Presidential campaigns and other dilemnas

Just think, we have a whole year to enjoy the friviolity and hypocricy of the current contenders. There is many a slippery rock between now and next November for the unwary to fall victim to. The recent surge in fund raising by Ron Paul is a case in point. His straight talk and outspokenness is going to have an effect on how the other contenders deal with issues. Of course dealing with issues is probably the last thing they care to do.

Right now it is a case of each one, both Reps and Dems, trying to affect a tough guy image. Guliani is a surprise to me. How he has parlayed his appearance at the 9/11 site, stalking about with the press corp, shows he knows a good photo opp when he sees one. It should be only a matter of a short time before the conservatives see he is not their man. Romney is another pretender to the throne who is a thin facsimile of a true conservative. He comes across as Gore did as someone who is trying to reinvent himself to suit the perceived demands of the party.

John McCain is the most solidly authentic in the bunch. Too early on he attached himself to Bush's war. It seemed to me he was attempting to ingratiate himself with the Rovian base of the party. The by-election should have clued him that that was not the best position to take. Rove's "base" has crumbled since the entire administration has been discredited. To buck popular opinion as blatantly as McCain has shows his guts and independence but that dosen't allow him to assume leadership of the parade.

In a way I'm disappointed that Newt Gingrich has chosen not to run. He, in my estimation is a very savvy person, politically, historically, and pragmatically.
He must have learned a hard lesson when he over played his hand with his "Cotract With America". Clinton called his bluff and ended the game. Bush is doing the same thing to the Dems as they attempt to force their programs on him.

The polarization of todays politics is beginning to look similar to the confrontation between the Sunnis and the Shiites. The Reps have the attitude that it is their devine right to rule and they feel obstuctionist tactics are the way to discredit the Dems. The result is that the public's attitude is "a pox on both your houses". They are disgusted with the partisan bickering where constructive action is need on so many issues. Our energy needs, environmental protection, education, infrastructure repair, ad nauseum, are going by the board while our treasure is consumed by waste and corruption and the war burns up dollars and doughboys.

Urgent issues such as the illegal immigrant flood and arguing over the repugnant practice of "waterboarding". For heaven's sake, pass a law making it illegal and be done with it. Another thing that boggles my mind is the crisis over mortgage rates.
First of all it is the greedy banking practices that brought it about. Now instead of simply calling off the rate increases or at least moderating them the damn fools are foreclosing and taking terrific losses. If the mortgages were performing adequately at the original rate why not keep that going for a longer time. To arbitrarily insist the rates must jump to an unsustainable level seems very stupid.

We are all suffering from high gasoline prices. The excuse is "supply and demand". That however is only part of the story. For whatever reason the value of the dollar steadily dropping is another part of the story. On the world market oil is denominated in dollars. Higher value currencies can then pay a lower price for their oil than we do. Incredibly the U.S. is paying the Middle Easters a high premium for their oil thus financing their fight against us. Duh!!!!!

Hopefully our oil woes will stimulate the search for alternate energy sources. I think that nuclear power is needed to produce electricity. I'm considering a geothermal unit to heat the camp. Being on a well, having a generator (I know that takes petroleum)(maybe I'll go for solar power) will make it possible to live independent of public utilities. Fortunately we have lived through problem times before so I'm confident we will survive this period.