to commit this economy into a war economy, then we should be equally unwilling to participate in this fruitless campaign. This doesn’t negate the tremendous work our soldiers do each and every day. It doesn’t make their deaths and injuries in vain. On the contrary, our missions have given us greater clarity on how to proceed. Perhaps this endless war in the Middle East may have a light at the end of the tunnel in our lifetime.

Episode 76: Mini Hiatus

2009-09-15T22:38:00.002-04:00

Hello all! As you were probably well aware, I've been gone from the blogosphere for a bit. I've been on some business trips and have a final one this week to wrap things up. I just wanted to drop by quickly and write a quick note to let you, my dear readers, know there is TONS of new content soon!!

Upon my return Monday, I'll be getting back to the health care debate with my good friend and conservative blogger New Conservative Generation (I didn't forget about you!). I have lots of new ideas on health care, the war, energy, the economy (which finally seems to be recovering!) and plenty of political philosophy to write about. Also, The L Comment: Sunday Comment radio show will be launching two Sundays from now if all goes well! New Conservative Generation has already volunteered to be my first guest host, and I hope all of you will tune in!

Sit tight guys, I'll be back soon, and I greatly look forward to reading your blogs again as well!

Episode 75: Remembering That Day

2009-09-11T12:04:00.001-04:00

At least once in a lifetime, a life changing, earth shattering event occurs that impacts us so greatly, every detail of the day is forever burned into our memory. For all Americans, 9/11 is that day. We all remember where we were that day. I was a senior in high school. Beautiful picturesque day. I was drum major of our marching band, running band practice when announcement informed us the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Instant silence. Then sobs. Several of my classmates had friends and relatives who worked and lived near there. We continued to the next period when we learned the second tower was hit. By this time, every TV and radio in school was on, and we witnessed live the collapse of a perhaps our most conspicuous symbols of American power. One of my teachers had a daughter who worked for the Pentagon. I remember him not even being able to complete one sentence of the lesson, his thoughts drifted to the safety of his daughter. We came to find out the plane that hit the pentagon was exactly where her office was, and because she had to retrieve a document from another room, she was out of her office at the time.

As I sit here, watching a real-time re-broadcast of the attacks, I remember so clearly all the emotions of the day. The chaos, confusion, the unanswered questions. I remember three days before the attacks, marching in the Labor Day parade in New York City. Manhattan was such a different place. It was around the time of an election, and I happened to be next to a politician’s float. Fake handshakes, insincere smiles, carefree blissful ignorance, as we were living in the height of our prosperity. Coming home from the parade, the sun was behind the World Trade Center casting a silhouette of the New York skyline that looked like it was taken from a postcard.

I remember the smoke cloud. Driving westbound on the Long Island expressway, when you get close to exit 33, a large mushroom cloud appears on the horizon. My heart shrank to the bottom of my stomach every time I saw it. It remained in the skies for many, many months. I remember ground zero. I didn’t have the courage to see it until a couple of years after the attack. Though the area was significantly cleaner, there was still a huge crater in the ground. My grandfather was on the construction crew that built the World Trade Center. He told me the basement was seven stories deep. Perhaps the impact made it a bit deeper.

What I remember the most about that day however, was the true spirit of America. The charities, the outpouring of support from every citizen, the scores of Long Island volunteer firemen, policemen, ambulance, and other emergency personnel heading to Manhattan to move sheet metal, find bodies and provide blankets, food and drink. I remember that for a short time, there was no democrat, no republican, independent, libertarian, green party, black, white, red, brown, yellow, purple – there was only The United States of America. We were one nation. As we head into the difficult debates ahead, let us put aside the conspiracies, the petty bickering, and the misinformation. Political dissention is the fabric of our great democracy. But we can do it in a way that brings us together, not divides us, that includes people into the debate, not dismisses points of view we don’t agree with, that values pragmatism over ideology. Let us be the America from that day, that banded together to tackle difficult issues. In doing so, we can turn the tragedy of that day into an unbreakable strength.

My thoughts and prayers, go out to all those affected directly or indirectly by that day.

Episode 74: Anime and Politics

2009-08-31T23:41:00.002-04:00

I don’t know if many people who know me know about this, but I am a huge anime fan. One anime in particular, Rurouni Kenshin is my top five favorite anime shows. I just finished watching the entire series for a second time through. The first run is usually just plain exciting, but in the second time, since I know when all the action is coming, I look for the deeper meaning. In doing so, I found so many parallels between the struggles in that show and the current political landscape, it was staggering!

The story of Kenshin is fictitious, but based on real Japanese history. Kenshin was a samurai considered to be a legendary manslayer, which is basically an assassin. He was an imperialist trying to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate in what became a very bloody revolution. The Tokugawa Period may be described as similar to the Western middle ages – it was a monarchy ruled by a shogun, there was a class system (samurais would be like European Nobility), legalized prostitution, etc. After 10 years of bloody war and lots of lost lives (especially at the hands of Kenshin). The Shogunate was overthrown, and the Meiji government took its place (which is around the time of the American Civil War). The Meiji government is the beginning of the transformation (maybe integration) from Japanese to a more Western styled culture which employs a democratic system. This is where the anime starts; Kenshin, after succeeding in his mission to help bring about the Meiji government becomes a wanderer, swearing to never kill another human being again, and atones for his sins by using his sword to protect others. In doing so, he winds up on a grand adventure.

Throughout the series, Kenshin faces a series of enemies who are “shadows of the revolution” (let’s call this group the republicans). They hate the new Meiji government (let’s call them the democrats) because it is full of corrupt politicians who manipulate money, the times, and people for their own personal gain. Kenshin battles these foes throughout the series, but has the handicap of sticking to his vow to not kill. Of course he is victorious, but in each battle he is able to convince his opponent that the times have changed and they need to stop living in the past. All of his opponents to some extent buy that argument and make changes in their lives to adapt.

The interesting correlation between the anime and today’s political landscape is how resistant people are to change. I think it has to be human nature that our first instinct is to destroy things we don’t understand or don’t like, and our second instinct is maintain a status quo. In the anime, people went through incredible lengths to try and bring down the Meiji government, all of which included forming a massive amount of funds to start a new revolution and creating a new army of the people to violently overthrow the new system. The interesting thing is not one enemy in the show ever suggested anything to improve the system, they just wanted to destroy it outright. The irony, is many people from the Tokugawa era wound up becoming Meiji government officials, so the people the enemies hate are the same people of the old system. Also, ironic, is the number of bad apples in the system is far less than the number of people doing the right thing. The anime starts in the 10th year of the Meiji (the Tokugawa period lasted for 265 years) so before any change could really be made, the bad guys want the Meiji to crumble.

In today’s politics, We have a new president with new ideas, and he couldn’t even get into the get before people wanted to shut him down. We have bad guys like Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney who use their influence to cut down the president with every shot they get. All the while, the opponents never seem to mention any of their faults: big business is just as corrupt as government, the wars we’re fighting are mistakes, water boarding is torture, and we’re too oil dependent, among others. So they would bring Obama down, only to put back in power the people who created the problems in the first place. There is, and has never been, any discussion of working together; in fact the republicans made a resolution on the very day Obama was inaugurated to say “NO” to the bailout without even hearing the ideas on the table from an official authority! (keep in mind Obama was technically powerless for two months). The republicans seem hell bent on ignoring (or worse, not believing) the problems many Americans face. Take healthcare for example. I’ve continually argued that maybe we’re not in position to provide 100% universal coverage. Maybe the government doesn’t have to participate in the program. I outlined a bill that has very minimal government involvement. But rather than provide ideas, the republicans are more concerned with tearing Obama down to build their image (which consequently and ironically makes them look worse). Take green cars. Hybrids and electric cars would significantly lower are carbon footprint, save money, and lessen our dependence on oil. There is even a hummer coming out that is alleged to get 100 miles per gallon! But the conservatives squabble over the $1,300 more for a car. First off, for buying a car, $1,300 really isn’t that much, and second as the technology is perfected the price comes down. But rather than argue about different ways we could achieve the same goal, maybe more investment in battery technology rather than hydrogen technology for example, they argue about price? How about that war you dragged us into for an introductory price of $8 billion?

The Japanese and American cultures are so different but the battle between liberal and conservative ideology is the same no matter where you go. It seems to be more than a coincidence that when liberals want to build, conservatives want to destroy. Then they put people back in power that necessitated liberal ideology in the first place. When conservatives are in power however, they never seem to make good use of their time. As it was depicted in the anime, so it is done in modern American politics.

Episode 73A: L Comment/NCG Healthcare Debate: Argument 1, Access (I'm Back!!)

2009-08-21T00:54:00.003-04:00

Wow, it's good to be back! I just moved to a new house and haven't had internet for almost two weeks! Being a tech head, that's a tough pill to swallow haha. But alas, I'm back, and I'm happy to see the debate has been alive in my absence. Moving forward, the healthcare debate with New Conservative Generation will continue, and we'll be talking about a bunch of current events so stay tuned!

***

There is absolutely no doubt that healthcare reform will be an extremely expensive endeavor. No matter what course we take, be it 100% “socialist” or 100% “capitalist,” any major reform will cost more money than the current system because an entirely new infrastructure must be designed and implemented. Thus the debate in my opinion is a matter of prioritizing Americans over the American dollar. According to the National Coalition on Healthcare, approximately 46 million Americans do not have health insurance. Those who do have health insurance primarily receive their coverage through their place of employment. However, studies show that premiums have increase just shy of 120% since 1999, causing many employers to limit the coverage they offer or stop offering healthcare all together. With our standard of living steadily declining due to decreasing annual incomes, the number of uninsured will continue to increase. The worst-case doomsday scenario shows that up to 66 million Americans will be uninsured if we remain on our current trajectory.

One of the biggest problems with the healthcare debate is the notion of whether or not all Americans should have some kind of coverage, regardless of who is providing it. There are many people who truly think things are fine the way they are, and if you can’t afford insurance for any reason, tough luck. This is absolutely unacceptable. The fact is, more access to healthcare in time will decrease costs. This is because more people will address illnesses because they reach critical mass. It is an unrealistic notion to assume once universal healthcare is passed, the emergency rooms will be flooded the next day. In fact, it would be the opposite – the empty clinics will once again have customers! In border states, many people travel to Mexico to get significantly cheaper healthcare. When Americans have access to healthcare, they will see traditional clinic doctors. This will lessen the burden on emergency rooms and save money there. This will also decrease the burden on Free Health Clinics, who rely on donations and volunteers to stay in operation. Also, ER doctors are required by law to treat anyone who comes to the ER. The patient will still receive a bill, but they don’t always pay it. Those expenses are passed off to you, dear taxpayer. There are a lot of savings like these that cannot be included in the Congressional Budget Office report because they cannot include projected savings, only actual savings on the ledger lines.

When talking about access to healthcare, we must also talk about the converse – denial of healthcare. While my worthy opponent CGen has, to a certain extent, denounced the claim of “death panels,” there are still many others who believe a government option would decide when to “pull the plug.” My question is, does this not happen already to some extent with private insurance? Our president’s own mother fell victim to the denial of coverage due to a “pre-existing” condition. And while we’ll never know the truth behind the insurance company’s decision not to cover her medical costs, doesn’t it stand to reason that a cancer patient with limited window of life expectancy would cost money the insurance company doesn’t want to pay? Now we can’t be too presumptuous here, only President Obama, his mother, and the insurance company knows the facts of this story. Still, these kinds of things happen every day. It has happened to people I know. People who have insurance don’t get proper treatment because the insurance companies find any way to not pay your claim. The right talk about the fear of your claim going through endless review from bureaucracy, but how is that any different from calling your private insurer, and having your issue moved up to tier 1, then tier 2, only to find you have to call billing and support, who then send you to tier 1 support, then tier 2 before they send you to their manager who informs you have to call the first number you called…

Many opponents of universal healthcare are saying something to the tune of “I’d rather see no healthcare bill passed than this one.” I don’t understand why so few on the right is talking about making this bill better rather than question whether or not such a bill should exist. Again, it is all about priorities – The American, or the American Dollar. I know we have the intellectual brainpower in this country to develop a plan that reconciles the need to ensure all American citizens have some kind of insurance while finding a way to curb the cost over a decade. That’s not what are conservative counterparts are talking about however. They are talking about reforming a system that they still give significant tax breaks to, that will continue to jeopardize the well being of American citizens in order to line the pockets of those who really control access to the system – private enterprise. If conservatives argued that we were trading one kind of control (private enterprise) for another (the government), then there would be consistency in their argument. However, the primary deniers of healthcare come from the very industry they are standing up for – private insurance. That is why we need some sort of public option to a) offset the balance of power for big business and b) dissuade private enterprise from cheating Americans out of the coverage they paid for with a competitor that will provide at least the basic services without question. Access to healthcare is the short-term and long-term solution to the healthcare crisis.

Episode 72: The LC – NCG Healthcare Debate!!

2009-08-19T03:13:00.003-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, the next series of posts will be special ones. In my last post I argued that we needed to put the rhetoric aside and engage in real, healthy, and fruitful debate on healthcare. Frequent visitor, good friend, incredibly smart and excellent right wing blogger who argues with great points, not baseless rhetoric, New Conservative Generation asked if I’d be interested in debating with him on the subject of healthcare, and of course I accepted – nothing fires me up more than a great debate! The debate with New Conservative Generation, CGen for short, will span the next few episodes. We will post our opening statements, and then over the next few entries offer several arguments on the various aspects of the HR3200 bill. You will find my rebuttals of his arguments on his blog (also found on the blog roll), and his arguments against mine right here on The L Comment. Please comment often and bring all your friends to this one because I’m sure it will be good. The finale of the debate will kick off the new “The L Comment: Sunday Comment” web radio show. CGen will be my first guest on the show and I will read and respond to some great comments on the show! Without further ado, my opening argument.

***

It is my opinion that Healthcare reform may very well be the single most important piece of legislation for President Obama, and arguably the boldest legislation in the past quarter century. America has tried and failed to reform healthcare 2 administrations ago, and the results are clear as day. We were happy with the status quo and as a result, healthcare premiums have skyrocketed, coverage has decreased, deductibles have increased, and most importantly, more people than ever before – 45 – 50 million Americans – are uncovered, unprotected. We have heard the tragic stories: the relative who died from a preventable illness because she had no health insurance, the brother whose unexpected illness costs so much money, his parents had to file for bankruptcy, and the young couple who work and have private insurance, who suffered from an illness the insurance company won’t cover, whole or in part, for a myriad of reasons. The time is now to put an end to all this and enact legislation that will provide some kind of health coverage for all U.S. citizens.

The right has made the healthcare debate a battle to maintain the moral and constitutional fiber of our great nation. I don’t disagree with the sentiment. I think it is moral to tend to all of our sick. I think it is moral that a nation as intellectually, morally, spiritually, and yes, even financially wealthy as ours to make healthcare a top priority. I think it is constitutional to enact legislation that will help our citizens fulfill the true meaning of the creed penned in our Declaration of Independence: “…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Thus, it is my goal to show you that the HR3200 bill is a one we must pass for the following reasons:

1) All American citizens should have access to at least basic healthcare services to help diagnose preventable diseases
2) Though a significant amount of capital is necessary to build the foundation for lasting healthcare reform, its result, including fewer visits to the ER for non-emergency procedures, focus on preventative medicine and procedures, and more competition to drive down costs will ultimately save money in the long-term
3) A Medical IT network, designed and implemented with private enterprises, will just about eliminate the bureaucracy, which will significantly increase efficiency, and further drive down costs (which are by law, not calculated in Congressional Budget Office cost projections)
4) America is not the leader in many aspects of our healthcare system – many aspects that could be fixed with healthcare reform
5) Private insurance, when left unchecked, is not a reliable solution for the healthcare crisis because they do not have the citizen’s best interests at heart

The most important factor to consider in this bill is we are trying to design a bold system that is uniquely American. There are many lessons to be learned – good and bad – from universal healthcare systems practiced in other modern nations. I strongly believe the debate should not about whether or not we have a universal healthcare plan, but rather how to implement one in a fashion that does not compromise our strength in medical technology, skilled practitioners, high quality healthcare facilities, and world-class medical research, while still being affordable for every citizen. It times of peril, America has always risen to the occasion by working together and staring the status quo straight in the eyes. We have won every time we were serious about major reform. This issue should be no different.

Episode 71: Red vs. Blue: Healthcare

2009-08-13T05:52:00.003-04:00

There is a war going on. The war I’m talking about is not thousands of miles of away. It is right here in our backyard – The war on The American Healthcare System.

Tom Brokaw asked Obama and McCain a question in the debate that is so relevant to the healthcare debate, he might have had a crystal ball. He asked if the candidates thought healthcare was a right, privilege, or responsibility. This question is the crux of the healthcare debate. Debating this question has caused the most divisive political environment we’ve seen since Operation Iraqi Freedom. Let’s try to dig into the question a bit and try to understand the ideologies of each side and try and separate facts from myth.

If you are Blue, you most likely believe access to health is a right

I will state at the onset I most definitely squarely in the Blue side of this debate. I believe access to healthcare is as much of a right to free access to water. Being in good health should be like drinking from a water fountain; if I’m thirsty, I should be able to quench my basic human need for free. I am not always thirsty, but I know that whenever I am, I can get a drink. Humans can survive weeks without food, but we can’t go longer than a few days without water. I realize I could pay for premium water (Aquafina is by far my favorite) and there may be times when I want or need to do so. I also expect to pay for some kind of maintenance – I pay a quarterly water bill like most Americans. However generally speaking, being thirsty is rarely a concern I ever have because I know I have access whenever I need it.

Analogies aside, the other critical issue from the Blue point of view is there needs to be more emphasis on preventative measures. Everything from regular checkups to wearing condoms, to having medicine to treat diseases before they become major problems is an important aspect of Blue agenda. Preventative measures will ultimately cost the system far less, and also serve to make the emergency rooms more efficient because they will be treating real emergencies, not a bad case of the sniffles.

If you are Red, you most likely believe access to health is a responsibly

You work hard. You earn a paycheck. You raise a family. The fruits of your labor should be yours to enjoy. If healthcare is important to you, then you will go shopping for different providers, make an informed decision, and buy your own plan with your own money. The problem with people is they want things for free, and people who want and get things for free are less likely to work. Thus your hard earned paycheck is going to help some loafer who doesn’t do anything to help his own situation. But you have a heart. There is a local hospital you donate money to. You run the 5K race for cancer to help raise awareness and to do your part to contribute to your local community.

The critical issue for you is the feeling of losing the moral fiber of this country. “Obamacare” is a socialist plan that will kick start a series of big legislation that will turn this country to the United States of Sweden. You are not just fighting for your paycheck, but also for your way of life. Moreover, you have an natured or nurtured distrust for the government. We’ve watched our last President squandered a surplus. We’ve watched governors send their states straight to financial ruin. And a quick look at C-Span reveals many of our elected officials are spineless nincompoops whose head would fall off if it weren’t attached to their neck. So if the government is largely ineffective, then how the hell can they run the healthcare system?

If you think access to healthcare is a privilege, you are (hopefully) wealthy and will likely have to fund this program

I say hopefully because the word privilege would imply some people deserve healthcare while others may not. Because I’m a blogger, I do not need to abide my rules of objectivity; if this is your stance I think you are pretty heartless, and I’m dying to hear how you could possibly defend that stance. Unless…

…you are rich. If you make over $250,000 per year, your increased taxes will go toward paying for this plan. If you are paying a significant amount of money to fund a program, I think it is understandable to not want to give away your hear earned dollars to just anybody. However, if you make $250,000 or more, then you should’ve been seeing this coming all long because Obama made no secret about coming after your tax dollars. Therefore, if you voted for Obama and you choose not to believe what Glen Beck says, then you probably fall into the Blue camp. Conversely, if you voted for McCain or have been completely turned off by the democrat’s lack of focus on the issue, you stand with team Red.

The only thing I think most people can agree on is the system needs reform. That’s a start, but the problem with this debate, more so than most debates is we’ve hit a political stalemate because there is no middle ground here. If you think healthcare is a responsibility, there is no midpoint; I have to convince you it is a right all Americans should enjoy. Likewise I believe access to health is a right, and there is nothing you can say to change my mind. I got high fives from the right in my last post when I stated my displeasure with Obama to seize control of the problem, using a fire extinguisher to put out the fire in the living room while the whole house is on fire. While I love high fives, let me be clear, I still very much think every American should have healthcare.

That’s why the healthcare fight is so dirty. It’s an all or nothing bill. Each side is pulling out all the stops to push their agendas, and each side is pulling dirty, low-blow tactics. Right wing media has Glen Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, and O’Reily as their champions, controlling the message, feeding the lies, misinformation, and conspiracy theories to delegitimize our President and his plan. Left wing media has Keith Olbermann, Chris Mathews, broadcast news, and NPR as their champions, controlling the message, hiding the true costs, future implications, and asserting their omnipresence to paint the right wing as crazy (which I still the far right is legitimately crazy), using the President’s popularity and conservative’s unpopularity to propagandize the effectiveness of this bill.

What is missing from this debate is the debate on the ISSUES! Read the blogs, watch cable news, look at the Daily Show or Dennis Miller, listen to the radio, read the paper… there is no good news to be found. Neither side can argue their point without resorting to a shouting match. Even the calm, cool, collected Obama has raised his voice in frustration during town halls.

If you read my blog, I think it is a fair statement that I try very hard to find middle ground in all the 70 debates we’ve had here. I am going to break character here and not find middle ground on healthcare. I’m going to state my case on healthcare, not on the grounds of costs, effectiveness, or deficits, but rather on the philosophy that access to healthcare is a right. I’m going to devote the next couple of debates convincing you, dear reader that healthcare is indeed a right. Bring your A game, because I’m bringing mine. If I do convince you however, then the question should be not whether we should have free access to healthcare, but how do we do that in a cost effective and American way. Let the debate begin.

Episode 70: Change We Could Believe In

2009-08-05T02:57:00.001-04:00

There is a problem in America. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to live these days. Food costs too much, money is hard to come by, if you’re sick and uninsured, you’re screwed, and every solution seems to be a short term fix. There is a lot of talk in the Obama administration about looking into the future, and I do believe they are doing that. However, their eyes are so far down the road sometimes, it seems they lose track of the short term goals that need to be accomplished in order to achieve the long term goals. Let’s look at some things that have happened in my short absence:

Cash for Clunkers
A government program to entice people to trade in their cars to buy fuel efficient ones by receiving a $4500 credit on a trade for an old car. The program cost $1 Billion dollars, and it ended a few days ago. Ford, Chrysler, and GM reported their inventory was, for the first time in a long time, very low which is great news. Is it likely those sales figures will sustain with the closing of the program? Probably not. If you give a mouse a cookie, it will eat it. In essence, we spent $1 Billion dollars to make far less than that on sales and fuel savings.

Healthcare
This debate is just about over. The democrats lost control of the message and never got it back. During the campaign, Obama made it personal. He told the story of his dying mother who was arguing with insurance providers on whether her treatment would be covered because of pre-existing conditions. That was a great place to start the debate. During the campaign, Obama weathered the accusations and slander storm by sticking to the personal matters – the single mother with 3 children who works three jobs and attends all the PTA meetings, the elderly couple who saw their life’s work vanish in the stock market crisis, the teacher who has to teach 45 children in a small classroom that is 60 years old and in terrible repair. Now, he is going on the attack, playing the blame game, pitting democrats against republicans, and pretty much abandoned the spirit of cooperation he promised.

While I’m thinking of it, wouldn’t make a lot of sense to give small businesses the money for healthcare? They could split the costs of healthcare to make it more affordable to small businesses, offer free healthcare to Americans 18 and under who have social security cards, and provide unemployment health insurance like we do with jobs. That way, every business HAS to have a healthcare plan (which would be private) so every working American has healthcare. Unemployed Americans file for free healthcare using the same conditions for unemployment – showing they are actively looking for work, make less than X amount of dollars, etc.

The Economy
Jobs are still being lost at alarming rates. He campaigned to create or save 3 million jobs by creating more jobs at home, reinvesting in our infrastructure, rebuilding our schools, paving the way for 21st century innovations, and getting broadband access to every American. Yet he wants to tax the rich, tax businesses (mostly the larger ones), and still hasn’t fully addressed the banking situation that makes it difficult for small business owners to operate their businesses. Let alone effectively tackling the healthcare issue to ease the burden off small business. There is no shame in a democrat lowering taxes for businesses, especially small businesses, as long as we make provisions to reform the system and close the loopholes that help people to unfairly and unjustly benefit from the system.

The War
I have a deep post coming up on the war very soon. I’d like to ask my readers, on a scale of 1 -10, 10 being the highest, how much do you care about catching Osama bin Laden at this point? Personally, he has been downgraded to a “Target of Opportunity.” We lost 76 of our brothers and sisters in arms since the new Afghanistan plan. The exit strategy is just as non-existent as it was with Bush. While I’d never suggest they are fighting this war for nothing, Obama is going the absolutely wrong way about this war. Oh yeah, we’re STILL in war aren’t we…

I’ll defer to Nate Silver and his bulls-eye-accurate polling abilities for the actual numbers, but living in New York again, I live amongst the richest and poorest in the country. Going strictly by unscientific observation, I have concluded:

There is an inverse relationship between those who favor Obama and those who don’t, such that the less money one makes the more they love Obama and conversely, the more money one makes the less the like Obama.

For the middle class, it depends on your region and socio-political philosophy. While I’m upset with Obama, I do think that with much fine tuning he can regain control of his agenda, because I personally believe in doing things for the common good. However if you are of the belief that one’s treasures are his own, and it is solely his choice to decide who to share with, you probably don’t like Obama. The good news is Obama’s policies are consistent with his actions for his whole political career. He has spent his political life as the defender of the little guy, trying to get them to a point where they can compete with those of higher socio-economic status. He was especially successful with this approach early in his career as a community organizer, and was able to translate those results in the Senate. However as president, he must realize that diminishing the socio-economic gap is not the way to long-term economic prosperity and longevity, it is instead a by-product of invigorating the middle class. We saw this in the 90s with Bill Clinton. Part of the reason why crime was so low in my city of New York was a lot of people had jobs! It wasn’t catering to the poor class that generate jobs, it was creating opportunities for lower-middle class people to create the jobs that employed the poor class, thus lifting them up into the middle class, and lifting the once lower-middle class up a bar as well!

Such government programs like clunkers for cash, or local city programs like Jobs Corps do stimulate movement in the lower echelon of the socio-economic chain, but government programs have never been a suitable way to garner long term improvement of unemployment. They were intended to be ways to train employees for better jobs in private enterprise. When a government program is not used as it was intended, it becomes a serious drain on the state, which is exactly the opposite of what we need right now. In order for Obama to achieve his vision, he needs to get the middle class in action and now! No more arguing, finger pointing, and partisan crap. I think we all want the same thing, so let’s put our heads together and make it happen, starting with getting private enterprise back in the fold.

Episode 69: Capitalism: The Double-Edged Sword

2009-07-16T02:21:00.001-04:00

A comment in my last post about my opinion on capitalism drew a bit of fire in the commentary. And rightly so… it was a bold statement that I didn’t have time to support in that post. Allow me to do so here.

At the onset, I’d like you, loyal reader, to know that I am very much of the capitalist mind. I think our version of capitalism is what makes our country so powerful. If you have a great idea, you are greatly rewarded for your contributions to society by amassing more wealth than some countries are worth. For example, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs took the idea of a computer in this massive warehouse to a device that could fit in your office (now they fit inside a cell phone!) Larry Page and Sergey Brin revolutionized how we navigate through the internet when they made Google (my FAVORITE company). Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin created Def Jam Records in an NYU dorm room. Not to be outdone, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in his dorm and turned what was originally an interactive student directory into the #1 social networking site. This is capitalism at its best – find a missing part of our life, dream up a great idea to fill the void, and if the stars align, get paid a hell of a lot to make an impact on the country and the world.

