Intellectual Poison

Contained herein is my list of people I think are in need of a swift hard kick to the nuts and why. Not surprisingly, a bunch of these people are politicians or mouthpieces of a Republican nature. But there might be a surprise or two in the mix.

Jim Bunning - you quite obviously don't care about people in tough financial straits by your now trademark line of "Tough shit" when blocking a vote to extend unemployment insurance benefits. And then whined about missing a stupid college basketball game. Methinks your balls could use five or ten kicks really. Maybe one for every one of the unemployed people your pathetic grandstanding caused to lose their benefits. Might want to get a really big ice pack ready, Senator.

Newt Gingrich - you lie and smear without even a passing glance at the truth and have the smarmiest BS attitude about it, as if your making up facts out of thin air should be above reproach. I think you might need a finger poke in the eyes too.

Sarah Palin - some might say you don't have balls but you do, metaphorical ones sure but balls none the less. How else could you rationalize (sorry, is that too big a word for you, Sarah?) your sound bite rhetoric while pocketing massive speaking fees and spreading misinformation and lies.

Manny Ramirez - your skills are in decline while your ego is blooming to ten times normal size. You are a clubhouse cancer and the only good thing about you now is that you are going to drag the Dodgers down with you. You had a bad year last year, marred by your suspension for using steroids. And the season hasn't even started and you're already saying stupid crap and making yourself look like a bigger idiot than those stupid nasty, nappy dreads do. You might get a few extra kicks in the balls because your nuts are so shriveled up from abusing steroids.

Every climate change denier everywhere - pointing to snowstorms as a sign that global warming is a hoax demonstrates what an utter simpleton you are. You are not a scientist and yet you feel qualified to discard dozens and hundreds and thousands of scientists who all agree that climate change is real and it is going to get worse unless we do something.

Lauren Ashley - Miss Beverly Hills seems to think that the Bible and God says gay people should be executed. Also, she's apparently presumed the title of Miss Beverly Hills since Beverly Hills does not have a beauty pageant. So she's a liar and a hater. Amy thinks her over-the-top statements are a publicity stunt like her predecessor Carrie Prejean. Either way, she needs a hard kick where her danglers would be.

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly - doing their best to drag any discussion about anything of importance down into the muck where the wallow like the fat, disgusting pigs they are. I'm not sure I could stop kicking any of the four of these fools once I'd started.

California State Senator Roy AssburnAshburn - You are a closeted gay man in politics who frequented gay bars for years and yet voted time and again against gay rights. Your excuse is that you were voting your constituent's interests which is fair enough on the surface but a total and utter cop out underneath. You represented yourself as something you are not in order to get elected, you are a fraud, a liar and a drunk driving ass. I don't give a fig that you are gay, I care an awful lot that you are a hypocritical douchebag.

Arnold Schwarzenegger - You have simply no business being the governor of a state you can barely pronounce. You're style of leadership is to quote your goddamned action movie lines, insult the other side and admonish your scofflaw skeletal freakshow wife. We'd have to use a magnifying glass to find your steroid shrunken nuts but I'd keep kicking until we did find them.

Meg Whitman - just because you are bored and hold yourself in extremely high regard doesn't mean you know the first thing about politics or how to run California. You couldn't be bothered to even vote as a regular private citizen! You've got balls, that's for sure, balls that need a kicking!

The Entire Democratic Senate and House of Representatives - You need a kick in the nuts but it would be pointless since there isn't a damned set of balls amongst the entire lot of you pussies. As my friend, Jack, is fond of saying, you've taken a 59-41 majority and turned it into a dysfunctional, hand wringing minority. Find a pair, grow a pair, have a damned pair surgically implanted in your dangling sacks just so I can plant my Doc Marten's steel toed boot in 'em.

That's about all that I can come up with right now. I'm sure there are many, many more people that would benefit from a good hard kick to the jewels, heck I'm probably one of them.

