and toss to the website...

With the passing of the torch from Bob Schieffer to Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News, an era ends. The era of the hard guy news anchor who I not only want to tell me my news, but I want to follow into combat.
God speed Peter Jennings.
I miss you Ted Koppel.
I remember watching you too for three straight days when the US invaded Kuwait in 1991. I sat on the couch and you gave me the updates, the analysis or what was going on and made me feel proud, scared, and confident all at the same time, struggling to understand everything that was going on and at stake in the Gulf.
What happened Dan Rather?
Where'd you go Tom Brokaw?
I listened to you try and make sense out of what was happened on September 11 and though you misled me on where Flight 93 crashed, you more than made up for it by keeping calm and giving me the information to deal with the chaos.
Yes we still have Anderson Cooper and Bob Costas, but Bob Schieffer, who more than did the job replacing Dan Rather by handling the days news with a simple style that never dumbed it down but never got snarky, was the last of the breed. A newsman who I believe and want to keep up with current events via the networks.
Now Ms. Couric seems to be a fine person. She did the job on the Today show. Perky, fun, seemingly intelligent. Great. I cant say I had real high hopes for her taking over the news what with all the talk of the lush new sets and the digitally enhanced promotional pictures of the new anchor, but jeez....
Not only does Katie talk so slow a newborn would ask her to speed it up, nut what's with the web tosses? Want more info, go to the website. I dig it. But it seemed like every third story, go to the website. Pick my signoff by...going to the website. Learn more about the new set by...going to the website. See video from our story by...you guessed it. So CBS news has a website....give me one more story.
and while your at it. I don't care what Rush Limbaugh or Morgan Spurlock think about the war on terror or the first amendment or anything else for that matter. An editorial, fine. Oooh a celebrity with an opinion. No thank you. Its not news and there's plenty more for y'all to tell me.
Peter Jennings must be rolling over in his grave..and you can see video and read more about that at our website.

Initial Thoughts on an Alternative!

A message from our East Coast Correspondent

Given the current state of political affairs in the USA, it is time to
begin to craft an alternative political philosophy and party. The two
party system has become so irrationality polarized that voting trends
follow the party rather than a national and global perspective of the
issues at play. Traditional Republican doctrine calls for smaller
government, while the Christian Right wants to invade my bedroom and
over-legislate morality. The Democratic party, hmmmm, what shall we
say, has totally lost sight of any cohesive agenda and has descended to
reactionary on most of the issues, with the exception of Pro-Choice.

With that said, I think that it is time that we began to develop a
political platform. The first step is to create this platform outside
of the scope of the Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Independent,
etc........ but rather a populous platform that makes sense...

I'm thinking three specific governing principals under which our party
should function.

1. JFK: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather,
what you can do for your country"

In an effort to combat the reverse in individual accountability, a
cornerstone in our platform must be this sentiment. If you suck, admit
that you suck and don't be a drain on society. If you are great, be
great and stimulate independent thinking, be an asset to our society.
All decision making should be based on this notion.

2. An Entrepreneurial Approach to Government.

The current bureaucratic infrastructure is polluted by a myriad of
centuries old legislation. Much of this legislation has expanded and
built upon the governing principals and needs of our founding fathers as
well as the needs of a pre and slightly post industrial USA. These laws
governed the expansion of the railroads and not a global economy powered
by FedEx and the internet. They governed our country during
industrialization and unions and not an era of knowledge workers. These
laws have been expended to the breaking point.

An entrepreneurial approach to all facets of government is necessary.
Rather than combining a bunch of inefficient poorly managed governmental
organization into the Department of Homeland Security, destroy them and
build a new efficient system. Is Interstate Commerce really an issue in
the Dot Com era, do we need the FCC to fine pop stars, does the ATF
work? The amount of time, money, and effort spent on preventing wine
from being shipped from CA to NY (and a bunch of other nonsense issues)
is ridiculous. This is a country of smart people that do one thing
really well. INNOVATE! Let's "innovate" the system that governs us!

3. Let Economists Run the Economy.

I'm sick of the politics of petroleum. People assert that we are
fighting a war for oil, yet these people complain about $3.50 per gallon
of gas. They complain and the politicians respond. So both parties
attack the oil companies and suggest capping the price of gas. GENIUS!
Absolutely, totally GENIUS! Why didn't Adam Smith, or Milton Keynes,
or anyone else figure this out? It is not the invisible hand, but rather
the, I'm entitled to have my cake and eat it to hand!

An Economist will tell you that as the price of gas goes higher, people
will make decisions to buy more efficient cars, we're seeing that today!
People will also make investments in alternative energy sources.
Innovation will happen. Let the price of gas go to $50.00 per gallon.
I guarantee that some entrepreneur will figure out how to take my stupid
words and ideas and power a car with them, which will ultimately be
defeatist because if that happens this issue goes away, as do my stupid
words and ideas.

This was a very long way of saying keep the politicians, whenever
possible, out of the economy. Let economists run and manage the
economy, not politically motivated, short term (4 years), players!

The time is now! We have to act! Readers of this Korbunist Manifesto
either have to buy an island, a submarine, and an effective Navy, or
make a stand and fight the Bull-Shit!

Let's do it...... we have the brains....... we can create the
ground-swell..... The time is NOW! WHO IS IN?


Your East Coast Correspondent