Broken News

Hussein in the brain

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:06:03 GMT

If only for its title, Cypress Hill’s rap classic “Insane in the Brain” came to mind after a recent dust-up among Star-Banner readers over a letter about Sen. Barack Obama.
     In the letter the writer references Obama’s middle name, Hussein, and questions the sincerity of Obama’s departure from Islam for Christianity. The letter generated plenty of response from people who jumped all over the writer for making an issue out of a non-issue (Obama’s middle name of all things) and religious bigotry.
     Interestingly, while the letter was written by a self-identified Democrat, some on the right wing also think Obama’s middle name matters because it implies Obama is a closet Muslim bent on handing us over to Osama (remember, it rhymes with Obama) bin Laden. This mind-set has even infected members of Congress. And some on the right are indignant that Sen. John McCain would downplay the name game, and even denounce people for making the reference. Now, the right-wingers ask “What’s so bad about using his middle name?” and whine about themselves being victims, of political correctness.
      The right wing seems to believe that chanting “Barack Hussein Obama” like Gregorian monks would lead people to connect the Illinois senator to the other Hussein, Saddam, and scare people on the fence into voting for McCain. They better watch the connection they want to make.
       After the latest Pentagon report, showing yet again (the third time at least that a major government investigation has resulted in this finding) that Saddam had no ties to al-Qaida or Osama, their constant refrain of “Hussein, Hussein, Hussein,” might make people think of Saddam, but not how they want.
     Those who aren’t inflicted with “Hussein in the brain” might remember that Saddam, though an evil tyrant to the Iraqis, not only had no connection to al-Qaida, but also had no WMD, including nukes, no way to attack America and thus, posed no threat to the U.S. And the more they think of Hussein, they’ll recall how the noecon-men who conned us into invading that hellhole without a just cause, and how closely aligned McCain is with the neocons on Iraq, and they might start asking questions, such as the one posed by this intriguing column.
     If you want to attack Obama's ideas, plans, policies, votes and so on, fine. But if the Hussein-in-the-brain people, by sticking to something as asinine as his name, are determined to deliver America to Democrats who want even bigger, more intrusive, more costly government, well, these tactics will surely help get us there.

Supplemental reading

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:21:32 GMT

Today, I thought I'd include a few useful links I've read recently to help understand why it's important that none of the current front-runners from either party actually get elected next November. As this election goes along, we'll soon learn that, with a very few exceptions, the late George Wallace was right: there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.

One is this article by Peter Gemma of Middle American News, in an interview with Paul Gottfried, one of the brightest lights of what still passes for conservative thought and scholarship --- and not the Fox News-Rudy-National Review-Weekly Standard version. This is a primer on the distinction of conservatives and the neocons. While I'd recommend Gottfried's book in a heartbeat, here is more in the same vein by Justin Raimondo of antiwar.com. Remember, you can't tell the players without a scorecard.

Speaking of which, here is MSNBC's Tucker Carlson's recent take on trolling Vegas with Texas Congressman Ron Paul. Carlson performs a valuable service by helping explain why we need more Ron Pauls in Congress and fewer of everyone else.

Finally, I found this Paul Craig Roberts column fairly amusing. The police are increasingly out of control in this country, which I can't understand because we've got more people behind bars in America than any country on earth, and cannot afford the ones we already imprison, as California bears witness to.

