Sunday, November 02, 2008 |
Obama and Coal
I am appauled but not surprised at the latest "media leak" against Obama. In a YouTube video Obama said that he will bankrupt the coal industry.... And the sensationalist republicans go wild without, of course, actually thinking about the entire context of the conversation and the plan.I am from Pennsylvania and I know that coal is a huge part of that state and that the state is already in a lot of trouble because of lack of jobs... I also know that the destruction of jobs in that state was more linked to a failure of government than anything else and I know that complacency is a real problem in Pennsylvania as well as other states. I am PROUD to be from Pennsylvania but that doesn't mean that I hold Pennsylvania blameless for issues that are occuring. We have an issue with greenhouse gasses.... this isn't really a debate. Additionally, coal adds to these.... there also isn't any debate about that. What Obama said in the interview is that anyone is welcome to build a coal plant but that it would probably end up bankrupting them because of the fact that his plan would charge the polluter for the polution. This plan is one of my favorites because it doesn't make it illegal to keep doing what your doing but it does give you incentive to grow your industry and improve our well being instead of just creating more problems while you collect your money. There are amazing new improvements in clean coal technology and a lot of people in PA have been working hard on this for good reason.... and those people are the people that will be rewarded because if they are not emitting as much pollution then they will not be hit with these fees/taxes. I think this makes a lot of sense. The problem with the general public anymore is that we don't want to have to work to improve anything but we also don't want to have to accept consequences for not working towards improvement. Corporations are the paramount of this attitude and when things get bad enough they just go crying to everyone because "they've work too hard" .... *cough* banks *cough* ..... How long do we carry people? How long should we? Remember this quote? “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime” .... Thats essentially what it boils down to. If people come to you for help then you should help them.... but what if they keep coming to you for help? Do you keep helping them? Do you keep giving them money when they aren't doing anything to solve their problem? I applaud any effort that encourages people to improve themselves and the life around them. If Obama's plan bankrupts the coal industry then it's not because Obama had it out for them but because they failed to keep up with changing times. If you disagree with this effort then you better not say that you are for a greener enviornment or that you are for progress. Labels: coal, nature, obama, politics, pollution, society (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Monday, July 28, 2008 |
Get FISA Right
www.getFISAright.net Labels: fisa, obama, politics, privacy (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Tuesday, July 22, 2008 |
Walk It Off, America
 I love this graphic that appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on July 14th, 2008. It really depicts what is happening in the Republican camp. The stance seems to be that if we ignore the problems, deny the problems, and convince ourselves there never was anything we did wrong then things will get better and we won't be held accountable for them. It seems like Bush and McCain need to go over some AA coursework. The first step in fixing a problem is admitting there is one. Its ok, there is a plan B. If there is no way to make a problem vanish then we make it look like its not a problem. Recently Bush made a statement saying that Americans are in control of what they spend and the rising gas costs are only helping America because its reducing the amount of driving. Seriously? I guess maybe in his world this is true because he hasn't admitted that there is a problem in the economy so he can't see that no one can afford anything. Jon Stewart put it best by extending this stance and saying that the collapsing mortgage industry is good because its getting Americans to live outside. People that have known me for a while know that I have been a very strong Republican primarily because of the moral aspect of things but I'm now realizing that the moral card is only played by republicans to get votes. They really aren't doing anything good for morals but, actually, are setting an extremely corrupt moral example in the name of morals. It may be true that the democratic party has no morals either but if I have a choice between bad morals or bad morals in the name of good morals then ill just take the plain old bad morals. Its also true that I am struggling with Obama's vote for FISA and I'd much rather see Ron Paul in office but when I come back to reality Obama is the only real option against McCain and I think the biggest part of this election is stopping America from continuing this path to destruction. Labels: mccain, obama, politics (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Friday, July 11, 2008 |
Obama's Last Chance?
