based on your demographics, i assume that most of you hillary supporters that want those florida votes to count are a bit older and a likely parents. so with that in mind i want to ask you a question.
what would you do if your little son or daughter did something you didn’t like. so you tell them not to do it or they will not get any ice cream in the evening. well, the threat didn’t do much the little guy still does it. you then obviously tell them that that means no ice cream. as you sit down for dinner and everyone is about to get their ice cream, with the exception of the little rebel, the little rebel says that he/she wants some ice cream, that it is not fair that they didn’t not get ice cream while all the other members of the family are getting their ice cream.
so let me know what you would do … would you give the rebel some ice cream or be firm?
and then let me know why should the florida votes count?
one of the benefits of capitalism or “the market” is always said to be the way it innovates. so now here we are in the middle of an energy crisis, with oil likely to stay way above the recent lows due to increasing global demands. one would assume that this would lead oil companies to invest in non oil technologies to prepare for a no oil future. what does exxon mobil do? … they buy back stock.
Once again, Exxon Mobil has amassed a large pile of common stock held in treasury. At the end of 2007, the company had 2.367 billion shares held in treasury, for which it paid $113 billion over the last 10 years, according to a regulatory filing. If that stock were valued at the current market price of $90 a share, it would be worth $237 billion, or $124 billion more than what Exxon Mobil originally paid for it.
not only does mccain in the video below showcase bush traits by ignoring facts and stressing that he is right by making stupid jokes that are supposed to cover up his own ignorance.
but what really gets me is the very end where he says that he takes the side of “the average american” on an issue like who would be the head of iran. well, maybe he wants to take a look at this video to find out about how much the average american knows about the world outside of the US
some of the things in this video are certainly quite questionable, but for the pentagon to pay some of these people makes one wonder if they have their priorities straight. maybe too many drugs in vietnam.
americans have thought for a long time that they are the “city on top of the hill”, that they, now with the cold war over, are the sole super power.
but american’s have been living beyond their means for the last 30 years. and now economics, natural resources, and most importantly the rest of the world is catching up with it. the dollar is a historical lows, american debt is ever increasing and approaching $10 trillion, gas is at all time highs with no limits in sight (at least for now) … and worst of all the rest of the world doesn’t seem to care. the rest of the world is slowly buying up US assets and for the most just doing their own business.
the result is that the US can’t boss the rest of the world around anymore. there are other options now available. to get others to do something or to help the US can’t just show up and demand it anymore … the world is flat (like friedman says, but in a different way), not only from a business view, but from an influence view too.
fareed zakaria talks about this development in his new book “the post american world” and in this conversation he had with charlie rose:
i just saw this new hillary campaign video that she is airing in indiana:
what i find amazing is that she thinks that what she is doing is good!!
let’s start with the forclosures, yes she is suggesting bailing people who made wrong investments out of them. and in part that is an ok policy. but she was a senator in the stupid build up to the current economic mess, if she is so ready to be president, why didn’t she do something earlier? why didn’t she suggest more rigid lending laws two or three years ago? no back then she was missing in action, and now she wants to use tax payer money to bail out poor investment decisions by individuals and by financial institutions.
what is most amazing though is her stupid idea to freeze gas tax over the summer. what good does this do? nothing. all it will do is reduce the money the government has to repair the already crumblin infrastructure in this country and will make people use their cars more. let’s get this country to accept that gas prices will be high. why? because there is a limited amount of it and there are now more people who want it. so let’s swallow the bitter pill and get this country into the 21st century.
obama rightly says no to her two initiatives, because he wants to put an end to this reactionary, populist policy making and wants to bring us back to a sane model … which will be painful for all (likely include tax increases) because over the last 20 years the country has been living above its means. so in the end this ad just shows how short sighted hillary is (she will do anything just to win votes).
election season is always an interesting time since it shows on the one side how american’s think, but at the same time it also shows how politicians think american’s think. for the last 8 years the public has pretty much proven that it doesn’t deserve any other president than bush, after all they voted for him - twice. the first time was not really their fault i would say since he didn’t really win, plus the probably didn’t expect him to be such a moron, but the second time is unexcusable.
but now it is 2008 and they again have the option to vote for a president. there is on the one side obama and on the other side mccain (i admit that for me this is a no-brainer, i certainly would support obama). obama is certainly a bit of an unknown, but what he has accomplished so far is certainly amazing. plus, despite all of his competitor being “experienced” washington insiders and longtime campaigners he has run an incredibly efficient campaign.
