I don't much like David Brooks

It's good to hear someone point out that David Brooks is a conservative and a backer of John McCain. He and Bill Kristol are trotted out all over the place and put forward as unbiased commentators without even a mention of the ideological leanings. I tried to call in to Talk of the Nation when Mr. Kristal was on there commenting about the presidential race. I wanted to point out that he is an informal adviser to the McCain campaign (which should be disclosed). The producer said she had no way to check that fact. "Thanks for calling, Good Bye."

In this clip Tom Brokaw continues to suck on those marbels in his mouth and reads from Brooks' op-ed in the NYTimes about Obama's Berlin speech. It is too bad that nobody in the MSM will point these things out. Here Brokaw pulls him out and Obama has to do it for himself. Of course he does it well.

Obama on The Anniversary of Dr. King's Assassination

I wish I were half as eloquent as Barack Obama. I'm not so I'll let him express my feelings on the anniversary of the killing of Martin Luther King at the age of 39 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Remember This Guy?

Vice President Al Gore
at TED 2006

This video is post production of An Inconvenient Truth. Pre release and Academy Awards. And pre Nobel Prize. This is the man that could have been our 43rd President. Someone that would have used the office to tackle the problem of global climate change, that would have begun transitioning us away from our "addiction to oil," (Bush, G.W. State of the Union 2007) that could have achieved the same end in Afghanistan (not to mention sustained it) and would never have gotten us into Iraq.

Let us not tarry long in alternative lines of history. Eight years have passed and we have another election quickly approaching.

An E-mail to One of Kentucky's SUPER Delegates

I was curious after hearing an NPR report about Super Delegates who these people were in my part of the country, so I looked up the 7 or 8 of them from Kentucky. I wondered how a super delegate might respond to a letter of support as compared to the Legislators I have been gracing with my musings (You can tell a lot about a member of congress by how they respond).

Below, you will find a letter I sent to one of Kentucky's . Below that, you can read her response. After that is my response to hers. Later, I'll publish the bill her firm sends me for the time I've taken from her day.

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Hello Jennifer Moore:

My name is Ben Randell. I'm a Middle School Science teacher at a private Catholic school in Louisville, KY. Knowing that you are a Super Delegate and chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party, I am writing you as a strong supporter of Barack Obama in hopes you will lend him your support.

Let me preface what I have to say about Senator Obama with the fact that this is really the first election in which I have taken a keen interest. In 1996 I was 20 and supported Clinton because come-on Bob Dole? In 2000, I wanted Gore to win because I really didn't like Bush. In 2004 after seeing Gore on Saturday Night Live playing the brother of Willy Wonka, I wished he had ran. I then supported Kerry because I wanted the US out of Iraq and I was pained by the idea of 4 more years with Bush.

I was living in Kansas City and volunteered a few times making calls for the Kerry campaign. I also attended a Kerry/Edwards rally at Union Station in Kansas City. Most of the people I spoke with either supported Bush because they couldn't support Kerry or supported Kerry because they couldn't stand Bush. Neither candidate seemed to have true support from the public at large. It reminded me of a Simpson's episode where the aliens Kang and Kodos take Clinton and Dole hostage, don disguises and take their place in the election. Kang as Bob Dole is asked why people should vote for him over Clinton. He replies, "It makes no difference which one of us you vote for. Either way, your planet is doomed. DOOMED!"

Later at a joint appearance of the candidates, Homer comes in to save the day and removes the disguises and says, "America, take a good look at your beloved candidates. They're nothing but hideous space reptiles." Kang replies to the audience, "It's true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us."

You're wondering where I'm going with this. Let me get there.

I will be 32 when I vote in May for the Democratic candidate. This will be my fourth time I've had a chance to vote for President of the United States. If Barack Obama is the candidate with the "D" by his name, it will be the first time I am not reminded of that Simpsons episode. Hillary is obviously garnering lots of support among Democrats, but as an Oklahoma transplant with a large Republican family and a member of the NRA I know that Hillary will have a huge polarizing effect in the general election. We've also seen in past weeks that Bill would be a detriment as the nation's first First Man.

It is my strong conviction that Barack Obama should be our candidate in November. I think he can bring people from across many race, gender, age, sexuality and socio-economic spectra together to support positive changes for the nation. I also believe that he will help shake the apathy that is plaguing young voters and keeping them out of the political system.

I hope that when the time comes for you to commit your delegate vote to either Hillary or Barack, you will consider my thoughts as well as many other like minded young Democrats'.

Sincerely,
--
Ben Randell
President and Founder
Science Vandal Enterprises

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Ben,

Thank you for your email. I appreciate your support of Senator Obama. As Chair of the Party, I am staying neutral at this point given the fact our primary is not until May. I hope you will become active in the Ky Democratic Party. You can learn more about KDP at www.kydemocrat.com

Jennifer A. Moore

----------------------------------------------------------------

Jennifer:

Thank you for the reply. It answered a number of unasked questions I had of the nature of the Super Delegates. I appreciate your neutrality before the Kentucky primary. A lot of the concerns expressed on Talk of the Nation about the Super Delegate system revolved around the establishment being able to vote without concern for what a majority of the people wanted.

I will look at the KDP website.

Take Care and have a Happy Groundhog Day!!!

Ben

---------------------------------

note: I did not include the Groundhog Day wish in the actual e-mail. I wanted to though. Oh how I wanted to.

The State of the Union-1/28/2008

Let me go on record in saying: "I don't like PRESIDENT Bush." I can't say that with conviction about George W. Bush the man since I don't know him (he hasn't returned a call one). I got a glimpse of him tonight as cnn.com continued to follow the procession he left the chambers. He cracked a joke here, made a comment about having dinner with a "fella" night before last and so wanted to talk about baseball at length with the man with the white MLB hat of which the President signed the bill (must have been free of earmarks). Now that's a guy I'd have a beer with, which seems to be the reason he made it into the White House in the first place. That and the support from low places (see below).

Then there is the PRESIDENT'S stance on the environment and Global Warming. Sorry those are my words. His stance on ENERGY: Increasing Our Energy Security And Confronting Climate Change. I couldn't believe it. Based on the words in his speech (how much of that do you believe), he is taking the problem seriously. Which is funny because during his time in office, he has pulled away from multinational talks on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. He has supported/perpetrated Big Coal and Big Oil's approach to the problem: flatly deny Global Warming, call the science into question and posit a pie in the sky solution like the "Hydrogen Economy." He has changed the moniker to the less threatening "Climate Change." And he has framed "Energy Independence" as an environmental issue. Now he says maybe we aught to reduce green house gas emissions or something (that's real leadership with conviction).

My opinion (and that's all we really have isn't it?) is President Bush has set our country and the world back a decade (or more) on this issue, has showed the world how greedy and wasteful we can be and has made teaching mainstream science an exercise in partisan politics. It's to bad the guy I heard tonight, at the very beginning of a transformation wasn't the guy that was sworn in 7 years ago. Then maybe we would be a little closer to where we should be. There again this guy and his party would not have garnered the financial support of the industries most threatened by serious talk of protecting the environment:

Energy/Natural Resources:
Long-Term Contribution Trends

-source : Center for Responsive Politics

(Look at all the red in 2000. They really didn't want Al Gore in the White House.)

It makes a person wonder if with out the threat of another election to win on the horizon, with past donors wishes granted and an extractive agenda put in place, President Bush is now looking at what is good for the Nation and the World...... huh..........wha..........never mind........What was I thinking. He's just trying to put a little spit and polish on the ol' legacy.

Nudge me when he's done.