Christine O’Donnell the epitome of the American Dream

Christine O’Donnell the epitome of the American Dream

In case you don’t remember who Christine O’Donnell is, she’s the political wunderkind, Tea Party poster child who pulled an upset in the 2010 GOP primary to run for senate in Delaware.  Of course she was mercilessly crushed in the general election losing by over 30% in the voting.  Now this was not that shocking, she’d lost a house due to none payment, had been fired from a job then unsuccessfully sued them for $9 million for gender discrimination and emotional distress.  Politically she started out as a pro-choice liberal, had an epiphany at 21 and became and born again, pro-life Republican.

However after all of that she is probably most famous for her commercial where she denied being a witch, check it out.

Doesn’t sound so bad, but check out The Young Turks re-edit of the video, much more fun to watch: 

So after this incredible debacle she was obviously laughed off the political stage and forgotten about right?  Not in America, who do I see on CNN tonight as a political commentator on GOP issues, that’s right, Christine O’Donnell, who says the American Dream is dead!

Somethings Happening Here….

Somethings happening here is the first line of a Buffalo Springfield song, the song feels very, very current because without a doubt something is definitely going on around here, first the Tea Party and now the Occupy movement.  What it is, ain’t exactly clear.

There is an undercurrent of frustration in this country right now.  In America, a lot of frustration runs under the surface, we pretend that discrimination is rare in our country but it’s not; there is plenty of gender inequity, racism and although many conservatives don’t seem to believe it, tremendous economic inequity.  The economic inequity maybe the hardest pressure of all and it impacts American across racial and gender lines.  Parents come in all colors, both genders and lots of different family configurations however they all share one thing, the fear of what their children’s lives will be like in the future.  A lot of people right now liberal and conservative fear for their children’s future.  Throw that in the mix with a generation that has a serious sense of entitlement, people my age who never quite knew what to protest, and a lot of old hippies fearing for the future of their grandchildren and I think you have a country wide powder keg.

 Of course what’s lighting the fuse right now is the “Great Recession”, folks pay attention, the “Great Recession” is in many ways every bit as brutal as the Great Depression was and if you ask a lot of economists, yes, even conservatively bent economists, we’re going about getting out of this recession the wrong way, extending the duration of this mess.

 I’ve been reading Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States, it’s a fabulous book and it does something unique in looking at history, it follows the money.  There are a lot of parallels right now to the frustration, class warfare and economic inequity in the early part of the 20^th Century.  A time when there were large labor movements and violence in the street.

 So the fuse is lit, and the powder keg is present, the real question is what does it take to blow things up?  Personally, I think we are living in a dangerous time and one more significant pressure could make it blow.  Like what?  I don’t know, maybe people freaking out over 2012, maybe another financial crash, maybe well, maybe a lot of things.  No matter what, the next 16 months are shaping up to be very, very interesting, something is happening round here my friends, keep your eyes open.

Has the right gone soft on national security? Or what does Proposition 23, big oil, the Tea Party, and the Environment all have in common?

Proposition 23, Big Oil, the Tea Party, California Politics and the Environment!  What do these three things have in common?  Well in the wild, wacky world of California politics everything.  To simply answer the question, a proposition is on the November ballot in California, Proposition 23.  The initiative, oh so cleverly the numerical reverse of Assembly Bill 32, is being funded significantly by out-of-state oil companies to reverse Assembly Bill 32.  Assembly Bill 32 is a state bill that focuses on lowering greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.  The bill has helped generate a lot of training and business in green enterprises in California including a major effort in Sacramento, the GreenWise Initiative.  California is poised to become the US leader in these areas with significant investment and innovation in the field.  Additionally, this has trickled down into the education field as well with many new training programs at the community college and four-year college levels.

A good source for just the facts on Proposition 23:

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_23_(2010)

The state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office assessment of the measure:

http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2010/23_11_2010.aspx

The long-range impact of AB 32 is to poise California’s economy to be a national and possibly global leader in green technology and training.  The bill albeit driven by a controversial topic, global climate change, is extremely forward thinking and should set up the state of California for long-range success as well as improving the environment of one of the cleanest states in the country.  Contrary to the typical argument that environmental policies hurt business, AB 32 has actually attracted business to the state.

Why are big oil companies outside the state interested in this bill?  Well as you can read in the Huffington Post piece below, they make it very clear, this bill may impact their profits.  So how is it that conservatives and the Tea Party are opposing a bill that reduces our dependency on big oil?  I believe the right has been telling us for some time that reducing our dependency on oil, therefore reducing our dependency on foreign oil is a national security issue, has the right suddenly gone soft on national security, or are they just more concerned with their wallets?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/19/antienvironment-californi_n_687719.html

Chrstine O’Donnell – No Tax Hikes, No Abortion, No Masturbation Ban!?!

