“Jon Barela’s not on our side”…echoes one of Martin Heinrich’s increasingly desperate commercial attempts to cling to a House of Representatives seat that he will not acknowledge that he holds to fight for an agenda that he will not admit. Many political advertisements feature some play on the tripe phase “our” side, most of them in support of democrat candidates. What exactly is “our” side and what exactly is in “our” best interest politically?
The answer is as simple as it is confusing because it depends. It depends because not everyone everywhere has the same interests and needs and no one belongs to the same “side” as anyone else. One of the greatest dangers of a large and obtrusive government is that it picks “sides” and to do so implies that big government must pick against another “side”. And while government picking on one “side” may make the other feel better it will almost always hurt the other side too.
Take for example the government’s recent bailing out of bankrupt automakers. As a result unions received large portions of the companies while previous investors were shunned. Former investors and many others may never purchase a car from those companies which will lead to lower sales and what happens next time that the union side needs for the other to be punished for bankruptcy? The unions are on both sides, the next bankruptcy may lead to one or both automaker disappearing for good.
This isn’t the same thing as when the government does something to punish one side for doing something horrible to another side. There is a need for laws and as a society we have to protect unalienable rights; life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness. And that’s the point; big government has a problem because it attempts to determine all of the right “sides” and in a relatively civil society the people all have different “sides” and can best determine what those are.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
The Tease that is The Onion
Most of the time “The Onion” as a political animal is liberal claptrap but every once in a while there is a surprising story and so it seemed to be with this headline:
This “productivity” thing is a myth, just because the congress used majorities in both houses and control of the executive branch to pass reams of impossible to comprehend measures doesn’t mean that it was any good and that they were the right things to do. I’m pretty sure I could get up early on Tuesday and knock over one hundred trash cans into the street in less than half an hour but that wouldn’t make me productive, it would mean that I was making a mess for others to clean up.
But I digress, on to the seemingly good article on typical liberal overreach and grandiose narcissism not to mention ignorance of the voters. Nope, I was wrong. Reading the article the democrat’s productivity included:
Onion, you tease me and then smack me in the head with predictable dribble and you wonder why I only check the site when I’m so bored that I can’t even sleep. If I wanted liberal claptrap I’d go to CNN or MSNBC, I want satire from the Onion damn it!
Democrats: 'If We're Gonna Lose, Let's Go Down Running Away From Every Legislative Accomplishment We've Made'This headline is similar to many storylines talking about just how “productive” congress has been the last two years in an attempt to control as many aspects of American life possible in two years with time off for vacation and ignoring constituents. And saddle foreseeable generations with debt that they can only hope to pass on, living just long enough not to have to deal with the worst consequences of.
This “productivity” thing is a myth, just because the congress used majorities in both houses and control of the executive branch to pass reams of impossible to comprehend measures doesn’t mean that it was any good and that they were the right things to do. I’m pretty sure I could get up early on Tuesday and knock over one hundred trash cans into the street in less than half an hour but that wouldn’t make me productive, it would mean that I was making a mess for others to clean up.
But I digress, on to the seemingly good article on typical liberal overreach and grandiose narcissism not to mention ignorance of the voters. Nope, I was wrong. Reading the article the democrat’s productivity included:
hard-won passage of a historic health care overhaul, the toughest financial regulations since the 1930s, and a stimulus package most economists now credit with preventing a second Great Depression.But it doesn’t ask if the health care overhaul is worth it or will even work as designed and that no one will even know until after 2014 when it actually begins. It doesn’t provide a metric measuring the “toughness” of financial regulations (as if such a metric exists). Nor does it mention that following the onset of “tough” financial regulations in the 30s unemployment exploded from less than 7% to over 25% by the end of that decade. Finally, the last contention is the silliest. Did they provide a roll call of all economists and then take a show of hands to prove that most credit he stimulus, which has not even met its claimed goals, with preventing a second great depression which almost nobody people can even imagine as they were not alive then and the schools don’t teach actual history anymore.
Onion, you tease me and then smack me in the head with predictable dribble and you wonder why I only check the site when I’m so bored that I can’t even sleep. If I wanted liberal claptrap I’d go to CNN or MSNBC, I want satire from the Onion damn it!
Negative Political Advertising
It would seem a good bet that if you went out to the street and asked any random person their opinion of political advertising you would likely be told that they are tired of how negative it is. Just a few minutes ago I was listening to the radio and the father of an old classmate of mine who happens to be the Sandoval county election something or the other was talking about how negative the campaign was and how it seemed to be the most negative campaign he has ever witnessed. For someone who is close to sixty years old that is quite a statement. In reality I seriously doubt that any election can really be considered to be the most negative ever mostly because of evolving standards and short term memory.
I will make the bold statement that I have never witnessed an election that was not negative and did not contain an absurd amount of negative advertising on most every advertising medium. Certain races certainly don’t lend themselves to it in any given election, take for instance the perfectly civil and boring race for land commissioner, but when considering an entire election, negativity abounds.
