Kaulapi World

Not even a few days into the new year, the first primary/caucus of the presidential 2012 election.  Lots of observations from the Iowa Caucuses, the main headline is that yet another frontrunner in the Republican primaries has emerged, that in Santorum who just lost to the assumed frontrunner Romney by a total of 8 votes.  A lesser story is that it was a Ron Paul clocking in at 21%.  With the remaining candidates further back at in the lower teens and single digits.  Given all the talk about how unelectable Ron Paul is, the fact that he came a statistical tie for the top 3 speaks volumes for the how out of touch the major media outlets are to what the average person may be thinking in this day and age.

Another little twist on the Iowa caucus results. Regardless of the outcomes of total votes, if a candidate gets at least 10% of the total vote, they get at least 2 delegates for the convention. In other words, if the 2012 primary result in a brokered convention, there is no difference between 13% and 10% (2 delegates each for 4th and 5th) and 25%, 25% and 21% (7 delegates each for 1st, 2nd, 3rd).

Looking forward to New Hampshire which is already assumed to be Romney territory from the beginning, Ron Paul comes in a distinct second place, and Santorum is way off in the single digits.  At some point all of this talk of electability or lack thereof should get ridiculous if the people keep electing him and awarding him delegates.

With a few days left in 2011 it seems right to write a quick post to sum up a huge year personally. My son is quickly approaching the 2 year mark, and has progressed all of the milestones without a hitch. Work for both me and Hana have had the expected bumps, bit have been decent so far. The parents came for a short but sweet visit, been a blast so far.

Financially, I’ve made a few risky trades that have paid off so far. Especially on the fast week, one move i made that i had second thoughts on ended up being a good one afterall. Been an interesting year, for sure. Looking forward to what 2012 will bring.

Thought I’d kill some time uploading a post. As the title suggests its a little after one and I am sitting in the amtrak waiting area of union station waiting for the 3:15am train to New York. I’m scheduled to meet with some attorneys for work, the trip was initially supposed to be a 2 day gig, but ended up being a one day affair. Given my alternate work schedule it was a little tricky to free up some time to make the trip up the night before, so this why I’m most likely the most overdressed person in the station right now.

A little surmised how crowded the station is at this hour. Only wish there was a cafe or something open where I could hang out. The Amtrak announcement tv has already gone through a few cycles already. Mostly security notices and the usual, I’m glad I was able to arrange travel by train vs flying. Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I flew. Maybe the last work trip?

Things have been very busy lately, work, watching the little guy grow up. He’s saying a few words, in cadence like full sentences, although its still in baby talk for now. Latest on the budget front is another threat of a shutdown looming this Friday. I’ve gotten so sick and tired of worrying about it that I try not to talk too much of it, but obviously ts on the mind.

The Senate just voted yesterday to approve a measure that would open the door to the indefinite detention of US citizens.  Given the historical track record of the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII under the grounds of military necessity, I am more than ashamed that this type of legislation could get this level of support in the current representative democratic system.

Anyone who has been paying attention to the extent by which civil liberties have been outright abolished or at the very least eroded through years of attrition would be alarmed at the potential prospects of this legislation.  Some of the worst policies are created by a people driven by fear.  I hope the president has enough sense to veto this bill.

Odd and vivid dream, this time I’ve had several versions of it before realizing that it was a recurring one.   I’m in the attic of a large cathedral or temple, trying to get to an enormous chandelier fixture attached to the roof of the large hall, several 100 feet above the ground.  The fixture is so large that I can climb down it without it moving very much.  I reach the edge of the fixture easily, and then make my way to the underbelly where there is a short ledge that I can look at the rest of the temple below.  It is hard to get there, but I do it, slowly making progress. It isn’t clear why I’m trying to get there in the first place.  For the most part I’m mostly focused on getting there first.

Once I get to the ledge, there is a moment of panic that I’m stuck on the fixture, as I can’t go back the way I’ve come down.  The height of the hall suddenly becomes apparent to me, I glance up at the numerous cables attaching the fixture to the ceiling, and then have horrible images in my head about cables breaking and the whole thing crashing down to the floor.