Let’s scale back a bit. Let’s say I’m an awesome cook who could whip up the best tacos in town. After doing a market analysis, I see there is a Taco Bell, Miguel’s Tacos, and El Dorado Restaurant. So when I open up The Law’s Taco Shack, I may do some things like undercut the competition’s prices and offer a taco that tastes so good that it becomes a local brand. Brand recognition is one of the most important assets a business could have, as in this scenario I crush the competition, even putting Miguel out of business.

Let us scale back even more to the personal level. In our free market system, When I get a pay check, I have obligations to make like bills, and loan payments, but other than that, I’m free to spend my money how I please. If I want to save or invest it, I can. If I want to soup up my car and buy aftermarket parts, there is very little a government body can do to stop me. As long as my car passes the emissions test, I’m free to make my roadster as fuel inefficient as I want. Our system allows me maximum selection to buy any of life’s creature comforts like 57” Plasma Screen TVs, leather couches, or a post-modern table that is ugly as hell for $4000 if I want to. There is no government body that could stop me from spending my money as I please so long as my obligations are met.

I like – no, love our system. All the examples above is capitalism at its finest, even Miguel losing his shop to my business. My idea is better than his which in turn made his business lose its solvency. But our version of capitalism even helps Miguel from going to the economic crapper just because his idea no longer appeals to the people. When a business fails, there are numerous ways to get rid of your debt with little impact to the business owner (as long as it is not a sole proprietorship – then it gets a little tricky) and Miguel can quit, or he can come up with a new recipe and try again. Our system of private enterprise employs 80% of our workforce, and is in most cases very honest and legitimate companies. These small, medium, and some big business are completely exempt from my criticism of capitalism. The aforementioned people are the heart of our economic engine and deserve our support and thanks.

With that said, let’s continue forward to my comment from episode 68 that drew much criticism:
“The problem with amassing personal wealth is capitalism. It is the nature of capitalism that for one person to amass wealth, someone also has to lose wealth. Also, many people become addicted to making money, and do so with little to no consideration for others.”

In this quote, I’m referring to big business, namely in the financial, banking, credit, and pharmaceutical sectors. See the problem with big business is they start out with a great and noble idea to help Americans live their lives a little better than it was the day before. As they climb up the ladder, something changes. It becomes less about helping the people they originally wanted to help, and more about increasing their portfolios. Then these established companies hire people who never cared for the “little people;” they got in the investment banking business from the start to make money.

Look at the financial crisis. There were many factors that contributed to the collapse, but arguably the biggest factor (or at the very least the factor that cause the pot to boil over) was the gamble made in the subprime lending market. It was the greed by a few in the upper echelon of the biggest of big business that didn’t care about the American dream, they cared about making more money for themselves. Those business people would rationale their actions by saying they helped to give more people a shot at the American Dream. If it requires so much workarounds and trickery and number manipulation to get these people into those houses, that should’ve been a clue those were risky mortgages to make. Conservative minds may ask “who’s more foolish, the fool or person who follows the fool?” Both. But if we left the system alone, the one that looked at your financial history and determined based on your earnings if you qualify for a loan, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in.

How about the pharmaceutical industry? We are a nation of magical pill poppers. We create diseases to cure so we can sell more medicine. We break the backs of middle class and lower echelon with skyrocketing costs of treatment. We had a government that blocked access to cheaper generic drugs from Canada to appease the big Pharma companies. Conservative minded people may talk about long lines at the hospital under a “socialized” health system, but what’s the difference between that and people not being able to afford medicine? Either way, the middle class is hurt. Case in point, a passerby reader of this blog told me a story on my Facebook page that her friend (who has insurance) needs a surgery which the insurance requires he pays $1000 AND 20% of the costs. Using my own surgery to estimate the cost, he’d have to pay $10,000 out of pocket, plus medicine and other fees. The big business system could care less about the fact that this expense absolutely crushes these young professionals is college educated, working, and has insurance.

That is what my statement means. As capitalism pays in dividends for the individual, someone has to lose. The insurance company could afford to cover more of the cost of treatment, but that means less profit which is bad for its portfolio. So they will do anything in their power *not* to pay for your coverage. The banks could loan money to people who have money to pay it back, but fewer loans means less profit. Add to that the complicated terminology (like credit default swaps), in addition to wrecking the life of one trying to aspire toward a better life for their family, these bankers passed the liability to someone else. Credit card companies could issued limits based on ones credit score, but that would mean less credit equals less interest, so they surprise you with credit line increases. Now yes, we don’t have to spend it, but when you have been laid off and do not qualify for unemployment (another program that causes rifts in conservative ideology) you need to live, and Mr. Gold Card becomes your best friend. To add insult to injury, they even lowered credit lines on some people and charged them penalties after the recession began to worsen! Combine that with super high interest rates and now a bad situation becomes worse for Joe Six –Pack. Not for the credit card Fat Cat CEO however. In the end big business is about making more money, and nothing else. That includes companies I applauded earlier, like Microsoft. They once had a great idea to help Americans compute better, but now they outsource almost all of their manufacturing and customer services overseas which deprives Americans of jobs. Yes, high government taxes drive away big business, but with a $23 Billion profit, I’m sure they could afford to employ more American workers. Apple does… (which hurts for me to say since I’m a windows guy!)

So to amend my statement, I should say “The problem with amassing personal wealth is capitalism. It is the nature of capitalism that for one person to amass wealth, someone also has to lose wealth *** and that person is almost the middle class American.*** And this post is not meant to give a pass to the government, as they do a lot of funky counterproductive stuff as well. If I opened that can of worms, this post would easily be 6-7 pages long. I will instead stop at two and a quarter pages and devote that topic for a post another day.

Episode 68: The American Heathcare Act of 2009

2009-07-06T05:47:00.001-04:00

Healthcare is the hot button issue in today’s politics. Both sides have very strong opinions on the topic. Those on the right say “if you want health care so bad, buy it! If you can’t afford it, tough nuggets! “ Those on the left however say “Access to health is a basic right, and a nation as powerful as ours should be able to provide that service to all citizens.” Both sides however, agree that a great deal of reform must be done.

So the argument really boils down to basic liberal vs. conservative principles – the constant need to ensure a high standard of living for all, vs. the constant need to ensure a high standard of living for those who’ve earned it. Both sides raise very valid points, as well as some… let’s say not so plausible ones. In the end it all boils down to money. Liberals tend to want to use money to serve as many people as possible (which is falsely interpreted as socialism) while conservatives want to maximize personal wealth (which is falsely interpreted as selfishness and greed.) The problem with using money to serve as many people as possible (especially during a recession/depression) is the finite amount of capital in the coffers, which can only be made up in tax increases (since we can’t cut too many programs because we “need” them). The problem with amassing personal wealth is capitalism. It is the nature of capitalism that for one person to amass wealth, someone also has to lose wealth. Also, many people become addicted to making money, and do so with little to no consideration for others. Outlined here is the crux of the problem.

But enough pandering to both sides of the argument… this is the L Comment! And here at the L Comment, I like to come up with solutions to big problems because we can point fingers at each other all day and not move an inch. So without further ado, I present my new bill (I believe my third) The American Healthcare Act of 2009! This is the ultimate healthcare plan that will make everyone happy.

To begin, why are republicans so disgusted with the idea of public health care? Two reasons – cost and quality. Any other argument is a subset of the aforementioned issues. Anything that involves increase a tax, republicans hate it. They also fear losing options because the government will swallow up big business. In my bill, government healthcare and private healthcare HAVE to coexist.

Article 1: All Americans are guaranteed $3,200 worth of medical services per year

By utilizing a healthcare information technology (IT) network, each American will be entered into a national healthcare database. (Put you Ayn Rand books away, if you have a social security card, then you are already in a database!) This database would include your healthcare chart, family history chart, other relevant healthcare info (such as current prescriptions) as well as a healthcare credit. Each citizen is guaranteed $3,200 in free medical costs per year (this number is derived from the $960 Billion dollars already allocated for healthcare - let us for argument’s sake take Obama at his word - divided by 300 million, the rounded up estimate of legal American citizens.) At the end of the year the debit would reset to $3,200. Thus, if a person used all the money, they’d get it all back on January 1st. Likewise if their debit was at $3,100, the system would only add $100 on January 1st.

This money would go towards paying for basic medical services. Without insurance today, it costs about $750 to get a checkup. Since most people go to the doctor twice a year, this essentially would give a person 2 checkups and two visits, with money left for free medicine (prescriptions and over the counter). The goal is to provide some kind of assurance that one could go to a clinic, not an emergency room, to treat an illness because they know they can see a doctor at a clinic if they need to. For people working in government jobs, they could qualify for a Public Premium Plan (PPP). With a PPP, An employer adds an additional $9000 per year on the premium, which would give that individual $12,200 of coverage per year. This saves businesses about $3000 a year per person in health insurance costs. For private enterprise, they can offer their workers a Private Enterprise Plan (PEP). A PEP works just like a PPP, except they cannot participate in both a PEP and private option. Also, a PEP can chose a from a few more packages - $5000, $9000, or $12,000. If a private enterprise wanted to go with an all public option, they could with the $12,000 PEP, but since the public package offers nothing but healthcare credit, it is not always advantageous for private enterprise to use a public plan. Smaller businesses could use the $5000 PEP to save money, while still adding a little more assurance.

Article 2: Credits can be reallocated between family members

Family members can pool their credits together. Divorced couples can only pool money together with written consent. Thus in a family of 4, a family has $12,800 worth of healthcare credits (which is the avg. price of healthcare per year.) Children who claim dependent status (or after they turn 25) can no longer be included in the pool. This allows a family without private insurance more flexibility with doctor appointments and access to medicine.

Article 3: Non basic healthcare is paid for through loans

For anything larger than basic coverage and medicine, such as a surgery, the public option would involve using a loan process nearly identical to student loans. With the Stafford student loan, the government subsidizes part of the interest and puts a cap on the maximum interest rate (as of July 1st 2009, it went from 6% to 5.6%!) If you have an injury that requires a surgery and do not have private insurance, you can pay for your operation by taking out a government loan, which will also cap the interest rate and subsidize a portion of the loan. Congress can debate on the actual cap %, though 5.6% seems fair to me. The person can choose from several payment options: a 6, 12, 24, 48, 60, or 90 or 120 month payment plan. Obviously one should pay as soon as possible to avoid paying a lot of interest, but a 120 month plan could bring a loan to a very small and manageable price per month. Like the Stafford loan, a person can change the payment schedule or pay the loan in full immediately without penalty.

Article 4: Private Healthcare still plays a big role

Notice that I use the term private healthcare quite a bit. I do think that it is important to maintain a vibrant private healthcare system, because our version of capitalism enforces high standards through competition. All citizens are guaranteed $3,200 from the government, but it is not enough in some cases, namely if you have a chronic condition or a major surgery. Thus, it is still necessary to buy private insurance. There will be a lot of private insurance reform, namely eliminating the denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions and usage of generic medicine to save costs to name a couple, but the majority of major healthcare use will still be through private insurance. Private insurance companies will be required to be in the same medical database, largely to maintain a uniform system of record keeping and medical chart updates. Unlike the public plan, private insurance could offer many perks, such as a deductible for surgeries rather than taking out a loan, discounts for brand name medicine, and coverage for special operations, such as gastric bypass surgeries. However, under the new system, the public plan is built to coexist with the private plan. By offering a guaranteed $3,200 for basic coverage, that is money that the private insurers don’t have to spend. This can bring premiums down by that much money, lowering monthly payments for those already on a private system. Or they can budget the same amount of money to offer more competitive packages.

Article 5: Americans can choose their own doctor, or keep the one they have

Because the public plan is only a credit, there are absolutely no restrictions on which doctor one can see. For people using a PPP or PEP, they have maximum choice in the doctor they see because of the amount of credit they have to spend. People on private insurance are bound by the rules of their contract. Because of the complication of being able to choose your doctor under the public system and then having restrictions with private enterprise, I think private insurance companies will allow one to see any doctor. Also, with medical records being stored in a database using a universal protocol, there is little reason not to let one chose their own doctor anyway.

How much does it cost?

The price tag of the plan is 960 Billion. This will cost the taxpayers no money and it will not add to the deficit. In fact, it is 40 Billion cheaper than the proposed plan. The money for this plan comes solely from the reallocation of the funds for the current healthcare budget. Given our population is under 300 Million (because illegal immigrants do not have social security cards, they do not qualify to receive any funds.) To pay for the loan subsidies, revenue from the rollback of the Bush tax cuts will be used, as well as accrued interest on healthcare loans (money gains from healthcare gets reinvested back into healthcare). Over time, the costs will start to decline, as most people will not use all of their credit in one year. We should see an all around reduction in price because government offers basic services that private companies do not need to spend, and the number of people using emergency rooms as clinics should sharply decrease.

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If you are on the left, you like this bill because: it offers every American citizen a piece of mind. It seems impossible to fund a full blown healthcare program without raising taxes or cutting a significant number of programs. However, because all Americans can get basic needs met and essentially get free medicine which does include over the counter medicine too, this act is a foundation for a universal healthcare system that is uniquely American in operation. As we pull out of the recession and look forward to better economic days ahead, more tweaks can be made to the system, like increasing the amount of credits per person.

If you are on the right, you like this bill because: you have to admit the idea of a little piece of mind that doesn’t compromise the already budgeted monies and costs nothing for you is a good thing. Moreover, healthcare remains in the domain of the private insurance industry. There are far better perks to getting a private plan that using the public option for credits and loans. In time you can find ways to streamline the process further to save even more money, such as further reform to reduce operational costs to lower the annual healthcare budget. However, and most importantly, this is in no way a government healthcare plan. The government is limited by the extent to which they can pay for health services, so a “government takeover” is no possible in this proposal

I submit this bill to you, readers of the L Comment… what say ye?

Episode 67: Sarah Palin Resigns? What?!

2009-07-03T16:53:00.001-04:00

Sarah Palin never ceases to entertain. In the early days of this blog, I’ve spent a good amount of time bashing Palin because she is the worst kind of leader this country could have (by which I mean she is ignorant, uninformed, lacks intellectual curiosity, and lacks the culture to thrive in a national or international stage.) My guy won, so I saw no reason to continue the Palin bashing, and I was getting bored ding so anyways.

I hop on Facebook today only to find a bunch of links about Palin’s resignation on my feeds. Was this some kind of joke? So I read NY Times, Fox News, WSJ, and a few other sources, and lo and behold it is indeed true. Her reason? Because she can have a larger positive impact if she could travel around, presumably to raise her stock in 2012.

Sarah Palin are you crazy?! Do you realize being a governor is like being the president of the state of Alaska?? You have the perfect forum to show America your leadership skills! Take a stand on the economy, and sign legislation that sticks it to Obama’s face! Enact trade deals with Canada for oil and generic medicine to save your citizens some money! Use your executive power to travel across the country and speak with other governors… see what works in other states and how you can apply what you learned in Alaska! There are so many ways you can innovate and prove your mettle in Alaska, that one could only assume that you either still think the far right is going to get you into office or you simply have no sense whatsoever. Either way, I want you nowhere near the oval office. I can’t respect a politician who would abandon her people in the middle of an economic crisis to raise her own political stock. Absolutely absurd.

So much for my preliminary thoughts on this… it could change after more info is released, but I strongly doubt it…

Episode 66: A Tribute to the King of Pop

2009-06-30T13:45:00.001-04:00

I wanted to wait until more facts came out before writing this, but it seems news surrounding Michael Jackson will take weeks, even months to decode. This is the first celebrity death that has really hurt me. Michael Jackson is unquestionably my favorite pop musician by far. As a composer and producer, I have dissected his songs to uncover exactly how he makes such sonic magic on almost every single track. He was a major inspiration for many of my productions, especially when I first started. Looking at all the documentaries and Jackson movie that has been on a constant loop since his tragic death, I can’t help but feel a big hole in my heart.

Michael Jackson literally is the father of modern pop music. Every single act following him from Madonna to Justin Timberlake and everyone in between is an iteration of a Michael Jackson innovation. Multi-million dollar music videos? Grandiose live concerts? Provocative dance moves? It all started with Jackson. While Will Smith tried to capture lighting in a bottle with is multi-million dollar videos, Britney Spears tried to create the entire pop package with her videos, catchy beats, and out of this world live concerts, and Chris Brown tried to captivate his audience with some of the best dancing ever seen, no single artist other than Michael Jackson was able to successfully do it all.

I offer to you Michael Jackson, my four song salute – of all the many tracks I have put on repeat countless times, these are the songs that I have played the most! (It was originally three but I almost forgot one that I played 1000 times when I as a teenager!)

#1 “In the Closet” (Dangerous album) – The dangerous album was my first favorite album. I was in… 7th or 8th grade at its release and that is the age kids start listening to music. The breakdown on the pre-chorus still gives me goose bumps, and his “ahhhhhh (there’s) something about you baybeh” is so smooth. It is not his most popular song (though the music video got a lot of people’s attention) but it is by a good margin, my favorite song.

#2 "Give in to Me” (Dangerous Album) – Though many people will mention their favorite songs from the Thriller or Off the Wall albums, I grew up with Dangerous, so these are the songs I sing in the shower all the time! But Give in to Me was so eerie; I love how he switches from a desperate moan in the verse to full unabated anger in the chorus. This is the first Jackson song I memorized the lyrics to, and also the first pop song I learned to play on the guitar.

#3 “Liberian Girl” (Bad Album) – This song has one of the smoothest melodies know to man. In fact the notes he sings in the line “Liberian Girl,” that musical structure has actually come to define my style of composing! (When he says girl, he doesn’t resolve the note… in music this is called “suspension.” This technique has become the cornerstone of my writing style.) It is also the song I used to practice singing harmonies. In the chorus “Liberian girl/You know THAT YOU came AND YOU changed my world” The capitalized notes is the same type of suspension, but he resolves right away on the word “you.” It is my FAVORITE musical motif ever. Thanks Michael =)

#4 “Dirty Diana” (Bad Album) – Man does this song bring back memories! In junior high school, a friend who was as big a MJ fan as me used to sing this song with me everywhere… waiting for the bus, kickin’ our game to the ladies, and most memorable, at a school field trip to Great Adventure where, using 20 oz. soda bottles for microphones, we sang this song, dances moves, air guitar, and all, to anyone who’d listen… and drew a sizable crowd! Michael Jackson has sings this song with such a perfect delivery and also wrote yet another great melody! Also, this song marries the song and lyrical structure of the Blues with 80s Rock n Roll in a way no other artist could do it.

I will miss you Michael Jackson. I have stuck by you from the good years and the bad, and as long as there is a device capable of playing music, your legacy will continued to be passed along through my speakers! I could not help but well up a bit writing this, but they are tears of sorrow for losing my favorite artist, and tears of joy and gratitude for bringing me years of memories and musical guidance.

Michael Jackson, you are the best… may you rest in peace.

Episode 65: The Scoop vol.5

2009-06-25T01:07:00.001-04:00

Hello and welcome to the scoop, a recurring post where every 13 episodes, I write three mini posts on topics I find interesting in the news. Why every 13 episodes? Well The first scoop episode was written for episode 13, so I thought it’d be fun to have a recurring theme. We’ll be continuing with the “Road to the 21st Century” series in the next post.

Minding Your Own Beeswax

Obama has come under some heavy fire from the right and even from some on the left about his reaction to the Iranian government with regards to the protest on the recent election. I think Obama is 1000000000% correct on his approach to the situation. We are not the global police department, and the people of Iran should be free to exercise their revolt free of influence from any country. Who meddled with our affairs during the Civil Rights movement? No one. We were free to beat the crap out of each other, spray people down with fire hoses, boycott busses, shoot college students, assassinate the leader of the movement, and send out the attack dogs into big crowds, all in the sake of fighting for one’s civil liberties to recognized under law. And because we were free to do that, we were able to evolve to the point where we elected Barack Obama. The Middle East will NEVER be solved with militaries or political posturing, but with spirited revolt like we’re seeing now. The Iranian people need to fight this battle alone. Now of course, if this becomes a situation where they are putting citizens in gas chambers, well of course we have to step in. But it is Americans constantly sticking our noses in places where it doesn’t belong, all in the sake of moral superiority that really pisses off other nations. I’m glad Obama has the good sense to “see how it plays out.”

Yet Another Reason Why Public Health Options is a Good Idea

Brave Captain Sullenberger, used all the skills in his arsenal to safely land the passengers of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson river that fateful winter day. He is a true American hero, humble and incredible modest about his amazing feat. It was the feel good story to kick off 2009… until now. Some months after the event, it dawned on the people of that flight that “hey! Our luggage, wallets, laptops, important documents, and personal belongings were in that plane too and they are now at the bottom of the river!” In such a case, one would make a claim to the insurance company to reimburse their lost possessions. Not in this case. US Airways’ insurer AIG refuses to pay out insurance claims. Why? Because the insurance company claims that in order to pay claims, there has to be negligence on the part of the airlines. Captain Sullenberger was anything but negligent.

Here is a more relevant story, about how private health insurance companies screw over their customers. This is what big business does!!! It is not about your health, or providing you coverage, or insuring that an emergency surgery won’t send you to the poor house. It is 100% about making profit, using human life as commodities. It is absolutely disgusting. What big business does is horde money so they can increase the size of their wallets at other people’s expense. Insurance companies try like mad to pay as little money as they possibly can, your illness be damned. I am always up for debate on the particulars, but I stand firmly on my belief that there should be a national healthcare plan to avoid crap like this.

Proud to be an American!

USA beat the #1 ranked soccer (yes SOCCER!) team Spain to advance to the FIFA championship! I imagine that it must piss off countries when we win in sports Americans don’t even like that much! In America, soccer is one of those sports that’s awesome until senior year of high school. If you’re good, you play in college, but by then football and basketball is more fun to watch. So while I’m far removed from the sport now, I’m happy about the win because I played goalie on a championship team in 6th grade, and when I play the EA Sports FIFA 2010 demo for PlayStation 3, I can use USA as my team, since demos only give you the teams that go into the championship game. I have no reason to shell out $60 bucks for the game now!

Episode 64: Preliminary Thoughts on Healthcare

2009-06-16T00:17:00.000-04:00

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This one will be short and sweet as I just want to post a quick reaction to Obama’s speech on healthcare. Personally, I’m thrilled that he is making a serious commitment to a revamped healthcare policy. I am 100% for universal healthcare, and the plan he laid out today makes a heck of a lot of sense to me. I was keeping a rough tab on the spending cuts he wants to make in order to realize his bold plan. Isn’t this the very thing conservatives have been saying all along, that Medicare and Medicaid were crippling our healthcare system? Aren’t these the kind of cuts the exact kind of thing they wanted all along? Isn’t the conservative plan to create a system to end the inefficiencies in our current healthcare plan? Obama addressed these things in the speech and Republicans are still shaking their fists.

The problem here has nothing to do with the practicality of Obama’s plan and everything to do with conservative ideology. It doesn’t matter how useful or important a government program is, if Uncle Sam’s face is on the logo, they don’t want it. What most people fail to realize is the government programs is not the failure, it is the practitioners. Our schools don’t suck because it is a government program; they suck because the nation by and large is using an obsolete educational model. There are great teachers and great schools, but the great results are localized. The truth is the free market school system isn’t much better. Sure the quality of education may be better, but in terms of retention and comprehension, the numbers are about the same as public school education.

I’m personally sick and tired of the free market crapping all over people. If you are uninsured, going to the doctor for a simple checkup costs more than taking a college course, more than round trip airfare from New York to London, more than nice dress suit, and many other things. How is this right? Pre-existing conditions? Even if you are insured, you may not get the coverage you need because the insurance won’t cover it. I know of a few people who filed for bankruptcy because they had a major emergency surgery. Even an ambulance will hit you for a few grand. I like the framework, and I’m excited to see how it shapes up in the coming months after rigorous debate. So I will submit to you dear reader my thesis for the upcoming post on healthcare (probably Episode 66 or so): A nation’s wealth is not only determined by its GDP, but also by its standard of living, their health, their educated workforce and the gap between the richest and poorest. Healthcare in many ways ties all of the aforementioned elements together. Those are my thoughts… more to come soon.

Episode 63: Education.edu Part 2

2009-06-10T22:11:00.001-04:00

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“Road to the 21st Century #1 – Reinvest in Human Capital”

The next few posts will be part of a series called “Road to the 21st Century” where I will outline my ideas on how to get our country back on track, mainly focusing on the long term strategies for building a successful economy that this “bubble and bust” proof. Because manpower is critical to any successful economy, I thought we’d start right at the source, education. Thus this post is a continuation of “Episode 54: Education.edu.” In that post I laid out my educational philosophies, so rather than rehash them, give that one a quick glance over, and fell free to add anymore thoughts to the comments.

Our Competition for the best minds

Let us begin by examining who we are up against for the best minds of the 21st century. In one corner, you have China. China’s success in becoming an emerging power is largely due to two factors: they are communist, so the government solely dictates the direction of the country without pesky things like individual freedoms, and second, they have historically embraced education, considering the military class as the low class. I’m sure the playing field is a bit even for the two groups these days, but China’s embracing scholastic endeavors makes them a step ahead of us on the road to the 21st century.

Our other competition is really the rest of Asia, whom we can lump in one big category. Japan will continue to be the electronics capital, Singapore the communications capital, and Taiwan is posing themselves to be the computer manufacturing capital. Where is America in this equation? Sadly, we are absent. Because we have become a nation of consumers, the spotlight shifts to the companies who are making things. Because we are not consuming these days, we inadvertently leveled the playing field in our favor. I do not consider Europe to be much of a threat right now. They are more our partners than competitors, and though they are leading on technologies in green tech and telecommunications (though Apple is giving them a run for their money), many of their inventions are only viable once they hit the US market. I suspect this is mainly due to Americans really being the best consumers in the world, and their more socialist tendencies make it harder to reward great innovation.

It Begins With the Babies

In order to rebuild the American workforce, we need to start with the babies. Yes, the babies. By which I mean pre-school education. Kids have a super incredible brain for the first 9-12 years of their life. Their neural pathways have not been set yet so they can pretty much learn the basics of anything you throw at them. I have seen 11yr olds who are completely trilingual (English, Spanish, and Chinese). I have seen 9 year olds with a great baseball swing. Any kind of repetitive task they do, they swallow it up until about age 12, when the neural pathways are set. Then, they spend the rest of their life refining their skills palette. In order to rebuild the new workforce, we need to invest in early childhood education. I believe that it should be a requirement for one year of preschool. In this year, they would learn the basics, shapes, colors, the alphabet, etc. That way they can start with grammar and phonics in kindergarten. This would essentially put the students a whole year ahead of our current system. I am in a minority of people who believe this, but we should teach both English and Spanish in preschool, and then a third optional elective in junior high school. Most every child in any other country can speak two languages; I believe we should do the same.
The free market can play a big role here. To alleviate the costs of preschool education, and make a transition to a required program, we can utilize the already numerous preschool institutions that exist rather than building new schools.

Obama’s Outline for Elementary, Secondary, and Higher Education

Once out of preschool, I believe education should largely remain in the public domain. Obama has budgeted $135 Billion for education. He hasn’t fully addressed this issue yet, so let’s talk about what he has said thus far. First let us remember that a lot of this money does go into teacher training. As I have argued, many teachers do not seem to be prepared to educate the new breed of student who is fully immersed in technology. Second, the money is going into increasing teacher salaries, which I believe is very fair, since it is one of the toughest jobs out there (bias placed aside here). Finally, a large portion of the money is going into rebuilding projects to repair and modernize schools with new computers, science labs, and learning centers. The rest of the money should be delegated by the states.

