Radical Avenue

When did the football season get all mixed up with presidential politics? Let me see if I have this straight. All signs point to a blowout victory for one side, so we could have an upset. On team represents New York, the other Massachusetts.

Now which sport features the teammates that fight more amongst themselves than they do with the opponents? And which race has the racial overtones? Which one has the cheating phonies and which one is clean? Wasn’t one of the teams about to make history one of these days? Will someone wake me when it’s over?

I believe the Super Bowl is played on a weekend whereas Super Tuesday is during the week. But we have no Super events this week if you don’t count the Florida primary. Or was it the Arizona primary? Bring on the hype.

football, politics

California has fallen into a morass of chronic budget deficits and political paralysis. The deficit has now exploded to $14 billion for the coming fiscal year. In the face of this budgetary imbalance, California politicians argue back and forth about the best remedy for the problem. Some lawmakers want to use tax and fee adjustments to help close the gap. Others adamantly oppose tax increases of any kind, and want to close the deficit entirely through spending cuts. Sound familiar?

California law requires a balanced budget which must be approved by two thirds of the legislature. And several complicated voter approved funding mandates severely limit the legislature’s ability to cut spending. As a result, we get budgets held together with accounting gimmicks and bond measures.

A host of factors, including the sharp downturn in the housing market and an expensive disaster season, have left the budget in particularly bad shape this year. And while politicians bicker, our infrastructure crumbles around us. The state government needs to find ways of paying for public improvements without raising taxes.

Some municipalities raise money by selling the naming rights to sports complexes. Private organizations like to associate their products with recognizable landmarks. This helps to create brand recognition. It follows that private groups would probably like to have their names associated with major bridges and freeways as well. Would commuters really care if they drove to work on Yahoo Freeway or Monster Avenue instead of I-5 or 680?

Local companies could point to a freshly paved freeway with their name on it as tangible proof of their investment in the community. Roads and bridges are underutilized public assets.

California, budget, deficit, taxes, roads, bridges

Mitt Romney’s victory in Michigan has turned the Republican presidential race into a wide open affair, with three different candidates having now won a state. If Fred Thompson surges in South Carolina and Rudy Giuliani’s lead holds up in Florida, all bets are off. A last minute candidate could jump right in and steal the nomination. Here are some possibilities, in no particular order.

Condoleezza Rice
For months now, the Democrats have droned on and on about how their party is about to make history by nominating either an African American or a woman. As an African American woman, Secretary of State Rice would bring a doubly historic presence to the race. Besides, Ms. Rice had a tough talk with al Maliki in Iraq while her boss was kicking in Kuwait last week. And she already has the keys to the Oval Office.

Chuck Norris
Walker, Texas Ranger has been propping up Mike Huckabee’s campaign for months now, and it’s Chuck’s turn to take the reins. Norris would fix the big mess in Washington by opening up a few cans of whoopass. He’d also make history as the first bearded President in over a hundred years.

King Kong
The Big Ape knows how to watch over New York City. As the name suggests, King Kong has experience as a Supreme Ruler of the land, and wouldn’t let Congress chain him down. Kong hopes that voters will overlook his past run-ins with the law, and instead focus on his economic policies. As the first President of species Megaprimatus kong, King’s election would turn the page on a new chapter in our country’s history.
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President Bush’s mid-winter travel itinerary has him passing through some dangerous neighborhoods. And when it comes to danger, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia tops the list. Let’s review.

Birthplace of Our Enemies
Osama Bin Laden, who declared war on the United States a decade ago, hails from a wealthy Saudi family. Most of the 9-11 hijackers sent to kill Americans were also Saudis. Actually Saudi Arabia is full of well educated young men who are capable of fitting into western society while still harboring resentment towards America. None of the 9-11 hijackers were from Iraq or in any way affiliated with Saddam Hussein’s government.

Madrassas
It has been widely reported that children learn to hate the United States and all it stands for in Saudi religious schools. The Saudi government has shown no inclination to close the Madrassas or change their curriculum. This suggests that the Saudi royal family has made some sort of bargain with hard line Muslim clerics, which is not in the best interests of America.

Religious Tension
In addition to its large population of conservative Sunni Muslims, Saudi Arabia is also home to many Shiite Muslims. The Shiites see that the government of Iraq is now controlled by members of their religion, and may seek to participate in the Saudi government as well. The ruling House of Saud on the other hand, seems to disinclined to share power with anyone.

Bombs
Now the US has agreed to sell guided missiles to the Saudi military so that they can “defend” themselves against Iran. It looks like our country is encouraging hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Isn’t this region explosive enough already?

Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Madrassas, 9-11, President Bush

New flash: During President Bush’s tour of Galilee last week he received a crystal icon with the following inscription: “Blessed are those who are peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” Actually, the president isn’t exactly known for keeping company with peacemakers. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld could probably count their blessings on one hand.

