Wednesday Night Open Mic for December 15, 2010

I couldn’t get to the open mic last night but have found a spare moment this evening to get some posted. I have worked both jobs at better than 16 hours each day for the last couple of days, so to say that I am a bit tired is an understatement. But I am persevering through it all. The new job is going great and I am learning a lot about the industry and how to do the job they hired me to do. And the old job is, well, the old job. I know how to do it but it is December which means working late nights and being swarmed when you come in. I did want to note for everyone that I won’t be offering any new articles during the week between Christmas and New Years. I will be traveling and enjoying spending time with my family and want to give them the attention that they deserve. I will be trying to jump in and participate throughout the day on Thursday. It appears that I may be working from home at least in the morning as we have some weather developing and here in the South, they shut things down when it snows. It is a bizarre thing for a northern boy to understand.

Robert Reich Lashes Out Falsely Again

Tonight I reach once again into the bowels of the Huffington Post for an article that I will systematically address, as I am sometimes prone to do. What caught my attention in the headline was the social darwinism part. As most of you know, I am not opposed to social darwinism. I think in many cases it is the proper thing. There are exceptions, but by and large, the survival of the species, according to evolutionary dictates (which I thought Democrats worshiped), demands that we allow the weak to be weeded out of the gene pool. Tonight’s target is Robert Reich. As many of you are aware, Reich served as the US Secretary of Labor and is also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. I find him to be generally wrong on many things, and his partisan bias is evident in his economic advice. Because he is a strong believer in Keynes principles, I feel he is lost. But when he writes such drivel as below, I feel compelled to call him out on it. For the record, I think that it is authors such as Reich (along with Cesca and Johann Hari) that have rendered the Huffington Post somewhat damaged goods. For every good author and article there will be a clearly partisan and off base one like this.

Johann Hari and the Dying Wails of a Small Minded Mission

We begin another week with another look into the fascinating world of the global warming alarmists who, at this point, are merely incapable of using reason or logic to think things through. I have to admit that I admire the tenacity that these folks have. Despite massive amounts of counter-arguments, they still manage to move forward with the warning calls, completely ignoring all the things that simply render their argument moot. I think the thing that fascinates me the most about these carnival barkers is that they continually lambast opponents for using faulty logic or ill-conceived arguments, and then they go right ahead and do exactly what it is they just railed about. It boggles the mind. Global warming is something that I simply cannot ignore. The consequences of allowing the progressive movement to move forward with their plans are simply too devastating. At this point, I see the really loud voices in the debate as nearly as crack-pottish as Cesca is about racism. Therefore, I will continue to hammer them until the world shouts them down as the fruitballs that they are.

Tim Geithner Gives Us More Lies…

The article that I was working on for tonight still is not finished. Vacation is more taxing than one might think, what with all the beach sitting, ocean swimming, and food eating. But I absolutely did not want to go another night without an article to discuss so I figured that I would find something interesting out there on the blogosphere and offer it up for consumption here. I went to my trusty standby for articles that would garner interest, The Huffington Post. They, of course, did not disappoint. I had my choice of several different interesting articles over there to think about. What I decided on was the article below that discussed the Secretary of the Treasury’s much maligned Op-Ed from last week. I have to admit that I was a bit stunned when I read the article when it was originally run over at the New York Times. After all, it was thoughts from Timothy Geithner under the title of “Welcome to the Recovery.” I don’t want to sound jaded, but I had to wonder whether Mr. Geithner had actually smoked some crack before offering up such a ludicrous statement. First the article from HuffPo and then my quick thoughts to get the discussion going…

Alan Grayson… Idiot Child of the Left

I didn’t have a ton of time to write again tonight. I had actually decided that I was going to skip the night and try to get some other stuff I have been procrastinating on done. But then I stumbled across this article, another of the open letters Representative Alan Grayson seems so fond of writing over there at the Huffington Post (one of the few places that will give a voice to fruit cakes like Grayson). As you all know, I have no beef with HuffPo. They have some interesting articles and some good ideas that come from a very intelligent group of writers. Unfortunately, they also have become a place where hatemongers such as Bob Cesca and Fools such as Grayson are given a podium from which to spew their nonsense. What they will not do, however, is allow for any dissenting opinions to be offered to counter folks like Cesca and Grayson. And that is a shame, because the surest way to ensure that your writers won’t be taken seriously by anyone other than those who already agree with your ideas is to limit the ability to to offer rational responses.

The Oil Spill Disaster… Criminal or Accidental?

