UNSUNG HEROES OF ELECTION 2010

Posted on November 6, 2010 | 1 comment

Who were the unsung heroes of the 2010 election? It wasn’t the voters. It wasn’t the Tea Party. They were heroes but they were also obvious. It was the bloggers.

The MSM circled the wagons, circled them tighter than ever. Fox played its part of course but Fox is an institution and big, whereas bloggers are grass roots and small. Ants can go where elephants cannot. It is easy to focus an attack on a big central target and attempt to bring it into disrepute. But you can’t do the same against an army of ants when they are numerous and scattered all over a land 3,000 miles wide.

The good bloggers are truth guerillas. No matter where you are or what office you seek there are bloggers wherever you are. They blog left and they blog right. Every office seeker is held to the light.

Random Thots is but a candle in the sphere, but it is a candle among a thousand points of light. This blogger writes in the spirit of the songwriter who wrote “This little light of mine,… I’m gonna let it shine,…let it shine,…let it shine”.

[Thank you Susan, for inspiring me to write this post.]

Bob B

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OLBERMANN SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY BY MSNBC!

Posted on November 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

Friday November 5th, Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC suspended Keith Olbermann indefinitely for having made campaign contributions against MSNBC policy. No other details yet.

UPDATE
The irony of it! The star of MSNBC, the creator of a list of his Worst Persons In the World, always Republicans never Democrats, is relieved of his on-air position because his campaign contributions to three Democrats might reveal a bias.

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PELOSI WON’T QUIT

Posted on November 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

Soon former-to-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi is campaigning within the Democratic side of the House for the position known as Minority Whip. Like an old Energizer battery, Pelosi won’t quit.

 
Good grief, Charlie Brown! Get the plunger! The swamp is not draining, This is going to be a bigger job than we thought. What drives the woman? Could it be she feels entitled to run the House? Does she aspire to be the General Patton for the Democratic Party? Hasn’t she slapped enough of her soldiers already? Like Patton, the lady certainly loves the fight and there is no better position from which to stick it to the Republicans. And then there is always the possibility she elitely believes it is the best position from which she can serve the American people and improve the world.

If the Democratic members of the House choose her to lead them again, and there is a good chance they will, it will be another instance of Stockholm Syndrome.

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Posted in Political polemics

REPUBLICANS ROARED and the MARKET SOARED

Posted on November 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

What must Obama be thinking? …, uh lousy day, one stinkin day! Bernanke did me in. waited til after th ‘lection, Ida won, #2&$#% it! (People don’t think in regular words).

BEN BERNANKE

But I wonder…hmm. It was Bernanke’s move alright, but the background in which it occurred was the resounding defeat of the Democratic party. A thousand uncertainties were removed. The election results leave no doubt whatsoever that the Obama agenda has been capped. The free market system is very flexible. It can accommodate a wide set of rules, but the one thing that stops it cold is when the game has an unknown set of rules.

Now we are sure Cap and Trade is dead. Card Check is too. The “1099 rule” will be withdrawn. Obamacare will, at a minimum, be modified to something less onerous for business. Now you can estimate the cost of adding an employee where you couldn’t do that before. Maxine Waters’ comment that “Socialism is the goal” rings hollow now. Her threat is now but a joke.

Bernanke’s step was risky and bold. It could take the economy either way. It all but assures Carteresque stagflation if businesses don’t respond. It offers good promise if they do. The market would not react to such a step as it did if it were a step into a darkness willed with unknowns. No Barack, it was not the election that you lost by a day, it was the election that saved the stock market by a day, or maybe it was two.

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BUSH AND OBAMA PRESS CONFERENCES

Posted on November 3, 2010 | Leave a comment

When President George Dubya Bush held a Press Conference, at the conclusion of his prepared remarks he would look up into a sea of raised and waving reporter’s hands. Each journalist was vying for the opportunity to ask a question. Now watch Obama.

Today, as he was finishing his post-election remarks he reached into his pocket, pulled out a card or paper, placed it on the lectern, and without looking up named a reporter to ask the first question. Those are the facts. Here is the speculation.

In as much as he never looked up, obviously, the President knew who he was going to ask. It begs some questions. If the questioner was pre-selected, why? How did the reporter come to be the one selected? Did Obama know the question in advance?