Why is this? Using the assumption from the above thought experiment most everyone at least publicly would disavow negative advertising; one would think that it would be advantageous to not be negative. But that isn’t the case for the very simple reason that negative advertising works, and it works both ways. Thanks to the multitude of ways the internet provides for a user to research, claims can be analyzed and either reinforced or discarded based on a user’s perception. Conversely, negative advertising can be used to create an image of a candidate, to define them in the mind of the uninformed voter; this is very useful in the case where a candidate is not an established quantity.
Take the case of one Jon Barela, running for the House of Representatives. Barela has never run for nor held elected public office although he has experience working for former Congressman Joe Skeen and served as an assistant attorney general. In the 90s Barela worked for Intel as a community and government relations manager. Intel is an international company with operations that span the globe. In his role, Barela worked with (surprise!) government and registered as a lobbyist as a result of some of his work. Incumbent congressman Martin Heinrich and various democrat interests have seized on these jobs to paint Barela as a “Politician” and “Lobbyist” who lobbied to send jobs to other countries. This is their campaign, to create an image of Barela for the public using the fact that Barela once worked for Intel in government communications (for its Albuquerque location) and because Intel hires people in other countries to work at their locations in other countries, Barela is therefore a lobbyist to send jobs to other countries explicitly and is a politician because he served in unelected public sector positions. Get it?
Every claim made by the loose associations presented by the democrat point of view are demonstrably false but because they are loose associations the fact that they are unserious can be downplayed by democrats. Catch-22 time. For democrats, it’s simple to promise not to negatively advertise because they are, in their own words, not guilty of it because everything they say is true because they are on the side of everything right and true. And everything said by a Republican is false and negative because they are evil and wrong. Take Heinrich for example, he is a politician by means of incumbency and attempts to paint his opponent negatively as a politician, the logic is impossible to deconstruct. And I wonder, what will come of Heinrich is he loses? Will he return to a private sector in which he has no experience? He could follow the path taken by other former democrat politicians, and become a lobbyist, but what is the politically correct term for a democrat lobbyist? After all, hearing it from them, they are on the side of right and good so in that affect if a democrat is a lobbyist they aren’t really a lobbyist just like they aren’t really politicians.
Negative advertising is rampant because it works. It just does. The people that are turned off by it have already made their minds up mostly and as a result it would take a lot for their candidate to offend them. This election is a mid-term and as such there are both a lot of high profile races and many initiatives on the ballot and only so much time in the day and all of these line items are competing for time and attempting to make an impression. Sometimes negative ads just stick long enough to limp a candidate or idea past the finish line. I doubt much new ground has been recently broken in this realm or that we will one day witness a world with no negative advertising.
I will make the bold statement that I have never witnessed an election that was not negative and did not contain an absurd amount of negative advertising on most every advertising medium. Certain races certainly don’t lend themselves to it in any given election, take for instance the perfectly civil and boring race for land commissioner, but when considering an entire election, negativity abounds.
Why is this? Using the assumption from the above thought experiment most everyone at least publicly would disavow negative advertising; one would think that it would be advantageous to not be negative. But that isn’t the case for the very simple reason that negative advertising works, and it works both ways. Thanks to the multitude of ways the internet provides for a user to research, claims can be analyzed and either reinforced or discarded based on a user’s perception. Conversely, negative advertising can be used to create an image of a candidate, to define them in the mind of the uninformed voter; this is very useful in the case where a candidate is not an established quantity.
Take the case of one Jon Barela, running for the House of Representatives. Barela has never run for nor held elected public office although he has experience working for former Congressman Joe Skeen and served as an assistant attorney general. In the 90s Barela worked for Intel as a community and government relations manager. Intel is an international company with operations that span the globe. In his role, Barela worked with (surprise!) government and registered as a lobbyist as a result of some of his work. Incumbent congressman Martin Heinrich and various democrat interests have seized on these jobs to paint Barela as a “Politician” and “Lobbyist” who lobbied to send jobs to other countries. This is their campaign, to create an image of Barela for the public using the fact that Barela once worked for Intel in government communications (for its Albuquerque location) and because Intel hires people in other countries to work at their locations in other countries, Barela is therefore a lobbyist to send jobs to other countries explicitly and is a politician because he served in unelected public sector positions. Get it?
Every claim made by the loose associations presented by the democrat point of view are demonstrably false but because they are loose associations the fact that they are unserious can be downplayed by democrats. Catch-22 time. For democrats, it’s simple to promise not to negatively advertise because they are, in their own words, not guilty of it because everything they say is true because they are on the side of everything right and true. And everything said by a Republican is false and negative because they are evil and wrong. Take Heinrich for example, he is a politician by means of incumbency and attempts to paint his opponent negatively as a politician, the logic is impossible to deconstruct. And I wonder, what will come of Heinrich is he loses? Will he return to a private sector in which he has no experience? He could follow the path taken by other former democrat politicians, and become a lobbyist, but what is the politically correct term for a democrat lobbyist? After all, hearing it from them, they are on the side of right and good so in that affect if a democrat is a lobbyist they aren’t really a lobbyist just like they aren’t really politicians.