This is where it gets weird, or at least more significant in my mind.  Suddenly I realize I am not alone, I’ve brought Hana and the little guy on the ledge and suddenly the urgency of finding a way back off the ledge becomes more dire.  We can’t stay here forever.  I close my eyes and envision the cables extending, lowering the fixture safely to the floor.  I also try to will the floor up just enough for us to step off it, and after several tries it actually moves almost to the point that it works.  Stuck again, I realize reading a manuscript that detailed the fixture has several rooms like a house, and the way to get back up is to go through the fixture, not around it the way I had originally climbed down it.

Of all the candidates for president in 2012, the one I’m the most intrigued by is the congressman from TX, Ron Paul.  Following his breakout in the 2008 election cycle for the republican nomination served as an awakening of sorts for me, partly giving some substance to some of the economic and personal leanings that I’ve had for years, but more affirming my growing understanding that the 2-party system serves more to limit the quality of political debate and really serves to maintain the status quo.  The fact is that very few people actually fit neatly in the buckets of either party, the only way someone is a hardcore Dem or Repub is if they lack the intellectual curiosity to really consider and debate the issues.  I kind of liken it to being a sports fan, some people are loyal to their teams on the basis of living in a city, or going to a particular college, and they stick with them no matter how much the team might change, coaching, or style or quality of  play.  The problem is that while this is fine for sports, its a horrible method for electing candidates to office.  I remain very much a political independent, although I have my own leanings towards one party or the other, depending on the issues.

Just like the 2008 cycle, the constant mantra from all the main stream media outlets is that he is unelectable.  I find this very suspicious as to what exactly is electable nowadays anyway?  More importantly, shouldn’t the voters themselves decide what ideas and policies they would like to see in an elected official as opposed to the corporate media? BI had a good short post about the seemingly need to pander to electorate out there, telling them that everything will be fine if they just vote for him, that we can all just keep on buying overpriced homes, keep artificially propping up markets, and keep maintaining an empire overseas with no consequence.  This type of pandering also applies to the media when it comes to candidates running for office.

One of the ways the media discounts Paul’s support is to hold internet polls following the debates and then when he ends up winning them, they put an asterisk next to his name, citing that there were irregularities in the polling to make them unofficial or unscientific, sometimes they fail to mention him at all, skipping to the next candidate as the front runner.  Apparently one effort to suppress Ron Paul’s support in internet polls went a little too far, and now the commentary has had his amazon book list and facebook page overridden by pro-Paul posts and videos. One of the messages is very clear, if he is supposedly so “unelectable” then why the obvious efforts to censor and downplay him?  I’ve come to realize that often when it comes to official media and statistics, you have to consider the alternative message often behind the story, sometimes it is brutally obvious, as ZH offers, it is because he is very electable and is very much a threat.

In a year where there is even more talk of a 3rd party run which would shake things up a lot, I think folks should pay attention to Ron Paul.  Talking to pretty hard core Dem the other day he seemed pretty confident that a 3rd party run by Ron Paul would mean an automatic re-election for Obama, being that not too many Dems have much in common with libertarian thinking.  I can’t help but wonder if this person is too quick to judgment on this one, I’m pretty sure quite a few would seriously consider him as 3rd party candidate if they were to actually sit down and listen to what he has to say.

Coming up on the end of October and we’re looking at the first snow of the year, much earlier than usual.  The forecasts are calling for 1-3 inches in the area, with temps cold enough to have some sticking.  Wonder if the little guy is ready for the cold white stuff falling from the sky.  We just got him the first of his winter clothes, so the timing ended up being just about right.  The colder weather has made it a little trickier getting him out for walks and such, now that he’s up and running.

Meanwhile my work has been coping with the ongoing budget uncertainty and have begun outlining potential actions to make up for a budget shortfall.  We’ve gotten through yet another one hurdle relatively unscathed, a number of concessions in exchange for taking layoffs off the table, but I have a feeling that this trend will continue for the rest of FY 2012 and beyond.  Still keeping an eye on the super committee which is supposed to come up with that $1.2T in cuts before Thanksgiving.  Also technically things could shut down a week earlier based on the current CR.  There have been rumors about another 1 month CR in the works, but then that will just extend the guessing game a few weeks down the road.