While states should have the say in how to run their school system so it is in line with their budgetary needs, there needs to be a national standard. The lack of a national standard makes it nearly impossible to benchmark states against states, and our country against the world. In music, we have national standards, but they are optional, and are not required in the lesson plans we submit to administration. This is a BIG problem. Without a standard, education is a free for all, and students from different states receive unequal education which defeats the purpose of a public school system. For example, I am a New York certified teacher. Because NY has some of the toughest education standards in the country, my certification is good in most every other state. Florida on the other hand has some of the weakest standards. By implementing national standards, all the students and teachers should be on the same page, ensuring the entire country is well prepared for higher learning.

Obama has stated his belief that all students should attend at least one year of technical school or higher education. While this shouldn’t be required, I also believe that it will become a prerequisite for most every job in the 21st century. I argued in the previous post that ideas are what will be most valuable in the new economy and manufacturing will largely be deferred to Asia. Thus a college degree or technical certificate would give the new workers of the future specialized skills to perform building tasks. I believe that instead of manufacturing goods, the workers of the new economy will be building lots of prototypes. Thus a failed auto industry scenario is impossible because a worker wouldn’t be manufacturing only one thing; any building project that requires special knowledge of photo-voltaic cells would have a worker trained for that task. The demand for specialists means they would earn a higher wage, and that there should be some kind of work awaiting students upon graduation.

Closing Remarks

Preparing our country to compete in the global economy requires investment in the American people. We need to increase the educational standard, and economically incentivize getting an education. It is becoming less and less of a choice as we progress anyway, as jobs that require no education need a high school diploma or GED. Jobs that needed a high school diploma need a bachelors, and so on. With a new teacher workforce, and employing the educational philosophy discussed in Episode 54, and following through with Obama’s vision for education, I have no doubt that the next generation of students will far surpass the output of the rest of the world. We have the brains, the motivation, and the competitive culture to make it work. All that is missing is a foundation commensurate with the 2sy century.

Stay tuned for the final part in the Education.edu series “Free Market vs. Public Education”

Episode 62: The New Economy

2009-06-05T04:11:00.000-04:00

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The economy is messed up. Really bad. And it is never going to come back – at least back to the way it was pre-recession. The jobs that were lost in all likelihood won’t be coming back anytime soon at best, or more likely, never again.

In order to fix this problem, we have to approach the economy like a business would, by simplifying and diversifying. How do we do this… first we have to put our American ego aside for a bit. I love America as much as the next guy, and think our country is the greatest country since sliced bread. But we can’t do it all. It costs way too much money to do it all. I agree with conservative opinion when they say programs like healthcare and education are exorbitantly expensive. And while I 100% agree with Obama’s vision, I cannot logically deduce how we can make it happen, at least within his timeframe. With the lack of debate on Capitol Hill, my biggest fear about progressivism is coming to light – without true conservative dissention and debate, progressive thought is like a runaway train. The last major progressive movement, the civil rights movement, took 10 years and three presidents to be realized. What most progressives fail to realize is you have to give a little to get a lot. Giving a little, when it means asking people to sacrifice what they don’t have (from Obama’s speech regarding GM) while noble, and the absolutely right thing to do, is a wholly unrealistic proposition. Here’s a plan to get ourselves back on track, using Ideas borrowed from a great book I read by Daniel Pink called “A Whole New Mind.”

We Need To Simplify Our Economy

I believe an economy is built upon three parts: developers, builders, and distributers. America is the world leader in developing the most innovative technologies we have. Over the years we have deemphasized on building – aka. The manufacturing sector – and are pouring billions into bailing out that industry. Finally, we are the leaders of getting that technology and innovation to the people because our Constitution is arguably the least restrictive with personal freedoms and freedom to access. However, trying to take the lead on all three factors is incredibly expensive, especially considering how complicated the modern economy is. I argue that America should play a more cooperative role in the global economy. Rather than lead the world economy poorly, we should instead focus on one aspect, development.

In Pink’s book, he argues that the next revolution will be the information revolution, and that it is innovation, not manufacturing that will bring us the jobs of the future. I whole-heartedly agree. The new economy is going to consist of innovators and entrepreneurs. Private enterprise is the key to revitalizing our recessed (depressed) economy. Thus the government’s role should not be to endlessly prop up old businesses, but provide funds for new business. We need to get our best minds out in the forefront, creating the enterprises that the rest of the world will use. However, we will not be the primary makers of this technology in the new economy.

In the new economy, we will defer manufacturing responsibilities to developing nations like China and India. They have the manpower (both with over a billion citizens) and drive to become global leaders. However a manufacturing based economy loses money over a course of time, because as the manufacturing process becomes more efficient, and technology becomes smaller and faster, it becomes cheaper to produce. Idea – intellectual property - - has incredibly high value. Consider Apple Inc. The iPhone itself is not what makes Apple its huge profits, it is the intellectual property. It is the smooth touch screen interface, the app store, and the innovate architecture that makes its profits. Before the iPhone, there was no product of its kind in existence. The actual manufacturing of the iPhone is pretty cheap. China makes a knockoff iPhone that is nearly identical to the original that costs only $50 brand new without a contract!

How does this simplify our economy? We pour in resources one aspect of the economy, and save money by outsourcing the rest, while at the same time, dramatically increasing our revenue. What does it do to people in manufacturing now? Well, naturally, they will lose their jobs, the way they are now. Thus instead of endlessly propping up old businesses, the government should focus on helping these displaced workers retrain to perform the jobs of tomorrow. Instead of manufacturing, which I consider the mass production of goods and services, the blue collar working class of yesterday becomes tomorrow’s engineers, specializing in the development of new technologies. Thus the old assembly line worker is now specializing in building prototypes which require a specialized knowledge. Because there would be a high demand for the specialists, these jobs would pay higher wages.

Over the long term, I’m calling for the shrinking of the working class. Of course there would be some room for the working class as it is today, but under my plan, there would be a massive expansion of the middle class. The ultimate result is the average American could legitimately live the American dream without having to resort to subprime mortgages to emulate a lifestyle they could not sustain. All the while we are creating brand new industries, and improving existing ones at breakneck pace. This leads to part two of the new economy, Diversity.

Diversity Ends “Too Big to Fail”

With increased emphasis on development, there will be a lot of competition for the best idea. I am a firm believer that American competition is the single most important reason we have the #1 economy in the world. When someone in America has a great idea, our version of capitalism rewards one for it with a huge bankroll. When other companies vie for the best version of that great idea through competition, the consumer wins and the industry wins.

What is missing from the economy today is diversity in competition. AIG was pretty much the only insurance company performing the tasks it performed, so in failing, they would single-handedly bring down the economy with them. With an emphasis in development, there is inherently many players in the game who are finding ways to things better, faster, and cheaper, while still maintaining high quality. Thus is should be the responsibility of the government to legislate and enforce tough regulation to ensure that there is an equal chance for every company to succeed. One government department I think does a good job with good regulation is the FCC.

In the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for example, the DMCA “issued six exemptions to the DMCA last year, one of which allows consumers to unlock their cell phones "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network." (source: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/know-your-rights-is-it-illegal-to-unlock-my-iphone/). Though the legislation is kind of open to interpretation, the idea is that so long as one unlocks their phone (modifying a phone to allow it to access multiple compatible networks) for the sole purpose of connecting to a wireless communication network, they are protected under the DMCA because it promotes competition. This is precisely what regulation should do: stay out of the way enough to let businesses grow, yet create rules to promote fair competition and just punishments for breaking the rules. With the big field of entrepreneurs and regulation that promotes competition and diversity, a “too big to fail” scenario cannot exist. Though corporate Darwinism will be alive and well, the constant flurry of new ideas will protect us from another AIG meltdown.

In order to simplify and diversify our economy, the single most important the government can make is in education. We NEED to completely overhaul out education system for this plan to work. Without an academic class, none of this can happen. I fear if we keep on our current course, we will be stuck between eras, and it will only be a matter of time when we are overtaken by Asia, namely China, who is already positioning themselves to capitalize on our economic catastrophe.

Love him or hate him, Obama is well aware of this notion of the new global economy (though I suspect he’d disagree with my thought on manufacturing to some extent). Conservatives may call him fool hearty, and there is much debate on whether he’s doing the right things in the right order, but don’t think for a second that Obama isn’t preparing America for the long term plan.

The next few episodes will consist of a series of posts I call “Road to the 21 Century. In these posts I will outline what I believe America needs to do fix the economy, and secure our lead as the #1 economy in the country, starting with education, which will be part two of “Education.edu.” Grab some popcorn and bring all your friends to these debates because I think as a blogosphere we can do what politicians are not doing: debating the hell out of these issues and perhaps we can find a way to get our middle ground consensus to Washington. Lofty? Maybe, but I enjoy a good challenge!

Episode 61: American Civil Union Act of 2009

2009-05-28T04:16:00.001-04:00

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The fight for equal marriage laws has brought former opponents together to fight for the rights of the disenfranchised LGBT population. Theodore Olson and David Boies, who represented opposite sides in the infamous Bush v. Gore, have filed a lawsuit in deferral court on behalf of two gay men and two gay women. The hope is the lawsuit, which argues that California’s proposition 8 denies gay couples due process and equal protection, will make it to the Supreme Court. A favorable ruling would legalize gay marriage for the country.

I am a firm believer in human rights, and think that gay couples should have the same exact protection under the law as heterosexual couples, which includes tax benefits and hospital visitation rights among others. However, I would agree with the ACLU that it is not likely that the Supreme Court would rule in favor of gay marriage. Though the movement is gaining momentum, the issue is still too much of a hot button issue to gain widespread acceptance. I consider myself to be a… secular progressive on the religious front, so I’m not at all bothered by the idea of gay couples marrying. Still I can empathize with the Christian community’s concerns on the “sanctity of marriage.” Thus I have a solution that will make everyone happy.

I have alluded to this solution before, but now will officially present it here on The L Comment. The bill I propose is called the American Civil Union Act of 2009. It is a federal bill that will deem ALL unions as civil unions, gay or heterosexual. All couples in a civil union are granted the exact same rights. Marriages are no longer under government jurisdiction and the marriage ceremony is deferred to the church. If a secular church wants to marry gay couples they can. If they don’t they do not have to be forced to. It also eliminates the syntax problem with our current civil union system. Allowing heterosexual couples to marry, while granting gay couples civil union status (which the same privileges as marriage) without calling the union marriage, is a clear cut “separate but equal” situation.

I think this is one of the most flawless bills to ever be introduced in Washington. Everybody wins and no one loses. Now, someone with the power to make this happen should take it to the next level!

Episode 60: Jobs Baby Jobs!

2009-05-23T03:39:00.000-04:00

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Commentators from the right side of the aisle will tell you the way to crush Obama and the democrats in 2010 is by highlighting just how very crappy the job market is. I can attest to the dire straits we are in regarding the job market from personal experience. I am earned my Masters degree last year in hopes of getting my career in the entertainment industry started. Keep in mind this is not the flashy stuff you see on TV, but the behind the scenes work in audio post production, where a career in audio is more realistic. I did what all of us graduating did – packed my bags and moved to L.A.! I had a great internship, earned lots of wonderful recommendation letters, and even got to hang with Hollywood’s elite. None of this was able to stop the bulldozer of hard economic times. Fact of the matter is I chose the absolutely worst time to begin a career, especially one as volatile as the entertainment industry. For all the reasons we have debated many times, the economy simply fell apart. I happen to live in a state with inept politicians to add more fuel to the jobless fire. And as I look around me, it is clear my story is not unique. Most of my classmates who took the plunge are in as bad a shape as I am as well, living literally penny to penny. Read a newspaper, blog or watch TV and millions of college grads will tell a variation of my story.

I was all for the stimulus, seeing the greater good it could provide. The stimulus does just about nothing for people in my position. College grads, who are more likely to create the jobs of tomorrow, got the short end of the stick with the stimulus plan. Still there are far more in the working class than the academic class, so logic dictates policy should benefit the needs to the many, not the few. I get that 100%. Still sucks to be us though.

So yes, republicans do indeed have a very valid talking point here, and if they want to go on the offensive yet again, that is their best card. However, as I’m sitting on the plane on my way back to California, I had a thought about jobs I figured I’d share. I think the economy is completely busted, and we are going about fixing it the wrong way. It is true that despite stimulus, Americans continue to lose jobs. I read in the NY Times America is about to overtake Europe for a higher unemployment percentage. Throwing money at broken businesses is not going to work. This is because the stock market, in my opinion, has never been worth the amount the ticker tells us. Based on reports I’ve been reading from various sources, I’m convinced the financial problem is way deeper than the bank and housing crisis, and has spilled into the private sector. Much like the Dot Com bust, most companies were overvalued, and the housing crisis brought the whole charade down like Jenga blocks. Take Starbucks for example. There is no way they could be worth so much that there are 5 (empty) Starbucks within 2 blocks of each other. The lack of consumption is a problem, but I think the way bigger problem is that current value of the stock market is what businesses are *supposed* to be. Let’s take Apple’s stock. Many have applauded them for surviving the recession/depression, but Apple is a VERY smart company, thus their stock is high because their business practice in the personal computer market is second to none.

If the value of stock is where it’s supposed to be, that means hiring new, or bringing back old employees will be very difficult, because the busted companies never really had the cash to do so. I think that is the true reason while unemployment continues to decline. That is makes construction jobs that much more important. First, it mitigates the damage of a busted economy, because there are more people in the working class than academic class. And because something always needs to be built, it lays the foundation for the point of this post; investment in construction will help us build the foundation for the jobs of tomorrow. The way out of this recession is through new technologies and innovation. Rebuilding our current model is a waste of time and money because it has already reached its maximum potential. I argue that the crisis is largely due to overextending the potential of our economic model to the point of bursting. Now, the unemployment crisis WILL bottom out. Like the bubbles in a fizzy soda, we have to wait for all of the bubbles to pop before the unemployment rate flattens like old Pepsi.

Thus the solution is creating entirely new business sectors. I have argued for green tech many a times, but that’s not the only route. There are exciting innovations in the tech sector, digitizing medical records will provide jobs for at least a decade, electric and hydrogen cars are the cars of tomorrow, rebuilding our broadband infrastructure for the 21st century is essential for making the listed opportunities possible. Instead of bailouts, the government should move to fund innovation. The private sector can’t do it because venture capitalists are strapped for cash as well. We have a plan for the working class – let’s get the academic class into the fold. They longer you keep us on the sidelines, the longer it will take to create true growth.

So while I agree with the republicans that ultimate growth has to come from the private sector, the government is the only entity with cash. We have to shed away our hatred for the government and make them do their job. Get involved with your politics at the congressional level and hold your representatives responsible. The government is only as bad as we are negligent and complacent. Obama has said many times, that once things have stabilized, the reigns of economic growth will go back to the private sector. I urge the GOP to drop the socialist rhetoric and actually Youtube his speeches. It’s very clear that Obama has no intention of turning America into Europe. Let’s make the debate about what new industries we can create, and when and how. If we continue on our current trajectory, the job loss crisis will not improve. The answer is new industries, new innovations, and maintaining, not rebuilding current industries.

My republican friends, attacking unemployment is probably not your best platform if you want to look like you’re looking at the long term strategy. It is hard for businesses to say they busted because that would involve admitting failure. Now, the better idea is to attack which industries to grow and when. TO only highlight problems and offer no solution creates an unhealthy political environment and will ensure the GOP failure.

Episode 59: Seeing is Believing

2009-05-23T03:24:00.000-04:00

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Sometimes, you have to see to believe. Eric “Mancow” Muller set out to prove to the world that waterboarding IS NOT TORTURE. He agreed to undergo waterboarding, believing that he could hold his breath and withstand 30 or more seconds of it. He lasted 7 seconds. The average detainee lasts on average for 14 seconds. I hope that ends the debate. Waterboaring is torture. We tortured. We lost our moral high ground because of it. The practice emboldens terrorist camps. It ultimately makes us UNSAFE. Muller later said if he had to endure waterbaording the way detainees do, he would "confess to anything." In my eyes, this argument is over and done. It is NOT enhanced interrogation, it is TORTURE. Since seeing is believing, what the tape, and decide for yourself.

Episode 58: Conservative Obsolescence

2009-05-21T05:21:00.000-04:00

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I like controversy, so I titled this post to rile people up. It also has a catchy ring to it. But I’d like to say at the onset, the following commentary is referring specifically to elected officials. Unfortunately, some good conservative thinkers have become collateral damage in the GOP war on intellect. I have on many occasions alluded to the obsolescence of conservative ideology coming from many elected officials and some pundits. Today, I am going to expand on that idea.

For those who have neglected to look at a calendar, it is 2009. Many conservatives still think it is 1980. Several important things have happened in 29 years, namely: the internet has created instant access to every piece of information in the world – politicians no longer have the stranglehold on the message as they once did; gays and lesbians are sick and tired of hiding their orientation, and Americans under the age of 30 by and large aren’t scared of them anymore; the church has lost some of its influence on its faith based message as Atheists are the only population to increase in number this past decade; computers have evolved to the point of more accurately measuring just bad we’re destroying the earth; and the majority of Americans want more government.

To begin, let us analyze what made conservative opinion attractive for two and a half decades in the first place. When Reagan was elected, America had undergone two HUGE revolutions. First was civil rights. Many people forget that until the 1960’s, the prior 350 year history of Black Americans was in captivity that got increasingly worse (This in my opinion makes Obama’s election that much more special – Blacks have really enjoyed freedom under the law for only 40 years before one was able to get elected as President). Tensions were incredibly high, and Americans underwent a massive social reformation in light speed’s time.

Before we could recover from that, we were involved in Vietnam. What made Vietnam so horrific was being the very beginning of the information age. In WWII, America propagandized war to create the image of the American hero fighting for freedom. This is all good and true, but they left out the incredible amounts of bloodshed and loss of Americans in the trenches in the war footage. Vietnam was the first time the grittiness of war was brought home to the living room. And millions at home under the narration of Walter Cronkite, watched in horror, American soldiers slaughtering and getting slaughtered. Add to this, President Johnson tried to pretend that we weren’t in war (via lack of budgeting for the war, burning through our coffers), thus not mobilizing Americans and American industry around the war effort. This created a severe negative opinion of the war and the protests of the 70s. (sound familiar?) Couple this with breaking of the floodgates of sexual suppression and deterioration of the 1950s “Leave it to Beaver” ultra-Christian-conservative culture, and you have yet another massive social reformation. In 1980, America could not have withstood another progressive movement. Enter President Reagan, the republican Obama – relatively young and an actual Hollywood superstar.

In the 1990s, the democrats had regained control of the executive branch, but Clinton didn’t enjoy support from the legislative branch for much of his presidency. Also, and more importantly, Americans coming from the relative social stability of the 80s, were highly socially conservative. Republicans today like to say that the democrats played a part in the economic mess we’re in today. They are 90% correct. I always believed that Bill Clinton was ahead of his time. His policies didn’t match the desires of the American people, and politicians, being politicians, enact legislation that is popular to stay in office. This doesn’t make democrats saints, but actually quite the opposite. The progressive movement of the 90s was a disjointed hodgepodge of ideologies. There was no leader with the backbone to stand up against a very strong and united conservative movement and join the many progressive movements under one flag. Complacency is just as bad as inaction.

Fast-forward to today. Between 1998 and 2008, America has slowly awakened from the dream of milk and honey and the sweet nectar of ambrosia, and on September 15th 2008, the crashing of the stock market was like having a Gatorade cooler’s worth of ice water thrown on Americans to wake them up. As we rubbed our eyes and our vision cleared, we saw the world wasn’t as rose colored as we once thought they were. America was falling apart fast, and we elected Obama to fix it. We knew there was no way in the world one man could do it alone, so when he promised us an unprecedented level of bipartisanship, America was resoundingly onboard. However, on the first issue as president, republicans took a firm stand against the president. I have argued that Obama wasn’t as bipartisan as he could’ve been the first go around, but the GOP weren’t helpful.

Somewhere beginning in the end of January, republicans went from being the opposition party to the “No” party. They flew under the banner of small government, no taxes, anti-human rights, anti-earth, and pro war. I argue that the Republican Party is obsolete because their talking points do not match what the majority of Americans want. I believe my opinion is substantiated since most every poll shows the republican base constantly shrinking, almost excluding all but the most radical and irrelevant. This by no means suggests that republicans should buy into progressive thought lock-stock-and-barrel. To do this would be making the same mistake as democrats of the 90s. Instead they should reanalyze their platform and evolve it to meet 21st century standards, incorporating conservative ideology into their new ideas. What I thought I’d do is list some talking points and point out how it is inconsistent with the current thought, and leave it up to the conservative commenters to voice their opinion on how they can incorporate conservative ideology into today’s issues in a manner more in-line with current American opinion. I say if this is not possible, the GOP is doomed, and the 2012 election may actually be a 3 or 4 party race. I’m very serious about that statement.

**GOP on Propaganda**
Karl Rove politics no longer works. This is because the internet age has gems like Google and Wikipedia to dig up information on a topic, Youtube to chronicle every word that comes out of a politician’s mouth, and blogs like this one to turn people who were once angry bystanders into active amateur journalists and commentators. Scaring the crap out of people only works on the extremes of either party. The numbers on both sides of progressive and conservative extremism are VERY small.

**GOP on Human Rights**
Americans want gay marriage. Just about every poll shows Americans under 30 have no problems with gay marriage. Active readers of the blog probably already know my stance on the issue – label ALL marriages as civil unions, and leave the marriage ceremony to the church. Take government out of marriage all together (an insanely easy solution to the problem if you ask me).

**GOP on Green Tech**
One of the most disappointing debates revolves around green tech. Americans by-and-large do not want to use fossil fuels anymore because it keeps us tethered to the Middle East. Republicans believe that green tech is a hairy fairy idea that is several years from being realized. This is not true. It is within only a few years of being ready to go. California is a bad example for a lot of things, but they have the lead in green tech. Homeowners who install solar panels pay far less in energy costs, and if they generated enough power, they actually get a credit. We really can expand this idea to the whole country. I’m also very tuned into geothermal which seems like the next mass power source. For cars, we’re looking at bio-fuels for the short term, electric and hydrogen for the long term. Drilling for oil is going in the absolutely wrong direction. Conservatives argue that green tech is not employed in China and as a result their growth exploded. China is a developing nation and have to resort to cheap tried and tested fuel to power their growth. However, every technology report I read indicates China is heavily investing in green tech. Green tech is the next global economic entity. Whoever gets green tech will have substantial growth going forward, which is why we have to do it first. America is in the race, but we are not in the lead in this department.

**GOP on Family Planning**
The abstinence only program is only going to end in complete and utter failure. Americans are so sexually aggressive because we have been so sexually suppressed for so long. It makes far more sense to advocate safe sex than no sex. What the GOP did to Bristol Palin is a shame. That was a great opportunity to say “listen, she is an example what not using condoms can do.” Instead, they made the poor girl go back on TV and repudiate safe sex in favor or abstinence, which is an awful, awful idea.

**GOP on the Economy**
Most Americans strongly believe the GOP platform of less government and more tax breaks is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place. If republicans even think the words “government is the problem” you will lose 1000 people. If government is the problem, and the republicans were in complete control of six of the last eight years, wouldn’t that imply they were the problem too? Americans want more government (not excessive government), more regulation, more oversight, and more transparency. Yes, that means a lot of people are probably going to go to jail. I think the economy argument is more protecting friends from going to the slammer. Trickledown economics is largely a regionalized practice that does not affect the majority of Americans.

**GOP on Healthcare**
Americans do not want to worry about being one medical catastrophe from being in financial ruin. The tax breaks the republicans want to give for healthcare has absolutely no oversight – more than likely tax money would be used to pay other things like debt. Also, the tax breaks do not amount to enough money to pay the average premium. If the GOP gives Americans the appropriate amount of money for health through taxes, it would be just as expensive as the democratic plan, but without the oversight. The democrat plan for healthcare is COVERAGE ONLY. This does not change anything about our choice in doctors or hospitals and clinics. All it does is allow Americans to buy into an affordable plan subsidized by the government, which offloads that heavy burden off of small business. The idea that we’d be on a long line waiting to get second rate service is absolutely false.

**GOP on the War**
I think we all are in agreement that we need to get out of the Middle East ASAP. The main issue revolves around torture. Most Americans think that we did indeed torture. Trying to deny torture or reconcile torture is a losing argument. We cannot compromise our integrity in wartime; otherwise we are no better than them. The law was rewritten and reconstructed to allow the abuse to go on. The main issue is to what extend was the law twisted to allow torture, and who should get punished for it.

Again, I want to stress that the source of conservative obsolescence comes from the elected “leadership.” Many conservative governors and congressmen come to the table with good ideas with are shot in flames by the “leadership.” The best ideas however are coming from the young people and bloggers. These are the people, like the readers of this blog that engage in aggressive debate about important issues. We rarely agree, but I think we have in many cases found middle ground. This is what bipartisan politics is, disagreeing and finding middle ground. We should take a cue from Meaghan McCain, she is probably the only 21st century republican on TV who really gets it. If we are having rational debates, we will have rational solutions to complex problems. And we have in President Obama, who loves to debate – this is the perfect president to find middle ground. So I say once again republican leadership, roll up your sleeves and get in the debate already!

Episode 57: Got Spare Change?

2009-05-15T01:57:00.000-04:00

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I heard this story on NPR when I was stuck in stereotypical L.A. traffic.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104063298

It’s an interesting thought and kind of true. I know I try to avoid spending big bills, but not really to save money, but rather to spend a denomination more commensurate with my purchase. For example, if I’m going to buy a pack of gum for 99 cents, it’s kind of silly to break a twenty and wind up with a lot of change in my pocket. Conversely, if I’m at a restaurant and the bill is $60, I’d rather pay with three $20 bills. I thought that’s the way everybody did it. But it seems the studies show that people always prefer to pay with lower denominations whenever possible.

The author of the study suggests we put more one dollar and two dollar coins into circulation. I think she missed the memo: NO AMERICAN LIKES DOLLAR COINS! This isn’t Canada! =) In all seriousness, the JFK half dollar failed, the Susan B. Anthony failed, and I had a guy at the 34th street subway station refuse to take my Sacajawea coin! I would wager that most Americans would put dollar coins into a coin jar or collector’s glass before spending it. I applaud an interesting idea on how to help the economy, but I don’t think it will work, at least not in America.

Episode 56: Miss Superficiality

2009-05-12T16:50:00.000-04:00

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I think beauty pageants are really stupid. It’s a slap in the face to every woman who has been fighting for progress, every woman who has been paid less for equal work, and every woman who works hard to get an education and start a career. I’m not going to stereotype all these women and assume that they are all airheads, but I will say that that have a direct and very negative impact on all women. You have the modern woman who busts her ass to break stereotypes. They did the hard work, dealt with sexism in the office, juggle a career, marriage, and kids, and somehow find a way to make it work. Miss America wins because she has a slammin’ body (let’s be real, the victory is 98% by who has the best looking swimsuit) and bypasses all that hard work by showing a lot of leg and hair flicking her boss. I’d be happy to see beauty pageants fizzle and disappear. However between Miss South Carolina and now Miss California, they are media hot topics for a few weeks, so I guess they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Speaking of which, this Miss California controversy is ridiculous. After watching her speech, does anyone really think she has formed her own opinion on the topic? Even if it is, her belief reflects the belief of the majority of Americans anyway. And she had the balls to not be PC on the big stage. This controversy was cooked up by Perez Hilton, an irrelevant social commentator like myself! If he was trying to start a dialogue about gay marriage, or advance the cause through the pageant, he sure as hell picked the wrong battlefield. I wonder if The L Comment will ever cause such a stir!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an old stick in the mud. I just think this conservation about a contest that means absolutely nothing is very silly. To watch MSNBC anchors getting fired up over it is sillier. So congrats Miss California, you are the winner. For whatever it is worth, there was no reason why your crown should’ve been under contention in the first place.

