When I got home from work tonight, I was looking forward to tuning into Fox Soccer Channel and losing myself in coverage of the third round of the FA Cup, in which my club, Chelsea plays tomorrow.
However, like all Americans tonight, my attention was drawn elsewhere. It was drawn to Tuscon, Arizona, a place where I've visited many times and a place where one of my best friends lived and went to school. Today it was a place of violence, a place the United States of America will finally look at itself in the mirror and will hopefully recognize a historical crossroad.
Outside a supermarket today a crazy terrorist. Yes, terrorist, walked up to a political gathering being hosted by Arizona Congresswoman Gaby Giffords, pulled out a 9mm Glock, and started shooting. He shot the Congresswoman in the head, he also killed six people, including a Federal Judge and a 9 year old girl. Luckily, people got to this guy before he got to take the coward's way out, so he'll live to stand trial for his crimes.
Assassination. It's a word that people my age and younger are really only familiar with from school. We think of Lincoln, of JFK, of RFK, of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. It's a word we're all now more familiar with, as it happened outside a grocery store today.
What does that mean for America? How do we view ourselves and our political discourse? Surely there will be many folks (saw it quite a bit on Fox News tonight) that will be out to paint the shooter as a screw that came unhinged, as a madman with no political motive whatsoever. Do you really buy that? I'm not questioning whether the guy is crazy or not, I'm sure he is. Still, crazy people have motives too, and the plain fact of the matter is that this man sought out this gathering and the police in Arizona have confirmed that Giffords was the target. Now that we know that crazy people do this sort of thing, does that make us look irresponsible?
It sure does. Was it irresponsible for Sarah Palin to have a map on her website depicting Giffords district with a crosshair over it, urging people to "aim and reload" for democrats? Yes. You'll notice tonight that that particular graphic no longer appears on her site. Was it irresponsible for Giffords opponent in the last election to urge his followers to join him in firing a machine gun at her? Absolutely!
People who engage in this kind of politics need to be held responsible for this.
Can we please stop seeing each other as a devil and start seeing each other as all on the same team again?
Please watch this powerful special comment from Keith Olbermann.
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Historic Health Care Vote
Last night the House of Representatives took a major step forward in bringing much needed health care reform to the USA. I would like to offer my congratulations to President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, The AARP. the AMA, and all of the everyday Americans that have been flooding Congress with calls to let them know they support real health care reform.
The final vote was 220-215 in favor of the bill, a pretty small margin. From all appearances, this was made possible by a compromise forged late Friday night between Pro-Choice and Anti-choice Democrats. This resulted in the passage of what is referred to as the Stupack amendment, this will pretty much guarantee that no insurance plan made available within the Federal exchange will be able to provide coverage for elective abortions. That's right, yet another issue has boiled down to abortion.
While I don't agree with the amendment, if that's what it took to get this bill pushed through at this point, so be it. I applaud Democratic leadership for seeing this through.
Hopefully this will make some people sit up and take notice. Despite the best efforts of Tea Baggers and the fear mongering of the GOP, we've stuck to our guns and taken the first step on what will hopefully be a historic process that will bring health care to millions of Americans. Speak truth and light to idiocy and fear.
Hopefully this will get done, and Nancy Pelosi can go down in history as an American Hero. Thank you very much Madam Speaker.
The final vote was 220-215 in favor of the bill, a pretty small margin. From all appearances, this was made possible by a compromise forged late Friday night between Pro-Choice and Anti-choice Democrats. This resulted in the passage of what is referred to as the Stupack amendment, this will pretty much guarantee that no insurance plan made available within the Federal exchange will be able to provide coverage for elective abortions. That's right, yet another issue has boiled down to abortion.
While I don't agree with the amendment, if that's what it took to get this bill pushed through at this point, so be it. I applaud Democratic leadership for seeing this through.
Hopefully this will make some people sit up and take notice. Despite the best efforts of Tea Baggers and the fear mongering of the GOP, we've stuck to our guns and taken the first step on what will hopefully be a historic process that will bring health care to millions of Americans. Speak truth and light to idiocy and fear.
Hopefully this will get done, and Nancy Pelosi can go down in history as an American Hero. Thank you very much Madam Speaker.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Election Night 2009, Part 2.
Republicans win in Virginia, as expected.
The New Jersey race is tight as drum. Also expected.
Early results from Maine look good for Gay Marriage. The conservatives will be in trouble if they lose that one.
Still a long night to go.
Perhaps the most important race tonight for progressives is in Maine, where a Conservative ballot measure is seeking to overturn that state's Gay Marriage Law. No state has ever voted for Gay Marriage. Hopefully tonight, the great state of Maine, home of Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, will be the first. Track the results here.
The New Jersey race is tight as drum. Also expected.
Early results from Maine look good for Gay Marriage. The conservatives will be in trouble if they lose that one.
Still a long night to go.
Perhaps the most important race tonight for progressives is in Maine, where a Conservative ballot measure is seeking to overturn that state's Gay Marriage Law. No state has ever voted for Gay Marriage. Hopefully tonight, the great state of Maine, home of Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, will be the first. Track the results here.
Election Night 2009, Part 1. Predictions & General Thoughts
It's an off year for elections, but with the turbulent times today, there are 6 races people around the country are watching tonight. Republicans are hoping that wins in all or most of these races will be taken as a trend in the United States away from Barack Obama and his policies. Democrats really don't see that trend happening at any rate, but are anxious to avoid the appearance of it by picking off at least couple of these.
The races are:
US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NY-23--A heavily Republican district that hasn't been won by a democrat in more than 100 years. Recently, a radical right wing candidate entered the race and threatened to split the Republican vote, virtually handing this race to the democrat. However, as of last week, the actual Republican has dropped out of the race, and though she actually endorsed the democrat, it's expected that with the Republican vote no longer split, the Conservative candidate will hold on to this seat rather easily. My prediction is just that. Republicans will keep this seat by at least 4-6 points.
CA-10. A current democrat district that Republicans were looking to pick up in the wake of the tea-bagger movement and anti state government sentiment in California. Unfortunately for them, the only Californians that care about tea-bagging live in San Francisco and have been doing it for years. However, this district was in Republican hands as recently as 1996, and is considered to be kind of a Blue Dog district, while the dem candidate here is an unabashed liberal. A win here shows a real left move for this district. My prediction is that the Dems hold this seat by 7-9 points.
Governorships
Virginia-- The democrat candidate has been badly beaten up in this race and I expect the Republican to win by at least 10 points.
New Jersey--A couple of months back this looked like a slam dunk for The Republicans. However, corruption and campaign problems have held their candidate down in recent weeks, many polls now show the democrat incumbent once again in the lead. I'll this one for the democrats, but it won't be called tonight and it will probably go into absentee ballots and become very messy.
State Ballot Measures
Maine--Question 1. If question 1 passes in Maine, it will strike down a law made earlier this year by the Maine legislature legalizing gay marriage. So in this case, a YES vote is AGAINST gay marriage. I predict this will pass closely and outlaw Gay Marriage in Maine. Nate Silver at 538.com feels differently about this and I hope he's right.
Washington--Referendum 71. If this passes, it will extend "domestic partnerships" to Gay couples, it just doesn't call it "marriage." This is widely expected to pass and I think it will.
So best case/worst case. For the Republicans, they could feasibly win 4 out of these 6 races--NY23, VA-GOV, NJ-GOV, and Maine Question 1. This would be a bit embarrassing for the democrats, but none of these are national races and after a week of press, it'll be back to business as usual. The worst case for the Republicans is more dire. They could feasibly lose 5 out of 6 as well, only taking home VA-GOV. This would be a major setback for them as they try to claim some sort of momentum into the 2010 midterms. It would also be a serious setback for the anti-gay folks to lose both of the ballot measures.
For the Democrats, the best case I think is also 4 out of 6: CA-10, NJ-GOV, Maine Q1, and WA R71. This would alleviate the fear of major Republican momentum. However, don't think they'll get Maine Q1, leaving them with 3 out of 6. The worst case here for dems is losing 4 of 6, while winning CA-10 and WA R71. This would mean Glenn Beck and a lot of moron pundits spouting off on Obama for the next week, but outside of political thought circles, this sentiment would dissipate rather quickly.
It should be an interesting night. More updates to come.
The races are:
US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NY-23--A heavily Republican district that hasn't been won by a democrat in more than 100 years. Recently, a radical right wing candidate entered the race and threatened to split the Republican vote, virtually handing this race to the democrat. However, as of last week, the actual Republican has dropped out of the race, and though she actually endorsed the democrat, it's expected that with the Republican vote no longer split, the Conservative candidate will hold on to this seat rather easily. My prediction is just that. Republicans will keep this seat by at least 4-6 points.
CA-10. A current democrat district that Republicans were looking to pick up in the wake of the tea-bagger movement and anti state government sentiment in California. Unfortunately for them, the only Californians that care about tea-bagging live in San Francisco and have been doing it for years. However, this district was in Republican hands as recently as 1996, and is considered to be kind of a Blue Dog district, while the dem candidate here is an unabashed liberal. A win here shows a real left move for this district. My prediction is that the Dems hold this seat by 7-9 points.
Governorships
Virginia-- The democrat candidate has been badly beaten up in this race and I expect the Republican to win by at least 10 points.
New Jersey--A couple of months back this looked like a slam dunk for The Republicans. However, corruption and campaign problems have held their candidate down in recent weeks, many polls now show the democrat incumbent once again in the lead. I'll this one for the democrats, but it won't be called tonight and it will probably go into absentee ballots and become very messy.
State Ballot Measures
Maine--Question 1. If question 1 passes in Maine, it will strike down a law made earlier this year by the Maine legislature legalizing gay marriage. So in this case, a YES vote is AGAINST gay marriage. I predict this will pass closely and outlaw Gay Marriage in Maine. Nate Silver at 538.com feels differently about this and I hope he's right.
Washington--Referendum 71. If this passes, it will extend "domestic partnerships" to Gay couples, it just doesn't call it "marriage." This is widely expected to pass and I think it will.
So best case/worst case. For the Republicans, they could feasibly win 4 out of these 6 races--NY23, VA-GOV, NJ-GOV, and Maine Question 1. This would be a bit embarrassing for the democrats, but none of these are national races and after a week of press, it'll be back to business as usual. The worst case for the Republicans is more dire. They could feasibly lose 5 out of 6 as well, only taking home VA-GOV. This would be a major setback for them as they try to claim some sort of momentum into the 2010 midterms. It would also be a serious setback for the anti-gay folks to lose both of the ballot measures.