George W. Bush must be the most obtuse politician in modern history. Has no one on his staff considered what Israeli and Palestinian citizens might think about his visit?

Apparently it hasn’t dawned on them that Middle East residents are probably saying: “Gee this guy is over here telling us what to do, but he’s not very popular in his own country. By this time next year he’ll be gone. The new president will likely toss all of Bush’s initiatives out the window the way he did with President Clinton’s initiatives, so why should we follow Bush’s lead? He has ignored us for seven years anyway.”
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New Hampshire actually has a law mandating that they hold the first presidential primary in the nation. Can you be any more arrogant? The other 48 states should all pass a $10 surcharge on New Hampshire residents wishing to travel outside the Granite State. We could call it an “I’m someone special.” tax.

The citizens of New Hampshire and Iowa will put forth a million reasons why they deserve to go first in the presidential primaries every four years. But they’ll never mention the massive influx of revenue it generates for them. That’s because it’s all about the money.

Let’s face it. Iowa is not exactly a recreational hotspot. New Hampshire has skiing, but that’s only for winter sports lovers. However when election year rolls around, millions are spent on local TV and radio advertisements. Campaign staffers and journalists spend millions more on hotels, motels and restaurants. Small businesses that cater to tourists get their slice as well. It’s a recurring dream come true for the local chambers of commerce. And the additional tax revenues generated by all this spending benefits everyone in the state.
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Iowa loves Barack Obama. Turning out in big numbers, Iowans gave Senator Obama a solid win in the first night of voting that counts. Obama’s ability to attract independents and new voters bodes well for his candidacy going forward. If he can keep winning over independents, the presidency will be his to lose.

Hillary made things worse for herself after her third place finish on Thursday. She again tried to sell herself as an agent of change while surrounded on stage by a who’s who of former Clinton administration officials. Her reaction to the verdict in Iowa suffered badly in comparison with Obama’s stirring victory speech.

Senator Obama deserves credit for sticking with his positive message when opinion polls showed him behind Clinton and talking heads advised him to go negative. Instead Obama relied on an inspirational stump speech and a timely endorsement from Oprah to take an early lead in the race for the presidency. Now the Illinois Senator has all the momentum going into New Hampshire.

The urbane Mr. Obama offers a stark contrast to the current White House occupant. Obama is sophisticated, eloquent and not from a political family. The country needs a new direction and Obama seems ready to lead the way.
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Back in 1996, the Republicans nominated Bob Dole for president. Since he’s been appearing in those Viagra commercials, Dole fairly oozes middle aged sex appeal, but back then he was kind of a stiff (pun intended). In 1996 Bob Dole wanted to build a bridge to the past. But Dole had run for president before, was a hot shot in the Senate and was next in line for the GOP.

John McCain may find himself next in line for Republicans this year. Romney flip flops like a fish. Social conservatives will never stomach Rudy Giuliani. And the anti-tax zealots dislike Huckabee. That leaves McCain and the Sleeper, Fred Thompson. McCain wants the Republican nomination very badly. Does Thompson?

Senator McCain wants the GOP nomination so badly that he’s left the Straight Talk Express parked in the garage. Now McCain cruises around in a Loosey Goosey Lamborghini.

John McCain rightly criticized the Bush tax cut of 2001 as unsustainable. Indeed the current massive federal deficit indicates that McCain was prophetic. Nevertheless, McCain now favors making those tax cuts permanent.
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Political guru Karl Rove gets a lot of credit for building the Republican working majority that has governed America over the past seven years. The Rove strategy requires constant pandering to conservative voters.

In keeping with the Rove game plan, George Bush completely ignores the concerns of Democrats and left leaning independents. Now even moderate voters have tuned out the president.

For the past two years or so, Bush has seen his approval ratings stuck in the mid to lower 30’s. The 30% of Americans still in approval of the president are the hard core conservative Republicans that Rove has been courting so assiduously. And since Republicans still support Bush, most of the GOP presidential candidates continue to follow Rove’s lead.

While moderates have drifted away from the GOP, factions on the right have gotten used to calling the shots. Conservatives know that if Bush can’t get their support, he’ll have nowhere else to turn. That’s why the president’s initiative on immigration failed so spectacularly last summer.

Social conservatives expect presidential candidates to wear Christianity on their sleeves. Club for Growth conservatives require all politicians to swear a solemn oath to never raise taxes under any circumstances. And the neo-cons want the next president to continue a strategy of imposing democracy through the barrel of a gun. None of these policies appeal to a majority of Americans anymore.

Even “maverick” John McCain sounds like he’s proposing a third Bush term. We’ll see how that works out. Expect Republicans to call in the swift boaters again this summer. Hillary never fought in Vietnam right?

Republicans, Karl Rove, George W. Bush