I have followed this story since the beginning, as the rest of the US has done, mostly because I am not really given a choice. It dominates the news daily, which I wouldn’t really have an issue with if I thought it was doing so for the right reasons. Obviously, that statement means that I don’t believe that it is being done for the right reasons. I will get into that shortly. What I want to start with is a serious look at the spill, the company that is in question, and the way that the entire situation is being handled in the media. British Petroleum is really being hung out to dry and I have to question whether they are being treated fairly by the powers that be. I understand that they bear some responsibility for the disaster and the events that led up to the spill, but I really find myself questioning whether they are worthy of the absolute demonization that has happened from day one of this situation. After all, it isn’t as though they intentionally caused this to happen.

My Boss Says Vote GOP!

I was reading through articles during my dinner break this evening, just seeing what was out there. After discussing the different views on the parties yesterday, and apparently finding that I have made quite a few folks angry with me for my characterization of Conservatives, I had planned on beginning my promised series this evening. I have postponed it simply because I don’t want it to get bogged down by the back to back article nights. Once the series starts I will not have an article posted the night after a series installment. I want the discussions to continue towards conclusion, which often takes more than a day. So that series will probably be starting Thursday night in leiu of a guest commentary so that it can carry on throughout the weekend. Part 1 is finished so it is merely a matter of strategic posting. But I degress. Tonight I read this article that focused on a further consequnce of the recent Supreme Court Decision that ruled corporations are entitled to free speech protections.

It Isn’t the Volume… It’s the Song

I have spent the better part of the last 15 months reveling in the sound of my own voice as I write a blog, hoping to change the world. Or at least the world of politics as we know it. Or at least the minds of a few people who can be reasoned with and who accept logic when it stares them in the face. For the record, I include all the readers of SUFA in that category. Not because we all agree and sing cumbayah together, obviously. But because we have come together, people of different points of view, and rationally discussed issues that matter to us. I believe that most Americans want the same things, albeit in different ways. Sure we have our moments of contention, but overall, I think the vibe here is good and we are making progress in understanding each other, and more importantly, in understanding Washington DC and the mess it has become. Don’t get me wrong, we have a long way to go in America. I need about 150 million reading SUFA to really make things change. Give me time…..

Tuesday Night Open Mic for January 19, 2010

Ah the first week with the new writing schedule has thus far been a nicer pace for me thus far. I was able to participate in the discussions from my Sunday night/Monday morning post at a much higher level, which makes me feel more like I am a part of the discussions. Some good thoughts were put out there on my general lack of liberty post. I realize that there was not a real “topic” there to discuss, but I have to admit that I was surprised that there wasn’t more that people wanted to say! Don’t worry, the topics will get better! I found a couple of articles on the Huffington Post for tonight’s topics. I hope you will all go and read the original articles in their entirety, as they are interesting. We also will welcome a longtime friend to the world of blogging his thoughts and discuss the madness that was a result of the Patriot Act, and wonder when Obama will get around to repealing that abhorrent piece of “legislation”.

Financial Regulation – A Banker’s Perspective

As I mentioned to all of you a couple of weeks ago, this busy season will sometimes leave me with little time to research and offer a quality article of my own making. On those nights I will sometimes not have anything at all, but on other nights I will offer something written by someone else. Tonight I give you the latter. We have had plenty of discussion here about the roles of Wall Street and the big banks in the current economic situation. I was over at the Huffington Post reading around, and I found this article from a banker, who offered his perspective on the situation we face. It isn’t very often we are going to sit around and watch the finance committee hearings to hear what the bankers have to say. So I thought it appropriate that on the day when the President brought the bank CEO’s in and “laid the smack down” on them, we get a little bit of opinion from someone on the other side of the issue.

Yet Another Excuse to Attack the 2nd Amendment

I know that many of you were expecting that I would be talking about the travesty that occurred Saturday night in the House of Representatives. Fear not, I am going to tackle that, but not tonight. I want to finish reading the bill that passed before I begin commenting on it. I will say I am very disappointed that it passed, and thus far I am under the impression that the Democrats in Congress are interested in passing a health insurance reform bill, but have no concern with whether it will actually be a good bill or an effective bill. But enough for tonight, I am hoping to make the newly passed bill the topic tomorrow night. For tonight I offer some thoughts from over there at the Huffington Post. It seems that the tragic events at Fort Hood have become yet another excuse for those on the far left to clamor about taking people’s guns away yet again. I will offer you all the opportunity to read what this particular person had to say, and then weigh in with my own thoughts…

Automatic Registration and Mandatory Voting?