Who do you think could use a kick square in the nuts?

PS Yes, I feel a little bad for the Assburn strike above but not bad enough to remove it (and perhaps this is why I deserve a boot to the nuts too).

Labels: balls, kicking, politics

I make no attempt to hide my admiration for the eloquent and passionate diatribes of Keith Olbermann as he rails against the Party of No and their obstructionist and (when you get right down to it) un-American ideologies. I forget the Congressional rep who called out the Republicans last week as being wholly owned by the insurance industry but he is right. Lobbyists for the insurance companies are spending billions of dollars to buy Republican obstructionism to try and save their profits at the expense of our people and our economy. We have a desperate need to reduce the black hole of health insurance in America. The insurance companies are the de facto death panels that Sarah Palin has talked about, they make decisions about care based on their profit margins, not on customer service, not on taking care of their customers, not on anything but trying fatten out their profits. Its despicable and wrong. The quoted bit below is the very end of Keith Olbermann's Special Comment from Wednesday before the Blair House health care reform summit. Please take the time to read the whole thing through and then tell me that we don't need universal health care. I dare you. Emphasis is mine.

And to the politicians who go into Blair House tomorrow for the summit: I have some requests as well. Leave your egos at the door. I want, I demand, that you give everybody in this country a chance at the care my father has gotten. And I demand, that you enact this most generous and most kind aspect of the reform proposed: the right to bill the damned insurance company for the conversation about what to do when the time comes, the Life Panel.

And I want all of you to think of somebody lying in a hospital bed tonight who needed that care and needed that conversation, and imagine that that is your father, or mother, or son, or daughter, or wife, or husband, or partner. If you cannot do that, if you cannot put aside the meaninglessness of your political careers for this, my request to you then, is that you not come back out of that meeting for you would not be worthy of being with the real people of this country who suffer, and suffer again because you have acted on behalf of the corporations and not the people.

If you cannot do this, go into that room and stay there and we'll get new ones to replace your worthless roles in the life of our country. My father cannot speak for himself. He appointed me to do so for him and I haven't the slightest doubt he wants me to say this tonight, right now. He mouthed the words to me and I will now give them such voice as I have to you going into that summit tomorrow. Help. Help. Help. Help.

If you have read the entire comment and you are unmoved then I honestly do not have anything further to say to you, perhaps ever. Our nation is in crisis and we have one side trying to do something and the other side doing nothing and worse, trying to prevent anything from changing. All in the name of goddamned profit margins and shareholder dividends while families go bankrupt, families members are allowed to die while awaiting permission from their insurance companies to get medical treatments and those same insurance companies try to cook up new ways to screw over their customers to add even more money to their profits.

It would make me sick but I can't get sick because I can't afford to.

Labels: healthcare, politics

1. She's tired of being a national punchline. Yes, she's pretty but she's as vapid and as stupid as your typical runway model.
2. She's gearing up for a run at the White House in 2012. Which would be fine. She may resonate with the people but she's a bad leader, inexperienced and as dumb as an Alaskan winter day is long.
3. Somewhere Tina Fey is breathing a sigh of relief.
4. There is, physically and realistically speaking, no possible way she could see Russia from her office nor would being able to see Russia in any possible way qualify her to have even the tiniest modicum of foreign policy experience.
5. We can, officially, lay to rest the phrase "lipstick on a pig".
6. Women everywhere can start rebuilding every bit of the equal rights mountain her idiocy and reliance on T&A blew apart.
7. Vegas bookies are putting together the odds on her winding up on Fox News within six months. Or The View.
8. If she wasn't so incredibly egotistical and stupid, she'd have realized months ago that silence can be alot more deafening than yet another lame press announcement.
9. Its hard to take someone who preaches about family values and abstinence for teens seriously when she can't even keep her own children from getting knocked up.
10. Now Hilary Clinton can go back to being the hot politician.