Negative advertising is rampant because it works. It just does. The people that are turned off by it have already made their minds up mostly and as a result it would take a lot for their candidate to offend them. This election is a mid-term and as such there are both a lot of high profile races and many initiatives on the ballot and only so much time in the day and all of these line items are competing for time and attempting to make an impression. Sometimes negative ads just stick long enough to limp a candidate or idea past the finish line. I doubt much new ground has been recently broken in this realm or that we will one day witness a world with no negative advertising.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Discernable Differences
During Saturday’s evening newscast on local ABC affiliate, KOAT 7, there was a question posed to both candidates seeking to be New Mexico’s next State Auditor. The question was in regard to shrinking state agency budgets and how each candidate would work with this reality. This was an instructive moment in that it proved to be an effective delineation between democrat and Republican governing policies. Republican candidate Errol Chavez’s argument was that the State Auditor’s office must do more with less. Democrat Hector Balderas’ argument was that the state would suffer irreparable harm from current funding to the State Auditor and that it should receive more money.
And that’s it in a nutshell. Gimme gimme gimme, more more more is the sum of democrat policy. Everything is never enough and if cuts come or funding doesn’t increase the apocalypse will ensue and of course police, firemen and the children always suffer the most.
And that’s it in a nutshell. Gimme gimme gimme, more more more is the sum of democrat policy. Everything is never enough and if cuts come or funding doesn’t increase the apocalypse will ensue and of course police, firemen and the children always suffer the most.
Random Travel Thoughts
I was watching some news special on these new body scanners in which the poor reviewer, in some secret bunker and not anywhere near where the actual scanning is being done, is subjected to vivid depictions of everyone’s private areas and they mentioned that if you go through the scanner you won’t get patted down. This was of interest as I went through a scanner the other day and immediately following was told that I had to be patted down. I want an explanation TSA.
What is it with car rental companies messing with the body type designations of their freaking cars? In my itinerary, the mid size car I was supposed to get was described as a “Pontiac G6 or equivalent”. Pontiac doesn’t exist anymore but a G6 is the exact same car (minus badging) as a Chevy Malibu, which is in the same class as a Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Hyundai Sonata and Mazda 6 among some others. I was rented a Nissan Sentra, what anyone else on the planet would describe as a freaking compact. This is a horribly dishonest practice and all the rental car companies do it, so why don’t they all just be correct, is there some advantage in ticking off customers at first encounter?
Panama City Beach, Florida is a great place to visit and is very easy to navigate. I ensured that I had pages printed with all of my intended destination addresses on it for my GPS and I didn’t need it once. Being a tourist destination the actual beach front is dominated by hotels, making beach and near-beach front property expensive and kind of undesirable.
Flying can be simple or it can be difficult and one of the biggest contributors to the outcome is the awareness of the person sitting next to you on a flight. Larger people are the worst to sit next to. It’s not their fault, they’re just really big people and the seats just are not big enough to contain them. One of my quirks is a need for personal space and I was stuck with an older woman sitting next to me last week from Dallas to Albuquerque with no sense of space whatsoever. It was so bad that it was as if she could have been sitting on me. I’m certain that this woman understood how uncomfortable I was and used that to take up even more space, ensuring that I couldn’t use my right arm to aid holding up the book that I was reading. On approach she stuck out her arm, pointing out the window between my face and my book. What a jerk. These people need to be stopped.
What is it with car rental companies messing with the body type designations of their freaking cars? In my itinerary, the mid size car I was supposed to get was described as a “Pontiac G6 or equivalent”. Pontiac doesn’t exist anymore but a G6 is the exact same car (minus badging) as a Chevy Malibu, which is in the same class as a Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Hyundai Sonata and Mazda 6 among some others. I was rented a Nissan Sentra, what anyone else on the planet would describe as a freaking compact. This is a horribly dishonest practice and all the rental car companies do it, so why don’t they all just be correct, is there some advantage in ticking off customers at first encounter?
Panama City Beach, Florida is a great place to visit and is very easy to navigate. I ensured that I had pages printed with all of my intended destination addresses on it for my GPS and I didn’t need it once. Being a tourist destination the actual beach front is dominated by hotels, making beach and near-beach front property expensive and kind of undesirable.
Flying can be simple or it can be difficult and one of the biggest contributors to the outcome is the awareness of the person sitting next to you on a flight. Larger people are the worst to sit next to. It’s not their fault, they’re just really big people and the seats just are not big enough to contain them. One of my quirks is a need for personal space and I was stuck with an older woman sitting next to me last week from Dallas to Albuquerque with no sense of space whatsoever. It was so bad that it was as if she could have been sitting on me. I’m certain that this woman understood how uncomfortable I was and used that to take up even more space, ensuring that I couldn’t use my right arm to aid holding up the book that I was reading. On approach she stuck out her arm, pointing out the window between my face and my book. What a jerk. These people need to be stopped.