Enjoy

Smoke 'em if you got 'em

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:06:00 GMT

The decision by the city of Ocala and, more recently, Marion County, to ban the hiring of smokers illustrates that the war on smoking continues to be vigorously waged. Nothing like making a group of people feeling like second-class citizens for doing something legal.
   Nonetheless, we were treated to more salvos in this fight the other day, this time from the American Lung Association.
   The ALA, in handing down its annual tobacco report card, officially known as the State of Tobacco Control report, gives Florida an "F" on its cigarette tax rate. Florida taxes smokers 34 cents a pack, an amount that was enacted in 1990.
   To get an idea of how the ALA feels about this, they handed out only two A's, one to New Jersey ($2.58 a pack) and one to Rhode Island ($2.46 a pack). It seems to get above a B, states have to top $2 a pack. Here's the whole chart.
   The national average is $1.04 a pack. The ALA told the Associated Press that Florida should raise its cigarette tax by $1 a pack, and they have found someone in the Legislature to carry the load, Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek.
Waldman's bill (HB 309) would raise the tax a dollar a pack. But the ALA's own report, "Trends in Tobacco Use," undermines the point of this.
For one thing, the report notes that consumption of cigarettes per person in the U.S. was 4,345 in 1963, and has steadily dropped since then to the 1,654 observed in 2006. The 2006 level was the lowest per-person amount in 70 years.
The percentage of the population that smokes fell 40 percent between 1965 and 1990, but has remained relatively flat ever since. Regarding raw numbers, the anti-smoking shift doesn't appear to be that great.In 1965, 50 million people smoked, while today, 45 million do. But today, just 21 percent of the adult population smokes today, about half the rate of 1965. Or in other words, the number of nonsmokers doubled.
It can be argued that smoking reached its peak in 1965 because the U.S. Surgeon General began smacking his warning about the health effects of smoking on cigarette packs in 1964.
   Since then we've seen a relentless, almost religious, public relations campaign to denounce smoking and the tobacco industry, including Florida's landmark multibillion-dollar settlement with the tobacco companies, coupled with things like the growth of smoking alternatives (the nicotine patch) and programs to help people quit. What's interesting in the ALA report is the effect of taxes.
Since 2002 the number of people who smoke has dropped from 22.5 million to 21 million. Yet in that time, 43 states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, have increased cigarette taxes, with several doing so more than once. The report shows that more people quit smoking in the first five years after the initial Surgeon General's warning than have in the last five years when taxes --- as opposed to education --- were thought to be more effective.
Only in Bizarro World does increasing taxes as a way to get people to quit really make sense. Smokers die about 14 years sooner than nonsmokers, according to the ALA, so the government loses either way. It either has to hope to increase the number of smokers to keep the revenue stream going and growing, or if successful, and the number of smokers drops, we'll have to pay more for health care as these people age. Education, as with most things, is always better than government coercion, financial or otherwise.

For those scoring at home . . .

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:40:09 GMT

Two of our local political worthies have recently gone public with their presidential endorsements, at least on the Republican side.
State Rep. Kurt Kelly of Ocala and County Commissioner Stan McClain announced Tuesday that they are supporting former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
In a prepared statement Kelly called Huckabee "a man of the highest professional and personal character, a wise and visionary leader with an impeccable work ethic and is a genuine kind and approachable man that will be a president for all Americans. McClain said he was backing the Man from Hope --- where have I heard that before? --- because he has "put forth a bold conservative agenda that includes a fair tax plan, a sensible immigration policy and a respect for the sanctity of human life." McClain added in his statement, "Gov. Huckabee is a man of the people who understands that the highest office in our country is one that must be occupied by someone who is willing to be a true servant to the people that put him there.
So, on the endorsement front we have McClain and Kelly for Huckabee; state Rep. Larry Cretul of Ocala is a Friend of Fred --- that is, Cretul is a co-chairman of former Sen. Fred Thompson's campaign in Florida; and former state Rep. Dennis Baxley is a co-chairman of the Florida Steering Committee for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Now the upshot of this is what it says about the state of the Republican Party. Baxley, Kelly and McClain would normally be three peas in the hardcore socially conservative, "less government, less taxes" pod, while Cretul wouldn't be that far off. Yet they've all latched on to someone different.
Needless to say, Rudy Giuliani better not hold his breath.

By the way, I stumbled across an assessment of why Florida is so important, and why the Legislature was right to move up our primary date, from one of the respected pros in Washington who normally retains his senses on this stuff.
In the July 2, 2007, issue of The American Conservative magazine, the publication for conservatives who want to exercise their brains and not just follow some party hack, Chuck Todd, NBC News’ political director, analogized Florida as a microcosm of America: "The Southeast of the state mirrors the Northeast of the country; the Southwest of the state has a solid Midwestern feel; the Central part of the state is akin to the exurbs and Southwestern growth parts of the country; of course the Panhandle is the Deep South; and Key West is like San Francisco."

