‘Birthers’ Need to Just Go Away
Obama's birth certificate, confirmed accurate by Hawaii's Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican.
Now an Army doctor faces court martial because he refuses to deploy until President Obama proves his citizenship. This was cleared up long ago, and Hawaii’s Republican governor recently announced Obama’s “exact” place of birth in her state. Why do “birthers” continue to deny these facts?
How Big Are Barack Obama’s Balls?
Today, President Obama (yes, teabaggers, he really is our president — and a natural born citizen to boot!) will stand in New York City on the same stage upon which Abraham Lincoln stood 150 years ago to speak out against the institution of slavery.
What an opportunity for a classic Obama speech. If I was his speechwriter, here’s what I would pitch as the theme:
“When Lincoln stood on this stage in 1860, he spoke on behalf of freedom for African-American slaves. But today, all but the most privileged of Americans are slaves — slaves to Wall Street and its excesses. It’s time for a new emancipation proclamation. Join me as we take back America!”
Can you imagine how conflicted all those Tea Partiers would be after such a statement?
Instead, I’m sure Obama will use politically prudent language and phrases such as “rules of the road” and “free market doesn’t mean you’re free to do whatever you want.” With more than 6 in 10 Americans supporting stricter financial regulations, he’s on solid ground.
But it should would be nice to hear stronger rhetoric from our first black president, bridging 150 years of great oratory on a stage rich in symbolism.
Road to Recovery
OK, I’m gonna shill for the Obama camp, but this job loss chart just can’t be ignored.
PETA has jumped the shark
PETA, you’ve officially lost me as a supporter for ANY initiatives you sponsor after questioning President Obama for killing a housefly.
Read this crazy blog post featured on several newscasts yesterday and this morning. Today’s follow-up post didn’t really improve matters for PETA.
Sorry, but I am not going to feel any guilt whatsoever about killing insects and rodents in my own home.
Actually, I was pretty impressed by Barry’s swat. That’s not easy.
Petri Dish Politics: It’s What’s for Dinner
It’s been too long since my last blog post, but several things have been beating me down. Illness. Economic meltdown. Winter blues. So rather than focus on a single subject, I’m gonna hit you with some recent ruminations.
A verbal drive-by, if you will, in a nod to my pal Miss Andrea.
Let’s start with the Florida Gators. Right now, I’m watching them get their asses beat in Gainesville by the hated Tennessee Volunteers. Just as I feared, the Gators’ weak early-season slate (their strength of schedule ranks 101st in Division I) has left them totally unprepared for the intensity of the stretch run. And it’s looking more likely that a second straight NIT bid awaits.
As the Gators struggle, President Barack Obama is backing his campaign rhetoric with action in the form of ambitious plans and proposals that at once inspire and scare the shit out of me.
I firmly support his three-pronged strategy to reform our health care system, foster energy independence and a green economy, and ensure that Americans are the most educated population in the world. But I just can’t see how he’ll pay for it without raising taxes across the board.
So a theory hit me today (one that relies upon the Dems holding onto power for 12-16 years): Obama and the Democrats are gambling on this “new new deal” being a runaway success, delivering myriad benefits of undeniable value to society. Affordable health care. Better roads and bridges. Cleaner, cheaper energy. Reformed entitlements. World-class education.
If that becomes our reality, the majority will come to happily rely upon the feds for essential services. Then when they stick us with the bill by raising taxes, we might not mind as much.
Dems may deny it, but we are headed down a more socialist road. And perhaps that is necessary as our nation’s population grows too large to be supported by a purely capitalist system.
That provides a nice segue to some thoughts on population control. Genesis 1:28 (yes, I’m quoting the good book) commands us to “be fruitful and multiply,” but when those words were written I doubt anyone imagined a world of 6.8 billion souls. There are simply too many people inhabiting the planet, and they’ve stretched the world’s resources to the breaking point.
We must make population control a priority. Nothing would go further toward solving the world’s crises.
Having a large family in this day and age is one of the most selfish acts I can imagine. That’s why it infuriates me to hear news of the birth of quadruplets, quints, and now even octuplets. What are these people thinking? If you need in virto fertilization to have a child, perhaps nature — or your God, if you believe in such — is making its own attempt at population control.
In an op-ed piece last year in the Roanoke Times, Robert F. Boyd wrote:
“What kind of world will we have if we are crowded together like a colony of rats? Are we no better than the planet’s ‘lower’ animals? If not, we too may suffer the fate of overpopulation, famine and possibly extinction.”
The answer is not a Chinese-style limit on offspring. I do not believe couples should be denied their right to have a family, if that’s what they desire and they are able.
But they must have a plan. And that requires sex education (sorry GOP) and an altruistic world view. (You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.)
Consider your motivation to have a child and your ability to care for one. Think about the impact on the lives of others. No matter what you decide, practice birth control.
And please — put down the damn tubes and Petri dishes. If you can’t conceive naturally and still must have a child, there are plenty of unwanted children waiting to be adopted.
Nothing a Shiv to the Jugular Couldn’t Solve
I know this is going to come as a shock to loyal Main and College readers, but there are a bunch of chicken-shit Republicans in Congress who have it all wrong.
They shouldn’t fear the possible transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the States to await trials in U.S. courts.
They should welcome it.
At Guantanamo, these detainees are coddled. House Republican leader John Boehner said as much last week (wink wink, nudge nudge) after President Obama signed an executive order to close Gitmo:
“I don’t know that there is a terrorist treated better anywhere in the world than what has happened at Guantanamo,” Boehner said. “We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build a facility that has more comforts than a lot of Americans get.”
OK John, then let’s start treating them like Americans! Drop those detainees into the general population at the most violent of United States penitentiaries, turn a cheek back to Washington, and let the system complete the mission our military started at Gitmo: the neutralization of “military combatants.” Without so much as a single torturous interrogation.
