Republican Debate (June 13): Conclusion

Foreign Policy
Question: OBL is dead, shouldn’t we leave Afghanistan.

Romney: bring the troops home when Afghanistan can handle things (kind of Obama’s position); uses conditions on the ground. No wars of independence.
Paul: wouldn’t wait…he’d bring them home as soon as possible. No more bombing overseas. No purpose being there.
Pawlenty: “Paul said no bombing in Yemen”. “What say you”: Pawlenty: blah, blah, thanks for your service, blah blah…
(yes, I served in the Navy…)…Make us safe, yes, I’ll attack targets in Yemen.

Ooops, no mike…
question on Libya
Bachmann: said that Gates couldn’t identify a US interest in Libya. She says “we don’t “lead from behind”…we let FRANCE lead! How terrible! We lead! but we shouldn’t be there…
Gingrich: yes, the pricetag is a factor in involvement. He says that we don’t know how many Libyan rebels are Al Qeada. Totally new strategy:

Cain: make sure we understand the problem? Vital interest of the US?

Question Why the military bases all over the world? Will we shut down these bases (the non-vital ones)

Santorum: Obama’s fault.,..lack of leadership…we need to be able to confront the threats and to be nimble. Accuses Obama of embracing our enemies and turning his back on our allies? (gibberish)…

Question: why does the public think that you all suck.
Cain: they don’t know us well.

Pawlenty: said that Biden has been wrong (mentions his partition); Gov. Palin is a “remarkable” leader…she is better than Biden. (sure…)

Romney: we are all better than Obama. Says that he doesn’t have a coherent foreign policy. (wrong!)
Bachmann: who would be your VP: “American VP”
Paul: which one would I pick…he’d have to more quizzing.

Last minute: what have you learned in the last 2 hours?
Santorum: we have great candidates
Bachmann: we’ve learned about the goodness of the American people.
Gingrich: NH has good people.
Romney: economy is the issue
Paul: we can talk and be civil
Pawlenty: Burins have more heart.
Cain: all of the candidates: “it isn’t about us”.

I’d love to see the spin.

Republican Debate Part III

Question: Medicare: how do we propose to keep Medicare solvent.

Paul: it won’t be solvent point out that people take out more than they put in. Says it has to change; says we are dependent.
Takes it out of other places. Says individuals could opt out.

Pawlenty: asked about Ryan plan. His proposal, has his own plan (not Ryan plan), talks about performance pay, and allows to opt out or participate.

Gingrich: asked about his initial reaction to the Ryan. Says that he supported the Ryan proposal, says that they shouldn’t run over. He claims that he disagrees with Ryan on Medicare…allows for contract with doctors. “Not pay the crooks”.

Santorum: says that the Republicans shouldn’t slow down (Gingrich says we should). He supports to Ryan’s plan (Part D). Claims that Obama’s payment advisory board is bad…..uses the R-word (rationing).

Cain: we don’t need to slow down. Says “sir, you aren’t going to get your money back”. Supports the Paul Ryan program…gets on the Democrats for demagoguery.

Question Specifics on Social Security reformation.

Cain: personal retirement account. Brings up Chile. Says about 40 years… won’t raise the retirement age.

Question Credit limit…raise the debt ceiling.

Romney: won’t raise the debt ceiling ….says that Obama needs to lead on the spending, excesses of government, etc. Says “entitlements” are 60 percent and accuses the President of not having ideas.

What happens if we don’t raise the ceiling? He won’t answer the question. Spending, blah, blah, blah….

Bachmann: “what is your pricetag”; says that she will vote “no”. Misleads on the increase on the debt (much of it comes from previous obligation)

Question Separation of church and State:

Pawlenty: says that we are a “nation under god”; more gibberish (protects believers from state versus the other way around)

Santorum: uses “faith and reason”; will converge if correct. Whines about people of faith are pushed away.

Paul: faith: says it doesn’t separate church and state.

Question The Muslim question; directed to Cain

Cain: I wouldn’t be comfortable with a Mulsim; “the militants are trying to kill us”, Sharia law, brings up Sharia law

Cain: makes it clear says he would ask Muslims certain questions that he might now ask others.

Romney: says “of course Sharia law” won’t be applied (Thank you!) Mentions religious tolerance.

Gingrich: makes a comment about the Pakistani and says that the Pakistani lied: talks about loyalty oath…brings up fear.

Break…I need pink bismuth…

Question Bachmann: gay marriage…
Bachmann: would she attack state laws to allow for gay marriage? “Marriage is between a man and a woman”. Mentions children. But doesn’t answer the question. She won’t challenge the state laws…doesn’t see it as a role of a President.

