January 29, 2010 at 9:01 PM · Filed under Politics
Forget the news, forget the pundits and the 10-second soundbites. If you want to understand where this president stands not to mention how much he has a grasp on the issues, then you should set aside a bit of time and watch this Q&A session he has with the House Republican caucus.
This was surprisingly civil and we can only hope that they really listened. I’m under no illusions that the GOP alone is to blame for the lack of movement on important legislation, and I’d like to see President Obama continue to take both sides to task for their childishness.
September 14, 2009 at 1:46 AM · Filed under Politics
A few weeks ago, Bill Maher interviewed Bill Moyers one on one, and I’ve been meaning to blog about this since then. He made a great point that I completely agreed with: “Universal health care is representative of a deeply moral society.” Watch the start of this video for about a minute and a half.
Sure, universal health care seems to be portrayed as this extremely liberal position that no Republican would or could ever support. But here’s what I find ironic: there is a large swath of the Republican party that identifies with Christian values and campaigns have used ‘values’ as major foundations. What could be more Christian that looking out for your fellow man? I’m hardly suggesting that the government or people in general need to take care of every aspect of everyone else’s life, but if someone is sick, why can’t they get health care or at least affordable health care? Would a small town in America 100 years ago or even 50 years ago let one of their own die if they couldn’t afford to see the doctor? Perhaps I have an idyllic view of yesteryear, but somehow don’t believe I’m completely off-base. Certainly, immigrants to this new world didn’t have health insurance.
The entire Bill Moyers interview is worth watching (approx 30 mins). Parts 1, 2 & 3 are on YouTube. Thanks to HBO and the Bill Maher show for not yanking this from YouTube.
January 20, 2009 at 7:47 PM · Filed under Cool, Politics
Today’s presidential inauguration has been covered thousands, possibly even millions of times in various ways, my own entry is but a blip in the media coverage. This blog entry is mostly for my own benefit, for my future self, the one that will look back and remember how much of a historic day this was in my lifetime. Our lifetimes.
If you haven’t seen President Obama’s inauguration acceptance speech, then thanks to YouTube and citizen journalists, here is but one version.
The lines that resonated with me the most were:
Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
We will restore science to its rightful place.
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth;
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
Ron Howard shares his view of the upcoming election by getting back into some very old TV characters and recruiting some of those shows’ stars. Nice mini-movie – take a look (4 mins).
I can hear the arguments now: they don’t live here, they’re not as educated or up on the facts, they don’t know better, etc. etc. But think about it for a minute. Think about the immediate impact on our standing in the world when President Obama is elected.
And let’s be honest, there’s a significant fraction of our electorate that is simply not any better informed than many others around the world.
October 17, 2008 at 7:43 PM · Filed under Politics
Blogger/Professor Sam Wang of Princeton University runs the Princeton Election Consortium blog which provides a scientific analysis of the current US presidential election. The blog (statistically) predicted the outcome of the 2004 election. I highly recommend it.
A week ago, Dr. Wang posted a very interesting article which essentially says that the writing is on the wall for the presidential election, and that if you’re on either side of the political fence (Republican or Democrat) and you’re still interested in supporting (via monetary contributions) your side that you should now consider supporting your party’s candidates in the House and Senate races.
Why? Because assuming that Obama wins the election, if the House and/or Senate majority tips in favor of the Democrats, then they will have a controlling influence over policy for at least the next 2 years and possibly longer. However, should Republicans hold onto their current or gain some additional seats, then they will at least have some leverage in directing policy their way.
