Tuesday Night Open Mic for September 28, 2010

We come to the open mic night on the heels of a good conversation around public education. I would like to once again thank GrafZeppelin127 for taking the time to write an article that was interesting and excellently written, and then for also coming by and participating in the conversation around the article. I hope that he will find time in the future to write for us again here at SUFA, and further that he will find time to drop in now and then and participate in other conversations. I will not be available to write an article for Wednesday night and perhaps Thursday. If that is the case I intend to post one on Friday night. I will be trying to do one Thursday night though. For tonight’s open mic topics we have Pelosi perhaps losing support from her peers as Speaker of the House, an interesting poll on where voters get their information, Colbert going to Congress, and the US government looking for even more access to private communications in order to “protect the citizens.” I look forward to the conversations!

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Are Tough Questions Out of the Question?

I once found myself at the crossroads of rational decision-making. Oh, it wasn’t some insane moment where life and death were being decided (well, perhaps my life and death). It wasn’t some moment where a major earth shattering event was unfolding. Nope…. I was in a bar. It just so happened that it was a biker bar. I used to frequent those when I was younger and thought myself a whole lot tougher than I am in my forties. There were buckets of testosterone on each table. Boxes of manhood and muscle were stacked behind the bar. The lighting was dim, the place was filthy, and the steady pounding of hard rock music was only broken every now and then by a selection from one of the superbands of the 70s. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of value placed on intelligence in that bar. They dealt in respect and feats of strength. It was the kind of place you didn’t walk into unless you were part of the regular scene or you really did believe that you were a pretty tough hombre. I sat at a table with a group from a well known national biker gang, and the discussion turned to racism, and it weren’t good (bad grammar intentional!).

OK, A Little Health Care

But not the real article I know that you are expecting. I am still reading through all the “changes” and “fixes” that have been done. Trying to re-evaluate and see if there is anything that I can find that I like about what has been passed. So my true evaluation of the bill is forthcoming, but could take a bit. 3000 pages is a lot of reading. What I am finding extremely frustrating is the consensus from those on the left that the passage of this monstrosity is a good thing. It is almost as though they have no concept of what is in the bill. I am failing to comprehend how on earth anyone could think that this is a good bill that we should be celebrating the passage of.  Strike that.  I absolutely understand why the politicians think it is a good thing. But I am talking about everyone else. It simply baffles the mind.

Tuesday Night Open Mic for March 2, 2010

We reach open mic in what has been an interesting week of discussion thus far. This week we will be discussing, at least in my offerings, the ultra racists Farrakhan and his epiphany that those on the right want to make Obama a one term President. We will also discuss Pelosi and her call to ignore the voice of the people and do what the party says. We will throw in a little gun control discussion and I will re-hash the article that Mathius noted yesterday discussing the supposed link between political affiliation and an individual’s IQ score. I must say that I was a bit disappointed yesterday that no one attempted to find a solution to the problem. The tactic instead seemed to be to attempt to rule my analysis of the offending article as theatrics, as though I was the one calling for Congressional action. As we look forward to the upcoming series, the intent is to attempt to find solutions to the problems that are presented. Solutions that will work. I so often get accused of not often enough having discussions about how to fix the problems. Yet when I do, I find that I am treated like Republicans at a health care summit. My discussion about solutions is ignored and we instead focus on the messenger.

Guest Commentary: Glenn Beck is a LIAR!

Tonight’s Guest Commentary is one that I am interested to hear the discussion around. Over the course of the last couple of months, we have seen several folks use Politifact as kind of the “unbiased truth” around the statements made by folks on the political stage. Just the other night, I was presented with Politifact’s evaluation of Sarah Palin’s speech to the Tea Party Convention. I have read over there enough that I can see that there is a bias to what they check and what they don’t, as well as the way they present it. That is fine, but I do have to take their evaluations with a grain of salt because of it, much like those who disagree with me take my evaluations with a grain of salt. The sad thing is that there isn’t a BETTER place to go for an unbiased evaluation of what folks on both sides of the aisle are saying. If such a place existed, I imagine it would be one of the most visited sites around. I also imagine that there would be a lot of “Pants on Fire” ratings on both sides of the aisle. Because an unbiased evaluation would show that about 99% of what comes out of Washington DC is bullshit… I’m just sayin.

