Averageshmoe

Idle thoughts of an addled mind of just some average shmoe

Friday, April 21, 2006

A Poem

Yahoo search and Google crawl
I don't know a thing at all
Lost the mapping, drivers gone
I can't chat, I'm all alone

Cable's out, the TVs blue
I got Vonage can't call you
Cell's got one bar, batteries low
Could be outta range, I don't know

Can't get a break
I've lost my stake
So hook me up, plug me in
I'll reboot, I'll start again


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Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Back peddler and Chief

Wow it didn't take the president long to start the back peddling on nuking Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Less than a day after the Sy Hersch article in the NEW YORKER was discussed on the Sunday morning talk shows, the prez and his minions were out in force tell all that would listen, we were just planning with all options open. Don't look behind the curtain. It was just between us. Or seeing the backlash they decided to literally keep their powder dry. It is rumored that if the administration does not pull the nuclear option off the table, many high ranking military brass will abandon ship in droves. We shall see.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Leadership or Brinksmanship

Today on Meet the Press, there was talk that the Pentagon has plans for a tactical nuclear strike on Iran. One would naturally suppose that our warriors are continually planning for all manner of possibilities. Nevertheless, why is this in the public discourse? It seems that this is not the time to bring a marshal solution to the public discussion. Has diplomacy become a bad word? Do we now have a "D" word to go along with our "N" word and "C" word? This is not leadership. This is brinksmanship.

There seems to be something genetic in this administration that refuses to put the effort into diplomacy. They love or are compelled to think military first. When this consideration should and must always be the last resort. They appear to think that if a target of their concern is not threatened than any negotiation will not be taken seriously. Its the, " If you don't take us seriously we will kill you," way of doing business.

Where is the quite diplomacy or public diplomacy that will persuade and not coerce? Didn't Kissinger work long and hard going back and forth and back again, and again, doing it all secretly in China and Viet Nam and the Mildest? Didn't Clinton bring all parties to Dayton and to Maryland's eastern shore, all in high profile and in the open? These missions weren't done on a 2 hour stop over. It takes time and patience and effort.

Maybe that is what it is. Petulant children want everything and they want it now. They have no patience for waiting or compromise. They see no value in it. Could this be how this administration views these efforts? If so, this world is even more dangerous than they would have us believe. They really must love this fear footing. In any case, it feels like they always fall back on it when things aren't going their way. So many boogie men and so little time.

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Saturday, April 08, 2006

Why don't they get?

Seems no matter how many times one says, "It's not immigration that bothers people it's illegal immigration," some still conflate the two as if there is no distinction. What makes them ignore this obvious difference? How do they continuously deny this simple truth? More importantly, what is the real underlying reason for turning a deaf ear to the word, "illegal."
Let's look at the main groups who maintain this denial. Firstly, there is business who want the cheapest labor they can get. No problem, very transparent business interests. It's the profit motive stupid.
A little more complicated is Labor. Intuitively one might think that Labor would want to dramatically reduce the influx of illegal immigrants because it depresses the income of their members. What else can their motive be than but to hope that these people would sympathize with the labor cause or when legal, join their cause and become members. This would strengthen the labor movement, since illegal immigrants often find work in what is believed to be a coercive work environment they would naturally want the protection being a member or working in a shop which has Labor protection.
Now the real problem lies with politicians. Did you expect anything else? They want cash from business and they want support from labor and they want votes from citizens who are related to those who've come illegally. But, and this is the only but that counts, but the citizens are wholly and completely against it. Therefore there must be something more to it. Perhaps it could be representation without taxation! A perverse and cynical reversal of our national mantra. Each representative is a representative of a number of actual persons. One Rep. for every so many people within a certain geographic area. Currently this number of people represented is approximately 650,000.
One might think that's the way it should be. However the Census Bureau does not distinguish between those that are counted. If one is here during Census day they get counted, regardless of their legal status. So if a representative is from a district where 30,000 illegal residents lived during Census day, the representative counts them in the district as constituents and represents them presumably the same as he would any citizen. But, come on now. Do they really?

Now is the time to speak up if you are a citizen. Your constitutional rights are being threatened. Your representation is being distorted. This is a case where those that benifit from a constitutional mandate, the taking of a census, is being set against another constitutional requisit, representaion based on population within a geographic area.

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Friday, April 07, 2006

Scott Mcclelan press secretary

At today's news conference the White House press secretary PS, said that as soon as the president utters anything that had, up until then, been clasified is at that instant not then classified any longer. Therefore Scooter boy did not disclose classified information. This in light of the fact that 10 days after Scooter leaked the Plame name, the PS said the info was declassified "today." That is so neat! WoW. My head is still spinning.

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