It's been a while

It's been a long time since I posted on here, and I'll bet that most of the people I used to communicate with are gone, so it's like starting over.

A lot has happened since I last posted. George W. Bush is finally out of the White House, and while that wasn't a panacea by any means, it did close what I felt was a very dark chapter in the history of the Presidency. Why did I hate him so much? Besides the lying in order to get us into the Iraq war, the refusal to speak proper english, the super-religiousness, the shortsighted policy plans, the my-way-or-the-highway mentality? Oh, I don't know. I guess I just feel that the president should be someone who has a vision for a better America, not just a better America for his friends.

Now, Barack Obama does not share many of these characteristics. He can actually speak, which is a big plus. He has been far more conciliatory to our neighbors in the world, which is also a plus. Do I think he has all the answers? Certainly not. But while I can cite specific examples of what it was about Bush politcy that I didn't like, most of Obama's detractors seem to be content to fire off invectives about socialism and why the hell hasn't he fixed the economy?

Truthfully, I don't think there is politician in America right now that can fix any of our problems. The entire system is a mess; the two-party system is not necessarily wrong, but with these particular two parties, it is CERTAINLY wrong. We need to re-think our government; after all, if this is a government By, Of, and For the People of the United States, aren't we therefore Constitutionally entitled to conduct debate on where we find ourselves? Career politicians are not what the Founding Fathers envisioned as protectors of liberty. I think Hamilton and Madison would be surprised to see so many lawyers in Congress.

The role of the military, the role of the police, the role of federal bureaucracy; these are all issues which must be addressed. Few other would assail the role of the military, but I am here to say this now: conducting operations in Afghanistan and Iraq is doing nothing to protect our freedom. If our freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution - and I don't believe that is a debateable subject - then there is nothing that anyone from Iraq or Afghanistan can do against it short of invasion. If your worry is illegal immigration, then how does our military on the other side of the globe make any difference? If anywhere they should be patrolling our shores and borders, not those of Kabul and Baghdad. Americans need to think about what the military does and can do, rather than simply erupt into applause every time they see military personnel on a television screen.

The police have time and again violated their pact to protect and serve their communities. The police are here to serve our needs, not lord it over us. There is no Constitutional provision for the establishment of police forces; the police have no special rights, let alone any right to take away your rights for their purposes. Certainly the criminal element in a society must be contained; but it is time to discuss how that can be better executed without treating the good people as common criminals as we do now.

The civil service system is in severe need of reform. After one year, a federal employee is virtually teflon coated in their job. The government does not discriminate between race and age, but nor does it discriminate on competence and unwillingness to excel. Too many committees run the bureaucracy, and too many uninspired civil servants pass the time at work every day with little incentive to excel. In the private sector, businesses would nevel tolerate such behavior, but our taxpayer money codifies it. We need civil service reform, and we also need to debate what exactly the governemnt bureaucracy should be doing anyway? Why does it need so many people to function?

And then there's taxes. The income tax was a constitutional amendment. It may be time to recognize the IRS as a failed experiment and try something else. But what? A national debate on the purpose and collection of taxes to help the federal government run would be a great way to start, but no one seems to be inclined to question this aspect of America, even though so many people complain about it. A debate on taxation goes hand in hand with a debate about the purpose of government. This would be a fine place to start the whole process.

Governing a nation of 300,000,000 people is a large task to be sure. And however we've been trying it for the last 40 years or so has not been working all that well. Smaller nations like Japan and Spain now enjoy standards of living that are higher than ours. If you're satisfied with the public transportation system in your city, go try out the Madrid metro. If you're satisfied with the cleanliness of your city, go check out Vancouver. If you're satisfied with your city's crime rate, go see Tokyo. Americans like to crow about being the greatest country on earth, but I get the feeling that many of those people have never been anywhere else.

As Robert F. Kennedy said it so simply, We can do better in this country. He may have been the last politician who could have actually done better. Ronald Reagan made us believe in ourselves, and at the time we needed that. But since then, America has slid into decay. Our younger generations have chosen the way of the lazy and entitled; just look at what has happened this year on college campuses, where football players have complained enough to get their coaches fired. Can you imagine, in 1988, a college kid complaining about working too hard on the field, and the coach getting fired as a result? The kid would have been kicked off the team and never heard from again. In soft, 2010 America, this laziness is rewarded with punitive damages.

