Quick Hits for August 11, 2009

Quick Hits for August 11th, 2009

* Reports by several agencies of major disruptions of town hall meetings shows a few things: First, that the GOP doesn't have ideas and they are trying to hide that fact. Why? Because if they had ideas, they wouldn't want to drown out the Dems, they would want to have their ideas heard. Second, the Fairness Doctrine has very real consequences when it was removed, as now we have propagandist talking heads responsible to no one as long as they can manipulate their audiences, and doing so is dangerous for all sides. Third, this could get very dangerous and Republicans know it as Sarah Quitter walks away from her "evil" comments about "death panels" to talk about civility after a North Carolina Representative Miller received a death threat, and reports of guns falling out of clothing at meetings start to show up. It makes you wonder if Republicans want to win an argument or believe this is a war and Democrats are terrorists to be fought and eventually killed at all costs.

* President Clinton was impressive as a diplomat, but it also shows the problems that women face in today's society whereby the male gets the glory and the woman is left in his shadow. Sexism hasn't ended in society and can still be seen at the highest levels. Has it come a long way? Yes. It still has along way to go though.

* I still hear too many Republicans speaking of deficit worries, but it just rings hollow considering they ignored them and spoke of sustainable debt for the previous eight years. President Obama's deficit growth projection over 10 years is lower than the 8 year results or projections of Presidents Reagan, Bush 41, and GW Bush, only beaten by Clinton's 8 years in office, but we need to worry about President Obama? It smells more of partisianship than actual concern about budget deficits.

* The difference in foreign policy between President Bush's "humble" overstated announcements of "Mission Accomplished" with shows of landing on a carrier or shows of UAV missile shots to turn everything into a circus and President Obama's almost nonstatements about the killing the Taliban leader in Pakistan speaks volumes about them, and their views of style versus substance.

* I thought the foreign aid costs to America were laid to rest years ago, until I actually heard someone shouting that we could solve all the world's problems if we just stopped sending foreign aid to other nations. Do they realize that our whole foreign aid budget might be 20 to 25 billion dollars? That won't do anything in terms of a federal budget of over 3 trillion dollars. It never ceases to amaze me now people can turn small things into major red herrings.

* America reaches another peak as it is the first nation to reach over 100,000,000 obese people in the world, or about 35% of our population. What a proud moment in American history. Thankfully, we can fight to ensure our kids have access to coke machines, twinkees, cup cakes, and all of the really good things that got us to be so damn fat. I think I will spend an extra 20 minutes on my Wii Fit or the treadmill to try to reverse that trend.

* While I never find myself on the cutting edge of technology, I often find out later that I am still usually ahead of 80% or more of the population, which both scares me that they are so far behind the technology curve, and also makes me wonder if life is better in a more simple time. I remember a time of watching television where that is what we did. Today, watching television also has me typing this blog, checking my Twitter, tracking facebook, reading financial news, and talking on at least one messenger program. I get more done now, but I think I enjoyed it more then.