Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Government Enhancements
I am struggling to find a reason as to why any government would NOT pay for a breast enhancement when they already hand out disability checks for "back pain" or "anger management issues." After all, isn't $5,000 for a new rack less than the prescriptions the government will have to pay for in order for this woman to manage her depression?
It is time to ban large dogs
I don't want this story to serve as another reason to lose faith in humanity, but it is difficult to wake up and look at the news day after day and see stories about hyper-aggressive dogs attacking people or other animals completely unprovoked. Unfortunately, this is one of those stories.
Gabrielle Giffords’ husband pulled his daughter’s dog off of a sea lion in Laguna Beach over the weekend.I think the only solution to this problem is to ban all dogs over a certain size that look a certain way. Why do we need to have 65-pound dogs? When an animal that large becomes aggressive bad things can happen. I understand there are a lot of responsible dog owners out there, but there are some who simply cannot handle a dog of this size. Also, what does a 65-pound dog do that a 10 or 15-pound dog does not do? Did they get the dog because they liked it? Because it made them feel safe? Because it made their daughter feel safe? That's not a good enough answer.
The incident, which was captured on video, happened around 1:40 p.m. Saturday at Goff Cove Beach by the Montage Laguna Beach.
Retired astronaut Mark Kelly’s 18-year-old daughter, who was on vacation with her father and Giffords, was walking the American bulldog on a leash when the 65-pound dog saw the sea lion, ran off and attacked.
Nathan, who declined to give his last name, happened to be having lunch nearby when he started to film the chaotic scene on his cellphone.
The graphic video, which he later posted on YouTube, showed the young girl screaming while her dog had the sea lion by the neck.
Two other women tried to help until Kelly finally arrived and forced the dog off of the animal.
The sea lion later died.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
A few thoughts before CPAC 2013
Originally I planned a long-ish post before CPAC, but why? I
may as well wait until after this weekend before making too many proclamations
about where the conservative movement is at in 2013. That is not to say CPAC is
the be all and end all of conservative activism, but it’s the first major
gathering of conservatives since the election that is hopefully serving as the
kick in the ass we needed on the right.
Now, onto the things I hope to hear and not hear this weekend.
1.
Which brand of conservatism gets the most
airtime from speakers? Is it solely a
fiscal conservatism going forward? Is it a shift towards embracing the
libertarian wing of the movement? What role are social issues going to play for
us going forward? What about immigration? What about foreign-policy? It seems like a
broad question, but I think the conservative movement is at one of those points
where stepping back and looking at the 30,000 foot view is required at this
point. Conservatism has always been about opportunity, so how do we get
that point across?
Along this same point, what is our elevator
speech? We live in a seven-second soundbite world. Even more than our short
attention spans is the fact that the majority of this country does not actively
follow the news on a daily basis. Low-information voters do exist and we do
need to take a crack at winning them over. How do we describe conservatism to
them in the 7 seconds we might have?
2.
ObamaCare. – For the past few years ObamaCare
has been target number one for conservative activists. Well guess what,
ObamaCare isn’t going anywhere over the next 4 years and the more time we focus
on that the less time we spend on problems that we have a chance at solving.
The amount of time spent on ObamaCare and not every other issue will determine
how successful this gathering ends up being.
3.
Technology – I work in the digital advertising
world and if there is one thing I hope the GOP has learned it is that
technology is not how you win an election, but it can be a powerful tool when
used properly. In short, email can be used for purposes outside of raising
money.
4.
Are we going to divide the country into groups
as well? – Lots of the focus after the election has been on the youth and
Latino votes. There seem to be two sides – one side is tailor our policies to
where these groups stand today (i.e. move left) or find new ways to engage with
everyone, including the youth and Latino voters of America, and start moving
them back to our side. One common complaint I hear about us on the right is
that we do not bother to take the time to reach out to different ethnic and
social groups. I, for one, believe that moving left will be the beginning of
the end of the conservative movement and that another group will pick up the
pieces. Evangelizing conservative philosophies to everyone needs to be the
focus, but to get there we need to focus on points 1, 2, and 3.
That is basically it. I would be lying if I said I expected
to be blow away this weekend. CPAC knows it needs to do something to stay relevant.
This is a time for self-reflection and self-improvement for the conservative
movement. Why our policies work should be the focus. Everyone in the room knows
that Obama sucks and that Hillary won’t be much better. The only way we will
get others on our side is if we start to hone a new positive and affirmative
message that focuses on our solutions. Three days spent bashing Obama will be three
days wasted.
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