Tag: Politics and Grassroots

Claus 2008

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Wired.com wrote about a man named Santa Claus – that’s his legal name – who is complaining about the 5,000-friend limit on Facebook profiles. Since there are now just 99 days left until Christmas, my interest was piqued; I started clicking links to find out more about Santa.

Santa Claus, it turns, out, is the head of an organization called the Santa Claus Foundation. According to the group’s website, they advocate on behalf of children. But as you would expect, some things about Claus and Co. just don’t add up. For instance, the group claims to produce “educational materials to help ensure children’s health, safety, and welfare.” The only “educational material” I saw were a few YouTube clips, some from other organizations, and some where Santa talked about Presidential candidates needing to do more to advance the cause of children – which is a tough candy cane to suck on when the clip starts with the line, “I’m Santa Claus, I’m a Christian monk and Children’s advocate, I live in Lake Tahoe…”

A disclaimer on the home page sums up the ridiculousness: “Please note that this website is not designed for viewing by children!” I repeat: This website… about Santa Claus… is not for children. It’s all just too much…

Then what to my wondering eyes should appear?
An alternate site: Vote for Santa this year!

Apparently, the 501(c)(3) non-profit Santa Claus Foundation is putting it’s head up for election this year as President of the United States. “Can’t happen,” you might say, “he isn’t a U.S.-born citizen.” How soon you forget that Santa lives in Lake Tahoe.

And sure enough, there on the home page of Santa’s campaign site is a YouTube video: “Santa Claus Slams Obama and McCain: Announces Candidacy for President.” Apparently Santa “slams” people now; perhaps coal was no longer working for naughty boys and girls.

You can show your support by voting in Santa’s online poll, which asks the question: Why are you voting for Santa?

  • Santa advocates for vulnerable children
  • Santa does not accept campaign contributions
  • Santa wants a future filled with love not fear
  • I do not like Senator Obama or Senator McCain
  • ALL OF THE ABOVE

Are these Santa-approved reasons to reject the major party candidates? And doesn’t it fly in the face of what Santa stands for to say that you just plain don’t like someone? Where’s the Christmas spirit there?

What you won’t find on either Santa’s campaign site or the main Santa Claus foundation site is original research about children’s issues or any educational materials. You will find some pictures with politicians and hugging children, a few vague comments about neglected children, and – of course – a button you can click on to donate money. I could be wrong, but I’d think twice before sending these folks so much as a glass of milk and a dish of cookies, though.

BlackBerry Buzz

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

I just got back from a much-too-short vacation, during which I turned off my BlackBerry, dropped it into a drawer, and didn’t even look at it for three days.  Speaking of BlackBerries, the internet is all abuzz with headlines like this:

“Campaign: John McCain Invented the BlackBerry”

My first thought: “#$%& you, John McCain, for making me reachable at 3:00 a.m.” Just because Hillary Clinton is ready to take the call doesn’t mean I’m ready to take the email.

Then I read the actual posts by Wired’s normally-dependable Sarah Lai Stirland and Politico’s Jonathan Martin about this seemingly ridiculous claim. Both quote as their source McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who waved his BlackBerry in the air as evidence of developments in telecommunications over the past 15 years.

That’s not my spin. That’s Martin’s account:

“Asked what work John McCain did as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate’s top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry. ‘He did this,’ Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters this morning, holding up his BlackBerry. ‘Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce Committee. So you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that’s what he did.'”

Holtz-Eakin is taking too much credit for his boss – after all, no Senate Committee can or should really take credit for the innovations that companies like Apple, Research In Motion, AT&T, and others have made through their private research and development. But can anyone actually read this as a claim – even a mistaken one – that John McCain invented the BlackBerry?

The folks who are making hay over this are looking to create a parallel with the storm around Al Gore’s much-ridiculed “inventing the internet” gaffe. Of course, the joke about Gore stems from a direct quote (“During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet”). Drawing similarities with a staffer waving a prop is a stretch to say the least.

Moore for less

~ Jim Eltringham ~ 2 Comments

Good news! You won’t have to pay a dime to see Michael Moore’s next movie. Slacker Uprising, a documentary about Michael Moore travelling around the country during the 2004 election, will be available for free download on September 23. (But only for U.S. and Canadian citizens, which is of course wrong because we are a nation of immigrants.)

Moore claims the digital freebie is a thank-you note to his legions of adoring fans. More probably, he realized that fewer people than usual would go see it. His previous films, which dealth with issues like health care, gun control, or the war on terror, had an element of hot-of-the-presses controversy; Slacker Uprising deals with a speaking tour that tried (and failed) to affect an election four years ago.

Second (and, truth be told, more important), Moore must realize that, although big theatrical releases are great, this is 2008, and that ideas on film spread faster through viral video. Moore’s crackpot ideas have a better chance at exposure if his potential followers aren’t asked to plunk down $9.75 for the experience.

White wing politics

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

The Washington Post noted yesterday that the delegates at the Republican Convention weren’t just white, but historically white, with only 36 black delegates out of 2,380.

It’s somewhat understandable, with the other party boasting a black nominee. More disturbing, though, is the callous appraisal of the situation by McCain campaign manager Rick Davis (who has fired off comments that are just a little too “inside baseball”), who promised, “We can run our campaign the way we want to run it and not be in direct conflict with a lot of voter groups [Obama] is trying to get.”

Which brings us to today’s lesson, kids: when trying to reach out to minority voters, don’t begin by telling them you don’t need their vote.

Advise and Consent

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

I recently started reading Allen Drury’s Advise and Consent. (If you haven’t read it, you might have to resort to your local library or a used bookstore to find a copy – I believe it’s out of print.) The novel revolves around a controversial Cold War-era Presidential nomination under consideration by the Senate.

