"No Time To Blog" Open Thread Super Bowl XLI Thread

Under the gun for time, again. I have a very long day ahead of me, today. So, this your chance to pick the topic. I hope to be back in force later this evening.

Thanks for reading.

Addendum: Since football is what most people have on their minds right now, I have moved this thread up and made it the official PYY Super Bowl Thread. It will also stay on top until after the kickoff. Be sure to check below for new posts.

GO COLTS!!!

Hillary Plays Blame Game

Here's the deal. I can't let this slide, because in my view it's fair and valid criticism.

One thing I don't particularly care for is, triangulation. And Sen Hillary Clinton is becoming one of the better triangulation artists, we have seen in a long while. Take a look at this article.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday she would not have attacked Iraq if she were president in 2002 and would end the war if elected, as she tried to blunt rivals like John Edwards who are stoking anti-war passions in the Democratic Party.

Now contrast it with this video (which can no longer be embedded). (HT: AC)

Nothing is going to get solved if we keep beating a dead horse, here. Not one damned thing is going to be resolved if we keep hammering away at what we have already been hammering away at for the last five years.

We have some deep problems in this world and they cannot be solved by staying in the "decision to go to war" debate. We need to be in solution mode, not blame-game mode. It is my firm contention that arguing about how to deal with the situation (in the here and now), is certainly fair game. Arguing about whose solution is best or worst, is a valid debate. But, we cannot get stuck on something just to win an election, not if we are sincere in wanting to solve these problems.

In 2008, there sorely needs to be a resurrection of the concept that elections need to be a competition of ideas, on how to solve the serious problems (that are currently getting over-looked because of mudslinging partisanship). They should not be used on a referendum of Bush and why we went to war, especially because, he's not a candidate and we are already at war.

Shallow, feel-good rhetoric isn't what is needed, either. Telling people what you feel they want to hear just to garner their support is not going to come up with sound and viable solutions, in some magical way. Debating cause and effect, gets us nowhere. Smoothing it over, doesn't either. It might win an election, but after the swearing-in, the people will want to see results. We cannot see results from those that campaign on what they should or shouldn't have done, in the past.

Want solutions? Develop some ideas, discuss them, and then promote them. Conflict resolution is about finding common ground and working from there. It's not about picking fights endlessly, until someone is destroyed. Doing that only widens the gap and makes it more difficult to reconcile.

Chirac Loses Mind

Now he's really gone and done it. Whatever contact with reality that French President Jacques Chirac ever had, has just been cast out the window. Read this.

PARIS, Jan. 31 — President Jacques Chirac has demanded that the United States sign both the Kyoto climate protocol and a future agreement that will take effect when the Kyoto accord runs out in 2012.

He said that he welcomed last week’s State of the Union address in which President Bush described climate change as a “serious challenge” and acknowledged that a growing number of American politicians now favor emissions cuts.

But he warned that if the United States did not sign the agreements, a carbon tax across Europe on imports from nations that have not signed the Kyoto treaty could be imposed to try to force compliance. The European Union is the largest export market for American goods.

How about we charge Chirac a silly tax?

One has to ask if his threats apply to Canada, as well? Read this article.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper once called the Kyoto accord a "socialist scheme" designed to suck money out of rich countries, according to a letter leaked Tuesday by the Liberals.

I couldn't have said it better, myself.

It absolutely amazes me that the world is falling for this madness, (hook, line, and sinker) while the threat of radiation filling the planet's air, exists. Put that with the utterly absurd notion that the U.S. is the only one that messes up the air, and you have the makings of some serious misunderstanding here.

Does anyone think China will sign Kyoto? If you do, I still have that ocean-front beach house in Salina Kansas, on the market.

Russia Warns North Korea

From the AFP comes this article.

North Korea's nuclear weapons capability threatens Russian interests, Moscow's chief negotiator at international talks with Pyongyang said Wednesday, warning the country against carrying out another military test.

"Our interests are under threat," Alexander Losyukov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency, also cautioning North Korea against a repeat of last October's atomic bomb test.

"I think a very negative reaction would follow another test and that tougher measures would probably be taken," he said.

I guess it's Russia's turn to issue the monthly strongly-worded statement. Next month, it will be China's turn.

Marketing Techniques By Dumbasses

You have all heard about, by now. If you have been asleep all day or incredibly overworked and overstressed, here it is.

BOSTON (AP) -- Nine blinking electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a marketing campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. At least one of the devices depicts a character giving the finger.

College-educated marketing executives have shown to be fools. Today, someone within the Cartoon Network's "so-called" intelligentsia, someone with an office, desk, and a pen, signed their name, to put their specific approval, on the specific request, to perform this idiotic stunt. Somebody, somewhere, said yes.

Every last one of them should lose their jobs and face federal charges, once it can be determined the proper charge, to charge them with. There are enough people in the marketing profession that are hungry for jobs and deserve the chance to prove that they have more sense than this pack of morons. What do we need this bunch for? Anyway, that's not the half of it. I expect that some bean counters aren't going to be happy over at Turner Broadcasting. I am sure they will be getting a bill for the full and total cost of this response.

