politics

Chris Knight's avatar

How bad are things when paying for the swearing in of a new President of the United States requires bailing out by the United States government?

George W. Bush has declared an emergency in and around Washington D.C. in anticipation of what is expected to be the record number of people who will be coming to town over the next several days to witness the inauguration of his successor, Barack Obama. Doing so “frees up” contingency funds that usually go toward hurricane relief or for other natural disasters. In this case that same money is going toward the inaugural celebrations. Providing for facilities is expected to cost the city $75 million and the state of Maryland, $12 million.

Quite a few things that could be observed about what this says regarding the American people and their government…

Admittedly, presidential inaugurations have always been a bit festive. Probably none on record ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

In a radio interview about the effects of the global recession on Great Britain, that country’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown has admitted that one of his heroes is Autobot leader Optimus Prime from the Transformers franchise…

Listeners to the show seemed to agree. One said that “Optimus Prime would be one hell of an advisor to the PM. He stands for honour and justice and I would vote for him as Prime Minister if he were real.”

Personally I think that if Mr. Brown is heartfelt about his admiration for Optimus Prime, that the British people are generally in good hands. Not too many mythic figures from the past few decades that are as virtuous and upstanding as Optimus Prime.

Thanks to Phillip Arthur for passing along the story!...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Al Franken has been declared the winner of the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota.

You know, I’ve been known for pulling a stunt or two for sake of politics. But that picture of Franken is just wrong…

Think about it: this man is about to be granted the same esteemed privileges that in more enlightened times were only granted to great orators such as Daniel Webster, John Calhoun, and Henry Clay.

And it looks like Caroline Kennedy is going to become Senator from New York, based on nothing but her “royalty”.

Now do you people understand why I believe the Seventeenth Amendment was one of the most horrible things to ever happen to the United States Constitution, and should be repealed in favor of letting the individual state legislatures elect the senators?!?...

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Chris Knight's avatar

2009 is only a few scant hours old and it’s already seen my first published work for the new year. In today’s News & Record (the big paper serving this region) out of Greensboro there’s this letter, “Political power presents a false god for Christians”, written by Yours Truly.

Here’s the full text of it…

My thoughts regarding the recent election were confirmed when the son of a prominent local minister told me, “Why can I not have both?” when I remarked that the Christians of America can pursue Christ or pursue power, but they cannot pursue them together.

Who is to blame most for the election of Barack Obama? The self-professed “conservative Christians.” The ones who have for many years made an idol of political influence. Instead of the God of heaven, they have turned to worshiping a “god of fortresses” bereft of sincere love, mercy and grace.

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Chris Knight's avatar

The first one is by Matt Towery at Townhall.com, who ruminates on “Why More and More Politicians are Rotten to the Core”. Towery echoes a lot of things that have been on my mind during the past year, which have led me to tell many people more times than I care to remember that “There is no faith to be had in politics”.

And on the somewhat more ornery side of things, Fred Reed – the Internet’s greatest curmudgeon – waxes eloquent in his piece “What Have the Bastards Done to My Country?”....

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Chris Knight's avatar

Is there anything more pathetic than a person scrambling against time in a vain effort to ensure that history will be kind to him or her?

Perhaps only if that person happens to be a current President of the United States.

George W. Bush was at West Point yesterday, trying to spin his eight years in office as a blazing success. The most foolish man to ever occupy the Oval Office actually defended his policy of pre-emptive war (something that had never been done before in American history) and declared to the assembled cadets that “With all the actions we’ve taken these past eight years, we’ve laid a solid foundation on which future presidents and future military leaders can build.”

The Decider also boasted that the present condition of the United States military is “”stronger, more agile and better prepared” than how he found it when he first took ...

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Today’s edition of the News & Record (the big newspaper in Greensboro) has a front-page story – like most other papers across the country this morning – about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich getting arrested for corruption regarding the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.

The headline in the News & Record reads: “Senate seat alleged for sale”

So when was the last time a Senate seat wasn’t for sale in this country?

If he did this, then Blagojevich should be thrown in, no… under the jailhouse and left to rot. But let’s get real folks: politics in the United States has become a high-stakes poker game with a buy-in that drastically exceeds the means of the average citizen. Unless you are filthy rich or otherwise have socially astute connections, you have no chance of running for high office.

Hell, it takes a fortune just to hire enough lawyers who ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

I figured this was going to happen if Barack Obama won the presidential election: self-professed “conservatives” would be quick to blast Obama and the Democrats for violating the Constitution… when in fact those same conservatives have turned a blind eye at every opportunity during the past eight years when “their guy” George W. Bush did the same.

That’s the kind of hypocrisy that I cannot forgive. And so far as the “Christian” ones go, it tells me that they are not interested in the truth at all.

Chuck Baldwin agrees, writing in his latest essay. The “Constitutional crisis” that many conservatives claim is there because of the dubious nature of Obama’s birthplace is diminished, because these conservatives refused to condemn their own just as equally…

Many conservatives seem to be obsessed with this controversy, calling it a “constitutional crisis.” The fact is, however, we have been in a “constitutional

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President-Elect Barack Obama is likely going to overturn a lot of Bush’s policies via the use of executive order and “signing statements”.

And here’s why Bush’s most stubborn supporters had darned well better start worrying up a sweat…

George W. Bush set a horrible precedent with his abuse of executive orders and signing statements (which are how he got around the letter of the law a lot of times, by “interpreting” legislation according to his own whims and declaring that it was his executive privilege to do so). And for most of the past decade, the “Bush-bots” have cheered him on… even when he’s grievously violated the Constitution in the process.

And now that very same power is going to land in the hands of Barack Obama.

Can you people who have thought Bush could do no wrong these eight years, possibly be capable of understanding what that means?

I’ve ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

A few days ago on this blog I wrote about how conservative Christians bore much of the blame for the election of Barack Obama. That they had let their pursuit of power blind them so much that they failed to see Christ and what He stood for anymore.

And now, writing in Jewish World Review (a very good publication, I might add), Cal Thomas doesn’t just echo those same sentiments, he articulates them far better than I could.

From his essay “The Religious Right, R.I.P.”…

Thirty years of trying to use government to stop abortion, preserve opposite-sex marriage, improve television and movie content and transform culture into the conservative Evangelical image has failed. The question now becomes: should conservative Christians redouble their efforts, contributing more millions to radio and TV preachers and activists, or would they be wise to try something else?

I opt for trying something else…

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