Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

"The good news is he's been covering me for years, and it seems very few people read what he writes."
—Donald Trump on G.B. Trudeau

Yeah, Trump's probably right. After all, Trudeau only has a Pulitzer Prize (and nominated four more times), a Cannes Special Jury Prize, and has been nominated for an Academy Award, won an Emmy, has 34 honorary degrees including doctorates. And a lot of other stuff.

Donald's awards, according to Wikipedia, are:

In 1983, Israel's Tree of Life award for outstanding contributions to Israel-United States relations.
1990 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor for his role in Ghosts Can't Do It.
Gaming Hall of Fame (class of 1995)
2007 Muhammad Ali Entrepreneur Award
NY Ride of Fame (class of 2010)
Trump was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration (Hon. D.B.A.), in 2010 by Robert Gordon University.[535] However, this degree was revoked on December 9, 2015 because Trump had made "a number of statements that are wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university."
Honorary Doctor of Business (Hon. D.B.), 2012, Liberty University
WWE Hall of Fame (class of 2013)
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Liberty Award, in 2015 at the Algemeiner Jewish 100 Gala in honor of his positive contributions to Israel–United States relations.
Key to the City of Doral, Florida, 2015
Commandant of the Marine Corps Leadership Award, 2015, Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation
New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame (inducted November 12, 2015)

So let's see. One honorary doctorate revoked, another from a religious university, inducted to the wrestling hall of fame -- that's a good one there, he bought a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (and pays maintenance on it), and gave a lot of money to the Marine Corp. And if you'll note: they're almost all post-2000. Which is when he started getting more active in politics. Which says to me that he started polishing up his resume as he knew it would come under increasing scrutiny.

"No. I only know what I hear on Fox News and what I hear on radio... Muslims are killing Americans and trying to blow stuff up... Most Muslims are terrorists and don't believe in Jesus Christ."
—Indiana man convicted of setting fire to a mosque, when asked by the judge if he knew any Muslims or knew what Islam is

Once again proving that ignorance is bliss, or at least surety of action.

"We think it is poor form for a politician or a special interest group to try to push a legislative agenda on the back of any tragedy."
-- NRA, after 2008 Northern Illinois shootings

"Now is not the time to debate politics or discuss policy."
-- NRA, after 2009 Binghampton massacre

"At this time, anything other than prayers for the victims and their families would be inappropriate."
-- NRA, after 2011 shooting spree that wounded Gabrielle Giffords

"There will be an appropriate time down the road to engage in political and policy discussions."
-- NRA, after 2012 Aurora massacre

"NRA will not have any comment."
-- NRA, after 2012 Newtown massacre

I don't have an answer. They banned high-capacity magazines for a decade and there was no perceptible change in the homicide rate. Banning a category of guns is a very nebulous proposition. The one thing that they don't talk about is trying to improve the mental health care of the American public.

"I think what this fellow is tapping into...is the fact that people don't want any meaning right now. It is just sort of like a drug and that seems to be what most people seem to want right now. Not reality, not feeling, not meaning. The meaning is that it means nothing."
—Fox News psychiatrist Keith Ablow on PSY's 'Gangnam Style'

First, Gangnam Style came out over four months before the election. Second, Gangnam is a district in Seoul that is considered trendy, so at a basic level Gangnam Style means being trendy. It's a song about a girlfriend, and PSY spent a month working with his choreographer coming up with a dance that had an animal style that PSY thought would meet the high expectations of a cool dance that his fans had for him.

The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, '... hailed the song as a "force for world peace."' Psy said in interviews that Gangnam is a lot like Beverly Hills, and that the people from there who are cool and trendy don't announce that they're from Gangnam, the people who do say they are from there are posers and wannabees.

So when Keith stares in to the void, the void looks back and says, "WTF? Get a life, dude! It's a song and a dance, nothing more!"

"I would submit that scientists cannot tell us the age of the earth. The only way we can know the age of the earth is if we have eyewitness testimony of somebody who was there."
—Dr. Terry Mortenson, who has a Phd in the history of geology

Talk about cognitive dissonance, but in your own brain?! I know there are multiple levels to this statement for political purposes to pander to religious backers, but still, WFT?!

