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Lost in a Deep Blue Sea

Posted by Bullpen on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 5:51:52 PM
Last Friday I attended a Barack Obama rally because it was free and, well, historical.  So why not?  Even if it did mean I would be the lost red speck in a deep blue sea, it would certainly be interesting.  It certainly was.

Right before I went, I told a friend of mine that I was going.  He told me to “be careful not to get converted”.  I replied “Don’t worry, there’s no chance.  I have that one thing…intelligence.”

Obama, a brilliant campaigner, gave voters the illusion that he was going to be the single man to close the disconnect between voters and their federal government.  To someone who actually listens to the substance, Mr. Obama seems to have a profound misunderstanding of the way our nation works.  Saying we should be teaching our kids math, and science, and literature, and social studies, and art, and music is a campaign pledge more fit for 1828 than 2008.  He spoke about ‘working’ with insurance and automobile companies as if they weren‘t part of the free market.  His spoke of a foreign policy that lacks any sense or reasoning behind it.  He spoke about how he understands the constitution but apparently doesn’t understand the concept of federalism.

Mr. Obama is extremely charismatic and is wonderful at portraying his message and responding to criticism, but I heard something different than everyone else did when he spoke.  Every time he said “sacrifice” I heard the word “comrade.”  Every time he spoke of giving everyone this and that for the purpose of ‘uniting’ us, I heard the words “Our Great Leader.”  When he spoke of change and hope, I heard empty, feel-good liberalism.

But I didn’t see all these people clamoring for a hope that they didn’t have.  The people I saw were just so caught up in the idea of their liberal savior.  Who could blame them after years of party leadership with the likes of John Kerry, Harry Reid, Tom Daschle, Nancy Pelosi, and Al Gore?

After being forced to stand for “change” for 6 hours straight without moving, I looked up into the deep and clear night sky that hung above us all.  There was not a star to be found.  There was no beacon of light brightening the abyss.  Maybe it was a mere coincidence.  But I don’t believe in coincidences.
Tags: obama  
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A Prisoner of Speech

Posted by Bullpen on Thursday, February 21, 2008 8:03:20 PM
Today in my presentational speaking class our professor began talking about rhetorical fallacies in order to prepare us for our upcoming persuasive speeches.  In order to apply this to us better, she began using examples for each one.  Sure.  Why not?  The problem is, she used  political examples and forgot to hide her extreme liberal (Obama supporter) bias.  Like a magician she gave her students the illusion that Republicans were all bad people and all of their arguments were fallacious.  Ah, college life.

Among the gems she had:

Ad Hominem--Attacking the Person rather than the argument

For her first trick, she addressed Ann Coulter’s personal attacks on people.  After listing what Ann had said about people out of context, she proceeded to attack Ann Coulter as a person, saying she was mannish and angry.  And not once did Michael Moore come to mind…

Hasty Generalization--basing a conclusion on too few or isolated examples

She talked about Bill Clinton saying Barack Obama’s life was a fairytale and ranted about it for a while.  Except that isn’t what he said.  His statement was about Obama’s opposition to the Iraq War.  So she based a conclusion on too little information.  Bravo.

Red Herring Argument--distracting people from the truth

She claimed that there is currently a recession that we are being lied to about(never mind that we haven’t had a period of economic contraction yet).  Also claimed that President Bush distracted us with claims that Saddam Hussein had WMDs, was like Hitler, and was all around a horrible human being in order to invade.  Except that every intelligence agency said he did have them(and we actually did find some), he used them to commit genocide, and he once invaded a country south of him and refused to accept the sanctions against him for doing so.  But that didn’t stop my professor from distracting us from the truth.  I was expecting her to say there was nothing up here sleeve too.

Black and White Argument--forcing people to choose one way or the other

She quickly pulled abortion out of her hat.  As soon as there is a middle ground on this I will let you know.  There is no such thing as kind of aborting a child.


This is where I should remind you that this is a required class that costs money.