Rental Car Review - Nissan Sentra
Because of the nature of my work I travel regularly and part of that nature includes renting different kinds of small cars labeled as mid size by the rental car company. As a long time reader of many car magazines I have always wanted to do a car review and while I have no experience and no equipment to help in any testing activities I may as well start now.
Last week I was fortunate to visit beautiful Panama City beach Florida (for work?) and the “mid size” car awaiting me was a late model Nissan Sentra sedan. The Sentra was of interest to me because I personally own a Nissan, a 2009 Infiniti G37 sedan. Stepping into the Sentra I was struck by the similarities in cabin size and basic ergonomics, while the Sentra is a very different car from my own I was comfortable stepping into the Sentra because of the familiarity, just about every control was in the same place and similar in operation to those in my own car. The materials were of a less-costly variety compared to the G37 but worked well.
I did not verify but I believe that the Sentra was equipped with a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) mated to a small four cylinder engine. A CVT transmission is similar to an automatic and differs where in place of fixed gears there is some kind of gearing set that allows for nearly infinite ratios, instead of the typical automatic’s four to six total, between a typical low and high gear in a traditional automatic. CVTs work by changing the gear ratio constantly to maintain a nearly steady rpm at most any speed which leads to increased fuel economy. The Sentra seems to accelerate faster than reality would likely indicate thanks to another CVT fuel saving measure which accelerates hard when moderate pedal pressure is applied to an RPM much lower than redline before rapidly changing ratios. This gives the Sentra a sporty feeling.
The Sentra that I rented had about fifteen thousand hard rental car miles on it and there was, surprisingly, almost no noticeable wear throughout the car. Seats were supportive and the manual adjustments were simple, not bad considering I’m spoiled with 12 way power adjustments in my G37. The steering wheel tilts but does not telescope but wasn’t a far reach and has simple radio and cruise controls at 3 and 9. Mirror adjustments were electronic and the gauges were clear and easy to understand. Radio operation was without issue and the sound system was impressive for a car of this price. The interior is very quiet for a compact car on the road with very little tire or engine noise. Front passenger space is ample, much larger than one would guess from the outside. Rear seats are less roomy and knee space could be an issue for taller passengers.
Over the course of two days and almost eighty miles I averaged an almost unfathomable 34ish miles per gallon in all city driving. Excellent for someone who almost always hovers around the city EPA rating in anything and even worse in a rental car, they are the fastest cars in the world after all. Overall I was impressed with the Sentra, it’s a nice car that offers many perks above its basic transportation price and I’m not even upset anymore that it was rented to me as a “mid size”.
Last week I was fortunate to visit beautiful Panama City beach Florida (for work?) and the “mid size” car awaiting me was a late model Nissan Sentra sedan. The Sentra was of interest to me because I personally own a Nissan, a 2009 Infiniti G37 sedan. Stepping into the Sentra I was struck by the similarities in cabin size and basic ergonomics, while the Sentra is a very different car from my own I was comfortable stepping into the Sentra because of the familiarity, just about every control was in the same place and similar in operation to those in my own car. The materials were of a less-costly variety compared to the G37 but worked well.
I did not verify but I believe that the Sentra was equipped with a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) mated to a small four cylinder engine. A CVT transmission is similar to an automatic and differs where in place of fixed gears there is some kind of gearing set that allows for nearly infinite ratios, instead of the typical automatic’s four to six total, between a typical low and high gear in a traditional automatic. CVTs work by changing the gear ratio constantly to maintain a nearly steady rpm at most any speed which leads to increased fuel economy. The Sentra seems to accelerate faster than reality would likely indicate thanks to another CVT fuel saving measure which accelerates hard when moderate pedal pressure is applied to an RPM much lower than redline before rapidly changing ratios. This gives the Sentra a sporty feeling.
The Sentra that I rented had about fifteen thousand hard rental car miles on it and there was, surprisingly, almost no noticeable wear throughout the car. Seats were supportive and the manual adjustments were simple, not bad considering I’m spoiled with 12 way power adjustments in my G37. The steering wheel tilts but does not telescope but wasn’t a far reach and has simple radio and cruise controls at 3 and 9. Mirror adjustments were electronic and the gauges were clear and easy to understand. Radio operation was without issue and the sound system was impressive for a car of this price. The interior is very quiet for a compact car on the road with very little tire or engine noise. Front passenger space is ample, much larger than one would guess from the outside. Rear seats are less roomy and knee space could be an issue for taller passengers.
