http://bigfrick.com Making Al Gore Regret He Invented The Internet Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:36:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 http://bigfrick.com/2010/10/31/over-and-over-its-almost-over/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://bigfrick.com/2010/10/31/over-and-over-its-almost-over/#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2010 02:34:27 +0000 Big Frick http://bigfrick.com/?p=443 It’s almost over.

 

The billboards. The TV commercials. The radio spots. The debates. The interviews. The handshakes. The photo ops. The auto-dialed phone calls. The full page ads. The political action committees. The rallies. The speeches. The political pundits along with their up to the minute opinion polls replete with graphs and charts. It’s all almost over.

 

With just about 24 hours left before the midterm election of 2010 it is a far different political landscape then it was just a short two years ago. Hope and Change have been replaced by the harsh reality of what those two innocuous transitive verbs really mean.

 

There has indeed been plenty of Change. And the Change that has transpired has begot many emotions. None of them even remotely resembling Hope.

 

 Two years ago many of the self-proclaimed independent thinkers raced headlong into the polls to cast their vote for a fresh faced junior Senator from Illinois that said almost nothing, but said it in such an eloquent manner that almost nobody bothered to ask what any of his obfuscated rhetoric meant. But now just two short years into this Messiah’s four year term many of those same proud independents have come to the realization that talk is just about the only thing that has been cheap these first two years. The rest has been very expensive indeed.

 

It has been an election season rife with wild accusations of witchcraft and sexual misconduct. Of Aqua Buddha and illegal alien housekeepers.  Of secret donations and not so secret strong arm tactics. The voting public has been made aware of just about every word ever written and every phrase ever uttered by both political veterans and newcomers alike. All this while most of the focus has been on the failed policies of a president that still hasn’t produced a valid copy of a birth certificate or allowed the review of even a single college paper.

 

The entire election process has been uglier than a Hillary Clinton pants suit and harder than Barney Frank at a Boy Scout jamboree. But what seems to have already lasted an eternity will be over very soon.

 

And for all the deep digging that has been done into the past actions and policies of those hopeful to make Washington DC their mailing address for the next few years the most important question is the one that has remained unasked. Lost in the circus of personal attacks and carefully phrased and spun repudiations is the only real reason to vote in this election.

 

Are you happier today than you were two years ago? Do you feel safer? Do you feel more confident in the country’s direction? Forget about the broken promises. Are you happy with the ones that have been fulfilled? Is your job more secure? Is your bank account in better shape? Is your future brighter?

 

If you can honestly answer yes to the above posed questions, or at least to most of them, then my honest suggestion is that you vote for more of the same and pull that voting booth lever for the Democrat. But if, like me, you are more scared today having seen the reality of what can happen when a neophyte community activist gains control over both Houses of Congress who are literally willing to sell the very soul of this country and those of our children and our children’s children to the economic devil of unsustainable debt and unbridled government spending then you have a chance to make it stop.

 

Forget about who is right with “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and focus on Asking the right question and Telling the Democrat controlled brain trust in congress your answer with your vote. Is this the direction our country should be headed? If it is than I guess the national celebration of Hope should have continued through the entirety of the past two years.

 

But it hasn’t.

 

Maybe that’s proof it’s time for the Change.

]]> http://bigfrick.com/2010/10/31/over-and-over-its-almost-over/feed/ 0 http://bigfrick.com/2010/02/10/pointing-fingers/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://bigfrick.com/2010/02/10/pointing-fingers/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:27:20 +0000 Big Frick http://bigfrick.com/?p=396 Yea, but he started it.

 

The childish antics of our elected officials continue. Republicans are being accused of maliciously blocking proposals by Democrats, Democrats are locking out Republicans from key negotiations and the president, who only spent enough time in the Hallowed Halls of Congress to have a cup of coffee, is clueless as to how to get anything done using the standard mechanisms in place in both Houses.

 

It has become obvious that this president’s first year, rapt in historic encomium and bolstered by a wave of nebulous hyperbole, was as good as it is going to get for this administration of Hope and Change and Inexperience.

 

Entering the oval office with a filibuster-proof majority in both Houses, Barack Obama looked to inflict his vision for America onto the voters that swept him into power. But Hope and Change means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It was the audacity of ambiguity that got him elected and it is that same audaciousness that is now causing many of his once-adoring supporters to turn against him. Even those Democrats who appeared to be unshakable in their support for this new Messiah are looking for ways to distance themselves and save their political skin to fight another day. The collapse of the once all but certain ObamaCare bill proves that the stalemate stymie currently paralyzing Congress can be traced directly back to the inept leadership coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

 

And just like a schoolyard fracas when the teacher shows up the bully who started the whole thing is all too eager to point his finger and claim victimization.

 

Barack Obama began his term as president with less legislative experience than most congressional interns. He had a totally new agenda in mind for the country which included some lofty goals and a supercilious socialist ilk. Quite frankly, had the country not been in such desperate need of an experienced leader who could focus his attention on the economic woes we faced, much of his exalted schema would have passed through congress with very little successful opposition. With his iron fisted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and condescending Senate Leader Harry Reid, Obama’s first major legislative act was a near trillion dollar stimulus package that was 99% earmarked payback pork.   Next up was to be the complete destruction of the healthcare system as we know it to be replaced by the ObamaCare system of reduced choice and mandatory participation. Much like the non-stimulating stimulus package the Democrats needed no Republican votes to get this monstrosity passed, so Republicans were locked out of the process both literally and figuratively.