I have plenty more to say about Sarah Palin. From the whiners who think she got a raw deal by the big bad media wolf (hint, she gave fewer interviews than any vice presidential candidate in history and the one's she did give were absolute softball hand-picked BS affairs) to the people who voted for her solely because they'd like to fuck her (which is an incredibly poor way to choose who to vote for). Sarah Palin is an aggressive ignorant and arrogant fool with ambition that her brains just aren't quite enough of to fulfill.

She was in no way ready to the vice president and the McCain campaign made a colossal error in not vetting her more thoroughly. She was embroiled in an ethics investigation about her abuse of power to get her sister's ex-husband fired because she's a vindictive and grudge holding bitch. She had little to no grasp of national let alone international politics. She'd barely even stepped foot outside the USA in her life. She tried to charge rape victims for the kits used to generate evidence to convict rapists in courts.

The list goes on and on and on. She is, was and will remain the low water mark for vice presidential candidates. The only more annoying thing introduced by the 2008 campaign has been Joe the Fucking Plumber whose name isn't Joe and he's not a licensed plumber and the whole point of McCain invoking him (that his taxes would be raised under Obama) was later proven to be utter bullshit.

I'm almost sad to see Sarah go. She was a trainwreck from start to finish and the only thing that makes me sad about her is how many people across the country glommed on to her for all they were worth. Regardless of the patent fact that she had zero qualifications for the job she was running for.

And, last thought, if Sarah Palin had a stroke, she'd probably look alot like that photo above, just all the time. Yeah, I wrote that.

Happy Birthday America, so far our gift has been this freakshow's departure.

Labels: politics, Sarah Palin

Originally written and published in November 2003 somewhere in the backwaters of the internets. Just found it again and liked it enough to republish it. Not a short story per se, more like a slightly extended scene.

