Guns and climate change

During President Obama’s first term in office there was a 4 month period when the democrats had a filibuster proof 60 votes in the senate and a large majority in the house meaning that they could have passed any bill they wanted. Most of this time was spent pushing Obamacare and other items were set aside. The President says that unless climate change is addressed it will be the end of the world as we know it but nothing was introduced at that time when the democrats could have passed any law they wanted. The decision was made to put Obamacare above climate change so the question comes up, is climate change really as important as they now say it is. Recall that Gore’s documentary on Climate change came out in 2006 and it was called a “planetary emergency”. These past couple of days the issue of gun legislation has been in the news and once again the democrats could have passed any bill they wanted in early 2009 but they chose not to act. There were 15 mass shooting in the US between 1999 and 2009 including the Columbine High School and no action on gun violence was taken by the senate or house at a time when the democrats could have passed whatever they wanted.

You didn't build that

In 2012 President Obama said the following: If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” Later Senator Warren said something very similar. Looking further into this it becomes obvious that everyone can use these roads and bridges but only once in a while does a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs come along and those two men have literally created millions of jobs. There must have been something about them that was different from most and it is that difference that allowed them to build these business empires. This would be like saying that Einstein did not develop the theory of relativity because he used the ideas of Newton and other scientist as a foundation for his new way of looking at the world of physics. Sabin and Salk do not deserve credit for the polio vaccines because they used the works of earlier people to build on. Adam Smith is considered the founder of modern economics but many of his ideas were formulated by his contemporaries, people like Hume and Burns.

Names

Shakespeare said, “what’s in a name, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. Apparently President Obama agrees since he feels that it is not necessary to use words like Islamic terrorist. I agree that names are not that important but this is not the norm for liberals as they are big believers in naming things, as is evident in the current fad of political correctness. The name liberal has been replaced with progressive, pro-abortion became pro-choice, taxes are called investments, disability is physically challenged and the push to get rid of gender based pronouns are just a few of the many ways in which liberals feel that a name is important. The President is also adamant about using ISIL instead of ISIS so in this case the name is important to him. This is controversial because some feel that ISIL includes Israel.

I firmly believe that carbon dioxide is one of the main causes of global warming but politics has distorted information to the point where most people do not know what to think. The most reliable way to measure sea level is using satellites and since 1992 measurements show a rise of 3 mm per year. That equates to one inch per 8 years or one foot per 100 years. There are many articles on the Internet about the rising sea levels and this is an example: the sea level here has risen 9 inches over the past century and is predicted to rise at an accelerating pace by as much as another 6½ feet by 2100. Even the most conservative scientists anticipate a rise of at least 2 feet by 2060. Using the satellite data the expected rise by 2060 would be 5.4 inches not 2 feet and by 2100 the rise would be 10.2 inches not 6 and 1/2 feet. It is this kind of exaggeration that clouds the issue. If the powers to be wanted to make a serious reduction in carbon dioxide they would start using more natural gas in place of coal and oil and make an immediate push for cars and trucks. Moving the transportation industry over to natural gas would have a significant effect on the carbon dioxide problem since natural gas produces about half the carbon dioxide that coal does and about 2/3rds of what oil does.

Save face

There is a dilemma that all elected official may and often do face and that is what happens if my constituents do not agree with my position on important issues or even more disturbing what if we differ on a personal belief. Some say you must vote your conscious and run the risk of not being reelected. Others say you were elected to represent the people and that is what you must do. Others say you should resign. We are seeing this played out in the current presidential election. Republican leaders like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell find that many of the things that Trump says conflicts with their beliefs. Trump is the clear choice of the voters so do these men discard their positions and follow the people or do they refuse to back the people’s choice and stay home on election day or do they resign. The third choice of resignation will happen when hell freezes over so their only hope is that Trump will moderate some of his positions to the point where they can save face. This will likely happen over the next few weeks.

Who knows?

Who knows! George Zimmerman, the man who shot Travon Martin was called an Hispanic during the trial. He is the child of a white man of German descent and an Afro-Peruvian woman from Peru. President Obama is called a black and his father was black and his mother was white. In mixed race individuals it appears that the non-white race determines what they are called. Parents of mixed race children say they determine the race when the child is born, that is, what they put on the birth certificate is the determining factor. Some say it goes by the mother’s race since the mother is always known. Some say it goes by the father’s race since historically the father’s last name is used. Some did not vote for Obama because he is black it is considered racist. Others voted for Obama because he was black so what is that called? When Al Smith, the first Catholic ran for president many Catholics voted for him because he was Catholic. Many others voted against him because he was Catholic. What is that called? When Sotomayor was appointed to the Supreme Court she said: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life, Does that mean a person’s race can make them more qualified to be a judge or does it mean that they will be biased?

Jobs

The pressure is on Trump to become more presidential and move to the center. This means he should poll test his positions and then have speech writers put together his talking points and memorize those and spit them out whenever he is asked a question. He should get out the teleprompter and read each speech that has been carefully vetted to make sure he doesn’t offend any person or group. No more spontaneity, no more off the cuff stuff, no more speaking from the gut but stick to the prepared remarks. This way all the experts who have spent their lives following politics can once again be right on target with their predictions and everyone will be happy except for the middle and low income people who will be stuck with four more years of what they have lived with for the past 20 plus years. Their incomes will continue to decline, their view of the future will continue to be dark and dismal and all their dreams for their children will remain disappointing. The top issue in this election is jobs and Hilary will not create jobs since this is beyond the scope of government. What she can do is send a check to people using some government program. With Trump no one can be sure what he will do but there is a slim outside chance that his approach being so different might make a difference. His ideas about making a level playing field for trade deals may keep some jobs from leaving the country and even bring some back. Don’t hold your breath because the establishment people will prefer Hilary with her tried and proven ways of winning elections. This way their power and influence will not be threatened. They will all continue to promise a better life to the middle and low income people but it will only be promises.

Giving charity

John Smith, a make believe mayor, is running for re-election and he proudly boast that during his first term he built a new police station, a new fire house and a new school. He says vote for me and I will build a new convention hall. Rewording this, we hear, during my first term I spent a million dollars of your money on a new police station, and another million on a new fire house and another million on a new school. Re-elect me and I will spend two million dollars of your money on a new convention hall and I may even name it after me. I bring this up as a lead in to the recent controversy of Trump’s donation of 6 million dollars to the vets. In his speech he mentioned that Hilary never gave this kind of money to the vets and she responded that because of her leadership the government has increased money for vets. This points to a fundamental difference where in Trump is talking about private citizens giving willingly to charity and Hilary is talking about by force of law transferring money from those who earn it to those who deserve it. We often hear people ask, what would Jesus do? As far as I can tell, Jesus often suggested that people take care of the poor but I have not seen any evidence that Jesus wanted this to be done under law by the government.