Constitutional Amendment to ban marriage:

Cain: up to the state.
Palwenty: Amendment.
Paul: get the government out
Romeny: Constitutional Amendment.
Santorum: Constitutional Amendment
Bachmann: Constitutional Amentment
Gingrich: Constitutional Amendment

Question: DADT overturned…would we return.

Cain: leave it alone; too many other things
Pawlenty: listen to the military
Paul: blah blah…”rights don’t come in group”
Romney: didn’t answer; should have kept DADT
Gingrich: meets with military and go back.
Bachmann: go back
Santorum: “repeal”

Question: prolife question
Santorum: asked: did Romeny deliberately flip-flop? Brings up Romeny’s background when he held office.
Says that he would push the issue.
Romney: says that his last campaign said it all, and would appoint pro-life justices.

Others: case closed.

Question
Bachmann: pro-life…what about rape and incest? “Only god”…right to life …she waffles.
Pawlenty: brings up NRO: Pawlenty was the most pro-life candidate…says he is “solidly pro-life”.

Question How do you prevent illegal immigrants from using our welfare systems (education, health care, etc.)

Santorum: won’t require states to require state government to provide services.
Paul: no mandates, no easy citizenship, protect borders, brings up the economic issues…freedom, blah blah blah…
Cain: “birth right citizenship”: he is against it for kids of illegal immigrant parents. Empower the states to deport them.
Pawlenty: let the states do it if the Federal government wont.
Gingrich: “what would you do…some path to status?” He says: break this down, control the border. Use the National guard, take half of Homeland Security to the Mexico border states. Says that extreme answers are not helpful.

Question Bill that restricts the state’s ability to use eminent domain for energy uses.

Paul: Laws never meant to take from private and give to private. Get the courts out of the way.
Romney: land shouldn’t be taken a private person to give to private corporations; talks to natural gas, more drilling, “clean coal”, “nuclear power”…blah blah…

Question Senate to abolish ethanol tax credits.
Santorum: phase out the subsidies over a 5 year period of time, and phase out the tariff on ethanol.

Republican Debate Part II

Question Federal Government gives subsidies to private enterprise.

Paul: shouldn’t have any. Says that private companies should do R & D.

Cain: once supported TARP. He is being asked about. He complains about how TARP was administrated; he conflated it with the auto-bail out (different thing)

Question: Romeny was asked about the bail-out program.

Romney says that the bail out program wasted money. He would have let them go bankrupt…at least mentioned the Bush administration.
Claims 17 billion dollars was wasted and claims that Obama gave the company to UAW.

But Romney said that you could “kiss the industry goodbye”….won’t admit that he was wrong……the companies are healthy now.

Santorum: says he wouldn’t have done either. Unions are the bad guys.
Bachmann: “was in the middle of the debate” and backdoor with Secretary Paulsen. She says that TARP was wrong.

Question Gingrich: what role should the government play in the space program?

Gingrich: NASA is bad….private sector would have done it better. We would have had all of these neat things had private industry been allowed to do it. NASA is in the way.

Pawlenty: says we shouldn’t eliminate the space program.

Gingrich: gets on Pawlenty for saying to get rid of the space program.

Romney: government doesn’t know as well as the private sector.

Question: home mortgage crisis

Pawlenty: get government out of this mess….(how did they get us into it?) Get the government out of it…blah, blah, blah…

Paul: do less, sooner. We should let the prices fall.

Question: food safety.

Cain: look at the FDA and steamline it. He thinks that we should have FDA.

Romney: asked about Joplin; thinks that Federal government is too large but won’t talk about the Joplin disaster….blah, blah, blah, blah….

Round two: facepalm.

13 June 2011: which Republican wants to lose to Obama? Part I

First question Jobs?

Herman Cain: zero capital gains tax, more corporate tax breaks….

Santorum: won’t criticize Pawlenty, says that Obamacare is “oppressive”. Regulations are horrible! He just contradicted himself…

Pawlenty: question on 5 percent a year growth claim: still won’t say how tax cuts will help. Talks about growth rates of the US versus countries with less mature economies. He didn’t answer the question.

Romney: says that Obama didn’t created the recession, but made it worse? Says that Obama has failed.

Gingrich: higher taxes hurts job creation; invokes Ronald Reagan….calls Obama’s agenda “anti-American”.

Bachmann: talks about repealing Dodd-Frank, announces that she is running. Didn’t answer the question.

