Saturday, October 18, 2008

Pondering Political Humor on My Ponte Vista Blog

On extremely rare occasions I post comments related to national politics on my www.pontevista.blogspot.com blog.

I do it on that blog because it has a 25 month-long history of posts and is read by more folks than my other blogs.

I originally considered putting the humor on this blog, but until now, I was reluctant.

This blog is actually the better blog to put issues and comments about politics because this blog deals with many different issues surrounding OUR community, including national politics.

I am going to place the political humor I posted on my other blog along with the comments to that portion of that post.

I will then add some further comments that may or may not be funny to folks.

Anyone and everyone is always welcome to submit their own post to all of my other blogs except "Caveman Dairy" which is my own brand of writing.

So here goes:

Sometimes I need to write some humor that isn't really part of the issues dealt with on my blogs.

Since my employment with ATT has been "terminated" effective on October 9, 2008 and the economy the way it is, I find humor is needed during some tough times to help us all carry on.

It is for many reasons that I include, on this post, some things I find funny that have nothing directly related to Ponte Vista.

"Joe the Plumber"

The gentleman's name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, yet John McCain think his name is pronounced "Joe Wurzelburger".

'Plumbers do not need a State license to work in Ohio, but they do need one in cities like Toledo, where 'Joe' claims he has worked for fifteen years.

'Joe' doesn't have a plumber's license or even a contractor's license for cities he claims he works in.

'Joe' doesn't like Senator Obama's tax plan and he has a tax lien against him to prove he doesn't like taxes.

'Joe' has never been listed as a plumbers' Union member and there is no record that he ever served an apprenticeship.

'Joe' claims he wants to buy a business that makes "$250,000-$280,000" per year, yet his income for 2006 was recorded to be approximately $40,000 for the entire year.

The business 'Joe' claims he wants to buy isn't worth anywhere near the figures he gave to Senator Obama.

'Joe' would most certainly benefit from the tax plan proposed by Senator Obama.

'Joe' claimed to be an Independent, although he is registered as a Republican.

And now for some more humor.

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic,different.'

* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.* Name your kids Bristol, Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community,then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If your husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

"I do wonder about Obama hanging around with his former bomber friend. I mean this guy bombed military installations. If civilians got hurt that was just "collateral damage." All of this to try to hasten the end of the Viet Nam war. Then he got caught and sent to prison for a few years. In spite of this bad beginning this fellow became a respectable citizen and even got involved in politics. Some say that this makes it OK for Obama to hang with him. By the way, his name is.................John McCain."
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Here are the comments left (so far) on the Ponte Vista blog, to the post:


4 CommentsClose this window Jump to comment form

mellonhead said...
We have a great blog here. Let's try and keep the partisan politics out. I had an uncle who told me when I was young and growing up "Mellonhead,don't argue religion or politics with other people. All it does is cause trouble." Let's keep the focus on Mr. Bisno and his proposed folly.
2:43 PM

Anonymous said...
speaking of, he's got a new video with a bunch of local flacks talking it up. check it out:
http://pontevista.com/press/videos.php
4:56 PM

Anonymous said...
Good idea Mellonhead, no politics.But I can't help myself. All politicians suck. Their purpose in life it to distort truth and drive the public "perception" toward their side at ALL COST. Obama is one of them Mark. Don't fool yourself. His big ideas won't mean squat. He will get in and flounder like all the rest. Then the Republicans will be on the attack.And by the way, it doesn't matter who Joe the plummer is. The point is that Obama will take us ever so much closer to Socialism if he implements his plan. The prospect of working hard to become rich has driven innovation in this country from the beginning (Capitolism). Don't forget it. Name one Socialist society that even comes remotely close to the US in the area of innovation, technology and business development. It's okay to hate the rich, but let's face it, they are typically the ones who create job opportunities for the middle class(including union labor).P.S. - I hope your job situation gets better quick!
2:07 PM

M Richards said...
Thanks mellonhead and anonymous.I think I will continue my comments and move your comments to www.sanpedroissuestoponder.blogspot.com.I think I have kept my feeling about national politics out of this blog for the vast majority of posts.MW
6:01 PM
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Now for some more comments from me:

'Joe' doesn't seem to like Social Security. If John likes Joe so much, perhaps he will try to work towards dismantling Social Security.

