Most Admired Men/Women of 2009

The latest USA Today/Gallup poll shows it like this:

Women
1. Hillary Clinton
2. Sarah Palin
3. Oprah Winfrey
4. Michelle Obama
5. Condoleeza Rice

Men
1. Barack Obama
2. George W. Bush
3. Nelson Mandela
4. Glenn Beck
5. Pope Benedict XVI

Safe Enough to Fly

I understand that the system broke down with the failed terrorist would-be attack last week, but I hope this doesn't mean the TSA is going to make life even harder for regular travelers. Most of what they do now is for show, to demonstrate they care. People who fly get that there are certain risks, like someone accidentally hitting the "wings fall off" switch. The Department of Homeland Security can look at what happened and what they can improve, but no reason to punish the rest of the country over it.

My 2 1/2 Cents on This Week's Politics

Cent #1 - Jobs have been lost every month for the past two years. What's been the constant during those past two years? Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader. Celebration was in order that ONLY 11,000 jobs were lost in November. I'm surprised when I find out how many friends and neighbors are unemployed. It makes me grateful for my own job, but the longer this many people stay unemployed, the more likely more incumbants will be booted, not just in the general election, but in the primaries.

In Utah, we have Sen. Bob Bennett, who is running for his fourth term in 2010. When he first ran in 1992, he campaigned on a pledge to only serve two terms. In 1999, mere months after being re-elected to his second term, he said he changed his mind. He knows how the system is geared toward incumbants. Once he got in, he knew he could stay as long as he wanted.

But something's changed in the political wind. The economy tanked, and we're still fighting two wars where people are asking, "Remind me why we're still there?" If any of Bennett's challengers prove to be remotely serious, he may not even be on the ballot next November.

Cent #2 - The more I read about the history of Israel and Palestine, the more I wonder how the U.S. became allied with Israel. Not saying they should be allies with Palestine instead, but there's been so much bloodshed for so many decades, and Israel, fighting for its right to exist, has committed several atrocies against thousands of people. Now with hardliner Benjamin Netanyahu in there, I don't expect peace anytime soon, but I do believe a two-state solution with an independent Palestine is the only way to go.

To both sides, it's a holy war. Nothing holy about it.

Cent #2 1/2 - Barbara Walters' Ten Most Fascinating People contained some good candidates, but not good interviews. I'd rather have one of ABC's affiliates have a three-hour special, I DVR it, and then I can choose which ones I actually want to listen to. (That would be a big fast-forward on Lady Gaga and Kate Gosselin, for starters). Barbara only interviewed eight of her nominees, but they still made for quick, superficial interviews where I didn't really learn anything.

Revoke Gore's Oscar?

In light of the flurry of evidence the past few weeks that scientists have been fudging the numbers on "global warming", two Academy members are demanding that Gore give his award back he won for An Inconvenient Truth.

Gay Conservatives debate Gay Marriage

Andrew Sullivan is for gay marriage; Charles Winecoff is for civil unions.

Al Gore - global warming profiteer

If you want to talk about combatting pollution, I'm all for it, but this global warming hysteria has gone on long enough. Of course Al Gore's made it his life mission. It's going to make him a billionaire.

Mr. Gore is poised to become the world's first "carbon billionaire," profiteering from government policies he supports that would direct billions of dollars to the business ventures he has invested in.

Lies About Rush Limbaugh

There are two false quotes that have entered the talking-points of news when talking about Rush Limbaugh. His enemies love to smear him as a racist. Is he a racist? He says he's not and never has been. There are some quotes that might make people judge otherwise, but there are certain quotes that are horrible, that make him sound like a contemptible racist. Trouble is, he never said them.

The two worst quotes of his that are true are the bone-through-the-nose one and the Donovan McNabb one. There is no audio of it, but he once admitted in an interview his biggest regret was when he was a DJ in the early 1970's, he got short with a caller and told him to pull the bone out of his nose.

The other is one that isn't really racist, but the hard left loves to accuse the hard right of being racist no matter what. Rush once said on ESPN he thought the press was giving Donovan McNabb a free pass because they wanted to see a black quarterback do well. No one on the set called him on it, it was a non-issue until Media Matters called it to everyone's attention three days later.

The two ones that are false: there's a quote out there that Rush once said slavery had its merits. There's another where Rush praised MLK's killer. It looks like both stemmed from a Wikipedia entry by a contributor called Cobra. They were later removed, but like a virus, the falsehood entered the ether, and thousands just accepted it as true.

"Racist" is turning into "Nazi" for me, which is to say, one passionate political side uses it against the other so much, it doesn't really mean anything anymore. And there are situations where the word(s) should still matter.

Sean Hannity vs. Michael Moore = Civil Discussion

There is hope for our Republic after all.

I watched it last night. I thought Moore had the better argument about two-thirds of the time. If Moore did his movies with a tone more like this, he'd expand his fanbase. I still like Moore movies; I just know I have to watch with large grains of salt and then hit the fact-check sites afterwards.

I was surprised how rigidly to the talking points Hannity stuck, but there's a reason that of the right-wing talking-head radio-TV guys, he's one of my least favorite.