Over the course of two days and almost eighty miles I averaged an almost unfathomable 34ish miles per gallon in all city driving. Excellent for someone who almost always hovers around the city EPA rating in anything and even worse in a rental car, they are the fastest cars in the world after all. Overall I was impressed with the Sentra, it’s a nice car that offers many perks above its basic transportation price and I’m not even upset anymore that it was rented to me as a “mid size”.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Random Thoughts
On the radio this morning were reports in regard to all the work done in congress this past session. I listen to the ESPN affiliate here in Albuquerque, the Mike and Mike radio program and they subscribe to the AP radio news. AP as an objective newswire is a joke as there is neither so-called big government progressive policy nor leftist politician whom they can’t stump for. Anyway, the big news today is how the jus adjourned congress was the most “productive” in modern times. Stupid. It’s similar to how many district attorneys are judged by conviction rates instead of whether or not justice was done. It doesn’t matter how many thousand page bills the House of Representatives passes, it’s whether or not it is necessary and does anything as intended. Basically the rule should be first, do no harm. Taxes are going up. Unemployment is up and the national debt is a black hole.
The president loves to mention that the evil Republicans are counting on “progressives” staying home or some such nonsense. Such is the conceit of a politician who assumes that every correct thinking person agrees with his point of view. It’s amazing that the president cannot envision a world where in someone who disagrees with his policies has a point. Pathetic.
In reviewing the New Mexico gubernatorial debate, Diane Denish’s campaign is summed up by the AP radio news as calling Susana Martinez a liar. That’s exactly what a resident wants in a governor. Martinez has recently begun polling past 50% and all that is left for Denish is to make things up and unfurl personal attacks.
The democrat congressional campaign committee has an ad staring an elderly New Mexican woman ending “I don’t truss theeess Jhoon Barela”. The target is the evil Jon Barela and his support for taking away Social Security. Old habits die hard for donkeys I suppose.
The president loves to mention that the evil Republicans are counting on “progressives” staying home or some such nonsense. Such is the conceit of a politician who assumes that every correct thinking person agrees with his point of view. It’s amazing that the president cannot envision a world where in someone who disagrees with his policies has a point. Pathetic.
In reviewing the New Mexico gubernatorial debate, Diane Denish’s campaign is summed up by the AP radio news as calling Susana Martinez a liar. That’s exactly what a resident wants in a governor. Martinez has recently begun polling past 50% and all that is left for Denish is to make things up and unfurl personal attacks.
The democrat congressional campaign committee has an ad staring an elderly New Mexican woman ending “I don’t truss theeess Jhoon Barela”. The target is the evil Jon Barela and his support for taking away Social Security. Old habits die hard for donkeys I suppose.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Random Sporting Thoughts
What’s the deal with all the seriousness in sports, second guessing and assumptions in regard to whether or not something done worked or did not based on something that really doesn’t matter all that much? It seems as though sports is taken much too seriously these days and while there are certain aspects that affect society as a whole like drugs and health, the point is that sports are and should remain a distraction. They are an addition to real life and not a substitute nor companion to it.
Tons of commentary on 49ers coach Mike Singletary yelling at QB Alex Smith during the team’s last game. Did it matter? Some commentary focused on the “psychological” damage done to Smith while others praised that it caused Smith to play better. Is either point true? No one can tell for sure. One thing’s certain, QB Smith is not ten years old and probably isn’t all that damaged from being yelled at by another adult and likely has plenty of motivation to play his best. Football, like any sport has its ups and downs and countless things affect play even during a game leading to different outcomes by the minute.
Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas is under scrutiny in some circles for taking a game off and later admitting to faking an injury in a preseason game so that his back up would get more minutes. Screaming sports moralists are supremely offended at Arenas for committing some grave sporting sin, faking to get out of a game. A preseason game that he may not have played much of if he had participated is what these moralists are talking about.
Last week on Pardon the Interruption ESPN NFL Commentator Ron Jaworski spoke about his new book and mentioned that it would be beneficial to anyone wanting to succeed in sports or business. The mention of sports I glossed right over but the mention of business piqued my curiosity. A person who has always been involved in sports can really help someone in real world business? Perhaps in motivation but as a whole I seriously doubt it. Jaws is a nice guy and his book may be entertaining but sports operate in kind of a bizarre economic reality. The money in sports may as well be monopoly money wherein the sums tossed about may as well be imaginary to regular people. How can anyone involved in only sports business even contemplate how to provide bananas, grown in Latin America, picked, shipped, distributed and displayed in a local United States supermarket for 50 cents a pound when a ticket to a single football game is pushing 200 dollars?
Tons of commentary on 49ers coach Mike Singletary yelling at QB Alex Smith during the team’s last game. Did it matter? Some commentary focused on the “psychological” damage done to Smith while others praised that it caused Smith to play better. Is either point true? No one can tell for sure. One thing’s certain, QB Smith is not ten years old and probably isn’t all that damaged from being yelled at by another adult and likely has plenty of motivation to play his best. Football, like any sport has its ups and downs and countless things affect play even during a game leading to different outcomes by the minute.
Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas is under scrutiny in some circles for taking a game off and later admitting to faking an injury in a preseason game so that his back up would get more minutes. Screaming sports moralists are supremely offended at Arenas for committing some grave sporting sin, faking to get out of a game. A preseason game that he may not have played much of if he had participated is what these moralists are talking about.
