Trump Fires Pam Bondi

It was announced yesterday that Donald Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi.

In related news, confidential sources have reported that when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth heard about this, he did his best Veruca Salt impression, screaming "Daddy, I want to fire somebody too!"

In fairness to President Trump, he tried his best to say no, but quickly caved when Hegseth broke into a rendition of I Want it Now, complete with a flash mob band that somehow magically appeared out of thin air.  The report goes on to quote Trump as saying "When Little Petey breaks into song like that, I'm just powerless.  Of course I had to let him fire someone," which led to the immediate dismissal of Army Chief of Staff, General Randy George.

For Immediate Release

A potential constituent asked about my campaign stance on burritos.  For the record, I am pro burrito.  In line with this, I should also clarify my stance on sauerkraut.  I am not a personal supporter of sauerkraut, but I do support an individual's right to be pro-sauerkraut.  I believe that the government has no place in a person's kitchen.  I know that people will say I'm opening up a slippery slope... that sauerkraut is a gateway food... that it's a short road to cake addiction.  But I stand by my convictions.  The government has no place in a person's kitchen.  At some point, the government needs to understand that people are smart enough to make their own decisions... that if we tightly regulate the kitchen, then it's only a matter of time before they assign an au pair to each of us, and turn the land of the free into a nanny state.

Economics and Humanity

My ramble for the day...

It seems to me that one of the main premises of economics is figuring out how to make the pie as large as possible, thereby giving everyone the largest piece possible.  The fundamental problem with this idea is that people behave in an unpredictable manner.  Specifically, some people are selfish, taking whatever they can and screwing everyone else, and some people are exceedingly altruistic, placing the wants and needs of others first.

These opposite ends of the scale bring disastrous results on an aggregate scale, economically speaking.  Greed, when allowed to flourish unchecked, brings satisfaction to a select few, but despair and suffering to the masses.  We only need to look at the early days of the industrial revolution to illustrate my point.  Altruism, when taken to the same extreme, breeds laziness.  After all, why should someone work for less than they can make on a welfare check?

Somehow, in our unending quest to find a satisfactory balance, we've allowed both specters to flourish.

Bank and (Mis)Trust

I was listening to the radio a bit ago and heard a commercial for a bank "...blah blah blah Bank and Trust blah blah blah..."

I thought How is it that the phrase Bank and Trust still exists in the English language?  Didn't "Banks" and "Trust" part ways several decades ago??

It Didn't Seem that Special...

... at first. I woke up as usual this morning, surfed the internet for a bit, and was quickly reminded that today is the day of Barack Obama's inauguration. I even noticed that today didn't seem that out-of-the-ordinary. Feeling that nonchalant seemed a little disquieting.

I turned on the TV to see the inauguration, and things changed pretty quickly. The first thing that struck me was the sea of people who went to witness history in the making. They stood in the cold for hours... some even took their children, who will undoubtedly not remember the event. People were moved to tears. That reminded me what today's about.

There's no doubt that it's a scary time in our society. People are losing money, jobs and homes in a manner that only the oldest of us could possibly remember. I think the only way to express this properly is to digress a bit...

I had to talk to the ex today... it's her day with the kids, but I'm taking them to the dentist. I called her to let her know that I'd be late with the kids because of the appointment. She said "I know you and I aren't friends or anything, but you've got to agree that what happened today was pretty fucking cool." Yeah, I do. I'm kind of scared of what the future's got in store for us, but I'm optimistic that we chose the right person to lead us through this.

Today is a very special day.

It's Me. No, Really!

According to an article posted on Yahoo, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican congresswoman from Florida, hung up on President-elect Barack Obama... not once, but twice.

She didn't really hang up on Obama per se, after all, Obama doesn't have to make his own phone calls anymore. But in each case, someone called her and informed her that the President-elect wanted to speak to her. She thought it was a radio station trying to punk her, and hung up both times.

On the third try, a democratic congressman called her and informed her that Obama was indeed trying to get through. Oops. She informed the President-elect that she thought she was being pranked, and Obama was apparently a good sport about the whole thing. Fortunately for her, Obama seems to have a good sense of humor.

Acceptable Loss

I was reading an internet article today about Bush's presidency, where he said that flawed Iraq intelligence was his biggest regret during his time in office. It's interesting that his biggest regret is something that he can technically pin on others. Silly me, I thought that a regret was personal. That certainly says a lot about our infamous leader. But I'm digressing.

The article also says that 4200 troops have died since we invaded Iraq in 2003. I'm going to take a shit-load of flack for this, but I'm going to call this acceptable loss. Hey, when we went to war five years ago, the overwhelming majority of Americans had swallowed the Kool-Aid that Bush's administration offered. We were somehow convinced that it would be a splendid little war, with a quick victory and little loss of life. We were half right... the loss of life has been quite low indeed.

As I write this, please let me once again reiterate that I was against going in to Iraq from the beginning... though it was primarily for strategic reasons. Opening a second front in a war has never worked historically... and going into Iraq was doing exactly that. My decision was correct, but I admit that I didn't arrive at that decision in the same manner as most objectors.