For the Democrats, the best case I think is also 4 out of 6: CA-10, NJ-GOV, Maine Q1, and WA R71. This would alleviate the fear of major Republican momentum. However, don't think they'll get Maine Q1, leaving them with 3 out of 6. The worst case here for dems is losing 4 of 6, while winning CA-10 and WA R71. This would mean Glenn Beck and a lot of moron pundits spouting off on Obama for the next week, but outside of political thought circles, this sentiment would dissipate rather quickly.
It should be an interesting night. More updates to come.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Faux Christianity or Lies My Pastor Told Me.
First off, let me just say I don't think my pastor was a liar. I grew up in a fairly normal church, where neither politics nor whackoism were ever preached from the pulpit. I also highly doubt he would agree with a lot of the Christian whackos out in full force today. Of course, I haven't asked him, so I don't know for sure, but whatever.....
Now I consider myself a Christian. It's been awhile since Mariel and I have been to Mass, but that's mainly because the last time we went, the deacon told us to vote for John McCain because he was pro-life. As if being in favor of bombing poor middle eastern countries back to the stone age is somehow "pro-life." No, we Americans are only "pro-life" when it comes to white, middle to upper-class babies who haven't even been born yet and wouldn't survive a day without the assistance of their mothers. But I digress.......
Anyhoodles, Kirk Cameron and some bonehead named Ray Comfort are planning on celebrating the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's "Origin of the Species" by going around to colleges and universities and giving out free, brand spanking new editions of the book.
No, that doesn't sound quite right does it? Kirk Cameron has evolved from a mere bad actor to a bad actor who is also now a religious nutjob. Fireproof, Kirk? How about Idiotproof?
So Kirk and Ray are giving out these books, but here's the catch, Ray has written a new 50 page intro to the book. In the new intro Ray is going draw the obvious connection between the theory of evolution and Hitler. He's also going to call Darwin and his theory racist and sexist. He's also going to assert that no fossil evidence has ever been found to establish transitional forms. He's going to say DNA proves God exists and Intelligent design is true. Finally he's going to state that the Theory of Evolution espouses the thought that everything that now exists was created from nothing, and that's not scientifically valid.
So where do we start? First off, sure Hitler and the Nazis used Natural Selection to further their views of a genetically superior race. And that's Darwin's fault how? Oh yeah, you know what else Hitler and his cronies used? The Bible and Christianity, firing up German Christians by telling them that the Jews had killed Jesus and were the natural enemy of an Aryan, Christian society. But that's not God's fault now is it...Kirk? What is it with these conservative retards that have to compare everyone that doesn't agree with them to Hitler? It doesn't help your argument.
Darwin and his theory are racist and sexist? Sure Kirk, whatever you say. In all my science classes (and I've had quite a few) I've never heard anything about this. You know where I have heard about racism and sexism though? THE BIBLE. Oh yeah, go back to the Old Testament and watch the Nation of Israel wipe out entire villages and cities who were different than them because "They were God's chosen people." Huh. My God is better than your God so I'm going to kill you and stomp out your civilization. What a great thought. Then of course the racism hammer got turned against the Jews when the Christian Church took power and accused them of killing THE JESUS and started openly persecuting Jewish people.
Sexism? The Bible is one of the most sexist, anti-female books ever to come into existence. Some quotes:
1 Corinthians 11: 8 - 9:
8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
1 Corinthians 14: 34 - 35:
34. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but [they are commanded] to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
1 Timothy 2:11
11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
So don't talk to me about sexism from a Christian perspective.
Hmm...let's see, Kirk suggests that no fossil evidence of transitional forms has been found. Oh really? Well in the largest sense, every fossil is transitional, showing a creature that has since changed to something else, but if you really want a few specifics here are a few that are transitional fossils between fish and amphibians. That same site lists many other transitional forms as well, so sorry, Kirk.
DNA is proof that Kirk is right and Darwin is wrong? Not hardly? If this is the case, how come our DNA is so close to that of almost every other primate? How do you explain junk-DNA codons? Oh, you don't. Genetic mutations in and of themselves speak for the process of Natural Selection. Does Kirk know anything about DNA except what he saw on CSI?
Finally, Kirk is going to tell you that Evolution supposes that everything in universe was created from nothing, and that can't be scientifically valid. Well first off, Kirk, Evolution is a biological theory pertaining to life on earth, not the origin of the universe. You're looking for Hawking, not Darwin. Oh yeah, and it's you guys that say that God spouted a few magic words and created everything in the Universe from nothing. So what in the hell are you talking about?
Kirk and Ray are retards. Lying retards. In his video promoting his little project Kirk tells more lies like:
Kids in the USA are not allowed to pray in Public
Kids in the USA are not allowed to open a Bible in a public school
The Gideons are not allowed to distribute Bibles at school
Atheist Darwinist educators are turning our Kids into Athiest Darwinists.
The Ten Commandments can't be displayed in public.
Oh really? Look Kirk, IM'MA LET YOU FINISH BUT.......
I see kids praying in public all time. I personally prayed a ton in school, especially pertaining to passing chemistry tests and hoping God would spare me being humiliated in Gym class.
I see kids open Bibles and Even Book of Mormons in school all the time. I personally carried a small Bible and a Heidelberg Catechism around with me in High School and a Catholic Catechism in college. I was never arrested by the thought police.
I received three Gideon Bibles at school. One in Jr High, one in High School, and one in College. I knew a guy who was in the Gideons. He gave out Bibles at schools all the time. Still I wonder if Kirk would be ok with giving out the Koran at school? I think not.
Oh my, Professors are actually teaching critical thinking that doesn't quite jive with authoritarian religious teaching? THANK GOD. If the Christians don't want an education, stay home. That way I'll have a better chance at a good job.
The Ten Commandments can't be displayed in Public? Whaa..... Maybe not on Government buildings, but you see them all over the place on private property. Besides the ten commandments are NOT the foundation for our legal system. The ancient Roman and Old English legal systems are. Sorry to burst your bubble. While watching a video in response to Kirk, I was introduced to The Wiccan Rede. A very beautiful description of the beliefs of Wicca. Not an offensive thing in there. I bet Kirk wouldn't want it posted on Government buildings or in schools though.
The United States and it's government isn't about Christianity. Period. Founding Fathers=Deists. It's about being able to believe what you want, even if it isn't Christianity and leveling the playing field for those aren't Christian. Our government was NEVER intended to push Christianity. Period.
Besides, if you like the Bible, God wasn't very fond of liars.
If the views of Christianity today are all about pushing a conservative agenda, lying about good science, walking on the backs of poor people, and flat out raping the compassionate teachings of Jesus Christ, I want no part of it. I'd rather be Wiccan, at least they care about others, something Jesus told us to do if you remember correctly.
Father, can you hear me?
How have I let you down?
I curse the day that I was born,
And all the sorrow in the world...
Let me take you to the herding ground,
Where all good men are trampled down,
Just to settle a bet that could not be won,
Between a prideful father and his son.
Well you guard me now for I cant see,
A reason for this suffering and this long misery.
What if every living soul could be upright and strong?
Well, then I do imagine there will be
Sorrow.
Yeah there will be
Sorrow .
And there will be
Sorrow, no more.
When all soldiers lay their weapons down,
Or when all kings and all queens relinquish their crown,
Or when the only true messiah rescues us from ourselves...
Its easy to imagine there will be
Sorrow.
Yeah there will be
Sorrow .
And there will be
Sorrow, no more.
There will be
Sorrow.
Yeah there will be
Sorrow .
And there will be
Sorrow, no more.
Now I consider myself a Christian. It's been awhile since Mariel and I have been to Mass, but that's mainly because the last time we went, the deacon told us to vote for John McCain because he was pro-life. As if being in favor of bombing poor middle eastern countries back to the stone age is somehow "pro-life." No, we Americans are only "pro-life" when it comes to white, middle to upper-class babies who haven't even been born yet and wouldn't survive a day without the assistance of their mothers. But I digress.......
Anyhoodles, Kirk Cameron and some bonehead named Ray Comfort are planning on celebrating the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's "Origin of the Species" by going around to colleges and universities and giving out free, brand spanking new editions of the book.
No, that doesn't sound quite right does it? Kirk Cameron has evolved from a mere bad actor to a bad actor who is also now a religious nutjob. Fireproof, Kirk? How about Idiotproof?
So Kirk and Ray are giving out these books, but here's the catch, Ray has written a new 50 page intro to the book. In the new intro Ray is going draw the obvious connection between the theory of evolution and Hitler. He's also going to call Darwin and his theory racist and sexist. He's also going to assert that no fossil evidence has ever been found to establish transitional forms. He's going to say DNA proves God exists and Intelligent design is true. Finally he's going to state that the Theory of Evolution espouses the thought that everything that now exists was created from nothing, and that's not scientifically valid.
So where do we start? First off, sure Hitler and the Nazis used Natural Selection to further their views of a genetically superior race. And that's Darwin's fault how? Oh yeah, you know what else Hitler and his cronies used? The Bible and Christianity, firing up German Christians by telling them that the Jews had killed Jesus and were the natural enemy of an Aryan, Christian society. But that's not God's fault now is it...Kirk? What is it with these conservative retards that have to compare everyone that doesn't agree with them to Hitler? It doesn't help your argument.
Darwin and his theory are racist and sexist? Sure Kirk, whatever you say. In all my science classes (and I've had quite a few) I've never heard anything about this. You know where I have heard about racism and sexism though? THE BIBLE. Oh yeah, go back to the Old Testament and watch the Nation of Israel wipe out entire villages and cities who were different than them because "They were God's chosen people." Huh. My God is better than your God so I'm going to kill you and stomp out your civilization. What a great thought. Then of course the racism hammer got turned against the Jews when the Christian Church took power and accused them of killing THE JESUS and started openly persecuting Jewish people.
Sexism? The Bible is one of the most sexist, anti-female books ever to come into existence. Some quotes:
1 Corinthians 11: 8 - 9:
8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
1 Corinthians 14: 34 - 35:
34. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but [they are commanded] to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
1 Timothy 2:11
11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
So don't talk to me about sexism from a Christian perspective.
Hmm...let's see, Kirk suggests that no fossil evidence of transitional forms has been found. Oh really? Well in the largest sense, every fossil is transitional, showing a creature that has since changed to something else, but if you really want a few specifics here are a few that are transitional fossils between fish and amphibians. That same site lists many other transitional forms as well, so sorry, Kirk.
DNA is proof that Kirk is right and Darwin is wrong? Not hardly? If this is the case, how come our DNA is so close to that of almost every other primate? How do you explain junk-DNA codons? Oh, you don't. Genetic mutations in and of themselves speak for the process of Natural Selection. Does Kirk know anything about DNA except what he saw on CSI?
Finally, Kirk is going to tell you that Evolution supposes that everything in universe was created from nothing, and that can't be scientifically valid. Well first off, Kirk, Evolution is a biological theory pertaining to life on earth, not the origin of the universe. You're looking for Hawking, not Darwin. Oh yeah, and it's you guys that say that God spouted a few magic words and created everything in the Universe from nothing. So what in the hell are you talking about?
