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Libertarian Republican #382

Posted by Tim Blessing on Tuesday, July 08, 2008 7:20:29 PM
GAS PAINS.
 
I think Republicans should push for a tax deduction or credit to deal with higher gas prices.
 
Provided the Public can verify the amounts they have spent in the past year through year end credit card summaries or such.
 
I think reducing the speed limit to 60 mph is a good idea.
 
That violate's my Libertarian Republican philosphy of personal responsibility, but it uphold's the public safety.
 
Energy Security is now a national security issue.
 
In essence, I would say that changes in speed limits and a tax deduction could lessen the pain at the pump over the next year.
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Libertarian Republican #381

Posted by Tim Blessing on Monday, July 07, 2008 8:34:47 PM
TURNING POINT: LETTER FROM A WORLD WAR II POW.
 
Newsweek. Article Title Appropriation.  Personal Opinion.
 
POWs of any war deserve recognition.
 
What did they go through that was different from other military people?
 
Do they want to stay in the military after release?
 
Do they want to write a book?
 
Do they want to go to school?
 
Is there a difference between a World War II POW than a Korean War or Vietnam War POW.
 
It depends on who you talk to through these various experiences.
 
McCain was a POW, but was shot down in the 2000 Presidential Primaries.
 
Bush never served in a War Zone, but went on to 8 years in the White House.
 
Irony, a man who knows war lost, but a loser won.
 
American Politics always produces the oddest results.
 
In essence, the POW experience changes an individual in a lot of ways.  You gain a stronger faith in God, live for the moment, and always hope for the best, while your in hell.
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Libertarian Republican #380

Posted by Tim Blessing on Monday, July 07, 2008 8:27:23 PM
ART: WATERFALLS AND THE CITY.
 
Newsweek Article. Appropriated Title. Personal Opinion.
 
I am no expert on Art.  I am bored when I have been in an Art Gallery.
 
I have been in one art gallery.
 
I have no memories of the art work.
 
I am more logical, mathematical, analytical.
 
Art is more about emotion and feelings.
 
Guys like me in the military or former military do not see the value in this field.
 
It serve's a purpose of some sort, but cognitively I do not get it.
 
A personal failure?  No, just a lack of interest.
 
I like to stay home on the weekends and watch the news, sports, or entertainment.  Go to a restaurant or movie or both.
 
I do not feel like spending my time looking at statutes, paintings, or other such stuff.
 
I say let people decide for themselves on this point.
 
I just wonder if the federal government should subsidize art for arts sake.
 
In essence, life is what you make of it, but should we subsidize art or should we subsidize all forms of enterntainment.
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Libertarian Republican #379

Posted by Tim Blessing on Monday, July 07, 2008 8:17:19 PM
HOLLYWOOD: ANNE HATHAWAY'S BOYFRIEND PROBLEMS.
 
Interpersonal Relationships in Hollywood must be frustrating to deal with in marriage, work, and friends.
 
I am no expert on the culture, but it does seem to follow plotlines of the night time soaps of the 1980s.
 
Who is seeing who this week?
 
Whose marriage is on the rocks?
 
Whose making the most money?
 
Yes, I read People and a few other publications.
 
I am not sure if this fact or fiction.
 
Vince Vaugh might go to Wendy's.
 
Jennifer Aniston has an image problem if she does not have a boyfriend.
 
The Studios have to market the product and the actors.
 
If your Angelina Jolie is it better to keep Brad Pitt for Public Relations or find a male who prefer's the shadows, but is an equal in every other sense of the word.
 
I do not know the truth of these miscast relationships, except it looks painful for the actors and actresses who perpetuate these myths.
 
In essence, if you like the acting business then you put up with the stressors and if you do not leave it behind.
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Libertarian Republican #378

Posted by Tim Blessing on Monday, July 07, 2008 8:07:48 PM
MOVIES: THE END OF THE DOCUMENTARY ERA.
 
Newsweek Article.  Appropriated Title. Personal Opinion.
 
What is a documentary?
 
The best example, is the Al Gore movie called An Incovenient Truth.
 
What are most movies today?
 
You have super heroes in abundance.
 
You have comedies, dramas, horror, romance, and several other genres that appear to be exhausted of ideas.
 
Where to get new ideas?
 
There's that FLDS group in Texas.  We know what the media reports, but not anything directly related to that story.
 
We know what we see in Iraq 2 on the news, but we do not have any movies on it.
 
I wonder if a movie miniseries might be in order along the lines of Shogun, The Thorn Birds, or one of those mega television productions of the 1980s.
 
Not those particular miniseries, but movies that do not have to reintroduce a concept in each movies.
 
Star Trek did this from 2-5.
 
