politics

As the voting season slowly heats up, I (an unaffiliated, apathetic voter) would like to know:

Why/why not in the comments, please.

Our executive branch of the federal government has failed us. Our legislative and judicial branches aren’t much better, though their added checks and balances make them less susceptible to corruption than our most popular branch of government, the one the POTUS oversees.

From my cursory vantage, here are some of the issues that concern me most, both from political and economical perspectives: (more…)

The US healthcare system is broken. That is unless you work for an opulent healthcare or pharmaceutical provider. In that case, US healthcare works like a charm (from a for-profit perspective).

But let me put my business degree away for a minute. As a citizen and patient, I now believe in universal healthcare in America just like I believe in socialized libraries, policemen, firemen, public schools, and highways. Here are five reasons why: (more…)

From Lee Iacocca’s book Where Have All the Leaders Gone?: “The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?”

[via Kottke]

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney denied his Mormon fundraising connection in speaking to ABC News today. When asked if the $3M raised in Utah of his Republican-leading $20 million was tied to his being a Latter-Day Saint, Romney dodged the affiliation citing his 2002 Olympic popularity and his being a former resident of the state. The presidential hopeful corrected NY Times allegations that Utah raised “more per capita than any other state” citing California as holding the honor (Nota bene: In shere numbers, Cali is home to more Mormons than Utah).

First, I recognize that Romney is liked for what he did at the 2002 Olympics, for once living in Utah, for his success as a business man, and for his work in Massachusetts as Governor. But is there anything wrong with Romney stating the obvious? Like, “My record aside, of course people with a similar faith are more likely to financially support me.” Just seems like human nature to me, and I’m sure Catholics were extra generous with Kennedy. Despite some journalists fishing for stories that Romney’s church quietly endorses him, is there anything wrong with like individuals supporting each other due to a natural affinity? The issue seems akin to asking Obama about high black turnout or high female turnout for Clinton supporters.

So from a strategic standpoint, I think Romney has a better chance being forthright about his religious supporters.

Disclosure: I’m Mormon, not a Republican or Democrat, won’t vote in the primaries, and still don’t know whom I’ll vote for in 2008.

I don’t really care for MadTV. It’s never as sophisticated as I like my satire to be. Still, this little piece is spot on. We laugh because it’s funny, and yet we laugh because it’s true.

[via My Woman Cooks]

Lindsey and I watched the story of the engine 7 firehouse from NYC during 9/11 on CBS last night. It contained amateur video of that day’s terrible events. Amazingly, every fireman survived despite almost all of them being on upper floors of the North Tower (which collapsed second). This documentary stirred up a lot of feelings: Feelings of loss, feelings of hurt, feelings of how cowardly terrorists are, feelings of frustration that nothing has been rebuilt, feelings of disappointment by how the Bush Administration has handled most everything, and feelings of what I’d like done. They are: (more…)