There are times in life when we're happy to be wrong, and today - or rather yesterday afternoon - was one of those times. As we mentioned near the beginning of last month, we thought - with some disappointment - that former Nebraska Senator and Governor Bob Kerrey would choose not to run for his old job in the U.S. Senate again.
In case you missed it, Mr. Kerrey reversed himself yesterday, filing to run in Nebraska for the seat currently held by Ben Nelson. As we've mentioned several times in the past few months, the last time anyone did non-secret polling on a potential Kerrey versus Republican contender matchup, Kerry beat all the potential GOP candidates by surprising margins.
Bob Kerrey's news isn't the only thing shaking up the U.S. Senate, however.
Senator Olympia Snowe, from Maine - someone our entire staff has varying degrees of positive opinions on - has decided that she is retiring this year, saying that she's had it with the partisan gridlock and extremism in Congress right now.
Snowe is a Republican, and frankly a generally good legislator. While we haven't always agreed with every decision she's made, we've generally thought of her as the kind of Republican that many Nebraskans would appreciate. Or at least, as many Nebraskans used to appreciate in saner times.
We're not so sure even our fellow Nebraskans would appreciate Sen. Snowe anymore - especially those who vote Republican.
As a recently released study by distinguished political science professor Keith Poole proves, Democrats - both Liberals and Progressives - in Congress hold roughly the same general political perspectives they've held for almost fifty years. In fact, between moderates of either party, and the more extreme members of either party, Liberal Democrats in the U.S. Senate have held the most consistent sets of principles, over the last fifty years.
Republicans, on the other hand, have made a HARD turn to the right - both those who used to be considered moderate and the extremists of the GOP.
Poole took the voting record of all Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate since 1879, and plotted both parties on a graph, on a liberal to conservative axis. Since 1980, when the extremists who now control the Republican party first began to come out of the metaphorical woodwork, Republicans in Congress have made a distinct and serious turn away from bipartisanship and in favor of strict ideological dogma.
In short, the average moderate Republican member of Congress now holds the same set of views as the extremist members of the far-right John Birch society did almost forty years ago.
Meanwhile, more conservative, moderately progressive Democrats - like Bob Kerrey - are only slightly more liberal than they were in 1970, if at all.
When it comes down to the facts, we're not trying to play with anyone's head, or play with the facts. Bob Kerrey is running for the U.S. Senate. That's a fact. Olympia Snowe is leaving the Senate. That too is a fact.
The American people are also about where they were, ideologically, forty years ago, if not further to the political left. Meanwhile, the GOP is fielding a group of candidates who are so extreme this year, Ronald Reagan himself would not likely have voted for most of them.
So the question we ask you, our readers today, is simple. Which major political party really should be worried about the 2012 elections?
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
It's Time To Ask And Tell
Another week is halfway gone, and another month is almost done, albeit sooner than most, even with an extra day. Like far too many weeks, months, and years before, another two school shooting incidents happened in the last week - and already much of the media has moved on from that tragedy to dissect the results of Arizona, Michigan, and what Olympia Snowe and Bob Kerrey's moves will mean.
You'll excuse us if we seem a bit dark today, after seeing the details of these two stories float across our digital desktops. Three dead, four wounded, and two more kids who'd already been ignored and abused by far too many will now get placed into our so-called justice system, where they'll likely get ignored and abused even further.
We're certain that many of you saw the stories on the shooter in rural Ohio, who is now responsible for the deaths of three of his classmates. You may not have caught the story of the nine-year -old, in Bremerton, Washington who accidentally shot a classmate of his last week.
While the victim of the shooting in Washington didn't die, the background stories of the two gun-toting kids seem eerily similar. Both sets of parents, from both shooters, had criminal records and histories of violence. Drugs, abuse, poverty and bullying at school were in the records of both young men, as well. Both gave plenty of signs that something wasn't right - yet everyone around them seems to have ignored the warning signs, like in the case of so many child shooters before.
There are so many things that we cannot control in the stories we focus upon each day. The political decisions of actors in other nations, as well as those in the U.S., for example. Natural disasters fall into that category - as does the unexpected, like a terminal birth defect in the child of an old friend.
For all the things we cannot control in this world, it frustrates us so greatly that so many do not take the time to properly manage those things they can control.
To engage another person, at a level deep enough to see them as more than just another child, another student, another cog in the wheel of our busy daily lives just isn't that hard. When you ask someone "How's your day?" Listen for the response. MEAN it, don't just say it.
If you see bullying at a school, or in your neighborhood? Step up and step in. We don't mean take over - but say something, to those involved, and to the authorities in the area.
Lastly, when it comes to guns, let's all be honest about this. Just like cars, guns are machines that kill. Easily, quickly, shockingly so. You wouldn't put a child behind the wheel of a car and expect them to drive to the store - and you protect your access to that car, even when your children grow up. Unlike cars, guns - especially handguns - don't have any other purpose. Their function is to kill. Period.