America… Tighten Your Belt….

… So that we can loosen ours. This is the message from the United States government. The word came today from the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Pelosi had a press conference today where she laid out her plan to not only get the money ceiling raised, but to do so by attaching it to the Iraq/Afghanistan spending bill that has already been pushed through both chambers of Congress. I could sit here and pretend to be surprised, but we all know that wouldn’t be accurate. The out of control spending in Washington continues on a daily basis. And now that the credit card bills are coming due, Congress is in a position where they have to rush through some legislation that will raise the debt ceiling for the United States government. The bass-ackwards way that Congress is behaving with America’s purse strings is just another example of why we can be assured that they have zero clue as to how to help with the struggling economy.

Claims of Racism Must Stop

I have been torn on writing this article for a couple of weeks now. On one hand I had hoped that the current environment would change and this issue would go away on its own. Unfortunately, calling someone a racist is such a magnificently powerful tool that it would be silly to think those in the halls of power would allow it to be put away. So I decided that I was, in fact, going to write about it. And I am going to be honest in my assessment. Because the fact that this is being used as a tactic by many politicians, partisans, and media jerk-offs is about as filthy a statement about their character as any claim they could make about me in the end. So we are going to take some time this evening to point out all the claims of racism in the political realm. Then we will discuss what I think the reality in America is. Finally I will ask for help from all of you to figure out how to stop this tactic from being used to divide the country as much as possible.

Another Night in the Hypocritical World of Congress

I am sorry to report that I will be offering more of an opinion piece on someone else’s work this evening. However, as I begin writing this it is already 2:50 am and I have no time to write a massive research piece. The good news is Mrs. Weapon is feeling a bit better and, as such, we were able to spend the evening hanging out and actually enjoying each other’s company (which means we hung out and watched Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, which I can tolerate and even sometimes enjoy). Unfortunately her medication knocked her out all day so she is still up at this time of night, never a good thing for her. But she is recovering. It looks like she may get to return to work by the end of next week. But for now, she is up and moving around, which is a good thing. As for tonight, I again reach out to quickly discuss an article offered by someone else. It is a topic I though of covering, but I will instead simply offer my thoughts on what this author is saying on the subject. The guest commentary article for tomorrow is already written, which means tomorrow night I can hang out with my wife without any guilt, LOL.

Health Care Part 2: The President Speaks (and so Does Joe Wilson)

Like a lot of Americans, I watched the President’s “I am going to get tough with Republicans” speech in front of Congress last night. I wanted to write about the speech but it seems that very few people seem to care much about what he actually said, even though there were some important things said in that speech. So I will take a moment and address the President’s speech and what I thought of it. But the topic that seems to have everyone in the media’s attention today is the moment where the President was speaking about coverage for Illegal Immigrants, denouncing the wicked untruths that have been spread about it, and he was the victim of a verbal assault. Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina, spoke a little louder than he intended and was caught in front of the national audience saying that the President was lying to the American people. Right or wrong, that stole the show….

Mess With the Bull… Get the Horns

I saw this article on Fox News tonight discussing health insurance companies possibly being targeted for not supporting the Democrat’s health care reform plans. Being Fox News, I decided I wanted to read a bit more before I actually just bought the concept and formed an opinion. As I researched, I found a lot of articles on many different major news outlets so I am filing it under “the actions are true”, while opening the debate for whether the intent offered is present or not. Why do I have a feeling that those on the left will support the move and deny the motive, while those on the right will not support the move while accepting the motive as true? Because, my friends, I have a crystal ball. I got it from the illegal intergalactic aliens in Ohio. Once I was alerted to their presence yesterday in the comments, I contacted them and demanded they fork over the ability to see the future. I turned them in for being undocumented anyway, and Agent “O” was assigned to bring them in. He chose not to do so, as he realized they vote, and he didn’t want to offend the intergalactic alien voters and risk them voting Republican. Typical government response ….