Late one night, after exhausting himself painting yet another large canvass of emotional reds and swirled blacks, a turning out of his emotional state, Ian was just about to flop down and pass out when he heard a gentle knock on his door. For some reason he knew it would be Astrid and when he opened the door he smiled to her and for knowing it would be her. He liked moments when he felt like he could see what was going to happen next.
"Are you still up, Ian?" she asked as she pushed by him and entered his cluttered living room that was more studio than living space.
"Almost, you got me just as I was about to sack out, what time is it anyway?"
"Three thirty or so," she said over her shoulder while she looked at his fresh canvas leaning against the wall after losing the battle to his paintbrush. "Are you in a bad mood?"
"No, not at all, why do you ask?"
"This painting," she pointed a delicate finger at the large and newly completed oil, "It's very dark, brooding and makes me feel sort of a raging something from you or am I misinterpreting it?"
"No, I guess I hadn't thought of it like that. Its less of a rage thing and more of a venting, lots of internal demons and they always seem to want to come out as reds and blacks. I've gotta at least try to live up to the suffering artist persona I've been slavishly cultivating since college," he tried to make light her question even while he shifted uneasily on the balls of his feet, feeling the heat of her scrutiny on both him and the painting. He knew that the painting was really a reflection of how she made him feel, an impotent rage that he railed against but couldn't battle through. But he was also nowhere near tired enough, drunk enough (he normally drank a bottle or two of wine when he painted as it freed up his constricted movements) or comfortable enough to tell her any of that.
"You must have some pretty powerful demons inside you if this is how they manifest themselves in your work but enough about your art, I know you get uncomfortable when people talk about it too much with you around. How about a drink instead?"
"Sure, its too late for a bar but I've got some Bushmills and ginger ale, if that's alright with you?" and he headed for the kitchen, grateful for he excuse to do something.
"That sounds lovely, I had an old friend who used to drink Bushmill's like it was water, its too much straight up like he drank it but with some ginger ale sounds good," she followed him into the kitchen and leaned her slender frame against the doorframe to watch him mix.
"What were you up to this evening that you're just getting home now?" he asked her in an offhand way, trying to mask his curiosity.
"I had a date that went into a little bit of overtime," she began and then, noticing his surprised look, "Oh no, not like that! What kind of girl do you think I am? We got to talking about politics, the current foreign policy situation and potential ways to repair the country's sagging image around the world."
"And what did you come up with?"
"The first step is to start fresh, a new president, all new Senators, all new Congressmen, all new pages, all new everything. A clean slate is the only way I can think of to clear out all the favoritism and cronyism and all those other dirty 'ism words that just mean people cheating the system they were elected to protect."
"Sounds like you're on the right track, but why stop there? Why not remove all the corrupt cops, mayors, governors and all the other crooks in expensive suits?"
"I think that wouldn't be a bad idea, eventually, but to start the process, it has to be a decapitation, remove the head and the body will fall. God, I sound like a kung-fu movie," she laughed.
He handed her a tall cocktail and walked with her back into the living room. He took a moment to clean off a space on the couch next to his thinking chair, an old, faded green leather chair that he'd had since he moved to the city years and years ago.
"There's nothing wrong with kung-fu movies that a little better voice over wouldn't fix," Ian said in a matter of fact voice.
"I don't know about that, I can think of lots of things that would need to be fixed in kung-fu movies to make them more viewable but let's try to stay on the politics thing, I won't be able to get to sleep until I've worked it out of my system," she steered him back to the original topic.
"Okay, what else is on your mind? The failings of the electoral college, the utter removal of checks and balances for the most powerful man in the world? The appointment of soul-less old men to guide the country?" he asked her, partially in jest but also because he was a little confused by her signals, she would lean towards him, put a hand on his arm and then back away again, settling all the way back against the couch.
"Don't be an ass, the electoral college isn't failing, our use of it is failing, WE are failing the founding fathers, we're not staying true to their desires," she snapped at him. And then, realizing that she was excessively sharp with him, reached out to take his hand in hers. "I'm sorry, dear, its not you, I've got some other things on my mind as well as this whole politics thing.
"Okay, then I'll be a sport and not get petulant, it'll be hard but I'll try," Ian said while smiling at her, pleased that she made the effort to placate him after snapping. Not enough people actually take the time to apologize for their misdirected anger, he thought to himself.
"Thanks, dear," she said simply, tracing the rim of her glass with her finger, obviously thinking about what had been bothering her.
"So what is it that's been pushing your irritation button?" he asked her.
"I was having a drink at a bar earlier tonight while waiting for my friend to show up and I was trying to talk to this guy at the bar. He wouldn't say anything except cliches and lame platitudes, it was driving me nuts. I thought he was just messing with me but I don't think he was really capable of thinking for himself," she opened up, "When someone resorts to simple cliches and slogans then they are no longer capable of conversation and are instead acting as a media outlet for someone else's interests."
"I suppose that's true but I don't think I've ever met someone like the man you're describing so it's very abstract, can you give me an example?"
"Okay, how about this? I would say something like, 'Did you read about the new bill in Congress that they're trying to pass regarding same sex marriage?' and he would respond with 'If Pro is the opposite of Con then isn't Progress the opposite of Congress?', it became pretty clear that he basically picked a word and then found a cliche that it was in and that was his answer," she explained.
"I can see how that would be annoying, why did you keep talking to him then?"
"I wanted to see how long he could keep it up, if I could say something that would leave him speechless but it didn't happen and I got irritated and stopped speaking to him."
"What bothered you about him the most? The fact that he wasn't speaking for himself or thinking for himself?"
"Well sure, its dishonest to use other people's words in place of your own, honest thought isn't the regurgitation of other people's words or mottos. Honest thought is taking those concepts, figuring out which has any value and making them your own," she continued.
"Yep, I'll agree to that," Ian nodded his head obediently.
"So many people fall back on other people's thoughts without really ever thinking about what they're saying. What it means now, what it means for the future and that, honestly, sort of scares me," she admitted. "The people that listen to that awful guy on the radio, what's his name?"
"Howard Stern?"
"No, the other one, the guy Al Franken wrote a book about?"
"Oh Rush Limbaugh, yeah, Rush and his army of devoted, empty skulled dittoheads that hang on his every word as being divinity itself. The problem with treating other people's words as sacred is that the other people aren't sacred, they're people. People with their own objectives, desires and agendas and trusting your thoughts to someone else gives them more power to spread whatever they want," Ian gave her some of his own thoughts.
"And he's a hate monger too, he hates gay people, he hates liberals, he hates anyone who doesn't think exactly as he does and those that do think like he does, he doesn't care about, he just wants to expand his powerbase so that he can throw his weight around, its ugly and people like him are a true danger to the country and the world."
"People need to think for themselves, until they do then they're just wasting space and resources waiting for the grim reaper to come and take them up to heaven for a job well done."
"But they didn't do a job, they just nodded their heads at the right time and said stupid things like 'Ditto' and 'Right on, Rush'!" she exclaimed angrily, like it was Ian's fault that people were so shallow and easily duped into being talking sheep. "Even if there were a heaven, none of these people deserve to get in for ceding their minds to someone else, that's the height of insanity."
"You're right, you are totally right. All except the part about there possibly being a heaven, I can't bring myself to believe in such an abstract carrot, especially not when I can see the ropes around my neck with that carrot out front trying to coerce me into greater struggles to get to the reward of an eternity in paradise."
"Yeah, yeah! I like that metaphor of the carrot, it makes sense and puts together a whole lot of thinking that's not been able to coalesce properly but I think I get it now. The opiate of the masses, the struggle now for an eternal reward, all of it. Its just another way to control people, to get them to do what you want. And the worst part about heaven is that its totally unprovable, either it exists or that it doesn't. The only people who can get into it are dead and they tend to not talk."
"I think we're going to need another round of cocktails to figure this one all the way out," and Ian grabbed her now empty glass and his own before heading into the kitchen to spin up a couple of new drinks.
Astrid followed him into the other room, her bright eyes very alive with some bursting revelations.