Kirk and Ray are retards. Lying retards. In his video promoting his little project Kirk tells more lies like:
Kids in the USA are not allowed to pray in Public
Kids in the USA are not allowed to open a Bible in a public school
The Gideons are not allowed to distribute Bibles at school
Atheist Darwinist educators are turning our Kids into Athiest Darwinists.
The Ten Commandments can't be displayed in public.
Oh really? Look Kirk, IM'MA LET YOU FINISH BUT.......
I see kids praying in public all time. I personally prayed a ton in school, especially pertaining to passing chemistry tests and hoping God would spare me being humiliated in Gym class.
I see kids open Bibles and Even Book of Mormons in school all the time. I personally carried a small Bible and a Heidelberg Catechism around with me in High School and a Catholic Catechism in college. I was never arrested by the thought police.
I received three Gideon Bibles at school. One in Jr High, one in High School, and one in College. I knew a guy who was in the Gideons. He gave out Bibles at schools all the time. Still I wonder if Kirk would be ok with giving out the Koran at school? I think not.
Oh my, Professors are actually teaching critical thinking that doesn't quite jive with authoritarian religious teaching? THANK GOD. If the Christians don't want an education, stay home. That way I'll have a better chance at a good job.
The Ten Commandments can't be displayed in Public? Whaa..... Maybe not on Government buildings, but you see them all over the place on private property. Besides the ten commandments are NOT the foundation for our legal system. The ancient Roman and Old English legal systems are. Sorry to burst your bubble. While watching a video in response to Kirk, I was introduced to The Wiccan Rede. A very beautiful description of the beliefs of Wicca. Not an offensive thing in there. I bet Kirk wouldn't want it posted on Government buildings or in schools though.
The United States and it's government isn't about Christianity. Period. Founding Fathers=Deists. It's about being able to believe what you want, even if it isn't Christianity and leveling the playing field for those aren't Christian. Our government was NEVER intended to push Christianity. Period.
Besides, if you like the Bible, God wasn't very fond of liars.
If the views of Christianity today are all about pushing a conservative agenda, lying about good science, walking on the backs of poor people, and flat out raping the compassionate teachings of Jesus Christ, I want no part of it. I'd rather be Wiccan, at least they care about others, something Jesus told us to do if you remember correctly.
Father, can you hear me?
How have I let you down?
I curse the day that I was born,
And all the sorrow in the world...
Let me take you to the herding ground,
Where all good men are trampled down,
Just to settle a bet that could not be won,
Between a prideful father and his son.
Well you guard me now for I cant see,
A reason for this suffering and this long misery.
What if every living soul could be upright and strong?
Well, then I do imagine there will be
Sorrow.
Yeah there will be
Sorrow .
And there will be
Sorrow, no more.
When all soldiers lay their weapons down,
Or when all kings and all queens relinquish their crown,
Or when the only true messiah rescues us from ourselves...
Its easy to imagine there will be
Sorrow.
Yeah there will be
Sorrow .
And there will be
Sorrow, no more.
There will be
Sorrow.
Yeah there will be
Sorrow .
And there will be
Sorrow, no more.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Some thoughts on politics, troops, and school.
If you read my facebook or my wife's for that matter, you'll see that we're both pretty hardcore liberals. We don't try to hide it. Lately, we've both posted some articles critical of the radical right wing of the Republican party wanting to keep children home from school on Tuesday so that they aren't "indoctrinated" into evil liberal socialism by Barack Obama.
Honestly, I think that idea is just plain idiotic, but more on that in a minute.
My wife received a message in response to one of her posts critical of people who would keep their kids home for this reason. The basic thrust of the response was "Isn't it great that in America, we have troops that go out and fight so you can belittle people just because they don't agree with you?"
Yes, quite frankly, that is the great thing about America.
I'm not advocating that we should be hurling personal insults at each other from across the political aisle. That's not productive. However, we're all human and in the heat of a passionate debate we all slip sometimes. I'm guilty of it, and I know plenty of people, both democrats and republicans who are guilty of it as well.
But in point of fact, yes, we have had members of the armed forces die for my right to think certain people are just plain stupid. You know what? Not all soldiers are conservative. My grandfather fought in World War II. He was a medic and was in Europe when the Nazi death caps were opened and tons of people needing medical attention flooded out. He saw all the horrors first hand. He saw the emaciated Jews. He watched as army surgeons used meatball surgery to try to put people back together. You know something else he saw, something that bothered him until the day he died? As his unit advanced further into Nazi territory, he saw a group of American soldiers gang rape a German girl because "The Nazi bitch had it coming." What a wonderfully American sentiment! At any rate, he was a lifelong liberal that despised pretty much anything that ever came out of the mouth of a Republican and he was fond of saying that he was a veteran so nobody could tell him to think otherwise.
So don't pull out the "Troops are out their fighting for you card." The "troops" are just as likely to be liberals as they are conservatives. Oh, and they're not wonderful angels who would never do anything wrong either. Sorry.
And don't tell me you're right because God says so. My God is different than yours, I'm pretty positive. So if I don't believe in your God, why should I follow what he or she says? Bringing God in to defend your argument is a non-starter, period.
At any rate, yes, keeping your kids home from school so they don't have to hear Obama's speech is stupid. When I was in school, I had to listen to speeches from both Ronald Reagan and George Bush the First. Nobody ever complained. So why is it ok for a Republican to talk directly to school kids and not a democrat? Because you see a chance to play politics, that's why. If a Republican president were giving a speech to students, I'd make sure my kid was there for no other reason than to show him that people have different opinions and that people think differently. Trust me folks, it's not a bad thing to have different opinions.
It's just a bad thing to tell me I'm not entitled to mine because of "god" or "the troops." It's a pity we can't clean up the discourse a little bit in America.
Honestly, I think that idea is just plain idiotic, but more on that in a minute.
My wife received a message in response to one of her posts critical of people who would keep their kids home for this reason. The basic thrust of the response was "Isn't it great that in America, we have troops that go out and fight so you can belittle people just because they don't agree with you?"
Yes, quite frankly, that is the great thing about America.
I'm not advocating that we should be hurling personal insults at each other from across the political aisle. That's not productive. However, we're all human and in the heat of a passionate debate we all slip sometimes. I'm guilty of it, and I know plenty of people, both democrats and republicans who are guilty of it as well.
But in point of fact, yes, we have had members of the armed forces die for my right to think certain people are just plain stupid. You know what? Not all soldiers are conservative. My grandfather fought in World War II. He was a medic and was in Europe when the Nazi death caps were opened and tons of people needing medical attention flooded out. He saw all the horrors first hand. He saw the emaciated Jews. He watched as army surgeons used meatball surgery to try to put people back together. You know something else he saw, something that bothered him until the day he died? As his unit advanced further into Nazi territory, he saw a group of American soldiers gang rape a German girl because "The Nazi bitch had it coming." What a wonderfully American sentiment! At any rate, he was a lifelong liberal that despised pretty much anything that ever came out of the mouth of a Republican and he was fond of saying that he was a veteran so nobody could tell him to think otherwise.
So don't pull out the "Troops are out their fighting for you card." The "troops" are just as likely to be liberals as they are conservatives. Oh, and they're not wonderful angels who would never do anything wrong either. Sorry.
And don't tell me you're right because God says so. My God is different than yours, I'm pretty positive. So if I don't believe in your God, why should I follow what he or she says? Bringing God in to defend your argument is a non-starter, period.
At any rate, yes, keeping your kids home from school so they don't have to hear Obama's speech is stupid. When I was in school, I had to listen to speeches from both Ronald Reagan and George Bush the First. Nobody ever complained. So why is it ok for a Republican to talk directly to school kids and not a democrat? Because you see a chance to play politics, that's why. If a Republican president were giving a speech to students, I'd make sure my kid was there for no other reason than to show him that people have different opinions and that people think differently. Trust me folks, it's not a bad thing to have different opinions.
It's just a bad thing to tell me I'm not entitled to mine because of "god" or "the troops." It's a pity we can't clean up the discourse a little bit in America.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Book Thoughts: "The Conscience of a Liberal" by Paul Krugman
Really enjoyed Krugman's book. Of course, he was preaching to the choir with me too I guess. Anyway, Krugman, a Nobel Prize winning economist, takes us on en economic tour of America from Post-Reconstruction until today's times. He offers explanations of our high and low points. Now I don't know a ton about economics, but it made sense to me, even though some of his conclusions ran a little counter to what I always learned in some of my history classes.
Finally. Krugman calls for a "new New Deal," echoing FDR's successful campaigns to establish a social safety net in the 1930's, particularly Social Security. Krugmans New Deal would have true National Health Care as it's centerpiece, he argues that it can be done and become an accepted American institution, just like Social Security and Medicare.
A very timely book to read right now and I agree with him pretty much all the way.
Finally. Krugman calls for a "new New Deal," echoing FDR's successful campaigns to establish a social safety net in the 1930's, particularly Social Security. Krugmans New Deal would have true National Health Care as it's centerpiece, he argues that it can be done and become an accepted American institution, just like Social Security and Medicare.
A very timely book to read right now and I agree with him pretty much all the way.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Welcome to the new Dark Ages........
The Public Policy Polling agency released it's newest poll today. The result: 39% of Americans think the US Government should stay out of Medicare. That's right folks, 39% of your fellow Americans don't realize what Medicare even is. Medicare is health coverage run by the United States Government. Totally by the government that is. The Government should stay out of Medicare? The Government IS MEDICARE.
That's right, 39% of Americans are total idiots. In this same poll, 38% weren't sure if President Obama was born in the United States. 6% weren't even sure if Hawaii was a state!
In other recent polls: 24% of Americans can't name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. A majority of Americans can't name a single branch of Government or explain what the Bill of Rights is. A Gallup poll found that 18% of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth.
What conclusion do we draw from this? We are a nation full of idiots.
Even James Madison wrote that pure democracy won't work because there is nothing to check an obnoxious individual.
Allow me to quote Bill Maher:
These are the idiots we want to weigh in on the minutia of health care policy? Please, this country is like a college chick after two Long Island Iced Teas: we can be talked into anything, like wars, and we can be talked out of anything, like health care. We should forget town halls, and replace them with study halls. There's a lot of populist anger directed towards Washington, but you know who concerned citizens should be most angry at? Their fellow citizens. "Inside the beltway" thinking may be wrong, but at least it's thinking, which is more than you can say for what's going on outside the beltway.
That's right folks, only in America can poor people be talked into being against and protesting something that will actually HELP THEM. Idiots.