I think movie companies are having to reinvent the wheel every time they put something on the screen.
 
I go through Barnes and Noble every week.  I see a number of science fiction books, fantasy, history, current affairs, biographies, philosophy books, and a number of other books that could serve as the basis for movies.
 
I am not a master of movie making, but the mega hit movies appear to me not to be there.
 
I know movies that are based on books do not allows follow the same plotline.
 
In essence, movie makers appear to be spinning their wheels on material that does not appeal to the general public.
 
Too much of the same thing lead's to frustration in the public.
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Libertarian Republican #377

Posted by Tim Blessing on Monday, July 07, 2008 7:50:57 PM
FAMILY: WHO SAYS KIDS MAKE YOU HAPPY.
 
Newsweek Article:  Appropriated Title.  Personal Opinion.
 
Kids are a hughed responsibility under the best of circumstances.
 
Kids require 24/7 supervision.
 
You are on their schedule rather than your schedule.
 
Does the mother work in the home, outside the home, part time, full time, 1st or 2nd Shift, and who pays for the daycare.
 
Its fun watching them grow up, but today a number of kids have the attitude that their going to do things their way.
 
In essence, do today's adults have enough parenting skills to do the job over 18 years of a child's life?
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Libertarian Republican #376

Posted by Tim Blessing on Monday, July 07, 2008 7:44:58 PM
ECONOMY: THE PRESIDENTIAL NON-EFFECT.
 
Newsweek: Appropriated Title.  Personal Opinion.
 
What can a President do to effect the economy.
 
Appoint people to economic positions in government, sign/veto economic legislation, and propose economic treaties.
 
It might be said that the President has some kind of indirect control on a macroeconomic level, but that's about.
 
He gets the blame for recessions and credit for expansions.
 
It might be said the President is a symbol of economic confidence or economic stagnation.
 
In essence, a cheerleader rather than economic manager at least in normal times.
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Libertarian Republican #375

Posted by Tim Blessing on Monday, July 07, 2008 7:38:14 PM
ENVIRONMENT: GLOBAL WARMING AND SCARY WEATHER.
 
Newsweek: Article Title. Personal Opinion.
 
Global Warming has convinced a lot of people that action need's to be taken to remedy the situation.
 
This might be akin to the acid rain debate of the 1970s.
 
At that point in time, changes were made to correct 90% of the problem without major inconvenience to corporations or the public.
 
From what I remember, their were technological innovations that were cost effective, but the problem remained a scar.
 
Meaning, those purists out there who want complete elimination of greenhouse gases are not going to get their way.
 
The Public will buy into the necessary changes, but their not going to buy a $50000 car.
 
In essence, technological innovation should proceed and will most likely produce the solution to global warming.  A 90% solution that is cost effective whereas 10% of greenhouse gases will require too much cost to get rid of in any way, shape, or form.
 
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Libertarian Republican #374

Posted by Tim Blessing on Monday, July 07, 2008 7:27:45 PM
BUSH'S PLACE IN HISTORY.
 
The man in the White House has one issue and that is Iraq.
 
Any normal historian, political scientist, and other such person will look at the documentation produced by the Bush Administration and see that all he really wanted to deal with was Iraq.
 
Yes, there is tax cuts and the wider war on terror, but his own penchant was Iraq.
 
What are the American People going to remember?
 
A war that never ended, economy always on the verge of collaspe, domestic affairs unattended, and lack of interest on any of these issues.
 
A man who treated high level people like garbage.
 
A man whose own angry approach to life nearly wrecked the Republican Party.
 
A man who allowed the Democrats to reclaim the House and Senate after 12 years in the Wilderness.
 
A man who will not look good in 30 years like Truman, but more of an asterisk.
 
That's my opinion.
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Libertarian Republican #373

Posted by Tim Blessing on Monday, July 07, 2008 7:20:15 PM
FARC.
 
How do you tame a terrorist group.
 
That's a good question.
 
Unless you shoot them all then you are left with a problem.
 
Their mindset is such that only massive psychiatric intervention would be of any success.
 
They should answer: What, who, when were, why, and how?
 
The idea being that they might be broken of their Marxist Ideology.
 
People are not dumb, but the ideology of any type is self-imprisonment.
 
You have to put them in a reeducation camp to break them down and then build them back up as ordinary people.
 
Meaning, going to work, having kids, going to church, and leaving military affairs to the military.
 
Their not dumb, but ignorant of the basics of ordinary life.
 
In essence, a full deindoctrination is necessary for them to become normal people.
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Libertarian Republican #372

Posted by Tim Blessing on Sunday, July 06, 2008 10:01:51 PM
INTERNATIONAL: WE DON'T NEED A WARTIME PRESIDENT.
 
