I wonder what would happen, for example, if the United States simply declared North Korea to be an ally, and made a big fuss about it, but didn’t change much else. We could pass a law saying we’ll defend North Korea against foreign attack – knowing that no country wants to attack them anyway. We could keep our military force in the DMZ and redefine it as preventing South Korea from attacking North Korea just as much as the reverse. That would be baloney, of course, but delicious and pleasing baloney.

Source: The Dilbert Blog: Attacking Allies

Facebook recently released an Elections section giving political candidates an opportunity to present themselves to the college audience in their own way with Facebook profiles. 

Hmm... let's see...   85% penetration among 4 year colleges+candidate profiles=best opportunity to increase voter turnout ever!

Let's not underestimate what an impact this could be...  if it wasn't for how incredibly difficult it is to get election information. 

In an ideal world, since they already know my address, it should be one click to find out who my current reps are, who's running against them, and where they stand.  I mentioned that to them and they said that would be great if they could find a "find your district" site...

...At first I was kind of annoyed, like they weren't trying... but, actuallly... it is really hard.

Way too hard actually.

I found one here, but you need to know your 9-digit zip, which requires going offsite to the US Postal Service and typing in my address.  You can't even find this district info on the US Gov't's own website.  Its ridiculous. 

Google the word "vote" and see if you learn anything useful.  Its doubtful.  Until we leverage the web to make staying informed about elections less than a second job, we're going to have a very uninformed voter base.

Link: An Endorsement for Mayor - New York Times.

Mr. Bloomberg has not been nearly as exciting, or entertaining, as Edward I. Koch or Rudolph W. Giuliani. But he has been better at running the city. If he continues his record of accomplishment over the next four years, he may be remembered as one of the greatest mayors in New York history.

I'll just repeat for emphasis, "...one of the greatest mayors in New York history."

The bashed him for his outlandish campaign spending, but I don't really care about that.  He's a self made man and has all this money because he built something that works.

I look forward to the next four years.

Perhaps we should rethink the term limits on NYC Mayor.

What's next?  Senator Bloomberg?

Bloomberg for President?

In New York City, I don't find too many people oppossing the idea that priests should get married.  Its not too often that someone takes the other side and is willing to tell me that we shouldn't allow any combination of two human beings in love to get married either.   

So, as someone who picks and chooses from both sides politically, I find myself arguing most often against liberals...  just because that's who is around me.  I'm quite sure that if I lived in a red state, I'd be on the other side of a lot of typically conservative arguments and get called a liberal.   Instead, I appear more conservative than I really am.

What I am is against politics.  I don't like the idea that all find into one side or the other.  Plus, I don't understand how some of this stuff fits together anyway.  What exactly is the reasoning behind feeling a certain way about capital punishment versus leaning a certain way on expanding social programs?  So, how's it supposed to go again?  Less welfare, more lethal injection, or did I get it wrong?   If I'm anti-war, remind me again how I'm supposed to feel about the privitization of social security. 

I ask a lot of these types of questions because I like to poke holes at things that don't make sense.  I'm an analyst.  I'm a cynic.

So when I get in a really good debate with someone, I love it.  It makes me think.  The tough part is that I think I come off as difficult or dismissive when in reality, I'm challenged and inspired.  Its two in the morning now and I just got off the phone with someone who brings a truly unique perspective to the table and a sincere and respectable conviction to the table on what she believes.  Instead of focusing on our differences, I left the call feeling lucky... lucky that I know such an intelligent and thoughtful person...  someone tenacious enough to come back at me.

Debates make me think.  They make me question.  People don't do that enough when they encounter something different then themselves.  They immediately try and change it or erase it rather than learn from it.  I love learning from other people.  Its an important part of my education and I need to be challenged to sure up my own beliefs.

The best part about the conversation, though, was that we could put it down at the end... that it wasn't personal and that we appreciated each other for our differences.  That means a lot to me as well.  I'm never going to have all the answers, but if I can get someone thinking differently about something, I've done my job.  I also expect that someone will challence me enough to get me thinking differently, and I'll always credit them for that going forward.    I just hope that tonight's debating partner felt as enriched as I did and not just tired and frustrated.

"Do you think you serve your country best by being a critic and using words that tend to enflame and overshadow any information?"

This one comes from YouTube (which, by the way, I find myself watching more and more lately).   

Well, actually, it comes from a Hardball interview with Ann Coulter , but I saw the clip on YouTube.  Chris Matthews went to the audience for a question and the first young woman with a question posed the question to Coulter.

I have to admit that I'm not a particularly political person and I certainly don't follow all the talking heads (at least the non-animated ones), so this may be the first time I've ever seen/noticed Ann Coulter speak.  Is she really this wretchedly awful all the time?  I really dislike anyone who just spews division and polarizes people wherever they go.  Like this young woman pointed out, Ann, you're just not helping.  This country needs more people who bridge gaps and bring people together... not make everything out to be black and white, right or wrong.  And the personal attacks? 

I mean, seriously, where does she come off saying that Bill Clinton is gay?  Is that relevent to any conversation whatsoever?  That would be like someone insinuating that Ms. Coulter is just bitter because she's undersexed... it's totally unrelated and drags someone's personal life into the conversation unecessarily.

Besides, its obvious that her statements and divisive and enflamatory behavior are likely traced to either one of two causes...    her own ignorance or her allegiance to the Almighty Dollar.  It might be both.  Ignorance sells a lot of books.