now mccain is not only old, but he is more or less bush’s mini-me. he is now supporting the bush tax cuts (which is ridiculous in face of a $10 trillion national deficit and mounting costs of a stupid war) and he has always supported the iraq war. mccain always touts his own horn how much experience he has, but i am sorry, just because you are old that doesn’t mean you have experience. and judging by his decisions over the last 8 years i have to say that it seems to me that he is just another guy like bush who hates losing even if that means that even more soldiers have to die and even more tax payer money has to be spend. experience is not just about having been around for a long time, but learning from what has happened around them and from the mistakes — mccain clearly has not done that. in addition, mccain has been around for a long time, that is for sure, but he has made his experience during the time of the cold war. what the US is now facing is not a way (even though bush is trying to sell it as one). if this is a war it is a war of ideas (obama’s against the rest in a way, or the increasing number of the disenfrenchised against those with a voice), and all that mccain knows is to use force, just like bush, and this won’t work in this war. obama, on the other hand understands this.
shows that the mccain campaign thinks the same. they think that a ridiculous connection of obama and hamas (which does not exist) will turn people against obama. for those that read this and are thinking about voting for mccain, please answer one question for me: how can you vote for someone who clearly thinks that you are a moron? mccain recently called obama an elitist, but this email shows that mccain is way worse than an elitist, mccain doesn’t have any respect for his voters as it looks like, he thinks they are not able to distinguish between crap and reality.
there still seem to be about 40% of americans that say they are happy with bush. i don’t know why, but just to help those people, i will start a list here with some of his achievement:
a failed strategy to fight al qaeda — with the terrorist group regrouping and getting stronger in pakistan
a war in iraq that can only be described as a failure, has cost more than 4,000 american lives, will cost in the trillions of dollars, and has taken troops that were needed to fight al qaeda to fight in iraq
oil at records prices (i don’t even know how much it costs these days, but it is still above $100 for the barrel)
an economy is shambles … the other day i heard someone (that was a fairly well known economist) say that it is in its worst situation since the great depression
a dollar at record lows — i remember when you could get 0.86 euros for a dollar now it is somewhere around 1.5 euros
a housing market that is going to make lives even harder to americans as they find their investments going sour
ever increasing debt — that national debt clock in ny is running out of numbers as it is going to hit $10 trillion in national debt this year
an increasing gap between the rich and the poor
an economy that is producing less and less but borrowing more and more
no energy policy what-so-ever that addresses changing oil demands and energy needs in a time of global warming
… there are probably a ton of other achievement
so if you are a bush supporter can you please enlighten me why that is the case?
i can’t imaging what celebrations must be going on at the mccain’s and the republican party’s headquarters. there they are, an unpopular war which is going nowhere and an economy that is tanking, and a presidential candidate that is the lapdog of the president that has gotten us all into that situation. but, there is a good chance they can win the election. why? because of hillary.because one person in the democratic party thinks that it is ok to keep on running in the primary despite the fact that she will not have enough votes in the end. all along she is discrediting her opponent to a degree that it is helping the republicans while at the same time pissing off voters that would love to vote for the democratic party (but will probably not do so if she gets elected). there is a time when one has to have the guts and the poise to say “this is it, i concede, i gave it all, but in the end the other one won.” especially at a time when you are not even fighting the other team, you are just fighting who will be the head of your own team. i find that hillary’s behavior right now just shows how unelectable she is. the thing she is solely focused on is power. it is not what is better for her party, it is not what is better for her country. it is only about what is better for her. and i am sorry, but i seen too many presidents over the last 20 years that fit that profile.so to all those people that gave money to hillary (and might still be giving money to her) please stop, send her an email instead and ask her to concede. or take the blame when next january mccain will stand on the stairs of the capitol and be sworn in to be the next president.
back alleys have always been one of those things that fascinated me since i moved to the US. i have started to explore them now with sunday afternoon walks. they are these places where people park their cars, put their trash, but they rarely walk there. most back alleys don’t have names (at least not here in DC). if you look at street maps (like the google maps) you will have a hard time finding them. it does feel a bit strange sometimes walking through them since you will likely be alone, with the odd car coming by or someone from a restaurant dumping some trash through a back door. but at the same time they are a great window into america. … btw google satellite maps are a great way to plan a back alley excursion. other pictures of dc back alleys can be found on my flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/20008/sets/72157604318995863/map/