Last week on Pardon the Interruption ESPN NFL Commentator Ron Jaworski spoke about his new book and mentioned that it would be beneficial to anyone wanting to succeed in sports or business. The mention of sports I glossed right over but the mention of business piqued my curiosity. A person who has always been involved in sports can really help someone in real world business? Perhaps in motivation but as a whole I seriously doubt it. Jaws is a nice guy and his book may be entertaining but sports operate in kind of a bizarre economic reality. The money in sports may as well be monopoly money wherein the sums tossed about may as well be imaginary to regular people. How can anyone involved in only sports business even contemplate how to provide bananas, grown in Latin America, picked, shipped, distributed and displayed in a local United States supermarket for 50 cents a pound when a ticket to a single football game is pushing 200 dollars?
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Random Thoughts
I was searching for something beginning with NM this morning and what caught my eye is that the description of the state of New Mexico website was in regard to the so-called stimulus. I clicked because I was curious and noticed lo and behold the first item on the State’s website is in regard to the so-called simulative recovery act. Is that the best New Mexico has to offer, really?
Also on the page is Governor Richardson’s governing philosophy:
And another thing on this Susana Martinez “Tejana” thing. As a result of this story I learned that Diane Denish is from Hobbs, a traditionally conservative part of our state. I wonder if she will win the city of Hobbs, as the home town girl. She is the real New Mexican, right. Way to go nativist Denish.
I couldn’t let Heinrich go without a mention either. I wonder, if in his slurring of Jon Barela the people of New Mexico understand how damaging Heinrich’s votes really are. Heinrich blasts Barela for shipping jobs to China with irrelevant paperwork but what does voting for cap and trade which means that energy producers in this country must move (out of this country) if they are to survive, the same result occurs from his support of the idiotic deep water drilling ban and does Heinrich know where lithium (a prime battery material) is primarily mined? China. So, it is conceivable that Heinrich’s support of battery powered cars will send jobs to China instead of the gas tank manufacturers in America. There’s more logic and reality in the previous sentence than in Heinrich’s bogus charges.
The worst Democrat attack point is the constant harping on Social Security. Purchasing government bonds and then spending the contributions is not a trust fund strategy. Those bonds have to be paid for down the line with, you guessed it, tax dollars. The government lies to all of us every year they send out that statement referencing a trust fund. Current estimates show that the program will be completely insolvent around 2038 and every time the estimate is revised it happens sooner. It is shameful for democrats to use our senior citizens in campaign commercials to scare other senior citizens. It is pathetic that the democrats only have on their behalf a government sponsored ponzi scheme that is just about bankrupt.
In an unfortunate turn of events, Michelle Rhee, the reformist school chancellor in Washington DC is expected to resign. Rhee was not afraid to take on the unions and got rid of underperforming (that’s the kind way to describe them) teachers, strengthened charter schools and instituted standards that led to smarter students. Her methods were considered to be draconian and in a move that proves no one really cares about school improvement will be let go.
Also on the page is Governor Richardson’s governing philosophy:
Commitment, hard work, efficiency, accountability: these are the elements in my approach to governing, and my strategy for success.Hmmmmmmm…. Richardson took a year off to try to be president, took more time off to be commerce secretary, spent more than any other governor, hired more make work employees than any other governor, got busted exchanging state contracts for presidential campaign contributions ending the commerce secretary bid and travels with a two dozen strong security force packing serious heat…
And another thing on this Susana Martinez “Tejana” thing. As a result of this story I learned that Diane Denish is from Hobbs, a traditionally conservative part of our state. I wonder if she will win the city of Hobbs, as the home town girl. She is the real New Mexican, right. Way to go nativist Denish.
I couldn’t let Heinrich go without a mention either. I wonder, if in his slurring of Jon Barela the people of New Mexico understand how damaging Heinrich’s votes really are. Heinrich blasts Barela for shipping jobs to China with irrelevant paperwork but what does voting for cap and trade which means that energy producers in this country must move (out of this country) if they are to survive, the same result occurs from his support of the idiotic deep water drilling ban and does Heinrich know where lithium (a prime battery material) is primarily mined? China. So, it is conceivable that Heinrich’s support of battery powered cars will send jobs to China instead of the gas tank manufacturers in America. There’s more logic and reality in the previous sentence than in Heinrich’s bogus charges.
The worst Democrat attack point is the constant harping on Social Security. Purchasing government bonds and then spending the contributions is not a trust fund strategy. Those bonds have to be paid for down the line with, you guessed it, tax dollars. The government lies to all of us every year they send out that statement referencing a trust fund. Current estimates show that the program will be completely insolvent around 2038 and every time the estimate is revised it happens sooner. It is shameful for democrats to use our senior citizens in campaign commercials to scare other senior citizens. It is pathetic that the democrats only have on their behalf a government sponsored ponzi scheme that is just about bankrupt.
