Appalling Palin

What was McCain thinking with Palin? And what the hell are Americans thinking with Palin? I know that here in the US we have idiots like Julia Gillard, but at least she has spent time in the political system at the top end, not just in state politics or even worse, as a mayor of a city and claiming that to be a justified credential for the top job. This Palin person seems to be uneducated and completely unaware of any broader issues. I mean honestly, if you can *see* a place you are not an expert on it. I can *see* the airport - does this mean I'm qualified to be an air traffic controller? But enough of such easy attacking.

I read a fair bit of stuff on the net and I see other women reacting to Palin very positively. Have they taken leave of their senses? They do not seem to be questioning her credentials for the position she hopes to assume, i.e. Vice President of the US. Sure Dick Cheney is a meglomaniac and all, but he at least has the ability to make his crazy ideas work. Palin doesn't seem to have any ideas and appears to be there to attack Obama. When Australian news anchors said that she did well in the debate against Joe Biden, Obama's VP candidate I laughed out loud. I saw the debate and frequently buried my head in my hands with embarrasment for Palin. She just doesn't have a clue - and what's worse is, no-one else wants to point it out! I guess it's like Al Gore. He was too smart for them. Sarah Palin is about the same intelligence as the mob and as such, they are comfortable with that. Let's have the country run by someone who isn't much brighter than we are! It's not as if her job is bigger, or has more responsibility than "Joe Six-pack" does. 

This is a rant and it's a rant at stupidity which I cannot abide. Every time I find myself being stupid about something it's makes me very unhappy indeed. It's an interesting juxtaposition though, Obama vs McCain, Biden vs Palin, New Ideas (including *gasp* diplomacy) vs Entrenched Old Ideas (mostly about using force to negotiate). New vs Old energy. Although Palin is young, she has an old mindset. A "we're the most powerful country on earth, let's blow some shit up! Hoo UH!"

Personally I think a vote for McCain/Palin is a vote for the past and for the ways things are currently run (i.e. Bush/Cheney) and a vote for Obama/Biden is a vote for the future and for the chance at something better.

It reminds me of this old adage: Insanity is defined as continuing to act in the old way and expecting something different to happen (or words to that effect).

*Update*

It now appears that the initial positive upswing of support for Palin is failing miserably as people realise she is unqualified for the job. More people are looking at McCain and saying: "He's pretty old, and he's had cancer - do we really want Palin as the President?" A damned interesting question I think.

Financial Bail out

For anyone in the money markets the last month or so has been a devastating one. I've been reading a bit about the way this whole thing started, with the bad debts in the USA and how this is now flowing on to the rest of the world. The biggest thing that irks me is the lack of responsibility being taken by people.

Take the people at the bottom line of things - those people who took out mortgages for homes that they could never effectively repay. Yes, during the first 6 or 12 months when they were paying 1% interest back they could afford it. When the honeymoon was over and their mortgage repayments became what they should be - well then they were screwed and many choose to walk away on their bad debts. Accordingly, the over-priced homes they had bought were then sold for less than the purchase price, so the debt wasn't covered by it and the lenders had to take a write off. Consider the massive inflation in home prices that was caused by all these cheap mortgages and people paying far more than a home was worth. It turns out this is a widespread thing, and it's happening in Australia too.

Deregulation of the financial sector is probably partly to blame, but the greed of these people in the financial sector is more to blame. It's not about responsible stewardship of people's money - it's about how much they can make and how fast they can do it. The major banks here in Australia are posting record profits. The executives are getting massive bonuses. If the market falls here like it has in the US and the Australian government bails them out that is the worst kind of financial mismanagement that there is. The record profits and bonuses should go back into the banks to keep them solvent. The people's money should be protected - both people with money in the banks and the taxpayers who are being asked to foot the bill (and by and large they're the same people).

In the US no-one is taking responsibility for the fall. Bailing them out only serves to indicate that you can do this sort of thing and get away with it. What a load of shit! It's like murdering someone and walking away with the smoking gun in your hand and a nation of witnesses. The US government should be ashamed of themselves. A cleansing needs to happen - all the bad debt, all the bad operators and all the bad investment groups need to be shutdown. That's the point of letting them crumble. Yes there will be some financial hardship for the people with their money tied up in this but it will pass. The cycle will continue and hopefully, the next loop around will be a better one that before. I've always refused to put money in the stock market. I can't see the pay-back on betting on confidence in companies and really, that's what it is. A company can still make products to a high standard but their share price won't reflect that - it'll go up and down based on the most absurd premises - the company's CEO shagged someone else's missus or something ridiculous. I wish I were joking. 

