The 2012 Republican Candidates

So what do you think of the Republican candidates so far? They are in no particular order:

Newt Gingrich - Campaign over before it began

Ron Paul - Unrefined libertarian with clueless supporters. Though I personally agree with most of what he says.

Herman Cain - Too logical to win. Again agree with most of what he says and if I weren't running, he might be my man.

Michele Bachmann - Ok we get it, you fostered and birthed lots and lots of children. But I don't cast my vote based on that.

Tim Pawlenty - Yawn...

Mitt Romney - hmmm how's he going to live down Romney care that's not unlike Obama care except a proven failure. Though I much prefer a business man for president.

Rick Santorum - No opinion one way or the other which means I neither like nor dislike him and therefore he would have to make more of an impression on America to win.

John Huntsman - Again don't know enough about him one way or another to have an opinion about him yet.

There are also list of others that have either declared or still exploring that include a bunch of unknowns by me or have no chances including Jimmy McMillian of "The Rent is too Damn High" party. How that makes him a republican is beyond me. Unless it's by default since there's no room elsewhere. I thought starting his own party was not a bad idea though. We need another viable party. It's just not going to have that name if you ask me.

The only person that's really caught my attention so far is Herman Cain, the guy I think is not electable. So perhaps I should change my campaign slogan to "...because electable humans can't be trusted." What do you think about that?

Does anyone on the above list make you want to get out and vote? Might I add if there is one person up there that tickles your fancy, you must vote in the primary to get to vote for them at least once. If you get your way, you'll get to vote twice for the same person.

Weinergate 2011

I know this is a deviation from the campaign, but this is what's dominating the news the last couple of weeks. So I thought this Weiner guy would go away as fast and he entered our lives, but apparently I was wrong. Surely I'm not the first one to use the term "weinergate". I just have better things to do than search the Internet for weiners for fear of what might come up on my computer.

What is he? A 14 year old girl? Seriously!! Who in their right mind sends naked pictures of themselves?? Normally I would say what he does on his own time with his own resources is his business. But do you really want a man with the bad judgement of a 14 year old girl making and voting on laws that affect you and your family? There are plenty of 14 year old girls that have better judgement than he does and their brains aren't fully developed. What's his excuse?

And what's with the word 'certitude'? Apparently it's a real word. From dictionary.com; 'freedom from doubt, especially in matters of faith or opinion; certainty.' Actions speak louder than words and he looks and sounds like a complete fool.

Lola's In for 2012!!!

Apparently now is the time to announce one's candidacy for president. So in the event there was any doubt, I'm in!! I hope my campaign financiers will sponsor a bus tour for me and my family so I can get out and meet you all and kiss lots of babies. (That's how one wins right?)

Now which party's ticket am I running on? Well the Republicans are who's announcing or rumoring lately. The thing is I don't feel like a republican, but mostly because I don't believe any of them act what they preach on the campaign trail once they get into office. Rick Perry, rumored Republican candidate is a perfect example of this. I will go into more detail in the coming weeks if he officially puts his hat in the ring.

I could run as a libertarian, but we all know they get no where.

I can't run as a Democrat because as we are all aware from last elections that "liberal" is a bad word. That and I don't share most of their beliefs. Though we share a few that if talking on certain particular topics, one might think me a democrat. But I'm far from it.

I could run for the Green party nomination, but lets be honest, Ralph Nader has that locked up until he dies.

So I guess that leaves Independent. But here's the problem with that. When was the last time anyone other than a Democrat or a Republican got elected president? That said in order to make the point that neither party is living up to expectations, I'm going with Independent. Look at my platform page to see what I stand for.

A vote for Lola is a vote to take your country back. It's a vote for your liberty. It's a vote for personal pride. It's a vote against the lame humans that are screwing up this country's economy.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Waiting for Superman - A Must See

So I might be a little late to see Waiting for Superman, but I believe everyone should see this documentary. It is a look into the quality of public education in the U.S. now, and I know the criticism when it came out was that it demonized teachers, the very heroes that educate our children, are under paid, etc etc etc. Though I didn't get that it demonized teachers at all. In fact it stood up for the good teachers that are under paid and do an excellent job of educating children.

The system is broke and is structured so that it is no longer putting children first. In just about any school you have to put up with the bad to get the good. Why can't they all be good? Why can't teachers be graded on their merits like employees in the real world? (By the way I believe all government employees should be terminated if their performance merits termination).

Rent the movie. Care about quality public education. After all, it's not free, you're paying out the wazoo for it whether you use it or not! At least bother to care about the service it's providing future adults that will be sustaining our economy, or become a drain on it.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The Truth about Texas Government

So I've been on hiatus for quite awhile now. I haven't lost interest in my campaign, I've been busy caring for my mom while she grew and birthed my little sister who's now a month old. Now I'm busy protecting her too! That said it's time to get back to my day job.

So being from the great state of Texas, I'm going to talk about something that never seems to get talked about outside of Texas. Or maybe it does and I'm just not aware of it. Texas has always had articles talking about it's 'surplus' (which I find completely wrong that a surplus is retained in a 'rainy day fund' and isn't returned to the taxpayers), 'what Texas is doing right,' etc. etc. Many of you may have seen the great hair Governor Rick Perry traveling the country touting his book and talking about how great everything is in Texas, and trying to sound like a libertarian, while 'not running for president of the United States.'

What the great Rick Perry isn't talking about is the $25 Billion deficit that they must tackle in the current legislative session. He and Republicans insist this will be tackled 1. by not raising taxes, and 2. by not touching the rainy day fund. Suddenly Texas government is not so different from California's in the sense that they are writing checks their budgets and banks can't cash.

The solutions will have to come from the 3 biggest programs that make up the Texas budget.
1. Health and Human Services
2. Education
3. Higher Education

I'm all for deep cuts in these areas but here's the thing. Cuts made from the state budget result in cuts from federal funds received that help operate these programs. In Medicaid services, the expenditures are primarily for funds paid to providers. So cuts have to come in rates paid to providers and/or the number of clients services are provided to. This is not a popular choice for anyone. Though personally, I'm in favor of tougher eligibility requirements.

When it comes to Education, essentially this is paid for with property taxes whether you have kids in public school or not. If you've read through any of my posts, you'll see I'm all in favor of a voucher system. Eliminate the education bureaucracy and minimize the number of public schools available. Keep only the highest performing ones open and those that have enough voucher participants to stay open. I would also say operate all public schools as charter schools. Parents and students could choose where kids go to school. All schools would be operating as a business and if there is no demand for their services they would change or go away.

Education is also funded by the Texas lottery. Another thing that will get brought to the table is casino gambling. I'm all for this, but I would be shocked if this got approved as it's always been shot down in the past as immoral or whatever other stupid reasons they have to vote against it. They'd much rather people go to Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, rather than stay in or come to Texas. Gotta love the logic. Even if it did pass this session, it wouldn't do anything to help the current deficit as it would take a legislative cycle (2 years) to build and make a difference to the state's budget.

Higher education. These are freaking universities. Why aren't they self sufficient? They should have their own budgets made up of money out equals no more than money in. If they want more money they need to either raise tuition, increase the number of students allowed in or both. And/or they need to find other ways to generate revenue for the schools. There is no good reason, that anyone will convince me of, for Universities to be part of the state's budget. Though I'm sure many will disagree with me.

Anyways I just wanted to talk about the reality in Texas. It's not going to be a pretty session. It's going to be interesting to see how they 'solve' this. And I find it interesting how 'conservative' leadership got us to this deficit rather than plan for this last session when we already had an indication that the economy was headed for a recession.

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