Labels: politics, story

It has become very trendy among the GOP and their mouthpieces to publicly state that they are hoping President Obama fails in his quest to fix the country (1, 2, 3, 4). Putting aside the traitorous sentiment for just a moment, by what twisted rationalization do they arrive at this conclusion that wishing for our president to fail is, in any way, helpful to our country?

Under Bush, this country lost millions of jobs, helped mobilize and recruit terrorists around the world because of Gitmo (and other prison) tortures, and spent like there was no tomorrow. The GOP put us in this mess and now they are coming together to call for the failure of the man we elected to try and right our ship?

Think about how loudly and shrilly a wanker like Rush Limbaugh would be bleating if any Democrat had stood up and said that they want Bush to fail during the eight years of darkness? And yet he's trying to pretend he's being patriotic in calling for him to fail?

These are hypocrits and asshats of the highest order. And yet they are lauded loudly by the crowd at their CPAC Kool-Aid fest. They call for the nuking of a major US city and the comment is met with raucous applause. They seem to want America to get worse, they seem to want to see more people thrown from their homes, they seem to want more people ejected from their jobs, they seem to want our education, healthcare and infrastructure to get weaker, they want to make America worse, not better. And they have the audacity to call themselves patriots?

I don't get it, I don't get how someone can be seemingly intelligent enough to tie their shoes and then go about furthering the destruction begun on their watch?

America is in a very, very bad place right now, the nation is reeling from eight years of idiocy, knee-jerkism and outright douchebaggery. Isn't it time to recognize that, to get better, we need to get behind our president and help?