Democracy cannot truly be compared to Socialism because they are not that alike.

Capitalism can be compared to Socialism more effectively and their differences can be view against each other.

Democracy can be more effectively compared to dictatorship rule and their differences compared against each other.

Socialism and Capitalism are based on economic reasons and Democracy and dictatorship rule is more how people are governed.

Capitalism and Democracy do not necessarily work well together in the long run, as is being proved right now and back in the late 1920's and 1930's.

During both times, government has had to step in and attempt to fix misdeeds created by Capitalism.

The one major point controlling Capitalism is that capital must always continue to be created.

Democracy can be allowed to stand on its own without being spread to other countries for it to survive where it already works.

If for any reason, capital is being lowered or hindered in any way, the structure of Capitalism suffers.

Democracy seems to be able to stand up even when challenged by other types of governments.

As we can see all over the world Capitalism is being used to shore up dictatorships and especially in the Arab countries like Dubai, it seems to be working quite well.

When the Capitalism in a country attempting to use Democracy comes apart, it is not only the Capitalists that suffer, which they should, but also those who are in a Democracy.

I don't think it is fair or correct to try and compare Democracy to Socialism. They are too different to make fair differences.

The 'Democracy' practiced in the U.S.A. is certainly not pure Democracy in the first place and most of us know that.

It may be the very best way to govern citizens the world has ever seen, but when it comes under attack by Capitalism, it seems weak to try and help everyone recover.

I am not a "America, Love or Leave It" person. I am a "America, change it or lose it" person and I continue to fight for it so as to not lose it.

I think Capitalism had screwed Democracy-loving people far too much. I don't know how to fix it, it is above my pay grade.

I also think that someone who has stated on videotape that has been stored that he has voted 'with Bush over 90% of the time' certainly does not know what so many of us know about how life is really like in OUR community.

But I have an out! Since I am quite sure that Senator Obama will receive a landslide number of votes for President in the state I live in, I am free to cast my vote for someone else.

I support the idea that Senator Obama should garner the majority number of electoral college votes for President of the United States, that doesn't mean I need to vote for him.

There are other very important races to deal with in this upcoming election. Maybe we should deal more with them than the national races, other than with humor.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't believe I compared Capitolism to Democracy. It was Capitolism vs Socialism. Obama = steps closer to Socialism (as the Joe the plummer situation points out), McCain = protection of Capitolism (protection in the sense that he will keep the incentive in tact).
I also believe you are not correct to infer that Capitolism and Democracy don't mix. You missed my whole point about this country and technology and business development. Again, name one Socialist country that compares to the US in the area of technology and business development. Anyhow, all politicians suck. They are opportunists. Not many really care about this country as much as they care about their career. Don't be fooled by Obama.

M Richards said...

I didn't do a good job at trying to explain my point and I apologize for that.

There are contries that practice Democratic Socialism and other contries that practice Democratic Capitalism, like the U.S.A.

There are countries that use a Monarchy government with a Capitalistic economy and countries that use a Monarchy government with Socialism as its economic backbone.

Finland, Norway, and some other countries practive Democratic Socialism. The government taxes its people at an extremely high rate, but they offer everyone access to social services.

Is that type of government/economy sustainable in the U.S.A.? I doubt it.

In China they use Dictitorial Socialism, but allow certain connected individuals to use Capitalism to further the country's policies.

I doubt highly that that would ever work for any length of time in the U.S.A., but it was practiced for a very short period of time during the Great Depression and it did help get the country moving again, I think.

You are pretty right on when you ask the economic question concerning being able to name one country using Socialism to compare to Capitalism in the areas of technology and business development.

Sweden may come closest to being comparable, but there are many social problems there trying to keep the citizens happy, successful, and working towards higher technology when that economic system supports the 'cradle to grave' approach.