Episode 55: Republican Buzzkills

2009-05-09T02:29:00.000-04:00

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I read a lot of papers and blogs from the left, right, and many things in between. I watch Hardball, Rachel Maddow, and Keith Olbermann most every day, but I have read all but one of Bill O’Reily’s books, stomached through ¼ of a few of Ann Coulter’s books, and when I’m feeling rather masochistic, I watch a bit of Fox News and even Rush Limbaugh (who I admit is rather entertaining).

I mention this history only to convey that I try my best to see an argument from both sides before I decide how I feel about it. So when I look at the current political landscape, I can’t help but wonder why republican pundits and politicians cannot and will not try to look beyond their own convictions for answers to today’s problems. And every single republican who has tried to extend their line of thinking to at the very least entertain a different idea, they are slammed right back down to earth by the GOP upper echelon.

In the 100 something days Obama has been in office, they have not offered a single, solitary, new idea to the table. I can’t help but think that this was planned all along… the McCain contingency plan should he have lost. No ideas, yet they fire artillery shells of “NO!” from a distance without bothering to get their hands dirty to solve real problems. I’m tired of this “opposition.” If they do not want to participate in politics, shut up and try and get elected in 2010.

The reason why I’m so cheesed, is everywhere I look, every paper, magazine, and blog I read, the right offer no solutions, proclaim the destruction of America by socialist heathens, and dig up ridiculous story after ridiculous story in attempt to try to bring the democratic party down. What will that achieve in the end? The GOP doesn’t stand for anything, and a weakened democratic party would ensure that no work gets done.

Republicans never once gave Obama a chance. Though I will say my first bipartisan meeting would’ve been quite different, Jim Boehner told the House to reject whatever bill is coming to the desk, even though many concessions had been made. Don’t they see it is the republicans who are causing policy to move in slow motion? I challenge you republican politicians, to honestly work with Obama with just one issue. Argue the hell with him until your face turns blue, I and near guarantee that you will find middle ground.

Republicans today are the biggest buzz kills in modern politics. America and the world were screaming for change. Americans, more than ever before, got involved with politics and cast their votes. When was the last time the election of a president brought tears of joy to the faces of millions across the country and around the globe? The country was high on politics, and the republicans RUINED it. They are bigger buzz kills than Buzz Killington. Now we’re back to the same old BS. And the vicious circle repeats itself – people lose interest, politicians capitalize on the lack of interest and do corrupt things and the left and right call each other out for these pety things to avoid talking about big issues.

The ONLY thing republicans had to do was brainstorm. They are like the jerk team member we’ve all have had to deal with who refuses to listen to anyone else’s ideas, and creates chaos among the group. Stop it. Crap or get the heck off the pot.

Episode 54: Education.edu

2009-05-06T01:37:00.000-04:00

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Education is a subject near and dear to my heart. Although I’m in m mid twenties, I’ve been involved in the education field for about a decade. I was a peer tutor in high school, took on private music students from 10th grade all they way through undergrad, and taught music at an elementary and high school. My mom is a teacher, and my brother is studying to become one. Having been so involved in the system, I think I am qualified enough to say our educational system is absolutely abysmal.

Education today follows a methodology that has largely gone unchanged for 50 years. Students learn systematically, that is a step by step process where the goal is to find the answer to the question. The problem is there is little emphasis on application, which in turn lessens the degree of apprehension – the true measure of knowledge (a student by be able to read every word in a 700 paged Harry Potter book, but if he doesn’t understand what he read the information is useless). In essence, students perform repetitive tasks, without understanding why they are doing that task. In such a case, only children who naturally posses above average cognitive ability will perform well. There are many reasons why I believe there is such a sharp decline in education and each reason could be a blog post itself. However, in 2001, George W. Bush did try to address education with No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

NCLB was a bipartisan bill that aimed to drastically redefine how we approach education in America. The progressive part of the deal included provided funding to certain schools, while the conservative part incentivized performance to dictate where these funds went. In essence, students take a aptitude test in 2nd, 4th, 8th, and 11th grades. If the school test scores are above average, they are provided additional funding, while under performing schools were given the chance to improve. If they didn’t improve, they received no money, and were a risk for getting shutdown, with charter schools possibly taking its place. I believe the idea is a bit backwards, because examination of under performing schools often times was due to the lack of resources, books, and high student to teacher ratio.

Lack of funding is a pretty irrelevant issue though. After 9/11, NCLB became a pretty pathetic excuse for a program. A few years into the Iraq war, schools, above average or otherwise, were not getting federal funding, or not enough. Because education is governed by the state, I cannot say what happened to other states, but in New York, the lack of funding led to sharp increases in the school budget, which is paid for by income taxes. As with everything else in the financial world, income taxes increased faster than wages did (and wages in fact have begun to decline by this point) and as a result, school budgets failed to pass. At its peak, George W. Bush invested 60 Billion into education, which was not enough to take care of the budgetary needs of school across the country. What NCLB did leave behind however are grueling tests that do not provide an accurate marker of a students’ level of comprehension.

The problem with NCLB (and I’ll try to explain this in layman’s terms the best I can) is it reinforces a methodology that considers getting the answer more important than how we get the answer, and how the answer is applicable in real life. This is a long way of saying “teaching to the test.” Once the test is over, the knowledge we accumulate vanishes over night. In order to maintain retention, the lesson is taught over and over again, which is very boring to the student. Students eventually abandon education. This methodology worked in 1950, because we were less cultured, not nearly as savvy, and far less connected than we are today.

We need to approach holistically. Rather deal with the step by step process; we should instead approach education conceptually. To do this, we start with the big picture – the application – and uncover the process through discovery. Furthermore, tests should be used as benchmarks to gauge progress, not the determining measure of knowledge. When students can immediately relate to the subject matter, apprehension improves drastically. Students do this naturally already because of the proliferation of technology. Students don’t read the manuals for their computers because they understand how it works conceptually. Ctrl-C is “copy” and Ctrl-Z is “undo” on every computer. Rather than adapt to the way students learn and embracing technology, teachers try to apply an obsolete methodology to student 2.0 because they are stubborn, or simply lack the training to do so. I think to a large degree we need a No Teacher Left Behind.

Teachers and students are still only a part of the problem. Parental involvement in education is severely lacking. Again, I could dedicate several posts to the topic. In short, many parents just do not know how to help their children anymore. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, text messaging, this new culture doesn’t make any sense to parents. Future parents who are my age will be far better equipped to help student 2.0. The school can help by showing parents how to help their kids, in essence providing a crash course into the modern student in PTA meetings. It has to be a multi-pronged, collaborative effort.

***
Initially I was a Hilary Clinton supporter. She was my senator and I had met her twice, so it was an easy choice. What got me in the Obama camp was his view on education. He completely gets it. Most every aspect of my educational philosophy I outlined here, he has mentioned in his speeches. His secretary of education gets it. Obama, being a relatively young guy, with young children is the embodiment of how responsible parents should be involved with their children’s education. He has already budgeted $135 Billion for education. It is important to remember that this money not only addresses cost per student issues (this is largely a state government consideration anyway), but also addition resources like netbooks for all students, upgraded science facilities in all schools, and repairs, extensions, and equipment for schools.

What are the alternatives to state education? The most viable option is vouchers. Since I know this is going to come up, turning education into a free market system is the worst thing we could ever do. I strongly believe every child should have the right to receive education. What a free market education will do is create a situation where there is a high level of competition (which is good) and winners and losers (which is very bad). The losers will have difficulty getting access to better education because the nature of competition would dictate schools admit the best of the best. The worst of the worst will have trouble using their education, because a factor colleges and jobs will consider is how prestigious your high school was (would you go to a doctor who graduated from Harvard of Jamestown Community College? Applying this standard to high school students would be disastrous socially and psychologically). This system works fine for universities because no one is required to attend one. I generally don’t have a problem with charter schools, but I do not believe that should be the primary source for education in America.

That’s that. Education defined and explained. We have someone in office that really understand what we need to do to improve education in this country. Is this one topic that my conservative colleagues can fall behind as well? I certainly hope so. Let the debate begin.

Episode 53: 100 Days and WTF??

2009-04-28T23:47:00.000-04:00

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Yahoo! Obama has been president for 100 days! I wasn’t sure if this was a worthwhile post because the answer is quite obvious: Lefties gives him an A, moderates give him a B, reasonable conservatives give him a C, and the far right gives him an F. So all I have to say is I am happy with Obama’s progress, and I really think he will make good on his campaign for change. So whatever the hell it means, I’ll give him an A.

Now perhaps this 100 day milestone may have been a longer post, diving back into the economy, and presentation and style, and collaboration with world leaders, healthcare, and others, but in a The L Comment first, I’m making a double post!

WTF?! Arlen Spector is a democrat now? My political half is thrilled and my moral half is not. Once the Minnesota stuff is over and done, the democrats will have 60 seats, which means the healthcare, energy, and education fight becomes incredibly easier. Which is good and bad. As I have argued, the lack of true debate makes for lopsided legislation, but I strongly feel we have to get these things done now.

The circumstances under which he left are a bit fishy. He knew he didn’t stand a good chance of winning the 2010 midterm elections, so he jumped ship. I think if he firmly believes what he is doing is right, then he should be able to convince his constituency to continue following him, if for no other reason than loyalty.

But examination into why he left the party reveals a pretty damning indictment of the state of the Republican Party. The republicans has successfully rallied the base of the party, creating an even more partisan divide than what existed 5 months ago. This makes the election bid an uphill fight for a moderate republican. The irony is, the likely scenario (assuming Obama remains successful) would be a Spector would lose the primary, and the winner (Toomey) would likely lose the general election, because the republicans do not have the moderate constituency. So politically, the move makes plenty of sense. Morally, not really. Will I take him loving into my arms? Not lovingly, but I’ll take him.

Episode 52: The Scoop!

2009-04-26T05:22:00.001-04:00

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#1 – She Coulda Been Number Two…

A couple of weeks ago, Queen Noor was on Colbert Report, and I couldn’t help but think about what things would be like had McCain won. Now Joe Biden has pretty much been out of the limelight, but I don’t think we could have said the same about Sarah Palin. What struck me on the show was, our potential first female VP couldn’t hold a candle to any other female head of state in the world. Now, Palin and Noor share a few qualities: they are both charismatic, deliver speeches well, and have the aesthetic qualities of a modern leader – young, impassioned, and ambitious. However, Queen Noor carries herself with such grace and professionalism (trying not to get all gushy here), and Palin just doesn’t have it. I don’t know how any leader could take Palin seriously. She’s definitely not in the same ballpark in terms of intelligence and grace under fire. But that’s all I have regarding Palin. Forgive me for opening the pandora’s box of old news, but it’s all a bit funnier in retrospect... =)
Here is Noor on Colbert, and Palin in her most flattering interview with Hannity for compare and contrast

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H.M. Queen Noor

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#2 – If It Looks Like a Duck, Walks Like a Duck, Talks Like a Duck…

All of this talk of torture is rather disturbing. It doesn’t matter what kind of spin anyone puts on it… if you beat the living crap out of a detainee, drown him, starve him, and make him stand naked in front of a pack of starving dogs, IT’S TORTURE. Trying to reconcile the irreconcilable is a fruitless endeavor, and our lack of moral compass makes us look pretty awful. If you have to pick up the torture handbook from 1950s China for tips, that should be a pretty good indicator that we were probably doing the wrong thing. And “close doctor supervision” during all Advanced Interrogation Methods? That’s a good one.

So the ultimate barometer by which we attempt to justify our actions is “did the torture producer answers?” If you have beat a guy within a half inch of his life AND waterboard him 183 times before he talks, well I’m no expert, but I’m inclined believe torture does not work! So kudos to you Mr. President for releasing the memos, and shame on you for not pushing prosecution. I understand that Obama has important items on the agenda he wants passed, but we’re playing partisan politics right now… for goodness sake, healthcare will be voted on the grounds of reconciliation. So do the right thing and put those responsible for legislating and authorizing torture in jail. The law is only as good as our ability to enforce it.

#3 – The Empire Strikes Back

Why is Dick Cheney still in the news? I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an extreme case of sore loserness in politics before. He is well within his right to criticize the president, but is that really in the best interest of the nation right now? However, his presence in the media does highlight some pretty awesome ironies, and I’m an irony kind of guy.

1) Obama is making America less safe? There is no better sign of weakness that infighting. Let’s step out of the political arena for a sec and consider a show like survivor. Which teams always win? The unified ones. Which team goes home packing? The ones with incessant quarrelling and petty backstabbing. The stronger teams always look to knock out the infighting teams first to gain a competitive advantage. The very same is going on in real world politics today

2) Cheney is unarguably the top 5 most unpopular political figures in American history. Every time he takes the stage, his inflammatory marks pander to a shriveling base, and doesn’t do much to impress swing voters. In trying to make his party stronger, they actually become weaker.

3) Megan McCain (who would’ve had a better time running against Obama than her dad) had to tell Cheney shut up and go home. The republicans are desperately trying to get the “Megan McCain” vote (though a failed Michael Steele “bling bling” campaign cause a big setback in this department). But when a young republican is so outspoken against the Bush/Cheney/Rove politics that the “rising star” republicans employ, the efforts of getting the young vote are severely diminished. Cheney, pack up your bags, and enjoy your retirement.

Episode 51: Red vs. Blue vol.1

2009-04-22T05:07:00.000-04:00

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Red Vs. Blue - Big Government vs. Small Government

When the news is slow, it’s hard to find new news to talk about. So I thought I’d introduce a new segment into the blog called Red vs. Blue. It is not meant to be a divisive entry about why I disagree with some conservative ideas, but rather to compare conservative and progressive thought in attempt to understand each side’s point of view. Without further ado… big government vs. small government.

With the economy as the leading issue on the minds of every American, the notion of big government vs. small government is the preeminent debate these days. The commonly held belief is progressives champion big government while conservatives prefer smaller government. Smaller government means that conservatives have a strong belief in the 10th amendment, which states powers not granted to the national government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people. However, there is what I believe to be a widely held misconception about the progressive stance on the size of government.

I think I can speak on the behalf of many progressives when I say we don’t want “big” government either, but rather a government just large enough to meet the needs of the majority of the people. Conversely, I believe conservatives believe in meeting the needs of the individual, or at best, a small constituency. This does not make conservatives selfish; because conservative thought is prevalent in less densely populated areas, it is typically more effective to self govern.

Regarding the economy, it is common to hear conservatives say “give me a tax cut because I can manage my money better than the government can.” Or regarding healthcare, conservatives may feel it is better to get a tax credit to cover healthcare premiums because they can choose how to access healthcare better than the government. Progressives however, see government spending as investments (albeit with not as much return as we’d like these days). Progressives would say “let us invest in education so that every American has equal access to quality education. Let us invest in green energy because we can significantly mitigate our dependence on foreign oil, while doing our part to protect the planet.” What is the origin of this dichotomy?

I believe the answer can be found back in colonial times. Big cities were located on the coasts because they were the centers of the ship trade, and to accommodate for storage and workers, communities were rather large. It was also the place where immigrants started their lives in America. From the very beginning, big cities had to deal with cultural clashes and many political, social, and moral perspectives. Thus, centralized government was necessary to as best it could, create laws that addressed the needs of the many. However, in the country, people lived in isolated pockets far removed from city life. They developed their own culture and way of doing things that worked for that community, and were guided by moral law (religion). As America expanded westward, the country had to evolve its legislation to incorporate the needs of the frontiersmen, while still maintaining legislative compatibility with the city culture. Such examples include drug and alcohol production. For a long time in the early 19th century, moonshine production was the lifeblood of some towns. When the federal government, banned alcohol during prohibition, it crippled the economies of moonshine producing regions. Naturally, the frontiersmen fought the federal government hard for their right to produce alcohol to the point of outright civil disobedience. Likewise, Kentucky was one of the largest producers of marijuana in the country. When the federal government tried to slow their operation, Kentuckians laid down fox traps to ensnare government officials looking for the crop so it could not be confiscated and destroyed.

It is amazing that nearly two centuries later, the ideology is nearly identical. It is no wonder that the electoral map is almost always blue in coastal areas and New England, where fur trade and fishing created large communities despite the lack of costal trade in some states. Similarly, it is no wonder that red states largely consist of the least densely populated states. How do we reconcile the progressive need for laws to benefit the needs of the many versus the conservative need for individual independence?

I’m not entirely sure we can. Obama’s wish (or really any president’s wish) to create a non-partisan government is but a wish. Non-partisan these days mean the party in charge has enough influence to sway the opposition to his point of view, thus alienating the dissenters. History has shown that progressive and conservative thought ebbs and flows in the political landscape, but one way or another, progressive thought wins when the time is right for it. From slavery, to education reform (via government funding), to civil rights, to information flow, these once progressive ideologies are now the norm. The next frontier is human rights, and with more states allowing gay marriage, conservatives are losing their grip on what was once an unshakable principle.

Does this mean conservative thought only serves as a barrier to progressive thought? I believe that conservative opinion serves as a social checks and balances system, thus the relationship is complementary. Perhaps there is some truth that without conservative dissent, progressives would spend spend spend. And without progressive dissent, the country would evolve at a slower rate. Let us consider the one time in recent history when conservatism was a highly valued principle for all Americans – the Regan presidency. All of the craziness of the 60s and 70s between civil rights and Vietnam created a progressive overload, and conservative ideals was desperately needed to restore balance to the American psyche.

Although the probability of conservatives and progressives becoming a non-partisan decision making unit is very low, what we have in President Obama is a leader who is the most thoughtful and intellectual president we’ve had in a very long time. His style is the closest to a non-partisan government we’ve seen because he is guided by intellect more than ideology. What makes him a progressive is his desire to create policies that serve the majority of Americans. Because he is not guided as much by ideology, some of his policies also make the left upset, for example, the non-commitment to prosecute C.I.A. officials that practiced torture. It makes sense, if trying to find middle ground, to release the memos to clear the air and expose our moral wrong doing (which makes the left happy), but not undergo full litigation and risk losing the confidence of the operatives he needs in the continuing war in the Middle East (which makes the right happy). The problem we are facing today is the lack of true opposition. Conservatives cannot simply reject every policy that comes off the Obama desk without reason. Without true checks and balances, progressives have free reign to pass whatever legislation they want. This is not a good thing. The worst mistake conservatives can make is not participating in political discourse. In trying to vehemently defend conservative ideals, they are actually losing more battles than they are winning. More of their ideals would make it into legislation with a president like Obama if they practiced true politics.

The issue of big government versus small government is the primary debate, from which all other debates derive. Thus, it is important to constantly examine our differences and common interests in hope that we can achieve true middle ground. Typically this is not possible because presidents are guided by ideology. Clinton was concerned with universal healthcare. Bush was concerned with tax cuts and national security. Had Hilary Clinton or John McCain won, we would once again have a leader who is guided largely by political ideology. Obama is our best to reconcile the differences between big city and small town ideologies. Let us hope that politicians from the left and right realize this soon so we can get real work done in this country.

Episode 50: Iced-Tea?

2009-04-14T23:02:00.000-04:00

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Wow… episode 50! This is officially the longest I have been able to maintain a blog (well that record was beat 35 or so episodes ago) so I’d like to thank the regular readers and passer bys for joining the debate, and to look forward to many more!

Now, on to the meat and potatoes, I try my very best to not talk about Fox News. Any sane person knows that “fair and balanced” means “unfair and unbalanced right-wing, psycho-babble propaganda.” Thus, it is a complete waste of time to rationalize their inherently irrational arguments. This time around however, Fox News took their “unfair and unbalanced, right-wing, psycho-babble propaganda” to the next level, adding fuel to the grassroots fire by turning a small teabag movement to a fuel blown extravaganza.

Now don’t get me wrong – I have zero issues with the protest itself. It is a first amendment right, and everyone has a right to exercise that right. However, the fuel for such a movement stems from counterfactual, irrelevant, and plain made up information being propagated by the likes of “news” outlets and right wing radio. The truth of the matter is simple. 95-99% of the people attending these Teabag Parties WILL NOT BE AFFECTED BY OBAMA’S TAX PLAN. He has made it unquestionably clear that his tax plan will CUT taxes for 95% of Americans, and for Americans making over a quarter billion annually their tax rate will increase by THREE PERCENT. One more time… THREE PERCENT! This is what the tax rate for the elite class was when Bill Clinton was president. Which is to say using real numbers, if in 2008 you made $1 million, they’d take home $640,000. In 2009, if you made $1million, you’d take home $610,000. So rich folk, you really mean to tell me that you are going ape sh… over a $30,000 decline in your take home salary?! You still make 12.7 times more than the average American, and the $30,000 you lose helps to take care of healthcare, education, and other programs to keep Americans competitive. Give me a break! That $30,000 difference is more than most middle class Americans bring home in a year!

But I get it, I really do… we hate paying taxes. Everyone hates paying taxes. If you keep cutting taxes however, where will the government have the money to pay for essential services? Yes, I suppose we can argue over the amount or quantity of taxes, but governments, state and federal need money to provide services to the people. Tax cuts is NOT the answer. Not the complete answer at least. It is a temporary boost (I’m talking weeks or months) that jump start consumer spending. I often cite the case in New York when then Mayor Giuliani (and subsequently Long Island followed suit) cut taxes for a month on retail items. On top of that, retail shops took advantage and offered sales galore. For that month, you could not find a store that wasn’t filled to capacity. The following month, the taxes were back to normal, but people were still shopping. That is an example of an effective tax cut. Take a hit in April to make a huge profit in May. But to base an entire national economic policy on tax cuts alone is foolhardy, and not economically sound.

Obama has been meeting with economists from the left and the right months before he was sworn in to get their perspective. It was the general concession, that government spending is how we get out of this mess. It is the only institution we have left in this economy that has the resources to move massive amounts of money around. That’s why we have stimulus packages and bailouts and things of the like. No American is happy about it. But if we don’t get large amount of money moving around, and restructure the manufacturing industry (which employs much of Middle America) then we would have the economical equivalent to a seized engine.

I’m always excited to see Americans involved with politics, so a national movement to get the word out about the way a particular group feels is a great thing. The not so great thing is the people are getting out to protest something they either don’t understand, or never bothered to go beyond the Fox News propaganda… something easily fixed by hopping on Youtube, watching the speeches, and judging for themselves the merit of Obama’s policy. However, this is new age politics. Sadly most Americans don’t care enough to get information from the source, even though it is increasingly easier to do. So I solely place the blame on “news” like Fox News, Limbaugh, Coulter, and the rest of the right-wing psycho-babble outlets (and yes, there are some conservative outlets that have integrity). Where were you when millions of Americans protested the war? Where is the commericals to stir up a big anti-war movement? Shame on you for letting ideology get in the way of “journalism.” MSNBC and to a lesser extent CNN are more commentators than journalists as well, but you will not find commercials and endorsements from the anchors for this tea part from anyone else but Fox News.

Episode 49: Marriage Equality For All?

2009-04-08T18:19:00.000-04:00

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Well at least for 8% of the union. Iowa, Connecticut, and Vermont have joined Massachusetts in legalizing gay marriage. Vermont, the state that invented civil unions, is also the first state to pass gay marriage through legislation as opposed to the courts. Currently, New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire have proposed bills to allow gay marriage.

I strongly believe the time is now to allow equal marriage rights. The sanctity of marriage argument doesn’t hold any water because the divorce rate is at 50% and rising in America. The argument that gay marriage encroaches religious freedom is a hypercritical one because it disallows gays from freely practice their religion notwithstanding their sexual preference. Most importantly, no one has the right to define love. Whether homosexuality is natured or nurtured is irrelevant, because if two people make a lifelong commitment to each other, they should have the full social, economic, and political freedom to express that love. America really needs to grow up and open up their minds and open up their hearts.

Quite frankly, America should redifne the marriage law for all. ALL marriages should be considered a civil union (for heterosexual and homosexual couples) so that ALL Americans benefit from the economic, polticial, social advantages a union brings, including hosptial visitation rights. Then let individual churches decided whether they are secular enough to allow the marriage ceremony. This is the fiarest way to ensure all Americans have equal treatment under the law, and for social conservatives, to some extent, protect their religious ideology.

I sincerely hope that by the next presidential election, gay marriage will no longer be an issue, because it will have been adopted by all 50 states. Please America, let us not become like these people in the commerical below...

Episode 48: International Man

2009-04-06T23:52:00.001-04:00

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This post is more of a thought than a commentary, but I was very happy with Obama’s performance during the G-20 summit. It is very interesting (and a testament to his oratorical ability) that his political ability translates so well around the world. Of particular interest was the town hall meeting in France. As I understood it, they don’t have town hall meetings, so it was very unusual for the people to interface with the government in such an open fashion.

I watched almost all of the speeches, and I took away from it a sense of renewed interest in participating and contributing to the global community. Our politics of the last 8 years has very much been an “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” mentality. The change of tone seemed to be very welcomed. Speaking of which, adding a touch of native tongue to many of his speeches was a nice touch that says to the world, “we get you, and we want to work with you.” Obama really is the true embodiment of the American experience, as the country, like himself, has such a diverse background. He really conveyed what makes our country so unique through his speeches. I also appreciate his message to the Middle East. We are not at war with Islam, and I think the people of the region need to hear that.

It wasn’t a flawless victory; he failed to convince the EU that a stimulus plan was the way to go. However, the trip was excellent PR for America. I believe the most important thing Obama could’ve done at the G-20 summit was set a new tone for American diplomacy and leadership. On that account, I think was immensely successful.

I think it is unwise to pass too much judgment too soon on Obama’s effectiveness during this summit. He still has somewhere between 1,384 to 2,845 days left in office. Now that the world seems more willing to work with us, or at the very least, give us another chance, I believe we will in time, see a more collaborative global atmosphere. Let us hope.

Episode 47: Guns Don’t Kill People

2009-03-30T05:07:00.000-04:00

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It’s true. Guns are tools. And it’s the people who spray innocent bystanders with rounds from automatic assault weapons who kill people.

After hearing the argument from the NRA that banning assault weapons only affects law abiding citizens, because a killer will kill whether or not there is a ban on assault guns is very ridiculous. I have believed for a long time that the 2nd amendment is outdated and needs to be refined for modern times, as an organized police force has eliminated the need to maintain a militia. Still, if there are some who want guns for hunting, isn’t the use of an AK-47 to kill an elk overkill? Or an M-16 to spray down a flock of geese? Police officers are generally not armed to the teeth like that; they carry 9mm pistols, and possibly a rifle or shotgun. There is absolutely no need for a civilian to require that much firepower. It only takes one round from even the most inaccurate pistol to kill someone for the sake of “protecting your home.”

I feel doubly strong about this after Secretary Hilary Clinton gave her thought on the drug war in Mexico. It is refreshing to see a government that acknowledges its part in creating the problem. My feelings on how to deal with the drug war is best left for another post, however, the banning of assault weapons in the US will play a part in reducing the access to deadly those weapons via smuggling.

Here is my proposal: if we *must* keep assault weapons on the streets, then the punishment for killing someone with one should be severe. I’m thinking 3 consecutive life sentences for each person killed by the assailant’s gun. Or, since the economy has tanked, perhaps we should issue an 85% tax on automatic rifle ammunition?

Episode 46: The American Loan Forgiveness Act

2009-03-23T07:06:00.000-04:00

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I had an idea on how to solve the financial crisis. It probably won’t work, but I figured I’d throw my plan out to the Blogosphere to get chewed up and torn apart!