Paul: can’t name one thing that Obama did right, calls the current problem a “Keynesian bubble”.

In other words: no answer.

Next question: How to repeal Obamacare?

Bachmann: will repeal Obamacare. Says that the CBO says that Obamacare will kill 800,000 jobs. This claim is false.

Romney: my plan is better and only a state level.

Pawlenty: claims that Obama broke his promise to cost-contain. Slams the mandate. Pawlenty is back peddling on his term “Obamney care”.

Romney: says that Obama’s plan isn’t like his.

Gingrich: asked about mandate; says that it is unconstitutional therefore back peddles on his previous position; mentions that one needs Congressional approval, especially in the Senate (filibuster proof majority)

Next question: wonders where the “balanced approach” to governing.

Santorum: talks about the Contract with America, says he can get it and lead; says that the Tea Party is great….calls it the backbone.

Bachmann: mentions that she is the Tea Party caucus head and says that the tea party consists of disaffected Democrats and independents. says that Obama IS A ONE TERM PRESIDENT.

Cain: Tea Party isn’t too critical, says that he will take it to the people….his business skills will get the people involved.

Question: how do the candidates plan on returning manufacturing jobs to the US?

Paul: goes back to currency and wants the Fed to quit printing more money, less regulation, less tax, blah, blah, blah….

Pawlenty: Fair trade, make the burdens on industry low…Obamacare is too burdensome. “get the government off of their bock”, blah blah.

Bachmann: job creation: US has the second highest corporate rate in the world. But loopholes are rampant.

Santorum: blah blah…

Question Right to work?

Pawlenty: he supports “right to work” legislation for the nation. He throws Limbaugh a bone.

Gingrich: Defund the national labor relations board; says to defund it now. Keeps it “right to work” at the state level.

Cain: right to work….keeps it at the state level, says that the National Labor relations board is killing the economy.

Now for some fluff and a break…

Gads…this was pathetic.

13 June 2011 noonish

Workout notes
Weights and swimming:
Weights: incline press: 10 x 115, 10 x 130, 6 x 135, 5 x 135
dumbbell curls: 4 sets of 10 x 25
pull downs: 10 x 140, 10 x 120 (different machine), 10 x 140 (usual machine)
rows (Hammer): 10 x 200, 10 x 210, 10 x 210 (medium grip)
sit ups: 40, 30, 30 (1, 1, 2 were the inclines)
rotator cuff

Swimming:
10 x (25 front, 25 free)
10 x (25 3g, 25 free)
5 x 100 on 2 (1:48, 48, 48, 52, 48)
I counted strokes: 21-22 per length.
Shoulder: somewhat sore today. Not bad…but I’ll have to stretch and ice.

Note: while lifting, I talked to a young man who was doing reps with 315 on the bench. I told him to take care of his shoulders.
His lifting was fine, but a little prevention can save some time off.

Posts
NBA: I have to admit that I was amused at the talk about LeBron James’ “failure” (failure? If I were the best math professor in the second best mathematics department in the country, I’d be wildly successful…) and a bit amused at his response to critics:

And he said he wouldn’t let it bother him that so many were so happy to see him fail.

“Absolutely not, because at the end of the day, all the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today,” James said. “They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that.

“They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they have to get back to the real world at some point.”

I’ll remark on that:

1. What he says about people having to go on and get on with their lives is unimpeachable. But there is a corollary here: those who wanted him to “succeed” would have ALSO had to get on with their lives were his team to have won the title! In short, people putting things into proper prospective is not good for business for any professional sports team or athlete.

If he does well and you are his fan…well…HE was the one who did well and not you. If he flops and you hate him, well, it was his opponent who stopped him…not you. But if this fact sinks in…well, that is fewer jerseys, caps, towels, t-shirts (etc.) that get sold.

2. True, he is an elite athlete and the vast majority of fans (myself included), including those with advanced degrees and professional credentials, are no where near elite. But then one could argue that the average garbage collector, while not highly regarded, does a more important job than an athlete does.

Back to basketball: I think that while he is a dominant player, he isn’t a team leader type. They probably need some kick-butt point guard (say, Rajon Rondo) to run the team and say “ok, it is late in the game and we are getting LeBron the ball…and THAT is how we are going to do it!”

Posts
No, the US is NOT the envy of the world, at least in health care:

David Cameron, now:

Ask a Briton to describe “American-style” healthcare, and you’ll hear a catalog of horrors that include grossly expensive and unnecessary medical procedures and a privatized system that favors the rich. For a people accustomed to free healthcare for all, regardless of income, the fact that millions of their cousins across the Atlantic have no insurance and can’t afford decent treatment is a farce as well as a tragedy.