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….

Judging the Spendulus Bill

Here I am on a sunday night… tired as can be at only 10:00 pm. Certainly a rare occasion for me. A long weekend, a lot of driving, a great wedding, and some new friends. But all tiring none-the-less. I was reading an article earlier and found myself reading the rhetoric and wondering how much of it was true. The article was basically a Republican talking points article discussing how the stimulus bill can now be considered a failure. I am unsure how much we can tell if that is true at this point. I am inclined to believe that statement, but for a different reason that I will discuss later. But the claims from the right seem to be off base, just as off base as the claims from the left in regard to the economy. So I figured I would research a little and then ask all of you to weigh in and offer what you have read out there too.

Why The Hate for Sarah Palin?

I have been trying to go back and read some of the comments that I missed while I was on vacation. One thing that struck me was the hatred some espoused for Sarah Palin. I was literally reading it and saying to myself, “What the hell is this all about?” I understand she is a conservative. But it seems that the left has really strong hate for this woman. And I simply cannot figure out why. I mean, I have read all the same stuff. I have followed politics quite closely since well before she even entered politics. And I simply cannot figure out why the left hates her so much. She isn’t like Pelosi, who makes statements and pushes partisanship so blatantly and who is so far in left field that a ball that rolls to her has already long left the park. So I can’t figure it out. So I am going to talk a bit about Sarah, and maybe some of you on the left can help me understand your hatred for a woman who seems normal to me.

Strike While the Crisis is “Hot”

So I was perusing the news today while on my dinner break, reading about the South Carolina Governor Hoo Ha. I clicked back out to the main articles and delved into the articles about Ahmadenijad giving the US a stern verbal warning for interfering in their election process and governmental affairs (Did he even watch Obama’s press conference?). And low and behold I saw the article that would be the chosen topic for the day. The article was titled “Obama: Now Is the Time to Pass Climate Change Bill”. You guys know what I think of this whole man made global warming bullcrap. So I read the article to see what kind of bullcrap environmentalist rhetoric would be shared with us today. It turns out that this is a lot of more of the same, but we are already again seeing the terms crisis and imminent threat being throw around in regard to climate change. And I am not buying it even one little bit. Game on Mr. President.

Republicans Finding Their Voice?

Over the last week or so I have seen countless articles discussing the current state of politics and proclaiming that the Republicans have found their way back to relevance through the topic of national defense. Along with that are the childish debates about whether Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, or Colin Powell are the proper choice to be the voice of the new Republican party. I read these articles. I watch the videos. I listen to the speeches. And one thing that just sticks in my mind is that the Republicans are grasping at straws. Not one of those three men are fit to be the “voice of the Republican party”. The Republican party has no voice today because they do not stand for anything. They lost their relevance because they pandered and abused and lost their principles. When will that party wake up?

Couldn’t Happen to a Better Person

Oh, the sweet, sweet taste of one of my most disliked politicians finding themselves in a bit of a scandal and caught outright lying to the American people. They got you, Queen Nancy. They got you. For those that have not been following this ongoing drama as it played out over the last few weeks, allow me to just come right out and say what I am thinking. I cannot stand Nancy Pelosi. She is, in my opinion, the epitome of everything that is wrong with the American political system today. It isn’t because she is from the left. It is because she is not a good person. She is bitter and nasty and 100% full of bulldookey. There are bad politicians on both sides of the aisle, no doubt. But I struggle to find any worse than her. So the news breaking tonight that she has been caught in her hypocritical stance and caught lying about it just makes me giggle like a school-girl…

