Political Hypocrisy From Both Sides of the Aisle, and When did American Politicians Become Such Quitters?

I am infrequent visitor of www.huffingtonpost.com, mainly frequenting their comedy section when I happen to notice an update via http://twitter.com/HuffPostComedy/. This recent video with an exchange; between Rachel Maddow of MSNBC, who can get on my nerves at times even though I tend to agree with her, Rep Aaron Schock (R-Ill), the male equivalent of Sarah Palin although with considerably more brains, Former Rep. Harold Ford, the new out of stater trying to come to New York to run for Senate (the other being now Secretary of State Clinton), and New York Times Columnist David Brooks, for whom I have nothing witty to say; highlights, I think, the recent trends of hypocrisy from both sides of the aisle. The entire piece is long, 16 minutes, but the first 6-7 minutes or so provide a very good snapshot of what I am talking about.

Next, when did American politicians become such quitters. In a crucial time for the Democratic party, Senators Dodd, Dorgann, and Bayh have said they will retire...coupled with the untimely death of Senator Kennedy and the win of Senator Brown, Democrats look to be in a bit of a bind...and that could in turn cripple Washington because of the unwillingness of Republicans to attempt even thinking of thinking to work together.

But this trend isn't new, the rash of Governors that jumped ship midterm recently, McGreevey, Spitzer...and that lovely lady Palin, seem to suggest that politicians have gone soft...at least to me. In the good old days, sex scandals just meant that you were impeached but stayed in office, and losing a bid for VP meant that you went back to doing your normal job...NOT GIVING UP ENTIRELY! Look at now Vice President Biden, he went through a horrific personal tragedy shortly after being elected Senator and yet toughed it out to become the second most powerful man in the country. I'm not saying that politicians need to be super humans, but in times of crisis, we all inevitably look to our elected officials for guidance. If they are dropping to the wayside because they lost an election or happened to have an affair, who are we unelected people going to have to look up to in the end. Look at Governor Appalachia...I mean Sanford. He f*&ked up big time, but he's still in office. I'm not saying he is a role model, but damn, he came back and did his job at least...

I conclude this while sitting in my room in still snow covered Lancaster, PA.

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Poetry, Hackers and Smart Cars...Oh My...oh and Charles Barkley too

Once again poetry has reared its head into my academic life. I signed up for a course called Good Food expecting it to enlighten my knowledge as to why I and other people consider certain foods good or bad, and to the course and the Professor's credit it has done that. What I didn't sign up for was the creative writing course that has somehow been slipped into the class and that I am getting no arts credit for whatsoever (at F&M, Creative Writing the class counts for an Arts credit which is needed to graduate.) That last point is what I have a gripe with. I already do not like studying poetry because in the end it gets people no where because a rational person cannot expect for consensus to be reached on a single poem because poems are written to elicit a variety of emotions and reactions. Furthermore, to be asked to write poetry and free writes for essentially no credit I believe is unfair...especially considering how hard the professor grades and critiques said poems. At the end of the day I just want the credit for the work I am doing.

Now to Hackers...this report that I saw on twitter gave me pause: Hackers bring down Australian government Web sites in protest of Internet censorship legislation plan http://bit.ly/bMeVO2. I realize that this affects the Australian government, but it makes me wonder, in this day and age of technological advances, could Hackers be the one's that can come out on top? I understand that the world governments essentially engage in hacking in their gathering of intel but I feel like there is a higher purpose to that, to stay ahead of the "competition". Malicious hackers could take that same principle and probably shut down the whole world with a simple line of code. Yes this is apocalyptic...but we're going through snowmegedon here in Lancaster so I feel I'm entitled. :)

Smart Cars...basically I don't like them. I think they are too short and too tall and I feel like they will either get swept up by the wind like Dorothy's house or crumple like tissue paper when hit by a truck...let alone a Prius. I expressed this view on twitter, well really I shared someone else's view by re-tweeting it, and close to an hour later I was descended upon by a Smart lover from California. Granted, the tweet that I shared had a racial tone attached to it as it was part of the "Blacks don't do that" hashtag...and really I shared it because I found it funny. Whatever the case maybe, the person who jumped on me really just wasted her time. You can't convince me that those little bugs are safe, and I will never own one...let alone ride in one...unless it was an extremely dire situation.

Last and least...Charles Barkley. Why are you in a Taco Bell commercial? Why are you still on TV? Why am I wasting time writing about you? Enough said.

I conclude this post while sitting at work hoping the snow outside hasn't piled up too bad...I'd like to get back to my room to sleep at some point. I hope this finds you in good health.

Posted via web from Diggs' Posterous

LaHood is right, Stop Driving Potentially Defective Cars

The Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, said three words off the cuff yesterday in a congressional hearing that seem to have gotten him in trouble. He simply said "stop driving it", it being potentially defective Toyota cars.

I go downstairs in my dorm here on the campus of Franklin & Marshall College to peruse the New York Times and the headline on the Business Section is the flak that the Secretary has been getting for his comments and the publicity circus the White House is going through to "clean up his mess". There is a slight problem with this though...HE IS DEAD RIGHT!!!

What the hell is wrong with everybody, common sense says if you're not sure you're car is working, you shouldn't drive it. Everyone is thinking it, but heaven forbid a political figure says it...because somehow that's wrong.

The hoops that the Secretary and the White House are jumping through are completely unnecessary and just flat out ridiculous...all because he reached into his mind and said the first instinctive reaction to the prospect of driving a potentially defective car. To him I say, keep speaking off the cuff, maybe the rest of us can learn something from his honesty.

Posted via web from Diggs' Posterous