Anyway, back to my point. When it comes to the use of force, I am a pragmatist. Being a pacifist is great in theory, but in the real world it is an unrealistic view. And since the use of force is a distinct possibility, it stands to reason that there must be a loss of life. At some point, that loss becomes unacceptable, and we take our ball and go home. Up to that point though, the loss of life, while tragic, is a fact of life. That's called acceptable loss. To put this in perspective, the U.S. lost well over 6,000 men on D-Day. 58,000 Americans died during the Vietnam war. I'm not trying to minimize the loss of life in Iraq, I'm simply trying to explain that the loss of life is significantly lower. In fact, I'd say it's an acceptable loss.

Pleased With the Outcome

In case you didn't know, I'm pleased that Obame was elected President. It affirms my belief that Americans have come a long way in the whole race relations thing, it gratifies me that we somehow managed to gain respect global respect in one day, and I am hopeful for what the future holds.

I spent a lot of time watching John Stewart and Stephen Colbert cover the election, and I was greatly amused by the whole show. Colbert struck me with one tongue-in-cheek, amusing, profound question... he asked a black guest "If Obama is elected president, does that mean that racism is over?" We all know that the answer is 'no,' but it was a great question.

I also asked a very close friend of mine, who happens to be black, about his voting. I knew that he'd be voting for Obama -- both because of his race and because of his political inclination -- but my friend surprised me. He said that 60% of his decision was because Obama is black. It just goes to show that I may not pay attention to race (though I am cognizant of it) but minorities still are.

My younger daughter just got home, so I'm going to cut this short and hang out with her.

How Much Does It Matter?

Like it or not, race is a factor in this presidential election. Face it, there will be white people who don't vote for Obama because he's black, and there will be minorities who do vote for him because he's black. I don't agree with either position, but there's nothing I can do to change the facts.

I am curious though, how many people will vote for McCain because he's white, and how many will vote for Obama because he's black. My hope is that one day skin color won't make any difference at all. Unfortunately, I don't think this will happen during my lifetime.

Is it Possible to Simply Disagree

"Did you take a stupid pill?" These were the first words my brother said to me when he called me last night. Immediately after that he started trying to lecture me out of supporting Obama.

"How can you support him?" I explained that I wanted to support McCain, but McCain talked me out of supporting him by starting the mudslinging instead of sticking to the issues, through his proposal of taxing health care benefits, and through his selection of Sarah Palin, who I think it severely lacking in intellectual prowess. He responded by calling me naive. Apparently he believed that he could insult me into changing my vote. Instead, I told him that I no longer agree with McCain or his policies. I also told him that calling me naive was NOT the way to get me to change my mind.

Call Me Nero

Based on my last couple of posts, you've probably noticed that I'm paying attention to what's going on in the world around me. Bush is finally on his way out, meaning that one way or another things are going to change. Okay, I really don't believe that. I think that Democrats and Republicans are cut from the same cloth... they're just different sides of the same itchy, chafing piece of burlap.

While this happens, the global economy is collapsing before our eyes. Trillions of dollars (a sum of money I really can't put my little brain around) have evaporated... literally disappeared. My own retirement fund has lost 1/3 of its value in the last year. The press is calling this the worst crisis since the Great Depression, and I can't disagree with them.

With all of this happening around me, I have occasionally seen myself start to worry about the future... wondering how I'm going to get through this... how my wife will get through this... how it will impact my kids. I witness Wall Street's nosedive and think that each additional day of declines is another year or two that I'll have to work... a sacrifice I will have to make but can't quantify, because it's in the future. It would be easy to work myself into hysteria.

But I'm not going to do that. I have enough. I have enough for today. I have a wonderful wife, awesome kids, great friends and a kick-ass life. I can plan for tomorrow... for a decade from now, but I can't account for every contingency. And the more I try, the less I can enjoy today.

Besides, the money that's evaporating never really existed anyway. It's not real currency, it's money on paper. This type of currency doesn't really exist until you cash out. Furthermore, it's time to bring things back into perspective. We, as a country, haven't really suffered since WWII. During the Great Depression and WWII, we had to band together and do without in order to survive. Since then, yeah, a few have suffered, but for the most part we've lived a cush life. The baby boomers don't know what it's like to scrimp and save. They're selfish, which is a huge reason that our biggest problems -- such as Social Security -- have been put off and put off.

Now it's time to pay the piper. And I'm ready. That's right. I acknowledge that I haven't suffered. Life's been good to me so far, but I'm smart enough to know that things can't continue this way without the shit hitting the fan. The longer we put things off, the more shit... the bigger the fan... and the bigger the splatter. I say bring it on now. Unlike the Baby Boomers, who are unable or unwilling to deal with crisis, I am ready, willing and able to tackle our problems head-on, so my kids don't have to.

So, while our economy goes up in flames, I'm not going to scream and run in fear; I'm going to say "Pass the marshmallows."

Still Watching the Train Wreck

I was hanging out at a friend's house last night, helping him do some stuff around the house. I asked him if he was going to watch the Presidential debate. "Nah," he answered, "but we can turn it if you want to watch it." I figured he hadn't planned to see it, and was pleasantly surprised when he offered to change the channel so I could watch.