As we all know, the large part of the financial problem stems from toxic sub-prime loans, an over-inflated housing market, and a home foreclosure epidemic. The plan that I propose will not cost the government a dime, and will allow the government to allocate the stimulus money for more infrastructure, education, green tech and healthcare projects. I call this bill the American Loan Forgiveness Act of 2009.

In this plan, we would have to put together an investigative committee to ascertain the average debt to income ratio for all loans that have been tainted in the risky sub-prime business, and determine the actual value of all homes in America. The latter can be done mathematically. First a sampling if home values in different neighborhoods of various socio-economic statuses can be surveyed. Say the current listed home value is $400,000 when it is determined to be worth $200,000, the appreciation would be valued at 100%. If we take an average of the inflated value of the houses in all 50 states, (let’s say the average rate of inflation is 75% in the whole country) then we can develop a formula that will be applied *across the board* to all homes in America. After calculating the aforementioned three factors, if the amount of inflation was rated at say 45% (housing may be over-inflated, but smaller debt to income ratios would close the gap for example) the value of ALL mortgages is forgiven by 45%. It would be as if the debt was completely erased off the books. Now this doesn’t erase the entire debt; if a person had $300,000 left on a mortgage, he’d now have $125,000.

The immediate reaction is this forgiveness comes at a steep loss to the banks. I don’t see it that way. In the current state of the economy, no one has money to pay the bills and mortgage payments, and as a result, homes go into foreclosure anyway. This plan effectively puts money into the pockets of Americans, because the bad debt is gone. Those who still cannot pay the monthly payment can renegotiate a longer term at higher interest. My plan effectively is a reset button for the market. However, it doesn’t carry the stigma of bankruptcy, which allows Americans to maintain or improve their credit score. With all the bad assets erased off the books, banks have no reason to keep credit lines frozen. Significantly reduced home prices will inspire Americans to shop and travel and get money moving again as they feel the weight of crushing mortgages lifted off their shoulders. I know the plan originally doesn’t call for any stimulus money, but as an incentive to banks, they can receive tax credits in exchange for participation in this program. With all the bad loans simply erased, investors will be anxious to invest in promising companies because they won’t be hampered with the day to day worries of layoffs and business closings.

There you have it. I bet there are a million reasons why this won’t work, and I’d love to hear what they are! And if it has a shot, I will PERSONALLY hand my plan to Obama and Geitner… they can use all the help they can get!

Episode 45: Torches and Pitchforks

2009-03-20T04:01:00.000-04:00

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The Colbert Report

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Stephen's Angry Mob Will Crush AIG

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I waited to weigh in on the AIG situation because I wanted to wait for all of the facts to come out before I had an opinion. As much as I’m infuriated by the actions of AIG, I fear there is little we can do at the moment to turn anger and outrage into action.

AIG is a sad manifestation of all that is wrong with the corporate elite culture. A culture marked by greed, excess, and arrogance. The bubble several decades in the making has burst, and America is at a crossroads: we can return to a culture of rules and law, or fail to learn from the Great American Mistake, wait for the mob crowds to lose interest, and return to business as usual. AIG serves as the best example of what happens when the economic, cultural, and class gaps widens to the degree it has. America has over the past 25 years, and especially during the Bush administration, moved away from democracy, and is slowly transforming into an oligarchy. This case is more evident if we consider how the Bush administration has patently ignored the constitution and created arguably the largest expansion of executive power in American history.

Americans have every right to be angry. AIG has severely lessened, and in some cases, wiped out retirement savings. They wove the company into the fabric of the international economic community, becoming so inextricably intertwined, that their failure would have disastrous effects on the global economy – all based on a falsified assessment of corporate strength. And in the words of the villain’s in Scooby Doo, they “would have gotten away with it too” if the personal growth of wealth was commensurate with inflation and the rate of appreciation of home values.

Still, as angry as we are, the Democrats have to be very careful about how they exact retaliation. A 90% tax on the bonus money employees (and ex-employees) of AIG received is, by my account unconstitutional, when considering the Bill of Attainder article, or the ex post facto article that states we cannot punish an individuals, or group of individuals without a trial, or retroactively enforce laws, respectively.

The problem is the stimulus package as written, defended the bonuses of AIG executives. The verdict is still out on Senator Chris Dodd’s involvement in rewriting the part of the bill that allowed this AIG spectacle to transpire. Thus, we must find a workaround solution to get our money back that is constitutional, or Democrats will be no better than the republicans that flushed our constitution down the toilet these past eight years.

Episode 44: The Puppet Broke the Strings?

2009-03-13T03:25:00.000-04:00

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Something pretty amazing happened recently. RNC Puppet Michael Steele has been all over the press for these little “slip ups.” I wrote a pretty damning entry about his role as the chairman of the RNC. A week later, I mentioned that he was one of a handful that had the courage to challenge Rush Limbaugh, and then displayed extreme cowardice in apologizing for disagreeing with him. This story begins a couple days ago when Steele made a remark about abortion rights with GQ magazine. He stated that he was pro-life, but insinuated that the ultimate right to choose lies with the “individual.” The GOP were pretty upset with his stance, and he quickly revised his statement to mean individual states have the right to choose. I may be putting words in his mouth here, but after reading that interview, I really think Steele may pro-life, but he doesn't believe everyone has to subscribe to that idea – it is an individual choice. Therefore, he would not be in favor in overturning Roe V. Wade; Steele was trying to recover from a tailspin that he knew was going to get him in big trouble.

I give Michael Steele a lot of credit for speaking his mind. It is very apparent now why the GOP chose him to be the RNC chairman, and it is even more apparent that Steele was indeed a puppet. There was a momentary glimmer of hope that a republican could speak what he feels and not be told what to say. It was a glimmer as fleeting as a desert wind in July. Now Steele is on the chopping block for a vote of no confidence. The racial gambit employed to attract “the new GOP” will be considered a failure, and the person who was supposed to chair the RNC all along will take his place. The true leaders of the Republican Party will emerge, their manipulative tactics will be exposed, and they will sink further into the depths of irrelevancy. There is absolutely zero political and intellectual discourse going on in the Republican Party right now, and they will continue to be irrelevant so long as they cling to obsolete ideologies and fail to reconfigure their ideas for the 21st century.

I did my homework on Michael Steele. He is rather moderate. Some of his ideas are not that bad. If he wants to be a leader of the party, he had best say what’s on his mind while he still has a political forum to do so. Less “yo son! The GOP be my homies baby!” and more real politics – more creative thinking. The clock is ticking…

Episode 43: The New Economy

2009-03-11T05:12:00.000-04:00

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Lately I have been reading lots of blogs and news sites from both left and right leaning critics. Though democrats and republicans have wildly different views on how to handle to economy, both critics have been using the DOW index as a barometer to measure the success President Obama’s policies. I think that is a big mistake.

The economic crisis is so big in scope that just about everyone has no idea what is going on. We have to take our leaders at their word when they have a steady hand on the tiller. However, the one part of the crisis that everyone can site as a major contributor to the economic disaster is the incredible amount of toxic assets on the market. I suspect that the bailout money, particularly the TARP money from the initial bailout before Obama’s inauguration is aimed at paying those assets down. However, if there are that many bad assets on the market, then it stands to reasonable logic that most every business wasn’t worth the money CEOs reported in their fiscal reports. I can’t help but think that the DOW was never really worth 14,000 points as it was in August.

Looking at it this way the problem actually seems simple to me (keeping in mind I am no economist by any means). America for the past six to eight years was like a teenager with an American Express card – we engaged in no limit spending for far too long, sporting Dolce&Gabbana sunglasses, Prada bags, and a $10,000 watch with a $20,000/yr salary, pretending we were richer than we actually were. It was the culture of the time, and most every one of us is guilty of biting more than we could chew. Now the credit card is maxed out, and we are paying interest on interest.

Our system is completely deflated now. The 7000ish marker where the DOW currently stands is probably closer to where the market was supposed to be all along. It is sad that 700 Starbucks closed and something like 2,100 of those workers lost their jobs, but is the closing of these stores an indicator of a failing economy, or rather a company that way over extended itself? I kid you not that the Third St. Promenade in Santa Monica has at least 2 Starbucks on the same street – not even 2000 ft of each other!

So the solution as I see it is twofold. First, we need to directly help homeowners who got caught in the bad assets game, as they have the most affected by this crisis. Fixing that problem would seem to simultaneously repair the bank system as well. We need to create and enforce very strict regulations to ensure everyone is playing by the same rules, and enforce strict punishment for rule breakers. Second, we have to let the infection bleed out. I have a suspicion that after we stop the bleeding (helping home owners, fixing the healthcare system, and revitalizing manufacturing in America and not rely so much on imports, and in the long term, fix education in American), the markets will begin to heal itself. Investors, CEOs and the American publics have to realize that the top 2% wealthiest Americans are in denial. As Jon Stewarts piece on CNBC indicates, I think (to give the benefit of the doubt) these financial news commentators were operating on bad intel or (not giving them the benefit of the doubt) there was a great deal of cronyism going on behind the scenes, and they thought they could pull up from a nosedive before we realized we were crashing. They refuse to believe that their companies are not worth as much as the ledger indicates, and they damn well know that government regulations mean a few of them are going to jail. These people are the proverbial puss, and we need to squeeze it out of the wound. When these people are gone and businesspeople with integrity replace them, the market will heal on its own. I am endlessly confident in American ingenuity and resiliency. What the American people have to realize that the infection is deep, and its going to take a pretty long time to see a “return to normalcy.” If we want to watch the DOW to measure our economic prosperity, we’ll have to wait at least 9 months for to deliver a remotely accurate reading. Still, the DOW surged 349 points today… Obama had a good day. =)

Episode 42: Who the HELL is Rush Limbaugh?!

2009-03-04T01:01:00.000-05:00

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What does Eric Cantor, Michael Steele, and every republican congressman to appear on left-leaning cable news shows have in common? They are ALL afraid of Rush Limbaugh! Rush is easily the third most irrelevant voice in the Republican Party (with Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity at the #2 and #1 spot respectively). There are some things that he says that are flat out incorrect: “democrats put the recovery bill in .pdf format so it is unsearchable” or anything to do with ACORN. And he said the worst thing a person can say especially in tough times – “I hope President Obama fails.”

People on the right with good sense know that he is fully of crap (or more accurately from their point of view can be full of crap sometimes). And really, that’s ok. Rush is an entertainer – a radio personality. He has to say incendiary things to get people all riled up because that’s how he keeps his job. It’s working! He even got President Obama’s attention! God forbid a republican disagrees with him though; poppa Limbaugh gives his republican critics an on-air spanking and then he gets an apology. For goodness sake, Steele apologized to Rush 51 minutes after comments he made on D.L. Hugeley’s show. Where are their backbones? Why can’t they stand up for what they truly believe in?

The answer is very easy. The republicans don’t want to upset the base – the only people who give credence to Rush’s illegitimacy. The base which primarily consists of the outer reaches of the far, ultra conservative, super pro-gun, super duper anti-abortion-or-God-will-destroy-you right. The SAME base for which 100% of the constituency voted for McCain! Are they crazy???? Republicans listen, just do the right thing. Disagree with Rush and call him out on it when he’s wrong. They can lose 100% of the “base” (who will otherwise vote libertarian) and STILL can win an election by focusing center right and “Regan democrats.” Some say that their unceasing veneration of Rush Limbaugh is the best present a liberal can ask for. That may be true, but personally, I’d rather see good politics than a left vs. right ideological power struggle. Lofty ideals? Probably.

Episode 41: A New Option for Student Loans?

2009-02-26T18:30:00.000-05:00

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I read this story in the NY Times this morning and it piqued my interest. Could this be the student loan solution we have been waiting for?

I have been lucky to study at two #1 ranked universities in my field of study. The drawback to receiving great education is incurring a massive college debt that is near six figures. Under the current system, college students can borrow a certain amount of federal loans – I believe up to $9,800 per semester (this number is higher for law and med students), and the rest of the loans come from private lenders. Government loans are much better for students because half of the loan is subsidized by the government, meaning we don’t have to pay interest on that portion of the loan. Also the interest rate is fixed, meaning what you see is what you get. To figure how much your loan will cost over its life, one simply needs to pull out a calculator.

Private loans are a bit trickier. Different banks compete for better interest rates, but often these rates are variable, and often higher than Federal Stafford Loans. The big problem is moving your money around; if one wanted to consolidate their loans, especially useful if the student has attended more than one school, coordinating that effort with the banks is a less than pleasant experience, at least for me. Another problem with private loans, is if the bank and the school are using a different system to disburse the loan, messy paperwork can lead to delay in getting the money – a problem I had all 4 times I had to apply for private loans in graduate school (and you’d think the kinks would be worked out after the third mishap!).

From what I gather in this article, what would happen is private lenders would dump their loans onto the government, which would free up money for lending in other areas. However, if the government is going to be handling the disbursement of college loans, then the private student loan industry would effectively become nullified. Of course, I imagine one could still take out a private loan in the future, should these plans proceed, but without the federal guarantee.

This is bad news for the banking industry, but excellent news for students I think. Government bureaucracy gets a bad rap, but in the case of student loans, it is a perfect system. As far as I know, all college with financial aid departments work from the same system, so as long as the student files their FAFSA on time and stays within the school deadlines for filling out loan information, the money is always ready by the first day of school. Private loans can be a nightmare to receive, but it is also a nightmare to pay back. The rules vary from bank to bank, but government loans have more options to help students repay loans in financially tough times. Also, half of the loans are subsided, so there is less interest to pay. Lastly, from a psychological standpoint, owing the government back for a student loan doesn’t feel as bad as owing money to a bank; I feel my private loans are like a massive credit card bill. Government loans have much more leeway for late payments, as they don’t immediately affect one’s credit score until after six months of nonpayment.

I know people will argue that “socializing” education is un-American, but if college students can’t afford to go to school, then we are going to continue to fall behind other countries in innovation – where the U.S. currently ranks as the 6th most innovative country according to some reports. It is not really socialism, one can still pay-as-you-go, borrow from private lenders, and such. It is a better option for most students however, as college tuition costs continue to rise.

Episode 40: What a Difference a Month Makes

2009-02-25T05:21:00.000-05:00

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Post Presidential Address Thoughts

Wow. Last night’s address was truly something to behold. It is amazing how the face of our nation has changed so much in such a short time – women leaders, blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians in the cabinet, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and President Obama exchanging kisses on the cheek… it is a good time to be an American. I can’t help but think that the world is watching this event and think “how does that country, despite all its flaws, continue to progress as they have?”

From the moment the thunderous applause began as the president was announced, I knew this address would be different. And President Obama rose to the occasion, with oratory and candor we have not seen in a very long time – and one I have never seen in my lifetime. Throughout the campaign, I have criticized Obama for lacking that “fire.” I knew he was an incredibly intelligent guy, but I wanted to see a more impassioned performance. I was rewarded tonight with a speech full of hope, frankness, a bit of reserved aggression, and that “fire” I’ve been waiting to see.

What I found most impressive about this speech is Obama touched on most every campaign promise he made, and seems very sincere in his determination to make good on his promises. As an educator, I was extremely happy to hear a real commitment to education reform we so very badly need. I am excited to see real healthcare reform within a year so I no longer have to worry about getting sick and not having the money to get treatment. He is firmly committed to green technology that I believe can free us from foreign oil in less than the ten year timeline Obama has outlined.

Pundits have made some fuss over Obama’s pledge to raise taxes on the top 2% wealthiest Americans. I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal – if you make $20 million dollars a year, you already make more than 10 families make in a lifetime. I think that we all have to assume more responsibility for ourselves and each other. And the tax increase is simply going back to the Clinton era tax code – a time when America was arguably at its most prosperous.

It was refreshing to see members of both sides of the aisle giving standing ovations for hot button red vs. blue issues like Iraq and healthcare reform. Agin, the teacher in me swelled when I Obama said (paraphrased) “not graduating highschool is not only a disservice to yourself, it is a disservice to your country.” That statement was met with the loudest applause of the night, and made me stand up and clap as well!

I can’t help but think that the GOP is a little bit more open to post-partisanship after this speech. They need to do a better job participating in government instead of opposing it. I think the next time around, democrats will be more inclusive when designing the next bill. It was a rocky start, but I think now We are all on the same page.

On a sadder note, Bobby Jindal’s response was nothing short of disappointing, and perhaps embarrassing. His tone to me sounded very disingenuous, especially after mocking the monorail train that does NOT run to Disneyland. The response to Katrina is considered to be one the republican’s biggest failures – I would think evoking that name would be taboo in red country. But to use Katrina as an example of responsible government is just another sign of how out of touch some members of the GOP are. Furthermore, there was a serious disconnect between the speech, and Jindal’s response. It seemed to me as though he wrote his reaction to the speech before even seeing it. There was a line in the speech where Obama says he doesn’t want big government, and Jindal’s response was we have to keep the money out of the hand of the hands of greedy politicians – something to that effect. It’s early, and Jindal’s story is another great example of the American promise at work, but too many performances like those will knock him out of presidential position.

Episode 39: The Scoop Vol.3

2009-02-24T16:27:00.001-05:00

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Every thirteenth episode, I have a post called “The Scoop,” a collection of 3 mini posts on today’s hot topics.

#1 – The Good

Not all people in the GOP are irrelevant and ineffective – there are a few stand out guys out there. First, allow me to applaud (for better or for worse) my new Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sure he presided over California’s fall to bankruptcy, but he is really trying to help the state get back into the black. He also fought on behalf of Gay Rights. And he has put together a plan to get California back on its financial track. People are still going to lose jobs, money has to be borrowed, and its long term effects are still unknown, but he’s making an effort when state congressional republicans just say no. We’re not talking about pot; we’re talking about the livelihood of your constituency here.

Kudos also goes to Charlie Crist, the Florida Governor. He has openly put his political future with the GOP on the line by backing the much needed stimulus. However, I suspect that when the stimulus eventually shows signs of recovery, Crist and other GOP members who were in favor of the stimulus will be greatly rewarded by their constituency.

However, the gold medal goes to Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. (which also wins an award for most appropriate name for an elected official of Utah!). He said in an interview with the Washington Times that the GOP party leaders were “inconsequential” in coming up with new ideas. I couldn’t agree with him more. He quotes a Chinese saying in the interview – if you want to see what the real future of the GOP should be, this is it.

#2 – The Bad

Political posturing is my new favorite buzzword. And there is a lot of that going on right now. Thumbs down goes to all republican governors who turn down, or even consider turning down the stimulus money to promote their political agenda over helping their state recover. I am no economist. But as I understand it, someone has to get money flowing again. The DOW is at 7335 points at the time of this writing. It was at about 14,000 points in August, so businesses have no money. And when they get money, they go on corporate junkets, raise interest and lower credit lines, and do multi-million dollar renovations to their offices. The banks are failing, so despite interest being as low as it is, they are not issuing loans. The unemployment rate fell more sharply in three months that it had in the previous two recessions combined, so Americans have no money. The only institution with the power to move money is the government – hence the stimulus. Argue over the particulars – should it be $46 Billion invested in infrastructure or $56 Billion, not whether we need a recovery package. And tax cuts have failed every time we’ve tried them, so it would be more constructive to come to the table with a new idea, rather than push tried and failed agendas. There is room for improvement for the bipartisan approach. If I were president, my office would be in the style of “House” from the TV show – dry erase board and marker, and in a room with 5 top republicans, 5 top democrats, treasury secretary, commerce secretary, treasury advisor, and a few top economic minds, banging this thing out. However, saying no for the sake of saying no is a waste of time.

#3 – The Ugly

The New York Daily post is on top of the ugly list. This story has already been hashed to shreds, so I’ll second that, given the racial history in this country, there is absolutely no explanation anyone could give to justify the printing of that cartoon. It saddens me that these racial themes are still prevalent in our society. Two steps forward, one step back.

Alabama Senator Shelby is proof positive the many GOP members live on a different plant or something. The rumor of President Obama’s citizenship has been debunked a long, long time ago. It has been thoroughly vetted, used in the campaign with no success, and Americans hate that kind of rhetoric. So why is Shelby stirring an empty pot? Fear-mongering tactics that pander to the far far right is all I can come up with. He’s our president though, why would he want to incite more chaos into an already disastrous situation?

My last bags of coal go to Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter. They are insane. I saw them on various clips on the web, and I can’t get over how stupid they are. I wish they would play their tapes back on their iPods… Coulter sounds like a spoiled 14 year old, Hannity is a trouble maker, and Rush… we he was so dumb that he thought the .pdf file of the stimulus package (see where our money is going at recovery.gov) was a democrat conspiracy because you can’t use the search tool in a .pdf file… obviously he has never used a computer before.

Episode 38: The Media Firing Squad

2009-02-17T02:00:00.000-05:00

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This weekend, Senator Roland Burris of Illinois faced the media firing squad this past weekend during a combative press conference regarding Burris’ selection to the Senate by the ousted Rod Blagojevich. Upon Burris’ promotion to the Senate, he was asked multiple if he had any connections to the “pay to play” scandal, to which he replied no. He has recently released two affidavits that contradict his claim and the media wanted answers.

I happened to be flipping channels and I caught the beginning of the press conference on CNN. And I watched it until CNN cut it off for a different story. I must say, as a human, I feel bad for Burris. Watching him was like a scene in a movie where a guy gets shot, but still keeps on fighting, but as he takes more bullets to his body, he slowly drops to the ground and dies. And I think that’s what’s going to happen as his career in the Senate.

My take on it – I think he is innocent of the pay to play, and very guilty of perjury. Senator Burris hid the fact that he had contact with Blagojevich’s people, including his brother, because he would have had a hell of a time explaining that to the Senate Committee, even if he did nothing wrong. Withholding that kind of info after all the media hoopla seems a bit too convenient to be a lapse in memory. Burris should do the right thing for himself, and his state, and resign. If the attorney general doesn’t get him first, the people will in 2010. With the republicans refusing to budge for the sake of standing up to their ideals at their constituency’s expense, we need as many viable democrats in congress as possible.

Another note, one would have to be absolutely foolish to take an appointment from a governor who on the verge of facing jail time for “pay to play” politics. From the moment the Blagojevich story dropped, every single state congressmen, law enforcement people, and member of the media was gunning for him. Was it really worth risking his political career by accepting a tainted nomination? Apparently so…

Episode 37: A New Republican Puppet

2009-02-14T05:11:00.000-05:00

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Allow me to tell a story.

Once upon a time, there was an historic race for the democratic presidential nominee. Many entered the race, but were overcome to two transformational figures who could become either the first woman or first black president. The battle was long and arduous. Both candidates drew huge crowds and garnered tremendous support. In the end, it would be the Obama who won the candidacy. On the day that Hilary Clinton conceded the race, Clinton HQ staffers around the country let out a collective gasp in disbelief. Many of them vowed to abstain from the elections, or vote for McCain because their team lost, and they lacked faith in Obama at the time.

Obama, having defeated Goliath gained a mighty tailwind going into the presidential race. The first wind of population swelled to a crescendo when he delivered one of his most powerful speeches before the DNC when accepting his nomination. However in the distance, rolling thunder clouds were brewing. The dark clouds became a fierce storm a week later when McCain unleashed his secret weapon against Obama – the unknown, untested, (the un a lot of things), Sarah Palin. In one fell swoop he ignited the republican base and nominated one who could be the first women to hold a seat in high office. The rest of America knew better. Sarah Palin was a mere puppet whose primary objective was to attract disenfranchised Hilary voters. Americans were smarter than that and resoundingly rejected the scare tactics, and the same old ways of politicking.

Fast-forward to present day. Obama is our first Black president. He enjoys massive popularity at home and abroad, and offers a degree of intellect and compassion we haven’t seen in the White House for nearly a decade. Republicans would be foolish to challenge Obama when he has the amount of political capital that he has, so they have instead attacked the main stream media, Nancy Pelosi, and left-wing bloggers. Despite their best efforts, they are still losing the message war, primarily because they have no message. In such a case, it may be prudent to spend some time evaluating the real world and tailor their conservative principles to the way things work in today’s globalized economy, information technology, and cross-culturalization. However, they have elected to ignore future trends, and have decided Sarah Palin could very well be the new voice of the GOP, with Rush Limbaugh as their surrogate leader until Palin beefs up on her facts, history, and newspapers. Sarah Palin is not version 2 yet, and Rush Limbaugh is not a politician, so they still need a legitimate face of the party. Now they can actually look among their ranks and try again to find someone who is a republican future thinker (an oxymoron I know). However, they resort to a tried a failed tactic (a common theme) and instead chose another puppet to be the face of the party. Enter Michael Steele. His selection as the leader of the RNC makes him the first African American leader of the RNC to much chagrin to the KKK. What better way to steal the African American vote from Obama than to pit him against another African American candidate. The GOP forgot a key component when crafting their new puppet however; they left out the future thinking component that is a necessary tool when combating a person with Obama’s superior intellect. They have a puppet that will do anything and say anything the puppet masters say. It’s a throwback to the shameful days of our history, and republicans should be ashamed. And I am personally offended that they chose him. Because after reading up on him, he is as close to a conservative future thinker as the GOP could cook up, but he has been assimilated by the collective and forced to repeat republican talking points that are divisive, asinine, and completely out of touch with reality. Just for once, I’d like to see republicans do something with honesty and integrity.

Episode 36: Business as Usual: A Message to Politicians

2009-01-29T20:21:00.000-05:00

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A week and a few days into the new Obama administration and we’re already back to old school politics. The change we can believe in I suppose is the tone of political discourse, as it is less combative than we’ve grown accustomed in recent years. But when the GOP organize to defeat a bill our country desperately needs, the democrats lose sight of the big picture, and big business still giving out billions of dollars in bonuses and corporate jets, all I see is the same crap we dealt with for the last eight years. Perhaps it is naïve of me to expect change in only one week. Perhaps Obama’s magnanimity hasn’t rubbed off on the republicans just yet. All I know is Americans are really suffering out there every day this immature bickering continues.

And the democrats are not free and clear here. I believe in progressive causes. I believe the government has a responsibility to create programs for the betterment of the people if they choose to participate, such as healthcare, and sex education measures. But my fellow democrats, NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PUSH DEMOCRATIC AGENDA! In the last post I discussed how we should eliminate unnecessary spending, and fortunately Obama read my blog, and struck down the contraceptives part of the bill (j/k). I urge democrats to take it a step further – ONLY spend the recovery money on infrastructure, and the framework for green jobs, healthcare, and education. And nothing more. And 75% of the $819 billion should go towards shovel ready jobs. The middle class is always left out of the party… let’s get them back to work and get them the tax cuts they need to start getting back on track here. Let us save the good fight for another day.

And republicans, you should be ashamed of yourselves. I have never seen such a display of immaturity and incompetence. Tax cuts will not work. The very first thing people will do with a stimulus check is pay off bills or save it. That money will not go towards renovating a bedroom, or going to the movies, or fine wining and dining. You’re asking Americans to pull themselves up by their bootstraps when we have no boots! I beg you to just step outside in the real world and look at what’s really going on out there. Government is not the answer, but it is the best way to help its people.

And to corporate America, just stop. Stop spitting in our faces while sitting on the throne of entitlement. Stop spending money no one has to give to buy planes and go on vacations. Have a little decency for the common man. Just… stop.

