Answering more Ask Roger Anything questions:
Tom the Mayor, who I know personally, pondered:
Here is a hard one Roger! Who do you think will win the presidential election?
I went to 270towin.com. The map there suggests that Obama has 217 likely electoral votes, and Romney with 191 electoral votes, with 130 electoral votes listed as a tossup. Three states in that latter category are hugely important – Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), and Ohio (18). I suspect that whoever wins at least 2 out of 3 will probably win the White House.
Some statistical piece – I can’t find it presently – states that the Republicans were far better controlling the argument in the media than the Democrats regarding the presentation of the healthcare law dubbed Obamacare. The GOP was able to stay on message, using the same keywords, while the Dems were more diffuse. This tends to be true on other issues as well.
I mention this because, even when the Democrats have good issues, they don’t seem to be able to capitalize on them. Obama’s support of gay marriage can’t really help him much; those supporters weren’t going to Romney. Obama’s announcement that he wouldn’t go after illegal immigrants who were brought to the US by their parents might have been popular with some Hispanics, but Republicans managed to turn it into a Constitutional overreach by the President.
FOX News blamed Obama for rising gas prices, and incorrectly predicted worse. Now that they are actually falling, FN notes that they are signs of a “looming global economic crisis.” Ya can’t win. And people with selective memory recall that Obama’s to blame for all of it.
Now, I think that Romney has been amazingly non-specific about what he would DO as President on many issues, save for building that pipeline. But if the economy is still weak – and the Dow Jones lost 250 points the day you posted the question…
If the election were held today, I think Romney wins. Of course, the election is NOT today, so things could change. I’m not optimistic about Obama’s chances at this moment.
Tom also asked:
Did you get the new Paul McCartney Album? What do you think of it?
I assume you are referring to Kisses on the Bottom, rather than the reissue of Ram. In general, the less I knew the song, the more I liked it. I don’t need another version of It’s Only a Paper Moon or I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter, and I don’t think Sir Paul added much to those. But I liked tunes such as My Very Good Friend the Milkman, Get Yourself Another Fool, and The Inch Worm, plus a couple of original songs. I think my decision to buy a Macca album depends on the reviews.
BTW, there are nice Coverville podcasts for Paul McCartney and for Brian Wilson/the Beach Boys that you might want to check out; for the latter, I made a couple of requests that were played.
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Chris from Off the Shore of Orion wonders:
Is there a limit on the number?
Yes, no more than 37 at a time. So you’re safe – so far…
What historical figure do you most identify with?
Oh, it varies, depending on the issue, and my mood: Nat Turner, Henry David Thoreau, Rachel Carson. Sometimes I want to just take on the system, sometimes I want to write in quiet contemplation; much of the time, I worry about the fate of the planet.
Something at work reminded me of this: when I was 9 or 10 and wanted to wrap presents, I would get the Sunday funnies from the newspaper and use those. I would be severely mocked, even/especially by my own family. These days, what I did is considered environmentally cool, but then as doofy, a word one of my sisters used A LOT in describing me.
Who do you think was the most evil person who ever lived?
Oh, there are so many. The obvious ones such as Genghis Khan or Hitler.
So, I’ll pick US President Andrew Jackson, whose support of slavery, and especially his Indian removal policy should get him removed from the US $20 bill.
What’s the most heartbreaking novel you’ve ever read?
A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. That said, I don’t read a lot of fiction these days. I was very affected by Maus by Art Spiegelman. I had actually met him a couple of times before that book was released. He was publishing this eclectic, oversized magazine called RAW; boy, I wish I had kept those.
While you’re right that President Obama’s support for marriage equality is unlikely to win him many converts among Romney’s supporters, they’re not the target. Instead, it will attract some independents, who tend to favour marriage equality much more strongly than do Republicans, and it could help restore the fervour of Obama’s own supporters, many of whom lost patience with him over the slowness of change for LGBT people. This last point is especially true when you consider that Romney has the absolute opposite position from President Obama (Romney favours an amendment to the US Constitution to forever ban marriage equality in all 50 states).
So, on balance, I give President Obama’s stance on marriage equality a neutral to mild positive, but certainly not a negative at all.
His real problem is, as you mentioned, the inability of Democrats to stay focused and on message like the Republicans always do. Republicans can get away with straying when they have the might of their media behind them, but Democrats have nothing comparable. This is part of what got Democrats into trouble in 2010, and they haven’t really recovered.
I loved “A Handmaid’s Tale” when I read it back when I was maybe 12 or 14; maybe I should re-read it. 🙂 And I wrapped things in the comics section, too, but not for environmental reasons. I always thought of “brown paper packages tied up with string!” It was “cheap and cheerful.”
It is VERY weird being constantly exposed to two sides of arguments. So, you bring up Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears. However, my husband is studying for a military exam, and the honors that his company won during the “Indian Wars” is considered part of their venerable history. And Cicero gives a very different picture of Roman tax collectors and Spartacus than the Bible or popular fiction does.
I think of my ancestors – well, the nation’s ancestors – and what they did. Yeah, they owned slaves, but so do we: our cloths are sewn by slaves; our gold, diamonds and coltan are mined by slaves; bananas and other food are picked by slaves. Just because we can’t see the slaves doesn’t mean we’re not dependent on them. Technology helps because it minimizes the need, but it’s still necessary to lead an “American” life.
And then I think of Hitler and Genghis Khan and I wonder, were they genuinely trying to do good by their own? They were awful, yes, but what nation wasn’t built by genocide, exploitation and conquest?
I don’t know; maybe a better question is “What do you consider evil?” What is good and what is evil, really?
Yaaaay ! horoscopenet.com is predicting an Obama VICTORY ! Now I finally am beginning to like hocus pocus horoscope !