Well, Hillary's done and Obama's pretty much got the Democratic nomination for president sewn up. Some highlights from Obama's victory speech last night:
...generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.First off, last I checked we provide dang good medical care for the sick in America. Is it "free"? No. But if I need medical attention, I can get it. And so can you.
Jobs for the jobless? Unemployment in America is at 5%. You can't get much lower than that, as this statistic includes those who choose not to work.
And if it does get lower? The AP complains.
Call me a narrow-minded Republican apologist, but I believe any American citizen who wants to work, can find work. But good luck improving on that unemployment number while pursuing wacko environmentalist policies, Obama. Such policies put a major hurt on factory workers, people you've claimed to support while campaigning in places like Detroit.
And then there's my favorite statement from Obama. "...when the rise of the oceans began to slow." In informing friends and family about this statement, I mistakenly recalled him saying "when the oceans began to recede," which isn't exactly what he said, but still the general idea.
Now look, the science behind global warming is far from solid. As my friend Stuart said, it's certainly new, and all new science is shaky.
That said, this stuff is accepted as gospel by a lot of people, Congress included.
Okay, so let's pretend for a second that there was a 100% clear-cut connection between humanity and the earth warming. The government does things like restrict pollutants from American companies and fine people for using too much electricty. America's emissions go down 50%.
Guess what? China and India are still doing whatever they want in regards to industry and their economy. They're the biggest emissions offenders in the world, and even if the U.S. went back to the Stone Age, it wouldn't make much of a dent in the overall picture.
So good luck with that whole making the oceans recede thing, Senator Obama.
Finally, Obama essentially pledges to end the Iraq war, if I understood him right.
How? No idea. Maybe he will immediately initiate a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country if elected. I suppose that would "end the war," but if we leave behind a giant mess, how will that improve our standing in the international community?
Besides, things are improving in Iraq. May had the lowest number of American soldier deaths since the war began. Things are stabilizing. Here's a good read from the Wall Street Journal about why we went to Iraq and the current situation there.
In all, impressive speech, Barack. More rhetoric entirely void of factual statements, but what else is new? The man excels at the political game. Whether he can actually get anything (productive) done if elected is another thing entirely.
In a related note, I really don't like McCain. And I'm not alone in this. From what I read and listen to, even those accused of being Republican shills (Rush, Hannity, Beck, Ingraham) don't like McCain. Odd. I thought these guys would vote for anyone with an elephant by their name.
Anyway, it looks like I'll be voting for an Independent this November. I'd better start researching candidates.
9 comments:
Yes! Clinton is done!
B, I like your commentary on this. I didn't listen to the speech, but the parts you've placed here are ridiculous. This is what I don't like about socialism--"the government is going to provide for you, little children." That's not what America is about. I mean, there are dark parts of the semi-capitalism that we have. I have had a really hard time looking for work. It's been nearly a year and I've come close several times, but no dice. But I welcome the responsibility to figure it out on my own, and I look forward to the fact that someday I will realize more success than I could in a leftist society where everybody is guaranteed mediocrity. No thanks, Dems, and no thanks, Barack Obama. I want to see the Ron Paul Revolution on the ticket, so I can vote against both McCain and Obama.
Good comment, Gibb. I'll have to look into Ron Paul. I seem to remember he's a certified nutjob in some aspects of his candidacy.
And Hooray Personal Responsibility! You make an excellent point that I failed to mention. Even if unemployment were 20%, is it the government's job to fix it? FDR certainly thought so.
And re: work.... sorry to hear the hunt's been so rough for you. I suppose what I meant was anyone can find work... not exactly great work in their chosen field, but work nonetheless.
Exactly, RP is a joke. A true libertarian though. I just don't see how I can vote for McCain, but I sure as heck can't vote for Obama. Nice guy, but flaming liberal.
And today, I got myself a grunt job at APX Alarm, so you're right that you can usually get by if you try hard enough.
Hey--we agree about something! Some aspects of politics.
I just flipped on to Letterman and Jack Black was in the middle of a sentence that went something like, "He doesn't really have any skills or abilities, but he really believes in himself, and through perseverance he is able to achieve his goals."
After consideration, I realized he's probably talking about his character on the new panda movie. The first thing I thought, though, was that he was commenting on Obama getting the nod for the nomination today.
My co-worker and I were talking about how he was going to vote for Obama and I asked him why. He said that he likes the things Obama has said. Super! He talks the talk. Also my co-worker is a die hard environmentalist so maybe he believes Obama can slow the rising oceans....
I think whoever McCain picks as a running mate will make or break him and his campaign. It will be interesting to see what both sides of the ticket end up looking like.
Unemployment is at 5.5%. This doesn't seem like much, but consider that it's the lowest it's been in nearly the last 4 years and it isn't getting better. In May alone it jumped from 5% to 5.5% (Stats taken from here:Link
Perhaps that's because we have more people retiring (the article addresses how that isn't the case). Or perhaps, more likely, it's because companies are being forced to let people go. Just this week GM announced that they are closing 4 truck/suv factories (there's 10,000 jobs right there).
I don't know what Obama thinks he can do to slow or stop that (or McCain or Paul for that matter). But to say that it isn't a problem is ignorant at best.
Check out http://www.bls.gov/ for more thorough statistics (you don't get much better than the source). Specifically, this pdf contains the rates for the past 70 years or so: http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat1.pdf
Sure, things aren't as bad as they were back in 1982-83, but they are a whole bunch worse than they were back in 1999-2000.
I don't really have a lot to comment about with your other points. I don't know enough about climate study to make an educated statement about humanities effects on it. However, I do agree (whole-heartedly) with you that even if we were to completely eliminate our "carbon footprint" it wouldn't make a difference if China and India don't follow suit. But (and this is a big BUT), that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
And I don't even want to start into the quagmire known as Iraq. We have screwed up big time there, and I don't think there are any easy answers. Staying there means more people die and even more money of ours is spent. For an interesting read on the cost of the war so far check out this article: Link
It's on Vanity Fair, so some of the images might be a little work un-friendly (or perhaps wife-unfriendly), but if you're smart you can turn them off.
Anyway, I don't know who to tell you to vote for. I think both of the major candidates are too concerned about either themselves or the people paying their bills (i.e. the lobbyists). As long as the cronyism and corruption exist, we will continue to see politicians who are more concerned with something other than what their constituents desire (a major problem in a REPUBLIC democracy).
As I told you earlier, I think I'll be voting for Cthulu... since he is of course, the lesser evil of the choices we have.
I said unemployment was at it's lowest... that should be highest. Sorry :)
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