Posts tagged Bill Clinton
“Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Intelligent”
Jun 30th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Naked Curmudgeon
Full disclosure: I was graduated Phi Beta Kappa from college, where I took an IQ test for a psychology class and scored 160, which was classified as being “genius.”
Consequently, I have usually been successful at what I did, not always at what I wanted to do. For example, although I decided at an early age that I wanted to be a writer and was writing stories even earlier, I was a reporter for my high-school weekly newspaper and co-editor-in-chief my senior year, I received a journalism scholarship to college, but then I changed my major from journalism to English literature because I decided that I wanted to be a famous novelist instead of a reporter or own a newspaper.
Eventually I did publish a novel, Plastic Man: A Novel of the Sixties.
Which brings me to television, and for those of you too young to know or too old to remember, the title of this piece is a play on the catchphrase for a Panteme commercial in the 1980s featuring Kelly LeBrock, a beautiful and famous woman at the time, which was “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.”
Speaking of old, I am old enough to remember when television became socially popular and pervasive and when TV executives and society in general debated whether television should give the audience what they wanted or give them what they needed. In other words, to use newspaper terminology, should network television be produced to appeal to the least common denominator of the viewing audience or should it be of higher quality and enrich and enlighten the audience.
There was even the notion that television was going to educate the masses either actively, for example, from “educational TV” or passively from just watching worlds and customs and countries different from our own.
Just look at your TV schedule today, and what do you see? So-called “reality-TV” shows, which are anything but, because they are cheap to produce and they are scripted to bring out the worst in its participants. Unfortunately, “give the producers what they want” won out, and the producers and network executives are greedy and want money.
Which brings me to politics.
I was very much interested in politics and believed that I could make a difference. I attended my first precinct caucus in 1976 for the Democratic party and was disillusioned when the candidate I supported didn’t win and another attendee urged me to change my vote to the leading candidate and said, “It’s a shame that you won’t be represented at the state convention.”
In other words, she believed that the best way I would be represented would be if I voted for a candidate I didn’t support.
However, I did attend the state convention and became even more disillusioned when I saw most of the people there spending more time wheeling and dealing to be selected to attend the national convention than they did in conducting the business at hand.
Although I stopped participating actively in my party, I continued to vote in every election as I have done since I became eligible to vote, and except for 1976 I was disappointed in every national election for president.
Then came 1992, and I again attended my precinct caucus. Bill Clinton was the candidate I supported, and not only did he win the vote in my precinct, but because the precinct chairman was resigning after the caucus, I volunteered to be the precinct chairman, a position I held without any assistance until I became burned out in 2008 when Barack Obama was running, and I essentially retired from active politics.
I was still writing during that time, however, and wrote and published the newsletter for the county Democrat party.
Politics today is obscene when elected officials vote according to what their pockets and lobbyists tell them instead of what their constituents want.
Which finally brings me to religion. Although I was raised by my parents to be religious, I lost my religion when I thought about all the inconsistencies I was being taught as absolute truths, and I even published a book, An Atheist’s Handbook, about my experience.
And to complete the trilogy, I also published The Searcher, my secular response to the hugely popular The Prophet.
I don’t need or desire approval from other people to make me happy, and I don’t care what other people think about me.
I don’t use Facebook or Twitter. I am content being me.
I rest my case.
Bloomberg editor to speak on 2012 election at Flagler College forum
Sep 1st
Posted by St. Augustine Channel 1 in St Augustine Channel 1
Mark Silva, deputy managing editor for government news at Bloomberg News in Washington, believes the race may come down to the wire with states such as Florida being the decision makers.
“Florida’s long-fought 2000 election is what decided that election,” said Silva, who will kick off Flagler College’s 2012 Forums on Government and Public Policy lecture series at 7 p.m. on Sept. 11 in the Lewis Auditorium at Flagler College. “Florida again will be among a handful of states that determine the outcome this year.”
The topic of Silva’s talk will be “Election 2012: Too Close to Call?”
At Bloomberg since 2010, Silva oversees a team of reporters and editors covering the White House, Congress and the 2012 election campaign, as well as other agencies such as State, Defense, Justice and the Supreme Court.
According to Silva, the upcoming election will be close despite playing out against the backdrop of a struggling economy and more than three years of unemployment running at over 8 percent.
“Presidents have not typically been reelected in modern times with that much unemployment,” said Silva. “Yet President Barack Obama enjoys a high degree of personal popularity — the public’s favorable view of him exceeding the job approval ratings he gets. At the same time, Romney is a disciplined and also well-financed candidate backed by super-PACs whose fundraising and TV ads have enabled the Republicans to go toe-to-toe with Obama on the air.”
And while Silva believes that economic factors and demographics across the country will play a part in who wins the 2012 election, it will be the voters in swing states such as Florida that will make the difference.
“Florida is a true swing state,” said Silva. “They voted for Obama in 2008, George W. Bush twice, Bill Clinton for reelection in 1996 but not election in 1992, George H.W. Bush twice, Ronald Reagan twice, Jimmy Carter once, but not for reelection.”
Silva says voters should also keep an eye on North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Nevada and Ohio.
“The economy is better in Ohio than it is nationally, and even in Florida, which has suffered among the worst in the collapse of the housing market, the economy has shown signs of improvement,” said Silva. “Ultimately, the way voters feel about their own economy in these swing states, and what they’ve decided about all this negative TV advertising, will determine who wins the White House.”
Lewis Auditorium at Flagler College is at 14 Granada St. in St Augustine. Forums are free and open to the public, but seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Sign language interpreters are provided. Call (904) 819-6400 for more information or visit the Forum on Government & Public Policy events website.
Source: Flagler College