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Monday, February 14, 2011

It doesn’t have to be a conspiracy

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Have you ever noticed that everything seems to be a conspiracy?  I wrote a blog about the politics of the Federal budget and I began by complimenting a journalist I usually criticize for being too soft or too partial.  Yesterday, I was impressed with Chris Wallace because I think he would've asked the same questions of a democrat.  I wrote a little about how Chris Wallace made his guest, Congressman Paul Ryan, uncomfortable and on the defensive.  I was immediately criticized for cherry picking but my emphasis was never on Congressman Paul Ryan.  I expected the congressman to use his talking points but I never expected Chris Wallace to call him on it.

A person cannot agree with another poster, or they are immediately linked to a cabal. Dwain Boehl's letter to the editor is a prime example of how a poster equates the word liberal with Nazis brown shirts, and anything else that is wrong with America. Another poster goes onto say that right wing conservatism is what made this country great.  I truly believe that these characters are using a tactic called " blowing out one's a candle to make theirs shine brighter." Do these posters actually believe that they are the chosen ones and the ideology, religion, and politics they have chosen are flawless?  Can someone be that naive?

There are times I wish I had the knowledge to question a $100,000 expenditure by our city, a controversial play, big name stores leaving the mall, motives of our city and county officials, or a recent story from police beat.  The recent school lock down should have been a topic for discussion but most of the comments were made before the facts were ever divulged.  It is my opinion, that the issues I mentioned are legitimate but the facts are limited.  I wish I knew if it was because of a lack of transparency, or that " there is no there there."

I went into my own conspiracy mode the other day; questioning the resignations of four key democrats and one republican.  As I was watching " Meet the Press" I couldn't help but wonder if David Gregory was setting up John Boehner for a future " gotcha moment." For the last few weeks, David Gregory has been asking if it was appropriate for leaders to control the fringe element in their party. John Boehner and Eric Cantor for not calling out the "birthers" or in his words " setting the record straight." Both republican leaders have said that is not in their job description.  But more to the point, I'm pretty sure  David Gregory knows about the rumors of John Boehner's extramarital affair. Yesterday, he leaned over and asked John Boehner about the conversation he had with Congressman Christopher lee before he departed, for acting in an ethical manner.  John Boehner  politely said those matters of private but the words that followed that statement might come to bite later on, because he said"The American people have the right, and should expect, the highest ethical standards from members of Congress." We might find out real soon because Republican congressman David Rivera is currently under criminal investigation in Florida. His mother’s consulting company received $510,000 in consulting fees from a dog racetrack, presumably in exchange for Rivera’s advocacy of legalizing slot machines. Rivera then received $132,000 in loans that he failed to disclose from the consulting company.

The congressman paid himself $60,000 in unitemized campaign reimbursements when a state legislator, misstated on financial disclosure forms from 2003 to 2009 that he had been paid to do freelance work for USAID (USAID has said that they never employed Rivera), and has been connected with allegations of domestic violence.

Read more:http://tinyurl.com/4mzf4yo

I guess we're all prone to conspiracy, rumors, and juicy gossip but don't let that be the basis for substantiated proof of wrongdoing.

7 comments:

Mike said...

It only took me five years and I've come to the conclusion that the Vicad posters don't read the article, or blog they are posting to... They just react to the last comment or have a prepared post that they think will fit any occasion.

How many times has a poster asked a question that was embedded in the story they were supposed to have read before, commenting?

Edith Ann said...

You mean like 5 lines in?

Let me explain the Victoria Rules of Engagement as one who is consistently accused of being part of a conspiracy--

1. If YOUR opinion agrees with MY opinion, then this is the end of the rules and I know you're a genius.

2. If YOUR opinion differs from MY opinion, then you are an idiot, you hate all things Victoria and you are absolutely a liberal (no matter the topic).

3. If you question Rule #1 on the Forum, then you are an idiot, you hate all things Victoria, you are absolutely a liberal (no matter the topic) AND you are in a conspiracy.

It's really very simple.

For some reason this week, I am in the hot box again. It is rather amusing to think that folks are really concerned with what I have to say!

I saw the John Boehner interview. Talk about saying nothing! I also happened to catch (at 4:30 this morning), Rick Perry on the Book Channel (C-SPAN) delivering a talk about his book to the Heritage Organization.

First off, talk about looking bored stiff, they did. But in this talk from November 2010, he was standing up there telling lie after lie after lie! 8 out of 10 new jobs in America last year were created in Texas. Texas saw more business come in than any other state (I told him Caterpillar doesn't count.) Our schools are setting the pace for schools around the country (we're 46th for Pete's Sake!) and all sorts of other stuff. I contemplated turning off the TV because I was seriously worried that it was going to burst into flames!

I don't know how it exactly ended, he bored me to sleep...

Mike said...

Edith Ann
I think there's a pro and a con on just about any subject out there but there's not a lot of people who believe that.

I believe they go after you because they think if they " cut off the head of the snake, the rest of the body will follow."... They don't know that there's some very strong will people in Victoria. Several several years ago the people in our company were given a psychological test to see where we stood as employees. Our company wanted this study to improve the interactions between employees. The outside company said our company had an unusual high number of type A personalities. I think Victoria still has a lot of strong willed people or hard headed people,as some might say.

BTW I see what you mean by having the liberty to state your case without it being taken out of context, but I'm anxiously looking forward for someone to disagreed with me, so we can have that civil debate with no strings attached.....

Edith Ann said...

I miss the forum of a few years ago. We could have reasonable dialogue without the ignorance. It has been dumbed down so much by the moderators--most of us could moderate ourselves, the rest would have gotten squeezed out--there is rarely a good civil debate. Your blogs come the closest, but with that also comes the narrowminded, 'my way or no way' thinkers. I guess it's the price you pay for the little dialogue you do get.

We did a personality test at my office a couple of years ago. Turns out this Lion worked with a bunch of Golden Retrievers! Go figure...

Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike said...

I often wonder if letter writers and posters are purposely trying to deceive. Throughout the years I have read the letters of Howard Weise( have disagree with all of them) but he stated a case. This morning's letter he implicated that the Obama Administration, when that obviously is not the case,was funding a ral system between SA & Austin. It may just be my interpretation but he made it sound like the administration was either funding are backing a high rail system between SA and Austin.... First, the administration has not been granted the money and second I don't think they would approve of the San Antonio to Austin project...Didn't he think someone would read the story? I know plenty of Victorians that are very interested on what goes on in San Antonio and Austin Texas.

Mike said...

Rollinstone made my point to try and prove his intelligence; he took out his trusty calculator using his own made up variables; he posted an answer without reading the story.

Right wingers like rollinstone hate the government, politicians, and taxes, so every post they make will fit neatly into their beliefs.