How have we come to this? I think there are two reasons, both dating back into the 1970s, both reasons have reduced us to a society of dolts that can't institute a Public Health policy that was instituted by almost everybody else in the industrialized world years ago. The rest of the world sits back and laughs at the American Idiots.
The first reason is the Anti-Intellectualism driven by the Radical right wing. Don't let your kids go to public school. Don't let them learn about Evolution. Certainly don't let them attend a college or university. These places are just dens of liberals! We have been made to be afraid of intellect and brains over the last 20 years. Where did this get us? It got us possibly the most idiotic president the country has seen, Mr. Bush the second, who sat at his ranch in Texas and wet his pants while Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. We have to be afraid of smart people because smart people might ask to change something. We can't have that either. No change. Further more, why would we want to be intellectual and think if we can go our leaders and have them do the thinking for us? They tell us Obama is going to kill our grandma, and we swallow it hook, line, and sinker. Just like the fish who was too dumb to leave the worm alone. Natural Selection. Oh wait, we don't believe in that.
That brings me to the second reason, which is somewhat coupled with the first. We in America depend WAY TOO MUCH on religion to define our moral code and our beliefs. This is crazy. Not everything in the Bible is true. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out. If you honestly believe that everything in the Bible is literal truth, you're an idiot and you need to have your head examined. Bible literalists have recognized that the Biblical account of creation doesn't jive with the scientific evidence, so they concoct a new story that the Earth is only 6000 years old. Folks, the earth is millions of years old if it's a day. Even the astronomers at the Vatican Observatory believe this. If you don't believe this, go back to school and surrender your voter registration card at the door.
The Bible says we can rape our wives, sell them into slavery. We should execute homosexuals and kids who backtalk their parents. Is this really the book we want guiding our society and our Government? The founders separated Church and state for a reason, and it wasn't to protect the church from the state.
I believe religion has a place. I believe that we can use the model of Christ's life to be compassionate to others, to love one another. I don't believe that the modern purpose for faith should be to abide by the endless list of dos and don'ts listed in the Bible. Sorry folks, most of it is myth, and don't even get me started on the Book of Mormon, a complete fabrication.
Yet a large number of people abide solely by religion. They sit in the pew and listen to and do exactly what the clergyman tells them to do. Take it from me folks. I was going to be a clergyman. They don't know anymore about anything than you do. In fact, if you paid attention in your gen ed classes in college, you probably know more than they do.
Anyway, I'm tired of the idiots. I want someone, President Obama, someone to stand up, call a spade a spade and tell these idiots that they're being lied to. No more compromise, no more negotiating with idiots and morons. Let's do Public health because it's the right thing to do, regardless of religious and right wing hate and lies. Just once I want to see liberals grow a spine and get something done! If we don't, we might find ourselves on the losing end of natural selection. Look it up.
When the future's architectured by a carnival of idiots, you better lie low....
That's right, 39% of Americans are total idiots. In this same poll, 38% weren't sure if President Obama was born in the United States. 6% weren't even sure if Hawaii was a state!
In other recent polls: 24% of Americans can't name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. A majority of Americans can't name a single branch of Government or explain what the Bill of Rights is. A Gallup poll found that 18% of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth.
What conclusion do we draw from this? We are a nation full of idiots.
Even James Madison wrote that pure democracy won't work because there is nothing to check an obnoxious individual.
Allow me to quote Bill Maher:
These are the idiots we want to weigh in on the minutia of health care policy? Please, this country is like a college chick after two Long Island Iced Teas: we can be talked into anything, like wars, and we can be talked out of anything, like health care. We should forget town halls, and replace them with study halls. There's a lot of populist anger directed towards Washington, but you know who concerned citizens should be most angry at? Their fellow citizens. "Inside the beltway" thinking may be wrong, but at least it's thinking, which is more than you can say for what's going on outside the beltway.
That's right folks, only in America can poor people be talked into being against and protesting something that will actually HELP THEM. Idiots.
How have we come to this? I think there are two reasons, both dating back into the 1970s, both reasons have reduced us to a society of dolts that can't institute a Public Health policy that was instituted by almost everybody else in the industrialized world years ago. The rest of the world sits back and laughs at the American Idiots.
The first reason is the Anti-Intellectualism driven by the Radical right wing. Don't let your kids go to public school. Don't let them learn about Evolution. Certainly don't let them attend a college or university. These places are just dens of liberals! We have been made to be afraid of intellect and brains over the last 20 years. Where did this get us? It got us possibly the most idiotic president the country has seen, Mr. Bush the second, who sat at his ranch in Texas and wet his pants while Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. We have to be afraid of smart people because smart people might ask to change something. We can't have that either. No change. Further more, why would we want to be intellectual and think if we can go our leaders and have them do the thinking for us? They tell us Obama is going to kill our grandma, and we swallow it hook, line, and sinker. Just like the fish who was too dumb to leave the worm alone. Natural Selection. Oh wait, we don't believe in that.
That brings me to the second reason, which is somewhat coupled with the first. We in America depend WAY TOO MUCH on religion to define our moral code and our beliefs. This is crazy. Not everything in the Bible is true. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out. If you honestly believe that everything in the Bible is literal truth, you're an idiot and you need to have your head examined. Bible literalists have recognized that the Biblical account of creation doesn't jive with the scientific evidence, so they concoct a new story that the Earth is only 6000 years old. Folks, the earth is millions of years old if it's a day. Even the astronomers at the Vatican Observatory believe this. If you don't believe this, go back to school and surrender your voter registration card at the door.
The Bible says we can rape our wives, sell them into slavery. We should execute homosexuals and kids who backtalk their parents. Is this really the book we want guiding our society and our Government? The founders separated Church and state for a reason, and it wasn't to protect the church from the state.
I believe religion has a place. I believe that we can use the model of Christ's life to be compassionate to others, to love one another. I don't believe that the modern purpose for faith should be to abide by the endless list of dos and don'ts listed in the Bible. Sorry folks, most of it is myth, and don't even get me started on the Book of Mormon, a complete fabrication.
Yet a large number of people abide solely by religion. They sit in the pew and listen to and do exactly what the clergyman tells them to do. Take it from me folks. I was going to be a clergyman. They don't know anymore about anything than you do. In fact, if you paid attention in your gen ed classes in college, you probably know more than they do.
Anyway, I'm tired of the idiots. I want someone, President Obama, someone to stand up, call a spade a spade and tell these idiots that they're being lied to. No more compromise, no more negotiating with idiots and morons. Let's do Public health because it's the right thing to do, regardless of religious and right wing hate and lies. Just once I want to see liberals grow a spine and get something done! If we don't, we might find ourselves on the losing end of natural selection. Look it up.
When the future's architectured by a carnival of idiots, you better lie low....
Monday, August 17, 2009
My thoughts on the public option....
Much has been made over several remarks made by prominent folks on Sunday political talk shows in regards to the Public Option's place in the Health Care Reform bill. Many regular news sites as well as blogs from both sides of aisle have announced the death of the public option. Even Nate Silver at 538, who is usually pretty on the money with his analysis, is beating the "Public Option is probably dead" drum.
Meanwhile, several prominent folks in the democratic community are decrying this. Gov. Howard Dean, a doctor, says you really can't reform Health Care without the public option. Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, says all that stands in the way of Universal Health Care is greed. Well, that's a mighty tough thing to overcome.
When I decided to support Barack Obama early on in the primary process, it was largely because of his strong support for Public Health Coverage. I supported Howard Dean in 2004 for the same reason. This is a priority issue for me. People in the United States are dying needlessly because they don't have health coverage. People in the United States are going bankrupt over medical costs. These things don't happen in other countries. Why not? Because they have Single payer health care. They treat health care as a basic human right, not a for profit, billion dollar industry. Candidate Obama said he agreed Health Care was a right when he debated John McCain. I want to see him back it up as President.
Now, Obama hasn't said he's given up on the public option. Let me say this though, if he does, I will not vote for him again. We're falling back into the same old trap where the money and the corporations run America. Though Obama said it would be different under his leadership, I'm starting to have my doubts.
If Obama gives up on the Public option, two things are going to happen. One, the Republican Party will be energized like it hasn't been since 1994. Two, many of the Progressives and liberals that helped elect Obama will again abandon the democratic party. I don't care if the Republicans are worse. I'm tired of voting for people who say they share my views then don't back it up. Maybe I'll vote for the socialist candidate next time around.
Anyway, I think Obama still has time to get this thing right. Daily Kos has floated the prospect that the administration was just sending up a trial balloon to see what would happen if they did drop the public option. I hope they are sufficiently scared with the reaction. We need to get this done for the people, they deserve it. Let's do something for the folks instead of the corporations for once.
Update, 3:00 PM: CNN reporting President Obama is NOT abandoning the Public Option.
Update, 3:21 PM: Speaker Pelosi hinting that she will throw the whole weight of House Dems behind the Public Option.
Meanwhile, several prominent folks in the democratic community are decrying this. Gov. Howard Dean, a doctor, says you really can't reform Health Care without the public option. Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, says all that stands in the way of Universal Health Care is greed. Well, that's a mighty tough thing to overcome.
When I decided to support Barack Obama early on in the primary process, it was largely because of his strong support for Public Health Coverage. I supported Howard Dean in 2004 for the same reason. This is a priority issue for me. People in the United States are dying needlessly because they don't have health coverage. People in the United States are going bankrupt over medical costs. These things don't happen in other countries. Why not? Because they have Single payer health care. They treat health care as a basic human right, not a for profit, billion dollar industry. Candidate Obama said he agreed Health Care was a right when he debated John McCain. I want to see him back it up as President.
Now, Obama hasn't said he's given up on the public option. Let me say this though, if he does, I will not vote for him again. We're falling back into the same old trap where the money and the corporations run America. Though Obama said it would be different under his leadership, I'm starting to have my doubts.
If Obama gives up on the Public option, two things are going to happen. One, the Republican Party will be energized like it hasn't been since 1994. Two, many of the Progressives and liberals that helped elect Obama will again abandon the democratic party. I don't care if the Republicans are worse. I'm tired of voting for people who say they share my views then don't back it up. Maybe I'll vote for the socialist candidate next time around.
Anyway, I think Obama still has time to get this thing right. Daily Kos has floated the prospect that the administration was just sending up a trial balloon to see what would happen if they did drop the public option. I hope they are sufficiently scared with the reaction. We need to get this done for the people, they deserve it. Let's do something for the folks instead of the corporations for once.
Update, 3:00 PM: CNN reporting President Obama is NOT abandoning the Public Option.
Update, 3:21 PM: Speaker Pelosi hinting that she will throw the whole weight of House Dems behind the Public Option.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Birther of a Nation
"In America, there is no idea so patently absurd that it can't catch on."
--Bill Maher
"Now everybody do the propaganda, and sing along to the age of paranoia."
