The Founders Didn't Build That

The U.S. Capitol. Symbol of Democracy, Constitutional Government, and Freedom around the world. Built by Slave labor.

Yep. I ran across an interesting article published by the Architect of the Capitol. It analyzes the "contribution" of African-American Slaves in the construction of the U.S. Capitol and many other historic buildings in our nation's capital. The United States didn't actually own the Slaves, we only rented them from their owners. I'm so relieved.

I Am, I Said

Romney did just fine with his speech. His supporters should be pleased. He didn't win me over and we'll continue to talk about that. But it is really unfortunate that this convention will go down in history not for Romney's speech, not even for Paul Ryan's. It will not be the hurricane or the code pink disruption. This convention will go down in history because of the old man mumbling incoherently to a chair. They are joking about talking to the empty chair on "Morning Joe" this morning as I type.

Live Blogging Republicans (Thurs.)

Something has happened. Bloggers (including me) and the Press (mainstream, liberal and evil as many believe it to be) are calling out the Republicans on lies. No longer are false equivalences ruling the day as in, "Republican leader says this, and Democratic leader says that." Maybe it's a move from the whole "Crossfire" mentality of lining up proponents or experts equal on each side to duke it out and not change a single mind. I give some credit to James Fallows at The Atlantic who has been calling out "false equivalencies." So, I will give him a link here. If  anyone wants to jump in and explain why the lies we called aren't, feel free. I'm not afraid to make corrections.

Of course, one spokesman for the Romney campaign said that they don't care much about fact checking. I hope they will. And I certainly hope the Dems will pay attention to facts and the truth. If they do (and I'm not entirely hopeful) they could revive the enthusiasm about Obama and help fulfill the hope so many had (and so many Republicans claim they had) that President Obama was going to make things different. We'll see. I'll hold them accountable too.

The Divine Right of Shark Jumping

"You work and I'll get the tax cut"

Yep. I think the Republicans have finally jumped the shark. Governor Romney will be joining Paul Ryan and the Fonz on the water skis tonight.

In the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln skewered the underlying philosophy of slavery protected by Stephen Douglas's "Popular Sovereignty" (as long as you were a white, male voter) when he compared slavery to the Divine Right of Kings with his cutting summary "You work and I'll eat the bread." Now, the party formerly of Lincoln, now of the former Southern Segregationists (or their kids), has jumped the shark with their tax cut plans and anti-We-the-People economics. Of course they've actually been doing this since Reagan, but I think we're finally catching on.

Live-Blogging Republicans (Wed.)

This isn't even as much fun as the debates. I don't know how long I can tough it out.

I will make the commitment that in watching the Democratic Convention next week (there is no "Democrat" convention by the way), I will try really hard to call out their errors. I admit my preferences, but I will take off my blinders. And for heaven's sake, I hope they don't pound the dog on the car theme like the Republicans are pounding how they "built it." (At least the dog story is true unlike the manipulation of the President's words even if inartfully expressed.)

Well, I'd better get to blogging. John McCain is up. He just called Governor Romney his friend.

Oh Say, What Is Truth?

The question is asked by the old, Mormon Hymn with a pretty definitive answer that there is Truth if only we would seek after it.

As reported by James Bennett at The Atlantic:

"We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers," said Neil Newhouse, Romney pollster.

Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up. I guess we're free to believe anything we want (which is true) and can never be challenged on whether there is any basis for our beliefs other than what we want to believe (which I'm really worried about).

Live-Blogging Republicans (Tues.)

Political party conventions are like a sporting event. Everyone gets to cheer their team and trash-talk the opponents. The funny part is that each team takes the field on their own to run up the score for a few days then the other team gets their chance. It's hard to keep score that way.

Just FYI, I'm sticking with Nate Silver's 538 for score keeping even if I've surpassed my ten free views for the month on the NY Times website. They let you get on the main page and only sometimes when you click to read more of a particular posting will the notice pop up to invite you to pay. It's as if the NY Times thinks they built the internet by themselves or something.

Anyway, keep on clicking. I'll have a few updates through the evening. Or I might just give up with all my grouchiness and annoyances.