Random Thoughts...

I learned from a caller into the Bob Clark show on 770 KKOB this morning that Bill Richardson vetoed a bill specifying veteran preferences in state contract awards. Finally, something that Richardson did that I can support. Veterans deserve our gratitude but no one should be favored in any state contract for any reason other than having a superior bid and/or solution.

It’s an ugly habit to assume that the ill-defined “rich” should pay more for government just because they can and it is assumed that they won’t even notice. How can that statement even be verified and how is it not greedy? Our current government is made up of narcissists lecturing in class warfare to hide their own greed. Give a legislator a dollar and they’ll spend three every time.

What is it with the size of shopping carts at Sam’s Club? It’s understandable that some customers buy a lot at that store but it makes the store difficult to traverse when a single cart takes up an entire aisle.

The caller into the Bob Clark show was commenting on Richardson’s legacy as a politician in New Mexico as his gubernatorial tenure is nearing its end. Many of the positive comments centered on what Richardson “gave” people and “amazing” work he did as a diplomat. This means that he’s good at giving favored constituencies and friends goodies at the expense of taxpayers. As a diplomat it seems that he has presented himself well on the international stage, while nothing tangible has ever happened good or bad from either his freelance diplomacy or tenure at the United Nations. All that means is that Richardson is a good useful idiot to horrible despots like North Korea’s Kim Jong Il.

In all the discussion about the new START treaty, a nuclear weapons containment treaty with Russia, no one seems to be able to explain why it’s such a big deal. Is it 1981, did the cold war not end? I don’t recall Russia being much of a threat over the last twenty years. Perhaps the government wants us to be reminiscing of Rocky 4 instead of actual threats of nuclear proliferation from countries including Iran and North Korea.

What about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”? What does its repeal mean? I have no clue. The language behind the actual law tied to the acronym, DADT, is much more complicated and as someone who is neither gay nor in the military I’m not sure about it. I do think that the consternation surrounding the law, as a horrible atrocity, was overblown. Hopefully its repeal will not hinder the military in any way.

I find myself often rooting for public figures that drive some people irrationally nuts. No one objects to shunning mass murderers but the way that Sarah Palin and Michael Vick are treated is laughable. Palin talks about reading C.S. Lewis and is derided as dumb and childlike. Vick says that he would like to have a pet dog some day and he’s immediately treated as though he wants to start a Shih Tzu fighting ring. Someone needs to get these critics the ability to play back in their heads what they are saying, along with a clue.