All of this coming at a time where I’m enjoying the actual subject matter, day-to-day operations of my work.  Since my transfer to the new division a few years ago I’ve gotten a different perspective entirely.  In retrospect it makes me wonder why I hadn’t make the move earlier given my particular area of interest and developing skill sets.  With all the news of the crappy economy and job market, I can’t help but question whether law school was the best idea.  I’m working in an area and on projects that would be extremely interesting to former law students despite not being officially retained as an attorney.  I could’ve been in this position even if I had never gone to law school.  I’ll be paying for that decision literally for years to come.

Been a few weeks so far for the occupy ___ movement which has gotten a considerable amount of attention and momentum. When it first began I wondered whether it could develop into something significant, whether enough of a movement could build to actually occupy the square. today the DC movement which has been camping out downtown tried to shut down the senate building, although their numbers weren’t very large.

The sound bite in the media is that it is a decentralized movement that while becoming increasingly more organized, it lacks an overall message. I think there are a few themes that are actually very clear. Decouple the amount of money and influence between the financial industry over politicians, and recognize the human toll that our system of debt has had on the majority of Americans.

In many ways I’m recalling a sense of frustration and outright rage that seems to have been building since 2008, but back then a lot of folks still had their jobs, still had some balances in their 401k accounts, still had some positive equity in their homes.

It is becoming apparent that all the hope and promises of change that came with a new party in power have been largely empty, and at least some of the folks organizing in the streets may be waking up to the sorry state of our political systems.

Meanwhile I’ve been reading up on the faces of the 99%, some stories are pretty gut wrenching. I’ve been struck by the number of students and recent grads in pretty depressing situations in terms of student loan debt.

Next two weeks have the potential to be another battle over the 2012 budget that might result in another shutdown.  This time around it sounds like we’re headed to another continuing resolution (CR) that will stretch things out a few months.  With the new super committee set to knock out a few trillion in budget cuts come November, there is some indication that a CR is in the works, and things will keep on plugging along before the last 2 weeks of the fiscal year are up.

The uncertainty hasn’t gone away at all, despite it being relatively quiet in the news lately.  Been keeping tabs on some unofficial sources to try and anticipate whats around the corner, but anyone’s guess is probably close to reality at this point.  I’ve retrenched my positions similarly to hour the April and August budget/debt battles played out, fully ready for the possibility of a furlough or shutdown, a matter of several months now instead of a few.  Looking at some of my account positions I would normally feel a little rich if not for the prospect of having to rely on these balances to keep afloat for an expended period of time.

All of this has created a considerable amount of stress, at the same time I’ve noticed how many of the normal distractions that exist in our modern American society can either serve as healthy coping mechanisms or dangerous blinders.  I’m all for the occasional healthy distraction when things get too intense, but too often I look around and am reminded that none of us can really afford to take the eye off of the ball even for a moment, least we get blindsided.

Lucid dream a few nights ago.  The first part of it is fuzzy, but the main part was very clear in my mind.  I had witnessed a conflict that had been brewing for several years now, and I decided I should just go back in time and see what the origins of the conflict were in the first place, about the time I was born.  Interestingly in the dream I was much older, to the point that I was probably unrecognizable to anyone who knew me back then.

So I end up back home, driving along the road, looking at how the island looked many years ago.  Eventually I decide that I would stick around in that time period.  Why not.  Introduce myself to my parents as a long lost relative, to keep an eye on the little guy, from a distance of course.

Interesting side observation of the dream was as I was driving on the road, an open air tour bus passed me by that was decorated in over the top fashion that it was something out of a tiki catalog rather than something authentically Hawaiian.  It had pili grass trimmings stapled to the sides, and it was blaring out of tune slack key guitar.  An old lady was driving it slowly, and it was completely empty.