Oops, we let OSU do it again

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:29:19 GMT

In 1994, I spent one of the most enjoyable weekends of my life with an old Army buddy, Dean Thornberry. Thornberry lived in Ohio, and he invited me to attend the Ohio State-Michigan game with him that year. Thornberry was an OSU grad, and spending a mostly sober weekend partying in a college town like Columbus with a seat to one of college football's most storied rivalries was unbeatable. It was even better that the Buckeyes won, ending a six-year winless drought against the Wolverines.
     I lost contact with Dean not long afterward, but he was on my mind this morning, since his alma mater had been pummeled yet again in a NCAA title game. It's bad enough to get crushed the way Ohio State did last January by UF. It's worse — not to mention unprecedented — to be drilled by the same school in a different sport in the same year, as the Gators did to OSU in basketball. Yet it's unimaginable to come back with another title shot and get drubbed the way OSU did by LSU on Monday night.
     Writing this, I have mixed emotions. I feel sympathy for Thornberry and other Buckeye fans for the year they've had. But as a Maryland grad and fan whose football team has had just one BCS appearance — a beat down administered by UF in Steve Spurrier's last game in Gainesville — and will forever be on the outside looking in, I also wonder what it would be like to have that chance. In the end, I think enough's enough.
     OSU actually won the football title a few years back, and given their recent past, we should issue a five-year ban on them appearing in any NCAA championship games in any sport. It's painful to watch them get smoked while you can't help wonder whether other teams — for this year Georgia, West Virginia, USC, even Missouri, Kansas, or Virginia Tech — wouldn't have given LSU, and college football fans, a better game.
     The scariest part of the LSU-OSU game Monday night came when Fox Sports announcer Charles Davis, in commenting on the Buckeyes' youth (they only have three senior starters), said, "They very well could be back in this game next year." Noooooo
   The only way we'll know who's BCS best is to get rid of the BCS as it exists and have a playoff. As a traditionalist, I've always opposed that. The debate over who's best in years when it's not so clear-cut is part of the fun of following college football. But perhaps it's time for a new way. By the way, I'm joking about the ban. Perhaps Maryland will miracle themselves into the BCS' big dance in Miami next January ---- and get to play the Buckeyes.

Paul pulled in NH

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:47:58 GMT

Other than Shepard Smith giving the nightly news report, I gave up watching Fox News a few years ago. Once upon a time their "fair and balanced" mantra meant offering exposure to conservative voices that had been shunned by the big media outlets --- all part of the big liberal media conspiracy to rule the world that had worked out so swimmingly since until very recently, Republicans ruled Congress for a dozen years, boasted four of the last six occupants of the White House and dominated legislatures and governor's mansions across the country, except in the Northeast --- and that was a good thing.
In short, the more voices, the better.
But in the last couple of years, Fox has taken on the chore of shilling for the Bush administration, operating more like the White House propaganda machine than a bona fide news outlet. Other than illegal immigration, they found no reason to criticize a president who almost two-thirds of the country believe is doing a crappy job.
Fox's recent handling of Congressman Ron Paul only confirmed that my instincts were right. Paul is arguably the only "conservative" left in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, a moniker that has been so bastardized by George Bush's ideological drive and alliance with and support from the neocons that it teeters on the brink of irrelevance. And Paul assuredly is the only one in either party who strenuously and repeatedly calls for abiding by the Constitution, and living under the limited government it established, that has allowed our wonderful country to flourish for nearly 220 years.
Yet Fox refused to include Paul in the New Hampshire debate the network sponsored on Sunday, prompting the New Hampshire Republican Party to pull its sponsorship of that event. Fox's stated reason was its makeshift studio couldn't accommodate Paul and Congressman Duncan Hunter, who was also excluded.
New Hampshire GOP chief Fergus Cullen said in a statement, "The first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary serves a national purpose by giving all candidates an equal opportunity on a level playing field. Only in New Hampshire do lesser known, lesser funded underdogs have a fighting chance to establish themselves as national figures. Consistent with that tradition, we believe all recognized major candidates should have an equal opportunity to participate in pre-primary debates and forums."
“The New Hampshire Republican Party believes Congressmen Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter should be included in the FOX forum on Sunday evening. While we understand that FOX News continues to move forward it is with regret, the New Hampshire Republican Party hereby withdraws as a partner in this forum.”
Good for the Cullen and the New Hampshire Republicans.
For years, conservatives whined about being shut out by the major media to the point they created their own outlets, with Fox News being the most recognizable among them.
Now Fox rejects Ron Paul, a guy who A) raised $20 million last quarter (nearly as much as Hillary), B) got triple the votes of Rudy, Fox's anointed candidate, in Iowa, and C) outpolls Fred Thompson, who was invited to Fox's debate and even sends out hitmen to bad mouth him because they want to censor his message --- one that happens to disagree with the overall neocon message Fox promotes.
In fairness to Fox News, ABC News also excluded Paul and other candidates from the debate it sponsored. That's expected, as well as gutless and wrong, too. But it only proves that Fox has become what they used to hate.
Here's hoping Ron Paul smokes the field in NH.