In an unfortunate turn of events, Michelle Rhee, the reformist school chancellor in Washington DC is expected to resign. Rhee was not afraid to take on the unions and got rid of underperforming (that’s the kind way to describe them) teachers, strengthened charter schools and instituted standards that led to smarter students. Her methods were considered to be draconian and in a move that proves no one really cares about school improvement will be let go.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
On Tejanas and Nuevo Mexicanas
The recent political case of foot in mouth award comes to us from New Mexico democrat Lt Governor candidate Brian Colon who has taken to describing Republican Gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez as a “Tejana” or translated from Spanish, a Texan female. The Albuquerque Journal has published an article going through the psychological elements to this term and boils it down to a matter of dividing Hispanics in New Mexico. How typical of democrats. The term, the Journal notes, is meant to invoke images of affluent Texans, invading New Mexico to hunt, fish and ski. In this case, this slur is based on the fact that Martinez was born and raised in El Paso, TX moving to New Mexico in 1986.
There are two points that are not in the well written Journal piece. The first is that El Paso, while now a part of Texas, in colonial times from the 18th century to about the mid 19th was a part of New Mexico and the home of the Lt Governor. Second, I think that the Tejana term is used to disparage Martinez as a dreaded Texan. I often joke that as a good New Mexican I hate Texas. This stems from water rights issues where Texas took advantage of New Mexico by way of Rio Grande water rights contracts in the mid 1800s that are in affect to this day that they refuse to re-negotiate given modern understanding of exactly how much water is in the Rio Grande. Basically New Mexico must provide more water to Texas through the Rio Grande than actually flows naturally which is very bad for a state made up of mostly desert. This is insane and many lawyers in the Las Cruces area have made their careers working to rescind this centuries old injustice.
Anyway, there are a few reasons why the idea of a “Texan” running our state may be unpalatable to many New Mexicans and this sentiment is what the Diane Denish campaign is hoping to put into people’s minds. Logically though, it is difficult to consider Martinez a Texan. She has lived in the state for twenty four years. Twenty four. And she is in her fourth term as DA in Dona Ana country. It isn’t like a certain governor that moved to New Mexico in order to run for congress. It is silly that the democrats think silly games like this will move the people into voting for them while not providing evidence as to why they deserve to be voted for. This kind of thing will not work because people pay attention and the only voters that this matters to are already democrat sheep with no need to be herded because they are already in the barn.
There are two points that are not in the well written Journal piece. The first is that El Paso, while now a part of Texas, in colonial times from the 18th century to about the mid 19th was a part of New Mexico and the home of the Lt Governor. Second, I think that the Tejana term is used to disparage Martinez as a dreaded Texan. I often joke that as a good New Mexican I hate Texas. This stems from water rights issues where Texas took advantage of New Mexico by way of Rio Grande water rights contracts in the mid 1800s that are in affect to this day that they refuse to re-negotiate given modern understanding of exactly how much water is in the Rio Grande. Basically New Mexico must provide more water to Texas through the Rio Grande than actually flows naturally which is very bad for a state made up of mostly desert. This is insane and many lawyers in the Las Cruces area have made their careers working to rescind this centuries old injustice.
Anyway, there are a few reasons why the idea of a “Texan” running our state may be unpalatable to many New Mexicans and this sentiment is what the Diane Denish campaign is hoping to put into people’s minds. Logically though, it is difficult to consider Martinez a Texan. She has lived in the state for twenty four years. Twenty four. And she is in her fourth term as DA in Dona Ana country. It isn’t like a certain governor that moved to New Mexico in order to run for congress. It is silly that the democrats think silly games like this will move the people into voting for them while not providing evidence as to why they deserve to be voted for. This kind of thing will not work because people pay attention and the only voters that this matters to are already democrat sheep with no need to be herded because they are already in the barn.
Obama as Delaware Kingmaker...
On his talk show today Rush Limbaugh touted a visit by President Obama to Delaware in order to negatively portray Senate Candidate Christine O’Donnell as proof that O’Donnell is not as far behind as polls may suggest. He’s wrong. It may be true that O’Donnell is not as far behind, polls in small population areas like Delaware often have large margins of error due to small sample sizes.
The obvious reason why the President is traveling to Delaware under the guise of aiding democrat candidate Chris Coons is because of polls illustrating a double digit lead for that candidate. There is no need for presidential help for a candidate up a ton of points in polls the month before the election. This move is aimed at helping the President’s image.
President Obama is often tied to endorsements made in the Massachusetts senate race won by Republican Scott Brown and in the New Jersey Gubernatorial race won by Republican Chris Christie, making his endorsement undesirable. The President’s advisors no doubt understand this perception and in viewing the Delaware race, high poll numbers and a somewhat embarrassing Republican candidate they see it as a sure win and have positioned their man to be associated with it which will then lead to a perception of Obama as kingmaker in their self inflated worldview.
