Politically Incorrect Reporting by Nevada JackThe warm weather continues and I just can’t get back to sleep. They’re saying January has been one of the warmest on record here in the north woods—on average 25 some degrees above average—with some 40 days straight of above average temperture. We're suppose to get a few more warm days, with temps in the 40s, before an artic air mass brings down some sleeping weather... With things so balmy, I’ve spent my times sticking my nose in human politics;, it's more entertaining than the National Enquirer.
Folks say and promise anything to get elected. Take Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi. Talking with a conservative priest on a TV program, he promised not to have sex until after the elections, which are scheduled for April 9th. Why? This priest had just thanked Berlusconi for his defense of family values. But this overstuffed politician is married to a beautiful woman, Veronica Lario, a former actress. For more information on Veronica, check out this blog.
Being intimate with one’s spouse isn’t a threat to family values in most books. So what was he promising? It has been pointed out that Berlusconi is a dubious defender of morals. He’s been married twice and is known for his playboy past. Maybe he is promising not to have any illicit affairs until after the election. Or maybe he’s making a promise that no one, except for him and his wife, will know for sure if it's kept. Promising not to do anything that is done out of the public eyes is a lot safer than promising to do something like cut spending, which can be observed by running the numbers. Of course, in America politicians make a big deal about cutting spending then do the opposite, hiding what they’ve really done. If you don't believe me, read this blog.If Berlusconi keeps his pledges and shuns the affection of this woman for a couple of months, Italians should question his sanity.
And then there is the case of President Bush. In the State of the Union Address, he chastised Americans for their addicted to oil. He’s right, of course. Only he should have been saying this since at least since 911 (after all, Carter said it back in the 70s). But Americans have gone on consuming more and more oil. Developing alternative energy sources is a good idea. It’s only that hearing Bush call for it, with his background and friends in the oil industry, makes him sound like your neighborhood heroin supplier lecturing you on the morality.
Of course, with big oil's surge in profits, I'm sure they'll be working on alternative energies. Well, probably not, they don't want anything to happen to the hen that lays their golden egg, but they at least have some ads which suggest they're busy doing research so that everyone can relax and get off their backs while their profits increase.
Continuing that analogy, Bush is calling to break our oil addiction while sticking the needle (ANWR) into his arm.
ReplyDeleteJust what we need, another cheap fix to help us break the addiction.
I actually thought the speech was quite good for Bush. I haven't tallied it yet but I probably agreed half of the time, especially on reducing our dependence on oil and cutting out some of the surplus social programs.
ReplyDeleteI was okay with a lot of the speech too. I am glad he finally admitted we need to do something about alternative energies (I'm just not holding my breath). I also was glad to see he discussed tightening up on earmark spending.
ReplyDeleteI just changed my post--which I often do for clearity and grammar the morning afterwards--but this time I had forget to make the tie in about Exxon's profits. To let people know (since the above comments were already made), the last paragraph was written after the above post.
Murf, Laura is always attractive, but what is this about a blogger beauty contest?
ReplyDeleteMurf, I should say that my biggest disagreements with the speech was about the war and about presidential powers. If I had tuned in 15 minutes late, I'd found myself agreeing with him quite a bit. As for the second half of your comment--think of something nasty and that can be my reply.
ReplyDeleteI may be wrong about this but aren't oil companies profits on oil mostly tied to oil futures (i.e. consumers set the price)? I think I read somewhere that 75% of Exxon's profit came from oil development and 25% from refining (which they would have some say in price structure.)
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to clarify that I, like you Sage, am not going to hold my breath on some issues. Also, I think his speech where he specifically said he authorized wiretapping FROM America to terrorists is a breach of the law and the constitution.
Umm..yep. Kinda like the Philip Morris ads "against" smoking. It will take a monstrous wake up call to fat'n'happy Americans to get their heads out of their gas tanks and into what's important.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments folks... no one seems to be interested in the sex lives, or lack of 'em, of Italian politicans...
ReplyDeleteI've alway's liked Ittalian Women. As for the oil thing...If we don't change things are going to get really nasty. That's up to us the poeple, the politicians won't fix it.
ReplyDeleteI shook my head at the Italian sex or should I say lack of sex scandal but really, what could I say that already hasn't been said?
ReplyDeleteSage, did you know that you can delete the spam comments?
ReplyDeleteI am reading, but not commenting much these days - struck speechless by terror, I guess