 

Because this community activist qua president lost sight of America’s priorities for the sake of his own, the support he once enjoyed both inside the beltway and beyond began to dwindle. And as the polls go so goes the support of the elected elite whose continuing employment depends upon public sentiment. With the impending mid-term election coming Obama tried his best to ram through an unworkably expensive and graft laden healthcare bill that made nobody happy.   Following the directions of his Chicago machine politics advisors he used muscle instead of mediation.  And as a result he not only lost the battle but a number of defectors amongst the ranks of his once faithful as well.

 

Now, instead of learning from his mistakes in both principle and process, Obama is satisfied to make yet another political grandstand play and call the Republicans to a special televised meeting where he hopes to portray his new commitment to bipartisan participation. The reason for this newfound love of live television is so he can ratchet up the blame game and call the now filibuster-able Republicans to task for what he and his remaining Democrat minions will depict as obstructionism.

 

The Republicans, who are still smarting from a year of complete legislative domination, are in no mood to lose their newly attained political momentum and will likely not give an inch to this neophyte negotiator.

 

It will all make for good television and even better political pundit fodder. But it will not make for a productive legislative session unless the focus turns to real solutions for the ailing economy, the painful unemployment rates and the unsustainable national debt.

 

As Democrats, Republicans and this quickly fading presidential phenom point fingers at each other the public will continue to become more disenchanted with the entire lot.

 

And in November many of those looking to extend their congressional stay will not like the finger we use to point back.

]]> http://bigfrick.com/2010/02/10/pointing-fingers/feed/ 0 http://bigfrick.com/2010/02/06/illinois-the-real-reality-show/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://bigfrick.com/2010/02/06/illinois-the-real-reality-show/#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:43:32 +0000 Big Frick http://bigfrick.com/?p=387 Welcome to the reality show drama that is Illinois politics.

 

Primary election day has come and gone in Illinois. Voter turnout, which is historically light for primary elections, was about average for this state with a dysfunctional Republican Party and a powerful Chicago controlled Democrat machine.

 

But maybe, just maybe, Illinois Republicans are getting the message.

 

The Illinois Republican Party suffered greatly after the corrupt ex-Governor George Ryan was made a resident of the federal penal system. Ryan was a criminally corrupt Secretary of State selling drivers licenses to unqualified trucking firms and demanding political tribute (of the cash variety) from all of his many patronage employees.   He successfully parlayed his illegal activities while serving as governor, crimes for which he was finally prosecuted and convicted after leaving office. The entire scandal left him in federal custody and the Republican Party scrambling to control the sizable damage done to the public confidence. 

 

Illinois Democrats, with the aid of the well oiled Chicago Democrat machine, took full advantage and were able to sweep Republican lawmakers out of their elected positions pretty much across the board down to the level of assistant dogcatcher.

 

But then, like manna from political heaven, came Democrat Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was removed from office during his second term for blatant corruption and manifest stupidity. It is not unusual in Illinois to have a Democrat convicted and sent to prison as they control most of the political capital and even more of the political graft. But Blagojevich continues to walk the streets a free man while awaiting trial. And even in the face of overwhelming evidence, including undercover federal wiretap recordings, continues to seek any opportunity to get in front of television cameras to make a buck off his now infamous reputation.   Big Rod did not elevate the Republicans but he did dig a deep enough hole for Democrats to make the Illinois GOP look taller, a job the GOP was too inept to do for themselves.

 

The primary ballot was stacked with hopefuls from both parties looking to become the next Illinois governor and lieutenant governor. The Democrat now acting as a temp behind the governor’s desk won his party’s slot with ease.   So did a pawnbroker named Scott Lee Cohen who spent the unprecedented sum of nearly $3 million to campaign as Democrat Lieutenant Governor. Cohen won at the polls which is now causing the Democrat machine to spasm like a colon filled with day-old Taco Bell. You see Mr. Cohen has a documented history of sexual and physical abuse including holding a knife to the throat of his live-in girlfriend who was a convicted prostitute he met at a massage parlor. Honestly, can it get any better than that for Republicans?

 

Meanwhile, the Republican nominee for governor is still undecided with a mere 400 votes separating the two top candidates. These two hopefuls are current Illinois legislators who are acting remarkably civil to each other and allowing the Democrats dig themselves an even deeper hole.

 

Could it be that the Illinois Republican Party is actually wising up? With the voter’s negative sentiment at an all time high this could be the Republican Party’s race to lose. While the general election is still pretty far away and Illinois Republicans have historically shown a penchant for doing the remarkably stupid at just the right time, if they play their cards right and let the Dem’s continue to self-destruct we could actually get a fiscally responsible administration in the governor’s mansion.

 

But while the Chicago machine that honed the skills of Barack Obama and brought him his closest advisors is sputtering, it is by no means dead. This could turn out to be a political race worthy of national attention, if for no other reason than entertainment value.

 

And if Scott Lee Cohen does eventually drop out of the race maybe he could get a spot on MTV’s “Jersey Shore”. But he better move quickly. I’m guessing Rod Blagojevich already has his agent trying to cut a deal.

 

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