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Libertarian Republican #367

RUSH LIMBAUGH.
 
I listen to Rush Limbaugh from 1993 to 2001.
 
I found his brand of economic, social, and foreign affairs conservatism appealing.
 
I found his callers well-informed.
 
I found his humor to be funny.
 
I found his take on Clinton to be right almost every time.
 
Rush as National Review put it on one cover was the Leader of the Opposition in 1990s.
 
I used to listen to Rush every day just to hear his take on Clinton.
 
Sadly, I did get burned out on Rush in terms of listening to him plus my schedule changed a lot so I lost touch with him.
 
I have seen or heard nobody else who knew what Clinton was doing quicker and more thoroughly than Rush.
 
Yes, he has had some legal problems, but we all have our encounters with the police.
 
I monitored Rush in 1990s because he monitored Clinton better than anyone else.
 
Let's see, on Dick Morris coming to light.
 
Clinton's Vice President Dick Morris, his Chief of Staff Dick Morris, his Secretary of State Dick Morris, his National Security Adviser Dick Morris, and on and on.
 
Let's see, on the rightwing's investigation of Clinton.
 
Oral Surgery. a hot poker up you know where, and various other medical procedures.
 
Rush monitored Clinton and I monitored Rush.
 
Rush is better in opposition than he is as your biggest booster.
 
In essence, his show has two rules: make the host look good and it is event driven rather than topic driven.
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Libertarian Republican #366

POLITICS: LOOKS LIKE CAMPAIGNING AS USUAL.
 
Senators and Congressman are not indifferent to the public, but they prefer stability.
 
Elections allow the public to have a direct say, but at the Presidential Level its different.
 
These guys appear to be playing for history.  It seems like they do not feel that they have any job security.
 
I wonder why someone like George W. Bush or Obama find's themselves obsessed with gaining a place in history at great personal cost.
 
Politics is the art of the possible rather than some grand drama.
 
Ironically, Lincoln said it best on this last point, "I would free all of the slaves if that would save the union, I would free none of the slaves if that would save the union, I would free some of the slaves if that would save the union".
 
That's the essence of politics.  Looking at the options and trying to achieve as much of your goal as possible without destroying your own power base.
 
In essence, politics as usual is the art of politics and is not the science of politics.
 
 
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Libertarian Republican #365

HISTORY: HOW LINCOLN AND DARWIN SHAPED US.
 
Charles Darwin is the most controversial scientist of all time, except for Eistein.
 
The theory of evolution vs. the atom bomb.
 
The theory of evolution caused the rupture between science and religion that has never entirely healed.
 
In my studies of biology and evolution, I can see no direct evidence in today's world of evolution, except at the bacterial level.
 
I do not see it in higher lifeforms.
 
The only thing that could cause evolution would be some planetwide cataclysm.
 
The dinosaurs disappeared almost overnight.
 
It happened roughly 65 million years ago.
 
Most experts think it was an asteroid that hit off the coast of the Yucatan Pennisula in Mexico.
 
Planet wide destruction.
 
The theory of evolution fit's those circumstances, but in a world without destruction the earth's biosphere remains stable.
 
Lincoln is a subject I have always been ambivalent about.
 
He lead the United States through the Civil War, but at tremendous cost to the American People.
 
Lots of drama and lots of change and lots of unnecessary destruction.
 
Obama and George W. Bush want to follow in his footsteps for whatever reason.
 
Heroes matter, until they take hold of your brain in unhealthy ways.
 
In essence, Darwin and Lincoln have limited utility in the current debates.  At least in my opinion and from what I have seen and heard and done.
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Libertarian Republican #364

GLOBAL LITERACY 2008.
 
The Candidates and the Mechanics of Memory.
 
The next 15 blogs will come from the table of contents in the July 7/July 14, 2008 Newsweek edition.
 
The candidates say one thing one place and another thing another place.
 
They change positions from the primary to the general election.
 
They hope that while the press will notice that the public will remain indifferent.
 
People have short attention spans and they go to niche information providers like Rush Limbaugh.
 
Information includes everything from statistics to obscure words.
 
Information is processed by people, but eventually they forget it because of work, family, and other activities.
 
Its not to say that their stupid, but their priorities do not allow time for reflection.
 
The United States Population has too much information to work with and it confuses voters to see Obama trying to straddle the fence.
 
To the public, it looks like Obama does not have any convictions, while Bush II appear's not to have any flexibility.
 
In essence, people read literature, watch cable news, and surf the web, but when their done they tend to forget.
 
People as any memory specialist will tell you that people only retain 10% of what they see and hear each day.
 