But then, the face of the GOP is Rush "Blow Harder" Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Joe the Unlicensed Plumber and Michael "Token" Steele. This is the party that tried to win the White House with Sarah Palin, an uneducated shit for brains governor of the rape capital of America who preached family values while her unwed teenaged daughter got more and more pregnant, while she was investigated and found guilty of illegally using her powers, while charging Alaskans travel per diems when she slept in her own bed and whose foreign policy can be summed up with the utterly ridiculous "I can see Russia from my office" lie.

The Republican Party is not the party of Americans or America, it is the party of self-service, of looting the coffers while the looting is good, of partisanship for partisanship sake regardless of the current economic realities facing the country. They want Obama to fail because that is the shortest path to them regaining some political power again in America, they want America to get worse so they can take the reins again (and, presumably, give more tax cuts to the rich).

If you are supportive of the Republicans and their warped values and their openly hateful policies and yet you call yourself an American then maybe its time you actually opened up the can of worms you call a brain and examine how your party is really behaving, how your party is working to continue to damage this country amidst the worst economic crisis (of your own goddamned party's doing). The hypocrisy would be comical if it weren't so incredibly self-serving, craven and dangerous.

Labels: hypocrisy, politics

Today is the dawn of a New America. Today is the inauguration and swearing in Barack Obama, the first African-American president in the history of this nation. It is also the end of the Bush Administration.

It is the dawn of new leadership, it is the end of state sanctioned torture, it is the beginning of the end of Gitmo, it is the beginning of climb back out of the deep, deep hole that the Bush/Cheney tag team of anger and ignorance put us in.

Today is the transfer of power from an unpopular yokel to a man with great vision who is smart enough to surround himself with smarter people than himself.

Today is one of great hope for better tomorrows for us all. But today also signals the need for all of us to throw our energy into making tomorrow better. Today is a call to duty.

Today is a day of celebration for the entire planet.

Today is a day that many people thought would never happen, ever. Today is Obama Day!

Labels: inauguration, obama, politics

Roland Burriss is not, despite his and his team of lawyers bleated and repeated insistence, the junior senator from Illinois. He was appointed to replace Barack Obama by Rod Blago.....whatever the hell his name is, I think I'll just call him Governor Helmethead, after Helmethead has been accused of trying to sell the Senate seat to the highest bidder. Which, oddly enough, is a felony.

Burriss has not been certified for a very good and valid reason. That being that his appointer, Governor Helmethead, is under investigation for committing a felony with that very seat he's laid his claim to.

It would be prudent and much more above board and honest to let due process run its course. He wouldn't be stirring up a shitstorm of controversy by demanding that it is his without any reservations or recognizing that the appointment was made under extremely suspect circumstances.

Roland Burriss gives politicians an even worse name than they already have and is representative of what is wrong with politics in America. He and his team of mouthpieces spew rhetoric and hyperbole but their argument is, basically, Roland Burriss is the junior Senator from Illinois because Roland Burriss is the junior Senator from Illinois.

All of this combined with the rather creepy and hyper-inflated ego fact that the dude's already bought a mausoleum and listed out his life's accomplishments on it but left plenty of space for his accomplishments in the Senate. That's just creepy and smacks of a completely self-serving mentality.

Labels: crooked, politics

I can't be the only that's a little squigged out by Dick Cheney playing tour guide to Joe Biden. Can I?

I don't know enough about Joe Biden to condemn or condone him (though, like most people I don't know, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt) but I know plenty about Dick Cheney to call him one of the most evil, vile, disgusting bags of feces in human skin to ever hold public office. He has done more than his part to defile the American political machine with his wanton power grabs, his openly mean spirit and generally hateful attitude towards anything not him.

What a bizarre and uncomfortable tour that must have been. I wonder if Cheney proudly showed off his private torture chamber?

Labels: awkward, Dick Cheney, politics

So how'd I do on yesterday's election? I hit the big one in Obama/Biden winning the presidential election but several of the props have passed, including the hate-based Prop 8, the special-interest crippled Prop 1a, that I had hoped would not.

