Doggone right with Mark Brighton

January 06, 2008

Fire in the Belly

Here I sit two days before the primary with a fire in my belly. It was a busy holiday season that kept me from my favorite hobby – commenting on things large and small. Real life can interfere with fun. Working two jobs, one of which was on the west coast inspecting flooded homes. On Christmas day when you are walking up someone’s drive and you can see the flood line is half way up their living room window and a mudslide in the rear has crushed one wall you know that “Merry Christmas” is something you won’t be saying to these folks, but you muddle through.

two days 1.GIF The day after Christmas I found myself in an emergency room in Olympia, Washington and two days latter they removed my gall bladder. I was released the following day and had to schlep myself across country to get home to recover. Real life can interfere.

The fire in my belly is the missing gall bladder and not any fever for a political candidate. Two days before the primary and what do I do? I envy the Obama people. They have the fire. They can even tell you why – “Change”. The Edwards people have a fire. They can’t tell you why, but they have it. The Hillary people – they’re just afraid. She’s not looking so inevitable and they certainly have no fire in the belly.

On the Republican side, who or what is giving me reason for feeling warm let alone on fire? two days 2.GIF Mitt – he’s been too moderate too many times and seems to be having trouble remembering if his father marched with Martin Luther King. McCain – I want desperately to support him. His service to this country alone should do it. But it doesn’t. His connection to the gang of fourteen is just too much. Huckabee – sorry religious populism just isn’t my thing. Ron Paul – only loons believe we can have no foreign entanglements. Rudy maybe – but I still don’t feel my temperature rising. Thompson’s wife- now she makes my temperature rise. Check to see if he still has a pulse.

I admit that Hillary gives me a fire. She is the anti-Christ and I’m not particularly religious. two days 3.GIF
She needs to be stopped and the Hill and Bill traveling rode show sent back to Arkansas. These two represent the most corrosive influence in American politics since the carpet baggers invaded the south shortly after the Civil War. They have debased and defiled …… well you get the idea.

Who knows maybe I’ll feel the Obama fire. If she can be stopped early, so much the better. That’s the beauty of being an independent. It would be glorious to see a McCain Obama match up. McCain would definitely be a warrior in the struggle with Islamo fascism and the two would give the country the most straight up choice. Wait! I can feel a fire starting.

Posted by Mark Brighton at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2007

Edwards - Carbon Credits

I would like to thank the Herald for hosting the candidates’ forums. Any candidate who doesn’t take advantage of these would be a fool. Here’s a word to the Thompson campaign: call the Herald immediately. I don’t believe they are charging anything and we would certainly like to here from Fred – something… anything! At least let New Hampshire know you haven’t dropped off the face of the earth.

I just finished listening to John Edwards at the most recent of these forums and was struck by several things. He gave impassioned, thoughtful answers to questions about the central issue of this election cycle – Iraq. He didn’t equivocate. Whether it can be done safely or not was not addressed adequately, but under his administration troops would be out in a year.

Edwards kept a good cadence as he spoke. The only thing missing from the choir at the end of each thought was a resounding “amen.” It was a lonely place to be.

As he spoke I became mesmerized, no, I would say hypnotized, by his hair. I was close to the front and there was a good light gleaming off the aforementioned locks. It wasn’t a halo effect, but each strand was perfectly in place. As I was listening, I was waiting for one of these strands to move, especially the small piece strategically lying across his forehead.

As he ran his fingers through his hair and it quickly fell back into place, I thought I heard the crack of a whip. But my hearing isn’t what it used to be, so I may have imagined it.

By the conclusion of the event, I realized I had to take back everything I have ever said about John Edwards.
His haircut WAS really worth 400 bucks. Some of us don’t have much hair left, but if you do, and are going out in a strong breeze, I recommend getting the name of his barber.

Posted by Mark Brighton at 06:08 PM | Comments (19)

September 09, 2007

Say it Ain't So

The only startling tidbit that I was able to glean from Hill and Bill’s rally on The Square was that Shania Twain must be a Democrat. It broke my heart.

Shania, the all American country music star from Canada now living in Switzerland - a Democrat. She who sets male hearts aflutter. The Hillary campaign is using her song “Rock This Country” as campaign fodder. It can only be happening with the approval of Ms Twain at some level. Betrayal at its worst!

But then again, there was the whopper that Carol-Shea Porter told. She actually uttered the words, “The Democrats are strong on defense.” Judging by the minimal applause no one in an otherwise enthusiastic audience believed that for one second. The applause came when she said, ”We must get out of Iraq.” Her two comments were her usual mush of incongruity. Same old same old.