A Hallmark moment

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:23:22 GMT

My birthday was last month, and among the well wishers was a surprising name, state Sen. Evelyn Lynn. I received a birthday card from the senator, as did my wife about two weeks earlier on her birthday.
Normally, my Big Brother intruder radar goes off like an air raid horn in such instances, but thanks to President Bush, the Patriot Act and the CIA snoops (the ones who don't do the waterboarding) I've grown dangerously complacent about such activities. Quite frankly, it didn't faze my because I've met Sen. Lynn and she's quite pleasant.
But now, thanks to an interesting exchange between Ocala resident Steve Ellis and state Sen. Charlie Dean, I understand why I got the card.
After Steve recent had such a Hallmark moment, he fired off the following letter to Sen. Dean on Nov. 29:
"Yesterday I received a birthday card from you Senator. In small print there was also note of your "ElectCharlieDean.com" web address.
Senator, you are not a close friend or family relative...So how did you get my birthday?
I believe you have used your elected political office to gain access to my private personal information, for your own additional political gain. What other personal information do you also hold? This is an abuse of your authority and an example of our loss of confidentiality. Many of us have long been concerned about governmental "Big Brother" expansion, and your actions reinforce that concern.
I am also sending this to the Brad Rogers at the Ocala Star Banner as an Opinion submission."

In response, Sen. Dean wrote,
"Good morning Mr. Ellis, I am deeply saddened that this birthday card has offended you. Please know that this was an attempt in good faith by me to let the people of District 3 know that I am working for them and am available to assist them for whatever it is they need regarding state government.
When you registered to vote, you gave your birth date to the Supervisor of Elections. I was able to obtain that information via Chapter 119 F.S. or what is commonly known as Florida’s Sunshine Law. This law allows you or any other citizen and media outlet has access to this information. Again, I sincerely apologize that I have offended you. Please know that I am here if you ever need any assistance."

To which Steve answered:
"Senator, I appreciate getting any response however, I hope you will work to close the loophole that allowed this personal information access. All these little threads can be accumulated to create a more complete identify...and aid in theft.
Additionally, you and all other elected officials will be judged by your results in solving our problems more than your "electioneering" (those were the words used on your card).
I believe more attention to Water, Growth, Environmental protection, Education and any number of other critical Florida issues will be all consuming for you and the other elected officials. Thanks again for your prompt reply."

Now, I'm completely with Steve on the Big Brother aspect of this. Steve is also right about something else: the folks in Tallahassee have bigger fish to fry than elections, re-elections or glad-handing constituents.
But I have to disagree when he asks Charlie Dean and others "to work to close the loophole that allowed this personal information access." The government can find plenty of reasons to shut down public scrutiny of public information all on their own, and encouragement to do so only makes the public servants less accountable to the public. Please, Sen. Dean, just cross Steve Ellis off you Christmas card list, and leave the public records alone.

Who's afraid of Ron Paul?