Right now, an old Judas Priest song named,"Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" is playing loudly in the sound studio and concert hall, of my mind.

Breaking: British Kidnapping And Beheading Plot Foiled

Here is some disturbing, breaking news coming from Sky News out of Britain.

The eight people arrested by terror police in Birmingham were allegedly planning an Iraq-style kidnapping and beheading in the UK.

Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt says they intended to post a video of the hostage being tortured and killed on the internet.

Their target was a British Muslim soldier in his twenties who is now under police protection.

The soldier, who has not been named, has served with UK forces in Afghanistan.

So, here we see a Muslim soldier that served his country was the target. I guess, it is the view of these plotters that he has defiled his faith, by serving the nation that he lives in. So now, he is worthy of death.

It raises the question, will this eventually happen in the U.S.? Or, has it already happened and we just weren't informed of it? Whatever the case, it shows just how dangerous this radical teaching that is currently hiding under the guises of freedom of religion and speech, really is.

More Thoughts On Global Warming

At the time of this writing, it's a whopping 5 degrees Fahrenheit outside my doors. That makes it quite tough to think about global warming, much less discuss it. But alas, the majority of the science community are still obsessed with it. The UN is being pressured to have a summit on it.

The U.N. environment agency pressured Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday to call an emergency climate summit amid dire reports about the risks from global warming.

That's great. People are dying in Darfur in the here and now, and the bureaucracy at the world body is more concerned with potential events that may or may not occur, hundreds of years from now. Iran is threatening to get a bomb and wipe out Israel, in the near future. And they are obsessed with the events that may occur hundreds of years from now. Yay Rah!! Go team go.

But that's not all. Congress is obsessed with it too.

Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) are among the speakers addressing global warming, taking up an open invitation from Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment Committee.

Again, we see the most pressing problems that we face in the here and now, pushed aside for something that may or may not occur in hundreds of years. As the world and country go down the tubes, we see the narrow focus of our so-called leaders.

But thankfully there is one scientist that is not afraid to say, "the emperor has no clothes".

Dr. Fred Singer presents a strong argument on global warming. His claim is that it is a natural event, not man made, and certainly not tied to CO2 levels. Read his work here. It's lengthy, but has some very relevant information that helps put this phenomenon, into better perspective. But realize this, you may not accept what he says, if you are easily drawn into the hysteria that this topic has been whipped into. But if you seriously want all views to formulate a sound opinion on the topic, I recommend reading it.

The Most Ridiculous Statement Of The Day

That award has to go to the senior senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy. His sarcastic question found in this article, has to win hands down:

"Why can't we do just one thing for minimum wage workers, no strings attached, no giveaways for the powerful?"

The subject here is tax cuts.Sen.Kennedy doesn't like them. Let's look at the senator's flawed thinking a little closer, shall we?

1. Tax cuts are not give-aways.They are GIVEN BACK, not given away. Money is earned by the individual person, business, or corporation; and then, they surrender a portion of that to the federal government, as tax. That money is not earned by the government, but collected. When there is a tax cut, it means that the government is going to collect less money.

2. Small businesses are not all powerful entities, corporations are. Small businesses account for most minimum wage workers. Small businesses, many times, work on lower margins. By forcing them to pay more, it puts them into a predicament and will likely force them to layoff. But that could be avoided, if the government (which, by definition, is powerful) would just let the business owners keep more of their own money.Most of that will go to the workers, not the business owner.

3. One has to question the real intention here. Do they want to have a minimum wage hike, for the sincere purpose of helping workers earn more money? Or do they just want to punish the bourgeoisie? Having a minimum wage increase, accompanied by a tax cut to help offset the cost to the people that will have to pay, is only fair. Well that is, it's fair to everyone except greedy politicians that take your money by force, before you ever see it.

The bottom line here is simple. Ted Kennedy has been in Washington long enough that he has become the symbol of the career politician. He is a politician who thinks that people should bow to government, not the other way around. Anyone that would be so presumptuous to make a tax cut out to be a giveaway, is someone that has been in Washington way too long.

Just shut down every small business for a week or two and we'd soon see how much revenue is lost, all across the board. Lost wages mean no withholdings. No wages mean no purchases, which means no sales tax collected. Inflation resumes. The spiral is endless.

It's all simple economics, nothing too complicated. But apparently, either Mr. Kennedy has forgotten much over his years of hard drinking, or he thinks we are all stupid enough to believe his rhetoric. Maybe, it's a little of both.

So again, congratulations to Sen. Edward Kennedy, the distinguished gentleman from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This one is well-deserved. In fact, Massachusetts is blessed to have two senators that deserve recognition for saying ridiculous things.

Europe Digs In

From the IHT comes this article.