If you have ANYONE in your family that has guns and doesn't treat them with the utmost respect and a hyper-vigilant sense of care, we heavily question your judgement allowing your child anywhere near those family members or friends.
We're not crazy, and we certainly don't believe that even most people following all these guidelines would stop every incident of random violence. Kids get bullied. People get bullied. People react. Unfortunate or not, that's the human condition.
By shutting our mouths, closing our eyes, not asking questions and not getting involved, we not only allow these kinds of violent actions - we assist them, every day - somewhere.
Enough is enough. Ask. Talk. Tell. Get involved.
DO something.
You'll excuse us if we seem a bit dark today, after seeing the details of these two stories float across our digital desktops. Three dead, four wounded, and two more kids who'd already been ignored and abused by far too many will now get placed into our so-called justice system, where they'll likely get ignored and abused even further.
We're certain that many of you saw the stories on the shooter in rural Ohio, who is now responsible for the deaths of three of his classmates. You may not have caught the story of the nine-year -old, in Bremerton, Washington who accidentally shot a classmate of his last week.
While the victim of the shooting in Washington didn't die, the background stories of the two gun-toting kids seem eerily similar. Both sets of parents, from both shooters, had criminal records and histories of violence. Drugs, abuse, poverty and bullying at school were in the records of both young men, as well. Both gave plenty of signs that something wasn't right - yet everyone around them seems to have ignored the warning signs, like in the case of so many child shooters before.
There are so many things that we cannot control in the stories we focus upon each day. The political decisions of actors in other nations, as well as those in the U.S., for example. Natural disasters fall into that category - as does the unexpected, like a terminal birth defect in the child of an old friend.
For all the things we cannot control in this world, it frustrates us so greatly that so many do not take the time to properly manage those things they can control.
To engage another person, at a level deep enough to see them as more than just another child, another student, another cog in the wheel of our busy daily lives just isn't that hard. When you ask someone "How's your day?" Listen for the response. MEAN it, don't just say it.
If you see bullying at a school, or in your neighborhood? Step up and step in. We don't mean take over - but say something, to those involved, and to the authorities in the area.
Lastly, when it comes to guns, let's all be honest about this. Just like cars, guns are machines that kill. Easily, quickly, shockingly so. You wouldn't put a child behind the wheel of a car and expect them to drive to the store - and you protect your access to that car, even when your children grow up. Unlike cars, guns - especially handguns - don't have any other purpose. Their function is to kill. Period.
If you have ANYONE in your family that has guns and doesn't treat them with the utmost respect and a hyper-vigilant sense of care, we heavily question your judgement allowing your child anywhere near those family members or friends.
We're not crazy, and we certainly don't believe that even most people following all these guidelines would stop every incident of random violence. Kids get bullied. People get bullied. People react. Unfortunate or not, that's the human condition.
By shutting our mouths, closing our eyes, not asking questions and not getting involved, we not only allow these kinds of violent actions - we assist them, every day - somewhere.
Enough is enough. Ask. Talk. Tell. Get involved.
DO something.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
It's No Jest; The Contest Of Crazy Continues
If you've looked at the American political scene this year and thought it looked insane - but you were worried it might just be you - we're here today to reaffirm your sanity.
Some of the actions happening on either side of the political aisle lately have been more than a bit strange. Looking deeper, we can understand some moves - for example that of former U.S. Senator from Nebraska, Bob Kerrey - as highly strategic maneuvers. However, some of the recent actions - especially by the GOP Presidential contenders - make absolutely no sense to us.
Take the words and actions of the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum.
Heading into a five day stretch capped off by today's primaries in Arizona and Michigan, Mr. Santorum was already hammering on the culture wars, with attacks on topics like abortion and contraception.
But last Friday, Santorum seemed to kick his campaign for Mayor of political Crazytown into high gear. He called President Obama a "snob" for heavily supporting college education - including community colleges and trade schools, along with four year institutions.
Mr. Santorum - a Catholic - went further, however, when he insisted that the famous speech on the separation of church and state by America's first Catholic President, John F. Kennedy, made him "want to throw up." Santorum made it VERY clear - he believes in a partial theocracy. On Monday, he even topped his previous comments, claiming that the massive 2008 Bush recession was caused not by fraudulent dealing by banks, or even shady borrowers, but by gas prices that were too high - which he then blamed on Mr. Obama (who was only a Senator in 2008).
Not to be outdone, Mitt Romney seemed to be attempting his own crazy stunts, including scheduling a minor policy speech for 2500 attendees on Friday in the 65,000+ seat Ford Field in Detroit - where he continued to say that the auto bailout was a bad thing. Romney even insisted he remembered the fiftieth anniversary of the automobile, a landmark moment in Detroit - which he couldn't have remembered, as it happened before he was even born.
