Tag: politics

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The Real Threat to National Security

The real threat to US National Security isn’t some disaffected contractor who let his ideals get the best of him. No, the real threat is global warming – or the more politically palatable label “climate change” – and everything else is just window dressing for the apocalypse.

The World Bank says we’re pretty much doomed: in the future, flood and famine are the order of the day. Read the full report here: Turn Down the Heat (pdf).

But we’re more worried about our phone calls and emails.

And our government is worried about them, too.

We might just end up being the safest dead people ever.

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Christie 2016

Everybody’s got a little hole in the middle
Everybody does a little dance with the devil

The Hurricane1 does it again! Chris Christie continues his campaign to win my vote in 2016, making him the first Republican I’ve ever voted for in a national election. We still disagree on several deal-breaker issues, but he’s getting there. He’s decided to appoint an interim Senator until a Special Election can be held in October to finish the remainder of Senator Frank Lautenberg’s term after the Senior Senator from New Jersey passed away this week. Not everyone is happy with the decision, however:

[Former House Majority Leader Dick] Armey accused the governor of trying to curry favor with Democrats by not appointing a Republican to the seat until 2014. He’ll name an interim senator by next week to serve until the special election.

“All Christie has to do is appoint a Republican. That’s the correct move for him to make,” Armey said. “Now, I put it down as debilitating stupidity. The first rule of politics is ‘Don’t lose the friends you already have for the friends you’re never going to get.’ And if he thinks the Democrats are going to love him for being the guy who plays fair rather than takes the political opportunity he’s crazy.”

A Democratic governor would have “seized the opportunity” and appointed a senator from his own party, Armey argued Tuesday.

This was the classy, statesmanlike thing to do. And anything that pisses off Dick Armey off is a good thing.
_____
1That’s my nickname for him.

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Election Season Again

Come on ye childhood heroes!
Won’t you rise up from the pages of your comic-books
your super crooks
and show us all the way.
Well! Make your will and testament. Won’t you?
Join your local government.
We’ll have Superman for president
let Robin save the day.

It is election season again, and we have a big one open locally: Magisterial District Judge. This is the “minor judiciary” in Pennsylvania. A friend of mine, attorney Kelley Gillette-Walker is running, so I am somewhat biased. (Incidentally, she is the first Republican I’ve ever supported for any office. As a lifelong Democrat, this is A Big Deal.) Since judges are technically non-partisan, she is cross-filed as a Republican and Democratic candidate. (Local voting information is available here.)

I have never missed an election. Even when I lived in England for nine months, I still managed to vote for Al Gore and *cough* *gack* Joe Lieberman. Needless to say, we get a lot of campaign mail. One we got this past week struck a chord with me — and not in a good way.

Steven Smith, a local mortgage settlement broker, has decided to throw his hat into the ring. You can see a PDF of the letter I got in the mail here. From the letter:

I stand firm in my religious convictions, I walk in my commitments, and I remain transparent to those around me.

Somebody is pandering to the religious vote. This is not a bad approach in this area. If Dayton, Tennessee is the buckle of the bible belt, then Central PA is that hanging bit you can never seem to tuck into the belt loop on your dress pants.

I have no idea what “walk in my commitments” and “remain transparent” mean, but I can smell Fundamentalist code words from a hundred meters. I wasn’t raised in that particular faith tradition, but I did have enough religious exposure growing up to have an allergic reaction to such things. What I do know is that the Magisterial District Judgeship is a secular post in a secular government. I just hope all of the candidates recognize that and, should they win the election, act accordingly. I am fine with a judge having religious faith, but that can’t take he place of judgement, reasoning, and the fair interpretation and application of the law.