I'm not usually a fan of political pundits but there are some good points in this video. Maybe Obama still has a shot to win me back....Labels: fisa, isp, obama, politics, privacy, telco (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Monday, June 30, 2008 |
Dear Obama
Dear Barack Obama,I really want to express a VERY large concern of mine. I have stood behind Obama very strongly and have raised many debates between myself and family and friends. I have been a republican my entire life but this year I have really been encouraging people to vote for Obama because of various reasons but one of these biggest reasons is that I have seen the entire Republican party strip our rights away in the technology fields as well as other areas. I have watched the Republican FCC give more and more rights to cable companies and phone companies allowing a much stronger stronghold on the American public and adding to the fact that the nation that invented the internet is entirely too far behind many other nations when it comes to consumer access to the internet. I have watched our rights be stripped away by laws such as the PATRIOT act. I could continue to go on but I dont feel I need to. The point is that one of the major reasons I support you as a canidate is because I have believed that you are defending our rights in the areas that the majority of the American public isn't paying attention to. I have seen you embrace new technologies and reach the people via Twitter and Facebook. These things mean a lot to me. It has saddened me, however, that you have voted for immunity for the telecom companies that have been instrumental in stripping us of our rights. The same companies that convinced President Bush to sign an executive order protecting AT&T have now received your vote for them to be granted immunity. To me, this is absolutely appauling and really has me in a debate with myself as to if you are really the best person for the job. I can certainly understand that there may be benefits to your vote for this immunity but the bottom line is that you have stood against lobbyists in your campaign and you have been really putting your money where your mouth is with regards to not allowing this insanity continue but your vote for this bill has completely ruined my view that you are strong enough to stand for that which is unpopular. This is a huge concern when you have believe you voted for someone who is really interested in defending the rights of Americans and opposing "politics as usual." You have now stood next to McCain and other senators in saying that AT&T and other phone companies should have the right to spy on us if they are directed by a government agency. I can not express the disappointment I am feeling right now. You have taken away that hope that I had that maybe we had a chance to make things better and that we might actually end up with a president who cares. I can not endorse McCain either because I still believe he is "the lesser of two evils" but I am starting to wonder if I should exercise my right to write-in my vote for president. Sincerely, Robert K Mertz Labels: att, government, obama, politics, privacy (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 |
Clinton doesnt see what she's doing . . .
I really have always believed the the democratic party was just a 3 ring circus (tho I'm not saying that the republicans are much better). Something happened this year that really changed my view on a lot of things -- and the view of MANY MANY other people. The biggest change I think happened in my generation. Barack Obama has really presented himself as someone who believes that both parties are out of control. He has been as real as I think he can possibly be. What has happened over the last year is that the democratic party has brough a lot of new people into their camp.... and I mean A LOT!But here is the problem. Right now Clinton is being the perfect stereo-typical democrat in the eyes of anyone outside of the democratic party. She has conducted a 3 ring circus over the past month or two and has been caught in a whole slew of lies as she changed her views on things depending on which way the blows. Watching her in the debates was painful because she displayed the same exact sensationalism that the media thrives on and displayed a clear point that she is very capable of changing her mind on anything for any reason at all -- and this is what the people who have moved into the democratic camp did so because they were looking to change this very thing. I mean, she changed her slogan to an almost exact copy of Obama's after she saw that the concept is what the people wanted. I dont think she has anything that defines her but she is defined by what everyone projects to her. I really think that the Democratic party is really destroying it's self. It is completely ruining any advantage that it was starting to gain. The people that have moved into the democratic camp are now seeing first hand the things that they always believed about the democrats. At the end of the day all that has happened after watching