Spin

The sex scandals surrounding Bill Clinton have come into the news. When Hilary said that Trump has ”a penchant for sexism” Trump responded by bringing up the past indiscretions. As I watched the reporting on this, the differences between networks were quite evident. One network reported that the wife should not be held accountable for the actions of her husband thus absolving Hilary of any responsibility. The other station pointed out how Hilary treated the victims of her husband’s dalliances by referring to them as “narcissistic loony toon”, “trailer trash” and “bimbo’s “. This is what Hilary recently said about this issue. "To every survivor of sexual assault...You have the right to be heard. You have the right to be believed. We're with you." — One station refers to Bill’s activities and the other to how Hilary reacted to those activities. This is called spin.

I don’t believe in hell and by extension, I don’t believe in the devil but there is a devil like entity roaming around and that is my ego. As a young man I fostered his growth and he has come to my rescue on many occasions but he always carries a price. As I have grown older, I have come to realize that this ego tends to get in the way of my happiness so I have taken steps to limit his power but it is a never ending battle. Just when I think I have him in his proper place he rears his mischievous head and turns me back to my old ways. I bring this up at this time since the Power Ball is now at record levels and part of my program to restrain my ego is to refuse to buy a ticket. On the surface this may not make sense but I know me and if I should win a large sum of cash my ego would once again jump to center stage. I can just hear the accolades now as I give millions to various charities and all who know me tell me what a wonderful person I am. I would bask in the limelight and puff up like a toad. I am sure there are many others who would not be negatively affected in this way and I hope they win but it is not for me.

The last year

A presidential candidate is most concerned about domestic issues and runs a campaign based on how he can improve the lives of the citizens. All too often events overtake their plans and this has certainly happened with President Obama. The situation around the world has deteriorated and this is especially the case in the Middle East and Obama is overwhelmed by the whole thing. His response is to give a prime time speech about gun control. He has reiterated his plans for his last year in office as a time when he will concentrate on closing Guantanamo, win a court case on his immigration plans, sign a criminal justice reform bill into law, sign the new trade agreement called the TPP and last but not least climate change. While these are laudable goals, it looks more and more like he plans to leave the international affairs to his successor. His different approach in the Middle East has led Saudi Arabia to believe that the US has deserted them in favor of Iran and this has caused them to rebel. All the work that Secretary Kerry has carried out over the past year to try and negotiate a peace in Syria is now in jeopardy. As Russia increases their help for Assad, and Iran uses their new found cash to increase their mischief, along with the nuke deal with Iran, the Saudis and their allies have reignited the old Sunni-Shia war and the US is watching from the sidelines.

Coal vs natural gas

In 2013, greenhouse gas emissions from transportation accounted for about 27% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second largest contributor of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions after the Electricity sector. The electricity sector or power plants produce 38% of the total. The first step in reducing greenhouse gases is to change coal plants over to natural gas since natural gas produces only 37% as much CO2 as coal. In addition this will reduce acid rain and heavy metal contaminates and provide cleaner ways to transport fuel. Coal is mined using heavy equipment and shipped by truck or rail while natural gas is piped. Coal produces large quantities of ash and natural gas does not. This change is underway and will continue in the future. Other methods of reducing greenhouse gases can continue and should be encouraged. Things like wind, solar and nuclear can help over the long term but changing to natural gas can and is offering immediate improvements.

Western lands

Protestors out west are claiming the federal government owns too much land. Across America the federal government owns 28% of all land but in western US the government owns more than 50%. Government ownership is not evenly distributed throughout the stats and varies from a low of .3% in Connecticut to 81% in Utah. To many it seems that the government owning that much land in Utah is a little out of line. Most feel that setting aside some of the parks is reasonable but much of the land the government owns is not open to the public. It is land that contains valuable natural resources, things like oil and natural gas. Other resources, like rare earth metals and lithium, which are needed for high tech products will put pressure on the government to allow extraction. This pressure will overcome the objections of environmentalist who have succeeded in closing the doors to mining and fracking on these lands. Politics aside, things will change.

Caucus time

Now that the Iowa caucuses are fast approaching , I want to relate my experience of attending the Minnesota caucuese in 2012. The Republicans were all excited about Rick Santorum and the reason was that single issue voters represented the majority. These were people who were so pro-life that they were willing to spend the time sitting around talking about the issue of abortion. These are the people whose feelings are strong enough to bring them out on a school night to discuss their issue. On the Democratic side the meeting was dominated by the unions led by the postal union and the state employees union. It was all about getting more benefits and very little was discussed about any other issue. Once again these were people who had a personal vested interest in the outcome. If Trump is able to bring out people to these meetings it will be a warning that something is afoot and this means that people who generally do not bother to vote may come out in large numbers. It will be a clear signal to other candidates in both parties that there is a new kind of politics brewing in the country.

Clinton emails

The release of the Clinton emails demonstrates how political operations can fool the public along with the press. First step was go through and select any emails which may pose a problem and dispose of them. The second step is to release the emails in small groups over an extended period of time. At each release the eager press goes through the batch looking for the smoking gun and each time they come up short and each time it confirms to the public that there is no there, there. Forgotten in the whole mess is that it is illegal to destroy government correspondence and the fact that half have been selectively destroyed. Now we await the FBI investigation, the same FBI that reports to the Obama Justice department. Everyone knows that Obama wants Clinton to succeed him as most Republicans would reverse his many presidential decrees. It is said that the FBI is above politics. They had no trouble finding others guilty of mishandling secret government information but most people realize that this case will be different and more to the point, most people won’t care. What this means is that Mrs. Clinton will be the democratic nominee and at this time it looks like she will be running against Trump. This should be an interesting election. We have one candidate who is secretive and considered dishonest and untrustworthy but experienced in the way that government operates. With Trump we have open book, to many, too open. He says whatever he thinks and seems not to care about the political ramifications. He has no political experience and is beholding to no one.