Washington, D.C. is a much different town today than it was 50 years when the book was written. Our government has changed, too – if Allen Drury was writing Advise and Consent in 2008, the basic plot may be the same but the characters and their interactions would take on a completely new look.

I’m about 300 pages into the book, and there have only been a handful of mentions of Senate staff. The central characters are officeholders – Senators, the Vice President, the President, the Secretary of State nominee, and others. In today’s bureaucratized Washington, D.C. the staff members would surely have a major role to play. In fact, they might arguably be more important than the Senators in pushing forward the machinations of government.

The other striking anachronism is the heavy cloud of the Cold War that hangs over Drury’s Capitol. In considering the nominee for Secretary of State, the Senators in the novel express differing views on handling the Soviet Union. The most vocal Senator adamantly insists on making concessions during negotiations with the Russians, claiming he would rather “crawl to Moscow than perish under a bomb.” Nearly twenty years after Ronald Reagan won the Cold War, such defeatism is almost unfathomable.

By the way, Drury also takes shots at the media and academia for sympathizing with the left. So apparently some things haven’t changed.

Who decides what "experience" counts?

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Sarah Palin took the stage at the Republican National Convention last night in part to answer criticisms from Democrats that she didn’t have the experience to be Vice President. Her rebuke was direct: who are you, she asked, to call me inexperienced?

Time will tell if it resonates, but the theme of liberal arrogance worked well for the Republicans in 2004, and the Democrats are in danger of making the same mistake twice. By belittling Palin’s offices in Alaska, Obama’s minions are really belittling that state and its voters.

Even beyond Alaska’s borders, voters don’t want to hear that representing an urban State Senate district worth more than running a rural town. Strategy like that makes for electoral maps like this:

Heard anything about this Sarah Palin chick?

~ Jim Eltringham ~ 2 Comments

I’ve seen a story or two about Sarah Palin since her national introduction, as Obama’s camp tried to skewer her for everything from her lack of experience (“Where was she Governor? Alaska? That doesn’t count!”) to family issues (“How can she expect to represent real people when she’s trying to balance a family, a career, and a daughter’s unexpected pregnancy?”)

DailyKos takes the taco for criticizing Palin’s handling of Alaska dairy policy. And it was tough to top all the Obamanation minions who have the brass cahones to talk about Palin’s alleged inexperience.

All the drummed-up controversy demonstrates the political left’s understanding that Palin, 44, has the potential to be a strong female voice for conservative ideas for years to come – as a veep candidate in 2008 and as potential Presidential timber in 2012. If she isn’t destroyed, it strips the Democrats of their self-styled monopoly on “change.”

Ward Connerly, Christina Hoff Sommers, Star Parker, and others know it all too well: whenever conservative views are expressed by a constituency the left likes to think they own, the criticism of the messenger becomes especially swift and harsh.

Buy More Science!

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

ScienceDebate2008.com is a group of scientific research groups, trade organizations, academic institutions, and similar groups that invites site visitors to submit science-related questions, which are then posed to the candidates. Obama has answered, and drawn glowing praise.

Quoted on Wired.com, ScienceDebate CEO Shawn Otto called his responses “very substantive for this point in the campaign, and surprisingly detailed… A lot of the scientists I’ve spoken to are pleased with the level of substance and detail.”

What wisdom has Obama dispensed? Let’s look at some of his musings on science policy:
Read the full Q&A session here: http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=40

  • “My administration will increase funding for basic research in physical and life sciences, mathematics, and engineering at a rate that would double basic research budgets over the next decade.”
  • “I have proposed programs that, taken together, will increase federal investment in the clean energy research, development, and deployment to $150 billion over ten years.”
  • “As president, I will lift the current administration’s ban on federal funding of research on embryonic stem cell lines created after August 9, 2001 through executive order, and I will ensure that all research on stem cells is conducted ethically and with rigorous oversight.”

Notice a trend?

Putting aside the question of where the money would come from given the current state of our national finances, where would the money go to? Probably research groups, trade organizations, and academic institutions. I’m sure ScienceDebate2008.com partners, would get their share.

All in the name of science, of course.

Happy Labor Day!

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Like many Americans, I had yesterday off to celebrate Labor Day. Labor Day is, of course, the day we get off on the first Monday in September to celebrate our nation’s dogged work ethic – not to be confused with the state holidays in January (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), February (President’s Day), May (Memorial Day), July (Independence Day), October (Columbus Day), November (Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving), or December (Christmas). And if you’re in Massachusetts, you also have Evacuation Day in March, Patriots Day in April, and Bunker Hill Day in June.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor – and you’d think they’d be an authority on the topic – Labor Day was started by either Peter J. McGuire or Matthew Maguire, depending on which records you believe. As you might expect from someone who came up with an idea that involved a day off of work, both were organized labor leaders. Labor Day started on September 5, 1882 in New York City with a picnic and demonstration, leading to a long tradition of parades and barbecues.

Luckily, the SEIU engaged in a Take Back Labor Day campaign – to make sure we all knew the true meaning of Labor Day/hold concerts and advocate for their membership dues-funded political agenda. (No word on whether or not anyone was visited by the ghosts of Cesar Chavez, Jimmy Hoffa, and Samuel Gompers.)

Organized Labor, what are you cooking up to make my life better next? New and Improved Democracy! Every so often, organized labor dredges up the Employee Free Choice Act, which allows bosses to peak over workers’ shoulders on unionization votes. After all, we all know real democracy depends on transparency.

As an aside, I spent my Labor Day weekend at my parents’ house. While there, I fixed a sink, which means I proudly took work away from a unionized plumber who probably would have charged an arm and a leg in parts, labor, etc. I worked for ice cream.