Total score: 7/13. I missed on Props: 1a, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 11. Not especially good AND made worse with Prop 8 passing. But I'll take the Obama win first and foremost and we can sort out the other stuff later. For now, it is time to breathe again, remember that there are other things worth blogging about aside from politics.

But I would like to note that John McCain's concession speech was his best of the entire campaign and I hope he continues to urge his supporters to work with President-elect Obama (doesn't that sound good?).

........
Hey, um, the Sharks are off to an amazingly kickass start!

Labels: election, politics, Sharks

I just posted Comparing Apples and Lemons over on IP Politik, its a short comparison of the educational backgrounds of the four candidates. It came from an email posted over on The Nutsy Fagan Diaries and it rocks.

Labels: education, politics

Submitted for your review, a list of political groups with honest names along with suggested spokespeople.

The Christian Coalition of Conservative Dumbfuckery
Spokesidiot: Elizabeth "I'll say any GOP talking point you want even if I have no idea what it means" Hasselbeck

Western Hemisphere Homophobic Knobgobblers
Spokesbottom: Larry "Toe-tapper in the crapper" Craig

Bible Thumping Ass Blaster Meth Master Pastors
Spokespastor: Ted "Gay is bad but feels so good, especially when you're high on meth" Haggard

Single Issue White Haters
Spokesdouche: Rudy "Grinning Goblin of 9/11 Repeatance" Guiliani

Rich White Fat Greedy Assholes
Spokesrectum: Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney

The Alliance to Gang Rape Mother Earth
Spokestwit: Sarah "Drill, baby, Drill" Palin

Patriots for Censorship, Intolerance and Bigotry
Spokescensor: Newt Gingrich

Little Old White Ladies Who Fear Everything Including Black People and Change
Spokestrembler: Cindy "Where's my pills?" McCain

Chinless Warhawk Senator Flip Floppers
Spokestraitor: "Chinless" Joe Lieberman

And there we go. Have you come up with any honestly named groups? Yes, you may have noticed that these are all Republican groups. The reason for that is because the Republican party has, far, far more regularly, than the Democrats, engaged in negative, untruthful smear style campaigning that lowers the debate for all.

I hope this list of groups is marginally humorous. I chuckled a couple of times while writing it, mostly at the first one which I wrote while watching that Parrotard (yes, new word) Hasselbeck become Sarah Palin's only adviser she'll listen to. Plus, I just like saying the word dumbfuckery.

Labels: dumbfuckery, politics, satire

The week has gotten off to a slightly rough, slightly late start thus far. Between the boys getting their sleep patterns all mashed up last night with late naps and later bedtimes and the generalized stress of the start of the workweek and then toss my wife's birthday in on top of everything and you've got a recipe for meltdown mania.

I hope things start to smooth out sooner rather than later since I'm now at work and unable to provide assistance.

Some thoughts on the weekend:
Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live was lame and SNL should be ashamed for helping to promote her. I've heard she's already been offered a position with Fox News once the election is over and her ticket gets crushed.

The Red Sox just didn't quite have enough in the tank to get by the Devil Rays. They put up a good show, came from far, far behind to tie it up but just couldn't quite get over the top. A Phillies and Devil Rays World Series isn't the worst thing that could have happened though and it'll be interesting at the very least. Besides, the distinct lack of Yankees in the post season has already made winners of us all.

The latest UFC Fight Night had some good fights, I haven't gotten through the whole show yet but the Paul Kelly/Marcus Davis fight was good action and the Lytle/Taylor match was very good. I think Brandon Vera's just about done in the UFC, he can't keep putting up pretty mediocre fights and expect to stay in the big leagues.

The slowly dying freezer at home just adds to the general chaos of our life and not really in a good way. It complicates things tremendously and is forcing us to spend time on it when we don't really have time to spare.