The World War II generation had the mantra "Hard work never killed anyone!" Today's America would seem to be more inclined to say "Hard work never killed anyone, but why take chances?" I'm not saying I've done anything great for my country, but I've made little contributions. Here's a little story that sums it up: a couple of winters ago I was shoveling the snow on the sidewalk near my apartment. A woman walked by and asked if I was a city employee or something. I said no, just a resident who saw a need. She was surprised, glad, and amazed that I wasn't worried about getting in trouble for doing this. How is that for a reaction? For doing the right thing, you might have to be worried that someone will tell you to stop because you don't have a permit to do the right thing.

Try this experiment: sweep up the garbage on the street around your neighborhood and see if you get stopped by anyone. In many places you might be asked if you have a permit to sweep the sidewalks! No one else will clean up the street, but you can't either because you don't have a permit. Does that sound like something that's right for America? I don't think so, and neither should you.

Another Night For History

Hillary Clinton did something tonight that once seemed impossible: a woman has won a Presidential primary.

Think about that.

While there are still plenty of men - and women - who are not comfortable with the idea of a woman being President, there are clearly enough who are. In New Hampshire tonight we didn't see anything impossible happen - after all, Hillary has been considered a front-runner throughout the campaign - but it is something that hadn't been seen before.

I saw Hillary on saturday, as I decided to drive up from Boston to see her and then John McCain later in the day. I have to say, I was impressed by her performance, as she scrapped her stump speech and went with a pure question-and-answer session that went over tremendously well and probably represents a sea change for her strategy. The Hillary I saw was warm, humorous, friendly and appealing. She seemed comfortable in the open forum, and the audience appreciated her reactions and answers; I think she found her form and kept running with it over the rest of the pre-primary campaign, which probably explains where tonight's victory came from.

Once again I have to say I liked Obama's speech. Even in a loss, he came across well and his message was clear and very well focused. I enjoy hearing what he has to say, because he uses rhetoric we haven't heard since the Kennedy days. Bill Clinton is a great speaker, but he's his own style. Obama reminds me of King and RFK, which I find greatly compelling. A fine performance for him in defeat, thin a defeat as it was.

McCain's victory speech was not as impressive, though I think mostly because he clearly needs sleep. He wasn't smooth as Huckabee or Romney were in their losing speeches, but he got himself a nice big victory and maybe didn't need to be as smooth. He's always been about honesty and being real, and for someone as sleep deprived as he is right now, I saw what I expected.

But it is clear that the democrats are leading the way here so far, in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Now we go to Nevada, South Carolina, and Michigan, which will probably be the most important primaries those states have ever had. It's funny how in the year where all these states shoved their primaries up - and got penalized for it - this campaign will probably be close enough that their original primary dates would have left them just as important anyway.

Hillary made another important change, by the way. Notice that her victory speech was all about her on the podium; Bill and Chelsea came up for a cursory kiss and hug and then disappeared into the audience. Like Obama, she set up the stage to be about her, unlike in Iowa when she was surrounded by Bill, Chelsea, Madeline Albright, Wes Clark, and tons of staffers, which was the old-school way of holding a primary speech. Not tonight.

Finally, The Time Has Come

Finally, the time has come.

It is over; the dark ages of America are coming to an end, and I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It started to come in 2006, but it is now quite clear:

A new dawn is upon us.

The people who put us in Iraq, who bankrupted our treasury, who ruined our international reputation, who put their own beliefs over the Constitution - they are to be vanquished.

They are now powerless.

The Senate has done its part by calling sessions for a nominal time in order to prevent Bush from making his beloved recess appointments. They have rendered him impotent, and will undoubtedly continue to do so.

He is now powerless.

The party is over for the neocons. It is over for the sycophants of Dick Cheney. It is over for the CEOs of Halliburton. It is over.

It may be a little early to get excited - after all, this was only the Iowa caucuses - but the writing is on the wall.

It's not that the Democrats are sure to win; much as I think that will be the case, that's not why I'm so excited. I'm excited because clearly, the attitude of people has changed. Mitt Romney, the negative campaigner, the I'm-so-religious campaigner, was soundly beaten today. Mike Huckabee is a religious man, of course, but he's not a negative campaigner - and as such, striked me as more sincere than Romney or the current regime. McCain is not a negative campaigner either; I've been seeing his New Hampshire ads here in Boston, and they're all postitive messages.

Barack Obama gave a wonderful victory speech in Iowa tonight. Not only did the Democrats see an 89% increase in turnout over 2004, but they selected a man without regard for his race or age, something America has said it could do for years but never did. Why? Because he may very well be the best candidate for president.

It's no secret that I like John McCain very much. But Barack Obama may give me reason to think again about my vote in November. It's a long way away, and there's much to think about.

But there is no doubt in my mind that the tide is turning, and whether the democrats or republicans win the presidency in November, it will be a shift away from the neocon paranoia of Bush and his ilk - with which I include that dink Romney. And that's what I've been waiting to see for a long, long time.

