I got this email yesterday referring to my Wednesday post, “I agree with you on the separation of power.  That way nothing would get done which would benefit us all.”   Those are the words of a disgruntled supporter of the GOP; a person who is embarrassed by the job done by those who share his ideology.  Believing stagnation would be preferable to progress in overcoming the challenging problems before us is to subscribe to the politics of gloom and doom.  One party control of the House, Senate and White House definitely allows things to be done more quickly but what if the things being done are detrimental to the future of the country and the world?  The framers of our Constitution expressly divided the legislative and executive branches with the hope that laws would be created only after thorough consideration, sufficient debate and accord from a representative sampling of the population.

            Looking back to two of the most popular presidents in our recent history you see Presidents who did not have complete partisan support in Washington.  Ronald Reagan served both terms and never had a Republican House to support his agenda.  Bill Clinton did not enjoy Congressional support during all of his years either.  The point to be made from the popularity of these two Presidents is that the legislation that comes out of a bipartisan government is more moderate and supported by a broader spectrum of the constituency.  To suggest that nothing could get done smacks of defeatism although in the case of our current president perhaps allowing him to do nothing would actually be preferable than allowing him to do more harm.

            The election is now only four days away.  I’m fairly certain that most voters have already made up their mind who they would vote for.  What remains to be seen is who will actually vote.  As the election draws near I find it hard to imagine that there are many undecided voters in an election that is as polarized as this one.  The choices seem fairly simple.  I don’t pretend to be able to understand how anyone could continue to support the Bush Administration and control of both houses of the legislature by the Republican Party.  Many Republicans don’t even support the Bush Administration as they have veered so far from the tenets of their traditional platform.    Elections are about choices — choosing who will represent you in the thousands of decisions our leaders make on a daily basis. Like me, I suspect you care deeply about national security, energy security, health care, political corruption, the environment, education, and more. The choices you make on November 7th will reflect these issues. While I won't ask you to vote for any particular candidate, I will ask you to think carefully about your choice and consider which candidates will help your hometown and our country become great again.

            I have finally found a group of conservatives that I can agree with.  The October issue of Washington Monthly had articles written by seven prominent Republicans who see expanding government, runaway spending, Middle East entanglements, and government corruption as justification for a balance of power in the Congress and White House.  After witnessing what their own party has done with absolute control they are longing for the glory days of the Clinton Presidency and quantifiable and qualitatively effective government.  The independent stories written by the prominent conservatives build around the idea that it would serve the nation well for a shift in power at this year’s midterm election.  I couldn’t agree more.

            All gloating aside I would suggest that even I, flaming liberal that I am, would be a proponent of a balance of power that would see the House controlled by one party, the Senate another.  I would suggest that the nation would be best served under that scenario as long as the President was always a Democrat.  Historically, the nation has always done better with a Democrat in the White House.  Even when a Democrat lead during difficult times a case could be made that the United States would have been worse off with a Republican in the Oval Office. 

            Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley was lamenting for the Republican Party he grew up with.  He commented that Dwight Eisenhower, William F. Buckley, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan stood for certain things.  He admits that there were problems with those administrations but there were always compensating triumphs.  He later goes on to say, “Despite the failures, one had the sense that the party at least knew in its heart of hearts that these were failures, either of principle or execution. Today one has no sense, aside from a slight lowering of the swagger-mometer, that the president or the Republican Congress is in the least bit chastened by their debacles.”

            In previous Red Hog Diary posts supporting campaign and lobby reform I have suggested that I was leery of what my favored democratic leaders would do were they to have complete control of Washington as the Republicans currently enjoy.  I have suggested that a sense of entitlement and one-up-manship might prevail and I am loathe to imagine anybody I voted for behaving as badly as the current crooks on the Republican side of the aisle.  The key to a balance of power in Washington is that balance makes government work the way the framers of our constitution intended it to work.  A balance of power between the executive and legislative branches creates an environment of checks and balances.  We can no longer afford for one party to control the House, the Senate and the Oval office.  Literally we can not afford it.  The out of control spending of the Neo-Cons is something that even makes those so called “tax and spend” Democrats blush.  If you truly love the United States it would seem that you owe it to yourself to cast your votes next Tuesday to remove enough incumbents to restore the balance of power to Washington.  That’s the way a democracy is supposed to work.  What do you think?

            I’ve been ruined.  In the year that my wife was away I changed in ways that I would have never thought possible.  I first noticed my problem about ten days ago when I caught myself mid-way through a conversation with “She Who Must Be Obeyed” (SWMBO) while I was discussing the victories and plans of my meal preparation like it was my social life.  After describing a dish of baked chicken breasts coated in bread crumbs served over angel hair pasta with stewed tomatoes, basil and garlic with sides of green beans and a tossed salad I stopped short.  I hate to admit it but I was gloating as I described that dinner in detail.  My description of the dinner included the look on my kid’s faces as they took their first bites.  Shock and awe baby, shock and awe. 

            Saturday “SWMBO” pulled into the drive at home after returning from her one year job assignment in DC and was greeted by ecstatic kids who were primed to smother her with welcome-home affection.  I was conspicuously absent as I was feverishly winding up the vacuum cleaner cord and wiping the sweat from my brow.  I had finished a six hour power clean in the just in the nick of time.  I can’t really tell you how much of a relief it was to actually see her cross the threshold.  It had entered my mind that she may have so enjoyed her life in the nation’s capital that not returning to Palo, Iowa was a possibility.  She did come home though and she seemed happy to be here.  So I got that going for me.

