Archive for July, 2009

Nothing like a democratic administration to make republicans popular

Posted: July 10, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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You know sometimes you have to let people actually figure it how much worse it could be for them to figure it out.

Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on eight out of 10 key electoral issues, including, for the second straight month, the top issue of the economy. They’ve also narrowed the gap on the remaining two issues, the traditionally Democratic strong suits of health care and education.

The Captain then comments on the most telling

The political class question is most revealing. Those who consider themselves apart from the political class trust Republicans more on the economy by a wide margin (58%-28%), while those inside the political class support Democrats … 99%-1%. No, that is not a typo. It’s a demonstration of the slavish devotion to Democrats within the political class, and the breakout indicates that the Democrats have more trouble than even this poll shows on voter trust.

You know I don’t even think it’s the corruption itself. Americans are big boys and know the ways of the world, I think its the fact that it’s so damn blatant.

We always get the government we deserve, always!

US News finds it difficult

Posted: July 9, 2009 by datechguy in catholic, opinion/news
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Via Hotair we see US news figures that it’s time that family values just go away:

So it’s time for a bipartisan cease-fire. Bipartisan because readers will write in with their list of cheating Democrats—but it’s the GOP that, as a party, has styled itself as pious defender of marriage. Take the marriage front out of the culture war. Spare us any more awkward scenes of a pol, aggrieved spouse standing stone-faced next to him, pronouncing himself a sinner and then refusing to answer more questions (or, Sanford-style, giving a solo performance with more mawkish details than we really want or need).

And that cease-fire ought to extend to the latest incarnation of “family values,” the crusade to “protect” traditional marriage from gays who want to marry each other. The Republicans’ peccadillo problem undermines their (sometimes contrived) moralism on the issue. They should spend more time protecting marriages from internal problems than trying to gin up voter angst over bogus external threats.

So apparently because some people can’t keep their vows we need to change the definition of marriage, what nonsense. Hey lets follow this to it’s natural end. Let’s not pass judgment at all.

If a person doesn’t want to hire a woman because she is a woman we should let it go.

If a person doesn’t want to rent to blacks or hispanics or asians we should let it go, after all haven’t we all guilty of racial sensitivity?

Hey and that whole civil war thing too, who were we to pass any sort of judgment on another culture, if you don’t like slavery don’t own a slave.

And furthermore we object to places like Saudi Arabia that don’t allow the vote to woman, after all we have people who abuse women here.

And that whole honor killing thing, hey we can’t make a cultural judgment when ours is so imperfect.

And those people who object to kids using drugs, hey some of them might have used pot when they were young so we certainly have no business judging them, in fact we should do the whole Sharon Stone and put not only the condoms but the coke and pot on the table in bowls, after all we know they are going to do it anyway.

Why even have marriage vows, we know men can’t keep them, in fact why have any laws restricting sex at all, it’s just not in the nature of men and we all know that in the 60’s we celebrate the Woodstock generation and free love who are we to say.

And hey sometimes we have a friend in a police force fix a parking ticket so we certainly can’t object to lobbyists trying to get a good deal for their clients.

This is the end result of this kind of nonsense. And nonsense it is. The idea that when you can’t always live up to your values you drop the values is the path of the coward and the fool. As the saying goes:

“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.”

I’m sure the author would like to leave it untried. A lot easier to do what you want when there are no rules, isn’t it? Talk about someone who needs to read the Pope: Caritas in veritate.

Still looking

Posted: July 8, 2009 by datechguy in employment, personal
Tags:

Well made it to the finals of another position but still haven’t crossed the finish line. Hopefully the interview this week will work out.

I have managed more interviews lately I don’t know if it’s a sign that the economy is getting better or just that the people more impressive than me are filling positions.

Anyway my extended benefits last till mid October I have until then to get something before we get to the “take the 40% paycut” stage.

Birther stuff bottom line

Posted: July 8, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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World net daily was one of the first sites on the web I started reading a bit ago nearly a decade ago. It was covering stories online when almost nobody else was. Lately I find myself reading it less and less as the focus is increasingly on the “Birther” business as a top headline. It seems to be almost becoming CNN with Michael Jackson as in All “Birther” all the “Time”.

Their latest story concerning which hospital the president was actually born at. Apparently there are conflicting reports.

In an official letter signed by Obama on White House stationery, the president celebrates his birth at the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii. The facility has posted that letter on its website, along with video of the letter being read in public.

But according to Snopes, the popular online hoax-buster that many rely on as the final word on both important and frivolous stories, Obama was born at a different hospital in the Hawaiian capital.

In Snopes’ entry concerning allegations that Obama is a “radical Muslim,” the site addresses the birth history of the commander in chief, stating, “Barack Hussein Obama was born on 4 August 1961 at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.”

WND took a screen shot of the entry and highlighted the name of the hospital.

(Note: Within 90 minutes of this WND story being posted, Snopes swapped the hospital of birth to indicate Obama was born at Kapi’olani, but noted some ambiguity by stating, “News accounts have also variously placed his birth as having occurred at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.”)

Now like any newspaper WND’s primary job is to “sell” itself. It also has a particular World View and in a throwback to the journalism 100+ years ago doesn’t pretend that it doesn’t have the bias’ it does which is very refreshing.

I must confess that I can’t get myself excited about any of this. There are enough oddities to warrant interested reporting (For example If I ran the hospital a president was born in I’d want to promote it). I will also concede that president Obama is less that forthcoming on many issues and as Jim Geraghty has pointed out, all of his statements come with an expiration date.

However the certificate of live birth IS a on official document of the state that certifies an event. If it would be acceptable in other cases it is acceptable here.

And lets face it (and this is the nitty gritty to me) Does anyone really think that the Clintons of Paula Jones, The Rose Law Firm records, the Clintons of the FBI files and the Travel office, the Clintons of Juanita Broderick, the Clinton’s for which Susan McDougal went to jail rather than talk and for which a Sandy Berger was willing to smuggle and destroy documents out of the national archives years after they were out of office. The Clintons of Monica. Are you REALLY willing to tell me that those Clintons would not have used this if there was ANY chance of there being a there there? Any chance at all?

Consider the following statement:

The Clintons would do ANYTHING to win the presidency.

Can any conservative honestly say that at any time before fall of 2007 they would have denied that statement? Any Conservative? No religious belief requires half the faith necessary to deny that basic fact.

I suspect few if any of people who support the “Where’s the birth certificate” business would have denied it.

Nobody is telling me that two years later and the Presidency in their grasp they would suddenly have a change of heart, the very fact that the presidency might have been slipping away would have made it even more likely.

It’s not quite the physics of the Popular Mechanics takedown of the 9/11 truther fools but to me it’s as close as it gets. Until you can cross that hurdle I have to conclude that there is no there there.

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