I was reading through a lot of different things this evening. I was over at the Huffington Post reading some of the hoo ha that is offered there, and I stumbled across an article from Mark Green, President of Air America Media. He was discussing the fact that America has such a dismal voting record, especially at the lower levels of government. And he seemed to be willing to come right out and say that Americans should be forced to vote. He also espoused the merits of automatic registration. Given the vigorous debates that have occurred within this site over whether voting is effective, relevant, or necessary, I found his article to be interesting, while at the same time a bit disturbing. So I figured I would offer the article he wrote to all of you, and offer my thoughts on the concepts he discusses. I am sure Black Flag will have to weigh in on this topic, as will several others. But it seems to me that I can support the thoughts from Green on one part of his topic, but not on the other.

A Promise Broken… but Only for a Night!

I know that I told everyone that tonight I would offer the second part of the reason and values article. And I really tried to make it happen. Mrs. Weapon needed a little extra of my time tonight. I then started to get to work and found that I was rushing through in order to finish it tonight. As a result I ended up with a rant that had no coherent thought. I erased it all and started over. But I cannot finish it tonight without ending up with something I would not be comfortable posting. So I will push it to tomorrow and offer something quick this evening.

Now the Right is Mentally Defective

Whew…. Another very long day at the Weapon household. A 14 hour work day on top of making sure Mrs. Weapon stays as comfortable as possible during recovery. I want to take a moment to thank all of you who have wished us well and sent along messages each day with support and prayers. It is so encouraging to have so many people, even those who are diametrically opposed politically, who you feel really care about what happens in your real world. As an update, Mrs. Weapon is doing well, still in a lot of pain, but getting better. With any luck, we will have a full recovery and she will be back to writing me “honey-do” lists in no time. Recovery is expected to take about 4 weeks, so we are almost through the first one. However this long day left me with little time tonight. But as I was reading some news and stuff, this article stood out to me. So I figured I would share the article with a few thoughts from me scattered in between.

Offering A Rebuttal…

I have some work to do tonight on a speech for a friend, so I didn’t have the time to really research and write a full article the way that I would have liked. I have lately been trying to do more research on the health care stuff and the series I promised is coming very soon. Wednesday or Thursday night will bring an article about a candidate in a local election that I think we can all get behind. We talked about supporting local candidates that can make a difference in terms of what many of us believe. This candidate is one so I want to make sure you get introduced to her personally. Tonight, since I have little time and wanted to respond to this, I make it my topic! Bob Cesca, who I wrote about from the Huffington Post the other night, decided that he would write about me on his site. Which is cool with me. I deserve it. I took him to task. He has the right to do the same. I certainly wish he would take a second and do so with some sort of informed opinion rather than making assumptions and trying to marginalize me with blatantly false claims about who I am, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers…

Howard Dean Publicly Exposes All Politicians

Whew…. Back at home once again. After a month and a half or so filled with travel and family and all kinds of stuff, my life begins its return towards normal (or at least my own abnormal version of normal). I spent the weekend back in my hometown. I had taken my computer, hopeful of some quiet time with my blog. No such luck, the one hotel in town had no internet access. Which was actually kind of nice. So I spent some time at Gettysburg battlefield (I grew up about 25 miles from there) educating my son and wife on the historic battle. Visited a couple of old friends. Marveled at the town’s growth. And didn’t know a single political thing that happened for the entire three days. Tomorrow begins the adoption process for our new family dog from the local shelter. But other than that, things begin getting back to some semblance of normalcy. I had been thinking about this article prior to leaving, so I return to it now. It seems Howard Dean felt it necessary to remind our representatives that they don’t answer to their contituents….

Arianna and Her Den of Hateful Idealogues

I was looking around this evening figuring out what I would write about. I have had so little time with my son here that I end up not starting until late in the evening. As I begin here I look at the clock and it is 1:43 am. But I was reading at a bunch of sites and I stumbled upon this article on The Huffington Post. I have to say, reading the Huffington Post often disturbs me. To read some of what the liberal folks post there and the things they say is downright infuriating. So I am going to take a moment here to single out one jackass who writes for the Huffington Post. Because it is important to realize the hate and vitriol that is being spewed at some of the most read far left sites out there. It gives you insight into the far left (which, for the record, does not include Ray, lest he be offended thinking I am talking about him). But I am also going to point to some folks there who have written some good stuff too.

Stealth Legislation as a Positive?

As I mentioned the other night, I have my son with me for the summer, and while it hasn’t affected much the last couple of weeks, that won’t always be the case. Over the next three remaining weeks of his time here, there may be several nights where I choose to spend time with him as opposed to spending 4 hours writing an article. Just figured I would let everyone know why some nights might end up with no article, or limited amounts of my own thoughts, such as tonight. I was using my very limited time this evening to read a lot of articles on different subjects, hoping I would find something early to research and then write about. I stumbled across this article on the Huffington Post website. The headline jumped out at me and I couldn’t resist reading it. And as I did I became more and more annoyed at the blatant disregard for integrity or honesty from government….