I’ve recently written a blog about my new favorite political idiot Sharron Angle: 

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/fun-friday-my-new-favorite-idiot-might-be-going-to-congress-sharron-angle-is-neck-and-neck-with-harry-reid/

However, I’m thinking I may have spoken too soon, because the new darling of the Tea Party who has been endorsed by Sarah Palin herself, Christine O’Donnell is quickly gaining ground on Ms. Angle.  First let me state my first point of confusion, initially I thought Chris O’Donnell was the Chris O’Donnell of Batman and Robin fame and who knows maybe he had a sex change and decided to be Christine.  He played a guy after a sex change operation on Two and a Half Men, so it’s an understandable bit of confusion, I mean his acting career is in the tank so maybe a change of gender and career direction.

I did learn fairly quickly that no, Christine O’Donnell is all woman, all Tea Party and yes my friends, all kinds of nutty.  So let’s delve into some of what has been going on with candidate O’Donnell.  First of all Ms. O’Donnell stiffed her former college, Fairleigh Dickinson for over $4000 until she finally paid them off after being sued in 2003.  She’s also filed a failed sexual discrimination suit against a former employer, had a back taxes tab for $11,000 (she claims it was an error), and has appeared as a political commentator for a number of shows including Glenn Beck’s show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_O’Donnell

She’s done a fabulous anti-masturbation video:

She’s also claimed Joe Biden was tapping her phones (she’s running for his former seat), stated that she’s interested in the campaign getting her a lucrative TV contract, and doesn’t seem to understand how any finances work.  She’s spent ridiculously on her campaign, has owed her former college, the IRS and purportedly is close to foreclosure on her home.  But it’s ok, she’s a fiscal conservative:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42321.html

And now it turns out that she’s shunning national media including FOX and just might be a witch:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/19/campaign-magical-explanation-odonnells-witchcraft-dalliance/

Below is a link to a pretty good all-around discussion of her campaign and potential impact of her candidacy:

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/17/christine-odonnell-no-tax-hikes-no-abortion-no-masturbation/

Fun Friday: My new favorite idiot might be going to Congress; Sharron Angle is neck and neck with Harry Reid

 

So what if I told you that your congressional representative said and/or believed the following:

 “entitlement programs (are) built to make government our God”  and this is a “violation of the First Commandment”

 
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/aug/06/angles-view-rooted-biblical-law/

That first we should transition out of having a Social Security program, oh wait now that I won the nomination, Social Security should be a lock box.

 
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/12/4875847-angles-180-degree-turn-on-social-security

Nevada scribe Sharron Angle believes that the color black is satanic! Or at least she used to before her campaign advisers started telling her to appear more tolerant. Senator Harry Reid also is satanic, which is why he’s making t-shirts which mock Angle for once campaigning against black high-school football jerseys full of Devil Power.

This whole incident stems from Angle telling a football coach how the evil spirits contained inside black jerseys would make the team lose their game and their souls.

 
http://wonkette.com/417576/harry-reid-taunts-black-hating-sharron-angle-with-new-campaign-fashions

Yes Nevada, congratulations because of rampant anti-government sentiments right now the idiot who made all of the comments and statements above maybe be your next congressional representative, and they say craps is a gamble!

The Tea Party is Dead!

Just as much as almost anyone else in America I’m sick of politicians whose sole focus seems to be getting re-elected and keeping their power base.  Also, although they don’t make huge amounts of money, it always seems that Washington politicians have plenty of greenbacks.  So every few years along comes a potential third-party movement and we all get a little bit excited.  It happened with Ross Perot and Jesse Ventura and it seemed to be happening with the Tea Party movement.  On its face, the Tea Party movement sounds like a great idea.  Who would disagree with smaller and less intrusive government, more transparency and lower taxes?  Not me!  So as people got fed up with the standard one-size fits all, overly partisan regulars in congress they started to organize.  It was I believe a genuine grass-roots organization at its formation.

However, as politicos on the right saw opportunity, they moved in and started trying to orchestrate how the Tea Party could benefit the very folks that they were fed up with.  Then of course fringe movements get caught on film at a couple of rallies, a regional leader and spokesperson makes a total ass of himself nationally, than Glenn Beck gets involved and there you have it, game over.  Although the Tea Party had some early election success, it seems after today’s primary election results that whatever influence they had has disappeared.

So, consider this my eulogy for the Tea Party, a great idea, a rising star who like most hollywood starlet wannabes and political third parties in America, shot to glory but burned out before it had an impact.

The link below is the Wikipedia entry for the Tea Party:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement

The link below relays the story about Tea Party official Mark Williams making a total ass of himself:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/18/tea.party.imbroglio/index.html

And finally a link discussing how the Tea Party couldn’t take out the biggest Republican target in a primary, John McCain.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hTt0td6M2Y087rEVKoUSBE8VTDaQ