Supreme Court decision on campaign finance

People are getting all worked up about this decision, I don't know why. This was the only decision that this court could have make. It is a good thing that they are not activist because I hate to think how much further they would have gone. The question was whether you have to reveal donors to a political action committee. The court said that you didn't and they went way beyond that. They essentially overturned all campaign laws going back to 1905. No judicial activism here. It really didn't matter anyway because the wealthy and corporations have been operating around existing law for years, look at WMC. So, unlike so many other laws that are constantly broken the court ruled that the law no longer applies. Now you should be able to run out in the open as for example the Miller Lite candidate for Governor. What a brave new world. If Bob LaFollette were alive he would be taking to the streets.

Airport Security

I was traveling this week and as always I considered the security that we go through to fly. There has been a lot of talk about adopting the Israel security plan. That got me to thinking, what if someone is really committed and coached and they don't muff one of those questions they get on the plane. The same with putting Marshals on flights. A Marshal has no better chance of catching the underwear bombed than initial security unless the bomber gets up and yells that they are going to blow up. Maybe then the Marshal can shoot them. A better idea might be to put soldiers and dogs in the airports. I would think that this would cause the would be terrorist to think twice about trying to board a plane. This would not be cheap but it might be effective.

John Stewart nails it again

Or maybe I should say his writers do. The January 12 episode explains the executive bonuses and then they explain the Gay Marriage issue. The executive salaries have just mystified me as well. Why aren't people in the streets? As one board member said if we don't compensate the executives they would leave its like a professional athlete or actor. No its not. First of all the athletes and actor are not being paid with tax dollars. Secondly, if you are an athlete and you have a bad year you won't get a bonus and you may not have a job anymore. These people are getting a bonus for causing the greatest economic melt down in history. The same is true with actors, if the movie is a bomb they are not going to get royalty money. The financial sector operates like no other business in the country. They could have averted the crash by reworking the bad loans that they were carrying. Instead they went to congress and got bailed out and still let the loans fail. And then this bad business model/ management pays their key people huge bonuses for... I don't know showing up and destroying the world economy.

The take on whose better on terror and why

The Daily Show from January 11 is absolutely brilliant in explaining how President Obama has had 3 terror attacks under his watch whereas President Bush had zero. I totally understand how the next 3 years will go.

Who is running foreign policy?

Former Vice President Cheney once again reappeared in public (Fox) to comment on the underwear bomber and offer up his solution; Use the proven foreign policy technique of bombing in this case Yemen. At least this bomber had ties to the country. The President of course would have none of it, except that sources are reporting the United States is planning on an airbase in Yemen. This begs the question just who is running the foreign policy of the country? It would appear to be Dick Cheney and that should scare anyone. He has been wrong about everything in the Middle East. Here's a man who loves war but when his country needed him most he couldn't be bothered by serving. I cannot understand how and why we do anything that this man suggests.