Episode 35: My First Obama Beef

2009-01-27T15:03:00.000-05:00

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Week one is over and done. All in all, I’m happy to see that the change we can believe in is actually starting to take shape, and very early on too! The hot button topic of the moment is the economy and for the most part, I agree with much of the proposals I have heard. So far, coming out of academia, there isn’t much in the stimulus package that is helpful for me, but I really like the idea of investing a lot of money into shovel ready projects: building and fixing roads, bridges, tunnels, schools etc. I LOVE the idea of investing into Green Tech. (check out http://lifekills.wordpress.com – a great new blog that is a nice resource for finding out more about green technologies). In order to compete with Asian countries, we NEED to upgrade our network infrastructure as we are light years behind them in that department – quite literally too, with their fiber optic network, they can download DVD sized files in a few minutes in opposed to several hours to a few days in the States. And we need to lay the ground work for reducing the cost of healthcare so we may begin to provide universal healthcare. Anyone who finds faults with these plans just doesn’t get it. However, one portion of the stimulus I think is not necessary – $2.5 billion dollars to be allocated for sex education and contraceptives.

I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Democrats are a party of a million agendas. I knew Obama was the man for the job because somehow he was able to unify the party under one banner during the ELECTION. Now that the democrats won, we have regressed into old ways, trying to pass all these progressive agendas into law. It’s not that I don’t want progressive agendas to be passed, but I feel as if we’re not pacing ourselves for a marathon, but rather for a 100 meter dash. I agree with the logic, that investment into family planning *may* increase awareness, and some kind of free clinic to offer contraceptives, or perhaps a tax credit for companies that make contraceptives, may decrease unwanted teen pregnancy that may in turn save hospitals money from fewer patients. However, the effect of such a bill is so far into the future, so contentious a political battle, and so unrelated to the immediate task at hand, that it is not a battle worth fighting – now.

Obama will get the votes for this bill whether or not he gets the blessings of the republicans as the bill currently stands. However, if solidarity is the theme for this administration, then burning his political capital on the fight for family planning is PC not well spent. He gave the GOP what they wanted with the tax cuts. Take it one step further and knock the family planning out of the bill and the GOP will take that as a major gesture that he is willing to hear both sides out. Spend this political capital wisely now, and his return on investment will grant him even more capital to fight that battle later on down the road.

**NOTE** The blog I plugged had the wrong URL. It has been corrected now.

Episode 34: End of an Error

2009-01-20T02:16:00.001-05:00

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It is ironic that the last day of the Bush Error as Keith Olbermann puts it, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Today, we celebrate the life, work, and mission of a man – a visionary – who dedicated his life towards the fight for equality for Black Americans – for all Americans. On the same day, arguably the most divisive president in this nation’s history is spending his last night in the White House.

The list of failures is long: 9/11 intelligence gaps, lack of WMDs, Guantanamo, Katrina, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, (all the other “stans”), torture, the economy, his destructive environmental policies, his failure to catch Bin Laden, our lost standing in the world, failed educational initiatives, horrible oratory skills, Freudian slips galore… I could go on and on and on. By the way, he also used our Constitution has toilet paper. And in his series of exit interviews, he is unwilling or unable to acknowledge, or scarily unaware of the numerous failures of his administration.

It is a damn shame, because he had the nation and the world at his fingertips. He talks about “political capital,” and he had it in spades. On September 12th 2001, America had in unison looked to our leader, and in one loud voice asked, no pleaded, “what do we do now?” We’re gonna get ‘em he replied. We trusted him to kill those responsible for attacking us. He had at that point a 91% approval rating. And Mr. Bush’s legacy took a tragic spiral from the very moment he declared “mission accomplished” and crashed and burned the moment we set foot in Iraq. Katrina, Guantanamo, and everything else was only digging his political grave deeper. He now leaves us, with his final approval rating at 22%, the lowest of any president. Yes, even Herbert Hoover. And Nixon. And James K. Polk.

However, there is one thing I’ll give Bush. I really do, believe that George Bush believed that he thought everything thing he did was in the best interest for the country. Unless he is an undercover agent for Iran, there is no way he could not make the decisions he made without thinking he was doing the right thing. I just think he has the absolute worst judgment and complete lack of vision, and utter disregard for the consequences of his decisions of any leader in American history.

Goodbye Mr. President. Thanks for damn near pushing our country and the world to the brink of collapse.

So here’s to the end of your administration. Without further ado, the “Best of Bush” captured through the years courtesy of Youtube.

Episode 33: The Obama Factor

2009-01-19T03:34:00.000-05:00

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I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am about Obama’s inauguration. It is like my New York Jets winning the Super Bowl… an event I didn’t think I’d ever get to see in my lifetime (the Jet’s however still have a ways to go…). Though it is true that we have made great strides in racial equality in America, electing a Black man into office seemed like we had a ways to go as a people (and in this case I speak on the behalf of Black Americans) before we’d have a leader the nation would elect.

Obama’s victory is so surreal, that old school Black comedians are having a tough time adjusting. All of a sudden, “ghetto mentality” punch lines seem so passé and irrelevant. From D.L. Hughley’s Breaks the News on CNN, where the punch line of Obama’s victory was a house party, poppin’ bottles of Cristal with raunchy rap music, to David Alan Grier’s advice for Obama to “ignore the parts of your Black half that may make you wanna… smoke crack with a hooker in a DC hotel, text message booty calls to your chief of staff, while having a stripper party…” – these types of hurdles among many other examples that made me wonder who in our culture could possibly become the face of the nation, when we are still so bound to the wounds and mentality of the past. But here we are, with the most unlikely of candidates – a politician with relatively little experience, a man whose history embodies the American experience, whose wife is the direct descendant of slaves, and a man who epitomizes class, character, and eloquence. He is the new face of America.

As a Black American, perhaps the thing I’m most excited about is what the future of the minority class will look like. I believe Obama’s mission to end the divisiveness that has pitted Americans against one another, and instead unify us under one banner will invoke a new dialogue amongst minorities. No more Black vs. Whites, but character vs. character. And this appeal is more far reaching than just one ethnic community; he is challenging all Americans to be held accountable for their actions, and to hold Obama accountable as well. We cannot be the voice of hope to the world until we are practicing what we preach. Finally, I believe we will see an America where we value shared responsibility, sacrifice, and a renewed sense of patriotism.

Gone are the days of Blue vs. Red. Perhaps, even my own blog subtitle “politics and the world through a blue lens” is passé and irrelevant in the Obama era. We have spent so many decades, these past eight years in particular, consumed with the notion of left vs. right, Black vs. White, Straight vs. Gay, that we feel compelled to polarize our points of view. Obama calls for bipartisanship, but I think it’s safe to say Obama would rather call it nonpartisanship if the term didn’t sound so utopian. Already, he has made it clear that all points of view will be considered, and all ideological figures will be brought to the table. The president is not supposed to represent the left or the right, but instead the best interests of the American people. Our politically polarized lens labels this stance as moderate, but his world view is far more complex. Through debate and intellectual discourse from all perspectives, he will draw a conclusion based on the best answers he hears, and from his own vision for America. I trust his vision, and I trust that better days are ahead. Yes we can.

Episode 32: The Guantanamo Factor

2009-01-13T20:21:00.000-05:00

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I have been pretty bored with the news as of late. With the economy in shambles as it is now, who is surprised by people like Blagojevich? Who cares what kind of chili dog Obama had at a hole in the wall restaurant the other day? But there have been a few new stories out now that peeked my interest: Guantanamo, Bush’s exit interview, and the Inauguration. For this episode, let’s talk Guantanamo.

Chris Mathews on Hardball posed this question: (paraphrased) If we know that Guantanamo detainees rabidly hate America and are extremely determined to attack America if freed due to Guantanamo’s closing, yet the detainees have not yet committed a crime, or don’t have sufficient evidence to indict them, what do we do with the detainees?

It is a question so loaded it deserves its own paragraph. And to which there is no easy answer. As an AVID “24” fan, I have seen my hero Jack Bauer bend (and break) the laws of the Geneva Convention on numerous occasion. However, it is likely, that he would have been able to extract the answer he needed to prevent a nuclear attack. Isn’t it realistic to expect that such a scenario can happen in the real world?

I think a practice of torture is dead wrong. It is below the standards of any civilized nation. However, war has changed. Gone are the days when wars are fought between nations to protect land and ideologies. It is an irrational battle, fought between factions belonging to no country. Soldiers who pledge allegiance to no flag. It is a war in which the overarching cause is the cultivation of a corrupt sect of religion. I think the Geneva Convention is outdated and does not include adequate provisions to deal with modern warfare. So what do we do? How do we fight these guys?

Thus, I think there are only a few things we can do. We could declare war on Afghanistan and put the Geneva Convention in play. We could redefine our moral standard for 21st century combat. We can “extract” information in the dark. Or we can wait for the detainees to attack us, or get caught planning to attack us so we may try them under law.

Declaring war is not only a bad idea, it would fruitless because I think Afghanis by and large do not subscribe to terrorist actions, and would be punished for the sins of a relatively small part of the population. We would only end up losing an ally. If we redefine our moral standards, how low will be go? Where will the line between right and wrong be drawn? We have been “extracting” information… and it has diminished our standing in the world. And waiting for an attack is too dangerous.

Of the options listed, redefining our moral standard for 21st century combat is probably the right answer, albeit the difficult answer. It is an impossible goal because everyone has a different idea of right and wrong. All I can say with certainty, is Obama should close Guantanamo, but its execution will be on of the most difficult decisions of his administration.

Episode 31: To Bail or Not to Bail

2008-12-09T01:36:00.001-05:00

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Hello my loyal readers. Sorry I haven’t updated the L Comment in a while. I needed to take a holiday, and handle some personal matters. Everything is good and well now, and a lot has happened in America and the world since my departure, so I have lots to talk about. And with your help, lots to debate about! So without further ado, let us begin.

The new big crisis – it seems like we have a new one every week nowadays – is the automobile crisis. The futures of Ford, GM, and Chrysler hang in the balance. And the CEOs of the said companies want a piece of the bailout pie.

They made their first proposal for a bailout which didn’t exactly blow anyone’s skirt up. The Big 3 CEOs made their plea in Washington, flying there in private jets, raising the eyebrows of congress that held the fate of the car industry in their hands. Fortunately, for them, the CEOs were granted a second chance to convince Congress why they should allocate money for the bailout. The new plan included accountability and oversight measures, a salary cut to $1 for the CEOs, and the retooling of the industry to make the move towards fuel efficient and low/zero emission cars.

Chris Mathews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball, has been talking about this bailout for a few weeks now, and asks everyone he interviews on the bailout subject “what kind of car do you drive?” Many of his guests drive Japanese cars. So do we really need to bailout a failed industry?

To respond to Chris Mathews question, I drive a car that is unarguably American… a big, V6, 267hp, fuel hungry, Chrysler 300. I love my car in all her American glory. She is the definition of American elegance – and gluttony. My only complaint about my car is fuel efficiency. To help, I do constantly keep my tires inflated, use aftermarket air filters and fluids that improve fuel efficiency and such, it is no match for a Honda Civic. But I do have a certain pride in driving a car made in the US of A, and I’d hate to see an important American institution cease to exist.

It is true that bad business is the cause the collapse of the auto industry. Cars got bigger, less fuel efficient, and frankly were not nearly as stylish as our Japanese counterparts (except the 300 of course!). However, a change in consumer philosophy can force American automakers to change their ways.

I’d like to see the bailout happen, but not without meeting certain conditions. First, I think President-elect Obama, should make good on his promise to increase fuel efficiency standards right away when he takes office. Every car made should be able to get at least 30 MPG city miles, beginning in 2010. Next, there need to be plans for zero emissions cars to go into production by 2015. Finally, there needs to be a restructuring of union benefits, so it doesn’t paralyze the industry. I do think unions need to exist to balance corporate power, but when unions become too powerful, they become a financial burden, which will stunt the restructuring effort. Other ideas posed by the CEOs in their new plan, such as shrinking the fleet to only a few cars will definitely help.

The automobile industry is one of our core American institutions. It is part of the American Story. And it is the epicenter of the manufacturing industry. I think that we need to keep the American Story alive. Japanese cars that are manufactured in America is NOT part of the American Story. The industry has to undergo the same transformation as the American citizen, an industry that embraces a culture of shared responsibility, sacrifice, and a renewed sense of American pride. It would be great to see millionaire CEOs fight the good fight with the rest of America because it is the right thing – the American thing – to do.

Episode 30: Why Hilary’s A Good Choice

2008-11-20T23:52:00.000-05:00

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I needed to think this one out for a bit. I like Hilary. I was on her team before I got to know Obama. However, I wasn’t too sure of how I felt about Hilary Clinton as the Secretary of State.

I came to the conclusion that she would do a pretty good job. I have met her twice (and even was accosted by her secret service!!!) and she was my Senator. She is an outstanding politician, and very hard working. I can attest to this from experience.

But what makes her good for the job is her world status. She is incredibly popular in the international arena. Couple that with Obama’s worldwide superstar status and we’re talking about a completely different foreign policy game here… one in which the world may actually play with us this time around.

We can’t deny her sheer intelligence. What I like about the people Obama has been tossing around, is they are all very intelligent people. This shouldn’t sound strange, but after eight years of absolute incompetence, I welcome brains in our government. Clinton also has the Bill factor. I think in the end, they will all play nice. Hilary has nothing to gain by being a pain in the ass. She can EASILY become president in 2016, especially if Obama has successful terms. I think the Clintons will be invaluable resources. To have a successful president on the team can provide a certain insight no one else can.

Many people make a huge deal of the Obama vs. Clinton battle during the primaries. However, Obama and Clinton agreed 98% of the time about the issues and the solutions. The big problem came (gasp) with their view on foreign policy, when Obama said he would meet the bad guys without preconditions.

However, Obama stuck to his guns, and many, including five former secretaries of state agree with him (which should be noted, they agreed to with him after he said there needed to be preparations first). However, Hilary Clinton attacking Obama’s policy cause him to evolve over the course of the primaries and general election. Because he was challenged, he became a better politician. This is precisely why Obama wants a team of rivals. Like in the TV show House, Obama and his team debate big issues and constant debate helps to focus the lens and make informed decisions. Clinton on the team makes Obama better.

All in all, the media circus is just that – a circus. As much as I enjoy watching and reading the news, they have a horrible tendency to manufacture stories to make them interesting or controversial. How can we blame them? It boosts ratings, sells papers and magazines, and we soak it up like a sponge! I see it… the change we can believe in. Obama is creating a team of people to offer him many perspectives. Obama’s greatest strength his ability to hear many points of view and then process the ideas, and then boil it down to the decisive action. In order to do all the things he promised, he needs that challenge… he thrives from it. So I think we should sit down, shut up, and let the man work!! He hasn’t even sat in the big chair yet! But when he does, I have great confidence that he will make good on at least 90% of his promises. And I think his first 5 appointments/considerations is a clear indicator of the success that is to come.

Episode 29: Joe the Traitor?

2008-11-13T03:01:00.000-05:00

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I know… another Joe the _____ reference, but this one was so fitting, I couldn’t resist.

Joe Lieberman defected to the dark side of the force when he chose to campaign with John McCain this election speaking. To add insult to injury to all the democrats that voted him in office, he spoke at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on John McCain’s behalf. In and of itself, speaking on behalf of a longtime friend while alienating his constituency is not a horrible thing, even though he will probably get the stink-eye at from annoyed senators, but openly campaigning against his party’s presidential candidate when promised not to do, is not good.

Still, President-Elect Obama seems to want to let bygones be bygones. And I suppose why not, Obama did win after all. However, when Lieberman questions Obama’s patriotism, questions whether he has Marxist views, and thinks he is naïve on foreign policy affairs, should Lieberman really be allowed to remain the chairman of the Homeland Security Dept.?

The answer is yes and no. Lieberman puts the Obama Administration in quite the catch 22. With Ted Stevens down by 3 (!!) votes in the Alaska Senate race, and the Georgia and Minnesota Senate races going into a recount – all three races carrying the possibility – the democrats stand a reasonably good chance of obtaining the golden 60 seats to create a filibuster proof senate. This would give Obama the green-light to enact some pretty bold (and much needed) policy with little opposition. Lieberman does vote with the democrats 90% of the time. But what is the price he pays for going against the future leader of the free world? Does he really get to trash Obama with some very ludicrous allegations and then go back to business as usual? All for the sake of having 60 senate votes?

I think Lieberman should get kicked to the curb. Here’s the deal – if you are a politician, and you vote against good policy that you would normally agree with because you have a grudge to carry out, YOU ARE A BAD AMERICAN and do not deserve a senate seat at all! Kick him out, and really engage in a spirit of bipartisanship by reaching out to moderate and even right republicans to sign on to these ideas! We NEED clean energy. We NEED a better healthcare system. We NEED fuel efficient cars. Every American can sign on to these ideas. So President-Elect Obama (I can’t wait for Jan. 20th… President Obama rolls off the tongue), as much as I applaud your Zen-like calm and affability, I think you should reconsider your stance on Lieberman. If you allow him to caucus for the Democrats, then take away his chair on Homeland Security, or something… anything! Don’t let him get off scot-free!

Episode 28: Re: Prop 8

2008-11-11T18:19:00.000-05:00

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A week ago today, America made history… and a historic mistake.

Three states, Arizona, Florida, and California had ballot measures that called for the banning of gay marriage. All three passed, but one state in particular – California, made major headlines because the passage of the ban repealed an existing law.

A bit of history, the law to ban gay marriage in California was brought up in 2001 and was passed on the basis that marriage is defined by union between a man and a woman. This past May, the California Supreme Court overturned this ruling, citing Perez v. Sharp – a case about interracial marriage that states "equal respect and dignity" of marriage is a "basic civil right." In this brief time between May and November, thousands of gay couples married. Now, that right has been taken away.

I tried to view this issue as objectively as I could. And I can understand why some believe it is an infringement on one’s religious beliefs to have gays marry. The question I have is why does it matter? A far right, ultra- conservative-Christian in Sacramento would never know a gay couple married in Los Angeles. A firm believer of the sanctity of marriage in Maine would never know of a lesbian couple marrying in San Diego. So why are Americans so afraid of gay marriage? I did all my schooling in New York, and I don’t recall ever talking about marriage in school, as it is a religious issue that goes against separation of church and state. I imagine, it should be the same in any public school.

Still, that’s neither here or there… I still say “mind your own business!” Talk about the sanctity of marriage… according to divorcerate.org, there is a 50/50 chance a heterosexual marriage will be successful! So why are we taking away the right to marry from people who truly love their partner? Who ask nothing else but to be recognized by the court of law and have the same rights and benefits as anyone else? Who want nothing more than a shot at love?

Yet, speaking of a shot at love, we see Tila Tequila prancing around the screen in search of the most blatantly superficial “Shot At Love” with strangers she barely knows, chock full of manufactured drama and no substance between her and her would be “lovers” whatsoever. Yet the real life counterpart is struck down in the court. America, we have no doubt come a long way in electing Barack Obama, but we still have a lot of growing up to do. And to all the fundamental Christians and social conservatives, “Love thy neighbor as you would love thyself.”

By the way, much congratulations to Stu Rasmussen on becoming the first America's transgender mayor - the mayor of Silverton Oregon. Maybe there's hope after all.

Episode 27: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

2008-11-09T02:33:00.000-05:00

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Martin Luther King Jr. said: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”

And on November 4th 2008, America awoke from its 45 year long slumber, and witnessed at 11 o’clock eastern standard time, the realization of that dream. The milliseconds before the clock struck eleven, the psyche of a nation had undergone a dramatic metamorphosis which came to fruition another millisecond later. At eleven, newscasters from around coast to coast proclaimed in unison “we can now project Barack Obama the next president of the United States.” From the 75,000 strong at Grant Park, to the thousands in Times Square, to the living rooms of millions, America and the world cried out in exaltation. We elected the first African American President.

And it wasn’t the kind of photo finish win we’ve seen the past two election cycles. Barack Obama won decisively, earning a total of 364 electoral votes. The victory, doesn’t only belong to President-Elect Obama, but also to Americans, who in one loud voice last Tuesday demanded change, and aspired to a greater America bound together under one banner – the American flag. Obama called for self sacrifice, shared responsibility, a commitment to serve one another, and rebuild a nation. We heeded. As Obama always reminds us, it isn’t going to be easy. We are going to have to work, come together and sacrifice if we are to going to pave the way for a better future for home and abroad. But I know we will rise to the occasion. Americans always do. I have never been filled with so much hope for a better tomorrow. I know the sentiment it shared with millions others.

As a Black American, this victory was especially special for me. I felt a sense of validation, and increased worth. As Whoopi Goldberg said, “I can put my suitcase down.” I have always loved my country, but I really loved my country on Tuesday night. I could not hold back the tears of pride and joy.

Look out world, America is coming to the 21st century table. “The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised, will not be televised, will not be televised. The revolution will be no re-run brothers; The revolution will be live.” –Gil Scott Heron

Episode 26: The Scoop - Election Ed.

2008-11-04T18:53:00.000-05:00

Here we are folks! Election Day! I cast my vote today... please make sure you all do too! The following is a live update of Election Night:

(times in PST)

9:30pm: Obama's speech was nothing short of amazing. Yes we can. Yes we did. And yes we will.

8:00pm: THEY CALLED IT. OBAMA IS OUR NEXT PRESIDENT!

7:35pm: Dems' picked up 4 seats in the senate with NC, VA, NM, and NH giving the dems 55. There is still a chance to get to 60 votes, especially in Alaska, but it's definitely too early to tell.

6:51:pm With numbers looking good in NC and FL, and Obama winning of NM, we're looking at Obama winning with well over 300 EVs. As it stands now, Obama is up 200-90, with CA, OR, and WA that brings Obama to 273. Many of the West Coast polls will be closing in a few moments, and then 30 minutes later, we'll start getting those polls.

6:26pm: OBAMA WINS OH! This is locked now. I do not see how McCain can pick up the 20 EVs now.

6:16pm: The Senate race is going VERY well for dems. Kay Hagan won NC... and thank goodness... Dole's "Godless" ad was the WORST attack I've ever seen by a modern candidate. Obama is creeping up in VA as the Northern VA numbers are coming in. So far, McCain is winning all the states he was supposed to win, making the battle for Virginia that much more important at this juncture.

6:03pm Obama 175-70... 95 EVs to go (Cali makes up 55 of those). so far the polling has been pretty accurate, but Louisiana is goign well for Obama...unexpected twist?

5:36pm: McCain has GA... I think Atlanta is not big enough a city to overcome the different between the traditional vote and Black vote. It was a late toss up however, so it's not a big loss... just a loss of a good get.

5:00pm: ...Wow!! 8pm EST brought som big news! McCain picked up West Virginia and Oklahoma. Obama won PA... The McCain strategy is crashed. Obama also cleaned up shop in the New England States. FL, MO, AL, NC too close to call. Should Obama pick up OH and NC, it's an issue of how many EVs he'll win by.

4:00pm: McCain draws first blood... He got Kentucky.

3:55pm: The intereting thing about living on the west coast is having the advantage of watching the whole election in normal hours! The election ends during primetime here, so I have about 7 different sits up, flipping between 3 channels, and texting friends from several different states to get the scoop. So far, Obama is looking good in Indiana. Only 2% of the electorate has voted so far, but the wind is definitely blowing in his favor.

Episode 25: Battlefield America!

2008-11-03T05:00:00.000-05:00

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I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!! Election day is tomorrow! It feels like Christmas eve – cool crispy air, the promise of milk and honey the following day, and non-stop TV about the event. So let us talk about the big factors going into the big election.

The Undecided Vote: I took Friday off to do a lot of reading and number crunching to help me understand the polls and the politics. What I came up with is the undecided vote should be considered a non issue. With the undecided vote in the 6% area, I think it will be a three way split. One third will vote McCain because they don’t agree with republican’s but are uncomfortable with a Black president. Another third will vote for Obama because they are uncomfortable about voting for a Black president, but they dislike republicans so much, they’re willing to “take a risk.” The final third simply will not vote… they may be disengaged with politics, or truly indifferent. Therefore, at best, McCain can only pick up a maximum 2-3% of the popular vote.

The Numbers Game: The number of democratic voters outweigh the number of republican voters. Contrary to McCain’s internal pollster Bill McInturff, the numbers will not break in McCain’s direction. McInturff argues that even if all the African American, Latino, and Youth vote comes out, the number of Evangelical Christians will out number them. Because the democrats make up a larger percentage of the voting community, I don’t see how his argument holds any water. One factor that can have a significant impact is..

…Vote Troubles: Be it voter suppression, broken machines, hacked computers, and whatnot, the one factor that can hurt Obama is cheating. However, Obama’s massive ground campaign has tons of people on the ground to police the situation, as do the republicans (though in fewer number).

The Battleground States: By my count, Obama wins the election at worst, with 338 electoral votes, at best, 360 electoral votes (states where Obama is leading by a small margin), and at improbable (taking into account all polls where a red state moved from strong McCain to lean McCain to less than or equal to statistically tied), 406 electoral votes.

States Obama will win: Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Ohio. States Obama should win: Virginia, North Carolina. States I’m nervous about: Florida, Indiana. Good gets: Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, and ARIZONA!

The road for McCain is VERY steep. He needs to win literally everything: PA, FL, VA, NC, OH, and IN. This scenario is McCain 270, Obama 268. According to the polls (see fivethirtyeight.com on the links section), PA is an incredibly unlikely get. Huge urban populations in Philly and Pittsburg make up an overwhelming percentage of the vote which strongly favors Obama. Here’s the deal, I think we’ll know the winner possibly at 7pm EST, 8pm EST tops. Indiana is the first state to close – if Obama wins, the ONLY way McCain can win is with Pennsylvania. An hour after Indian, Ohio and Florida close. If Obama picks up one or both of those states, the race is effectively over; it becomes a question of by how much Obama wins.

Democratic Last Minute Notes: Keep on doing what you’re doing… get the message out to get people to the polls. The only thing that can hurt is the lack of voters – early vote numbers show that the rock the vote campaign has broken records in early voting.

Republican Last Minute Notes: Everyone will keep their eye on Pennsylvania. That is the battleground of battlegrounds. Without PA (this still includes an Obama loss in FL, OH, VA, NC, and IN!!), Obama wins 289 to 249.

My Thoughts: All you have to do is look at the people in attendance at these rallies. Obama rallies have an overwhelming number of youth and diversity, while McCain rallies have an older ago group – 45+ years old. That is what we are voting for my dear readers. The future versus the present. The new ideas versus the old ideas. There is so much symbolism in this election. Obama talks about an America that looks to higher education and technology as the new face of America. McCain champions Joe the Plumber, who is complacency in the status quo personified (literally and figuratively). The choice is as clear as day, and it is my sincerest wish that Americans chose to look to the future. That future, without a doubt is Barack Obama. I am a nobody in the political sphere, but I’m going on the record and offering my endorsement to Barack Obama.

Bitter? Sweet? Or Bitter Sweet?

I love elections, and maps, and polls, and speeches, and rhetoric, and fully exercising my first amendment rights to criticize our government. I loved the CNN, MSNBC, Daily Show, Colbert Report, Letterman, Leno, and SNL jokes. I loved reading the latest news (and to outdo Palin, I’ll name a few – NY Times, WSJ, Politico, Huffington Post I am proud to have raised a lot of money for Obama’s campaigns. Still, it is A LOT of the same news, and I’m ready for The L Comment to move on to some fresh stories! So it is Bittersweet for me! I’d love to hear your thoughts on the post, and your feelings on the campaign! Leave a comment!

Episode 24: Joe the Missing?

2008-10-31T00:58:00.000-04:00

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This short clip is my new favorite Youtube! At a rally in Ohio today, McCain called Joe the Plumber onto the stage, only to be greeted with… silence! JTP wasn’t there!

I guess he missed the memo…

While we’re on this [name] the [occupation] kick, allow me to take a stab at it, and call out “Joe the Metaphor.” Joe, who’s real name is Sam, was launched from obscurity to fame in a matter of minutes, after he became the running metaphor of the working American in the 2nd debate. But the larger metaphor is how Joe the Plumber perfectly encapsulates the McCain campaign message – or lack thereof.

