The Colonel's Forum

I read a well-written analysis on Politico today that will unfortunately never see the mainstream. People are too lazy, or too burned out on politics, or both for something like this to be presented to the masses. It doesn't fit in a "tweet" so people will tune out. The full article is here . It aligns with a couple theories I have about the current race, specifically: Trump is getting disproportionate media coverage because his statements are so sensational that they sell a ton of ads. He's the gossip/reality star of the race and that's what Americans lust for these days so he's a siren's song to the major media outlets. His positions are so outlandish that they skew the curve for other statements made by his fellow GOP candidates. In other words, if you remove Trump from the equation, there are plenty of crazy statements being made by the other Republicans in the race, they just seem less crazy and get less air time relative to Trump The Democrat...

I watched the 12/15 CNN debate and it was genuinely difficult to stomach. Here's what I heard: America won't be safe unless we continue these endless wars and significantly increase defense spending I'll demonstrate I'm tougher than Obama by making the current federal spying programs a lot more aggressive! "The FBI has the authority to investigate 'un-American' activities." Yeah, it's called McCarthyism. I promise to build a stronger, more heavily fortified wall on the Mexican border than _______. So, overall I saw a complete lack of respect for the lessons of history or the constitution. Going to war in Iraq was a terrible mistake, BOTH times. No one has ever won a war in Afghanistan, ever. Lybia and Egypt are not new democracies, they're new problem spots in the region. Who in their right mind says "if we would just carpet  bomb Syria and then put some boots on the ground this would all get better?" Right, Ted Cruz.  K...

Well, that didn't take long. The French authorities had barely cleared the bodies of the victims from the massacre scenes in Paris before US politicians started turning tragedy into an opportunity for grandstanding. I'd act surprised, but really I'm not. Those issuing policy statements today in the aftermath of these attacks are some of the most classless politicians we've got. Specifically, Trump, Carson, Cruz and Gingrich. They were not alone, they were just some of the most egregious. Their statements varied from "see, that's why we can't help the Syrian refugees" to "this is why Muslims are so dangerous" to "if the French were allowed to carry more guns this might never have happened." I'm not going to repeat the exact statements, but these are the main messages. NBC has the details here . Take a hard look at these statements, because so many of them are simply variations on "we need more war" and "don't ...

I talk a lot about politics because I love this country, and because I believe that an engaged and informed citizenry is one of the most important things we can have to ensure our future. Because of this, I find the current state of political discourse in this country alarming. At some point it became "impolite" to talk about politics. Our founding fathers would be furious at this, because it's the ability to freely talk politics that separates us from fascist, totalitarian regimes.  The media is a circus, and we can't wait for the next act. Good journalism is nearly impossible to find. The republican debate last week was more like Wrestlemania than a proper political debate.  Ignorance has become fashionable. Don't understand the issues? Don't care for science? No time to actually research a topic? Can't be bothered to know US History? Welcome to American politics in 2015 where you'll fit right in! I know this stuff isn't new this year, bu...

Two news stories caught my attention today: 1) Scott Walker says that building a border fence on the Canadian border is a good idea 2) Chris Christie says he wants to hire FedEx to track immigrants The only people to whom "ideas" such as these appeal are idiots. "FedEx tracks stuff, let's hire 'em to track those Mexicans!" Yeah, brilliant idea. You willing to get a tracking number assigned so that the guv'mnt can track you? Didn't think so. Me either, really. The idea of tracking humans, citizens or otherwise, is so fundamentally un-American that it boggles the mind. Let's talk about civil liberties, freedom, small government, and the ability to move freely across borders. These aren't just rights that we believe American citizens should have, they are rights we believe every human has. These are our principles. Of course, the GOP never let a double standard get in the way of some good ol' xenophobia. And a fence on the border w...

This month's mass shooting event, oh wait, we've had two. I mean the one in Lafayette, Louisiana. Fun fact: over the past twenty years, the average number of days between mass shootings in the US has been cut in half . This one in Louisiana was committed by a guy that had definite mental health issues. Mental health is often a factor in mass shootings (for the record, guns are a factor in 100% of them). Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's governor, in his terrible press conference about the event, noted that we should have better screening for mental health issues before we sell people a gun. Oddly, this makes him a left wing nut relative to the rest of the GOP field. The NRA is ready to run him out of town on a rail for suggesting something that most Americans, and even most gun owners, think is pretty logical: let's not sell guns to crazy people. Here's the rub - governor Jindal himself just finished cutting mental health benefits state-wide . He did this to compensate f...

My favorite Senator (don't get me wrong, I can't stand either of them, but Rand Paul is absolutely @#$%^& nuts) has taken a bold, creative approach as he pretends to "fight the good fight" and "save coal." He's decided to paint it as a "state's rights" issue. Mitch is a master politician, I've always given him credit for that, and he definitely understands the importance of good marketing. Framing this as "don't let the big scary Federal government boss you around, governor!" allows him to divert attention from the facts surrounding the issue, namely: Presidents don't control energy markets. There are actually 9,000 more coal miners working in the US today than the day Obama took office, they're just not working in Kentucky. Coal has been a dying industry in Kentucky for all 30 years that Mitch has been in office, so apparently the "war on coal" started with Reagan. The biggest reasons we have a...

One topic that has been in the news lately is the trend of state legislatures wanting to dictate school curricula that align to a particular political ideology. If that sounds like a terrible idea, that's because it is. I love a good political debate as much as the next former PolySci major, but the place for that debate is in coffee shops and on facebook, not in our classrooms where it affects our kids. Period. In addition to the usual suspects for curriculum debate (sex education and evolution), there are two newcomers these days: history and climatology. Here is a summary of recent history on the matter. Issue #1 - NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards . 26 States collaborated with the National Science Teacher's Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science to develop these standards. This process was supported by wacky left-wing organizations like GE and DuPont. The goal is to provide students with world-class, benchmarked science education...

The title really says it all. As the media begins to spew talk of the 2016 election cycle at us (ALREADY?!), let's review some recent examples of the differences in the parties when it comes to fiscal responsibility. If you think Republicans fix budgets, you're just plain wrong. If you think tax cuts spur economic growth you're also wrong. There's simply no evidence to support either point. I can, however, show 6 examples of Republicans cutting taxes where the result was a ruined budget AND zero economic growth, often where the state education system is ruined in the process. Sam Brownback, Republican governor of Kansas: cut taxes, resulting in a $278 million budget shortfall, which he's going to address by not spending money on infrastructure, cutting education spending, and further depleting the state's already under-funded pension plan. He inherited a budget deficit of $60M , so he's increased that 400% in just four years; impressive! 71 of the state...