Believe me, America’s prisons are the last place a terrorist detainee wants to be.
At Gitmo, detainees are surrounded by sympathetic brothers in jihad. At Leavenworth or Sing Sing, they’d be surrounded by American mother fuckers ready to stick a shiv in their jugular.
Come on, it would only be a matter of time before hardened American prisoners beat the life out of every last terrorist detainee — saving American lives and money. Can you think of a bigger trophy for a violent criminal pulling a life sentence? Eliminating a “towel-head” could be the one thing to give meaning to an otherwise meaningless existence.
And don’t forget the innumerable asshole guards who’d love a few minutes with one of those terrorist bastards.
So you go, Barack! Do the right thing by non-terrorist detainees and release them. But throw the rest into our system of justice, where the Geneva Conventions are not an issue.
Then watch them disappear.
Government in the Sunshine Would Be Nice
Within seconds (give or take) of Barack Obama taking the oath, another more stealth transition took place when his administration launched the new WhiteHouse.gov website. Obama’s Director of New Media (man, I’d love to have that job) posted a “change has come” letter on the site’s blog simultaneously with some very encouraging words:
“WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration’s online programs will put citizens first.”
The new site’s priorities: Communication, Transparency, and Participation.
The executive branch has gone Web 2.0. Finally.
I plan to spend more time tonight exploring the new site, but a few things jump out at me right away:
1. The Agenda
This section lists in great detail Obama’s agenda for 24 major issues. And if you participated on the Change.gov site during the transition, you know that his agenda was shaped in part by ideas submitted by ordinary Americans — and extraordinary ones like my friends and me ; )
2. White House 101
Subtitled “Facts and Fun For All Ages,” this section includes a bunch of great stuff about presidential pets.
3. Office of Public Liaison
This “front door to the White House” is in its infancy, but promises great opportunity to interact with the Obama administration. Overseen by Obama’s longtime Chicago pal Valerie Jarrett.
I expect to have more to say later once I have a chance to review Obama’s inaugural address and digest its meaning.
Mele Kalikimaka, Mr. Obama
Obama: An Inspiration to Overweight Nation
Hailed as a savior on many fronts before even taking the presidential oath, Barack Obama revealed during his recent Hawai’ian vacation that he’s also working on physical perfection — and is damn close to achieving it.
In doing so, might he inspire an overweight nation?
The Obama Administration has declared health care reform to be one of its top priorities, and nothing would go further to resuscitate the health care system than the lightening of America.
In 2004, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ranked obesity as the No. 1 health threat facing the nation. A recent study published in JAMA said obesity results in an estimated 400,000 deaths annually, and NIH estimates the health care costs at nearly $122.9 billion a year.
Imagine the positive impact to the system if we could reverse the obesity trend.
Such a reversal starts with children, who are growing fatter by the minute. Barack and Michelle Obama seem to have a knack for inspiring kids. Maybe Barack’s six-days-a-week workout regimen (a mix of weights and cardio) will inspire some of them to put down the video-game controller and get out and exercise.
That goes for the older generations too. Barack, at age 47, isn’t just talking healthy living; he’s modeling good habits in advance of revealing his plan for reforming health care.
Obama has inspired me. If the soon-to-be leader of the free world can find time to exercise daily, I certainly can. Now that I’m 40, I really should lose my baby fat.
And perhaps during brisk walks during lunch hour, I will discover an Obama flaw.
He can’t really be perfect. Can he?
P.S. Before many of you remind me that Obama is a former smoker — and perhaps a current closet smoker — spare me. He seems to have worked hard to kick the habit and has vowed to Michelle that the White House will be smoke-free during his Administration. Now, take that literally, and Obama certainly could find a corner of the White House gardens for a quick smoke, but whatever. He’s trying.
Obama’s Dream Team
GoneGator 
Politics 
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, Larry Summers, Rahm Emanuel, Tim GeithnerNot since Magic, Larry and Michael suited up for the original Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics have we so eagerly awaited the announcement of a national starting lineup.
Such is the nature of Barack Obama’s selections for Cabinet posts and his White House inner circle.
At point guard … Rahm Emanuel, the wizard of the Dems’ political turnaround since 2004.
At small forward … Tim Geithner, the wunderkind head of the New York Fed, taking over Treasury.
At power forward … Larry Summers, former Treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, now Obama’s bulldog designate as the incoming Director of the National Economic Council.
At shooting guard (heh, heh) … Bob Gates, staying on at Defense as a (token?) Republican holdover.
And at center, the woman in the middle, the one who could have been No. 44 but is still No. 1 in your hearts … Hillary Clinton, who certainly is extending the drama over her selection as Secretary of State.
Obama and his crew unquestionably are bringing together some of the best minds in the country to make swift progress on the economic and diplomatic challenges we face.
But just as pundits on both sides of the political spectrum were generally praising Obama’s picks, Joe Lieberman had to get a word in edgewise and call Obama’s picks to date “about perfect” :
Everything that President-elect Obama has done since election night has been just about perfect, both in terms of a tone and also in terms of the strength of the names that have either been announced or are being discussed to fill his administration.
Obama is certain to enjoy a long honeymoon as he proposes what I anticipate will be nothing short of a “new New Deal.” Look for reams of transformational legislation to be passed within 30 days of his inauguration — and independent liberal Lieberman knows he could play a key role by caucusing with the Dems in the Senate.
Americans can be assured that all this Obama goodwill will extend overseas, particularly in Europe. As with the Dream Team in 1992, the world is rooting for the U.S.
The difference now is the world not only expects a U.S. victory.
It needs a U.S. victory.
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