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Scobleizer and the US Car Industry

On Thursday, I posted an article I found about US Auto industry CEOs flying to Washington to beg for money. The stupidity of using a private jet to ask taxpayers for $25 billion dollars was so overwhelming it made my stomach turn and certainly didn't do anything for my heartstrings. I figured if they were stupid enough to do it, they deserved what they got.

Then today, Robert Scoble wrote a great piece why we should support bailing the US Auto Industry out of the giant pile of poo the created and HOW they should do it. So often I hear or read about people complaining about one thing or another but if you ask them what their ideas are on changing it, making it better, or fixing it- "Uh, I dunno".

I wasn't against bailing them out or for it either. Too much of our economy is wrapped up in our auto industry and I am no economist. It was the flying to beg for money in a private jet I found insulting and ludicrous. However, Scoble suggested that the CEOs should have DRIVEN cars made by their companies to Washington. Duh. Why didn't I think of that? Because I am not the Scobleizer, that's why.

Anyway, if you're interested in some clear common sense and expertise, go read what he wrote and what Ford wrote in response.

We'll See

I have successfully kept my fingers still about "the Election" since the Primaries. Other than a few articles shared on my Google Reader page, I haven't said so much here.

In California, my views are considered conservative, in Virginia, liberal.  Because I am an artist most people assume I am liberal. I tend to think of myself as Progressive. People who know me, family and friends, know I am pretty moderate about most things political. I have issues I am passionate like anyone else but for most part I am moderate.

When Hillary lost the Primary, I supposed that history would repeat itself and it did. Refreshingly though it seems that the color of skin is secondary to the perceived character and ideologies, at least on the face of things..

Our household has been polarized by this election so we had a moratorium on discussing politics. When we went to the polls yesterday, it was with the knowledge that our votes were canceling each other out. But more than that, we were voting against someone rather than voting for someone else. I had an attitude about that because for the last four elections before this one, I voted for someone and I knew why. That was not so this time. If I could have voted with prejudice, I would have.

I am not convinced Obama is the great harbinger of change that people seem to want to believe he is. I don't know that I agree with Christiane Amanpour - that this election will change the world. Though I will venture to say it might change how America is viewed around the world. But like most of the country, I am tired of the status quo.  I am ready for change. More importantly, I believe it's time for change and I'm not sure it can happen in four years.

When I consider the alternative, I guess I'll take what I can get.

We'll see.

This time.

In Defense of Elizabeth Edwards and Other Enablers

And then Lee Woodruff (yep, Bob Woodruff's wife), posted this charming and well put commentary in her space at the Huffington Post.

This past Sunday, Sally Quinn wrote a thought provoking Washington Post column about Elizabeth Edwards that got many of my friends talking. She took a slightly different tack than much of the other media coverage has taken. In the outcry about John Edward's revelations, she pointed one of her fingers at Elizabeth Edwards, as an enabling wife. In my humble opinion, there are arguably many ways to examine this kind of a news story. There are so many angles in the prism from which to view it; who is at fault, who did what to whom, who is lying and when did they lie. In short -- the world has always been and is full of human frailty. But when someone is running for public office, it does require a stronger microscope.

Read more. Go ahead. I dare you.

Words? Thoughts? Commentary of your own?

How is John McCain's Affair Different from John Edwards'?

Cenk Uygur of the Huffington Post has a point.

"We have this weird notion in America now that if a politician is caught in an affair that his career is done. We seem to be saying that what he did in his private life effects his policies or how he governs. But we all know that isn't true. We know that because almost all of our great presidents, and great leaders throughout history, have had numerous affairs. Obviously it didn't hurt how they governed at all".

Read more...

John Edwards Isn't A Demon

Most everyone knows, I liked John Edwards.  I liked his ideas and I'm usually a sucker for a moderate. When I talked to my mother on the phone last she asked me what I thought about the John Edwards affair. My answer last night was the same as it is this morning: I wasn't surprised and it doesn't affect my opinion of him in the slightest. I believe my exact words last night were, "Oh, that.  No, I wasn't surprised. No one can be that lily white".

"But he did it as his wife was going through 4th stage cancer", said my mother.

"Yeah. That sucks. But people have affairs under all kinds of stressful circumstances. Men have affairs when their wives are pregnant or because there's some huge stressful issue happening and it rarely helps and always sucks".

Infidelity and adultery run rampant in politics. It's nothing new or unusual and we Americans are always quick to moralize and condemn people  for behavior that offends our sensibilities or our moral codes. The older I get the less able and willing I am to wash all things with my morality brush. I have a enough to do in keeping my own turds in a pile without projecting my own code of ethics and morality on other people's behavior.

I tend to view infidelity and adultery as a symptom of something else- an inappropriate response to a stressful situation in a relationship or in some cases, part of addictive behavior. Yes, it's happened to me and it was always about them and their inability to deal to deal with life on life's terms. Does that make them "bad"  or "amoral" people? Not always.

So, I enjoyed reading this article from AlterNet and thought I would share it with those of you who are still hanging tough with me.

Why We Should Stop Demonizing John Edwards

Well, Well...

Seeing  as how I managed to wipe out my entire blog during re-designing it, I'm starting over. The Percocet gods were not being kind yesterday. Sorry folks.