Your just keep thinking that, Terry, and the rest of the world will continue leaving the USA in the dust.

"If another Republican man says anything about rape other than it is a horrific, violent crime, I want to personally cut out his tongue."
—former George W. Bush adviser Karen Hughes

Rachel Maddow started calling the Republican candidates who blew it talking about rape the Rape Caucus, and none of them were elected. Akin, the 'woman's body has a way to shut that down' was on the House Science Committee.

"Freedom... Now, imagine our country without it... Defeat Obama."
—NRA ad

Yes, we Americans have a freedom to possess and bear firearms. But the NRA buying ads like this? Obama has loosened gun laws: you can now carry a gun in a national park and on Amtrak trains. Obama hasn't announced any plans for any gun control that I've heard of. Romney? While governor he signed a ban, I don't know if it was on automatic weapons or "assault" (semi-automatic) weapons. He became a life-long member of the NRA in 2006 when he ran for governor, and was caught in a lie when asked about the guns he owns: what he described was a gun owned by one of his sons.

And the NRA endorsed Romney over Obama.

I don't have a problem with people owning and carrying guns, I've owned many in my time and I had a concealed carry permit for 10 yeas in Arizona. But the NRA and the Republicans have diluted gun laws to such a degree that it is beyond stupid. Florida was sort of the starting point, some 10-15 years ago, when they passed a concealed carry law that was basically filling out a form and you get your permit. Arizona's law at that time required fingerprinting, a criminal background check, a two-day class, and you had to shoot a gun and prove that you had a good chance of hitting what you were aiming at. I thought that was perfectly reasonable requirements to carry a concealed weapon. Now Arizona's law is closer to Florida's. New Mexico's CCW law still seems to be somewhat sane, at least you are still required to take classroom time and demonstrate proficiency, but they also require proficiency by caliber: if you qualify with a .38 special, that's the largest caliber that you can carry. So you're better off borrowing and qualifying with a .45 ACP.

We need reasonable gun laws in this country. It's ridiculous that a mental patient could get ahold of guns and so much ammunition and perpetrate things like the Aurora theater shooting. He should have been flagged for no-sales, and most states used to have prohibitions against sales to people flagged with mental illness, I guess those laws either either no longer exist or are no longer enforced, or maybe they have no way of checking them across state lines.

But because of the NRA's constant shouting of "The gubmint's gonna take away our guns and we need 'em to fight Commies!", things like this can continue to happen.

And things like the Batman shooting will continue to occasionally happen.

"The reason is quite simple. I have some depth to my ideas."
—Herman Cain, on why he would have a substantial lead if he were running against Barack Obama

I don't think so. But could he beat Romney? I have two fundamental problems with the RNC at the moment, ignoring all the little things like gay rights, women's reproductive rights, etc. Ignoring all of that. Romney keeps saying that he can fix the economy by closing loopholes and cutting taxes. But he won't say what he's gong to do. It's all "Trust me!" with a big smile on his face. 'Elect me and I'll fix everything, but IT'S A BIG SURPRISE! You don't want to have the surprise spoiled for you, do you? Of course not! So put me in the White House!'

I just don't understand how he could think he can run an election without revealing specifics. Ryan was a good pick because he adds a lot of charisma to the campaign, something that Mitt sorely lacks. Mitt is clinically unable to connect with common people, he's utterly lacking in empathy for those beneath his station. Ryan, he has a whole other set of problems, mainly his voting record past. Maybe Mitt's foot-in-mouth disease is contagious and Ryan caught it, or perhaps it's spread through the entire political system.

The second problem that I have with the RNC is they won't admit that for eight years they torpedoed the economy by letting Bush pay for two wars on the country's credit card, and now they stymie any attempt of Obama's to fix it and blame the continued slow growth on him. All traces of working across the aisle have gone away and nothing is going to get done until one party controls both Congress and the Presidency. I don't know if the Republicans in Congress are in denial or just afraid to admit that they're part of the problem, probably some measure of both.