Newt Gingrich couldn't let everyone else have all the fun, so he attacked the Afghan people verbally, saying it's impossible for anyone to fix their country, as he suggested Afghan citizens should “figure out how to live your own miserable life.” All this as America continues to wrangle with a particularly touchy diplomatic situation. Meanwhile, Ron Paul sat in the metaphorical corner and never attacked the frontrunner, Romney - but pounded Romney's rivals, all while denying he's already made a deal with Romney.
Don't even talk to us about the insanity at the state level in places like Pennsylvania, Alabama, and New Hampshire.
Democrats haven't seemed one hundred percent sane either this season. Some Democrats in Michigan have vowed to wreak havoc in Michigan's open primary today - a tactic they learned from Rush Limbaugh's actions four years ago. Further, news leaked out that former Governor, and U.S. Senator from Nebraska, Bob Kerrey, may change his mind and run for the Senate seat currently occupied by Ben Nelson - which has Nebraska republicans gobsmacked and in a panic.
Of all these actions, Kerrey's are the ones we understand most. After all, as we noted at the beginning of February, sources have said internal Democratic polling confirms Kerrey could decisively win over any of the Republicans currently vying for the Nelson Senate seat. For Kerrey not to run at this point would almost be more crazy than if he ran.
If we were writing a script to produce this year's election season as a book, TV show, or movie, we'd have to admit - so far, it's been non-stop excitement, on multiple levels.
The problem is, this isn't entertainment. It's supposed to be about governing.
Somebody, please tell all the fools to return to their respective native kingdoms, from whatever planet they might have originated. Their loyal subjects are missing their idiocracy.
Some of the actions happening on either side of the political aisle lately have been more than a bit strange. Looking deeper, we can understand some moves - for example that of former U.S. Senator from Nebraska, Bob Kerrey - as highly strategic maneuvers. However, some of the recent actions - especially by the GOP Presidential contenders - make absolutely no sense to us.
Take the words and actions of the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum.
Heading into a five day stretch capped off by today's primaries in Arizona and Michigan, Mr. Santorum was already hammering on the culture wars, with attacks on topics like abortion and contraception.
But last Friday, Santorum seemed to kick his campaign for Mayor of political Crazytown into high gear. He called President Obama a "snob" for heavily supporting college education - including community colleges and trade schools, along with four year institutions.
Mr. Santorum - a Catholic - went further, however, when he insisted that the famous speech on the separation of church and state by America's first Catholic President, John F. Kennedy, made him "want to throw up." Santorum made it VERY clear - he believes in a partial theocracy. On Monday, he even topped his previous comments, claiming that the massive 2008 Bush recession was caused not by fraudulent dealing by banks, or even shady borrowers, but by gas prices that were too high - which he then blamed on Mr. Obama (who was only a Senator in 2008).
Not to be outdone, Mitt Romney seemed to be attempting his own crazy stunts, including scheduling a minor policy speech for 2500 attendees on Friday in the 65,000+ seat Ford Field in Detroit - where he continued to say that the auto bailout was a bad thing. Romney even insisted he remembered the fiftieth anniversary of the automobile, a landmark moment in Detroit - which he couldn't have remembered, as it happened before he was even born.
Newt Gingrich couldn't let everyone else have all the fun, so he attacked the Afghan people verbally, saying it's impossible for anyone to fix their country, as he suggested Afghan citizens should “figure out how to live your own miserable life.” All this as America continues to wrangle with a particularly touchy diplomatic situation. Meanwhile, Ron Paul sat in the metaphorical corner and never attacked the frontrunner, Romney - but pounded Romney's rivals, all while denying he's already made a deal with Romney.
Don't even talk to us about the insanity at the state level in places like Pennsylvania, Alabama, and New Hampshire.
Democrats haven't seemed one hundred percent sane either this season. Some Democrats in Michigan have vowed to wreak havoc in Michigan's open primary today - a tactic they learned from Rush Limbaugh's actions four years ago. Further, news leaked out that former Governor, and U.S. Senator from Nebraska, Bob Kerrey, may change his mind and run for the Senate seat currently occupied by Ben Nelson - which has Nebraska republicans gobsmacked and in a panic.
Of all these actions, Kerrey's are the ones we understand most. After all, as we noted at the beginning of February, sources have said internal Democratic polling confirms Kerrey could decisively win over any of the Republicans currently vying for the Nelson Senate seat. For Kerrey not to run at this point would almost be more crazy than if he ran.
If we were writing a script to produce this year's election season as a book, TV show, or movie, we'd have to admit - so far, it's been non-stop excitement, on multiple levels.
The problem is, this isn't entertainment. It's supposed to be about governing.
Somebody, please tell all the fools to return to their respective native kingdoms, from whatever planet they might have originated. Their loyal subjects are missing their idiocracy.
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