--Green Day
In the year 1915, The film "Birth of a Nation" was released. Widely recognized as the first ever "Blockbuster" movie, the film was innovative in many ways especially the use of new camera angles and narrative technique. It even earned a place in The American Film Institute's "100 years...100 movies list" coming in at number 44.
However, the film has been widely controversial over the years for it's racial themes and positive portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan. This is one of the film's narrative slides, quoting President Woodrow Wilson:
"The White Men were roused by a mere instinct of self preservation...."
Does this sound like anything that's going on right now? Sure it does, it sounds like the radical birther movement.
If you've been living under a rock and don't know what the birthers are, well they're a bunch of total idiots who espouse a conspiracy theory that President Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and is therefore not eligible to be president.
The radical right wing has latched onto this and will not let go, even though the mainstream conservatives even disagree with them. Hell even Glenn Beck thinks this is crazy, and when Glenn Beck thinks you're crazy, well, you get my drift.
Well, the birthers have been gaining some steam over the last few months, and just last week they finally thought they had their hands on the smoking gun. Queen Birther Orly Taitz (Lawyer/Dentist/Real Estate agent) got her hands on AN ACTUAL KENYAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE WITH BARACK OBAMA'S NAME ON IT.
The whackos blew their collective loads over this. This was it! They had him! Even the right wing weirdo site World Net Daily (Ground Zero for the birthers) put it up on their website. You can see it here
Looks pretty good, yeah? Even looks like it's been printed on...acid...free...computer..paper?? Man I'm impressed with Kenya. I didn't know they had such things in the 1960s.
Well, the whole thing fell apart rather quickly. I'm not going into all the things wrong with it, but here's a link to a few. Now we've also found out that the source of the fake was an actual Australian birth certificate. You can see both of them here and see for yourself.
Folks, Super Dental Lawyer Orly Taitz actually presented this in court against the President. That is how absolutely stupid these people are. Normally I don't believe in name calling, but that's only thing to call this: stupid.
Want to see Obama's real birth certificate? Ok here ya go. Need some more verification? Here.
So now that we have all that out of the way, let's press on to more important questions. Why do the birthers do this? What is the driving force behind the movement? Do people really believe this?
Yes, people really buy into this, and they continue to believe it despite the fact that there is indisputable evidence to the contrary. I'm sorry, if you're one of these people, you are a grade A idiot. This is about on par with believing the world is flat or that Bush orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.
However, I suspect that most of the people actually pushing this don't really buy it either, Ultra Legal Dental Girl Orly excepted of course. They see it as a way to distract from the real problems facing our country. I don't think that it's a coincidence that this really started to ratchet up at the same time as the health care debate. If these GOPers can drum up enough hatred with the rank and file Idiot Tools of the right, they might get enough misguided outrage to derail Health Care now and the rest of the President's agenda later.
Most disturbing to me though is that so many everyday people seem to be buying it. Everyday white people. There is a strong under current of racial fear here, and the hardcore right is channeling it, telling these people that their way of life is being destroyed by a Negro from Kenya. Yes people buy into that. Sounds the like the Wilson quote in "Birth of a Nation." We saw the racial violence explode from Reconstruction on to the present day. Can it explode again? I bet it can. The idiots who believe this own a lot of guns, and that's scary. This is dangerous. I wonder if the Republicans realize that?
Well at any rate, you all keep looking for a Kenyan birth certificate and we'll keep making laws and fixing the country. You're welcome.
--Bill Maher
"Now everybody do the propaganda, and sing along to the age of paranoia."
--Green Day
In the year 1915, The film "Birth of a Nation" was released. Widely recognized as the first ever "Blockbuster" movie, the film was innovative in many ways especially the use of new camera angles and narrative technique. It even earned a place in The American Film Institute's "100 years...100 movies list" coming in at number 44.
However, the film has been widely controversial over the years for it's racial themes and positive portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan. This is one of the film's narrative slides, quoting President Woodrow Wilson:
"The White Men were roused by a mere instinct of self preservation...."
Does this sound like anything that's going on right now? Sure it does, it sounds like the radical birther movement.
If you've been living under a rock and don't know what the birthers are, well they're a bunch of total idiots who espouse a conspiracy theory that President Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and is therefore not eligible to be president.
The radical right wing has latched onto this and will not let go, even though the mainstream conservatives even disagree with them. Hell even Glenn Beck thinks this is crazy, and when Glenn Beck thinks you're crazy, well, you get my drift.
Well, the birthers have been gaining some steam over the last few months, and just last week they finally thought they had their hands on the smoking gun. Queen Birther Orly Taitz (Lawyer/Dentist/Real Estate agent) got her hands on AN ACTUAL KENYAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE WITH BARACK OBAMA'S NAME ON IT.
The whackos blew their collective loads over this. This was it! They had him! Even the right wing weirdo site World Net Daily (Ground Zero for the birthers) put it up on their website. You can see it here
Looks pretty good, yeah? Even looks like it's been printed on...acid...free...computer..paper?? Man I'm impressed with Kenya. I didn't know they had such things in the 1960s.
Well, the whole thing fell apart rather quickly. I'm not going into all the things wrong with it, but here's a link to a few. Now we've also found out that the source of the fake was an actual Australian birth certificate. You can see both of them here and see for yourself.
Folks, Super Dental Lawyer Orly Taitz actually presented this in court against the President. That is how absolutely stupid these people are. Normally I don't believe in name calling, but that's only thing to call this: stupid.
Want to see Obama's real birth certificate? Ok here ya go. Need some more verification? Here.
So now that we have all that out of the way, let's press on to more important questions. Why do the birthers do this? What is the driving force behind the movement? Do people really believe this?
Yes, people really buy into this, and they continue to believe it despite the fact that there is indisputable evidence to the contrary. I'm sorry, if you're one of these people, you are a grade A idiot. This is about on par with believing the world is flat or that Bush orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.
However, I suspect that most of the people actually pushing this don't really buy it either, Ultra Legal Dental Girl Orly excepted of course. They see it as a way to distract from the real problems facing our country. I don't think that it's a coincidence that this really started to ratchet up at the same time as the health care debate. If these GOPers can drum up enough hatred with the rank and file Idiot Tools of the right, they might get enough misguided outrage to derail Health Care now and the rest of the President's agenda later.
Most disturbing to me though is that so many everyday people seem to be buying it. Everyday white people. There is a strong under current of racial fear here, and the hardcore right is channeling it, telling these people that their way of life is being destroyed by a Negro from Kenya. Yes people buy into that. Sounds the like the Wilson quote in "Birth of a Nation." We saw the racial violence explode from Reconstruction on to the present day. Can it explode again? I bet it can. The idiots who believe this own a lot of guns, and that's scary. This is dangerous. I wonder if the Republicans realize that?
Well at any rate, you all keep looking for a Kenyan birth certificate and we'll keep making laws and fixing the country. You're welcome.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
These things scare me....
Okay folks, settle in for a rant.
First, read a little of the column by Bob Lonsberry on Sarah Palin's resignation.. Then read through a few of the comments left for him to get the proper context for this rant.
Now Mr. Lonsberry is a die hard conservative, and he and I don't have much in common politically. However I do enjoy reading his columns from time to time because he often offers a bit of a different slant on things. This piece on Palin was no different. You might have expected this to come from the pen of Keith Olbermann or the airwaves of Air America Radio.
As much as I think Mr. Lonsberry was spot on with his criticisms of Palin, I was appalled by many of the comments left by his readers. Some of it is truly scary. There are a number of posts refering to Palin's breasts, calling President Obama by his middle name only (yeah, you are all still stuck on that, we get it), several posts refering to Obama as the Anti-Christ, and even this little gem, which I'll quote word for word.....
"You are a damn idiot, first, anyone who still watches SNL, Keith Oberman, Alan Colmes, David the heart attack Letterman, Hardball, (yea hardball, I wish I could show this bleached haired girlie man what hardball really is) Wolfe Blitzer, (with a name like Wolfe, his physical stature he is a legend in his own mind, he is a pussy).
# 65 you have no life or future, it is people like you that condemn this Country to obscurity.
Godless people like will soon learn a harsh lesson!"
Emphasis Mine.
This is the crap that really scares me. This guy sounds like he wants to be uber-Christian, that's he's on the offensive for the Kingdom of Christ. I wonder if Jesus finds calling people "damn idiots," "girlie man," and "pussy" to be acceptable, I have a hunch that he doesn't. Let's forget about that though.
Read this:
5. The so-called morality of the liberal is no morality at all, rather an encouragement to betrayal. Therefore, they have no claim to protection from the state.
6. The liberal is not smarter than we are, rather only cleverer and craftier. His system cannot be defeated economically — he follows entirely different moral principles than we do. It can only be broken through political means.
Think you could see that or something like it on a right wing blog site, or maybe hear it on Rush Limbaugh? Well it's actually an excerpt from "Der Jude," Der Angriff. Aufsätze aus der Kampfzeit. It was written in 1929 by the Nazi propagandist Goebbels. I just substituted the word "liberal" for the word "Jew."
I do this to make a point. Throughout human history we have made a practice of scapegoating other people. We fear people who don't agree with us, or have a different religion, who don't look like us, or who are of a different political party. We tend to do this the most when we feel like we have God on our side or that or cause is just despite any reasoning to the contrary. 6 million Jews died for this kind of reasoning. The reasoning and the power of fear and blind political pursuit of power. It can happen here too, in the good old USA. During World War II the US Government detained thousands of Japanese-Americans in camps because of the FEAR that they might be spying for the Japanese military. In the 1950's hundreds if not thousands of Americans were openly persecuted by Senator McCarthy and his RED SCARE. We had to round up the communists. We were afraid of them. We went to war in Korea and Vietnam because we FEARED the spread of the ideology of Communism.
Now of course we also fear Muslims, right? I mean, hey, we all lived through 9-11.
Go back to the portion of the comment from the Lonsberry site that I emphasized...
"Godless people like (you) [sic] will soon learn a lesson." Now imagine had that post been made by a Muslim on a national news website or forum. There would be people calling the FBI saying it was a terrorist threat. I guarantee that. Of course, it is a threat, but here in America we don't see it that way if it's coming from a good Christian, right?
Point is, a religious fanatic is a religious fantatic, no matter what religion you are. We seem to have a growing club of Christian right wing fanatics in this country. You know, the kind of people who shoot people at the holocaust museum. The kind of people who call Obama the Anti-Christ. The kind of people who walk into a church on Sunday and shoot a doctor in cold blood in the name of God. The kind of people who will refuse to refer to our President by anything except for his middle name.
You see what I did there?
Damn straight I lumped you all together.
The Palinesque faction of the Republican party has tapped into the fear and hate of everyday Americans. It's tapped into the worst sentiments of people who openly say they FEAR for their culture and their country. Fear is a powerful motivator. So is believing you have God on your side.
