"Carp and Gripe"

On Tuesday The One:

“I love those folks who helped get us in this mess and now say, ‘This is Obama’s economy,’ That’s fine. Give it to me. ... My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and carp and gripe.” (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24946.html)

My belief is that he's once again going after the Bush administration, something he's likely to continue doing until we boot him out of office in the 2012 general election. But he fails to tell us, which is part and parcel of his general failure of leadership, that, although the previous administration did spend us into a $500 billion deficit, it was not just the White House that helped cause the current financial mess. Congress played a large part in its failure to properly exercise oversight (left and right), contained too many elected officials who were only interested in personal gain, power, money, and re-election (left and right), and intentionally ignored the warning signs of financial collapse (left and right). And Obama is as much a part of the current problem given his abysmal performance as a US Senator.

You might say disingenuous. I say that's too nice a word to apply to The One. He's a liar. Plain and simple. And his sole aim is to socialize the United States. He is the end of the Republic and will create the Union of Socialist Americas.

So where did journalism go?

I think Sean Hannity had it right that journalism died in this country last year as much of the mainstream media stopped reporting the news and began running op-ed pieces, some of them exceedingly hateful and based on fabricated facts, and presented these pieces as news. It's obvious the media is largely left-leaning and that really isn't an issue--everybody leans one way or the other. But to use political bias to misrepresent facts is unconscionable. I'm not saying that there is no truth-spinning from some right-leaners--there are loons on either side of any debate or political position. We need to discount their rants and hate-mongering and try to focus on what's real. When the media distorts the truth, or keeps it hidden away, then we, as readers, citizens, and voters, are put at a disadvantage and tht, in the long run, weakens our nation because we vote for our representation from a position of enforced ignorance. And that should be a crime. But it's not.

There are two journalists I like to listen to--Major Garrett and Jake Tapper. I'm not sure which side of center either of them would call home and I don't particularly care since I've seen both of them do fair (as opposed to unfair, not as a measure of their proficiency) reporting and they raise some reasonably tough questions.

Today, Jake tweeted an article by Cannon that defended Sarah Palin but more than that it was an indictment of mainstream media. It is, to my mind, a thoughtful, well-researched piece and you can find it here:

http://bit.ly/8rJRy

A bit later, Jake tweeted an opposing viewpoint by Josh Marshall, and my opinion is that this very short piece is typical of the sort of rants that are all too common from the left-leaners as it fails to address anything factually, instead resorting to ungrounded accusations. You can find that piece here:

http://tinyurl.com/l6fxpe

You know that I'm registered Independent and I do tend Conservative, usually voting Republican. Sometimes it's a hard choice since Republican and Democrats both do things to keep themselves in power without always paying any attention to what is best for the country.

I believe Sarah Palin, while she can't be 100% honest, politics being what it is, is our best bet for a future that will strengthen our nation and certainly has more leadership qualifications than Barack Obama. But that's a topic for another day.

New Voting System Prevents Traitors

We can develop a new way to put our elected officials into office that disregards their party affiliations before the 2010 midterm general election. We'll just work with the US Congress for the time being as a test case, see how it works. We'll plan on a 100% election, meaning every US Representative seat and every US Senate seat will be up for grabs.

Basic citizenship, domicile, etc. requirements remain the same. People wishing to be candidates get processed into the system as they do now-register, pay the fee, and go campaigning. The cutoff date for registering is December 31, 2009. Here's where things are changing.

Starting today, each state creates a computer data center using the best software and hardware and hiring the best programmers and network experts to manage it. This data center is hooked to the Internet, the address is published as a web page, and everyone in the state who is a legally registered voter can access this network. Each voter will have to input a small amount of personal information and then has the opportunity to list all the things the voter deems important for an elected official to consider and take a position on. Voters can do this at home or from public terminals in places like libraries and city halls. Voters have until the end of August to do their input.

Once input is concluded, the computer produces checkoff lists, tailored to the various political subdivisions, with simple statements of the issues and "support" "don't support" options. The checkoff is provided to each candidate and each candidate completes the checkoff, which is then published in the data center web site. Now we all know where each candidate stands. They can have this done by the end of March, 2010.

Now we vote. Still using the same web, from your home machine or from a public terminal. The computer adds the votes and declares the winners. They all take office in January, 2011.

Now it gets more interesting. All those people who just took office will be required to always vote the way they indicated on their checkoffs. If they wish to vote differently, they must first get permission from their voters and they must bear all the costs involved. If elected officials ever vote opposite to the checkoff without permission, they're fired.

When new issues arise, they are subject to public voting. Same computer data centers as before and we tell our officials how to vote. Single issue bills only--no more adding stupid stuff like charitable contributions to the IMF into a military appropriations bill.