The whole experience was like something out of a movie.  The girl who was ironically sitting to the left of me was the only person I noticed who thought this was as ridiculous as I did.  We laughed each time she did it.  I said to her “Wow…this is kind of funny”, to which she replied “It really isn’t though.  All of these people actually believe her and she is eating this up.”  She was right, the magician had fooled them into suspending their disbelief and got them to participate in the show.

At the very end our professor  told us not to persuade people on ignorance, a fallacy known as “Ad Ignoratiam.”  I wanted to applaud.  It was a wonderful show.  The only problem was almost everyone else did not know it was just smoke and mirrors.
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I Think I'm Dumb...or Maybe Just Happy.

Posted by Bullpen on Monday, February 18, 2008 7:22:51 PM
Last summer I read a memoir by a man named John Bul Dau called God Grew Tired of Us.  When he was a boy he trekked through Sudan when a civil war tore his country and his village apart.  He was beaten by radical Muslim soldiers and was constantly shot at.  He walked through a hell unimaginable to most of us until he could walk no longer.  He buried people his friends until he became numb to death.  He nearly starved and died of thirst time and time again only to be saved by the grace of God.  Then by that same grace, he worked himself hard enough to come to the United States.  Once he got here he recognized our nation’s greatness because he had seen the other side.  The people of this country welcomed him with open arms.  It was like a real life Shawkshank Redemption.  Every single day we taste freedoms so sweet that some have taken it for granted.

Why do I tell you this?   Well I just checked the Drudge Report and saw that Michelle Obama was finally really proud of her country for the first time in her adult life.  Well that’s good.  Living a privileged life full of opportunity must have been really difficult for her.  I’m glad she’s made it through that to a point where she can finally be proud of the United States.

Perhaps she’s never been proud of us because we don’t commit genocides.  Perhaps she has been disgusted by our nation because we promote human rights and are the most generous nation on the earth.  Perhaps she isn’t proud because we fight wars not to conquer, but to liberate.  Perhaps that whole freedom of speech thing just threw her off the Patriotic track.  Perhaps having more equality amongst different types of peoples than anywhere else in the world is what was holding her back from being proud all of these years.

Liberals always have a tough time understanding why everyone is not as miserable as they are.  Their power derives from capitalizing on the emotions and the temporary minimal problems of people‘s lives.  I’d like to believe the rest of us understand how great our nation truly is and how damn fortunate we are to be able to live as we see fit in this great nation under God.  

Liberals might say that it is another example of ignorance being bliss.  But who is really being ignorant here?

Unlike Mrs. Obama, I have been proud of my country every day.  So has Mr. Dau.  But Mrs. Obama and I do have something in common.  We will likely never feel the incredible sense of wonder and joy that Mr. Dau felt when he did something that Americans do every day; walk through the aisles a grocery store.   But I will never forget how lucky I am to have been born in a country where I never will feel that.
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The "Case" Against a Flat Tax

Posted by Bullpen on Saturday, February 16, 2008 9:17:33 PM
Wealthy Americans aren’t people, you know.  I always seem to forget this in non-election years.  Thank God we have Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to remind us.  Once you are successful, you lose your soul.  It’s just the way the world works.  We’ve all seen the movies and everyone knows how true to real life Hollywood is.

Because someone has more money, they owe the rest of us a larger percentage of it.  Also, they are personally responsible for all the suffering and failures you have ever had in your life.  It’s just common sense.  After all, we are all equal in the eyes of the law.  However, some are more equal than others.  In my studies I have found that fictional tales like that of Robin Hood should be the basis of our nation’s economic policy.  We need to make it clear to our people that success will not be tolerated.

There are two things that are assured in this life, and that is death and taxes.  So why not just kill two birds with one stone and tax the wealthy to death?

It’s time to repeal across the board tax cuts that are clearly only for the rich.  It is obvious that our government sets a certain amount of money, starts handing a ton of money to the people at the top tax brackets and kicks out whatever is left to the common man.  Never you mind percentages that say otherwise.  The important thing is that you should FEEL like the wealthy owe you and the world something extra for having more legally obtained income.

