Sunday Funday

(un)common sense, weekend edition!!

Debate on "I'm spiritual, not religious" individuals
So, this might be the most interesting article I've seen on CNN in quite some time, not that I personally agree with it.  Like the nature of the article or not, at least CNN is allowing someone to take a stand on something.

Fixing the Capitalist Machine 
Article from the Economist.  I quite like the magazine, and the article offers some common sense critiques and approaches to get the economy started again - starting with the embracing of capitalism.

Peggy Noonan

I really enjoy Ms. Noonan's articles.  She is a conservative, but I think she is extraordinarily fair, and has an uncanny ability to connect with the people who read her writing. She's on Meet the Press on NBC on Sunday mornings quite often.  This article is about the Presidential debates coming up, the first of which being this Wednesday at 9:00 PM Eastern.  TUNE IN!!!



 "Obama Phones" and Racism
If you haven't seen the video, here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio and you should watch it to understand the article.  The outrage on the right comes from this woman, who is poor, inarticulate, obnoxious, and black, saying that she's voting for President Obama because of the free things he's given her, including an "Obama Phone".  I think this article does a good job saying that the video itself isn't racist.  The cameraman and interviewer probably had no idea what this lady was going to say. They had every right to ask these Obama supporters, protesting at a Romney event near Cleveland, why they were supporting the President in the upcoming election.  There are legitimate concerns when someone says they will continue to vote for someone because of all the free things they have received from them (an incorrect proposition, as the article points out) and that they don't support the opposition because he "sucks".  However, the the debate about the racism comes when conservative media outlets, including the Drudge Report and the Rush Limbaugh program, spread the video of this stereotypical poor, black woman in order to cause an uproar with their base.

One side note.  The "Obama Phone" program is called the Lifeline program and administered by the FCC.  It is payed for by surcharges on cell phone bills.  The article claims that this is not a tax, because people aren't paying for it out of their personal income taxes.  This is an incorrect assumption.  A "surcharge", in this case, is additional money payed to a federal agency to pay for a program to help low-income individuals.  The cell phone surcharge is typically transferred to the consumer, because the cell phone companies certainly aren't going to eat the cost, meaning that your cell phone bill is higher each month to pay for the program.  THAT IS A TAX!  If this program didn't exist, you would be paying a few dollars less each month for your cell phone bill.  THAT IS A TAX!  Sorry if it wasn't clear the first time.