The guys who flew those planes on 9-11...they thought they had God on their side too.
We are just left to wonder if these will continue to be idle threats. Let's hope so. We're all in this together and it's time we started acting like it.
A great man once said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." That was FDR, a democrat. You've seen him on our money. You'll never hear Palin or Glenn Beck say that.
It's pretty powerful though. Maybe it's time we cut the fear and started working together before more people get hurt...huh?
First, read a little of the column by Bob Lonsberry on Sarah Palin's resignation.. Then read through a few of the comments left for him to get the proper context for this rant.
Now Mr. Lonsberry is a die hard conservative, and he and I don't have much in common politically. However I do enjoy reading his columns from time to time because he often offers a bit of a different slant on things. This piece on Palin was no different. You might have expected this to come from the pen of Keith Olbermann or the airwaves of Air America Radio.
As much as I think Mr. Lonsberry was spot on with his criticisms of Palin, I was appalled by many of the comments left by his readers. Some of it is truly scary. There are a number of posts refering to Palin's breasts, calling President Obama by his middle name only (yeah, you are all still stuck on that, we get it), several posts refering to Obama as the Anti-Christ, and even this little gem, which I'll quote word for word.....
"You are a damn idiot, first, anyone who still watches SNL, Keith Oberman, Alan Colmes, David the heart attack Letterman, Hardball, (yea hardball, I wish I could show this bleached haired girlie man what hardball really is) Wolfe Blitzer, (with a name like Wolfe, his physical stature he is a legend in his own mind, he is a pussy).
# 65 you have no life or future, it is people like you that condemn this Country to obscurity.
Godless people like will soon learn a harsh lesson!"
Emphasis Mine.
This is the crap that really scares me. This guy sounds like he wants to be uber-Christian, that's he's on the offensive for the Kingdom of Christ. I wonder if Jesus finds calling people "damn idiots," "girlie man," and "pussy" to be acceptable, I have a hunch that he doesn't. Let's forget about that though.
Read this:
5. The so-called morality of the liberal is no morality at all, rather an encouragement to betrayal. Therefore, they have no claim to protection from the state.
6. The liberal is not smarter than we are, rather only cleverer and craftier. His system cannot be defeated economically — he follows entirely different moral principles than we do. It can only be broken through political means.
Think you could see that or something like it on a right wing blog site, or maybe hear it on Rush Limbaugh? Well it's actually an excerpt from "Der Jude," Der Angriff. Aufsätze aus der Kampfzeit. It was written in 1929 by the Nazi propagandist Goebbels. I just substituted the word "liberal" for the word "Jew."
I do this to make a point. Throughout human history we have made a practice of scapegoating other people. We fear people who don't agree with us, or have a different religion, who don't look like us, or who are of a different political party. We tend to do this the most when we feel like we have God on our side or that or cause is just despite any reasoning to the contrary. 6 million Jews died for this kind of reasoning. The reasoning and the power of fear and blind political pursuit of power. It can happen here too, in the good old USA. During World War II the US Government detained thousands of Japanese-Americans in camps because of the FEAR that they might be spying for the Japanese military. In the 1950's hundreds if not thousands of Americans were openly persecuted by Senator McCarthy and his RED SCARE. We had to round up the communists. We were afraid of them. We went to war in Korea and Vietnam because we FEARED the spread of the ideology of Communism.
Now of course we also fear Muslims, right? I mean, hey, we all lived through 9-11.
Go back to the portion of the comment from the Lonsberry site that I emphasized...
"Godless people like (you) [sic] will soon learn a lesson." Now imagine had that post been made by a Muslim on a national news website or forum. There would be people calling the FBI saying it was a terrorist threat. I guarantee that. Of course, it is a threat, but here in America we don't see it that way if it's coming from a good Christian, right?
Point is, a religious fanatic is a religious fantatic, no matter what religion you are. We seem to have a growing club of Christian right wing fanatics in this country. You know, the kind of people who shoot people at the holocaust museum. The kind of people who call Obama the Anti-Christ. The kind of people who walk into a church on Sunday and shoot a doctor in cold blood in the name of God. The kind of people who will refuse to refer to our President by anything except for his middle name.
You see what I did there?
Damn straight I lumped you all together.
The Palinesque faction of the Republican party has tapped into the fear and hate of everyday Americans. It's tapped into the worst sentiments of people who openly say they FEAR for their culture and their country. Fear is a powerful motivator. So is believing you have God on your side.
The guys who flew those planes on 9-11...they thought they had God on their side too.
We are just left to wonder if these will continue to be idle threats. Let's hope so. We're all in this together and it's time we started acting like it.
A great man once said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." That was FDR, a democrat. You've seen him on our money. You'll never hear Palin or Glenn Beck say that.
It's pretty powerful though. Maybe it's time we cut the fear and started working together before more people get hurt...huh?
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Does your God Sanction murder in his own house?
Women's Clinic Doctor murdered in the Lobby of his own church.
So, just a little shout out to all you religious "Christian" whacko fundies out there...
Does your God sanction the cold blooded murder of a man on the Sabbath in a House of Worship? Because that's what happened this morning. A man walked into the lobby of a Lutheran church in Kansas and blew away 67 year old George Tiller, who coincidentally had been shot once before, 16 years ago, and survived. Why, you ask? Was it because Tiller was an "Abortion Doctor?" The police haven't said yet, but probably.
Of course this is all after Bill O'RLLY? and Fixed news did a hit piece on the doctor, calling him "Tiller The Baby-Killer" and calling his clinic a "Death Mill." God forbid we hold Bill and Fox Noise Accountable for this. He'll shrug his shoulders and move on to the next hit piece, and we'll all be left to wonder if some other brainless conservative whacko that tunes in to such garbage will decide to do Bill a favor and the snuff the guy out.
How...please tell me how your religion justifies this? I'm tired of this bullshit from the "Christian" right. Reading the comments on this story on the KSL website here in Utah seriously made me want to throw up. So many people saying..."I'm glad he's dead." There are at LEAST 7 different passages in the Bible that say to the effect: "Vengence in Mine, Saith the Lord." From Deuteronomy to Hebrews. Yet this is once again something the "Christians" fail to abide by in the Good Book. Here's the deal, and I'll explain it so even the most brain-dead of you idiots can understand it.....
If God thinks what someone is doing is bad enough, he'll take care of it. Period. You are not appointed to be judge, jury, and executioner in this life or any other. However, this is just another instance of the "religious" folk doing what they think is right at ANY measure.
Luckily, they caught the guy, and he hadn't killed himself yet. I hope the State of Kansas sends him to meet his maker fairly soon. I wonder if he'll be surprised at where he spends eternity.
So how is this any different than Muslim terrorism? It's not. Plain and simple. This guy should be charged as a terrorist. This is nothing more than domestic terror fuled by the radical right wing agenda. When are we going to start making people pay for this? Please read this article at Huffpost for more views on this.
Folks, abortion is legal in this country and that isn't going to change. The death of this doctor will not prevent any abortions and it will not prevent more unwanted pregnancies. That's something we need to come together to work on, unless of course the "Pro Life" folks would like to just continue to sit by and let cold blooded murder be committed in the name of God, but that's nothing really new to the Christians, is it now?
A pity. Jesus said to turn the other cheek, love your neighbor, etc. I don't believe anywhere in the Bible he said it was ok to murder people who don't agree with you.
My prayers and sympathy for the family of Dr. Tiller. Hopefully some new laws can be passed making this officially terrorism, and then just maybe this man's death won't be in vain.
So, just a little shout out to all you religious "Christian" whacko fundies out there...
Does your God sanction the cold blooded murder of a man on the Sabbath in a House of Worship? Because that's what happened this morning. A man walked into the lobby of a Lutheran church in Kansas and blew away 67 year old George Tiller, who coincidentally had been shot once before, 16 years ago, and survived. Why, you ask? Was it because Tiller was an "Abortion Doctor?" The police haven't said yet, but probably.
Of course this is all after Bill O'RLLY? and Fixed news did a hit piece on the doctor, calling him "Tiller The Baby-Killer" and calling his clinic a "Death Mill." God forbid we hold Bill and Fox Noise Accountable for this. He'll shrug his shoulders and move on to the next hit piece, and we'll all be left to wonder if some other brainless conservative whacko that tunes in to such garbage will decide to do Bill a favor and the snuff the guy out.
How...please tell me how your religion justifies this? I'm tired of this bullshit from the "Christian" right. Reading the comments on this story on the KSL website here in Utah seriously made me want to throw up. So many people saying..."I'm glad he's dead." There are at LEAST 7 different passages in the Bible that say to the effect: "Vengence in Mine, Saith the Lord." From Deuteronomy to Hebrews. Yet this is once again something the "Christians" fail to abide by in the Good Book. Here's the deal, and I'll explain it so even the most brain-dead of you idiots can understand it.....
If God thinks what someone is doing is bad enough, he'll take care of it. Period. You are not appointed to be judge, jury, and executioner in this life or any other. However, this is just another instance of the "religious" folk doing what they think is right at ANY measure.
Luckily, they caught the guy, and he hadn't killed himself yet. I hope the State of Kansas sends him to meet his maker fairly soon. I wonder if he'll be surprised at where he spends eternity.
So how is this any different than Muslim terrorism? It's not. Plain and simple. This guy should be charged as a terrorist. This is nothing more than domestic terror fuled by the radical right wing agenda. When are we going to start making people pay for this? Please read this article at Huffpost for more views on this.
Folks, abortion is legal in this country and that isn't going to change. The death of this doctor will not prevent any abortions and it will not prevent more unwanted pregnancies. That's something we need to come together to work on, unless of course the "Pro Life" folks would like to just continue to sit by and let cold blooded murder be committed in the name of God, but that's nothing really new to the Christians, is it now?
A pity. Jesus said to turn the other cheek, love your neighbor, etc. I don't believe anywhere in the Bible he said it was ok to murder people who don't agree with you.
My prayers and sympathy for the family of Dr. Tiller. Hopefully some new laws can be passed making this officially terrorism, and then just maybe this man's death won't be in vain.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
In which I rant....again.
First off...youtube singing sensation Susan Boyle. ENOUGH. You've got about 2 of your 15 minutes left, use them wisely. Here's the thing that just drives me NUTS about this--sure she's a good singer, but it's not like she's the best singer EVER. The only reason she's had this much of a fuss made over her is because of the way she looks. Now, my folks taught me it wasn't right to judge somebody on the way they look, whether they're pretty or pretty ugly. If, lets say, an average looking American Idol contestant showed up on that show and sang like that, they'd get some light applause and it would be on to the next. Don't preach to me about how awesome this is. She's being exploited for television ratings. It was a set up, folks. And now it sounds like she might be cracking under the pressure. Whatever, I don't have a dog in this fight, but stop shoving her down my throat in every media outlet that exists.
