Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Headline Roundup: Good Government?
It has been a quick few weeks since I've done any headline roundups. Sorry about that. Things have been a bit crazy but here are some of the things which have piqued my interest over the past few weeks.

Front page editorials: You gotta love 'em. And, almost no one does them anymore. This is too bad because it does bring you back to the classic days of the newspaper business.
Locally, the New Hampshire Union Leader has them every once in awhile, although they aren't as rough and tumble as the old days. Here is one from publisher Joe McQuaid from today's UL: ["Seatbelts good; big government force is bad"].
Most days, I wear my seatbelt. It's a no-brainer to wear your seatbelt. But that doesn't mean our state or nation needs a law forcing us to wear them. We simply don't. But that is what we are about to get here in the Granite State. McQuaid doesn't make the point of economics in his editorial today but it is an issue. This is a revenue stream for state and local governments and nothing more. Shame on them!
I admit, I voted for a lot of Democrats in 2006. I was angry like a lot of folks were and I wanted to make a major statement with my vote. In my neck of the woods, the Democrats always win anyway, so my votes for the state Legislatures weren't very meaningful. Although, my vote for one Republican, Rep. Liz Hager, admittedly, a liberal one, who I happen to like personally, probably helped her hold onto her seat because she only won by a measly 155 votes over someone named Karen Kelly.
At the same time, I didn't vote for Democrats so that they could turn New Hampshire into a nanny state. I also didn't vote them in to obsess over social issues which often distract us from more important issues like economics and education. I voted to send a Democrat to Congress so he would work to end this stupid war. I voted to send Democrats to the Legislature so they would work with Gov. John Lynch to fix the education problem and eliminate the broad-based property tax.
So far, they've haven't gotten the job done and they have been there for months.
Instead, the Legislature has spent time rescinding the rights of parents to know if their under-age daughters are getting abortions, passing a useless resolution against the Iraq war, and is now looking at passing a seatbelt law [Yeah, I know, I know, it was Hager's bill to rescind the rights of parents on the abortion. We'll agree to disagree on that issue]. Maybe it's bad PR, but I doubt it. I normally wouldn't have a problem with a resolution on the Iraq issue but there is too much work to be done to waste the Legislature's time on such things. That is the Congress' job. The Legislature should leave the federal issues to the federal candidates and work on issues they actually have jurisdiction over.
I truly hope that the Democrats in this state can get back on track or they will probably find themselves out of power just as quickly as they got in.

FCC makes good: Over the years, I, and others, have been really disappointed in the FCC. They have done some pretty ridiculous things. But today, they made good. And the next time you are on a long trip on a plane, you can thank them for this one: ["FCC Says 'No' to Cell Phones on Planes"].
Cellphones, as I've written before, are great tools. They shouldn't be treated as toys, even though they are. Almost all of us who have them have come to rely on them and we wouldn't know what to do without them. However, when you are trapped somewhere, the last thing you want is some yahoo yacking on his cellphone. Sure, we can put on our headphones and ignore it. But this change wasn't needed. And we can award the FCC with a big Thank You!

An aware government?: As we complain about government, it is important to recognize when governments do good things. Let's take a look at one recent example, in France, where the government has decided to release its UFO files: ["France opens secret UFO files covering 50 years"]. Wow. Fifty years? Amazing. The article gives the official site but it is useless to those of us who don't know French.
Speaking of space, I continue to be fascinated by stuff going on in space, including these very cool pictures of the sun: ["Dazzling new images reveal the 'impossible' on the Sun"].

Two bogus stories which make we wonder about things. First, the National Organization for Women has to complain about this one: ["NOW Demands Access to Program Geared to Fathers"]. Like, can't fathers get a break?
And then this, a questionable report about who pays taxes in America: ["Who Pays America's Tax Burden, and Who Gets the Most in Government Spending?"]. I'm sorry, this study just doesn't wash. You can prove almost anything with numbers, especially when you don't count corporate welfare, giveaways, and subsidies, which almost always go to the more affluent. Just counting welfare and poor people's programs skews the numbers. I will update this with a bit more in-depth analysis in the future.

My dad has a hot new band that is all the rage in South Florida: [Sol Expressions]

Lastly, a long, but good, article on NPR: ["Has Success Spoiled NPR?"].

Here are some quick political headlines:

The first quarter money numbers are in and here are the details.

For the Dems:
Sen. Hillary Clinton: $26 million-plus.
Former Sen. John Edwards: $14 million-plus.
Gov. Bill Richardson: $6 million.
Sen. Chris Dodd: $4 million.
Sen. Joe Biden: About $3 million.
Sen. Barack Obama: Unknown but expected to be close to Hillary's numbers.

For the GOP:
Former Gov. Mitt Romney: About $20 million.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani: $17 million.
Sen. John McCain: $12.5 million.
Sen. Sam Brownback: $1.3 million.
Rep. Tom Tancredo: ABout $1 million.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee: About $500,000.

The figures don't include money transferred from previous accounts, just funds which were raised in the quarter. Money transfers don't count. As I find more numbers for the other candidates, I will post updates.

The firefighters continue to go after Giuliani: ["Giuliani Faces Questions About Sept. 11"]

MSNBC eyes New Hampshire 2008 Senate race: ["Sununu seems beatable, but by whom?"]

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