Considering, the American People's hectic lifestyle its no wonder that they do not pick up on candidates making dramatic changes in policy positions.
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Libertarian Republican #363

THE GATES WAY: FOUR TRAITS MICROSOFT TOOK FROM BILL.
 
This Article appears in Fortune Magazine July 7, 2008.
 
Think of software as a utopian tool.
 
Let the engineers rule.
 
Institutionalize Paranoia.
 
Invest in the Long Term.
 
These appear to Gates Principles in running a business.
 
Sounds a lot like entrepreneurial way of doing business.
 
 
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Libertarian Republican #362

GREENSPAN REVISION REVISITED.
 
Assessing the Former Fed Chief.
 
This Article was in National Review in the July 14, 2008 Edition.
 
I did not read the article, but I am appropriated the title.
 
Paul Volcker was Fed Chairman from 1979 to 1987.
 
He is the man who purged inflation from the economy, while Alan Greenspan was more of a manager.
 
Greenspan presided over 18 years of economic growth with 2 brief recessions.
 
He held the line on inflation, but was pragmatic in the way he used his tools.
 
Was Alan Greenspan a good manager of the status quo?
 
On balance, the answer is qualified yes.
 
I think he might have screwed up in 1991 by trying for a soft landing, but instead created temporary stagnation in the economy.
 
I think in 2001, he did a brilliant job in keeping the economy from getting worse.
 
I do think his reduction in interest rates to extremely low levels around 2004 - 2005 has caused our current instability in the Housing Market.
 
I do not know what pressure the politicians have applied to him in the past so that's an open question.
 
18 years of solid economic performance and the keeping of the economy from a deeper recession in 2001.
 
Another recession in 1990 that was caused by managerial inexperience.
 
The current housing problem because interest rates were kept way to low for too long a time.
 
In essence, a man who was a manager, but not a leader.
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LIbertarian Republican #361

John McCain's Voodoo Reformism.
 
His Maverick image obscures a tight relationship with lobbyists.

This is an article published in the Nation Magazine on July 14, 2008.
 
I did not read the article, but it points out the contradiction of McCain in his relationship with Conservatives.
 
He portrays himself as an independent radical like Teddy Roosevelt.  Yet, he works within the system to accomplish his goals.
 
Voodoo Reformism is good concept for those on the left, but what does the right think.
 
He is a practical conservative without the oratorical skills of a Reagan.
 
Reform fits more with the democrats if your talking about expanding government.
 
Reform is associated with Republicans if your talking about rolling back government.
 
In essence, is McCain a Teddy Roosevelt Republican where you use government in progressive conservative ways or is he like a Messianic Conservative like Reagan.
 
Personally, I think he is a lot more like a Progressive Conservative than a Messianic Conservative.  Its not a popular approach within the rightwing of the Republican Party, but it is more useful.
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Libertarian Republican #360

HOW OBAMA MANAGES.
 
Fortune Magazine: July 7, 2008 Edition.
 
No Drama.
 
Praise those who do not expect it.
 
Make every person in the meeting participate.
 
Establish a Plan and stick to it.
 
Give feedback that's clear, direct, and immediate.
 
Allow new ideas to come from the bottom up.
 
Genuinely listen to those who disagree with you.
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Libertarian Republican #359

THE FORTUNE MAGAZINE STANCE-O-METER
 
July 7,  2008 Issue
 
Taxes: McCain would slash taxes on corporations from 35% to 25%; Obama favors the status quo, though he is open to a cut if loopholes are closed.  McCain would keep long term capital gains rate at 15%; Obama would raise it to about 25% but give start ups a break.
 
Financial Regulation: Both think CEOs are overpaid, and both want more shareholder input.  They agree Sarbanes-Oxley requirements need to be loosened.  But Obama backs Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's proposal for a new market regulator, while McCain is skeptical.
 
Housing:  obama pushed for lending regulation before the crisis and is proposing a $20 Billion package to help families avoid foreclosure.  McCain initially balked at a bailout but now favors up to $10 Billion in aid.  both would set up task forces to prosecute more fraud cases.
 
Alternative Energy and the Environment:  There's general agreement on climate change, and both propose cap-and-trade plans.  But Obama will allocate billions to fund green energy projects, while McCain wants the markets to find winners.  McCain also want s to loosen rules on oil drilling and build 45 nuclear plants by 2030.
 
Health-Care Reform:  McCain would shift the burder from employers to individuals to shop and pay for plans, saying tort reform would lower costs.  Obama would make insurance mandatory but would pay billions to expand public programs and require coverage for preexisting conditions.
 
