I have a slightly different take on this whole Florida Primary delegate seating issue than what I've been hearing in the news and in the forums. I was not happy when I found out Florida's January Democratic Primary would not count. For Florida, there would be no campaigning, no chance to get to know the candidates, no organizing on the local level, and perhaps worse of all, no voice in who gets to be our Democratic nominee.

At the time we were told in no uncertain terms by Democratic party leadership and by the candidates themselves that Florida was off limits and the votes would not be counted no matter what. Many people I talked to just decided to stay home, if their vote wouldn't count, why bother.

I thought about whether to vote in the primary long and hard. I felt at the time the National Democratic Party was making a big mistake by dis-enfranchising the people of Florida, dis-enfranchising me, and I was mad. But again, this was Florida where voting fraud and errors is part of our past. So perhaps it was to be expected.

There is talk about all the speculators in the housing market. Investors buying a house or condo with the intention to flip it and turn a profit when as the market continued to rise. One investor profiting on another, it was a house of cards doomed to fall. Luckily, the families affected by the housing market are still a minority of the economy.

The other speculator market that's really hurting the average American family is that of oil. Sur,e there are some market forces that explain rising gas prices; but the very real fear of a short supply of oil in the future has driven up the cost. The weak dollar compounds the problem and now we're seeing $4.00 gasoline.

These forces are mostly out of our control. Who we elect and what kind of economic policy has some effect, but the supply of oil and the growing demand for it is very real.

But the truth is we've all been speculators in the oil market for the last 40 years. We've been speculating that gas prices would stay low and the urban planning and mass transit system we should have been investing in all along would never be needed.

We couldn't have been more wrong.

Jon Nadleberg has a great analogy that directly links the actions of George Bush with those of the very real Pirate Captains Walt Disney based his famous attraction on.

Not too many people are aware of the background of the auction section of Pirates of the Caribbean. In this scene, the captain of the ship has gathered the women of the town together and is selling them off to the crew of the pirate ship.

This is based on what actually used to happen with clever sea captains. Back then, the captain would get an equal share of the loot stolen from the city as just another member of the crew. In this manner all would seem fair to the crew who only followed the captain so long as the captain did right by them.

That's a pretty good analogy for democracy, btw. It's well past time for us to find a new captain.

Goodbye, good riddance

Three simple words from John Edwards sums up what millions of Americans are feeling right now. "Goodbye, good riddance" is the sum total of John Edwards statement regarding the resignation of Karl Rove. His economy of words tells a lot.

Aside from any future criminal or investigative proceedings against the man, can we now just move on and realize that the Bush Whitehouse is completely and totally irrelevant. Even his biggest supporters are jumping ship.

What happens when Al Gore sticks to his guns and stays out of campaign politics? He won't run for President as he's making a world of difference as a private citizen and doesn't want that to stop if he gets himself elected into office. All those pent up dollars people have been waiting to donate to his campaign; all the volunteer hours from the 'Draft Al Gore' movement; all the great thinkers, blog roots specialists, environmental activists? All those people waiting to crash the gate with Al... what happens to all that?

What do you say to people who say, "well we're there now. So what would you have us do? Leave and abandon our mess or stay and try a surge to clean it up?" Here's my attempt.

While I know we should never have started this war to begin with (many political and economic avenues remained), we are there right now never the less. For the last four years we, as a nation, have asked the working poor and those unable to afford a college education without military service, and their families to make all the sacrifices for us (including over 3000 cases of the biggest sacrifice anyone can make). There has been no rationing, no tax increase, and heaven forbid we all give up our gas guzzlers. Meanwhile we have sacrificed privacy, free speech, and habeas corpus rights, but of course if you already have money and power that doesn't concern you.

"Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others." - Edward Abbey

I'm an idealist when it comes to philosophy, but a realist when it comes to government. This means in a utopian world, I would be fine and dandy with Libertarian or even Anarchism as the mode of government (or lack thereof). However, I firmly believe the above quote is correct and that few men are wise enough to rule themselves. Therefore, they can't be trusted to be a part of a society without rules.

A year ago, anti-Americanism had shown some signs of abating, in part because of the positive feelings generated by U.S. aid for tsunami victims in Indonesia and elsewhere. But favorable opinions of the United States have fallen in most of the 15 countries surveyed. Only about a quarter of the Spanish public (23%) expresses positive views of the U.S., down from 41% last year; America's image also has declined significantly in India (from 71% to 56%) and Indonesia (from 38% to 30%).

As my liberatarian brothers like to remind me, there is no such thing as a tax on a company. Those increased costs just get passed onto consumers.

The solution to this is to stop taxing corporations based on what they sell and instead tax them on what they consume. This changes where taxes get factored into the production line and encourages companies to produce more effectively, keeping costs low, and passing those savings onto the consumer.

More below based on Dave Pollard's excellent blog - How to Save The World.

I just stumbled upon this blogspot diary while doing a random search through recently created weblogs and I just had to get the word out. It tells the story of one woman, Rhonda Honegger, from Williamsburg, Virginia, who knew she couldn't wait for others to make a difference in the lives of children whose lives were changed forever by Hurricane Katrina.

Rhonda is chronicling her journey at her blog and it's a must read.

So what is the answer? If we are abandoned by the current Democratic party, then we must in turn abandon them.

Collision was Directed and animated by Max Hattler, Royal College of Art 2005

I miss the voice and insight of Jennings. No one has yet stepped up to replace him.