Class warfare and an 'Us versus Them' mentality is exactly what we need to unite us all.  We need to raise the tax burden on the wealthy because…well why not?  They have a lot of money, and we want a lot of money so we can spend it on…um…Congressional hearings on um…an aging baseball pitcher…or something.  Anyway, this seems like a perfect match and just plain good public policy.  What the hell are we doing if we aren't erring on the side of communism and socialism?

As Rodney King once intended to say, “Can’t we all just get along...as long as we are in the same lower income tax brackets?”
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The Challenge of Our Time

Posted by Bullpen on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:07:11 PM
The other night I was watching television with my roommate and something shocking happened to me.  I found myself *gulp* defending John McCain.  Why, you ask?  I saw Barack Obama giving his victory speech and challenging John McCain on national security.  Now, I don't think McCain is especially good on national security.  His immigration and Guantanamo Bay policies are a reflection of that.  But Obama is by far the least qualified person to take on McCain on these issues.  In the end, McCain looks like he will be the person with the best judgment on security on the November ballot.

For too long our nation was ruled by those who would rather live on their knees than die on their feet.  Patrick Henry, they must have thought, could never have dreamed of what our warfare would look like.

Barack Obama advocates leaving Iraq immediately.  He doesn't seem to understand the threat that our nation faces and the consequences that come with cutting and running.  Perhaps the timing and/or the execution of the war is wrong, but that doesn't change that we are there now.  I don't want a 46 year old teenager as our Commander-In-Chief.

I find it astounding that these anti-war people who claim to be so selfless and giving to other human beings forget that the Iraqi people are human beings.  They were constantly under siege by terrorists before the surge and we are being told we should leave?  Why are these people not worth fighting for?  When did freedom stop being our cause?  Last time I checked, they were just as human as the rest of us. Perhaps these people who were opposed to the war think we should have avoided fighting World War II in Europe.  After all, it was Japan that attacked us.

To say that there were no terrorists in Iraq before we went in is completely wrong.  Their government WAS a terrorist organization.  The brutality and genocides that occurred under Saddam Hussein's 30 year reign .  To say we weren't greeted as liberators is revisionist history to everyone who saw the statue that stood over the Iraqi people for so long fall to the cheering crowd surrounding it.

We cannot afford to appease those who breed the ideology of terrorism.  We cannot give understanding to those who film themselves brutally decapitating journalists.  We cannot concede anything to those who will not give their own concessions.  We cannot surrender to those who are obsessed with total victory.

This is not fear-mongering.  It is the truth, and we cannot afford to lose sight of it because it may be unpleasant.  This is greater than ourselves. 

In this election, we must realize that every generation before us had a calling that was greater than themselves.  They stood up to communism, fascism, imperialism, and nazism.  Their calling was liberty.  They were called to answer the challenge of their time.

Terrorism is different than any threat we have ever faced before.  It knows no bounds or borders.  There is no Mutually Assured Destruction.  We cannot ignore the challenge of our time.  We must ensure that future generations of Americans will inherit our shining city on a hill that shall forever be the ''land of the free, and the home of the brave.'
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From Chaos Comes Clarity

Posted by Bullpen on Thursday, February 07, 2008 10:50:19 PM
9 months.

That's how long we have to talk ourselves into John McCain.

McCain, to his credit, said all the right things at the CPAC  He knows he has to appeal to the right if he wants to win, proving that the Reagan Legacy is still very much alive.  He has the support of some Democrats and Independents.  I don't expect to be a full blown McCainiac by November, but maybe I will be able to talk myself into voting for him.

The other side is just making it easier on me.  Barack Obama called Mitt Romney an "ineffective candidate" today after Romney dropped out.  Nothing quite like getting an unnecessary parting shot on a man who showed a tremendous amount of class in his speech and his decision to get out of the race.  Obama the "uniter" decided to slap the four million people that voted for Romney in the face.  Romney ran a hell of a campaign, and in case Obama didn't realize it, people are much more likely to vote for a black man than for a mormon.

Love him or hate him, Romney has accomplished significantly more in his life and for his country than Obama.  The 2002 Winter Olympics, his successes turning companies around as CEO of Bain, and his tenure as Governor have done a lot more in the name of "change" than Obama has in the Illinois State Legislature.

