Webs’ Random Ideas

The story is that Cohen is a white democrat running in the primary against two other democrats, Tinker being one, that are black. He runs into opposition because of his skin color as one person stated something to the effect of feeling they will be under-reprsented if Cohen gets in because he is white.

Yet this is directly conflicting with the teaching of Dr. King and others that have fought for civil rights is it not? Why does the color of someone’s skin dictate their ability to accurately represent constituents of a distric?

Obama made the point the other day about we can do to help keep gas prices down, save oil, and help the planet. Two simple things, keep tires inflated to recommended levels and have regular tune-ups. Both are not just smart, but good for the car.

Well fanatacal Gingrich has let politics completely control his brain as he makes the following statement:

GINGRICH: He has a position that’s frankly ludicrous. We saw him yesterday. He suggested if we all inflated our tires, that we would solve the problem. Think about it. You ought to take that clip. I think that clip is far more devastating than today because it’s loony toons.

So is it Loony Toons? Let see what evidence would tell us…

The Department of Energy estimates that (based on gas costing $3.96/gallon), “you can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure” which would ultimately save “up to $0.12/gallon” or, nearly the amount of the federal gas tax ($0.18/gallon), a tax Gingrich supports repealing. Moreover, the auto industry agrees with DoE’s assessment.

It really would not have been hard at all for Gingrich to spend a few minutes to find out if what Obama said was true. In fact he prolly doesn’t have to spend any time at all, he could have an aid do the work for him.

When you read people like me stressing the importance of education so we can all be better stewards of information, this is what we are talking about. We need critical thinking so when people hear a talking head spout off the BS Gingrich just did, we can say, “Wait a minute…”

Click the link below to see the full interview of Bill Moyers with Jeremiah Wright. It’s a two part series, the link should take you to the first video, and the second is listed right above the video you are currently watching.

Bill Moyers with Jeremiah Wright.

So what’s Scott deal?

As I’m sure you’ve all heard, Scott came out this last week with a book, What Happened. And he’s on the Daily Show tonight with Jon Stewart. So my question above?

Well he was on the show and he wouldn’t admit that the Bush Administration did their thing with intent. He kept saying it was the culture of Washington DC. What a bunch a BS! The Bush Administration sat around a table and decided to go to war under false pretenses. Jon Stewart asks, “Where is the evidence that the culture affected these decisions?”

Scott has no answer and he couldn’t concede. To Scott the Bush Administration just can’t do anything wrong it seems. “It’s not their fault, these are good people. The culture affected them.” As Jon asked, show me the evidence. Richard Clarke mentioned in his book how since day one for Bush it was Iraq and how they can get to war.

It wasn’t an ideology developed by evidence. It was evidence that only support the ideology. A dangerous mixutre.

For all the things bad you can say about Scott, he did admit some wrongs on the show, and likely his book (I haven’t read it yet). He did state how he said things about Richard Clarke that weren’t true when he hadn’t even read Richard’s book. He seemed like it was possible he felt remorse, but he did work for Bush.

Let’s just say the jury aint out yet for me. But I do plan to read that book.

Video of Interview:

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So what the hell does electability mean? I still have no idea. Hey Stephen Colbert, can you help us out?

I’ve written about this topic before but I wish to mention again after reading this post on one of Greta Christina’s blogs.

The usual answers are practical ones. And I’ll certainly second them. Marriage is recognized around the country and around the world, and all its practical and legal rights and responsibilities get carried with you everywhere you go . . . in a way that is most emphatically not true for civil unions and domestic partnerships. Besides, it’s a well- established principle that “separate but equal” is inherently not equal. The very act of saying, “No, you can’t have this thing that everyone else can have, but you can have that other thing we created just for you that’s almost exactly like it — isn’t that special?” It’s the creation of second-class status, pretty much by definition.

It’s true. At the base of every argument against gay marriage is the creation of a second class citizen. Rather than acceptance we have mere avoidance of the issue. Rather than learn about the feelings and get to understand someone that’s gay, we shun them into a world with separate but equal status.

But I want to talk about something else today. I don’t want to talk about the legal and practical benefits of marriage. I don’t want to talk about hospital visitation rights, child custody rights, inheritance rights, tax benefits, all that good stuff. That’s all important, but it’s also well-covered ground.

I want to talk about something more intangible. I want to talk about why we’re getting married . . . apart from all that.

Those are some damn good reasons mentioned previously though…

When we get married in June, the State of California will officially recognize that our relationship has the same weight as our parents’ did, and their parents’, and theirs. It will officially drop this “separate but equal” bullshit. It will officially stop seeing us as kids at the little table, poor relatives who should be content with leavings and scraps, second-class citizens. It will officially see us as actual, complete, honest- to- gosh citizens.

At the heart of it all it’s about treating other human beings as, well, human beings. Despite all the BS that is floating around and despite what you may have heard, gay people are people too. And beyond everything they just want to be treated that way.

This brings to mind the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I heard that message at a young age and it had a surprisingly strong effect on me. Strong enough to where I always tried to look at other people as equal and judged them solely on their character.

Race, religion, skin color, class status, etc they never made a difference to me and still don’t today. I just wish more people could see things in a similar fashion as I do. Gay marriage is just another step towards creating a society where people are truly free.

So it’s another election year and things are getting pretty muddy in terms of what is being said by who, who did what, who didn’t do what, what their character is, and what they are not doing. Basically candidates will get desperate and say anything to win. Think Bush vs McCain in Republican primaries with push polling and many other despicable tactics. Or Bush vs Kerry in 04 with swiftboat campaigns.

So naturally similar things are going to happen in this election and indeed they already have. Some things have been stated about Obama; some more obviously wrong than others, so let’s clear up the record…

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Greg Laden said it best…

Nader, who clearly intends to ruin everything, claims that Americans are disenchanted with the Democratic and Republican parties. Apparently he has not noticed the throngs of Democrats and Independents, as well as numerous Republicans, swarming the Democratic Primaries and Caucasus. Clearly, he has no clue. But he does have a huge, overblown ego and a very loose grip on reality.

In the same interview, Nader denied that he is a spoiler candidate. Since he is a spoiler candidate, this should cause us to question his intelligence, or his grasp of what is going on in the world around us.

I for one have been very vocal about working on a solution to the 2 party system we have, but for now all Nader is going to do is give McCain his shot at presidency. This does not help the cause of rolling back Bush policies, which Nader supports.

UMMMM!!!!! You in trouble!!!!!!!!

That’s right! It’s time to make a difference in politics.

From Daily Kos:
With a history of meddling in our primaries, why don’t we try and return the favor. Next Tuesday, January 15th, Michigan will hold its primary. Michigan Democrats should vote for Mitt Romney, because if Mitt wins, Democrats win. How so?

For Michigan Democrats, the Democratic primary is meaningless since the DNC stripped the state of all its delegates (at least temporarily) for violating party rules. Hillary Clinton is alone on the ballot.

But on the GOP side, this primary will be fiercely contested. John McCain is currently enjoying the afterglow of media love since his New Hamsphire victory, while Iowa winner Mike Huckabee is poised to do well in South Carolina.

Meanwhile, poor Mitt Romney, who’s suffered back-to-back losses in the last week, desperately needs to win Michigan in order to keep his campaign afloat. Bottom line, if Romney loses Michigan, he’s out. If he wins, he stays in.

And we want Romney in, because the more Republican candidates we have fighting it out, trashing each other with negative ads and spending tons of money, the better it is for us. We want Mitt to stay in the race, and to do that, we need him to win in Michigan.

A great little idea for those of you living in Michigan.

Found via SEB…