Hillary also tried to pull a rabbit out of her hat. She was making every attempt at portraying herself as the candidate of “Change.” Of all the candidates of either party, she is the ultimate insider. From behind the scenes string pulls at the White House to roaming the hallowed halls of the Senate, just what part of Washington hasn’t she played footsy with? But again, this is neither shocking nor a betrayal.

It was the betrayal by Shania that really hurt. Say it ain’t so, Shania!

Posted by Mark Brighton at 10:41 AM | Comments (3)

April 27, 2007

Four hundred dollar haircuts.

John Edwards cannot seriously expect anyone to vote for a man who just paid $800 for two haircuts. This is according to his own filings with the Federal Elections Committee. I have hair. Well, maybe only a fraction of what I once had. But I still need to get it cut. I checked with local tonsorial emporiums other than my own and I know for a fact that you can get a very good haircut for only $200.

Breck Girl 1.GIF

I am not suggesting that the former Senator and current presidential candidate move his 28,200 square foot, carbon footprint encrusted dwelling from North Carolina to Portsmouth in order to save money on haircuts. If he did, Breck Girl 2.GIF we might have to bring the old second Seabrook nuclear reactor online to keep NH residents’ lights from dimming when he powered his dwelling up.

Four hundred dollar hair cuts - 28,200 square foot dwelling - who can take this man seriously?
Breck Girl 3.GIF

Posted by Mark Brighton at 12:36 AM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2007

Obama

After attending the Barak Obama event put on by the Portsmouth Herald on April 3rd, I came away thinking how refreshing it is to hear a candidate who admits he does not have all the answers. It would be a mistake to underestimate this man, and although it is early days, soon the Senator will have to commit to the issues and have a platform.

The discussion on the cost of medical care went straight to the cost of insurance and co-pays. The crux of the problem is employer based health insurance where the consumer has been removed from the actual cost of medicine. The Senator even correctly identified the root of the problem. During WWII that great stalwart of the Democrats, FDR, instituted price controls, but left employers the option of providing health care to entice employees. After the war, the government gave tax incentives to businesses for providing health care. Senator Obama stopped his analysis there, but when you consider that the government has included Medicare, Medicaid, and now a drug program, the pattern is clear. The more the government interferes, the worse it gets.

Most people in attendance were in favor of some version of a single payer, i.e. government, health provider system. But history has proved from the Roman times to the present that there are three irreducible variables in bringing any product to market: cost, speed, and quality. You can control only two of these; the third will have to vary. There is no silver bullet that can alter this reality. We have only to look at the Army’s Walter Reed Medical Center to see how thoroughly government bureaucrats can screw up medical care. The price is controlled, but God help you if you need speed and quality. The bureaucracy of the private insurers can be brutal, but it is still somewhat answerable to the market place. Imagine putting all the eggs of our health care coverage into one basket - a federal bureaucracy answerable to no one.

We aging Baby Boomers are engaged in magical thinking when in the face of all available evidence we still believe the government can and will supply the answer to everything. This is not an intellectual exercise for me. Last year my wife and I spent one-third of our income on medical costs. We have to make tough choices every day, but they are our choices. It scares the hell out of me to think of putting those choices in the cold hands of a federal bureaucrat – or worse, a federal oversight committee.

Posted by Mark Brighton at 09:22 PM | Comments (4)

April 07, 2007

Mistah Mayah

Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand is running for the Senate. I wish him well. As mayor of Portsmouth he has done a hell of a job bringing transparency to the budgeting process. He has been an outspoken proponent for keeping budget increases down. He has done such a good job as mayor that I would ask him to reconsider his run for the Senate and run for the city council instead.

Remember, Mistah Mayah, it’s better to be mayor of a small town then vice president of the United States or, in this case, a US Senator. Big Fish in a small pond versus small fish in a Big Pond. Something tells me that he probably won’t listen to my advice. There’s no reason he should - no one does, including my dogs.

I’ve visited our Mayor’s web site http://www.stevemarchand.com/ and admit to being confused. His web site is clear. He’s against the war in Iraq, for investing in alternative energy sources (usually this means government spending), believes that, “with the right plan, we can halt global warming, stimulate our economy and improve our national security,” and in tax reform.

It’s the last that leaves me confused. Locally, he has grasped that spending is what drives taxes and not the other way around. But in his campaign for the Senate he talks more about tax code manipulation as a way of reducing tax burdens than actually reducing spending. If he gets to the Senate every special interest group will be tugging at his heart strings. He needs to steel himself now.

Steve will be a worthy opponent for anyone running against him. The question that really matters in life is whether even in disagreement you can respect a person. With Steve Marchand the answer is yes.

Posted by Mark Brighton at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)