More Penn with a dash of Carlin

Here's my effort to embed a video and this one is a good one:

From Crackle: Kelly Carlin

Not only is it a great tribute to George Carlin, but what Penn says about his daughter and how he also hopes to see the same respect from his kids is wonderful. Given the recent death of my mom and our efforts to celebrate her life it was particularly relevant and so true. Having children that still love and respect you when they grow up is truly a great accomplishment and something to be proud of.

blog versus Facebook

Having started a blog after getting more active in Facebook has led to some interesting thoughts about what should go where. There is certainly an interesting grey area between the two, though blogs are definitely better for longer posts and more detailed items. This spot is also better for me to rant on politics and other areas that might be considered boring or that they disagree with (living in CA my friends lean heavily to the liberal side).

Still, its fun to have both for now and lets see if I can maintain both to a reasonable level.

Tea Parties!

Related to the previous post, and what sparked some of those thoughts, were the stories around the Tea Parties that were held on Wednesday to protest the bailouts and high taxes. The Republicans, and normally rightfully so, seem to absorb these as coming from them, but I believe the reality is much different. I read that at a counter protest there was a sign asking where were you 6 months ago when Bush was doing the bailing out and my first thought was exactly where I am now, just as pissed off and against his actions as now. But the point was real, where was Hannity and the others that think they can usurp this anger?

Can we ever be Republican again?

As someone who supported the Republican Party as a teen and who has never voted for a Democrat for any major office, the question above would seem like an easy one to answer. But my beliefs were always along the lines of a very small and focused government, only doing the core jobs that a federal government should do (defense, foreign policy, maintaining a level playing field in an otherwise open market, providing basic consumer support, etc.). This included keeping government out of our private lives.
But the Republican Party has moved away from these beliefs over the years, first with their dreadful alliance with the ugly Religious Right groups, and the last 8 Bush years have shattered all claims to small government conservatism. Is there any hope that we can again hear a top-ranking Republican rage against Obama's massive governmental increases and wonder why we didn't hear anything from them last year, or the one before, or the one before, going back through the whole decade?

It struck me that I am starting this at a time when I am super busy and don't have time for doing this. But that actually makes sense also, as the busier I am the more I do. Anyway, lets see if I'm still doing it in a month, at which point we may want to monetize ourselves.