LSJ Blogs: People's Politics

Let’s Stop With The Junk

It happened again over the weekend. More assaults on Obama’s patriotism, and a belittling of McCain’s service record. To their credit, both candidates behaved as gentlemen. McCain made it clear that he had no doubts about Obama’a patriotism. And, Obama rejected Wesley Clark’s scurrilous remarks about McCain’s service.

I have real hopes that these two men will try to keep their campaigns at a respectful level. But, I also have no doubts that the Republican and Democrat party organizations, and their ancillary “interest groups” will turn this into one of the nastiest campaigns we have ever seen. And, I ask myself “when will it all end?”

Time warp

I had the opportunity today to watch the first episode of “When we Left Earth,” which for those that don’t know the story it is a Discovery channel presentation of the NASA manned space program.  I’ve yet to see the other episodes, but I’m hopeful they will be as good as the first one.  It put me in an ebullient mood and recharged my view of where we are heading and where we can be heading if we choose.

If you think you don't know anyone who is gay, think again...

This is the 20th Anniversary of the Michigan Pride celebration, and I am thinking of all the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) friends I have, and the richness they bring to my life. 

I am also thinking of all the people who are convinced that they don't know anyone who is gay.  It is a generally accepted estimate that about 10% of the U. S. population is LGBT, and I would have to say, in my personal experience, I think it is at least that high, maybe higher.

So if one in ten people is LGBT, how can so many people believe they don't know any?

The carbon foot print lunacy

I posted previously on the loonies working the fears of the American people who brought us the Compact Fluorescent Bulb and the well known Nobel Laureate Al Gore’s scam on “carbon offsets.”  The latest thing I’ve heard on global warming makes the previous lunacy seem almost practical.  This may be a tactic of the environmentalists, but I’m not sure they are that clever; by hearing how idiotic some ideas are, perhaps something as dumb as the carbon offsets will become mainstream.

One of My Heroes

One of my lifelong heroes is my Great Great Uncle Don, born around the turn of the century.  I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to know him and to learn of his life and his values.

Uncle Don was a doctor.  He started practicing medicine in the 1920s.  Then the Depression hit.  Like many business people of that time, he continued to provide his services, not knowing when, if or how he might be paid.  As families became destitute and unable to feed the children they already had, an unexpected pregnancy was a huge financial burden.  Many families during the Depression called upon their family doctors to help them end these pregnancies, even though abortion was not legal here then.  They were desperate, and doctors like Uncle Don helped them.

Haditha/Mai Lai, does anyone care?

I am not a fan of lawyers nor spurious lawsuits, but this is one time I think lawyers may actually serve a useful purpose.  The investigation of the “Haditha 8,” who were charged with “cold blooded murder” in Iraq for actions occurring in Haditha on November 19, 2005 has shown, beyond any reasonable doubt, that there was no murder, no cover up, and in fact no wrong doing at all.  So far one of the most extensive and closely watched investigations since the Mai Lai massacre in Viet Nam has exonerated seven of the eight accused Marines with the eighth case still in review.  Four Marines had been charged with wrong doing and the other four with a cover up.

Feminization of the American male

A couple of posts ago, we were talking about the very serious problem of the number of people incarcerated in the United States.  The majority of them, about 93.2% are male, which leaves less than 7% female or transgendered or other.  What is happening to cause this?

Why not Obama?

There have been a number of posts, including some by myself, cataloging the problems with Obama.  His heritage, patriotism, religion, wife, pastor, friends/acquaintances and virtually everything that can reasonably be associated with Obama have been looked at and discussed—some justifiable and some outlandish charges have been made. 

There's the Outrage!

Since the McCain campaign is going to be a shot-by-shot remake of the Dole ’96 fiasco — call it “Night of the Living Dead, PART II” — it was particularly appropriate to see our resident Republican (I mean Independent) Timo Kokko post a blog entitled “Where is the outrage?”, Dole’s infamous plea for relevance and traction.

In asking it, Timo even sounded just as hopelessly mystified, impotently indignant, and helplessly defeated as Dole did twelve years ago. (Get used to those feelings, TK; it’s only going to get worse by November. But take heart: as Dole discovered, there is a pill that can help you get the mojo back, if temporarily.)

None of which is meant to duck the question: where’s the outrage? It’s there, Timo, but you’re probably not finding it because you’re looking in the wrong places. You may not have noticed, but the country is outraged — at the Republican right.

Where is the outrage?

The other day I posted a thought on why there was no critical scrutiny of Barack Obama, but I had no real answers.  Thinking about it further, it is not just Obama, it is the entire left-wing of the American political process that gets a free pass.