The problem with McCain is that he lacks ideas for the future.  He doesn't represent "change" (9 months of that word are going to drive me insane).  The man has only been able to campaign on his past.  He needs to reveal his plans on reforming entitlement programs and reducing the size of government.  We need substance.

Despite many liberal ideas, Obama also supports becoming energy independent and cleaning up government.  McCain can be strong on these issues too.  He needs to propose the better solutions.

It is also important for Conservatives to turn their focus now to congressional politics.  Remember, there are 3 branches of national government.  Maybe somewhere along the way we can rebuild the Republican party from the bottom up.

9 months until November.  9 months of being caught between a McCain and a hard place.
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Bye Bye, Mr. American Pie

Posted by Bullpen on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 3:05:10 PM
The prevailing wisdom is that Ronald Reagan died on June 5th, 2004.  I fear that is not entirely true.  I fear that he may have truly died on Super Tuesday.

This time there was no funeral.  There were no tears.  There was no memorial.  There was only John McClinton reading a victory speech with the enthusiasm of Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  At that moment it dawned on me that we are going to nominate a man who is bankrupt of original ideas.  We are nominating a man who talks down to us.  We are nominating a man who could win the nomination of the other party without changing positions.

Yes, I fear that it is almost guaranteed that he will get the nomination, if only because Mike Huckabee will be giving all of his delegates to McClinton.  He wants to be the Vice President of killing Conservatism.

I thought we learned our lesson after  we lost control of Congress in 2006.  Apparently not.  Our party has decided on the insanity route--doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Maybe we deserved it.  When we were pushed, we didn’t push back.  Our elected officials gave up on their ideas and principles and we stood idly by and let it happen.  We let men who were only interested in power carry our conservative mantle for personal gain.  Now look at where we are.  I fear we have become nothing more than a loud minority of the population.

What now?

That was the thought on my mind as I watched California go to the man who is an example of what Non-Conservatives believe a Conservative should be.  I feared that we are facing the sunset.  But as I passed by my Shawshank Redemption movie poster on the way out, I remembered that there was no reason to be afraid of losing everything we've worked for.  We have something that can't be taken away from us: Hope.

Conservatism is about what human beings can achieve, not under the power of government, but under the power of freedom.  Ronald Reagan said to his supporters after being defeated at the 1976 Convention by Gerald Ford, "I know there is some disappointment in what happened.  But the cause....the cause goes on."

Some causes are worth fighting for.  One day, the sun will rise again.
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The Reason We Play the Game

Posted by Bullpen on Monday, February 04, 2008 5:29:20 PM
17-14.  The 14 point underdog, the New York Giants, defeated history's team, the New England Patriots.  Even as a Chargers fan who finds it inexplicable that Kevin Gilbride and Eli Manning now have a title and Junior Seau doesn't, I have to hand it to the Giants.  The Patriots were inevitable.  But the game is not won in the press.  The battle is fought in the trenches.

That's why I have such a problem with "electability".  It presumes to know what "swing" voters want in a candidate.  Swing voters have no idea what they want.  That's why they are swing voters.  The candidate that best conveys their message to the voters is the most electable.  The candidate that wins is the most electable, but it is not something that can be determined beforehand.

Michael Dukakis had a 20 point lead in the polls at one point.  Dole was beating Clinton in a hypothetical matchup.  Bush was way ahead of Clinton.  Dubya was way ahead of John Kerry before he won by a mere 3 percentage points.  And yet, we all still feel the need to anoint people as the President before November.

We play all 60 minutes.  We wait until every second has ticked off the clock.  We should hold our breath and our predictions until every vote is counted.
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Crying on the Campaign Trail

Posted by Bullpen on Monday, February 04, 2008 4:43:42 PM
Hillary cried again today, 1 day before Super Tuesday.  It apparently worked for her the day before New Hampshire.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/clinton_crys_in_connecticut.html

Why is it she can only muster up tears the day before elections and when the subject of discussion is her?  Somewhere, Margaret Thatcher is rolling her eyes.  Lady Liberty, despite what the editorial cartoons on theonion.com depict, does not have a tear on her face.  IT IS a sign of weakness.  Yes, there are some men in politics who cry.  But they cry because of things that are larger than themselves.  This is just sad.