Joe went from enjoying his 15 minutes, to hating the attention, to loving the attention, to aspiring to run for congress, to hiring a publicist, to vying for a country music record deal. The many phases of Joe, which have no meaningful connection with each other, and have nothing to do with the election, check.

Next, Joe is a foreign policy expert. He was asked in a press conference if a vote for Obama means the death of Israel, to which, he replied “I’m gonna have to go ahead and agree with that.” Even Fox News had to debunk that claim! Making spurious claims with no basis in the truth whatsoever to scare a particular demographic of voters, check.

Joe has a publicist? Talk about cashing in! That publicist is gonna stick Joe in everything from music, to TV shows, to book deals, and then drop him like its hot. Cashing in on C-List celebrity status from being thrust into the media’s eye in the 11th hour, check.

So as we can see, Joe couldn’t have been a better puppet to drag around for the last five days. He is the epitome of the lack of direction, focus, and lack of message for a campaign devoid of substance. But as with all the William Hungs of the world, it is sure fun to watch the spectacle!

Episode 23: The Elevator

2008-10-30T00:56:00.000-04:00

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So I have been wondering why my episode numbers havent been matching with the number of posts made. I deleed and reposted episode 6, so I thought it was blogger's fault. It turns out, I just missed number 23 lol. So here is my explaination... When buildings exceed 13 floors, they skip floor 13 because it's bad luck. 13+10 equals 23. Therefore it is a bad luck number in this blog as well. I have much like symmetry, so I only added this post for the sake of evening out the numbers!

Episode 22: Your Vote Counts!

2008-10-29T19:55:00.000-04:00

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I don’t think this is the McCain campaign's doing, more likely independent supporters, but we’re seeing the adage “if you can’t win, cheat!” take effect.

It’s a shame people have resorted to these measures. Even more important than the first amendment (and I was a communications major!) is our right to vote. I have no respect for anyone who tried to suppress voting. Win with class, or go down with dignity.

But What The McCain Camp Is Doing…

…is making up their own poll numbers! Talk about crestfallen and disillusioned! I think the bigger purpose is to keep the base excited about the election still. Having done a fair amount of sampling research, I know that the internal McCain polling has a fair share of sample bias, but you can’t blame them for trying!

Episode 21: Cold Hard Cash

2008-10-28T19:38:00.000-04:00

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With the economy in shambles, the presidential election by and large is about how each candidate will address America’s financial future. The democratic and republican candidates have wholly different approaches to the issue but which plan is better?

As I understand it, McCain wants to continue the supply-side economic model, which offers tax breaks to all Americans and businesses, in hopes that the savings will be reinvested into small business, the stock market, and the creation of new business. In order for this model to succeed, it requires the government interferes with the free market as little as possible by way of the deregulation of lending institutions, believing banks should determine whether to issue loans, not government mandates.

I’m not sure what the economic term for Obama’s plan is, but he labels it as “bottom-up economics.” In this plan, there is a tax cut for middle class, working Americans. Those making under $250,000, or 95% of working Americans, would receive tax relief. There would not be any taxes on capital gains, and small businesses get a tax credit when starting a new business. Also there is tax relief for business owners who hire American workers.

In a perfect capitalist system, I believe there is much merit to John McCain’s model. I believe capitalism, the idea that anyone with a good idea can rise to wealth, competition that drives prices down while increasing quality, and the ability to reinvest to create sustainable wealth is what makes America so great. The problem is capitalism inherently has winners and losers. In a perfect system, losers give their idea a shot, and when it fails in the market, they come up with a new idea or they quit. In reality, losers try to cheat their way to get ahead, and winners try to cheat the game to stay ahead. Because of an imperfect system, there is a need for a referee.

That referee is the government. Regulation is essential to ensure the free market system works. Without rules, and punishment for breaking the rules, the free market becomes the wild west – a recipe for disaster that came into fruition with the economic crisis almost two months ago.

McCain’s plan requires a cultural change; a change that encourages shared responsibility. The survival-of-the-fittest model in play is a game of “every man for himself.” This causes a hoarding mentality, as we are more apt to accumulate wealth, and then spend the money on ourselves. When the economy is good, we buy lavish things: cars, jewelry, clothes, etc. However when the economy is bad, we pay our bills. In the end, we do not reinvest money, building a business is difficult, and economic growth is stunted. The true irony of McCain’s plan is Obama’s approach is a necessary pre-requisite to ensuring the success of a supply-side model.

Obama’s economic approach requires a much broader brush stroke to fully understand how it affects our financial future. The first step is to rebuild the middle class. In order to create the kind of growth McCain suggests, it is essential that we have a thriving middle class to mitigate the hoarding mentality. By offering extreme relief to the middle class, middle class spending confidence will be restored. This will get money circulating again, and in the long term end our financial crisis. By providing incentives to hire Americans, more people will be able o go to work. Finally, by increasing spending for infrastructure, even more people will have access to jobs while simultaneously repairing our roads, bridges, and tunnels. Looking at the big picture, this spreads opportunity for economic growth for Americans of all socio-economic status, from labor jobs, to white collar jobs.

Increasing the number of jobs is just the first element. The next element, and the most important element, is redefining the American culture. Obama wants to move from the hoarding mentality to a mentality of shared responsibility. I think his vision is largely based on his beginnings as a community organizer; this is community organizing on the grandest of scales! The first part deals with energizing young Americans to participate in civic responsibilities. One way he proposes is a $4000 credit for college tuition in exchange of doing community service. At first, young Americans will adhere to their hedonistic tendencies, and volunteer only to get money for school. However, over time, young Americans will develop the self initiative to perform civic duties, and help one another.

The second aspect deals with transportation and information technology. By investing in these infrastructures, Americans from all parts of the country become accessible to on another. Broadband access in rural communities means they can earn college credits from home, participate in internet jobs, and build international businesses somewhere in the mountains of Wyoming. Bullet trains, faster, clean, and safer transportation allows us to easily access any part of the country and break down the walls that keep us apart. We can no longer be ignorant of what is going on from state to state, if we hope to compete country to country.

We become a nation inextricably intertwined under Obama’s plan. This plan is dependent on a revitalized middle class. The insinuation, or I suppose outright claim that this plan is socialist is absurd. None of what I described can happen in a socialist system. We need a free market to create the kind of jobs and competition to make any of Obama’s plans work. One people have money, the middle class is revitalized, and our culture has been redefined, it may be possible that a supply-side system may work. However, it is just as possible that we undo our progress, and revert to the hoarding mentality.

These are big picture ideas not even on McCain and Palin’s radar. None of what I write here will come to fruition in 4 years. Should Obama be reelected, we may only see a tiny sprout of this cultural redefinition. But Obama will definitely set the precedent for a better America. We will rise and fall as one nation. Which direction we go is solely up to us.

Episode 20: Talking Points

2008-10-27T19:32:00.000-04:00

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This post is just a few thoughts I had about some recent news. They weren’t long enough to warrant its own, so I put them all together. It may turn into a regular segment, so stay tuned.

Regarding Undecided Voters:

Who could possibly be undecided at this point? There hasn’t been such a major ideological difference between two presidential candidates for at least a couple of decades. From taxes, to jobs, to planning for the future of transportation and energy technology, Obama and McCain are nearly polar opposites. They do meet in the middle on some of the needs for the country, but still have different ideas for achieving the same goal. The general thought is undecided voters this late out wants to vote McCain, but don’t agree with his campaign tactics, Palin, or the war in Iraq. They seem to be waiting for a ground-breaking, earth-shattering, reason to solidify their vote for either candidate. I doubt this late in the game they will get it.

Regarding Palin’s $150,000 Wardrobe:

The problem is not that Palin is wearing clothes from high fashion designers. I do believe her when she says the clothes will be , returned or given to charity. The problem is that citizens donate money to the RNC for the campaign. They shell out hard earned dollars in a bad economy to support a cause the believe in. They expect that money to go towards ads, town hall meetings, flyers, bumper stickers, and things of the like, but not for the wardrobe and make up for one candidate. It is true Obama has been able to outspend McCain as much as 5:1. Thus it is in the best interest of the RNC to use their money wisely. Which brings me to…

Regarding Effective Advertising:

The McCain money problem is also routed in wasting money on attack ads that don’t work. It proves how out of touch with the country the McCain campaign is. With 24 hour news, bloggers, internet, podcasts, broadband access, fiber optics, Youtube etc, information moves at the speed of light. The American population is savvy enough to vet the information they receive, and read credible sources of information to debunk false claims. If the someone thought Obama said something out of bounds on a speech, and repeated the sound bites that seem damaging, Americans interested in discovering the truth for themselves can simply watch Youtube and hear for themselves exactly what was said and draw their own conclusions.

Episode 19: Yes We Can!

2008-10-27T01:30:00.000-04:00

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A friend of mine showed me this video, and I had to share it.

I don't understand it... I don't understand how people think McCain and Palin are relevant when you hear Obama speak. This is not fancy rhetoric... this is a well thought out examaination of the state of our union, and what we can do to make America and the world a better place. All I hear from the other side of the aisle is an ignorant disregard for the future of our country, egocentrism masked as patriotism, and a lack of the rational thought.

8 days left however. Can Obama do it? YES HE CAN! and YES WE CAN!!!

Episode 18: Time Warp

2008-10-26T02:09:00.000-04:00

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I had to check the calendar, pinch myself, and rub my eyes, because I was pretty sure I traveled back in time to a hi-def version on the 1950s. I urge you to spend a few moments to watch these next couple of videos in turn.

From an anthropological perspective, this election cycle is by far the most interesting election in modern history. Some of what I alluded to in EPISODE ONE has actually come to light; the ideas of change and progression are conflicting with the desperate clinging to obsolete ideals. The easiest way to ward off change is to ground oneself in the past and hold to dear life to one’s principles. If a politician’s rhetoric is based on say 1950’s America (the good ol’ days) and Christianity, what kind of attack can shake their resolve? America was a calmer time back then before people starting wanting to be treated like people, and one would be foolish to come between another’s God.

Yet there are others who realized we have exhausted the full potential of the Baby Boomer culture, and technology, interdependence, and becoming a member of the global community is the future of this country. Change can be scary and uncertain. However it is not in the best interest for America to slap on a Liberal, Leftist, Anti-American, Socialist, Communist label for anyone who wants to travel uncharted territory of our new modern world. In fact, the ultra-conservative, populist, anti-intellectual culture will usher this country back into the principles of the early 1900s. We will not be able to compete with the global market. Consider China, which has embraced a culture of intellectualism for over 6000 years, or Neo-Europeans, who have embraced cultural progressivism. And here we are with John McCain, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, and the staff of Fox News embracing “Joe Six-pack.” I have nothing against Joe Six-pack, but shouldn’t we as a nation be aspiring toward greater things?

Have you once heard McCain truly address the importance of investing in higher education (which he calls a SPECIAL INTEREST)? Have you heard McCain address the importance of providing broadband access to rural communities? Sarah Palin, ignorantly mocked the importance of FRUIT FLIES for scientific research. And the republicans dare to question the judgment of Barack Obama?

“This election is a numbers game – it is a question of whether there are more of us or more of them…” someone said to me today. True words and wise words… let us hope, for the sake of all of us, there are indeed more of us come November 4th.

Episode 17: Dissent Amongst The Ranks

2008-10-24T20:35:00.000-04:00

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“It looks like the ‘Straight Talk Express’ has lost a wheel” said Barack Obama in the second debate. Now it seems the bus also has a blown transmission, dead battery, a cracked windshield, and a stalled engine.

Perhaps it stared with the defection of Colin Powell or the endorsement of over 100 newspapers, including The Chicago Tribune – a paper that has never endorsed a democrat in its long history. It seems the nods for Obama from these venerable sources has put the wind in the sails for a McCain exodus – or from another point of view, triggered the abandoning the Straight Talk Ship.

Other converts include Susan Eisenhower, Governor Linwood Holton of Virginia, who is campaigning for Obama in the state, Bill Ruckelshaus, who served in the Nixon and Reagan administrations, Christopher Buckley, son of conservative icon and founder of the republican publication The National Review (and subsequently tendered his resignation because of this endorsement), and the list continues.

Furthermore, McCain is now attacking Bush’s policies these last 8 years, which is causing quite a stir amongst the republican base. In a joint interview with McCain and Palin on NBC Nightly News, the two were definitely not in sync. It is speculated that Palin’s unfavorable standing in the polls are causing somewhat of a rift.

But the biggest blow, which must cut McCain pretty deep, has to come from CC Goldwater, granddaughter of McCain’s hero Presidential Candidate Barry Goldwater. She writes:

“Myself, along with my siblings and a few cousins, will not be supporting the Republican presidential candidates this year. We believe strongly in what our grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics. I learned a lot about my grandfather while producing the documentary, Mr. Conservative Goldwater on Goldwater. Our generation of Goldwaters expects government to provide for constitutional protections. We reject the constant intrusion into our personal lives, along with other crucial policy issues of the McCain/Palin ticket.”

The rest of her commentary can be found here.

This campaign will go down in the history books as one of the worst. I guarantee, a few years down the road when all of this information has been fully digested, it will serve as a cautionary tale for future political strategists.

Episode 16: Interviewing Tips 101

2008-10-23T03:12:00.000-04:00

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A quick Google search for “Job Interview” would reveal 659,000 hits for relevant info on how to impress your potential boss. Some tips include “know some information about your employer” or “research your job position” or “dress to impress.” Let’s see how Sarah Palin fares in our little test.

Know Some Information About Your Employer

For anyone running for high office, the people of the United States is the employer. As I have written in previous posts, I feel with far stronger conviction, that Palin’s message does not extend beyond the base – she’s preaching to Wasila, Alaska, and places of the like. Far worse, she has effectively alienated us city-slickers by referring to big towns as “anti-American.” In every TV interview, she proves she is completely out of touch with the needs of the American public, repeating her rehearsed talking points like a parrot. What’s worse, she has a knack for contradicting the agenda on her own campaign, be it telling people at a food stand that we should fire over the Pakistani border if we have bin Laden in our sights, to denouncing robo calls, to misquoting how many former secretaries of state endorsed McCain.

Grade: F

Research Your Job Position

Dennis Kucinich famously carried the Constitution in his pocket. I happen to have the Constitution app on my iPhone. Anyone who has been in 6th grade has the Constitution in their history book. Anyone with internet access can Google the Constitution. So why is it the Vice Presidential nominee has failed to understand her duties as VP? Keith Olberman hit the nail on the head with his “Campaign Comment” which you can watch below.

Very simple job description… break ties in the Senate, and play backup Quarterback. That is precisely what the role of backup QBs is – know the playbook, and sit on the bench unless the starring Quarterback is injured. Not sit in the coach’s room and make plays, not getting in there and making policies whenever she felt the need to do so. The sad thing is it only takes a library rental, or internet search, or the council of a high school senior to find information on what exactly her job position entails.

Grade: F

Dress For Success

If there is one thing about Sarah Palin to like, she has pretty incredible fashion sense. I’m sure Rich Lowery would agree. I always thought to myself “she is sporting some really nice clothes!” and was rather impressed with the business professional attire. When she takes to the stage, like her or hate her, you can’t help but feel a… certain connection… a certain energy, a confident gate that shimmers across the screen like a shooting star. Turns out however, elegance pays, as the RNC spent over $150,000 for her wardrobe from top fashion designers like Sachs New York. So much for the hockey mom image… I wonder if her standing in the polls would be better if she took to the stage in a sweatshirt and jeans.

Grade: A+

Why is it I rag on Sarah Palin so much? I will be blunt – the thought of her as my Vice President offends me. I know I’m only an ideological political Blogger, a rookie one at that, but I never thought I’d see such a desperate ploy to win over the hearts and mind of Americans. Women should be offended as well. Hilary Clinton is incredibly intelligent, understands the needs of the people, and knows how to effectively communicate her ideas. Sarah Palin doesn’t even qualify as a cheap imitation. Palin, in comparison, is the embodiment of cliché, innuendo, and awful sentence structure. I ask you fellow Americans, if the Presidency was a job interview, and you were the boss, would you seriously hire Sarah Palin?

Besides her woefully inaccurate interpretation of her job, she lacks intellectual curiosity, and possesses are narrow world view. The latter to no fault of her own, as she was pretty much born and raised an Alaskan, leaving her home state only for college. She tried to go to school in Hawaii for a bit, but the warm weather wasn’t her scene and she went back to Alaska. As the governor of that state some years later, she was perfectly equipped to service the wants and needs of her people.

Now the McCain campaign has her on a tight leash, spoon feeding her agenda and not letting her out to talk to the media unless Daddy McCain is around to supervise. Women, where are you?? Recent polls do show an increasing unfavorability for Palin among women voters, but why isn’t this number closer to 100%?

I really can’t help but feel awful for Palin because I think I would like her if she wasn’t the VP nominee. She was thrust into this spot and she can’t get out. Should the republicans lose, she will return to Alaska with a tarnished reputation. She will be remembered in the history books as the single biggest mistake of the Republican party. No pundit, surrogate, campaign staffer, or candidates themselves, will ever admit that she is ill-equipped for the job, as that undermines their message and will certainly spell the end of the campaign. We can only hope that 12 days from now, her bid for the white house comes to a close. She certainly, has great skill, cunning, and instincts for her governor role in Alaska, but I want her nowhere near the red button.

Episode 15: The Powell Effect

2008-10-20T23:35:00.000-04:00

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On the News Show “Meet The Press” this past weekend, Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has broken the republican ranks, and endorsed Barack Obama for president.

"I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities -- and you have to take that into account -- as well as his substance -- he has both style and substance… He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president." said Powell.

While on the other side of the aisle, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called the endorsement “…totally about race” on his show.

I have been called a hopeless optimist about many things, but I have always expressed major concern with race relations in this country. Allow me to state at the onset (since the allegiance of liberals have been a… concern as of late) that I love America with all my heart. The ability to even write this blog without fear of persecution is a testament to greatness of America. However, I feel race issues in this country have never been fully addressed. It is like the awkward conversation about sex parents have with their kids – “mommies and daddies ‘do it’ and that’s that…. Get it? Got it? Good. Let us never speak of it again.”

And for 40 years, we haven’t addressed race, instead electing to slap a “taboo” label on it, and never speaking of it again. And though there are laws and regulations in place that protect minorities from overt racism, no law can stop an old lady from clutching her bag tighter as I pass her down the street. What we are seeing now is the explosion of suppressed race tension. McCain and Palin have planted seeds of hate and division that has given permission to the crazies to say what they really feel about America. I can’t begin to express my extreme disappointment for the lack of social progression in some parts of the country, and in the minds and hearts of some people.

Still, I am an optimist. I still believe that the population of hate mongering, overtly racist people is very small. I still believe that in 2008, racism isn’t just taboo, white people genuinely denounce it. I still believe that Rush Limbaugh is preaching to a very small choir.

What does the Colin Powell endorsement mean for Obama? Very little at this point, I’m afraid, but not for a bad reason. Despite Limbaugh’s harsh criticism, Powell is a highly respected person in the political and military spheres. Perhaps the endorsements tips the vote in favor for Obama for undecided voters in the military. Perhaps civilian undecided voters have a justification now for voting Obama.

I see this endorsement as not a final nail in the coffin for McCain, but a testament to the incredible campaign Obama has run. He has remained consistent, and he stuck with what he knows how to do – move and inspire people to achieve a better life. Obama is prophet-like, starting with only a few believers, and picking up followers along the way until his message became a movement.

By all political accounts, Hilary Clinton should have beaten him in the primaries, but there is something about the delivery, there careful chosen and thoughtful words, his stride, his confidence that moves people. Powell correctly identified Obama as a “transformation figure.” I think this is a quality that everyone can see in Obama, but Powell’s endorsement justifies. Will this make the polls wildly swing in Obama’s favor? I doubt it, but that not how the Obama campaign has worked anyway. It is a gradual increase of followers that will no doubt reach its apex on November 4th.

Episode 14: OOOH Boy…

2008-10-17T23:37:00.000-04:00

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If anyone ever had any doubt the ultra-conservative population was completely irrelevant, here is a story that should seal the deal. Bob Grant, and apparently other conservative radio hosts were angry when Obama, when giving a speech in Toledo Ohio, had propped behind him US flags and… “Obama Flags!”

Said Bob Grant,

"[D]id you notice Obama is not content with just having several American flags, plain old American flags with the 50 states represented by 50 stars? He has the 'O' flag. And that's what that 'O' is. That's what that 'O' is."

Mr. Grant… that is… the OHIO STATE FLAG! Oh my wow! That has to be the most ignorant comment I have heard in a long time. The flag was adopted in 1902, when Obama was negative 59 years old!

Swing and a miss…

Episode 13: The Scoop

2008-10-16T22:58:00.000-04:00

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There are a few interesting things going on in the world of politics, so instead of 3 different episodes, I thought I’d do one episode of the 3 funnier stories I’ve heard. Then I had the bright idea to make it a new segment on The L Comment. So beginning now, every 13th episode will be “The Scoop” posts!

#3 Story – Hotties and Hockey Moms?

Keith Olberman has this commentary from Rich Lowery from the National Review as a running joke on the show. I did a little digging on the web and found the sexy, sultry, erotic, quote from a most lonely man… children under 17 not admitted without adult supervision…

“A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It's one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O'Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it.”

Cue the sexy saxophone riff…

#2 Story – Haha… Another Black Joke

As a Black male myself, I could rattle off a few stereotypes pretty easily: Black people like fried chicken, kool-aid, watermelons, pork ribs, etc. And it would so have it an independent republican supporting group in San Bernadino CA, designed Obama Bucks – a food stamp with *gasp* fried chicken, kool-aid, watermelons, and pork ribs on the bill! Good grief, for goodness sake it’s 2008! However, it is quite proven by now that these attacks score Obama points in the polls, so maybe these jerks are undercover democrats?

#1 Story – Look Out Mario... A New Plumber Is in Town!

The world famous Italian Plumber from Brooklyn now has to share the spotlight. In the debate last night, a man Joseph Wurzelbacher, now forever known as “Joe the Plumber” was brought up as the running metaphor for the middle class guy trying to achieve the American Dream. Well as you’d expect, Joe had a barrage of news trucks, reporters, and lights, this morning and got his 15 minutes of fame the following morning. Big mistake for McCain to bring him up, because it seems McCain made up Joe’s story. Joe the Plumber is actually not a plumber but a contractor, doesn’t make over $100,000 but $40,000, and he had no plans to buy his boss’ business. If he did however, he would only make about $100,000 a year which falls well within Obama’s tax plan. Can I hear a big OOPS?!

Still, I can’t help but feel bad for Joe. He was an innocent bystander, trying to do the right thing by exercising his American right to carefully choose who he’ll vote for. However the nosy media, in the interest of telling the whole story, went through his banking records, property licenses, bills, employment history, family records and whatnot, and uncovered some information I’m sure Joe would rather keep private. Now his whole neighborhood knows he is an unlicensed, lower middle class, single parent, undecided plumber.

Take a seat Joe Six-Pack, there’s a new sheriff in town!

Episode 12: Fireworks! Finally!

2008-10-16T01:14:00.000-04:00

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Wow! Is it possible Obama and McCain kept their energy bridled in anticipation for the final fight?! This is the debate I was waiting for. Frankly, every 1-on-1 debate should be in this format. The first debate lent itself toward rambling. The second debate was an utter failure because it wasn’t really a town hall format. But sitting down, and arguing their points of view, now THAT is how you debate. For the first time in this debate process, both candidates clearly demonstrated their points of view. And now, it is up to the voter to decided which point of view.

Some pundits believed that Obama was beating out the clock. However, if anyone has been following Barack Obama’s campaign, it is very clear that he has been advocating the same principles for bolstering the middle class, creating universal healthcare, making drastic improvement of the education system, and making college affordable, among others. So yes, Obama really had nothing else to do, but reiterate his political philosophy tonight.

John McCain on the other hand, had a lot to answer for. He has dug himself a six-footer, and he had to spend time plugging it up. Between Bill Ayers, ACORN, healthcare, economy, his picking Sarah Palin, John McCain has created his own hostile environment. He had no choice but to be fiery and unleash the fighter’s spirit. To this end, McCain succeeded. John McCain did exactly what he needed to do.

However, McCain’s demeanor shifted drastically as the debate progressed. He was shifting in his chair, and blinking, and combative, and angry. He has proven that he cannot keep his cool. An important quality that makes a good leader is grace under fire. Bill Clinton was incredibly cool, and life in the 90s was good. G.W. Bush is an ineffective communicator and very shifty and uncomfortable in the limelight, and he is arguably the worst American president. McCain does not look like a dunce on camera, but he truly lives up to the “hothead” McCain moniker, which could have very negative ramifications in the global political sphere.

“Senator Obama, I am not President Bush!” What an awesome line, delivered to perfection. It had the right sting and the right tone, but it didn’t come off as condescending. But Obama’s response was more impressive. And it wasn’t what Obama said the impressed me, it was the non-verbal cues. He absorb attacks without flinching, carefully chooses his words, and then follows up. This is leadership defined! It takes a very special person to be able to exhibit such patience under fire. There was one moment however when Obama’s resolve flickered somewhat, and then returned to normal, when Obama discussed the angry mobs yelling “terrorist” and “kill him.” Repudiate attacks on McCain’s healthcare plan showed on the commercials? Are you kidding me? That is a weak argument. It is not abnormal to attack each other’s plans to convince Americans one plan is better. Ads that incite nuts in the crowd to say despicable things is clearly out of bounds.

One topic where McCain completely failed was on abortion rights. That was an ugly finish. I am pro choice, and I also believe that the third trimester ban, except in the case where the mother’s health is in danger is important. It should be a woman’s right to question her morality on the issues, analyze the health risks, and with a her family and doctor make difficult choice. John McCain’s mocking of health risks to the mother was incredibly insensitive, and he will regret that statement in the morning.

What does this mean for the rest of the campaign? Well there are a few things to consider now. Virginia is now leaning Obama, with the latest polls showing him up by 10. This effectively means Obama wins the election with 277 electoral votes. If that lead holds up or increases, it is statistically impossible for McCain to win if the polls are accurately reflected on election day. Even if Obama doesn’t get Virginia, McCain needs to go 8 for 8 in the swing states. I strongly doubt he will win New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

For Obama, he needs to steadily continue on. He needs to continue to focus on the middle class, jobs, healthcare, and education. Essentially, he does not need to change his game plan. Throughout the 20 months that Obama has been campaigning, his steady and consistent message have been turning people to team Obama. The true snowball effect.

McCain however is in an incredibly difficult position. He is losing bad, and uphill battle may be the understatement of the year. McCain’s trek to the presidency is damn near a vertical climb with no ledges on which to grip himself. The factor that destroyed his campaign may be the only way to save it; he must change his message to lay out plans for the middle class. It is interesting that he refuses to use the word “middle class.” This was, is, and will continue to be a problem. Blue lens bias aside, I just can’t see how McCain can make up ground. The fact is, McCain supports trickle-down economics. Trickle-down economics does not work. He loses the economy debate, therefore he loses the election.

But wow, this debate was the fireworks show I think we’ve all have been waiting for! As a Long Island native, it is no surprise that this debate was so great… that’s how we do on Strong Island.

Episode 11: The Bradley Effect

2008-10-15T19:13:00.000-04:00

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The Bradley Effect: Does it still hold true in modern politics?

The Bradley Effect…is a proposed explanation for a discrepancy between voter opinion polls and election outcomes in American political campaigns when a white candidate and a non-white candidate run against each other. Named for Tom Bradley, an African-American who lost the 1982 California governor's race despite being ahead in some voter polls, the Bradley effect refers to an alleged tendency on the part of some voters to tell pollsters that they are undecided or likely to vote for a black candidate, and yet, on election day, vote for his/her white opponent.
-Wikipedia

There could be an argument made for the Bradley Effect in ’82. The social atmosphere in America was very different. There was a palpable tension between blacks and whites in the 80s that reached its boiling point with Rodney King in 1991. American culture was in somewhat of a “social recession” following the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Crime was increasing with each passing year, an if the music of time wass any indication, there was much social unrest.