The Best Game Ever?

Fiesta Bowl: Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (OT)

This may have been the greatest football game of all time, if it were for the national championship. And the only reason it wasn't for the national championship is because the BCS is a flawed system that wouldn't let Boise State face Ohio State for the championship. So what did Boise State do? They showed that they could play as well as any of the BCS teams, and beat one of the traditional powerhouses.

If you weren't watching, here's what happened. Boise State led for almost the entire game; with only a few minutes remaining, they were up 28-20. Oklahoma had no time outs, but got the ball late via a punt. They marched right down the field, and with a little more than a minute remianing scored a touchdown. Going for two, they had two tries invalidated by penalties (one to each team) before finally getting it on the third, to tie the score at 28.

On the first play after the kickoff, Boise State QB Jared Zabransky threw an interception to an Oklahoma CB who returned it all the way for a TD, giving Oklahoma the lead, 35-28, with one minute to go. Oklahoma's fans were going berzerk, with the BSU people collapsed in disbelief. So what happens? Zabransky marches his team down the field to the 25 yard line with 14 seconds to go, when on 4th down and 18 they throw a hook-and-ladder that gets executed perfectly, scoring a TD with 7 seconds remaining to send the game to OT.

Oklahoma gets the ball first in OT, and RB Adrian Petersen (who is going to be in the NFL next year, along with Zabransky) runs all 25 yards for a TD on the first play in OT. Boise state takes over and stumbles and sputters to a couple of first downs before finally scoring a TD from the 4 yard line on a TD pass from a tailback! That made it Oklahoma 35-34 with the PAT to go.

Boise State decides to roll the dice all the way and go for two; had they gone for one, of course, we would have gone to a second OT. Oklahoma calls time out to make BSU think about it, but clearly the play was called: Zabransky takes the ball and fakes a throw while giving the statue of liberty play to RB Ian Johnson, who had been up and down all day but ran virtually unopposed to the end zone for the two pointer, giving Boise State the win.

Amazing. This was awesome. It's what college football is all about. And it's why the BCS is crap, and it's time for a national playoff system in Division One. No more excuses; Boise State went 13-0, and by beating Oklahoma they proved that they could be in the national title game against Ohio State just as well as Florida could.

If you didn't see the game, watch Sports Center tomorrow morning for highlights, or see it on ESPN Classic. This was one of the greatest ever.

The Truth About Global Warming

I'm no expert in this field, but I think it's clear that a number of people who ARE experts have been quite vocal lately about global warming, that our species is making it happen, and that the results are obvious. Ice shelves breaking free of the Canadian arctic, glaciers melting on Mt. Kilimanjiro, ozone holes....wherever you go, you see stories of global warming, and the finger pointing to human industrial practices as the reason.

I'm not arguing against any of these experts; I imagine they're correct that we've been doing this. Where I argue is where they think that the Earth will become Venus-like, and kill off all life on the planet. That I don't see - although it wouldn't surprise me to see humans end up extincting themselves eventually.

Life on Earth has existed for most of the planet's history, although it's only in the last 650 million years - 14% of the planet's existence - that higher forms of life have thrived. The age of mammals has only lasted for the last 65 million years, which is less than 2% of the Earth's overall age. What does that mean?

Well, it means that humans may very well pollute themselves out of existence, or perhaps find some other stupid way to wipe themselves out, and the Earth will continue to produce life. We may be gone in another million years, and that would still be less than 2% of the time the dinosaurs dominated the planet. Like the dinosaurs and the trilobites, there will come a day when humans are but a fossilized remnant of a bygone era.

The planet has been warm before; in the Jurassic era, polar ice was unknown. During the reign of the dinosaurs, the global climate was much warmer and more humid than today. Global warming by humans will accelerate a return to such a climate, but eventually the Earth will work the pollutants out of its system and the air will be clean and the water pristine again; but we will be long gone, whether it be due to a self-inflicted or natural catastrophe.

Periodic ice ages in the Earth's history may be due to the passing of the solar system through galactic spiral arms, or there may be some long-period variability in the sun's output that we haven't figured out yet. That means that it's not a good idea to mess with the natural climate, since we don't know what the mechanisms are that would be required to fix such artificial changes. For that reason, I worry that our influence on global climate may cause irreversible damage that could result in the extinction of our species. But I don't think it would result in the overall loss of life on Earth. And the Earth will recover without us.