The worst thing that could have been done was to provide a safety net for the people who have caused the financial melt down in it's current state. They are not being held accountable for their actions and I read recently that in the US they are not even being prosecuted! What the fuck!? Let's just allow them to get off without responsibility. I suppose that's the Bush way. I wonder if it will be the Rudd way as well?

US Presidential Primaries

I've been watching with some interest the primaries in the USA. As I understand it, the current mini elections are for the Republicans and Democrats to sort out who they want to have as their candidate for the Presidency. I can't help but notice the biased media reporting. TV, newspapers and radios support the industry favourites - Obama, Clinton, etc while the Internet crowd seems to be massing behind Ron Paul. And I can understand why. Someone who has a track record of consistency, answers questions straightforwardly and doesn't attempt to pass blame off is very attractive the attention limited crowd on the Internet. We don't want to read through the bullshit that some of these cretins are spewing forth. That idiot Giulani should be hung out to dry - is he mental? The leverage for his campaign is 9/11 - a tragedy that was arguably caused by the US intervention into other countries affairs. I was really amused when Ron Paul tried to describe the phenomenon of blowback to this moron. I guess he doesn't get that if you blow up bombs in your neighbour's backyard, sooner or later that dude is going to come back at you with some heavy shit.

And while I'm proselytizing on that issue, I've read a few things suggesting that 9/11 was planned and executed within the US government to give Bush the kind of momentum he needed to suspend all kinds of rights and the like and also to invade Iraq. Well done. I salute him on his planning and execution skills, even though I reckon he didn't have much to do with any of it and someone else planned the lot.

I think it would be nice to have someone who isn't tied up with all the big companies and oil and the presidential dynasty in the US leading that country. Ron Paul seems to be my favourite at the moment. Even though I disagree with some of his policies - for example I think a woman's right to choose an abortion is her business (as Jay in the movie Dogma puts it: "A woman's body is her own fucking business") I like the fact that he has stood by the decisions he's made and makes them in good faith. Good luck to him. Were I American he'd have my vote.

Disgraceful Politicians

Each day I read quite a few articles on the net about various things. This one here: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/12/16/telecoms/index.html is referring to the eavesdropping the US government perpetrates on it's citizens and the desire of many of the piss weak pollies to allow the corporations, and by extension themselves, off without even a slap on the wrist. How the fuck does this support the people they are supposed to represent?

In Australia the new Labour government are starting to bring in rules to prohibit various types of lobbying that involve an exchange of funds of any type. Why does the Government not take away the requirement to have any need for outside money in the race for the top spot? I'd love to see this happen in the US, where it appears the more money you have, the more likely you are to reach the Presidency. Now I'm not a fan of Kevin Rudd, the current Australian PM, but I'll give him a chance. I thought John Howard did alright - although I naturally disagreed with things that happened during his tenure as PM.

My point (if there is one) is that politicians seem to excise any type of honour, or integrity once they decide to enter politics. They'll say anything to get in, make any promise, kiss any handy arse. They'll support the big corporations that are designed for one thing - to make money off of everyone else, regardless of the cost to society or the environment. That's a rant for another time I think - corporations and specifically the people running them should be accountable for *everything* that the corporation does. But to get back on topic....

When you promise the world, naturally you're lying. It takes a lot of effort to change things and people seem to not realise this. You don't click your fingers and say - there we go, problem xyz is fixed. Why not at least promise what you can deliver? I'm the President of a local sporting association and I don't make promises. I tell people what is achievable, what I'm working on and work like hell to make it all pay off. But I don't lie, or compromise my integrity. I aim to provide the best I can for all the people I represent. This bullshit in the US about the wiretapping protects the lying fucks of George Bush (pick one) and his cabinet and the spineless cretins that allowed it to be implemented. You can bet *they* aren't being watched. To say I feel disillusioned by the democratic process is a lot like saying the sun is only "warm". Frankly, I think that if Kevin Rudd can pull us out of our regrettable entanglement with the United States we'll be a lot better off. Those fat, useless, fear ridden cretins in the US should be allowed to sink alone and not be able to drag our sorry arses down with them.

And of course, I once again wonder why someone doesn't go on a shooting rampage at Capitol Hill and try to winnow out a few of those useless bastards in the US Senate and Congress. I regret that my language is insufficient to suitably portray my feelings with regards to those.... humans (and even admitting I'm of the same species is a big stretch). At the end of the day, I'd like to see people who've had real jobs, who've had to work hard for what they've got and who have an ounce of integrity in those politicians' seats. They certainly cannot do any worse than the motherfuckers there at the moment.