Democrats at the national level believe polls more so than actual election returns and double digit leads are a sweet sweet drug to them. Don’t believe it? Recall in 2004 after President Bush finished off John Kerry in the election? Democrats were inflamed and demanding recounts because of an exit poll in Ohio. Polls are reality to many people and while they can be accurate, that’s more luck than anything, they are not truth.
It would be sweet sweet nectar to myself and Republicans if Obama’s cynical ploy ends up back firing and leading to more support for O’Donnell. His track record as an endorser speaks for itself.
The obvious reason why the President is traveling to Delaware under the guise of aiding democrat candidate Chris Coons is because of polls illustrating a double digit lead for that candidate. There is no need for presidential help for a candidate up a ton of points in polls the month before the election. This move is aimed at helping the President’s image.
President Obama is often tied to endorsements made in the Massachusetts senate race won by Republican Scott Brown and in the New Jersey Gubernatorial race won by Republican Chris Christie, making his endorsement undesirable. The President’s advisors no doubt understand this perception and in viewing the Delaware race, high poll numbers and a somewhat embarrassing Republican candidate they see it as a sure win and have positioned their man to be associated with it which will then lead to a perception of Obama as kingmaker in their self inflated worldview.
Democrats at the national level believe polls more so than actual election returns and double digit leads are a sweet sweet drug to them. Don’t believe it? Recall in 2004 after President Bush finished off John Kerry in the election? Democrats were inflamed and demanding recounts because of an exit poll in Ohio. Polls are reality to many people and while they can be accurate, that’s more luck than anything, they are not truth.
It would be sweet sweet nectar to myself and Republicans if Obama’s cynical ploy ends up back firing and leading to more support for O’Donnell. His track record as an endorser speaks for itself.
Heinrich, They Took R Jobz!
Martin Heinrich, defender of the People’s Republic of New Mexico from Jon Barela, has graced us proletariat with video evidence that he must be elected to the US House of Representatives to save us poor minions from the evil lobbyist Barela.
In this selfless ad the form picture from the Barela for congress website has its color removed so that we the people can recognize Barels as evil and because that is the only picture available, since Barela happens to be some kind of Dark Lord evading the watchful eye of our hero Heinrich while working for Chinese overlords.
Barela has sent jobs, American jobs! to CHINA! They took our jobs! Jon Barela, brave Heinrich tells us, has spent years and bountiful energy analyzing our work in New Mexico and as a secret Chinese agent has LOBBIED our government, holding hands with BUSHCHENEY to send those jobs to CHINA!
And if you believe that claptrap you deserve a sophomoric hack like Martin Heinrich representing your interests in Washington. Barela has never been in any elected office. Even as a lobbyist, Barela couldn’t vote to raise taxes or send jobs anywhere. The tired xenophobic line about sending jobs to anywhere assumes that the number of jobs in any economy are both fixed and never changed. If that were true we would still be hunter gatherers. It is as simple as that.
Consider the fact that Heinrich is running as a political neophyte, even though he is the incumbent. What have you done for New Mexico, Martin? You voted for Obamacare. You voted for Cap and Trade. You voted for Bailouts. You voted for the Stimulus. All of these actions will only lead to increased taxes and burdensome regulations for New Mexicans. All that Martin Heinrich has proven in Washington is an uncanny ability to vote along the democrat line. Ironic when considering his pathetic attacks on Jon Barela because after he loses, Heinrich will likely end up a democrat lobbyist, after all, that’s what a voting record like his portends.
In this selfless ad the form picture from the Barela for congress website has its color removed so that we the people can recognize Barels as evil and because that is the only picture available, since Barela happens to be some kind of Dark Lord evading the watchful eye of our hero Heinrich while working for Chinese overlords.
Barela has sent jobs, American jobs! to CHINA! They took our jobs! Jon Barela, brave Heinrich tells us, has spent years and bountiful energy analyzing our work in New Mexico and as a secret Chinese agent has LOBBIED our government, holding hands with BUSHCHENEY to send those jobs to CHINA!
And if you believe that claptrap you deserve a sophomoric hack like Martin Heinrich representing your interests in Washington. Barela has never been in any elected office. Even as a lobbyist, Barela couldn’t vote to raise taxes or send jobs anywhere. The tired xenophobic line about sending jobs to anywhere assumes that the number of jobs in any economy are both fixed and never changed. If that were true we would still be hunter gatherers. It is as simple as that.
Consider the fact that Heinrich is running as a political neophyte, even though he is the incumbent. What have you done for New Mexico, Martin? You voted for Obamacare. You voted for Cap and Trade. You voted for Bailouts. You voted for the Stimulus. All of these actions will only lead to increased taxes and burdensome regulations for New Mexicans. All that Martin Heinrich has proven in Washington is an uncanny ability to vote along the democrat line. Ironic when considering his pathetic attacks on Jon Barela because after he loses, Heinrich will likely end up a democrat lobbyist, after all, that’s what a voting record like his portends.
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