30 million years from now, humanity will probably not exist. That's .6% of the Earth's lifetime so far. A new intelligent life form will spring up, and they'll probably find a lot of our remnants: in addition to the bones they'll find in our cemetaries - caskets and so forth long dissolved, but bones fossilized - there will probably be remains of some of our concrete and metallic structures. They'll find traces of long-lived pollutants in soil samples. And they'll wonder what it is that caused our species to disappear, after advancing as far as it did. Perhaps they'll find a time capsule with our language preserved and linguists will be able to access the recorded history of our species, and they'll learn what not to do to themselves.

And the global warming? The Earth's climate will no doubt have corrected itself by then. A runaway greenhouse effect would take a lot more than what we can do to the planet; how Venus got that way is a mystery, but no doubt its closer proximity to the sun caused it to heat up far more than the Earth could on its own, even with the boost we're giving it. Humanity would kill itself off at a global temperature around 125F, either due to heat exhaustion or ultraviolet poisoning due to ozone depletion.

But eventually, the ozone would replenish itself, and with us gone, pollution would stop entering the atmosphere, and a new peiodic ice age would cool the planet back to reasonable temperatures - and with no humans to screw up the cycle again, the planet would be back to normal. That could all happen in less than a million years, a long time on a human scale, but very short on a geologic time scale.

So why worry about global warming? Every species we've extincted by ourselves will eventually be replaced by another one once we're gone, which shouldn't be too long from now in the context of Earth time. It's our time on the planet, and once we're gone the rest of the planet will get back to its normal business. Let's be clear: global warming will only shorten the amount of time the humans walk the planet. For THAT reason we should be more careful. But don't think that the rest of the species on Earth wouldn't be more than happy to see us go sooner rather than later.

Gerald R. Ford, 1913-2006

He may not have been the most dynamic man ever to sit in the White House; indeed, his presence in the White House was regarded by some as a distinct error in the Constitution (or, specifically, the XXV amendment) since he was never directly elected by the nation, and when he did come up for election, he lost.

But he may every well have been the right man at the right time. Upon Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974 as a result of the Watergate scandal, Ford took over with a completely different approach and outlook on the Presidency. Where Nixon was combative, Ford was amiable; where Nixon was secrecy, Ford was openness. There were no great accomplishments in his 2 1/2 years as president, but indeed the long national nightmare was over.

Ford was a golfer. He was a football player. And yet, he was parodied mercilessly by Chevy Chase and others for being clumsy. But he always seemed to take it in stride, and he ended his life as the longest-living president of all time, surpassing Ronald Reagan by a few months - but all the while in far better mental condition than Reagan, who was tragically struck with Alzheimer's disease 10 years before his death. Ford was in and out of the hospital a lot this year, but until the last couple of years you only heard of him on the golf course.

I liked Ford; despite the lack of accomplishment, he stepped into the Oval Office as the good guy the country needed. And as we saw with Jimmy Carter, just being a good guy isn't enough to keep the country moving. Ford may not have been any great dynamo, but he kept the country moving along and healing at a time he was needed most. For that we should always be grateful.

Super-bold predictions

Here are some things I see happening in the near future. Some of them are outrageous, some of them are unexpected but could happen, and some are logical predictions but aren't going to come true. They span many categories. Hold on.

1. San Diego goes to the Super Bowl. Not surprising, given that they have the best offense in the NFL. But there are other teams that on a good day can beat them.

2. Mahmoud Ahmadenijad is assassinated. By whom? I don't know. But I get this feeling that he's pissed some people off. And I don't mean the CIA; I mean someone in the Iran ruling body.

3. Sarah Palin gets the VP nomination of the Republicans in 2008. Why not? She's pretty, smart, and governor (albeit a new one) of a western state. Look her up online; she's the new governor of Alaska. I'd vote for a McCain/Palin ticket. And I'm a democrat!

4. The economy continues to suck. It's not really a prediction, it's really a statement of fact.

5. Hugo Chavez is assassinated. This time the CIA may well be to blame.

5. Muqtada al-Sadr comes to the White House. And there he lays out the plans to end the war in Iraq. And he turns out to be right.

6. Bill Clinton is brought back into the Palestine-Israel peace process. I make no prediction of its efficacy.

7. Australia wins the Ashes. But that's not much of a prediction, given how poorly England have played in the first two Tests. When the hell is Monty Panesar going to come into the attack????

8. Canada calls an election by April.

9. Mexico continues to be a mess.

10. Castro is dead by the end of January. He's not well. The problem is, who will take over once he's gone? I see a major issue fomenting in Cuba, and we have no power to do anythign about it because of our unwillingness to lift the embargo and remain beholden to Miami's exiled Cuban community. I know they have a good reason, but I think this has gone too far.