If your candidate is Barack Obama, keep reading, he’s in here. If your candidate is Mitt Romney, keep reading, he’s in here. If you are concerned with the direction the country is going, keep reading...that concern is explored. If you’re looking to make sense of the whole political process and fix it...beware, such sentiments will get you labeled as radical, out of touch, and dangerous...but keep reading, it’s in here.
First topic on deck, the two political parties. Now, I’m sure you’re aware that there are more than two political parties, but if you only get your information from the news (oh, the horror), you would never know this. The three other major political parties, Libertarian, Green and Constitution might as well be straw in the passing gusts of the storms kicked up by the Democratic and Republican parties. Should I even mention the other thirty-three parties? I think it’s ridiculous that in an age where a growing number of people are displeased with the “big two” and moving their affiliation toward “Independent”...that more people aren’t looking for alternatives to open the discussion about what is the greatest good for our country.
Everything is going down the crapper because we fail to recognize that the biggest problem with politics is money. No, I’m not talking about the economy (yet), I’m talking about the allowance of financial influence in politics. Why do you have to be wealthy to run for office...especially the highest office in the land...? Is it that if you don’t have much money, then you’re unqualified to make decisions, your ideas are automatically useless, and that you obviously lack the intelligence of the worlds smartest mouse? Why is the system designed so that if you don’t have reams of cash, you will never get heard nationally? It’s probably for the same reason our politicians vote on and introduce bills that favor the special interest groups greasing their palms...we’ve let our government go rogue while we get hammered off the spiked kool-aid it gives us.
So how should our government be run? Mitt Romney thinks running a nation like a business is the way to go. The good in that is if it’s successfully run, the business prospers. The bad is if it isn’t, the business fails. In between all that there are always hard decisions and choices that have to be made in the quest to make the business successful. The real questions are who really prospers when the business does well...and who suffers when it hands out “pink slips” to satisfy the bottom line? A very scary question when applied to the nation as being the business. I’m not sure the example of Wall Street is the way to go with people’s lives.
Recently Governor Mitt Romney has been accused of “jumping the gun” when he spoke out about Libya as those events were unfolding. To be fair, he is not the first, only...nor will he be the last person to do this on a national stage. I just fail to see why we need to discuss the humanity of being human. I fail to see why we hold our candidates to a higher standard than ourselves...when they are just like us, in every way. This high expectation has them never wanting to admit when they are in error...when that is exactly what they need to do, and then move on.
Let me quickly highlight a scene from the second Presidential debate, then move onto our President’s bag of woes. I want to clear this issue up...since nobody seems to be able to make sense of what they watched...or just can’t believe their lying eyes. Mitt Romney said...quite clearly, that the President didn’t call the Libya attacks “acts of terror” until two weeks after the attack. He was absolutely wrong in that specific assertion as there is video footage of the President calling the attacks just that (acts of terror) the very next day after the attacks...at a press conference, about the attacks. I say “about the attacks” because the idea going around that the term was just generally used in passing and not associated with the event in question is just...ridiculous. But enough about Governor Romney...the President has got some explaining to do.
A man makes a video about Islam, and the President goes before world leaders and apologizes for it. Somebody help me...cause I don’t get that. Unless this man was a government official, I fail to see what it has to do with the President. Further...in THIS country, we have something called freedom of speech and freedom of expression, two of our core values, I don’t ever see a place where an apology must be levied in the exercise of either. Let me even stretch for the President on this one...even if he felt the need to apologize, where was the acknowledgment, to the world, of our free speech values...?
So...Libya is the new hot spot. Our embassy is attacked, and our compatriots are killed. The President calls this “acts of terror” the very next day...but thereafter for two weeks, those words, and terms are not associated with the attack by the administration. I asked for help a little while ago, and I still need it now...because I just don’t get it. Now, to be fair to the President (as I was with Mr. Romney), this gaffe (and right now, I have no other way to describe it) is not a sum reflection of the entirety of his foreign policy. We are out of Iraq and Bin Laden is dead. Presumably, going after those that killed some of ours is on the agenda, but none of this explains the two week video pitch.
Now President Barack Obama wants to push forward. He believes we have gained much ground, but there is still much more work to do. I don’t think anyone would dispute this as an understatement. The question is will the President be the best option to get that work done? In contrast to running the country like a business or corporation, is continuing to push forward with the policies that have been implemented...and new ones from the same house of ideas. If the policies are starting to show gain, then is it wise to change captains now? Then again, what certainty is there that the next four years will continue to gain at all? Tough questions with very few answers.
Let’s take a quick look at this debacle we have called the political system, again with specifics that pertain to what is happening right now. The President’s ideas are introduced as legislature in Congress (House of Representatives and Senate) to be enacted into law should both of them vote favorably. The Republicans, when holding a majority in the House vowed to block the President...no matter what. A fact many forget when pointing the finger at the President for what hasn’t been done. However, when the Democrats held a majority in both the House and the Senate...it was the same result.
See...I can do this all day. I can write hundreds of posts about the failings of both Republicans and Democrats. I think the more important point is that we all should understand the process and insist on some political straight talk. Nothing happens quickly with government. Nobody can correct an economic downturn as severe as ours in just four years...nobody. Even President Clinton, touted as being an economically successful president (debatable), didn’t do so until well into his second term...and even then, the economic woes of President Bush’s terms didn’t start when he took office. They were already underway from the previous administration’s policies. Are we still feeling the effects of Bush?...absolutely, and Clinton. What will be the effects of Obama? Stick around until 2017 to find out...regardless if he’s re-elected or not. That’s how the process works....or doesn’t work, depending on your point of view and patience.
This post is noticeably longer than usual, but...a little common sense goes a long way.
I am an ardent fan of the cinematic arts. Although I have certain genre preferences, I don’t let that stifle my curiosity and close myself to different flavors of entertainment. That said...I am a huge fan of science fiction, super hero and action movies! Please visit my other blog The Boxed Office for reviews, exclusively, on these types of movies.
The Plot: 
Once events begin to happen, there is no stopping the collision between the resolve of those that want Mills and his family dead...and his resolve to keep his family alive. Just as in the first film, somebody must get “taken”...and Mills must use every skill he has to get them back...even when he himself is among those taken.
The expression of Neeson at finding out his daughter has a boyfriend is absolutely priceless. Seeing him bound and helpless while his wife is hung upside down bleeding out from a partially slit throat...was heartbreakingly disturbing. This movie goes places the first film didn’t and the ride is indeed very wild.
There is very little humor in this film, although there is some at the beginning. Once the movie gets going, it’s intense and gripping drama with mega doses of action to keep your eyes glued to the screen. I found myself wondering why anyone would continue to feed bodies into the meat grinder that is Neeson...but glad they did. It was enough to dip three and a half (3 1/2) cinnamon sticks, out of five, in this extremely tasty cup of tea.