Everyone talks about how Ronald Reagan would be called a RINO these days (Republican In Name Only). They don't talk about, or at least not often, the fact that he raised taxes eight times after cutting them. He had a plan: tax cuts along with spending cuts, and it potentially might have worked. But he got the carrot of tax cuts passed before the stick of spending cuts, and he had real problems that necessitated tax hikes. I am extremely confident that Romney didn't learn that lesson and tax cuts will pass but those pesky tax loopholes won't get closed and we'll go over the cliff with the foot all the way down on the peddle.

Absolutely there are tax loopholes that should be closed. But there are so many of them, and so many people benefit from different loopholes, that it's going to be a heck of a juggling act. Corporate taxes really need to be reformed so that companies like GE, HP, Microsoft, Google, etc., properly pay their taxes here. Just last week HP and Microsoft were slammed in Congress for using tax dodges to reduce their American tax burden. But wait -- doesn't Wall Street and the mechanisms of stocks and being publicly traded mean that the company must maximize shareholder returns? So doesn't minimizing tax burden dovetail nicely with maximized returns? There's a slight ethics problem there.

I am very thankful for that smartphone-owning bartender at Mitt's private fundraiser that documented that 47% gaff. It shows his disconnect and lack of qualification to be President, and shows the general public what his real opinions are.

Jon Huntsman repeatedly stressed that banks should be broken up, they fought for decades to defeat the Glass-Stegal Act and finally won, and now look where we are. The banks are so deeply tied in to the government that if the banks succeed at some risky venture, they win. If they fail at said risky venture, they get bailed out and the taxpayers lose. That is an incredibly sweet deal. And it's the absolute text-book definition of capitalism and market Darwinism where the failures get winnowed-out of the business gene pool. [/sarcasm]

I don't think a majority of Americans realize how deeply screwed this country is.


One last thing that I found quite interesting. There's a recent article in New york Magazine by Frank Rich called My Embed In Red. He spent a week getting all of his news from Republican news sources: Fox News, Rush, Savage, etc. And he did it during the RNC convention. And he noticed a big disconnect between Republicans at large and the coalition of Fox News and Romney's campaign. And I use the word coalition unreservedly: many of Romney's top people are also paid Fox employees. A lot of people don't think that Romney/Fox represent their viewpoints. They don't like Obama, but they also feel that their views were excluded from the RNC convention. Look at what the convention did to Ron Paul, then think about all the votes that he got. It looks like Romney is representing a minority of the Republican party, but because of Citizen's United, they have such a loud voice because of their money that the rest of the Republicans are being ignored. It's going to be interesting to see how many Republicans don't vote for Romney. Everyone says that the election boils down to the eight swing states, and that all the other states are locked for one candidate or the other. But what if enough Republicans are feeling disenfranchised enough to not vote for Romney that some of these states flip? Currently enough of those swing states are polling for Obama that Romney has lost the election, but we're still over a month out, so that could change. I think if Obama plays a conservative (as opposed to risky) strategy, he has it sewn up.


One last comment for this ridiculously-long blather. We didn't get to see the two party's conventions or highlights because we've been quasi-homeless for the last month: lightning struck a tree behind our house and drove a 25' chunk of pine through our roof, so we missed it. But one comment that I've heard is that based on the televised coverage of the conventions, the RNC was a white-washed meeting whereas the Democratic convention actually looked like a representation of the racial makeup of America. Non-Caucasian people are the reality of America, politicians had better get it through their heads. I lived in a city that Caucasians were a minority, and I have to say that overall, it was a nicer, more pleasant, place than the Caucasian-majority places that I've been.

"I know who you are. You ruined our country!"
—A neighbor of Karl Rove, when Rove introduced himself on the street

That would be so awesome to do. I don't blame Rove entirely for wrecking the country, but he certainly is one of the key people involved.

"We've got the message. But my college kid, the babysitters, the nails ladies -- everybody who's got the right to vote -- they don't understand what's going on. I just feel like if you're lower income -- one, you're not as educated, two, they don't get how it works."
—guest at a Romney Hamptons fundraiser

I think her sample parameters are a little skewed. My wife and her two best girlfriends are PhD's and MD's. I have enough hours for a Masters. Most of my friends are well-above average intelligence and education. Trust me, we get how it works.

Next thing you know they're going to tell us to eat brioche.

Does anyone have a spare gibbet handy?