Trade:  McCain backs NAFTA and other Free Trade Deals, and he would eliminate most US food tariffs and farm subsidies.  Obama has toned down his attacks on NAFTA and is calling for more concessions from trading partners on import restrictions.
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Libertarian Republican #358

THE PHILOSOPHY OF POLITICS CONTINUED.
 
What is Existentialism?
 
It is a timeless sensibility that can be discerned here and there in the past; but it is only in recent times that it has hardened into a sustained protest and preoccupation.
 
No individuallity is not retouched, idealized, or holy; it is wretched and revolting, and yet for all its misery, the highest good.
 
Freedom, choice, decision.
 
Sometimes Antigreek.
 
The individual's concrete existence.
 
The objective truth of certain beliefs.
 
Why just Christianity?
 
Scholarship cannot firmly establish faith.  Instead, it undermines faith.
 
The contrast of the passionate idolater with the Christian who prays in a false spirit is attractive.
 
Passionate and Certainty.
 
Fanaticism vs. Humility.
 
Christianity: Absurd Beliefs, easily vulnerable by rational attack, tend to generate a great deal of passion that is admired.
 
Reflection: The Question of Truth.
 
Man, in a word, has no nature, what he has is history.
 
Reason and Existence.
 
Making Tradition our own.
 
The real import of history is the Great, the unique, the irreplaceable.
 
Philosophy:  Understanding of the ideas demands a thorough study of the text.
 
Philosophy requires a universal view.
 
The Philosopher delve's into the invisible realm of the spirit.
 
The Universal-historical view is a condition for the most decisive consciousness of one's own age.
 
Philosophy is not science, epistemology, nor the knowledge of systems and texts of philosophies history.
 
Philosophy is growth through life.
 
Philosophical thought is a practical activity, although a unique kind of activity.
 
Transcendence.
 
Logic and History of Philosophy are complementary.
 
Historical Reflections related to The Contemporary Situation.
 
Suspicion of scientific men.
 
Against the System.
 
Being as interpretation.
 
Masks.
 
Being Itself.
 
Honesty.
 
Perception of substantial change.
 
In essence of people.
 
Modernity Overcome.
 
Unlimited Reflection.
 
Drive toward the basic.
 
Arrest in Transcendence.
 
Their being as exceptions.
 
Against the interchangeability.
 
Self-Conscious.
 
Conscious of failure
 
Of exceptionality, of loneliness.
 
Providence and chance.
 
Dancing.
 
No Prophecy.
 
The Deed.
 
Disordering Influence.
 
Spirit vs. Empirical Existence.
 
Encompassing World and trascendence.
 
The essence of being there lies in its existence.
 
Self-deception and falsehood.
 
Patterns of self-deception.
 
The Faith of Self-Deception.
 
Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre
 
On Your Mission.
 
On Your Works.
 
On his Mode of Existence.
 
That Individual.
 
Dread and Freedom.
 
Authority.
 
Truth is subjectivity.
 
The Challenge of every great philosophy.
 
On free death.
 
The Beginning of the Will to Power.
 
From Ecce Homo.
 
An Imperial Message.
 
Before the Law.
 
Existenzphilosophie
 
On my philosophy.
 
The Economy.
 
The Quest for Being.
 
Phenomenology and Metaphysics.
 
The Wall.
 
Self -Deception.
 
Portrait of the Anti-Semite.
 
Existentialism is Humanism.
 
Marxism and Humanism.
 
The Myth of Sisyphus.
 
Some Christians and some Anti-Christians.
 
Perfervid Individualism.
 
Existentialism:  The refusal to belong to any school of thought, the repudiation of the adequacy of any body of beliefs whatever, and especially of systems and a marked dissatisfaction with traditional philosophy as superficial academic, and remote from life, that is the heart of existentialism.
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Libertarian Republican #357

THE MONEY GAME IN POLITICS.
 
Obama is outraising McCain in donations at the moment.
 
Obama is busy spending money at the moment.
 
McCain should stay active in public and conserve his money.
 
The idea is to wait Obama out then just nuke Obama politically using all of his resources.
 
Obama is spending a lot of money.  Its called Burning the Candle at both ends of the stick.
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Libertarian Republican #356

OBAMA'S KEYNOTE SPEECH AT THE ARENA.
 
Obama's model is Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and Kennedy.
 
If he intend's to give I have a Dream Speech then that mean's he's watched that entire speech for body language, mannerisms, and vocal tone.
 
Lincoln gave a series of speeches, but I am at loss to say at this point, which one Obama might use.
 
There are books on Lincoln's writings.  The one that come's to mind is The Living Lincoln.
 
There is a book called The Essential Lincoln.
 