Next, American Idol. Hah. Who the hell cares? So either AT&T rigged it or America is still blatantly homophobic. Quite frankly neither of those things would surprise me.
Which brings me to Prop Hate (8) in California. The State Supreme Court ruled that the amendment passed in prop 8 is legal. Ok, I don't think anyone actually expected the court to rule differently. For the Court to throw out a voter passed Constitutional measure would have been a pretty big deal. Still, it's a good thing that the court let the 18,000 some gay marriages legally performed in California before Prop8 stand. It would have been heartbreaking for the government to execute that mass divorce. What exactly is the big deal anyway? Two men or two women marry each other. So what? You can still go on living your pitiful little life. It's not going to affect you in the slightest. God is going to strike us down? I hate to tell you this folks, but homosexuality has been around pretty much since people have been around, and we're still here. Doesn't God have better things to do than to flip out because two guys that love each other get married? Look at the divorce rate in the USA and tell me us Hetero folks are doing such a good job with god's "sacred institution of marriage." It's a bunch of Hooey. Here's what god said that is important: "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."
Obama's SCOTUS pick: Nice job. I don't care that Hush Bimbaugh and Hannitea-bag think she's a racist. Maybe we could use an opinion from somebody that's not an old, uppity, white guy for a change, huh? Besidesm the entire human experience is subjective, why would we ask her to check her life experience at the door? Well because she's not likely to empathize with the rich, white, conservative folks...that's why.
Next, American Idol. Hah. Who the hell cares? So either AT&T rigged it or America is still blatantly homophobic. Quite frankly neither of those things would surprise me.
Which brings me to Prop Hate (8) in California. The State Supreme Court ruled that the amendment passed in prop 8 is legal. Ok, I don't think anyone actually expected the court to rule differently. For the Court to throw out a voter passed Constitutional measure would have been a pretty big deal. Still, it's a good thing that the court let the 18,000 some gay marriages legally performed in California before Prop8 stand. It would have been heartbreaking for the government to execute that mass divorce. What exactly is the big deal anyway? Two men or two women marry each other. So what? You can still go on living your pitiful little life. It's not going to affect you in the slightest. God is going to strike us down? I hate to tell you this folks, but homosexuality has been around pretty much since people have been around, and we're still here. Doesn't God have better things to do than to flip out because two guys that love each other get married? Look at the divorce rate in the USA and tell me us Hetero folks are doing such a good job with god's "sacred institution of marriage." It's a bunch of Hooey. Here's what god said that is important: "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."
Obama's SCOTUS pick: Nice job. I don't care that Hush Bimbaugh and Hannitea-bag think she's a racist. Maybe we could use an opinion from somebody that's not an old, uppity, white guy for a change, huh? Besidesm the entire human experience is subjective, why would we ask her to check her life experience at the door? Well because she's not likely to empathize with the rich, white, conservative folks...that's why.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tea Bagging--Some Final Thoughts
"It's hard to talk when you're tea-bagging"--CNN's Anderson Cooper.
So yesterday, the United States of America was overwhelmed with the Tax Day Tea Party protests. Oh wait...maybe I should say underwhelmed. Just how underwhelmed, well over at FivethirtyEight.com, Nate Silver tabulates the number of protestors from most of the biggest rallies, he comes up with about 262,000 spread over 306 protests. That comes out to about an average of 856 people per gathering, however that is extremely skewed toward the larger gatherings, where a lot of the protests seemed to have been 500 or fewer. Hardly overwhelming. Compare that number from the entire nation and it doesn't even reach the 300,000-400,000 people that jammed 1st-3rd Avenues in New York City on Feb 16, 2003 to protest the war in Iraq, or the 500,000 immigrants that protested planned changes to US Immigration policy in LA on April 10, 2006. Some other numbers from those protests...Dallas, TX=350,000 and Chicago, IL=300,000. The most protestor friendly number of folks that watched Sean Hanniteabag bitch and moan in Atlanta Yesterday is 7,000, though the Fixed News people claimed they were going to get 8,000. In 2006, 50,000 showed up in Atlanta to protest (Pro Immigrants protests that is.)
In other words, after only getting 262,000 throughout the country yesterday I think we can say...Republicans=PROTEST FAIL. The Fizzle in The Drizzle.
So what problem do I have with the Teabaggers? Well, number one, be sure to be sanitary and wash up first, cause....oh wait....
(Actual sign seen in Philly yesterday--"Down With Sodomy, Up With Teabagging.")
Obviously our country is founded on the right of people to protest and freely assemble. So I don't have problem with that. My problem is in the pure douche-baggery and hypocrisy of it all.
For instance, if you're going to protest taxes, don't do it in a public park paid for by tax payer dollars and don't expect the local police force, paid for by tax dollars, to provide security for you.
Also, these people pull out their Colonial American Hats and "Don't Tread On Me" flags, saying they are doing the same thing that our founding fathers did and for the same reasons. Well, history FAIL. The cry of the American Revolution was "No Taxation Without Representation," not "No Taxation." The stamp tax wasn't bad because it was a tax, it was bad becasue the colonies had no representation in British Goverment to vote on it. Unless you are a resident of Washington D.C., you are represented by a congress person and two senators (except for Minnesota where the reputards are still trying to steal an election from United States Senator Al Franken). So you have representation, you just lost. Well, that's the way the cookie crumbles in a republic. As Jon Stewart said, "You LOST. It's supposed to taste like a Sh*t Taco!" Besides, I'd be much more impressed if the Repubs would have protested Bush's MASSIVE spending on an unneeded war, but war is good right, cause we get to kick some ass!
So what are we really fighting about? Obama wants to change the tax rate for 2% of Americans. Oh and FYI, that new rate, which doesn't take effect until 2011, is still ten percent LESS FEDERAL INCOME TAX than the rich folks paid under Conservative Icon/Idol Ronald Reagan. Then Obama wants to take that money and spend it on helping people here in America as opposed to using it to kill people who don't agree with us or look like us. Is that really what Governor Perry of Texas wants to secede from the union over?
Sorry, Governor, you claim Texas has the right to leave the union, well you tried that once in 1861, and it didn't work out so well for you. Besides if Texas were to get a free pass, I know some people down south who probably feel like they got jipped a little bit. So anyway, if you wanna go Texas...go. However it is kind of ironic that while the Governor of Texas bitches about federal spending and says Texas can do ok on it's own, he still has taken federal money and resources over last few months to fight wildfires, put troops on the Mexican border, and help the continuing clean up from Hurricane Ike. Do as I say, not as I do, right Texas? There's plenty of room in hell for liars and hypocrites. I guess everything is bigger in Texas, including the stupidity.
Folks, next time you look at your tax withholding, remember what it pays for. Teachers, Police, fire fighters, social security, roads, bridges, electric grids, military to defend us. We have a patriotic duty to do our part and pay our fair share, not to let some rich old white men teabag us until we throw up.
Check out Lincoln Mitchells piece on Huffington Post here for a great opinion.
One final question:
Who would Jesus teabag?
So yesterday, the United States of America was overwhelmed with the Tax Day Tea Party protests. Oh wait...maybe I should say underwhelmed. Just how underwhelmed, well over at FivethirtyEight.com, Nate Silver tabulates the number of protestors from most of the biggest rallies, he comes up with about 262,000 spread over 306 protests. That comes out to about an average of 856 people per gathering, however that is extremely skewed toward the larger gatherings, where a lot of the protests seemed to have been 500 or fewer. Hardly overwhelming. Compare that number from the entire nation and it doesn't even reach the 300,000-400,000 people that jammed 1st-3rd Avenues in New York City on Feb 16, 2003 to protest the war in Iraq, or the 500,000 immigrants that protested planned changes to US Immigration policy in LA on April 10, 2006. Some other numbers from those protests...Dallas, TX=350,000 and Chicago, IL=300,000. The most protestor friendly number of folks that watched Sean Hanniteabag bitch and moan in Atlanta Yesterday is 7,000, though the Fixed News people claimed they were going to get 8,000. In 2006, 50,000 showed up in Atlanta to protest (Pro Immigrants protests that is.)
In other words, after only getting 262,000 throughout the country yesterday I think we can say...Republicans=PROTEST FAIL. The Fizzle in The Drizzle.
So what problem do I have with the Teabaggers? Well, number one, be sure to be sanitary and wash up first, cause....oh wait....
(Actual sign seen in Philly yesterday--"Down With Sodomy, Up With Teabagging.")
Obviously our country is founded on the right of people to protest and freely assemble. So I don't have problem with that. My problem is in the pure douche-baggery and hypocrisy of it all.
For instance, if you're going to protest taxes, don't do it in a public park paid for by tax payer dollars and don't expect the local police force, paid for by tax dollars, to provide security for you.
Also, these people pull out their Colonial American Hats and "Don't Tread On Me" flags, saying they are doing the same thing that our founding fathers did and for the same reasons. Well, history FAIL. The cry of the American Revolution was "No Taxation Without Representation," not "No Taxation." The stamp tax wasn't bad because it was a tax, it was bad becasue the colonies had no representation in British Goverment to vote on it. Unless you are a resident of Washington D.C., you are represented by a congress person and two senators (except for Minnesota where the reputards are still trying to steal an election from United States Senator Al Franken). So you have representation, you just lost. Well, that's the way the cookie crumbles in a republic. As Jon Stewart said, "You LOST. It's supposed to taste like a Sh*t Taco!" Besides, I'd be much more impressed if the Repubs would have protested Bush's MASSIVE spending on an unneeded war, but war is good right, cause we get to kick some ass!
So what are we really fighting about? Obama wants to change the tax rate for 2% of Americans. Oh and FYI, that new rate, which doesn't take effect until 2011, is still ten percent LESS FEDERAL INCOME TAX than the rich folks paid under Conservative Icon/Idol Ronald Reagan. Then Obama wants to take that money and spend it on helping people here in America as opposed to using it to kill people who don't agree with us or look like us. Is that really what Governor Perry of Texas wants to secede from the union over?
Sorry, Governor, you claim Texas has the right to leave the union, well you tried that once in 1861, and it didn't work out so well for you. Besides if Texas were to get a free pass, I know some people down south who probably feel like they got jipped a little bit. So anyway, if you wanna go Texas...go. However it is kind of ironic that while the Governor of Texas bitches about federal spending and says Texas can do ok on it's own, he still has taken federal money and resources over last few months to fight wildfires, put troops on the Mexican border, and help the continuing clean up from Hurricane Ike. Do as I say, not as I do, right Texas? There's plenty of room in hell for liars and hypocrites. I guess everything is bigger in Texas, including the stupidity.
