A Civics Test

Another sigh of what is wrong with our country, our leaders are fundelmentally clueless.

US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

If you are curious, the test is here, and it isn't that hard.

You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %

Average score for this quiz during November: 78.0%
Average score: 78.0%

So you have to wonder how our leaders did so poorly.

Tags
Leadership

Bailing Out CitiBank

Well it seems that we (as a nation) are bailing out another bank, this time to the tune of 325 billion dollars plus (in investment and loan guarantees). One of the justifications made for this huge outlay of taxpayer money is " they are to big to let fail".

It should now be crystal clear to all that mega corporations are a a huge risk to our nation. Once they gain a certain size they can no longer be held accountable to the rules of capitalism and put or economy at risk. We, as a nation should never allow companies to get to big to fail.

But, if this is the case, why did we (as in the US Government) approve the merger of Delta and NorthWest, and why does our government actively support the merger of Wells Fargo and Wachovia? Are we not creating other companies that are going to be to big to fail? And when they hit hard times will they not simply get in line for their taxpayer funded multi-billion dollar payout.


Tags
Capitalism

Some Friday Blog Links

Since I still have not found the time to write much

Band of Butters notes numbers don't lie.


When considering the bail-out of the auto companies, Badtux reminds us to consider the unemployment impact when making decisions.


Crooks and Liars teaches us an important lesson, if you want to get a standing ovation from the US Senate, all you have to do is get convicted of multiple felonies.



an early and incredibly stupid shot in the war on Christmas is dissected at No More Mr. Nice Blog.





Tags
Blogs

A Center Path

The early appointments in the Obama administration seem to come from the more from the center than the left.

I find this a bit confusing since, according to so many on the right, Obama is a socialist (if not a flat out communist) and is working to create a socialist America, why is he selecting people who are centrist for so many post, does this mean that the center is socialist?

Just a stray thought.


Tags
Obama Administration

Good Friday Morning

Still here, still busy, I hope to have a real post up later today (work willing)

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Work

I Am Alive And Well

(well, at least as well as I ever am)

But overloaded at work, and catching my breath from the last 6-8 weeks. So this is about all I will get done here today.

Everyone have a great Monday.




Tags
Blogs

Prediction Review

I said

Democrats Gain 8 in the Senate (with no losses)

Right now they are up 6 with three races still being counted or contested. I think I will have been off by 1 or 2 when all is said and done.

Democrats Gain 25 in the House (losing 3 seats)

Well we have gained 23 so far, but lost 4 (1 more than I expected). There are a number of races still in the mix, but I think I will be off by 3 or so when the dust settles.

Obama gets 52% of the popular vote and 364 electoral votes.

Dead on perfect.

Over all not a bad performance overall.


Tags
Election 2008

More Elections Stats (with Maps)

And these should scare the heck out of Republicans

First the map showing where Republican strength is Growing.


Now, where Democratic Parties strength is moving up.





The Republican party saw growth in the Appalachian Mountains through Tennessee, Arkansas and into Oklahoma. The rest of the US is very blue, including almost the whole of South Carolina.

Tags
Election 2008

Another Nice Stat About The Vote

America's youth are not real happy with Republicans.

Young voters diverged sharply from the population as a whole, preferring Obama/Biden over McCain/Palin by 66% to 32% in the NEP. This is by far the highest share of the youth vote obtained by any candidate since exit polls began reporting results by age categories in 1976. In past elections from 1976 through 2004, young voters diverged by an average of only 1.8 percentage points from the popular vote as a whole. 2004 had set the previous record for an age gap

A 2 to 1 preference is astounding.



Tags
Election 2008

A Great Day

A Democrat in the White House, nice gains in the Senate and House and a fresh start for the country.

Obama has been left an absolute mess but this isn't all bad. When you are rebuilding something you also have the opportunity to make needed changes. Since Obama now is faced with rebuilding our economy, our military, our infrastructure our balance sheet and so much more, he will have the opportunity to make the needed changes to grow our country.

Two of the early keys that will indicate if the Obama administration will be a positive one are governance and accountability.

Obama need to run the country with an eye to running the country well. Bush viewed his administrations first job as getting more republicans elected and appointed and hired into government. He did not care if this was good or bad for the nation, only if it benefited his party. Obama can not allow this to happen on his watch. The second issue is, holding those who have misused their authority accountable for their actions. This will be an first step in righting past wrongs and will provide an example to those now holding power and those who will hold power in the future, that violations of the law will not be forgotten or forgiven once the administration changes.

God bless America and God bless Obama, we have a lot of work to do, and we will need all the help we can get.




Tags
Election 2008, Obama

Prediction Time

Democrats Gain 8 in the Senate (with no losses)
Democrats Gain 25 in the House (losing 3 seats)
Obama gets 52% of the popular vote and 364 electoral votes.

I hope I am right


Tags
Election 2008

South Carolina May Not Be A Competive State

But early this morning the turnout at a few of the precincts in my area was astounding. 3 or 4 time the normal amount of voters queued up at just after 7am.

So, join the in crowd and go out and vote today.


Tags
Election 2008, Vote

Absolutely Situationaly Unaware

This is a perfect example of one of the many problems with the modern Republican party. To many of their thinkers are as dump as posts. One of the standard questions in polling is the 'is the country moving in the right direction'. In the last month a number of polls have presented us with the response.

Wall St Journal - Wrong Direction 76%
Bloomberg - Wrong Direction 84%
Newsweek - Wrong Direction 86%
Pew - Wrong Direction 86%

AP, CBS, CNN and other have similar numbers. It is clear that the American public, by an overwhelming percentage, are very dissatisfied with the direction our nation is headed.

Now listen to what online editor of the National Review had to say.

We're One Day Away from Changing America

[Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Obama said that a few ago in Florida. Am I the only one who doesn't want to change America in any fundamental way? Does that make me crazy? And alone?

Crazy? well based on much of her work, maybe; Alone, not at all, about 15% of the population are happy with the direction of the country. So she is not alone, but seeing a statement like this from a person who is supposed to be intimately involved in the daily public discourse is astounding.

How stupid and detached from reality do you have to be to say this? Even the Republican candidate try to run on a platform based on change. Yet she apparently is totally unaware of the massive dissatisfaction of the people of Americia with our Republican leadership.

Someone buy this lady a subscription to some media outlet other than Faux News, she needs to be exposed to truth and not dogma based fantasy.



Tags
Election 2008, Republicans, Stupidity

McCain's Camp, A Stray Thought

Has anyone running for President ever given people fewer reasons to vote for them than John McCain?

He has given us countless number of reasons to vote against Obama (at least a never ending stream of half truths, smears and attacks), but in the last one to two months I do not remember seeing his camp giving a single reason why he should be president.



Tags
Election 2008, McCain

GOPs America ?

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Cartoons