He must be planning some speech of idealism to rouse the public to his cause, but I do not know the right one.
 
Finally, I would get videos of all Kennedy's, Reagan's, and Clinton's speeches to see who Obama is mimicking.
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Libertarian Republican #355

OBAMA'S RED STATE STRATEGY.
 
Obama see's an opening in the Red States, but it appear's he might lose some blue states.
 
Lincoln seem's to be his prefered model so he must be calculating that as Lincoln won a plurality in 1860 against 4 other candidates.  He is going to do the same thing to Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, and John McCain.
 
I wonder if Obama has read the Almanac of America Politics by Michael Barone to get a layout of officeholders across the United States.
 
Or could it be, that Obama has a certain appeal to liberal republicans whereas McCain does not have that appeal.
 
McCain is not the strongest candidate, but McCain would appeal to voters in Pittsburg whereas he does not appeal to Libertarian Republicans.
 
There is something of a shift in voter sentiments although McCain and Obama are not the strongest candidates.  People are looking for some change, but sentiments are breaking down.
 
A split by the voters this crazy has not been seen since 1980 when voters did not make up their minds, until that one debate in that year.
 
Obama is trying to win with a plurality by trying to hold onto his base, getting some Hillary voters, and some big government Republicans.
 
In essence, Obama is trying to get support from Democrat Officeholders to organize a plurality vote as Lincoln made his deals with Chase, Seward, Blair, and the other members of his cabinet.
 
They lost the Republican nomination in 1860, but struck a deal with Lincoln.  He would put them in the cabinet, while they organized voters in their states and regions for 1860.
 
It was a regional election victory for Lincoln, but it was organized by his rivals in the Republican Party.
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Libertarian Republican #354

SENATOR JESSE HELMS.
 
In my 15 years of active politics, I never met Jesse Helms.
 
I saw him on TV, in Newspapers, and in magazines.
 
I had a computer game called President-Elect that was published in 1985.
 
There were 2 parties of politicians in that game with a pamphlet on their ideological scores and personal skills.
 
Senator Helms had an average public speaking score, no magnetism, and an average score on poise.
 
His score on economics was a 1 with 0 being rightwing and 100 being leftwing.  His score on social issues was 0.  His score foreign policy was 1 or 2.
 
Yes, he was to the right of Reagan, which is hard to achieve under any circumstances.
 
The best summation I ever saw of him was the title of Senator No.
 
An Obstructionist with a heart based on personal contact.
 
He fought with AIPAC over US/Israel Relations, until the mid-80s when he went to Israel himself.  He changed his opinion on the issue.
 
AIPAC pronounced him to be enlightened.
 
He was the master of the killer amendment.
 
He had to have his tobacco allotment or the tobacco farmers of North Carolina would have voted him out.
 
They were the key voting bloc that kept him in office.
 
In essence, Senator No on every issue.  Likable, but hard to do business with.
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Libertarian Republican #353

PRESIDENT BUSH ON WOUNDED SOLDIERS AND MARINES.
 
What register's in Bush's mind when he visits wounded soldiers at Veteran's Hospitals and the like.
 
I wonder if his holy calling clouds his judgement.
 
I think religion has a place in public life in terms of maintaining perspective based on a conscience, but Bush seems to have achieved the opposite result.
 
If you do not understand the results of your decision then you have no conscience or maybe in Bush's case he just does not care anymore.
 
Could he be faking his interest in these wounded soldiers?
 
His 4 main mentors are Reagan, Jesus, Lincoln, and Truman.
 
Truman pursued a containment policy against communism rather than confront it directly.  He laid out a partial plan that would end in the peaceful evolution of Russia.
 
Reagan cut his losses in Lebanon and avoided major wars all during his term.  He was not the best President, but he did not pursue military confrontation with the Soviet Union later in his administration.
 
Lincoln sought a war of the sections as Stephen Douglas wrote and spoke on.
 
Lincoln, however, sought a short war rather than a long drawn out war.
 
Lincoln was an amateur when it came to his appointments of generals.  A bad judge of personnel on this point.
 
Jesus did not seek war, but peace.  God seek's peace, but he would frown upon the attempt to remake the Middle East as Bush is trying to do.
 
Bush, apparently, is so cultured in his ideology that he does not recognize the cost to these soldiers, their families, friends, and the American People.
 
A President is obsessed with history most of the time.
 
Like his predecessors: Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton Bush wants to leave office with accolades so that historians, political scientists, and journalists will write good books on them and speak highly of them.
 
Yes, an obsession with history that will cost this nation several more years of frustration and agony.
 
Bush chose history over the general public.
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