illumined horizon

it takes one to know one

2008-04-17T13:48:00.005-04:00

McCain has apparently been out on the campaign trail calling some recent remarks made by Obama elitist. This seems like nonsense to me, because just about every policy that the Republicans pursue is elitist. Then come election time they're out barbecuing or clearing brush. It's a complete charade. Too bad American Idol is still more important than this stuff.

right-wing loves to label dems 'soft on terror'

2008-03-16T12:52:00.003-04:00

It's not clear to me how much that 'soft on terror' idea is a real concern, and how much it's something put out there by the right wing that maybe the American people don't accept. But the Democrats seem to have taken it on as a real concern, and they don't seem to want to be labeled as weak on terror. It's good to see, though, that in the House the Democrats have not yet rolled over and given Bush the immunity for the telecom companies that he is seeking under the guise of protecting Americans from terror.

right-wing falsehoods

2008-03-13T13:08:00.002-04:00

Reaganomics/trickledown economics, installing democracy with the barrel of the gun (a neocon belief), charity does a better job relieving poverty than government, free trade, our current health care is better than universal single payer, the poor and underclass are lazy, allowing gays to marry will undermine heterosexual marriage, Western European countries have failed economically. This is just a short list, that I'm coming up with spur of the moment. Many more falsehoods could be accumulated.

nader forwards progressive values

2008-03-07T14:44:00.003-05:00

I'd probably just vote Green, were Nader not running. If I lived in a swing state I'd more than likely have to vote for the Democrat. But in my opinion both Clinton and Obama are corporate center-left Democrats... I welcome any genuine progressive that wants to run for President. I think it's pretty lame that people who's views are probably closer to Nader's than Hillary's or Obama's would devote a lot of time to trashing Ralph. In my opinion the Democratic Party nominee is usually a joke, I'm not a fan of Gore (even the current Gore, who is at least working on an important issue) or Kerry either.

nader's run a challenge to the dems

2008-02-26T13:35:00.001-05:00

As Bernie Sanders says often on Fridays on Thom Hartmann's show, the Democratic Party is a centrist party. It's progressive challenges from people like Nader that will be part of changing this, and reflecting more of the liberal base of the party... As long as Nader doesn't turn a swing state for the Republicans, his run will be good for the issues he raises. Moreover, the Dems should take note of the people who vote for the progressive principles that Nader uncompromisingly stands for.

bush has attacked liberty

2008-02-11T09:16:00.000-05:00

Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither." What's more American than civil liberties? Which Bush has attacked with the 'Patriot' Act, violating the FISA law, and with the general mood of fear he has fostered in the country... Instead of doing what a real patriot would, and defending our way of life in the face of threats.

obama anti or pro-war?

2008-02-05T10:06:00.000-05:00

Obama has continually voted to fund the war. So I don't think his stance against the war prior to being in the U.S. Senate means that much. I'm not sure why more Democrats haven't voted against funding the war, the majority of the American people are with this position. For a politician to say s/he wants withdrawal, while voting to fund the occupation, is a contradiction... This does not represent a true anti-war view.

mccain, romney not far right

2008-01-31T10:25:00.000-05:00

The Republicans are actually doing something smart. Instead of a very conservative candidate like a Fred Thompson or Mike Huckabee, it looks like the nominee is either going to be McCain or Romney. Two candidates that have moderate positions on a number of issues. In a 'Democratic' year a more moderate presidential candidate will be much more competitive than a down the line conservative.

turn over a new leaf

2008-01-30T09:11:00.000-05:00

With Edwards completely and utterly out of the running at this point, on the Dem side it seems to be down to Hillary and Obama. I think I'm pushing for Obama at this point (even though I don't really like either one of them), because I don't think the Bush dynasty should be replaced by the Clinton dynasty. It's time to give some other clan/person an opportunity to run the country.

don't trust a politician's word

2008-01-29T10:20:00.000-05:00

Many politicians will say anything, in order to get elected. You've got to go to websites such as On the Issues, to look at politicians' stands; to figure out if they jive with what they say. Sometimes the MSM also brings up if a candidate is actually talking for something that s/he voted against, or speaking against something s/he voted for. A lot of resources on the web can tell you where a candidate really stands, instead of just trusting what a candidate says.

hillary and obama tuning up

2008-01-26T09:55:00.000-05:00

I think the tension/infighting between Hillary and Obama is a good test run for what the Republicans will eventually role out. We'll see if anything that has come out now will come back to bite Hillary or Obama. But if nothing does, than I think all the bickering will have been for the good. It will make either a better campaigner.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, kind of logic...

change, what change?

2008-01-24T09:49:00.000-05:00

To me it seems like it's already over. On the Democratic side it's a battle between two corporate Dems. We can expect very little in the way of change, under the new Democratic president in '09. Too bad Edwards was defeated, he could have been a great president. I'm left wondering what are the progressive forthcoming policies of an Obama or Hillary Clinton administration? Because all I hear in their speeches is a bunch of hot air filled with sweet nothings...

republican twisted mentality

2008-01-23T09:35:00.000-05:00

I can't explain why, but Republicans appear to believe in the ends justifies the means, more so than Democrats. I think this has something to do with all the messes they get themselves into (all the scandals we've seen in the last few years). Thank God, though that Republicans do this, or otherwise the country would be even more right-wing than it already is...

nader mulling another run

2008-01-22T09:30:00.000-05:00

I would say he's more than likely running. If Edwards had won I think he would have been torn about running. But I don't think he has much love for Hillary or Obama, I'd pencil him in on the Presidential ballot. Obviously I'm aware that a lot of people blame Nader for Bush 'winning' in 2000 (we know the Supreme Court selected him), but I like him running because I think progressives who don't find the Democratic nominee progressive enough, need some place to go with their vote.