The honored reporter asked a hard question and presented it smoothly. It was a question that a President in Obama’s shoes would surely want the opportunity to quickly put to rest. The reporter asked if the mid-term election was a referendum on Obama’s presidency. Obama responded in the negative of course, and there were no more questions on that issue. When he concluded there was no show of raised hands. Obama simply named the next journalist from whom he would take a question. And so it went.

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A STICK OF BAMBOO

Posted on November 3, 2010 | Leave a comment

Lun Lun and her happy cub at the Atlanta Zoo

No politics, few cares, whether in Shanghai or the Atlanta zoo, all it takes for the good life is a stick of bamboo.

If your computer is capable you can watch them on the zoo’s Panda Cam here.

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Posted in Audio/Visual

ELECTION HIGHLIGHTS 2010

Posted on November 3, 2010 | Leave a comment

Tea Party
The Tea Party accomplished a lot but is responsible for some damage as well. The damage came out of naïveté, political inexperience and uncompromising principle, not from character flaws. The damage is contained and the movement will learn as it grows. We have Sarah Palin and the TP to thank for turning what might have been just a normal mid-term reversal into a rout, a rousing success.

Split results
Charles Krauthammer said winning the House and failing to win the Senate was the perfect result. The Democrats will be unable credibly to blame the next two years on their loss of control of the Legislature to Republicans. It’s a comforting thought but we question its validity. BTW, this will be the first time ever there was a Democratic President and Senate facing a Republican House. The acrimony level will be high. We only hope John Boehner will be up to it.

Ugliest moment
Chris Matthews lost it when interviewing Michele Bachman. Michele stonewalled him (not a practice we approve) and Matthews castigated her ruthlessly. “Are you hypnotized?” he repeated over and over in various catenations. Matthews’ attacks were not limited to Bachman. He was vicious with Sen. Eric Cantor also. Cantor handled it extremely well, much better than Bachman did. Even Rick Santelli came under disparagement by Matthews who wasn’t even sure of his name. Perhaps Olbermann will recognize Matthews for one of his “Worst” awards.

Districting effect
In the Connecticut gubernatorial race more people voted for the Republican than for the Democrat but the Democrat was declared the winner. It wasn’t fraud. Apparently Connecticut has a process similar to the national Electoral College but where districts rather than delegates cast the votes. It is the political reverse of the time Democrats screamed “unfair” when Gore won the raw vote but lost in the electoral process. Periodically, Governors get to reset the boundaries of districts within their state. This is why Obama made seven trips to Ohio to support incumbent Gov. Strickland and why Strickland’s defeat was a significant victory for Republicans.

Harry Reid
Reid’s victory, though not unexpected is the most disturbing. Not because he won, but because of how he won. It was a victory for intimidation, voting irregularities and casino money. There is still a lot of cleaning up to do in Washington.

The cleaning lady
One has to admire Sarah Palin. From the lowly post of small town Mayor she took on her own party and succeeded in cleaning out the Republican rot in Alaska. That’s audacity we can admire. She has integrity, spunk and bravery. We respectfully propose that in 2013, President Marco Rubio appoint Sarah to the post of Washington DC Cleaning Czar reporting directly to Vice President Paul Ryan.

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I VOTED TODAY

Posted on November 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

It was December of 1942 when the United States entered WWII. I was elated. I couldn’t wait to see the soldiers in the streets, the guns, the shooting and the tanks. I was but a child with no concept whatever of the realities of war.

But the war continued into my teenage years. I remember the cards with stars that mothers put proudly in their windows signifying sons who had gone to fight. I remember when the color of some of those cards changed from white to gold. I’m older now, and every Election Day I remember why they died.

The act of voting is always an emotional one for me. It has nothing to do with the candidates or issues; it’s about the right. To vote is to honor those who sacrificed sons and daughters, limbs and life to preserve that right, for me. It is the least I can do to have a lump in my throat when I vote.

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Posted in Political philosophy

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OUT OF THE DITCH AND OVER THE CLIFF

Posted on November 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

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Posted in Cartoons

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TOMORROW IS TUESDAY, GET OUT THERE AND DRAIN THE SWAMP

Posted on November 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

This is your opportunity. This time your vote will count, because it’s not just who wins that’s important, it’s also the margin by which they win or lose. The margin secures the message. It’s the strength of the message that will encourage and empower those you elect or diminish the power of those whom your vote failed to elect. It’s the margin in this election that will bring the timid from the closet and sway the undecided for the next election.

This can be your proud moment, more than just the fulfillment of an obligation.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” …Edmund Burke

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