"I don't think I'm going to vote," he said during the debate. His wife came out and echoed his sentiment. They both believe that nothing will change as long as we have a two-party system of Democrats and Republicans. I can't say that I really disagree with their rationale, but I can't support their decision.

My understanding is that Ron Paul realized that he's not going to win any Presidential elections, but understands he has a vocal minority, so he held a rally and basically said if you don't support either major candidate, you can still vote for none of the above, and with that introduced some of the fringe party candidates. I told my friend and his wife about this, and recommended that they vote for someone else... at least they're making their voices heard. But I'm digressing... I wanted to talk about the debate.

Okay, maybe not... there were no real surprises, except that McCain failed to whallop Obama in what is widely accepted a McCain's favorite forum, and the fact that McCain proposed the buyout program.

Anyway, I walked out of the debate still wanting to support McCain, but even more convinced that Obama is the guy. Regardless of what I think though... please vote. Even if you don't choose one of these two guys, voice your opinion.

Train Wreck

I don't want to watch, but I can't help myself. Yep, it's once again time for me to talk about politics and the economy.

Did anyone out there watch the Vice-Presidential debate? I certainly did. I wanted to see if Palin is as clueless as Tina Fey made her out to be in her SNL skits. The answer? I think Tina Fey went easy on Palin. After the debate, the political pundits -- apparently trying to appear neutral -- said that she held her own against Joe Biden. I can't help but wonder if we watched the same debate. I had three jokes that I had considered turning in to SNL for this week's inevitible skit. One was how Palin kept referring to Alaska as an energy-producing state. If you didn't know that going in to the debate, you sure knew it afterwards. The second joke was how Palin said that she may not answer the questions to the moderator or Biden's liking... 'In fact, I won't answer the question at all if it doesn't discuss Alaska's energy producing prowess.' The third joke was her frequent reference to McCain as a maverick, and how she somehow earned the right to use that term as an accurate description of her own record.

Biden impressed me. He kept his answers short... and they were answers... a stark contrast to the Tina Fey look-alike. I was specifically impressed with Biden's willingness to point his finger at the camera for emphasis. This has historically been a no-no, which is why Bill Clinton always did that annoying thumb-point thing. I also liked Biden's comment that Cheney was trying to re-write the Constitution in order to make himself a member of the Senate. Biden struck me as someone who attempted to answer questions in a forthright manner, backing his statements up with facts as he understood them. (Yes, I know that some things were twisted for partisan gain.) Palin came across as a talking head.

This is horribly disappointing. I've long been a McCain supporter. I long considered him to be a good presidential candidate. After the democratic election, McCain started a mud-slinging campaign, and that made me pause. When he chose Palin as his running-mate I remained neutral about the decision... until she spoke. Now, I just can't see myself voting for McCain. Obama and Biden have impressed me, and McCain has disappointed me.

Let's talk about that economic stimulus package for a little bit... you know, the $700 billion bailout. I'm not sure what to think about the whole thing. Part of me realizes that I'm not the expert, so I should take the word of people who actually have a little authority on the subject. They say we need this, so we need this.

But why now? We've been heading down this road for years... why is it so suddenly such an emergency that the president screamed the sky is falling, and congress acted so swiftly that the measure was passed in two weeks? And for those of you who don't remember, the last time our illustrius leader said that, we ended up invading Iraq.

And why should the fat cats get all of this money? A friend of mine -- who's a hard-core democrat -- summarized things beautifully when he said 'Look, politicians scream about handouts that help poor people pay their rent and put food on their table, but now that the super rich are demanding a handout, it's a done deal.' That's a great point. A couple of days later, I got an email that said 'Hey, instead of bailing out Wall Street with that $700 Billion, why don't you give to the American people?' Another great point. Taking the email at face value, that works out to about $250,000 per adult -- after taxes. If there are two adults in the household, that would be a cool half a mil! Imagine what we could do with that kind of money... pay off our homes... pay off our credit cards, student loans, automobiles... If the government wanted to stimulate the global economy, I can't think of a better way... but no, they gave it to Wall Street. And wouldn't you know it, the street is already saying it's not enough.

Reevaluating

I had hoped this election would be different. I somehow knew that in the end it would be more of the same by both candidates... distortions, half-truths and mud-slinging... but I hoped things would be different this time. For a while I was right.

Like most people, I despise where we've gone as a country under George W. Bush's watch. Unlike most, I saw early on, so I've been angry for longer than most Americans. I supported McCain in 2000, and when I witnessed the Republican choices for the 2008 election, I said the only way I'd vote Republican was if he was the Republican choice. I got my wish. Sort of.

When McCain became the nominee, I was no longer automatically drawn to the Democrats. After all, McCain seemed honest, honorable and above the mud-slinging that's so common in politics. That's all changed. McCain has fallen to the level of politicking that has consistently disgusted me by telling half-truths.

It seems that Obama is staying above the fray, and that's bringing me to once again re-evaluate my decision. Maybe I'll end up voting for none of the above.