the circus that has been Clinton's campaign the democratic party has proven that they really are everything the republicans has said they were.... the real problem is that it is now not just speculation but it has been proven to them. I am still really holding out hope that Obama will be the next president because I think that he really is a refreshing change to politics in general but if Clinton continues this game and she becomes the democratic nominee I'm not sure what I will be doing in the general election. I am fed up with the Republican party but I absolutely DESPISE the attitude that Hilary has right now. What scares me is the fact that after seeing all of this I may well go into the "screw it" mode and just quit caring anymore because the only two parties that have a change really are republican and democrat and both are just a freaking disaster, well, why should I care? Somewhere in the distance I hear Canada calling my name..... I think it started with a voice from a canadian doctor's office and its spreading to about every other aspect of life. Labels: campaign, clinton, obama, politics, primaries (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Thursday, March 06, 2008 |
Presidential Thoughts
A lot has been going on. In case you missed it, John McCain is officially the republican canidate and Clinton is catching up to Obama.But its the primaries - why should I care? ... Because the primaries this year have a lot more bearing on the general election than is typical. Oh, and that's besides the fact that this affects EVERYONE's lives. Ok, sure, its your right not to care but if you don't pay attention to what is going on then you are recoking your right to care. Seriously - if you don't vote you better not bitch about a damn thing. Its seriously time for this nation to pay attention to what is going on around them. Our rights are being stripped from us and that's not enough for most of America to "waste their time" caring. The only thing that is done anymore is just bitch and moan about the cost of gas and all the other things that are going on. How about this: start paying attention now and trying to head this off at the pass. I think it'd be very hard to find someone that believes Bush hasn't destroyed this nation but what scares me is the fact that even the conservatives that dislike Bush still are cheering on McCain despite the fact that McCain is very clear in his defense of most of Bush's actions. The problem is simply that they just don't want to think. Its easier to look at one picture of Obama that he didn't have his hand on his heart and call him anti-American. Its easier to say the conservatives are pro-life and vote solely on that (which is something they can't control anyway) and thus decide that is who gets their vote. Its disturbing. If that's the attitude you have then you have no reason living in America. There are plenty of countries based around the idea that the government makes the decissions for everyone and I'm sure you'd be much more comfortable there. And some are racist and decide Obama can't run the nation because he isn't white - again, there are other countries for you. I can't understand how everyone says we are headed for disaster but yet thinks that their party can make the right decissions for them. Just some food for thought from Tuesday. McCain talked about embracing a world-wide free market and not working to stop our jobs from going overseas and then followed that up by saying how we need to work on building jobs in America. Something doesn't sound right there. Another interesting thing is that Clinton ignored the fact that she lost one of the four states on Tuesday while Obama addressed the fact that he did lose the majority of the states. Personally, I don't want someone who is prone to hide and ignore anything negative but I want someone that is open and honest about everything. You can find bad in all the canidates just the same as you can find good. How about we focus on the good? How about we look at the whole package of a canidate rather than picking the first thing that jumps out at us and embracing that? Please, America, WAKE UP! Turn your brains on and figure this out. This plane called the USA is in a nose dive and everyone is just letting the auto pilot figure it all out. Lives are at stake and if we don't know how to guide this plane we need to learn real quick because the auto pilot isn't working anymore! Labels: clinton, mccain, obama, politics, presidency, primaries (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 |
Vote Different
Labels: obama, politics, presidency, primaries, usa (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Thursday, February 14, 2008 |
We are one
Labels: obama, politics, primaries, unity (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Wednesday, February 06, 2008 |
Google+Twitter Election Map
Visit the full size map Labels: elections, google maps, live, obama, politics, primaries (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
Sunday, January 13, 2008 |
Conservativism = Excuse to not think?