Folks, next time you look at your tax withholding, remember what it pays for. Teachers, Police, fire fighters, social security, roads, bridges, electric grids, military to defend us. We have a patriotic duty to do our part and pay our fair share, not to let some rich old white men teabag us until we throw up.
Check out Lincoln Mitchells piece on Huffington Post here for a great opinion.
One final question:
Who would Jesus teabag?
Monday, April 13, 2009
Some interesting developments....
Well I don't think anyone can say it hasn't been INTERESTING since President Obama kicked off his term. Did anybody really not think it was gonna be a bumpy ride? I'd like to drop a comment on a couple of things.
First off, Obama has lifted some of the travel restrictions to and from Cuba. Now, you still aren't legally able to take a tourist jaunt to Havana, but this order will allow relatives and people of Cuban descent to travel to and from the island, as well as allow more information flow. This represents a thaw of historically frozen relations between the USA and Cuba, and will hopefully make things easier for those of Cuban descent to be in touch with their families.
Second off, I'd like to comment on the Conservative hysteria that is starting to grip people in this country. The Tea Party movement? What the hell? Okay, so you folks think Washington is spending too much money. Alright. How much did George W. Bush rack up on the national debt? Quite a bit. This entire economic mess is the result of conservative, non-regulatory policy, and now I'm supposed to believe that Republicans have a single SHRED of credibility on the issue? I don't think so. Not to mention, under Obama's tax plan, the only people seeing a tax increase are the top 2 percent of Americans, this is essentially rolling back the huge tax cuts given to these folks by President Bush to the levels they were paying under President Clinton. Gee I think we all did pretty well under Bill Clinton, right?
But regardless, this is all feeding into a collective hysteria that is being fed by the right wing components of the media, particularly Talk Radio and Fixed News (Fox News). This is getting scary. At a "tea party" rally organized by Glenn Beck and his "9-12" project, certain members of the crowd voiced some interesting opinions. Among these opinions: TV Converter boxes are brain wash devices, colleges and universities are "brain washing" kids to the liberal point of view, and of course the good old stand by....lets burn books! Wow I seem to remember another group of people that liked to burn books...oh I think they were around in the 1930's and 40's. Are we really getting to that point in this country where the only viable solution for the radical right wing is to burn books? In the video the woman in question says we should burn...the college books, you know, the evolution crap.
So how far is it to jump from the current right wing position of "The non-Christians and liberals don't think like we do, and they're going to take our guns and our country away" to the position of "They're going to take our country and our guns away unless we get them first?" Well does that sound like anti-semitic Nazi propoganda to anyone else?
Guess what! I have a faith and I vote democrat, I believe in Evolution, and I'm pro-choice. God hasn't struck me down yet, I can darken the door of a church without being destroyed. I just wonder if the religious right is going to wake up and see that they're being used by the uber-rich, or if they really are going to push this as far as they can. Hell, even Rush Limbaugh says Joseph McCarthy was right to round up up communists in the 50's. Heaven help us if they come back into power, we'll be the Christian version of Saudi Arabia. You can't argue with someone who thinks God is on their side.
I'll leave you with the wit and wisdom of Family Guy:
Also an interesting read from Daily Kos on the Subject.
First off, Obama has lifted some of the travel restrictions to and from Cuba. Now, you still aren't legally able to take a tourist jaunt to Havana, but this order will allow relatives and people of Cuban descent to travel to and from the island, as well as allow more information flow. This represents a thaw of historically frozen relations between the USA and Cuba, and will hopefully make things easier for those of Cuban descent to be in touch with their families.
Second off, I'd like to comment on the Conservative hysteria that is starting to grip people in this country. The Tea Party movement? What the hell? Okay, so you folks think Washington is spending too much money. Alright. How much did George W. Bush rack up on the national debt? Quite a bit. This entire economic mess is the result of conservative, non-regulatory policy, and now I'm supposed to believe that Republicans have a single SHRED of credibility on the issue? I don't think so. Not to mention, under Obama's tax plan, the only people seeing a tax increase are the top 2 percent of Americans, this is essentially rolling back the huge tax cuts given to these folks by President Bush to the levels they were paying under President Clinton. Gee I think we all did pretty well under Bill Clinton, right?
But regardless, this is all feeding into a collective hysteria that is being fed by the right wing components of the media, particularly Talk Radio and Fixed News (Fox News). This is getting scary. At a "tea party" rally organized by Glenn Beck and his "9-12" project, certain members of the crowd voiced some interesting opinions. Among these opinions: TV Converter boxes are brain wash devices, colleges and universities are "brain washing" kids to the liberal point of view, and of course the good old stand by....lets burn books! Wow I seem to remember another group of people that liked to burn books...oh I think they were around in the 1930's and 40's. Are we really getting to that point in this country where the only viable solution for the radical right wing is to burn books? In the video the woman in question says we should burn...the college books, you know, the evolution crap.
So how far is it to jump from the current right wing position of "The non-Christians and liberals don't think like we do, and they're going to take our guns and our country away" to the position of "They're going to take our country and our guns away unless we get them first?" Well does that sound like anti-semitic Nazi propoganda to anyone else?
Guess what! I have a faith and I vote democrat, I believe in Evolution, and I'm pro-choice. God hasn't struck me down yet, I can darken the door of a church without being destroyed. I just wonder if the religious right is going to wake up and see that they're being used by the uber-rich, or if they really are going to push this as far as they can. Hell, even Rush Limbaugh says Joseph McCarthy was right to round up up communists in the 50's. Heaven help us if they come back into power, we'll be the Christian version of Saudi Arabia. You can't argue with someone who thinks God is on their side.
I'll leave you with the wit and wisdom of Family Guy:
Also an interesting read from Daily Kos on the Subject.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Does the Governor of Utah read my blog????
Check it out
Apparently John Huntsman, the Governor of the not so great state of Utah, supports Civil Unions for gay people. Yes he's Mormon, and yes he's a republican. Shocking!
Good on ya, Governor!
Apparently John Huntsman, the Governor of the not so great state of Utah, supports Civil Unions for gay people. Yes he's Mormon, and yes he's a republican. Shocking!
Good on ya, Governor!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
The marriage debate, continued.....
Back in November I aired my feelings on the so called Prop 8 in California and it's huge support base in the religious community. Well, the issue isn't going away, and while I won't subject anyone to my ranting and raving again, there are a couple things I'd like to highlight.
The first is the "Common Ground Initiative" that has been brought before the Utah State legislature by the group Equality Utah. The details can be found at their website, but basically this initiative focuses on at least 3 key areas. First off, they are urging that an executive order be issued allowing gay or lesbians working for the State Of Utah to cover their partners with their health insurance. Second is a fair housing and employment bill. Currently in the great State of Utah, it is perfectly legal to fire someone from a job or evict them from housing if they're gay or transgendered. Wow, you thought this was America huh? You were wrong. A new bill before the house would fix this. The third thing was a bill that would help give a same-sex partner some legal recourse in the event of a wrongful death of the other partner. Unfortunately, as par for the course in Utah, this bill never even made it out of committee.
These seem like common sense things to me, but I guess I'm just a darned old liberal.
Meanwhile the legislature has demonstrated what it's real priorities are. They've pushed forward three bills that would erode the woman's right to reproductive choice. These bills are all almost certainly headed for defeat in the court system and it's a total waste of tax payer money. Also, the stuffy Repubutards in the Utah State Senate want to pass a bill making you scan your ID every time you buy an alcoholic drink at a club, bar, or restaurant in Utah. That info will go right into a state database. Sounds a little like Big Brother huh? Neat! Of course I'm sure all it really is is just a way for the LDS church to tell which of their members are drinking and when. Of course the local media here happily reports that the LDS church has been consulted in all of these matters by our public officials. Not to be a Mormon basher, but welcome to Theocracy, 2009 style! I even wrote the Honorable Governor John Huntsman Jr. to express my displeasure. Unfortunately, he declined to even send a "Thanks for your Email" response back. He must have found out I was actually registered to vote in Florida, where my Democratic vote COUNTED this time! Boo yeah!
Utah, just as conservative as ever. Lets save all the "preborn," but lets kick out the Hispanics and Middle Eastern folks, slash all social services, run the gay people out, and then cap it all off by buying all new furniture for the Legislature's offices...w00T!
What a crock...........
The first is the "Common Ground Initiative" that has been brought before the Utah State legislature by the group Equality Utah. The details can be found at their website, but basically this initiative focuses on at least 3 key areas. First off, they are urging that an executive order be issued allowing gay or lesbians working for the State Of Utah to cover their partners with their health insurance. Second is a fair housing and employment bill. Currently in the great State of Utah, it is perfectly legal to fire someone from a job or evict them from housing if they're gay or transgendered. Wow, you thought this was America huh? You were wrong. A new bill before the house would fix this. The third thing was a bill that would help give a same-sex partner some legal recourse in the event of a wrongful death of the other partner. Unfortunately, as par for the course in Utah, this bill never even made it out of committee.
These seem like common sense things to me, but I guess I'm just a darned old liberal.
Meanwhile the legislature has demonstrated what it's real priorities are. They've pushed forward three bills that would erode the woman's right to reproductive choice. These bills are all almost certainly headed for defeat in the court system and it's a total waste of tax payer money. Also, the stuffy Repubutards in the Utah State Senate want to pass a bill making you scan your ID every time you buy an alcoholic drink at a club, bar, or restaurant in Utah. That info will go right into a state database. Sounds a little like Big Brother huh? Neat! Of course I'm sure all it really is is just a way for the LDS church to tell which of their members are drinking and when. Of course the local media here happily reports that the LDS church has been consulted in all of these matters by our public officials. Not to be a Mormon basher, but welcome to Theocracy, 2009 style! I even wrote the Honorable Governor John Huntsman Jr. to express my displeasure. Unfortunately, he declined to even send a "Thanks for your Email" response back. He must have found out I was actually registered to vote in Florida, where my Democratic vote COUNTED this time! Boo yeah!
Utah, just as conservative as ever. Lets save all the "preborn," but lets kick out the Hispanics and Middle Eastern folks, slash all social services, run the gay people out, and then cap it all off by buying all new furniture for the Legislature's offices...w00T!
What a crock...........
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election Final--
Congrats to the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama!
Good job America!
Good job America!
EDL part 5--Exit Polls
CNN--10% of Americans thought Iraq was the number 1 issue this year. of these voters, 63% have voted for Obama.
Election Day live blog part 4.- Exit polls.
CNN is reporting the first exit poll results.
62% of voters say the economy is their top issue this election. Not surprising.
3 Hour lines to vote at UCF in Orlando, is the youth vote finally coming out?
62% of voters say the economy is their top issue this election. Not surprising.
3 Hour lines to vote at UCF in Orlando, is the youth vote finally coming out?
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