But critics here warn that a similarly bleak future may await Britain if a government plan to put more power in the hands of doctors and introduce more competition into the NHS succeeds — privatization by stealth, they say.

So frightening is the Yankee example that any British politician who values his job has to explicitly disavow it as a possible outcome. Twice.

“We will not be selling off the NHS, we will not be moving towards an insurance scheme, we will not introduce an American-style private system,” Prime Minister David Cameron emphatically told a group of healthcare workers in a nationally televised address last week.

Bottom line: we are seen by the rest of the world as a prime NEGATIVE example. Then again, the rest of the world isn’t stuck with Republicans.

Politics

13 June 2011: sleep is good!

I finally feel rested; so today I’ll get in early and get a start on my outstanding mathematics papers (“outstanding” as in “revisions are overdue” )
I’ll swim and lift over lunch.

NBA Dallas beat Miami 4-2 to win the series. It was fun to watch.
But now comes the analysis and lots of people are laughing at LeBron James not having a great last quarter.
I know little about basketball and about what makes a great athlete, but I love thinking about sports so I’ll post this thought:

it appears to me that some great players (Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan) were also “leaders on the court” whereas other great players (Wilt Chamberlain) never really embraced the “leader on the court” role; they merely dominated their position (and were still very effective). So if LeBron James is one of the latter, I wonder if the Heat would benefit from perhaps trading one of the other “big three” for a Rajon Rondo type point guard; they might be able to use a “take charge” type of guy for these “down the stretch” situations. If I remember correctly, Isaiah Thomas did that for the old Detroit Pistons.

I warmly welcome feedback, correction, flames or whatever.

Non-sports
No, being a conservative doesn’t mean that you are racist. There is nothing racist about thinking that tax cuts are always appropriate (you might be delusional but that is different ).

But there is no denying that much of the current Republican following IS racist. Ken Barnes writes:

For the next 13 years, I dedicated myself to growing the conservative base of the Republican Party, and in the process bound myself in emotion and deed.

During that time, I worked on behalf of Republican candidates at all levels, from presidential and gubernatorial campaigns, on down to local elections.

I have had the pleasure of serving as president of the Sacramento Republican Assembly, a term as a member of the California Republican Party executive committee, and most recently as treasurer of the Sacramento County Republican Party.

Last year alone, I donated more than 400 hours of my time to the Republican Party and made financial contributions to a number of Republican candidates.

[...]
Generally speaking, Republicans are decent people, and naturally, many of my closest friends vote Republican. As with any large organization or group, there will always be people at the fringes who hold views that are not representative of the body.

An organization cannot control the behavior of each individual actor, but it can control its response to abhorrent conduct.

The latest incident in a string of tawdry, race-based actions was the promotion of a racist cartoon by elected Orange County Republican Party Central Committee member Marilyn Davenport. The cartoon depicted President Barack Obama and his parents as chimpanzees, while simultaneously implying that the president is not a legitimate American, but rather an African-born interloper.

While the Orange County GOP chairman and a number of other committee members were quick to condemn the image and Davenport, what’s disturbing is the incredible number of people who continue to defend Davenport’s actions as well as the cartoon itself.

Had this been an isolated event, it could be set aside as a mere aberration. However, when placed in the context of similar offenses by the same self-identified tea party-conservative Republicans, there emerges a disturbing pattern of extreme intolerance.

Over the past two years, we have seen Republicans use long-held racist imagery in portrayals of Obama. The president has been depicted as a communist witch doctor, a man inclined to plant watermelons on the White House lawn, and we watched in disbelief as his face was placed on an “Obama Buck Food Stamp” along with stereotyped pictures of fried chicken, barbecue ribs, Kool-Aid and the obligatory watermelon.

What does any of this have to do with public policy or conservative values? Here is a man who excelled academically at the finest schools in the world, has a wonderful in-tact family, worked hard and rose to become president of the United States. Yet in spite of his accomplishments, the president is still labeled an illegitimate, socialist, African witch doctor and has his face superimposed on a chimpanzee.

Folks, it does matter. I’ll give you an example: when it comes to immigration, I am a “play by the rules” kind of guy. But much of the “legal immigration” movement IS racist; for one example, Pat Buchanan supported giving white illegal immigrants amnesty but not to the non-white ones. Other protesters bring racist imagery to their protests. Others approve of racial profiling by police.