China is nowhere near to where it could be compared because its Socialistic economy can't move its population into any real power unless the Capitalists just starting to work there are given a chance to flourish.

I don't have many good things to say about politicians myself.

Once in office, their main responsility is to remain in office and we reelect far too many politicians because we don't seem to want to endorse change or real responsibility on the part of politicians.

But Dictators are not really politicians and I don't want that type of person in the U.S.A.

We have spent the last 8 years with a couple of people who believe their power is absolute and for 6 of those eight years, they had a legislative branch that backed up their power.

For the second time in our history, rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution have been taken away from the People and that is very un-democratic to all of us.
MW

Anonymous said...

I don't agree with your statement about constitutional rights being taken away. I guess you are refering to wire tapping? It just amazes me how people forget about 9/11 so quickly. In order to root out terrorism/terrorists who may be in this country, I'd gladly allow our government agencies to have the tools necessary to gather credible intel in order to save our lives. Wire tapping, interrogation, imprisonment...whatever it takes. You'd be singing a different tune if a large bomb went off in the harbor area. Then we'd hear whining about why the CIA didn't stop it before it could happen. True leadership is tough Mark. Real leaders make tough choices. My life has been just fine for 8 years, yours probably too. I do not know anyone, personally, who did not prosper well over the last 8 years. Do you personally know anyone who has been personally hurt, attacked, violated, or taken advantage of due to the policies of the last 8 years? Please don't use the war and/or soldiers/soldier families as an answer to the question. That is a given. War is hell, and our soldiers put their lives out there because they are driven to serve.

M Richards said...

Thank you anonymous 3:01 PM,

When a U.S. Citizen is denied their Constitutional rights by our government because he may be a "enemy combatant" then we all need to consider what other rights are being violated.

When "W" stated as fact that no governmnet agency was listening to calls made from overseas to U.S. Citizens, not only was that a lie, but it was also unconstitutional.

When we give up or liberties because the government states that we need to in order to protect our security, I do not feel that is a fair exchange.

The "Patriot Act" took freedoms away from me and I am not only a patriot, but also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

What I feel has happened is that too many people listened to all the fear mongering by "W" and the bunch. Using fear to control a population is nothing new and has been around for quite a long time, all over the world.

I think we should use better reasoning, thoughtful information gathering and responsible communication.

Since 9/11 we seem to operate from a fearful rationale rather than using more consern and deliberate communication investigation.

It has been proven time and time again that our intelligence community either is incompetent or unwilling to use the tax dollars we all spend on them to provide the best value for the expenditures and the only thing that can be used by our government to cover up the lack of good, true, and competent intelligence is fear.

Over the last eight years I did not prosper well and you asked me to name someone I know who didn't.

As prices continued to rise, my real wages decreased.

I also feel that the President's use of 'signing statements', Supreme Court rulings, and the Executive Branch's reinterpretation of parts of the U.S. Constitution have hindered every single Citizen.

Over the last eight years it has become more true that when you give up your liberties to protect what you call freedom, you have neither.

That may not exactly apply to you, but it does to more and more people who may not be in the same position as you are....anonymous.

I would hope that if you stand by your statements using strength and without fear, you would be willing to identify yourself.

You know who I am. Why have you decided to hide your identity?

Are you fearful of something?

Were you "driven to serve" when you were in the military?

is the term 'credible intel' really true?

Do you claim that the 'intel' about WMD was 'credible'?

Are you willing to trust the same folks that brought you the 'credible intel' about so many things over the last eight years?

Is there any reason to suggest that our intel has gotten more credible over the last eight years?

John McCain is a U.S. Senator and in the same political party as "W".

Senator McCain makes repeated statements that he knows how to get bin Ladin. Where is his 'credible intel' coming from and why won't he share it with "W" or military leaders?

If the CIA works within the borders of the U.S.A. to attempt to stop acts of terrorism, then they are violating the law.

Should we allow government agencies to break the law in order to claim they are protecting our freedom?

