Keeping Colorado Dumb, The Barack And Bibi Show, Hot Ticket Items For Summer

David Brooks
Eugene Robinson
Richard Cohen

"The bad news is that the jobless rate is down only because so many people have given up hope of finding work. Perversely, the jobless who aren't actively looking for jobs are not counted as "unemployed." Perhaps there should be a new category: "mired in existential despair." - Eugene Robinson

" In the current political environment, it behooves the wise candidate to hide his qualifications. We have come to value ignorance." - Richard Cohen

keeping Colorado dumb...

Richard Cohen's article from the Washington Post talks about Colorado's Michael Bennet and how he has had to dummy down his image, here in the land of the tea party: "There was a time when a U.S. senator was supposed to be a person of some sophistication, erudition and a more than modest amount of brain power. Colorado itself in the not-too-distant past was represented by Gary Hart, celebrated for his intellect and ideas, and the equally smart Tim Wirth and Floyd Haskell. It was not considered scandalous to actually know something about how Washington works and to advocate ideas that were rooted in reality.

In contrast, we now have politicians who lack a child's knowledge of government. In Nevada, Sharron Angle has won the GOP Senate nomination espousing phasing out Social Security and repealing the income tax as well as abolishing that durable conservative target, the Education Department. Similarly, in Connecticut, Linda McMahon, a former pro wrestling tycoon, is running commercials so adamantly anti-Washington you would think she's an anarchist. " Unfortunately, Michael's Republican opponent falls into the same category as the other two women candidates mentioned, though she has had some government experience. And though she has been constantly denying for weeks that she worked as a lobbyist, she did work at lobby-like activities, and her opponents have been having a field day watching her squirm. What bothers me is the neurotic types of people who are drawn to politics to get recognition, they want to become elected for all of the wrong reasons, to reinforce their egos, vanity, and skewed world views. We need more Michael Bennets and less Jeff Sessions and John Boehners...

The conservative stance in Colorado wants to get rid of the Department of Education, or localize it, whatever that means. Then, there's that old bugaboo, the National Endowment for the Arts, which uncreative conservatives have been trying to eliminate for over 20 years, and subsidies to the Post Office, which is raising the price of stamps to 46 cents. On the liberal side of the fence, the Democratic challenger is saying how much more progressive his views are than Michael's, and we may get some Summer's entertainment, with the candidates choreographing the number "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" from the hit musical, Annie Get Your Gun to show that Colorado Democrats are also tight with the Second Amendment...



will this settlement or turn your stomach...

Today is the grand meeting of the minds, between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu, while the Queen of England looks on... The hype is that they are bonding and becoming surrogates for the relationship between Israel and the US, which is silly. I would have a hard time having a beer with Bibi, he is an arrogant, tempermental man, conservative in his world-views, and passionately patriotic over Israel. He dislikes Americans and Palestinians, but must learn to live with both. He will lie, cheat, and steal to get his way, and Israel would be better off with a more moderate leader...

But the real topic that Obama and Netanyahu will have to agree on, is what to do with Iran. Wired's Danger Room reports that: "Tehran now has two Bombs’ worth of low enriched uranium, despite what appears to be international efforts to foul up the centrifuges. The nuclear facility at Natanz is now cranking out 120 kilograms of LEU a month, up from 70 kilograms in late ‘08.". despite the CIA and Mossad's best efforts to sabotage parts and supplies that Iran buys on the black markets. Saudi Arabia wants us both to go ahead and invade Iran, both because it sees Iran as a nuclear threat to the region, and it wants to see the rising tide of Shia Islam crippled, and giving the Sunni Muslims in Iraq a break and some breathing room.

Instead of letting General Stanley McChrystal retire, we could utilize him more efficiently by sending him to either Azerbaijan, Pakistan, or the Gulf States, potentially let him be in charge of any military strike. Or, since he loves covert actions so very much, we could have him be placed in charge of the NATO troops in Somalia, with the deal that we really don't care what cynical statements his team makes in front of reporters any more, because we are sending video cameras to record them full time and turning them into next year's reality show... Or we could deputize him as an agent of the IRS and send him to Dubai, have him get the money back from the prominent Afghan officials who bought expensive houses and real estate with our tax dollars.

mmmm, tasty...

Heating up the Summer fun is the US Justice Department's lawsuit, filed against the State of Arizona for their recent immigration bill, due to go into effect on July 29. This will go all the way to the Supreme Court, where the Chief Justice is already smacking his lips, ready to treat it like bar-be-que... But the hot tickets are for Glenn Beck University. Yes, its a marketing scam, just like all of Glenn's rallies, which he uses to promote his new books, that happen to be published at the same time. If you subscribe to his X-treme package on the website, you can participate in his series of online lectures and videos this Summer. OOOhhhh, wow! While you're at it, subscribe to his magazine and buy a coffee mug or some t-shirts, and help Glenn make over $32 million this year... Does anyone really think that Glenn actually believes all of this stuff he is spouting? He is using it to lure in the faithful and gullible, a modern political version of the faith-healing, tent revival evangelicals, who went from town to town with a religious carnival, designed to empty the pocketbooks and excite the spirits of the American peasants. I did notice that many of the advertisers on Glenn's website also advertise on Rush's. What is Carbonite, anyway?