I learned something last night...

apparently it is not civil to question someone's understanding of the meaning of the word "truth" when they claim something that is entirely true, is in fact not the truth.  Funny, I find it much less civil or civilized if you prefer, to label a truthful statement as a lie, than to question someone's understanding of the meaning of the word truth.  But that's just me.  Having been a journalist at one point in my life, I still search for the truth.

The issue at hand was a photograph of a gas station's pricing sign, which was set up to reflect the price of gasoline on the day that President Obama took office.  There was no overt statement of blame on that sign, saying "Obama's the one responsible for higher gas prices".  Merely a statement of fact.  An accurate statement of fact.  But someone felt the need to label it a lie, and try to back that statement up by linking to an article showing that gas prices fluctuated widely between June of the prior year and the date of Obama's inauguration.

Now if they had merely said "Obama isn't to blame for the higher gas prices", there would have been no need for me to comment.  Because that's a statement I can agree with.  He gets some of the blame, but a very small amount.  Much of the blame can be laid squarely at the foot of the causes of the housing meltdown, the economic meltdown and so on. 

Let's change gears for a moment.  Jews represent roughly 2% of the U.S. population. But among the last four lists of the Forbes 400, Jews represent 25% or more of that grouping.  Usually closer to 33%.  So, the question becomes, do Jews exert undue influence on the U.S. and politics within our borders? 

Money buys access.  Money buys television time.  But in the end, elections are decided by people going to the polls and voting.  I'll let you decide the answer to that question for yourselves.  I merely present it for the purpose of provoking thought.

Personally I think it's Hollywood that exerts too much influence on politics.  Actors seem to feel that their profession requires them to be activists and that their audience should pay attention to not just their performances, but their positions on the issues.  Why is what Sean Penn thinks about President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela any more or less important than what Joe the Plumber thinks about the issue?  Oh wait, Joe the Plumber doesn't know who is the President of Venezuela.  Sorry about that.  Okay, why is what Penn thinks on this issue more important than what you think?

I was on the freeway while much of the debates took place.  I watched the last ten minutes only because I was in a bar where they were showing on almost every TV screen, with the volume turned up high.  (I had music on in the car).  I figured I'd get all I needed to know on the news tonight.  These debates don't really matter anyway.  Romney lost this election months ago when he failed to come up with a clear, compelling message.  When he failed to find a way to brand himself as capable of doing something that President Obama can't do.  What he could have branded himself as is anyone's guess. 

I may have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating because whoever runs for the Republicans in 2016 against Hilary Rodham Clinton or whoever else is the Democratic nominee needs to pay attention to the concept.  In 1980, Ronald Reagan ran a very simple campaign.  Inflation is high and needs to be lower.  Taxes are too high and need to be lower.  The Soviet Union is an evil empire and needs to be defeated.  Carter cut the military too much and our national security is at risk.  A simple, clear and coherent message.

By the way, Romney's tax plan is a sham.  You can't cut rates across the board and make up the lost revenues by reducing deductions.  There are limits on deductions.  The most mortgage interest anyone can deduct is interest on a $1 million mortgage.  Any interest on debt above that level isn't deductible.  The most you can deduct for charitable contributions in any one year is 50% of your income.  Reducing that deduction isn't going to alter many people's returns, most don't give anywhere near that much.  There just aren't enough deductions out there to allow for a large, across the board rate cut.

Okay, okay, enough politics.  Once again I saw someone in a shiny new black car violating at least three traffic laws within five minutes.  Unsafe lane change.  Crossing a double double yellow line to pass a whole lot of cars trying to turn left.  And then if that wasn't enough, driving on his own in the carpool lane.  Only it wasn't a BMW or a Mercedes this time, it was an Infiniti.  What is it about shiny new black cars that make some drivers (so far it's always been male drivers) think the rules don't apply to them?

What was that commercial?  Where Bob had his own lane on the freeway?  Never mind.

This morning I noticed that there is an empty building on Pico in Santa Monica.  Nothing new there, except this building was once Airport Pharmacy and had been that for as long as I can remember.  Now the building is freshly painted and empty, looking for a tennant.  Where did the pharmacy go?  Where did the little post office in it go?  Was the owner a victim of increasing rent, loss of business, a combination of the two or something else entirely?  Now I want to go to a pharmcy I know in the South Bay and ask the pharmacist/owner how he's doing.  I can't really call, because I only know him by sight, not by name.  How embarrassing would that be?  Hey, don't know your name, but you remember me.  So how's it going?  Nope.  No calling, if I want to know, I gotta go.

How do sales in grocery stores work?  There's been a sale going on for a while with a particular brand of diet soda.  First it was buy three for $5.  Then it was buy four and get them for 88 cents each.  Now it's buy six and you get the 88 cent pricing?  Is anyone really paying the full price of $1.99 and buying only one or two of these?  It must suck to hit the store and find less than six of the brand/flavor you want and they won't have more until the delivery driver comes back the next day.

I kind of want a DVR, but right now I'm using the poor man's DVR.  The computer.  See, almost every network these days will put up the episodes of its current first-run programming on their website, a day or two after they've aired.  So if you miss the episode, just watch it on line.  It would be a lot more convenient to have the DVR, but if you don't wait too long, you should be able to catch the episodes you missed.

Ever see someone on a regular basis and feel like you kind of know them but you really don't?  I pay attention to the various people who work as the desk clerks in the primary care clinic at the VA.  It helps to pass the time while standing in line.  So this one young woman (and yes, I noticed her first because she's far and away the most atttractive woman working there at the desk) had been there regularly and then about four or five months ago, she suddenly disappeared.  Today I was there to get a prescription refilled and suddenly she'd returned.  Part of me wanted to walk up to her and ask her where she'd been.  But that would make me seem like a stalker or something, so of course I did nothing.  What's that old adage...familiarity breeds contempt?  Was that Aesop?  There's a notion, who was wiser?  Aesop or Confucius?  Aesop did tell the fable of the grapes that were probably sour because they couldn't be reached anyway, while Confucius did determine that while it takes many nails to construct a crib, it takes only one screw to fill it.  Okay, okay, that was bad.  I know, I know.

Our regular instructor was back in class today.  Someone brought her a treat and she deserved it.  If she didn't feel loved by this class before, the adoration today has to have given her that feeling now.

What cities play in the League of Women Voters?  Is it a field hockey league?  Okay, seriously, this last item ties into the first discussion, about the debates.  Years ago, the League stopped sponsoring the presidential debates, because the two major parties were openly trying to manipulate how the debates were conducted, in a way to shut out any third party participation.  The current system is suspect.  Time for the League of Women Voters to step back in and take over the debates and make them better.  I might even start watching them again if that happened.