I thought we are a nation of laws and no one is above the law.

When we freely allow others to break the law and then wonder where our liberties went, then we only have ourselves to blame for loss to our freedoms.

If is is O.K. for "W" and Cheney to call for not following laws of this land, for any reason, then we really do have something to fear.

A government that continues to violate laws and take freedoms away from individuals, is a government that does not serve any of us well and I hope you agree with this.

I personally have to undergo more checks at airports because of 9/11 and my new hip. My freedom to pass through the area, side by side with my wife is gone and none of that is my fault.

It's not my new hip that is the problem, it is the claim that more security is necessary than it actually may be.

I cannot board an aircraft without showing a photo identification.

I cannot even visit Councilwoman Janice Hahn's office in San Pedro without displaying a photo I.D.

All of us have lost some freedoms since 9/11 and I wonder how many more freedoms folks are willing to surrender in order to think they feel safe.

Recently we have seen our own citizens terrorize other citizens because of real proplems in our economy.

Right now that are far more people really fearful that their homes will be taken away than there are people who worry about a possible attack from some other government or group.

Our nation does not handle fear very well and when we continue to hear things that suggest we have more to fear, it makes folks more willing to give up their liberties and freedoms.

I don't think our forefathers ever dreamed we would be a Nation whose people live with such a great amount of fear and insecurity.

At some point, we all need to decide whether we wish to live in fear or in a state where we challenge that fear, take it on face to face, and make it crystal clear that we won't live in fear any longer and that WE can do something about it.

Now here is a bit of trivia, for no real good reason.

G. Gordon Liddy and William Ayers are both considered by many as domestic terrorists in some form. both served prison sentences and both have not claimed to be repentent for their deeds.

The difference between the two is that only one of them sponsored a fundraising event in his home for one of the two people now running for President in the two Major parties.

Yup, G. Gordon Liddy had a fundraising event in his home for Senator John McCain.

Oh, and another thing, the committee both Ayers and Obama sat on was sponsored by the conservative Walter Annenberg Foundation and committee members sitting alongside the two named gentlemen included Repulicans and Democrats.
MW

M Richards said...

Here is another comment not really related to the comment made by anonymous 3:12 PM

In California it looks like Senator Obama will take this state by a landslide and all the electoral votes will go to him.

That gives me a chance to not vote for him.

For me personally, Senator Obama is moving towards the center too much for my liking.

But I have a real problem.

The candidate for President of the United States for the Peace and Freedom Party is Ralph Nader.

I have never voted for him and I never will.

He is outside any real reasonable consideration as being anything close to a credible candidate, in my opinion.

He has sold the farm and seems to be running to help his own ego and he probably gave us "W" in 2000 over Gore.

Even if he didn't exactly do that, he doesn't deserve any votes from anyone I know.

Now there are other candidates from minor parties that also aren't going to get my vote.

I do hope though, that wherever Bob Barr's name appears on the ballot, far right conservatives will vote for him.

Alan Keyes is running in the American Independent Party.

I thought the late George Wallace was a candidate from that party, but it may have been a former American Independent Party.

It would be fine with me if conservatives voted for Allan over John, if the two of them appear on ballots that Bob Barr is not on.

I have the opportunity to vote for Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party.

I was a member of the Green Party for a spell, but I wanted to have more of a say in primary elections, so I switched parties.

Actually it really shouldn't matter, in California, who Republicans vote for, for the office of President of the United States.

Whether you pick McCain, Barr, or Keyes, you will probably be more able to select which one of the three better matches your particular leanings in the Republican Party.

Republicans do have a real choice in stating which direction they want their future leaders to lead them in. They can be more towards the center, somewhat right of center, or way out right of center.

Republicans in California have a better chance in stating what they want to see in the way of changes in their national leadership by voting which direction their party should go.

It might be fun to witness which way the Republican Party is going to head into the future with.

I can safely suggest that absolutely no one in California should mark their ballots for Nader.

If his time was ever there, it has been long gone for a long time.
MW