I was raised in a family who always had conservative views and, naturally, many of those views I still embrace. Being someone who truly believes in conservative values always embraced the Reupublican party because of their support of things like pro-life and other conservative views. In the past year or two, my views have drastically changed and I now have to say I support the democrat party more than the republican - by a long shot.This doesn't mean that I think we need to stop protecting the unborn but I do certainly believe that we need to be A LOT less militant about it. I'm also sick of the conservative values that the Republican party pushes to be nothing more than a cover-up to some other extremely disgusting things that are happening. The Republican party is becoming the party that produces the "preacher's kid" syndrome in it's followers. While the Democratic party has similar effects (as does ANY organization), there seems to be a huge emphasis on it in the republican party -- almost as if there is a secret agenda (do some research on AT&T conspiring with the NSA and President Bush signing an executive order to stop any investigation - Start Here). There has always been this epidemic in polotics that people just do as their told. People sign on to a party and they just go in and pull the lever for their party rather than actually thinking about what is going on. The problem we have now is that we are all becoming more and more "mentally lazy". We don't want to have to think about something because it's so much easier for someone else to tell us what to do and we let people tell us what to do until it's too late to fight back. We're relinquished many rights just by standing still because we were too lazy to fight (and we're about to see is happen again if people don't start standing up for Net Neutrality). All of us just listen to what our parents, our churches, and our political parties say. We obey. And ultimately, a few key people just changed the course of history by using each one of us as drones. We've become slaves to the afforemention beings. There is a huge need to respect our parents, our churches, our leaders, and even our own political parties but this is NOT an excuse to go brain dead and let all of them brainwash us. We have become so mentally numb in things that we pass around emails that completely damage someone or something with points that are nothing more than fiction. We allow people to be damaged because we pass around a single email that was probably written by a single person. We become just as responsible as the person who wrote that email - responsible for destroying someone's life and career. The most recent example of this is an email circulating that claims Obama is an anti-American muslim. This email even references that snopes.com has confirmed this to be fact and plays on the fact that no one checks the facts before telling others about it. Because we are so brain dead (by choice), we dont even bother to notice contradictions in the email we read (such as a father who left when a child was only 2 can't really be that instrumental in raising a child according to a specific religion) and we become a drone to someone who wrote a fantasy email about the way he or she wants things to play out. Judging by the way the republican party has responded to numerous things, do you really think it's that far fetched that a die-hard conservative sat down and dreamed up these lies to attack someone who might really be a threat to them... yes, to THEM... not neccesarily to our nation. Political parties are not about what is best for our nation but whats best for the wallets of those running the parties. It is true that we live in a country that we have the ability to choose our leaders but because we have all become lazy, we are forfeiting that right. We are allowing people who have self-interest tell us what is best for us. When a company lists us a reason why we should use their product rather than their competitor isn't it a good idea to evaluate both products instead of just listening to the one company? Of course they are going to tell us their product is great and their competitors is bad because they want us to by their product because that is the only way they make money. Maybe we've matured enough to realize the absurdity of political television ads but now we're allowing ourselves to be the medium that lies are spread -- simply because we don't want to spend a tiny bit of time looking into the reality of the situation we're about to take a stance on. I don't know anyone that would take the stage and explain to everyone what the string theory is all about because few of us even know -- but yet we're willing to take the stand for someone who wrote an email whom we've not only met but we don't even know his or her name. People continually tell others that you have no right to complain about the state of our country if you don't vote but if you're also the one spreading lies and doing only what you are told to do, well, you have no right to complain either. When we're stuck in a dictatorship and we're all complaining about it, it's really just going to be on our heads because we sent out false facts in emails damaging someone for being racial muslim when the reality of the situation is that he has many roots in Christianity. Maybe because instead of actually changing the way you handle emails that you forward on you just stop forwarding them to the people that are actually going to check the facts and make you feel bad and forward only to those that will continue the "chain of drones". P.S. - I really am not intending on making anyone feel bad but this is something that I am very serious about and I think others need to be serious about. We're not talking about passing on an email that says the weather is going to be 90F rather than 60F but, instead, we're talking about passing on lies that very well could damage the chances of hope for our country. I'm not saying which canidate is the solution but I am saying that we need to look into things a little bit more before we spread lies that could damage someone that may well be the best thing for our country. Labels: campaign, democrat, lies, obama, politics, republican, society (C)2003-2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved |
(C)2008, Bob K Mertz - Some Rights Reserved
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