Third Party Viability…. Scene 3, Take 2

I covered this topic once upon a time. In fact it was the 4th blog post that I wrote way back when I started. I covered the topic OK then, but I think I can do better this time around. More importantly, the last time I covered it I only had about 3 readers, lol. I got 3 responses other than my own, one was Revolution, whom some of you have become acquainted with, and another was my wife. I would say we have grown a bit with a couple thousand page hits a day. It is hard for me to tell how many people actually come to the site, but I am sure that the number is significantly larger than it was the last time I talked about this. When I started writing this blog, I was disgusted with the outcome of the elections and disgusted with the Republican party. Those two factors in the equation have not changed. I was also in the firm belief that moving to a third party, possibly the Libertarians, was the absolute best move for me. So let’s talk about a third party and whether that is a viable move in today’s political climate…

Ahhh… Crazy Nancy Never Disappoints

You know when I have a week where I am just not getting enough crazy far left loon stuff, I start to get worried that they are being quiet as they build to something really big. I still think I am right on that, and we have not heard a lot from Crazy Nancy lately, which makes me suspicious. But the other night a friend sent me an email that was a forward. I often delete these without reading them, but coming from her I am certainly going to give it a read. And it was a quick blurb about a piece of legislation that Pelosi is pursuing. I read it and thought, that is too good to be true, she actually said that? Then I remembered it was Nancy. So I started researching, and here is what I found.

Because We Cannot Let Maureen Dowd Suffer

I think you all know what I think of the Main Stream Media. All of them are biased. Most, but not all, of them are biased to the left. I chuckle at the sheer stupidity of anyone who attempts to make the claim that this isn’t true. They point to Fox News, but in reality Fox does pretty unbiased news during the day and freely admits that they turn the station over to conservative hosts at night. But it is far too easy to point out MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Keith Olberman, Katie Couric, and the wonderful Mrs. Dowd…. you get the point. The fact is that the news simply is not the news any more.

Failed Republican Economic Plans…

I couldn’t help myself with this one. You know, we have listened to the the Democrats get on their soap box for the last 3 months and tell us how the Republicans and their flawed economic policies have been exposed, and the Democrats are “through with listening to their failed ideas”. As may of you know I am not a member of the Republican party, but I still didn’t like hearing it from the Democrats on this one, because I am a fiscal conservative. I believe that the economic policies of the GOP are far better than those of the Democratic party. Sure, neither of them would be nearly as good as the policies me and BF would implement, but given the choice of the two parties in power’s economic ideals, I will take the Republican plan every time. 

More of the Traveling Magic Show

I have listened to the news for the last couple of days swirl on about the bonuses being paid to executives from troubled insurance giant AIG. I understand that many of you are upset with AIG. I do get that we are seeing a company get bailed out with Billions of dollars of US Taxpayer money. And I do get that the contracts of these executives awarded them large bonuses that you don’t think are fair. I don’t think they are fair either. Let’s get that out of the way. But, my friends it is time to put a little perspective into play here. And once we have some perspective we can ask ourselves what is the real game afoot?

The President has Crossed My Line

I have tried really hard over the last 6 months to give Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt on a lot of things. Perhaps he feels his health care thing is a better plan for America. Maybe he really believed that putting our grandchildren into debt was the best way to fight a flagging economy. Maybe they really do think that their delusions of a mandate give them license to make insane proposals. Perhaps he and his liberal posse are even good intentioned (albeit psychotically disillusioned) in their pursuit of Socialism and belief in the Global Warming Hoax. But my dear readers, they have crossed my line this evening. My normally sane and respectful tone just had its “pause” button pressed for the remainder of the night resulting in a phrase I vowed not to make on this blog….

Good… Now Both Parties Have Lied to Us Equally

I was perusing the news again tonight as I often do when I a) don’t know what I want to write about or b) Have some subjects in mind but don’t have the time to fully research those and write them so I have to find something with a little less research. Tonight was B. I have lots to say but not tons of time to research tonight and I wanted to point out this little piece of heaven. I felt it was a lie when John McCain said it back in September. So the Republicans were lying to me then. Now, after mocking Republicans for it on the campaign trail, the Democrats are now telling me the same lie because it fits their current agenda. The point is… I think they are both lying rather than Democrats finally admitting Republicans were correct.