Much has changed in two decades however. Massive gains in communications and information technology has made the globe much smaller and interconnected. The racial divides are beginning to fade, or at the very least, acknowledged. Companies can hire employees in several different countries, with all members communicating in real time. And with Wikipedia, Google, blogs, and other information sources, we all have equal access to the same information.

Therefore, in our current social atmosphere, I believe the Bradley Effect is irrelevant. More now than ever, Americans have the emotional and mental capacity to judge not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. I think the polls are very real and Bradley free. What use does Virginia in lying to the pollsters?! They have been a red state for 40 years. Now Obama is as many as 10 points up? How can anyone believe the Bradley effect holds any water in today’s atmosphere? If it were true, Obama would’ve been finished long ago.

Episode 10: BOOOO!!

2008-10-13T17:26:00.000-04:00

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If this little tidbit is any indication of which way Pennsylvania is going to vote in 22 days, McCain may want to conceed this state as well, and focus his money in Texas...

Episode 9: This Message Will Self Destruct

2008-10-10T20:41:00.000-04:00

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A stinky pile of it hit the fan today, when John McCain had to confront the monster he has created.

Talk about a campaign spinning out of control. McCain has been forced to repudiate the anti-American, pro-terrorist attacks his campaign has spent the week injecting into their rallies. First, the fundamentals of our economy are strong and a few days later the economy is in crisis. Then he is going to suspend his campaign and postpone the debate to fix the crisis, and did nothing of the sort, taking 22 hours to leave for Washington, blowing off Letterman, and still had the debate. And now, he labels Obama as a man with questionable connections, and now has to renounce that claim at his own town hall meeting. If his campaign is a microcosm of how the next four years will be, we’re in big trouble if he somehow gets elected…

Episode 8: Role Reversal

2008-10-10T02:09:00.000-04:00

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I have been following the election campaign for about 15 months. There is a trend I’m beginning to see that started right around the time Sarah Palin was nominated for VP, and solidified when the stock market began its collapsed. The republican party has fallen apart. McCain is saying one thing, Palin is saying another, and both are not in sync with the GOP. McCain’s “maverick” ways are causing somewhat of a rift with the party, particularly with the new McCain proposal for the government to buy back all affected mortgages at full face value (more on that in another post). That plan is about as far from the republican philosophy as you can get, and a stunning contrast of his “small government” principles.

On the other side of the aisle however, the democrats have been the most cohesive I have ever seen them. They have rallied behind Obama, and together deliver one message. Even on issues with which they have expressed past disagreements, (Obama v. Clinton on healthcare or Obama v. Biden on the Iraq War) they have come to realize during this campaign that they all have the same goals, and the solutions can be fine tuned later. His campaign is largely based on modernizing the American philosophy so we can compete with the global marketplace.

With big picture ideas such as universal healthcare, community volunteerism, responsible foreign policy where we sit down with friends, and yes enemies so we can find solutions that don’t require firing guns at one another, and giving the struggling middle class much need support, he has created a platform that all democrats have been craving for years, certainly, for almost a decade. The idea of shared responsibility and sacrifice are foreign words to many Americans, as we have grown used to the idea of every-man-for-himself politics and social atmosphere. And it is the idea of a new atmosphere – a modernized America, that scares the old guard far more than Obama’s skin tone and middle name.

Yet a dysfunctional McCain campaign continues to harp on middle names, embrace a 1950s era “traditional” America, and incite Jim Crowe like mobs. “Terrorist!” “Kill him!” “Off with his head!” the people of the McCain/Palin mobs exclaim. And McCain and Palin idly stand by and watch decades of progress regress back to the darkest days of our history. With less than four weeks left on the campaign trail, they have lifted up the carpet and let loose all the closeted hatred and racial epithets swept under the rug for four decades. Yet McCain will never publicly admit his disdain for Obama. That would certainly spell the end of his campaign. What McCain is doing, is far worse than directly confronting Obama; he gets the negative dialogue going, and allows the mob to connect the dots – a clear allusion to the atmosphere leading up to the end of the reconstruction.

Still, I can’t help but hope. The polls indicate that this gutter-level rhetoric is not doing anything to sway the masses away from Obama. In fact, more people seem to be put off by McCain’s tactics. There is even a disconnect between the republican base, as many republicans are uninterested in tenuous connections to terrorists, and would rather hear about how they can afford to stay in their home. Considering John McCain did not once say “middle class” in the debate, it is still in question what team McCain truly plays for – the American citizens, or the special interest groups fueling his campaign?

Amidst it all, Obama has soared above the dirty campaign. He still has the charismatic smile, the confident gate, and the roar of a proud lion in his speeches. He is crisp, intelligent, and remains level headed. When he approaches the podium, he is greeted to thunderous applause, followed by deferential silence. He commands the respect of Americans and politicians alike. He is a true leader.

I think about President Bill Clinton, who had all the right ideas, but was way ahead of his time. Obama is the right man for the right time. Americans are at a crucial point where we have a choice to make. Will we display courage and build a new future with Obama at the helm, or will we remain complacent and regress to an America not quite ready for the 21st century with McCain’s shaky hand at the tiller? We will know in 26 days…

Episode 7: Seriously AIG??

2008-10-09T01:43:00.000-04:00

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After all the trials and tribulations of passing the bailout bill – or rescue plan depending on who you ask, AIG gives the taxpayers a huge slap in the face.

It’s kind of like a parent who gives their child money to pay the rent, and the child turns around and buys a PlayStation 3. AIG chief executive Edward Liddy claims that it is standard business practice to go on retreats. However, it is not standard business practice to go on a $440,000 retreat on the tab of American taxpayers, especially given the reluctance of many to pass this bill. The government told us that there is “blood on the street” and we are amidst a “financial Armageddon,” necessitating the need for a bailout. And only a week later after Americans swallowed a very large pill, do these people go to one of the most exclusive resorts in the country to get manicures, pedicures, and a $23,000 spa treatment.

Every executive on that trip should be fired and the money should be returned. Until the economy has recovered, every company bailed should lay low, keep their tails between their legs, and atone for their dishonorable actions.

Moral of the story, don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Or maybe, there is no honor among thieves?

Episode 6: Round 2 - Debate Thoughts

2008-10-08T04:58:00.000-04:00

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Chalk this one up in the W column for Barack Obama.

As many commentators duly noted, McCain needed a decisive victory in this debate if he was to have any chance at derailing the Obama campaign. His message failed to extend beyond his republican base, and immediate polls showed that undecided voters and independents weren’t moved by McCain’s message.

Still, the candidates performed well. To McCain’s credit, he did deliver a spirited performance, prefacing each response to selected audience members by saying “thank you” for their questions. Sen. McCain enjoys the town hall environment (though not a traditional town hall setting) and appeared confident and in familiar territory. He was more aggressive in this debate, but his responses to Obama seemed cold and condescending. An interesting note: not once in this debate did McCain directly address the middle class, which may not fare well with the voters, considering the economy is the primary issue of this election.

Barack Obama remained very presidential. Despite the nasty GOP smear campaign, Obama didn’t seem phased by it. He was incredibly calm, cool, and collected. He gave thoughtful answers that directly addressed the middle class most every time. However, I would have liked to see more flair. Obama was at his best when he delivered his incredibly insightful speeches at his rallies. He of course has to dial down his professorial tone to effectively speak to all Americans, but I think a little more flair could serve him well. If he increases his intensity just a notch, he will easily win the final debate.

This debate was a do-or-die situation for McCain. It is much like football game, when a team is losing by 4 with 30 seconds remaining in the game… he needed a touchdown to win, and he missed the mark.

Episode 5: Sic Him Palin! Sic Him!

2008-10-07T07:28:00.000-04:00

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“Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything.” Or to anything, as the McCain/Palin ticket, unable to find any success discussing actual issues, resort to a time tested republican tactic of inciting fear amongst the American public.

“He is pallin’ around with terrorists,” he is “dangerous,” he has connections with domestic terrorists, and gee willikers folks, he is "not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America.” As you see America and I see America. Note here, the not so subtle racial tone of this attack, made by Sarah Palin during a rally in Colorado. Without any platform on which to stand after disastrous interviews with Katie Couric, an economy quickly falling into depression – the root of the trouble primarily attributed to republican deregulatory ideology, and the polls now in Obama’s favor in red state strongholds, the only tactic left is to defame Obama with scare tactics. And serendipity would have it Barack Obama is a black man. A scary, militant, dangerous, black man white America. Can you really trust him? It is stupefying how we have come so far with race relations in this country, only to walk two steps forward and four steps back.

Can we blame Palin and the McCain campaign to resorting to pit bullish desperation? After all, the way to really get a dog fighter to a rabid, irrational state is to starve it to near death. Is that not the state of the republican party now? Starved for answers, starved for truth, starved for integrity? The republican fear mongering brings to mind the famous Obi-wan Kenobi proverb, “who’s more foolish, the fool, or the person who follows him?” Who exactly is the audience for these disgusting attacks? I have been called a hopeless optimist, so I hope that I am correct in thinking these attacks only fire up the gullible and the closet racists who were already voting for McCain anyway – the fools who blindly follow the fools.

I long for the day when this country can grow up, and finally sit at the adult’s table.

Episode 4: Small Town Values

2008-10-02T08:06:00.000-04:00

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I was born in New York City, raised on Long Island, and did my undergraduate work in the rural town of Potsdam in upstate New York. I believe I have a unique understanding of how big city, suburban, and small town cultures work, because I have lived in them all.

The big city, or as I like to call them, “the big black dots on a map” serves as the epicenter of business, culture, trading, production, and commerce of a community. The population is very dense compared to its surrounding towns. Because our big cities have been around for so long, it is easy to mistake the city to be a “gathering place,” a place to experience fast paced life and culture. However, the city is where the original community was founded. Before the Big Apple was a big apple, it was a seed. That seed was a small town.

The small town began as a community of settlers who needed to satisfy the basic needs of survival – food, water, and shelter. Thinking that interdependence was necessary for survival, they banded together, and lived as one people, according to moral law. Settlers had different skill sets which helped to develop the community. Some were skilled blacksmiths, others were carpenters, while others were farmers. And in the spirit of interdependence, they would barter resources to ensure the survival of the entire community. Small towns became isolated communities, living by moral law, and looked to the rules of God as their constitution, the villagers, the constituents of the highest of powers. Working together as a people, instilling the importance of individual responsibility and devout belief in God formed the foundation of small town values.

This foundation still holds true today. Go to any small town, and you’ll soon notice everyone knows everyone. The town sheriff is also the umpire of the little league baseball team. The head coach of the high school football team is the town ambassador and every boy’s second father. The jobs are more complex than blacksmithing and carpentry. Now today’s small town enterprises include steel working, commercial fishing, and perhaps running a small motel. And though currency has replaced the barter system, neighbors are willing to lend a helping hand, be it the farmer who can spare extra food to a family in hardship, or the local car mechanic who can help a financially troubled family with a free oil change and tune up, because the car is the only way to get to work.

In time, someone will develop more progressive ideologies. He may rise up, gain influence from his community, and become a leader. The small town begins to trade with neighboring towns and distant towns. The neighboring communities will engage in dialogue with each other and learn more about the world around them. Immigrants may settle in the small town and inject their culture into it. The community begins to grow in population. Interdependence and moral law no longer suffice as the law of the land. In order to effectively govern the people of a larger community, written laws are created and enforced. With so many people performing specialized tasks such as blacksmithing and carpentry, the people begin to compete to make better wares. The need to share resources greatly diminishes as the supply of goods sharply increases to the point of surplus. Surplus of goods and services leaves time for people to pursue other endeavors such as art, music, dance, writing, and philosophy. The citizens become independent. And out of this independence, influx of culture, artisans, and commerce comes the big city.

In politics, you are likely to find small town communities to have conservative ideologies while big cities have more liberal ideologies. The reason is simple; small town communities are built upon cultural traditionalism, while big cities are based on cultural progressivism. Traditionalism is a big problem in today’s global market. High speed internet, fiber optics, and transportation technology have destroyed the walls that kept us isolated from the world. We are becoming a global community. Decisions a country makes have worldwide implications. In essence, the world is now a big city.

Small town ideology is incompatible with the global community. The primary reason for the complete and utter failure of the Bush administration is due to the unsuccessful fusion of small town values into the global world. Everyone around us are challenging the establishment, and pushing the limits of human ingenuity and innovation. Meanwhile, America, the country which from WWII to 2000 were at the leading edge of ingenuity and innovation unwisely elected a leader who lacked a vision of the future and instead promoted an ideology which encouraged Americans to “cling to their guns and religion.” In order to continue relationships with the rest of the world, we had to assimilate global communities into our moral law that has been long abandoned by westernized countries, and wholly rejected by the Middle East. As a result, we damaged our relationship with the global community and alienated them for not following the “American Way.”

The GOP ticket is particularly disconcerting at this current juncture. Not only the world is a moment’s notice on turning their backs on us, but we re also in danger of losing our status as a world leader in innovation and economic super power status. John McCain's and Sarah Palin's traditional values do not only fail to extend to the global community, but also to their own people. How can the next president not know how to use a computer when the future of technology and communication solely rely on it? How could he truly understand the significance of legislation regarding national and global communication? His vice presidential pick, though young and exciting, also has a voice that does not extend beyond the small town community. Even worse, she is woefully unversed in the ways and policies of the progressive movement, and is therefore unable to even defend her own small town ideology in a coherent manner.

Our entry into the 21st century global community was a shaky one. If we are to succeed as a nation and reclaim our dominance in innovation and ingenuity, the progressive ideology is the only way to accomplish this. We do not want to reach a appoint where we have to play catch up with the world. If this ever happens, our time as a super power is over.

Episode 3: Mission Failed

2008-10-01T00:55:00.000-04:00

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The bailout failed the other day. It seems it was a blessing in disguise.

I kind of/sort of see why some would call for a bailout. I am no economist, but it seems AIG’s failure would jeopardize the financial structure of businesses home and abroad, retirement plans for many Americans, and recall loans insured by them.

A bailout seems to absorb the damage cause by greedy corporate thieves rather than helping Americans damaged by their actions. By using taxpayer money, most of whom are innocent bystanders of this catastrophe, the government would give one man the power to allocate $700 Billion dollars as he saw fit. All of this of course adding to our $1 Trillion deficit. It all sounds like a film trailer to an awful movie in the end. Imagine if you will the voice of the late, great Don LaFontaine (aka the movie trailer voice):

“In a world, where Wall Street collapsed, and America feared for its economic future. In a time when confusion and terror reigned supreme. One man alone can save America and the world from Armageddon… HANK PAULSON! *explosion* Decisions are no longer renewable… WALL STREET MELTDOWN… Coming soon to a theater near you.”

With the bailout failed, it gives us some time to really think about the implications of the bill. As an American who is not an expert economist, the bill sounded incredibly confusing. This is a problem because our representatives are putting an incredibly expensive bill on the table that neither they or their constituents truly understood. Listening to the reasons both Ds and Rs rejected it, they seem to find the bill confusing as well. More importantly, it is a fundamentally flawed idea. No matter how you cut it, this bill rewards the greedy, corporate thieves, by giving them a second chance at survival. A bailout is in direct contrast to a free market system that allowed (for better or for worse

I whole heartedly believe in our free market system. It is the system that makes America the most powerful working force in the world. It inspires creativity, innovation, and low prices. When a company is successful in the free market system, it can become incredibly wealthy and influential. When it fails, the company dies and disappears of the market. Sometimes the owner can sell the company to someone else to develop an idea that still may have promise, so the he at best breaks even, or at worst is in a bunch of debt if there are no takers. This is the life cycle of the free market. Therefore, the bailout of AIG is not only in direct contrast of the free market system, but also of the quintessential republican ideology. AIG should suffer the same fate as Lehman Borthers.

Therefore, with a second chance to make the right choice it is essential that we do not pass the bailout. AIG needs to complete the natural process of a failed company. The truth of the matter is, no matter how Congress swings it, there is a chance that the bailout could fail, $700 billion is wasted, every American is drowned in debt, the stock markets crash anyway, and AIG still fails. This leaves us with the 3 solutions: 1) print more money to absorb or erase the debt (which will make the dollar bill worth less than peso), 2) enter a depression and hope somehow we can achieve economic growth (which will impact markets all over the world), or find a free market solution with government sanctions (which causes left and right bickering the results in inaction – see consequence 2).

As for a free market solution, I think that various banks and insurance companies should band together and absorb the funds for retirement and redistribute those polices between them. Those who do should get some kind of tax credit or something of the like from the government. The government should go case by case and evaluated the economic situation of each person affected by a bum loan. It should either be restructured to rates that people can pay for, and the rest of the debt absorbed into our debt that a strong economy of the future will fix. A bailout is a national embarrassment and serves to undermine our own system and our worldwide credibility.

Moreover, the failed stock markets don’t seem to affect anyone outside the AIG bubble. Money in the banks are safe. You don’t have to cash out your bank account and stuff it in a shoebox. What did happen is banks would be nervous about giving out loans. And if that happens, it’s like a car salesman who is afraid to sell cars. However, I truly believe it AIG dies, and we approach the problem with a free market solution, justice will be served, and there will be no reason to fear giving loans, especially with proper regulation in place.

Barack Obama announced a plan to increase the FDIC insurance from $100,000, to $250,000. This would help secure money for American citizens, and help small business owners continue to operate. Most importantly, a major overhaul of the financial system is needed. A rush job bill will not do the trick.

Both Obama and McCain supported the bill. Both reluctantly I’ll admit. However, Obama has been proposing ideas for reform of the system all along, including policies of transparency (Google for Government for example), bankruptcy reform, taxpayer protections, and regulation of the market (btw- all provisions he called for in the bailout bill). Here’s why this will work. The free market system is like a game. And a game ONLY works when there are rules. Obama doesn’t want to let government get in the way of the free market, in fact, his ENTIRE economic and energy plan REQUIRES the free market system to work! So in creating a “large government,” he is calling for the regulations to serve as a playbook, so that everyone is playing the same game fairly, so everyone has an equal shot at success. His whole campaign is based on every American getting a fair shot.

This bailout issues is also what troubles me so much about McCain. He is going against his OWN fundamental principles. Why hasn’t he devised a free market plan? The republican base would LOVE that. And frankly, it’s the right call in my opinion. The reason is because behind closed doors, he’s trying to protect his Wall St. buddies from losing millions and going straight to the poor house or better, jail. McCain has not stood firmly for any issue on the economy. His deregulation ideology only serves the top 1% of the wealthiest people in this country. These are the people McCain is protecting. He truly is a maverick… unpredictable, unguided, and dangerous. There is a saying, if you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything…

Episode 2: Post Debate Thoughts

2008-09-28T02:27:00.000-04:00

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I thought I would wait a day after the debates to let it all sink in. It was quite an earful… 96 minutes with no breaks, or time to process their answers. I do not envy those men and the scrutiny each must deal with. I found the whole thing rather interesting. No fireworks display or any major blunder. Both candidates duked it out in a battle of words in a full 15 round boxing contest. I should warn you early, boxing metaphors may run rampant in this post. It is a fair analogy, because for the first time my memory at least, the candidates were encouraged to debate against each other and not the TV camera.

The beginning of the debate started the way most fights do, squaring up your opponent, dancing around the ring, and using the jab to keep him at a distance. Obviously, the state of the economy, being the hot topic, came up first. John McCain played the right cards here, keeping the debate on issues of taxes, which is a republican strength. Obama didn’t back down however, and reinforced his policy to support the middle class. Instead of slipping the jab and offering a counter punch, Obama seemed to be weathering the storm. With so much ammunition – decrease in average salary by $2000, unemployment up 6.1% from 4.2%, food, gas, and basic survival items are becoming out of reach for most Americans – he mentioned none of that at all. What Obama did instead was talk about the big picture… items that are easily identifiable – putting kids in college, affordable healthcare, better salaries for teachers and police officers and civil servants. Obama didn’t lose ground here, but McCain picked up some.

McCain, after a devastating two weeks, talked about lowering taxes for all Americans and business to encourage economic growth. The problem with the trickle-down theory (supply-side economics) is the number 1 goal of any business is to make a profit. No matter how much taxes you cut, jobs are still going to be outsourced overseas because it cost less to hire a Chinese or Indian worker (hence Indian tech support). They get paid something like $3 an hour vs. $7.50 or more in the States. And this isn’t a case of exploitation – when you convert the American dollar to Indian money example for, that’s 1,130 rupees a day (considering the cost of living in India, I bet they get paid less than $3 an hour too, since that’s about 22,000 rupees a month!). The point is, $3 an hour is upper middle class wages there, and below-the-poverty-line wages here. Therefore, businesses will continue to not invest money in America when it is cheaper to work over seas. Obama however will offer tax incentives to keep the work in America and tax penalties to businesses that outsource their workers. If we don’t invest on our own workforce, there is no way we can keep up with the global market.

Regarding healthcare, McCain wants to keep it privatized, but give Americans up to $5,000 of tax credit so they can choose their own doctor. Obama will subsidize healthcare and absorb the brunt of the cost via a healthcare budget. The obvious problem with McCain’s approach is health care is more accessible to people in the higher end of the middle class bracket private insurance is about $12,000 a year, while Obama’s plan is the closest to universal coverage we’ve seen yet. Because Obama didn’t offer anything new, and McCain finally took a stand on economic policy (somewhat, the details are a bit fuzzy) the republican base can give him some points.

The other main talking point, actually the true nature of the campaign, was foreign policy. Obama showed lots of poise, toughness, and intelligence on the floor last night. Obama calls for a more diplomatic approach that re-engages our allies in the fight against terror. However, unless we declare war on a country, I do not see how terrorism could ever be defeated. So diplomacy and negotiation is the best strategy. McCain very clearly illustrated there is no definite end to this war. Considering the middle east has been in social, religious, and political strife for so long, we are ultimately pouring money in a sinking ship if we continue this policy. Interestingly enough, McCain acknowledged that America did torture prisoners when he said “And we've got to… make sure that we have people who are trained interrogators so that we don't ever torture a prisoner ever again." After all this time, he can finally define exactly what constitutes as torture? An argument for another day… In this segment, I believe Obama was very strong and very clear on his foreign policy, one that emphasizes diplomacy over unnecessary war, yet never hesitating to attack if our country is in danger. McCain clearly supports an indefinite war, that is wildly unpopular in this country.On that mark, Obama clearly won, especially considering foreign policy is McCain’s home turf.

So my score card has it Obama 95, McCain 93 (still a boxing reference) giving this victory to Obama.

A few miscellaneous things to note, this debate was supposed to encourage an atmosphere where the candidates talk to each other and not the TV. Not once did McCain ever look Obama in the eyes. Obama addressed McCain on major points he was making often. McCain (and I swear this isn’t blue bias) seemed very condescending and snide. Obama remained calm, poised, and articulated his ideas succinctly, which has been a problem for him in the past. McCain’s zinger of the night was saying to Obama “you don’t understand” alluding to Obama’s perceived lack of experience. The biggest zinger came from Obama when he turned to McCain, looked him in the eye, and with each indictment said with fervent crescendo exclaimed:

“You said it would be quick and easy. You knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong. You said we would be greeted as liberators. You were wrong. You said there is no history of violence between the Shia and Sunni, and you were wrong.”

Post debate polls indicated Obama won. A few interesting notes here, Americans 55 and older felt Obama won the debate. Women felt more likely to vote Obama after seeing the debate. None of the post debate polls had a spread greater than 10 points. And surprisingly, Fox News’s post debate poll showed McCain won 85% to 13%... go figure.

Episode 1: Is There Really Such a Thing As Liberal Media

2008-09-26T11:25:00.000-04:00

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Welcome to The L-Comment! This is the rebranded version of my old blog “The Blue States.” As you may expect from the title, this blog is a collection of essays on the state of things in the U.S. and the world. I figured writing essays is a good way to release negative chi. For those new to the blog, I love a good debate. As such, I tend to take sides on a particular issue, usually for team Blue. However, I try not to blindly follow the herd, so if my team is acting up, I will call them on it. But please, leave comments! I’m always very interested to know how others react to today’s issues. With that said, onward to Episode 1…

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I have noticed recently, ever since the presidential race started heating up, liberal media became even more liberal. There is the super far left MSNBC and left-leaning CNN cable news networks. Then you have The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. In print media, you have The New York Times, Newsweek, The Nation, and The Rolling Stones, to name a few left-leaning publications. And it seems the right-wing really only has Fox News and The Wall Street Journal as its primary sources. Why is there such a disproportionate balance of left and right media?

To research the content of left and right leaning programming, I subjected myself to Fox News for a few days (the things I’ll do for research!) in addition to my regular Situation Room, Hardball, Olberman, Maddows lineup. What I found was very interesting. To name a few headlines:

“Obama is actually Muslim”
Fox and Friends were reporting last week, that Barack Obama was Muslim and may have practiced radical Islam. Now this myth was debunked long ago, and was uncovered to be an internet hoax, spread through email chain letters.

“Barack Obama will raise taxes”
Almost every Fox News anchor exclaims this fallacy. The truth is he will cut taxes for anyone making under $250,000 a year. This has been stated numerous times, and is even published in his website.

“Sarah Palin voted against the bridge to nowhere”
Believe it or not, this was a point a pundit made two days ago, even though there is considerable documentation that shows she was for it until the government pulled the plug on the project. By “thanks, but no thanks” Palin actually meant she didn’t further pursue that earmark.

All the while these fallacies make right-wing headlines, left-wing media has been correcting all of these errors…

Today’s media landscape is reminiscent of the Civil War ideology of clinging for dear life to preserve a way of life. There was a change brewing. Owning slaves was becoming passé. The Industrial Revolution was well underway. The North States were becoming more progressive by the day. The Civil War was the catalyst for a cultural revolution that took a whole century to come full circle with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

It has been 140 years since our last major cultural shift. The possibility (especially considering the current polls) of electing our first African American president is great. And what better choice than Barack Obama, a man who in a single body, embodies the American dream? He carries the blood of a Black father, White mother, Indonesian step father and siblings, and Chinese in-law. He rose from meager beginnings to utmost prestige and a chance at becoming the most powerful person of the free world. He is a candidate who has been committed in his academic, professional, and political career to creating an atmosphere where the lower class can realistically aspire to earn wealth, and the middle class can realistically aspire to put their kids in college, start a business, or own a home. He does these things while reiterating the need to once again become interdependent. He bolsters a sense of community, sacrifice, and volunteerism, that is necessary to unify a nation to prepare it compete with the global economy.

The right-wing base is largely afraid of change. It is not that they don’t want change necessarily, but rather they fear what they don’t understand. There are some who never experience a face that doesn’t look like them well into their college years… now they are expected to jump head first into the global market? So instead, the right will publish smears and use fear tactics to scare people into maintaining the status quo. With each passing year however, more people are starting to get onboard with the new cultural revolution. The numbers in the right base are beginning to dwindle. With the internet matured and all kinds of information easily accessible, ignorance is no longer a viable excuse.

It is my opinion that there is really no such thing is liberal media. Conservative outlets are really an opposition to the cultural revolution the “liberal” media reports. I imagine in the future, we will label media as “progressive” or “more progressive.” Time will tell.

The Bush Administration is the last vestige of the old ways. A McCain presidency would indicate the majority of Americans aren’t ready for the revolution. I trust however, Americans by in large hunger for change, and will make the decision on November 4th which reflects it.