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:05:57 GMT

In this job during election season, you get all kinds of crap — I mean, valuable information — from political candidates about their campaignshttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. Although this stuff can usually be immediately pitched into the circular file, the other day I was intrigued by an announcement from the camp of Congressman Ron Paul, a Republican presidential candidatehttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com.
    The notice said the Texas obstetrician has been endorsed by Barry Goldwater Jrhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com., son of the late great senator from Arizonahttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. (Watch Goldwater's comments herehttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com.)
    I was surprised to learn from Paul's press release was that Goldwater the Younger had served in Congress for 14 years, representing the Los Angeles areahttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. What isn't surprising is that Barry Jrhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. would support Ron Paul, whose advocacy of a smaller, less expensive, less intrusive federal government that lives within its constitutional mandates — something the other presidential wannabes from the GOP only pay lip service to — aligns closely with the philosophy of his famous fatherhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com.
     This latest wrinkle also helps illustrate why I'm watching Paul: he seems to be the one Republican who is an original thinker, with positions, it must be noted, that most infuriate the alleged "conservatives" who dominate the right-wing side of mediahttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. That's something to pay attention to in the Age of the Neoconhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com.
    So obsessed are they with President Bush's war state they will resort to any slur of Paulhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. After an early GOP debate, Michelle Malkin said Paul didn't belong on the same stage at the rest of the fieldhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. The latest bashing from the right comes from columnist Mona Charenhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com.
     It makes you wonderhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. Paul himself commented on the derision he invites from the right in an interview with Reason magazine associate editor David Weigel back in Mayhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. Paul noted, "It's interesting, isn't it? They've already said I have no chance in the world, I don't show up in the polls, I don't mean anythinghttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. Why would they make such an effort to go after me?"
    But here in the heart of Florida, people apparently don't fear Drhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. Paulhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. The Center for Responsive Politics' latest campaign finance data compiled from the 20 largest metro areas in Florida indicate Paul ranks third in fund-raising among all candidates in both Ocala and Gainesvillehttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com.
     He has raked in more overall dollars in bigger markets, but he comes closest to catching the heavyweights here in the O-G realmhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com. It doesn't appear any of the others can claim similar support from liberal Gainesville and conservative Ocalahttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com.
      To find out more of what the fuss is all about, read up on Paul's philosophy for yourself — don't trust the spin merchants who only want to continue the dominance of the corporate pols who have led us to the brink of ruinhttp://blogs.myspaceocala.com.

The real reason for early vote

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:26:57 GMT

My colleagues Lloyd Dunkelberger and Joe Follick, reporting Monday from the Star-Banner’s Tallahassee bunker, pointed out that the Democratic presidential candidates to date have not run a single TV ad in Florida.
The people who know about such things say this inactivity hurts the Democrats, and gives the Republicans vying for the White House a leg up --- the outta sight, outta mind theory of political science. But I'm not so sure.
Recall that this snub is a self-imposed boycott by the Dems' candidates in response to the Democratic National Committee punishing us uppity Floridians for daring to move our primary election up so we could have a voice in the selection of the president befitting the fourth-biggest state in the country. That push led the DNC to strip Florida of all 210 delegates to next year's party convention, and now the DNC has done the same to Michigan.
National GOP leaders have done likewise, but have stripped the state party of only half the delegates and have not mandated a ban on campaigning.
Ironically, the Dems continue to rake in the Sunshine State cash, as Sen. Hillary Clinton leads all candidates in fund-raising in Florida, and six of the top 10 contenders in the money chase are from the donkey party.
The aforementioned experts predict the demise of the Democrats in Florida because of the campaign ban, which many see as hypocritical because the Howard Dean and the party leadership have not barred the candidates from making fund-raising trips here.
I, however, see a form of genius at work — albeit on the order of Wile E. Coyote. Many voters might become so sick of being saturated with all those GOP ads by Jan. 29 that they might opt for the Dems just out of spite and fatigue.
Certainly, this topsy-turvy primary bickering has a certain BCS flavor to it, so who knows how it will turn out. And voters regularly thwart the best laid predictions of professional pundits.
But I just wish we'd get to the heart of why everybody wants the primaries moved up. We --- OK, just two of every three of us — are so fed up with how W's doing that we're ready to vote tomorrow to replace him.