Election Thoughts

Here we are, 3 days before the election, and Osama rears his head and says that neither major party candidate could not stop him if we wished another attack on us. Granted, that is probably true, since you can almost never stop a lone crazy who is willing to exchange his/her life for others (probably the only thing John Wilkes Booth got right). However, both my wife (a Kerry supporter) and I (who is not) believe this video threat will push the election towards Bush, since Kerry is perceived weak on terrorism (and rightly so, IMHO).

However, there are other pressing needs to look for in this election season. My big 3 domestic issues are:

1. Size of Government - we cannot afford to keep spending like drunken sailors on leave. The federal government has gotten too large and inefficient, ursurping state rights in the process (thanks to the 17th amendment). This policy paper by the Cato Institute has a good paper on how to reduce the size of government and working on efficiency before we run into an even more perilous issue with the Baby Boomers and their Social Security payments.
2. Supreme Court Justices - We have 3 justices that are 74 and over. It is likely that at least 2 will need to be replaced in the next 4 years. We need to make sure that we will have justices (and judges in general) that will interpret the laws, not attempt to rewrite, from the bench.
3. Tax Reform - I am a big proponent of the Fair Tax initiative, which replaces the incredulous tax codes with a simple sales tax on new items (not food, medicine, or 2nd hand stuff like autos, houses, etc). Cuts out all the loopholes, eliminates the imbedded taxes in all products, and should actually increase revenue. Read it here at fairtax.org.

I know that many people would put health care there as well, but technically it is not a federal issue. The best way to resolve this would be a bit of tort reform, personal responsibility for your own health, restrictions on drug advertising, and maybe then some insurance or medical reform. We have the best health care system in the world, but when we have to have test after test after test because the doctor wants to be sure that they will not be sued because of a misdiagnosis, it is getting out of control. It doesn't help that our county's average person is about 25 lbs heavier than his counterpart a generation ago. Finally, as the baby boomers age, they will get sicker, incurring more health care expenses. If we can reduce the doctor's cost and remind people that doctor's practice medicine (and are not God), then there is still hope for the health care system.

Then again, people don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. They want their cake, eat it, and then blame someone else for giving them the cake if they gain weight. The "ME" generation (aka the Baby Boomers) have pushed us down the wrong direction with this. Generations X and Y are moving us back to the more traditional values and responsibility...for our country's sake, hopefully they will be our leaders sooner than later.


Finally, keep the celebrities out of the politicking. I am tired of getting recorded calls from these "celebraties" (if I didn't look it up, I wouldn't have known who Kirsten Dunst was), thinking their endorsements of candidates would make a difference in my thoughts of John Kerry. I don't care what her political views are...most of these are not political thinkers (especially her) and keep to her acting (and actually make a name for herself).

Bush Blamed for the Florida Hurricanes

I wouldn't believe it unless I read it myself.

I guess he will be blamed for tonight's eclipse next.

Maybe George Bush caused the cycle of sunspots as well.

He does deserve blame for certain things (see the ever expanding size of government), but hurricanes?

Fellowship 9/11

FELLOWSHIP 9/11 - A must see short film. If you like satire, Tolkein, and sarcasm...go see it.

Politics and the Flu Vaccine

There seems to be an effort to tie the lack of a flu vaccine for this winter to a Bush administration oversight. My only question is....Where in the Constitution does it expressly declare that this is a federal responsibility, or even regulated? In theory, it would be a state rights issue (at best), but in practice, it should be a doctor/patient perogative.

People around here (and I assume around the country) have gone nuts because of the shortage. I was talking to an elderly lady yesterday at bridge. She had asked Nicole and myself if we had gotten a flu shot. When we mentioned that we hadn't (nor had no plans to), she mentioned that the 1918 Flu Epidemic killed 70 million people. I do think that medical technology has changed a bit in the last 85 years.

Don't Panic and it is not a political issue.