And there are some that are comfortable with her being Commander-in-Chief.
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Moderation in the Pursuit of Justice

Posted by Bullpen on Friday, February 01, 2008 6:10:40 PM
I read yet another article this morning about how Conservatives are ridiculous for not supporting John McCain.  These articles usually cite the fact that McCain has an 82 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union.  Please, allow me to tell you now what is wrong with this argument;

1) McCain's 82 percent rating puts him in the ultra-conservative ranks of Richard Luger, Chuck Hagel, and Norm Coleman.
2) McCain's ACU rating for 2006?  65 percent.  I imagine it will be even lower after 2007.
3) The entire idea behind Conservatism is the defense of liberty.  McCain's ideas?  See: McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Lieberman, McCain-Feingold, McCain-Edwards, and McCain's vote against "Tax Cuts for the Rich". 

John McCain served honorably in Vietnam, but that doesn't change the fact that he has shown a problem with being truthful the last few months on the Campaign trail.  The old man has become Bill Clinton.  In fact, from this point forward I will now refer to him as John McClinton.

Another argument they have is that John McClinton is the most electable candidate.  Sure he is....Despite his best efforts to prove otherwise, he still has an R next to his name.  Wait until the media(including the New York Times) turns on him if he gets the nomination.  Wait until Barack Obama and his energetic oratory compare to that of John McClinton, who speaks as if it is a chore to him.  Wait until people decide to vote for the Democrat with a D next to their name.  What people don't realize is that in a divided nation, moderates are the most divisive group in politics.  Look at both President Bushes and President Nixon for example.  The problem with moderates is that they anger their own base, they are disliked by the other side's base for being in the other party, and there is no such thing as real moderates.  You can't get a group of moderates to agree across the board.  Their views are varied from issue to issue.

It is also worth noting that nobody has ever said "I'm mad as hell and I'm going to continue to put up with it in return for a few concessions here and there"  That's what we would be getting with John McClinton.

McClinton's predecessor, Barry Goldwater said at the 1964 Convention in response to Nelson Rockefeller's berating of Conservatives as "extremists", "Let me remind you...Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!  Let me also remind you, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."  I would rather lose with an extremist candidate than win with a moderate.  Now there is some real 'Straight Talk' for you.
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Who are the real terrorists?

Posted by Bullpen on Friday, February 01, 2008 5:41:32 PM
We received a sobering reminder of that today of who we are fighting against.  73 people were killed by a pair of homicide bombers in Iraq.  But these weren't your run-of-the-mill 72 virgins type of homicide bombers.  These were women with Downs syndrome.  They had been tricked by Al-Qaeda (also known as the scum of the earth) into blowing themselves and others up.  Sickening, cowardly, and despicable don't even begin to describe this.

Never let anyone get away with asking rhetorically of the United States, "Who are the REAL terrorists?"
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Veteran's Tax Bill

Posted by Bullpen on Friday, February 01, 2008 2:20:51 PM
Bullets scream past and our soldiers move forward.  Bombs explode and our troops fight for the ground that is being destroyed around them.  Blood flows like a river and our men-at-arms remain standing tall.  Casualties rise and yet our fighters won't back down.  These volunteer defenders of liberty stare Death in the face without the blink of an eye.  The horrors of war are indisputable.  We all owe our liberty to the men overseas and the generations of warriors before them who fought valiantly for a cause that was larger than themselves.  Their war is the cause of our peace.

That is why I find it hard to believe that when they return home after serving honorably, they are subject to the same federal income taxes that the rest of us are.  These men and women have already paid a tax heavier than any of the rest of us could ever hope to pay financially.

Our federal government say they want to help our middle class.  They say want to increase the size of the military without instituting a draft.  They say they want to help veterans after they retire from military service.  Talk is cheap.  There is a way to accomplish all of these goals and do so honorably.  It's time to give all military veterans who have been honorably discharged a complete income tax exemption for the rest of their lives. 

Our troops do not owe us or our government anything.  We, on the other hand, owe them everything.
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