So, I can’t in good conscious join them; SOME (not all) of their argument is based on bigotry.

Zakaria and conservatives
This Daily Kos Diary talks about Zakaria’s latest GPS show; in it, guest Ann Coulter (!) was doing her usual “just making up stuff” thing. But the problem is that Ann Coulter had no business being there; I won’t watch GPS if they keep doing that. Bring on an intellectual conservative instead. Sure, Ms. Coulter has sold lots of books and has an earned law degree from a good school. But she makes her living being provocative and not by being thoughtful.

Sarah Palin’s Folksy Word Salad – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – 06/06/11 – Video Clip | Comedy Central

Sarah Palin turns the famous ride of Paul Revere into a folksy word salad. Airdate – 06/06/11

Sarah Palin’s Folksy Word Salad – The Daily Sho…, posted with vodpod

My take on Anthony Weiner…

Yes, Anthony Weiner is in a big, self inflicted mess. And yes, he has done nothing illegal, unlike Senator David Vitter who was backed by Republicans for reelection…and won reelection.

Hence, I care not what the cynical, greedy amoral bastards Republican political leadership says.

So what about Mr. Weiner? Certainly, he was (and still is, to a lesser degree) popular with many internet liberals. Here is why: he openly calls out the Republicans:

When we’ve had years and years and years of liberals who cower at the thought of the conservatives not liking us…well, that makes us want to cheer!!!

This scene from the hit show West Wing captures how many of us feel:

BUT
While Mr. Weiner’s outbursts made me smile inside….the fact was that he really wasn’t that effective of an advocate in Congress (at least at a NATIONAL level..he may have been at his own Congressional District level):

But it was the hushed silence of most Democrats on Monday — apart from those who were stampeding away from him — that served as a poignant reminder of Mr. Weiner’s relative solitude within the political spheres of Washington and New York.

Widely seen as enjoying Mr. Schumer’s press instincts but not his political skills, Mr. Weiner has never been particularly popular with his colleagues, who describe him as a lone wolf with a snide streak that can verge on nasty — as when he screamed at a New York colleague, Representative Peter T. King, a Republican, on the House floor during a debate on the 9/11 health bill.

Mr. Weiner has also been a frequent thorn in the side of Democratic leaders — saying President Obama, for example, had failed to show leadership in the fight with Republicans over health reform.

Those resentments were only magnified in the past week, as Democrats in New York and Washington complained bitterly that the momentum they had won — with an upset victory in a special House election in Buffalo, and renewed confidence about pressing the attack against Republicans over Medicare — had been squandered in the media frenzy over Mr. Weiner and his Twitter account.

So while it make me feel good for me to hear him blast the Republicans at the podium and I might get frustrated by President Obama bending over backwards to try to….as it appears to me…appease the Republicans rather than fight them…Mr. Weiner really didn’t get that much…done.

Progress is often not loud and noisy and the heavy lifting it takes to make things happen doesn’t always gather attention.

Heck, I can rant against the Republicans all day long. But that really isn’t the role of those in Congress.

Venting one’s spleen feels good…but it isn’t governing.

Worth a Thousand Words…

I never used to view Mr. Pawlenty as a buffoon…I certainly do now.

12 June 2011 post walk

Workout notes I had visions of walking 20 miles given last week’s performance, but I settled for 14 with a focus on keeping an upright posture (or at least not being so stooped over). Given the 615 feet on climb on this Boredom course, it was a challenge:

My time was 3:24 (14:24 mpm) with my stopping the watch for one bathroom break. This is faster than recent efforts but still about 25 minutes (2 mpm) slower than I’d like to be; when I can cruise this in under 3 hours I am ready for a marathon race.

The only “bad” part of the course is the short “broken sidewalk” section on McClure. The best part was the rich Republican neighborhood on Grandview drive; it is scenic and the people there can afford to have others do their lawns for them; hence Sunday mornings are peaceful. The part through the working class neighborhoods was ear splitting (saws, trimmers, mowers) and it was quiet again though the “broken sidewalk” sections (where the lawns are mostly overgrown).

I was a bit distressed on Grandview as a couple of spandex VPL ladies came running by at about an 11 mpm pace and I lacked the firepower to pick up the pace to see them for as long as I wanted to (this was 6-7 miles into my workout).

On the upside, I saw lots of small animals (baby bunnies, chipmunks, etc.) It makes me a bit sad when I see a baby bunny that doesn’t run from me right away; those are going to get eaten (eventually).

Political humor