Nancy Pelosi… Embracer of Republican Ideals

I was going to take the night off tonight as I was working on schoolwork and trying to find a way to bed at a decent hour. But I was looking at some news sites and ran across this article and I was so stunned by the headline that I couldn’t stop laughing. Imagine my surprise when I saw a headline that read “Nancy Pelosi denies she is Partisan”. WHAT!?!?!? The queen of the liberal movement is trying to claim that she is not biased? I started to scan the room, looking for the hidden camera. Then I looked for the headline that would read “Black Flag embraces government and their new tax increases”. Surely that had to be there if this ridiculousness was there about Pelosi. Had I stumbled into some alternate reality? Was Bizarro-Nancy now on the loose?

Government as Your New Daddy

I was sitting here thinking about what I want to write about tonight. I jumped over to Fox News and saw this story and I realized that regardless of what I wanted to write about I was going to write about this because it fired me up. Furthermore I think this topic is one that I have not dedicated nearly enough time to over the last couple of months on the site. I say not nearly enough time because I think it is one of the BIGGEST problems in America today and one of the things we need badly to overcome. The socialist agenda has been furthered so well because we are letting them get to our children before we have the chance to raise them ourselves. We are in this situation today because this problem was not addressed 25 years ago when it first started to rear its socialist head…

The Messiah Recants Again… and Again

I am going to continue to call out these things. It isn’t just because I disagree with the direction that Obama and the Democratic leadership (I despise even calling them leaders because it is an insult to real leaders everywhere) are taking the country. And make no bones about it, I completely disagree with the direction they are heading. I will continue to call out these things because I hope that some of the Democrats who read this blog, and who fully support Obama based on what he says, will eventually understand that he is lying through his teeth each time he addresses the nation. If the guy was actually doing any of the things he claimed I might support him a bit. 

Economic Debate… Without Politicians

I found this article out there and it makes sense to me. The article was by a writer named Marc Rotterman and was called “Let’s Come Together to Save Our Country’s Economy”. It was an interesting idea that he was espousing, that the Republicans in Congress get together with Democrats that think President Obama and Nancy Pelosi are going too far with their liberal agenda spending. I thought “hmm, interesting, a summit to come up with a better economic plan”. In the end I think I have a better idea…

I can whip Chuck Norris, Too

If I drank enough, I might get silly enough to mutter those words. It’s a good thing I don’t drink. One thing that I don’t want anyone to get away from understanding is that the President is just a human being. I mean how many times have we heard people speaking completely out of their ass. “I can whip your ass”, only to never have the guts to try. They never thought they could but they talked a great game. “I am going to tell my boss what an asshole he is”, only to never find the cajones to say a word. Well, President Obama is no different than everyone else. He can talk a great game too. Problem is…. Talk is cheap.

American Revolution Part Deux

You say you want a revolution? Me too. I have used the word early and often on this site because I am good and pissed off. Wait… that sounds a bit too angry. How about this… I am less than pleased with the outcome of recent electoral processes and slightly dissatisfied with the direction of the two primary political parties represented in today’s national political spectrum. Ah, FRACK IT. I am pissed off. Who am I kidding? I am a little bitter, a little fired up, a little less wealthy, a little more kicked around, a little bit country and and little bit Rock n Roll. Those last two would make a great song… nah, it would never work. 

Reducing the Budget… Pelosi Style

So a review of the Chosen One’s stirring speech is coming soon, maybe as a second posting tomorrow night. I already have tomorrow night’s posting written, and it will be a good one titled “American Revolution Part Deux”, but I digress. What I want to pull from last night’s farce is his bold promise amid the economic spendulus bill’s passage that he will “cut the deficit in half over the next 4 years”. That is a pretty bold thing to say just a week after you signed into law the largest spending bill in America’s history, a mere $787 Billion. It is a really bold statement given the White House’s estimate that they will have a budget shortfall of 1.5 Trillion dollars this year alone. That is more than triple last year’s record $484 Billion.