House Republicans hold strong

Posted on September 29th, 2008 by brasten |0 comments » | Filed in

I expected the bailout to pass. I really did. But the Republicans in the House were able to defeat the measure this morning, at least for the moment. Nicely done!.

Now it's time for Americans to dig in and prepare for rough times ahead. Our fast-food, easy-credit society has a hard time accepting that sometimes problems can't be fixed... but this is one of those times. Those of us who oppose this bill do so with full understanding that we're in for some really hard economic situations. But this bailout would have made things worse in the long run for everyone (except, perhaps, a few bankers).

The odd ways we choose our friends

Posted on August 11th, 2008 by brasten |0 comments » | Filed in

If you listen to the mainstream media here in America, you probably believe that Russia is up to it's old aggressive tricks again and invaded Georgia for some silly reason. Doesn't much matter what the reason is, Russia's bad.

Georgia, on the other hand, wants to be in NATO. And it's a democracy, right? Two thumbs up for Georgia.

Now, I'm generally AGAINST taking sides in foreign conflicts; but, since the media already has, I'll at least make the following point: Georgia initiated armed confrontation by attempting to take back South Ossetia -- a small area between Georgia proper and Russian that declared itself independent in the 1990's. Russia is defending an independent nation from invasion, not invading Georgia. (I'm sure Russia's doing it for their own motives, however.)

You'd think people in these United States would appreciate the right of secession. Hmmm.

On a related topic, 22% of Americans support a state's right to secede. Only 22% support this fundamental right to self-government?

Of Ans and Ics

Posted on July 3rd, 2008 by brasten |0 comments » | Filed in

I've just read that Progressive thinkers have recently come up with a rebuttal to the derogatory term "Democrat Party." Apparently, they are now calling on fellow thinkers to refer to the other side as the "Republic Party." Cleverness aside, here's the problem I see with that...

Republic Party sounds kind of cool to me!

In fact, those who know me know that I now consider myself a member of the Republican Party (after flirting with independent status for a few years) but that I do not agree with a large portion of the Republican Party's current platform. I strongly believe that I'm a small part of a wave of libertarian-minded Republicans that will shape the future of the party.

And for months now I've been trying to figure out a concise way of expressing all that... "Republican, but not the kind of Republican you think!" just doesn't cut it anymore...

Maybe we should adopt Republic Party for that purpose?

Bigoted-right, enlightened-left?

Posted on June 28th, 2008 by brasten |0 comments » | Filed in

Here are a few clips from various party's platforms regarding same-sex marriage... you may be surprised by which statements belong to which party...

  • In our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there.
  • We strongly support ... a Constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage, and we believe that neither federal nor state judges nor bureaucrats should force states to recognize other living arrangements as equivalent to marriage.
  • We support the recognition of equal rights of persons gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender to housing, jobs, civil marriage, medical benefits, child custody, and in all areas of life provided to all other citizens.
  • We advocate an end to all government attempts to dictate, prohibit, control or encourage any private lifestyle, living arrangement or contractual relationship.

Recognize your party in there? Maybe you do, maybe not... look it up. Be informed.