The blog combining two passions most people could give a rat's ass about.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Taking advantage of Disaster

After learning of the tornado damage in Joplin, (I was visiting family out of state) I was faced with the question of what to say about it if anything at all. Any kind of statement seemed like exploitation.
Some progressives see this as an opportunity to talk about global warming/climate change. I'm not sure if that is the right thing to do or not when people are still looking for lost family and friends. Would it even serve well as an illustration now?
This morning I have read that Republicans in DC are considering holding funds for disaster relief hostage for other budget cuts.
The issue I will probably push in the next few weeks is changing our definition of National Defense to include infrastructure and disaster relief. This is something I was planning on doing before this happened.
I would also like to caution everyone that it isn't just politicians who will seek to take advantage of disaster relief in Joplin. In previous disasters in Haiti and elsewhere con artists have set up fronts as charities, and I expect the same to happen here as well. Be very careful in who you donate money to in the name of Joplin relief. Also be cautious of new apps you are unfamiliar with promising to help in Joplin. Do your research. Don't be careless with your data/money because you want to help in tornado relief.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Does the GOP care about anything?

Watching Billy Long on the news pumping gas Thursday brings up some questions about what the GOP really cares about. Considering that several Republican politicians were doing the same thing at the same time; the answer seems to be politics. Why didn't the GOP organize to defund Planned Parenthood a few years ago when it was a Republican Senate, Republican House, and Republican President? Why didn't they open drilling then? Why didn't they repeal regulations of firearms? If you want to know what the GOP cares about look at what they accomplished when they had absolute control of the government.
In the video Billy Long pumps gas for a teacher. Did he tell her how his "plans" to close the Department of Education;might affect her commute? Probably not because when he makes promises I see no evidence that he is looking at the big picture. I wonderwho theRepublicans will have running next time around, since the seemingly disingenuous Mr. Long has promised to only run one term...
see the video
http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-story-rep-billy-long-pumps-gas-20110518,0,4712945.story

Friday, May 20, 2011

Anthology is out

"Print is Dead" an anthology including my short story "And We Call Ourselves Friends" is now available on indyplanet http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5388

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Labels

I've expanded the Labels section of the political site beyond just being a poll for which party I should be in. http://www.nilvsdcbs.com/labels.html

Monday, May 16, 2011

Sister Wives

On my campaign site, http://www.electladendorf.us , I will be changing my gay rights section to a family values position. This is not a change in policy only a change in presentation.
Part of the reason for this is the plight of the Brown family in TLC's Sister Wives. I am not afraid to admit, even as someone running for office, I support the end of these laws that persecute this type of family. I fail to see anything abusive or neglectful happening within the brown home (except maybe welfare fraud). I understand that polygamy laws serve to protect  women and children from tyrannical patriarchs, but that doesn't seem to be who the law is harassing in this case. Honestly it seems like a cop out to me. Instead of writing legislation that would target the abusive behavior it is written broadly to attack alternative life styles. Kody Brown seems to be a caring provider and this show illustrates how the state should keep it's nose out of marrage.
Marriage is not a logical function of government. However enforcing contracts and reconciling disputes fairly is. The only way to get equality to everyone is if we ban state sponsored marriage and only practice civil unions for all as a governing body. If Kody Brown wants to enter into contract with more than one woman that is his business. If he has the women in separate beds or all in one that is also his business (though the latter is more interesting to me).
I will be changing the scope of my platform to include this because we need to looking at these problems in broader strokes on the federal level. Prop 8 failed in part due to Mormon opposition. If we could all see why a separation of church and state is so important we will instead have an LDS/gay alliance for marital freedom.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Standardized

I forget what community it was, but some net ranking site had a discussion about my website. They concluded that my site should look more like a political site. I've redone the main page to play with this idea without losing what makes the site special. I think I found that balance.
I'll probably play with the design a bit. It's not quite right but I used a program I am not familar with to make it called Firestarter.

Redesigned main page
http://www.nilvsdcbs.com

Friday, May 6, 2011

Republican B-List

Last night was the kick off of an interesting dynamic in our political landscape. Fox News hosted a Republican debate consisting entirely of second string candidates. In lieu of having any stars on stage, Fox even made the final round of questions about the candidates who haven't even decided they're running yet.
One must wonder with the first debate here, why aren't the big names in yet? Aren't they all planning on taunting Obama's ability to make decisions? Are they afraid if they come out too early that will create more "YouTube moments" than they want to handle?
At any rate I am glad they didn't show. Other than a little non-sense by Santorum in the beginning about Obama basically being a janitor while Republicans take a break from the white house- it was a fairly honest debate. If Trump or another undeclared were in it we would have heard less debate and more attempts at emotional manipulation. Oh Pawlenty tried but he's on the B-squad for a reason. He's about as good at it as the Democrats are.

Ron Paul
Dr. Paul did great. The guy has a very quick wit. Very genuine. I also believe that if you listen to him carefully he spells out the difference between what can be accomplished and what he hopes to accomplish. Paul is careful enough with his vision not to want to pull the rug out from people. He understands that his plans require everyone to be less dependent on government. I think there are some major flaws in what Paul wishes to accomplish but that middle ground sounds awfully good.

Herman Cain
When I lived in Chicago (okay Skokie) the Republicans ran Alan Keyes against Obama for Senate when their nominated candidate had a sex scandal (Jack Ryan or as you dorks know him Mr. 7 of 9). Seemed pretty cynical since Keyes wasn't even from Illinois. Then when Obama ran for president it made Keyes running look kind of crass. I'll admit when I first saw Cain part of my mind thought "not again". I know I shouldn't admit to any of this but it is more important to admit that people can be suspicious of black republicans. This guy seems to be a pretty typical generic Republican. Unfortunately he has something else working against him.
His name is Herman..

Tim Pawlenty
He's like a little boy wearing front-runner shoes.

Rick Santorum
If you caught the debate I actually liked his explanation of what he meant in his book about radical feminist making homemaking a less enviable job than raising children. I only disagree because we live in a culture where everyone is expected to be a rock star. Though he did alright last night I fully expect him to become a gaff machine in a few months- but even if he doesn't he will not be able to escape his "google problem". Go ahead and google his last name...

Gary Johnson
He did well. Seems a little boring other than that knowing eyebrow gesture when he admitted to smoking pot. But he needs to learn to play it cool like Ron Paul when it comes to media bias.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Makeover

Updated the health care and welfare sections of my site to reflect new color scheme. Don't think I changed anything else.