Firstly, I apologize for not posting in so long. It is generally good to be busy, but it is not good for one’s political blog. Secondly, I am not a football man. I will not be some Rush Limbaugh doing football and other sports asides to my political commentary. The Superbowl was the only game I saw this year. There were, however, two things that struck me, one good, one bad, that seemed worthy of appearing in this forum.

First I will mention the good aspect, which came from the game itself. It was a good game between fairly closely matched teams. There were few penalties and major errors, even the interception near the end was more the result of a good defensive play than a poor offensive play or a bad throw. The Saints won, not because they played better, but because they took risks. If there is anything to be learned from a game like that its that you can win big if you take risks. You can blow away your competition even when they are a little better if you have guts and toughness. That is what was so beautiful about it. The Saints didn’t win by having the highest paid players or the best players or the best coach or the basis of unfair calls or some corrupt means. The Saints won by taking risks and maximizing their potential.

Now, they had to play well also, and they had to get lucky a bit, i.e. the recovery of their onside kick, etc., but they would not have won without taking some huge risks and playing innovatively and in unorthodox manner. It is a lesson for the country and for business and the economy. Its not about playing by the rules, its not about getting help from others or from the officials (government), its not about having lots of money or being the best. Its about doing your best, taking risks, and maximizing your potential. Cheers to the whole franchise for that brilliantly executed game.

Now for the bad part that got me the most fired up. It came in the form of one of the commercials, from the fourth quarter of the game. It was a commercial called “paper or plastic“, and I was hoping about halfway through that someone was finally making fun of the eco-police. In a way they might have been, or it might have been their intention, but the message was: “drive this car because the eco-police wont get you”. It even said it “feels right” to be in one of their new clean diesel cars. Now I am all for efficiency and reduced emissions. I am all for Audi’s new car, you like it and want one, go get it. I love that diesel is making headway in the non-commercial market, it has always been a higher efficiency fuel.

But the message of the commercial is that a day is coming when we really will have eco-police and we better deal with it. It was more scary than funny. If I start seeing arrests for the wrong light bulb, I will know that I should have taken up arms against tyranny long ago.

Now, maybe Audi was trying to make fun of those who cry foul about every little eco trend. Maybe the “green police” was supposed to be a joke on the public opinion trials we all face if we drive an SUV or throw away a plastic cup. Or, maybe thats just wishful thinking. Either way, what I took from the commercial is that I need to be very vigilant of something like that actually coming. The green movement, regardless of its intention, is fast becoming another power grab, and with the obvious manipulation of environmental data and the ability to follow the dollar to find motivation for such corruption of science, it is becoming more and more evident just how blatant a power grab it really is. Even Obama’s state of the union address glosses over environmental questions as if to silence the debate so that the government can continue to gain control unabated.

I am not one to trounce Audi by calling for a retaliatory boycott of their clean diesel engines. I am sure its a fine machine and not a bad idea at all. But their marketing guy is way off, because that commercial was not a positive or funny experience at all. Here’s hoping that we all wake up before the jack-booted green police thugs take away the only vehicles that can get around in this snow (thank you global warming). I love my 40mpg Civic, but I have been driving an AWD Mercury Mountaineer to make it to work this week, the Civic is going nowhere until the snow is less than 5 inches deep and the Mountaineer pulls it out of the hole its in. Just sayin’

In yet another obvious breach of anything that could be considered “transparency”, Congress proceeded to push the health care bill/debate forward. The Republicans, at least, voted unanimously against moving forward on a debate and eventual vote, while the Democrats and Independents all voted to proceed. We have been repeatedly assured that the bill would die in the Senate, allaying fears after its surprising pass in the House, but such assurances seem more and more shaky.

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I also considered titling this Swine Fear. Basically, I firmly believe that scare tactics are being used to inflate the swine flu situation into a perceived pandemic. I think the media tends to exaggerate medical crises in general, as sensational news makes for greater ratings, but this seems to be a step further. The medical community, under the direction of the CDC is partaking in the overstatement of the issue. Certainly the swine flu is dangerous, but many of those to whom it has proved deadly might have succumbed to a regular flu as well. Furthermore, the distribution of medicines and some of the statements about the vaccines are especially troubling.

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Perhaps not entirely inaccurate, but philosophically wrong. I may not be threatening his “percentage of being right” as it relates to the accuracy of his statements, but the position he took the other day was definitely born of the wrong way of thinking. Basically, he stated that it would be a mistake to consider the Tea Party movement and the 9/12 March on Washington anything other than a “conservative ascendancy”. His reasoning is that if the issue gets classified as anything else, it could spark a third party that would guarantee the re-election of Obama and his administration, and the Democrat congress to go with it. He went it to it a little in this quote from his show with a caller named Dana:

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I met a lady in FedEx-Kinkos the Wednesday before Saturday’s protest march. I wished her luck since I was working on Saturday and would not be able to attend. She said that it seemed for every person going there were another hundred that wished they could. I don’t doubt that statement. She was very kind, and very aware that the problems she was protesting have been going on for a long time. Most of the people I have seen and talked to are the same way. This is not partisan, nor even conservative. This is the American people waking up.

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