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Page 2 of 762 pages < 1 2 3 4 > Last »
June 2008
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And What Direction Might That Be?
by McGehee
81°F. and partly cloudy in Coweta County, GA
I’d say, almost certainly to the left.
The can-do, bootstrap approach embedded in the American psyche is under assault. Eroding it is a dour powerlessness that is chipping away at the country’s sturdy conviction that destiny can be commanded with sheer courage and perseverance.
The sense of helplessness is even reflected in this year’s presidential election. Each contender offers a sense of order — and hope. Republican John McCain promises an experienced hand in a frightening time. Democrat Barack Obama promises bright and shiny change, and his large crowds believe his exhortation, “Yes, we can.”
Even so, a battered public seems discouraged by the onslaught of dispiriting things. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll says a barrel-scraping 17 percent of people surveyed believe the country is moving in the right direction. That is the lowest reading since the survey began in 2003.
An ABC News-Washington Post survey put that figure at 14 percent, tying the low in more than three decades of taking soundings on the national mood. »
Everything seemingly is spinning out of control
If 83 percent of people are not convinced the country is headed in the right direction, it should be a simple matter to fix that in November, by reversing the 2006 congressional elections. A Congress more conservative than the president is capable of a lot. During the 1990s such a Congress enacted major welfare reform and brought about the first deficit-free federal budgets in a half century.
We need a Congress that will focus on the things the Constitution gives Congress to do. We do not need a Congress that will try to micromanage the conduct of a war or hold multi-week hearings into the behavior of professional athletes. We also need a Congress whose members won’t get caught with their hands in the public cookie jar or trying to solicit sex in public restrooms.
If the American people want to feel that events are not spinning out of control, they need to invest some effort in getting and keeping them under control—and that includes devoting more attention to electing public officials than to choosing a winner on “American Idol.”
I’m not optimistic.
[People] [Government] [Politics]
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9:27 pm Saturday
June 21, 2008
» McGehee
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...Firefox 3 (final) for Ubuntu Linux?
My Linux laptop is still stuck with Firefox 3b5—I can’t find a package for a more recent version, Firefox’s “Check for Updates” Help menu item is grayed out, and I never have figured out how to install unpackaged software on Ubuntu.
So far what little experience I’m getting with Linux leaves me underwhelmed.
Update: No sooner did I post this, than the update manager found a passel of updates it missed just moments ago—including FF3.
So, never mind.
The “Check for Updates” Help menu item is still grayed out…
[Me] [Asides]
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I Know It’s Dangerous, This ‘Thinking’ Business
by McGehee
86°F. and sunny in Coweta County, GA
I’ve been thinking about that whole “writing up my vacation” thing.
I’ve been home for over a week now, and still haven’t even started writing, let alone posting. The reason is, simply, that nobody’s asking to read it.
Which is cool, if nobody does want to read about it. I’m not sure I could make it interesting anyway. It was one of those “you had to be there” vacations, except for such dribbles and drabs as I may already have posted, or may think to mention at some future time. But that leads to other thoughts:
I’m not going to try to drag out a narrative if nobody’s interested, and if anybody is interested I’d just as soon not feel obligated to write it up for them either. I just don’t want to write.
Then again, I also don’t seem to have the discipline to just stop posting altogether.
Something’s got to change around here, but I really don’t know what I want to do.
[Me]
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7:52 pm Wednesday
June 18, 2008
No backtalk
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Halfway Decent
by McGehee
82°F. and sunny in Coweta County, GA
Okay, anybody who favors building new nuclear power plants is actually almost potentially in danger of being considered for my vote.
Sen. John McCain called Wednesday for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 and pledged $2 billion a year in federal funds “to make clean coal a reality,” measures designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
In a second straight day of campaigning devoted to the energy issue, the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting also said the only time Democratic rival Barack Obama voted for a tax cut was for a “break for the oil companies.”
McCain said the 104 nuclear reactors currently operating around the country produce about 20 percent of the nation’s annual electricity needs.
“Every year, these reactors alone spare the atmosphere from the equivalent of nearly all auto emissions in America. Yet for all these benefits, we have not broken ground on a single nuclear plant in over thirty years,” he said. “And our manufacturing base to even construct these plants is almost gone.”
Even so, he said he would set the country on a course to build 45 new ones by 2030, with a longer-term goal of adding another 55 in the future. »
McCain calls for building 45 new nuclear reactors
He’ll need a Congress controlled by Republicans, whose livers lack any similarity whatsoever to lilies, to pull it off.
Getting them elected to support his program is kinda sorta his job…
[People] [Government] [Politics] [Elections] [Election 2008]
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7:45 pm Wednesday
June 18, 2008
No backtalk
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These Are the People Running America into the Ground
by McGehee
Democrats in Congress want to nationalize oil refineries.
House Democrats responded to President’s Bush’s call for Congress to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. This was at an on-camera press conference fed back live.
Among other things, the Democrats called for the government to own refineries so it could better control the flow of the oil supply.
[...]
“We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.” [said Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY).] »
House Democrats call for nationalization of refineries
So they’re going to address skyrocketing oil prices by ... what, restricting the flow of oil? How is confiscating existing refineries going to bring prices down?
These are the people who took control of Congress after the 2006 elections. The people whose votes made that possible have no one to blame but themselves.
[People] [Government] [Politics] [Elections] [Election 2008] [Wackadoodle]
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That’s My Congressman
by McGehee
75°F. and fair in Coweta County, GA
I think I must be unusually lucky in that I almost always manage to have an elected representative worthy of my respect.
Westmoreland said he was contacted by a constituent about a petition asking the U.S. Government to “drill here, and drill now” for oil. “I hope you will all go and sign that,” Westmoreland said.
But it gave him an idea, and he’s drawn up a petition just for congressmen. Bills in Congress can become so convoluted that it can be hard to tell whether someone is for or against something.
But Westmoreland’s oil drill petition is very simple. The petition was rolled out last Thursday, Westmoreland said, and asks congressmen to sign if they support more land-based drilling, more offshore drilling, and more refineries.
At that, Westmoreland was met with thunderous applause by the crowd gathered in the community room at the Publix at Thomas Crossroads.
“That is as simple as it gets. So there is no wiggle room in there for anybody to say that they were for something or against something,” Westmoreland said. »
Lawmaker petitions Congress to drill for oil
Contact your member of Congress and tell him to sign Rep. Westmoreland’s petition.
[People] [Coweta County] [Government] [Politics]
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