WASHINGTON: European governments are resisting Bush administration demands that they curtail support for exports to Iran and that they block transactions and freeze assets of some Iranian companies, officials on both sides say. The resistance threatens to open a new rift between Europe and the United States over Iran.

This should come as no surprise to Americans, for a couple of reasons.

1. Europe is highly dependent on Iranian oil. Whether or not a given country is directly purchasing oil from them, is irrelevant. If Europe takes such bold measures, their economy can and will suffer when Iran turns off the European oil spigot, which they most certainly will do. Supply shortages tend to jack up prices even higher, when demand stays the same.

2. Europe wants to drive the train and avoid creating any perception that the U.S. is driving anything. This is nothing new.

Administration officials say that a new American drive to reduce exports to Iran and cut off its financial transactions is designed to further isolate Iran commercially amid the first signs that global pressure has hurt Iran's oil production and its economy. There are also reports of rising political unrest in Iran.

Beyond all the usual analyses and opinions that will likely be advanced, this part is worthy of further examination. Most middle east experts have stated that Iran's economy is in shambles right now, which has resulted in political unrest

As a result of this, I think Europe is taking a calculated risk here. They are placed in a pretty tough predicament and seem to be taking the path of least resistance, although it stands to yield the least results. In short, Europe is playing for the short-term. And when you consider what they have to lose, it's easy to see why.

Europe is sitting high with its Euro poised and ready to become the premier currency, while surpassing the dollar. The beating out the U.S. part makes it even sweeter, because since WWII, Europe has felt like an overlooked step-child, craving respect and attention. What they do not want at this stage of the game is, watching it fall down. It is their perception that if Iran is crossed and oil supplies become tight, their economies could suffer greatly. In short, it's fear.

But the question that Europe needs to consider is, what are the risks of doing nothing?

The obvious risk is Iranian development of a nuclear weapon and its use. But that's been hashed out and re-hashed, without much of a realization that this is not in Europeans' best interests. It's seems that it is more important that they stay on top of the U.S., because we are the "pariah of the world". And we cannot have that, can we?

But the more obscure risk lies in keeping the current Iranian government empowered, by doing nothing at all.

Here's the thing, Iran is in trouble right now, economically and politically. There is a whole generation that does not remember the Shah, and the revolution. The same sense of restlessness exists, as did in the time of the overthrow of the Shah, except for one thing. Now, the oppressive establishment is the mullahocracy and their unstable hand-picked President. Now, they are the target of Iranian unrest. And it's to the point that it's not a matter of if anymore, but when, the mullahs are overthrown and replaced by a more western friendly regime.

Once this happens, Europe will be in the same position that the U.S. was in, almost 30 years ago, when the Iranians parted ways with America. The question then becomes, will Iran's new government look back and see how the Europeans favored the laissez-faire approach to dealing with an oppressive and violence-supporting regime? If so, will they seek retribution by cutting off their oil, then? Iranians were livid that America supported a corrupt regime, it only stands to reason that Europe could very well pay a hefty price, in the future.

Of course this is just my speculation. They could have a bomb built, well before all this takes place. And they very well might have used it before this scenario would have a chance, to play out. In which case, this whole idea would be rendered a moot point and Europe would have made the smartest move and lived for the moment. But, I would contend that it's hard to enjoy being right, when there is radiation permeating the air.

Who Do You Respect?

I'd like to do an exercise here, for no other reason than curiosity. It's pretty simple. Here is how it goes.

If you are a Democrat or you vote that way more often than not, name a Republican (or two) that you respect. Likewise, if you are Republican or vote that way more often that not, name a Democrat that you respect. Please tell us why. They can be active or retired, dead or alive.

Since this is my bright idea, I'll go first. Since I am neither Democrat nor Republican, I will name one from each party. Coincidentally, both are senators from my current state.

Democrat

Evan Bayh - I think he is, overall, a pretty moderate politician and a pretty decent senator. As governor, he left Indiana in pretty good shape, financially. Based on that fact alone, I think he'd make a decent President. He does not toe party lines in all things. I worked for the state when he was governor, he wasn't bad to work for either. Things got done and he even vetoed a budget that he said cost too much. The GOP Assembly overrode it.

Republican

Richard Lugar - For a politician, he's pretty squeaky clean. I cannot think of one scandal his name has even popped up in. He is moderate and does not toe party lines. I didn't live in Indy, when he was mayor. But from what I have been told, he began a serious clean-up of the city and vastly improved its image. When he began serving as mayor, Indianapolis was called "Naptown". It was a sleepy railroad town that had an old, decaying infrastructure. But, by the time he left office and turned the reins over to his successor, this town was in full revival mode, and "Naptown" was replaced by "Indy".

I thought of this because, I have noticed many Dems that once said they respected John McCain are now turning against him. The same holds true of Republicans. I am quite sure that if Bayh had run and won the nomination for the Dems, Republicans that used to say they respected him would have turned against him too. Elections are a funny thing, you know.

Okay, now it's your turn.