kucinich a pariah with a cause

2008-01-21T08:17:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately the media won't cover Dennis Kucinich unless he runs for President (he's one of the most progressive people in the congress). He's a congressmen and thus a major candidate, and should be in the debates. Joe Blow who runs for President won't be in the debates, but congresspeople, Senators, and Governors should all be in the debates. Kucinich has been left out of too many debates, yet the substance and conviction of his message should have planted him firmly in all of them.

republicans down but not out

2008-01-20T09:47:00.000-05:00

It's too early to celebrate and say that a Democrat is a shoo in for the presidency. Democrats are better at governing, and Republicans are far better at campaigning. Republicans basically run a potted plant every time, and they win a good deal of the time as well. I can remember the disgraceful Harold Ford ads, this is recent history. We as a country may be beyond certain types of racism and sexism, but unfortunately the Republican party's propaganda machine doesn't seem to be. The proof will be in the pudding, my prediction, the race or gender card (depending upon if the nominee is Obama or Clinton) will be used either overtly (by the RNC) or covertly (by some 527 group) in the run up to the 2008 election.

romney interrupted

2008-01-19T09:16:00.000-05:00

I caught the video of Romney getting pissed off at a reporter the other day. The question in my mind is, is it ok for a reporter to interrupt a candidate during a stump speech? It seems like maybe, if a candidate is spouting falsehood that it should be done. I just don't know that I've seen a journalist do it before, so maybe some other journalists would consider this to be unprofessional.

edwards the also ran?

2008-01-17T08:25:00.000-05:00

I'm scratching my head as to why John Edwards message has not catapulted him to the nomination. All I can think of is that he's being branded an 'outsider' or 'anti-establishment' because of his message. Also some of the wind has been taken out of Edwards' sails with the change message of Obama. Hillary is the establishment, Obama is change, and Edwards seems to be falling into the category of also ran... It's a mindboggler that more folks aren't getting behind Edwards. Apparently he's close in Nevada, so maybe he can win there; although I think it's a longshot.

don't look at that man behind the curtain

2008-01-16T08:16:00.000-05:00

I think conspiracy theories have somehow gotten a bad rap. If one believes in conspiracy theories, then s/he has his/her tinfoil hat on or something. As they say one bad apple spoils the bunch; there are a lot of nutty conspiracy theories out there. Conspiracy theories have been sullied by all the zany ones, and thus a lot of people don't want to touch or entertain a conspiracy theory about nearly any historical event.

msnbc fights to keep kucinich out of nevada debate

2008-01-15T09:01:00.000-05:00

I was thinking now that Dodd, Biden and Richardson are gone, would this raise Kucinich's numbers at all (if he was allowed into the debate)? Presumably their votes would go to the front runners, but Kucinich would have to pick up at least a couple of percentage points I'd think.

I can remember a debate from '04 that consisted of Al Sharpton, Kucinich, Edwards and Kerry. This seems to be a new thing that they're doing this year. Kicking the low polling candidates out of the debates. In my opinion, Kucinich is running to raise issues and attempt to move the Democratic Party to the left, so it's really hurting Dennis to keep him out of the debate...

the bush tax cuts

2008-01-14T08:19:00.000-05:00

The tax cuts were supply side economics/Reaganomics the idea is that the wealthy will take the money and put it into things that are good for the economy. Business activity, the purchase of goods and services, etc... What the tax cuts did was increase the national debt, and if I'm not mistaken government has grown under Bush, so Bush didn't make the needed cuts in government spending that should go along with tax cuts. If we continue the Bush tax cuts, unless there are significant cuts in government spending the national debt will continue to balloon... Foreign countries will continue to buy up our debt, and we will be more and more beholden to them.

Additionally, I think Bush is the only, or one of the only Presidents to cut taxes during a war. Moreover, they were supposed to stimulate an economic boom. But what we had during the Bush years was nothing like the Reagan boom, or the Clinton boom. They not only saddled us in debt, they didn't create the much ballyhooed stimulus there were suppose to create.

anthrax attacks conspiracy theory

2008-01-13T11:03:00.000-05:00

This article has pretty much the same information, but here's my pet theory on what I think the anthrax attacks were all about: The anthrax attacks occurred prior to the passing of the Patriot Act. Anthrax was sent to Tom Daschle, who was then Senate majority leader, and Pat Leahy, who was then chairman of the Judiciary Committee. A Dr. Francis Boyle believes it was an FBI coverup. It's interesting it was Democrats that received the anthrax. Seems to have been a threat to go along with the Bush agenda or else.

kucinich would pick paul as vp

2008-01-12T10:15:00.000-05:00

Dennis Kucinich says he'd choose Ron Paul as his veep. Well, you have to know Dennis is into a lot of New Agey religious crap... I think this choice is more of a ying/yang balance thing than anything else. I really don't think Paul as VP would have a huge effect on a Kucinich administration's policies. Although we'll probably have to wait for the next life to see a Kucinich administration anyway.

free market myopia

2008-01-10T13:55:00.000-05:00

In my opinion the libertarian/free market view of capitalism doesn't work. America is the most capitalist developed nation... Why so many people want to go even more laissez faire, boggles my mind. Most of Europe has a higher standard of living than the U.S. We should go in that direction, not towards freer market capitalism.

obama's resume a question

2008-01-09T10:06:00.000-05:00

I've heard some people say Huckabee will be easy for the Dems to take. But can't Republicans make the case Obama is not ready for primetime, and will do far to much learning on the job? I personally didn't consider Obama seriously, and I don't understand what he's done to allow him to be president. All along, I hoped it would be Edwards, and I thought Hillary was going to win... Now that it looks like Obama, I'm wondering if he will be an easy kill for the Republicans.