Newsweek Article.  Title Appropriated.  Personal Opinion.
 
The Iraqi Prime Minister says the war is over today.
 
Where does that leave us?
 
In need of a peace time President like Eisenhower or Teddy Roosevelt.
 
Someone who can manage international relations without being constantly supervised by the adults in Congress.
 
China will remain a competitor and the Islamic Jihad Movement will not be totally wiped out.
 
Yes, the terror war will continue, but the grand transformation of the Middle East will not take place as Bush want's it.
 
In essence, the goal is maintain stability in international relations rather than transformational leadership.
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Libertarian Republican #371

Posted by Tim Blessing on Sunday, July 06, 2008 9:53:33 PM
JUSTICE: POLITICIANS ON THE BENCH.
 
Newsweek article title: Personal Opinion.
 
Chief Justice Earl Warren was appointed by Eisenhower and began a revolution in domestic affairs and yes he was a governor of California.
 
Politicians are usually lawyers by trade so that fits.
 
They may be more sensitive to public opinion than a judicial candidate for the court.
 
I would suggest that in 1987, Reagan should have appointed Howard Baker instead of Robert Bork because of two reasons: Reagan was weak in public opinion and Baker was a known quantity to the Senate.
 
In the current climate, if you are going to appoint someone from the Congress or State Government to the Courts then it should be someone who is widely known to the Senate.
 
In essence, politicians can be appointed to the Courts as long as the Senate has a sure grasp of who they are voting on for advise and consent.
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Libertarian Republican #370

Posted by Tim Blessing on Sunday, July 06, 2008 9:45:42 PM
RELIGION: THE EVANGELICAL RIGHT IN DISARRAY.
 
I am not going to beat a dead horse, but where do the evangelicals go.
 
McCain and the Republicans have left them behind and the Democrats have not taken up their cause.
 
They cannot go to the Green Party because Ralph Nader has nothing in common with them.
 
They cannot go to the Libertarian Party because Bob Barr does not believe in social control.
 
Religion of this type may be on the wane in terms of its political utility.
 
What do you do when your ideology is no longer in fashion?
 
You retreat to academia or in this case the seminary or into church.
 
Politics is the art of the possible based on negotiations and compromise.
 
The Social Gospel and Religious Right might not be welcomed in the future that is emerging in politics.
 
In essence, politics maybe purged of the evil that is evangelical christianity.
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Libertarian Republican #369

Posted by Tim Blessing on Sunday, July 06, 2008 9:38:13 PM
IN THIS ELECTION, APPALACHIA COUNTS.
 
Newsweek Article from last week.
 
Personal Opinion.
 
Appalachia is one of the poorest regions in the country.
 
Each state has its poor areas that are in some ways frozen in time.
 
Will they vote for McCain or Obama?
 
These people tend to vote for Republicans based on social issues and national defense, but they vote against their economic interest where their values lie.
 
Obama would not appeal to them if they know he is a Harvard Trained and Big City Politician.
 
Call it a clash of cultures.
 
They might think McCain is for the Rich on Economics, but they appreciate his stands on social issues and national defense.
 
They would split the ticket at the lower level of Congress.
 
In essence, McCain wins their votes for President and the Democrats win their vote for Congress.
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Libertarian Republican #368

Posted by Tim Blessing on Sunday, July 06, 2008 9:28:18 PM
THE NOBLE ART OF FLIP-FLOPING.
 
Article in the latest issue of Newsweek.
 
I did not read this article just appropriated the title.
 
Reversal of Opinion is common in everyday people.
 
It lead's to credibility problems when you shift position on too many issues too quick.
 
Obama might fall into this trap since he is new on the national stage.
 
Can you change positions in politics without damage to your political reputation.
 
Yes, but it depends on your district, state, and party.
 
A slow transformation can usually lead the public to change their position.
 
Nixon's opening to China was dramatic and shocking.  Eventually, it was accepted.
 
Eisenhower sold the public the idea that the public could once again elect Republicans and not expect a depression.  However, it took his full time in office to achieve this goal.
 
Flip-Flops are ultimately based on the perception of people who may or may not vote for the candidate  (Independents).
 
Barack's supporters will vote for him even if Al Qaida blew up N.Y.C. with a nuke.
 
Independents are that point would go for McCain.
 
Democrats in the public's perception of them is that they are weak on national security, while Republicans are weak on economics.
 
Perception can be an illusion or a cold hard fact.  Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia could never have gotten elected President because Liberals would find him too conservative in the primaries.
 
That's the point, your principles define where you can get elected and if you change too much then your consider a person without any convictions.
 
In essence, flip-flops are costly when attempted too many times.
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