            Our first couple of days as a complete family was a blur as we had a school play, unpacking and an acres worth of leaves to rake up.  I also had to work a little each day of the weekend and before I knew it was late Sunday evening.  Finally, Monday night, we began to reestablish the routines that had not been a part of our lives for an entire year.  I’m not quite sure how it happened but upon returning from work Monday I went straight from the front door to the laundry room, tossed a load into both the washing machine and the dryer and made my way to the kitchen and began dinner.  WHAT THE HELL?  I know!  Somewhere along the way I lost track of my rightful place as king of my castle and continued my role as servant extraordinaire.  It wasn’t until I was sliding a sheet of French dip sandwiches into the oven that I questioned what I was doing.  I think “SWMBO” sensed my panic and stepped in to make the dinner preparation more of a partnership than my sole responsibility and I think that may work well for a while. 

            "I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes," he said. "It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who've never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did."  Politics are as ugly and nasty as we have ever seen this year.  John Kerry has already apologized that his joke was misunderstood.  He has spent the last 35 years fighting for soldiers and veterans and understands fully what it takes to be a soldier.  Kerry was suggesting that if you don't apply yourself fully in school and go on to hold a position of power you may end up making horrible decisions akin to those of the C student from Yale.  Bush and Cheney should apologize to the troops for sending them to do work that neither of them were willing to do when it was their turn to serve.

Dear Mediacom Customer,

            Unfortunately, Sinclair has rejected all of our fair market-driven offers and continues to demand exorbitant compensation, penalizing also you – our valued customers – who will ultimately bear the cost and inconveniences of Sinclair’s extreme behavior.

Sincerely yours,
Randy Brown,
Regional Vice President

News Release

Contact: Barry M. Faber, V.P. & General Counsel

            Sinclair continues to regret any inconvenience caused to its viewers, Sinclair does not believe it is fair for Mediacom to refuse to pay for programming which it uses to attract and retain fee-paying subscribers.

            OH MAN!  Don’t you love it when corporate America is so extremely concerned about their customers?  Our local CBS affiliate is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies that currently owns and operates, programs or provides sales services to 58 television stations in 36 markets. Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 22% of U.S. television households and is affiliated with all the major networks.  Mediacom provides cable to more than 1.4 million basic customers. Data customers number about 480,000 and its newly initiated phone service has 22,000 customers and boasting sales of $222 million dollars in 2005.

            Here is what makes all of this so painful for the Red Hog.  The local CBS affiliate carries my beloved Iowa Hawkeye’s Basketball games that help me maintain my sanity through the winter and they are own the broadcast rights of this years Super Bowl.  I have all of my connection to the outside world through Mediacom.  They provide my cable TV, my internet and my phone service.  Being as how Mediacom has demonstrated that they can’t negotiate with their partners I will be forced to change all of my services in the event I change my cable provider.  I’m just finding this all so much of a hassle that I would never want to have to go through it again.  That is the whole problem with all of this:  all I want to do is pay my damn bill on time and continue to get the service that I am accustomed to getting.  Well, actually it could improve a little but that is another matter.  

            So basically I am seeing this as a problem of two media bullies trying to maximize their revenue streams while expecting the other to help them meet their corporate projections.  Both companies are taking a posture that the other must succumb to their demands and neither is willing compromise in an attempt to appease their customer base.  Do you ever get tired of consumers losing out to the out of touch decisions made in executive suites across the land?  This is all just another example of how the division of wealth is creating a super class that has no comprehension of what it is like to live in the real world.  In the real world guys like me find it annoying when they have misplace the remote.  Shopping for hardware or vendors to provide me the entertainment choices that I enjoy is almost unbearable!

Oh yeah, Happy Halloween!

            In 2006, Democratic voter turnout matters big-time. Many races will be decided by just hundreds of votes—and those races will determine the future of Congress.  The future of our Congress has never been more critical to the future of our country.   MoveOn's Call for Change program allows people with busy lives to spend as little as 15 minutes mobilizing voters in key races from their home computer and phone.  The goal is to make 5 million calls this election season—2 million have already been made.

Here's what some MoveOn members have reported back:

• This is easier than any political calling I have done. The print is large, you click on the screen rather than filling in tiny boxes. I like being able to call from home.
  –Shelby, Spokane, WA
• The best part is the flexibility of the program. I can call when my schedule permits, in small time slots: while I'm waiting for a fax, or have a half hour to spare. 
   —Diana, Los Angeles, CA
• The tools, the script, the ease in which you can do this is wonderful! It could not be easier, and you can make a lot of calls in a short amount of time.
  –Tomi, The Woodlands, TX
• Several major bloggers have already asked their readers to participate in Call for Change. Here's a sampling of what they said:
• You want to do something for the election, but only have an hour or three to spare? Consider MoveOn's Call For Change...Seems like a great way to work on getting out the vote without having to make a serious time commitment. Remember, we'll only realize our big gains this November if we outwork the other side.
  –Markos, Daily Kos
• In the most sophisticated phone banking program ever produced in American politics, MoveOn.org has created a program to call [five] million key voters in 50 key House districts and more than half a dozen Senate campaigns...it is amazing stuff.
  –Chris Bowers, MyDD

Sounds pretty easy huh?  Come on, you can do it.  Join up with MoveOn and help get out the vote for next Tuesday November, 7^th.  Remember, if you don’t vote, the freedoms you lose could be your own.