We did have a good time at a lumberjack party up above Scotts Valley yesterday. It always amazes me at just how totally different someone else's home environment is like. Their house couldn't be any more different than mine if it were on the moon. While Sully and I were hanging out on the deck, two deer came up from the mostly dried up stream below, they circled the house and then made their way up the street to the next house. There haven't been deer near my house in probably twenty years. The house was Santa Cruz old-school hippy funky which meant that it had lots of interesting spaces, a sunken living room, a big deck, lots of sun, privacy and it was really quiet.

Plus they had a 26 ton log splitter available to help grind through the rather large pile of wood that had accumulated. And nothing says fun like a gas-powered log splitter!

The weekend, as most weekends seem to, went by too quickly and not enough stuff got done although I was able to knock off some minor list items on Saturday with the boys. But it isn't quite enough and we start the week just a little bit further behind than we left last week.

I wish I'd been able to give my wife exactly what she really wants for her birthday, a day off to catch up. But that'll have to wait until I've got a day to give her. Things aren't exactly easy these days but we're getting through it all together as best we can.

I did not get a chance to go riding this weekend but that's only partially because I'm a lazy guy, I torqued up my shoulder towards the end of last week and I'm not quite sure if its going to play nicely right now. Its been pretty sore all weekend but feels a little better this morning, maybe that's just wishful thinking though. We'll see.

Today is going to be a grind from start to finish, whenever that might end up being.

Labels: politics, sports, wrap-up

The last debate is in the books and now we just have a three week sprint to the finish. I fully expect the McCain campaign to keep mortgaging whatever dignity it might still have to try and eat into Obama's rather huge lead.

McCain needed to crush Obama last night to make a dent in the double digit lead. He baited Obama repeatedly, he insulted him, he called him a liar, a person who consorts with terrorists and he called him naive and inexperienced.

The thing is, McCain is the liar, McCain is the guy who consorts with terrorists (or did you not know Saddam "Freakin" Hussein's chief lobbyist is on McCain's payroll?), McCain is the one with the overly-simplistic economic plan (cutting all earmarks to nothing will save .5% of the national budget) and McCain's health care plan is a joke, just like his education plan, his energy plan and his campaign cries of Change when his party has been in charge for the last eight years.

McCain offers nothing new and his running mate offers nothing of substance or value at all unless you strongly value a move towards fundamental and extreme religion in this country. Oh what's that? You don't believe in the same God as Sarah Palin? Then you should and you will BURN IN HELL, SINNER!

Oh wait, I don't believe in her God either. What kind of a God gives a mandate to go to war in Iraq when they had nothing at all to do with 9/11? What kind of a God gives a mandate to build a gas pipeline? No God I have any interest in worshiping, that's for damned sure!

Obama spoke to my concerns, he didn't stoop to get into things with McCain when McCain would start bringing up ridiculous "issues" like Obama's relationship with William Ayres and ACORN. Even though he could have gotten into the mud and flung insults at McCain he didn't. He kept talking about the real issues that are a real concern to me and other Americans.

Where McCain keeps wanting to make the election into one of character when we the people want a president who will make the country better and stronger and help restore our national honor and pride (which McCain helped kick into the mud to begin with by supporting every ridiculous thing Bush has done).

McCain didn't come close to winning last night and he won't close the gap in the polls anytime soon and I'm sure his campaign will continue to represent the Dark Side.

I have no respect for John McCain anymore. He sold it all off for soundbites and window dressing while forgetting that the nation needs change, change for the better, not more of the same failed Bush policies.

Joe Biden stepping in as president? No problem at all.
Sarah Palin stepping in as president? I'm running for the damned hills. In Canada or Mexico.

Oh yeah, McCain's "ace" Joe the Plumber? McCain's spotlight on him has created a whole host of headaches for him. Nice work, Johnboy. Plus, his "complaint" about higher taxes under Obama's plan didn't hold water as he wouldn't be making $250,000+. Oops.

Labels: debate, politics

I just posted This is Your Nation on White Privilege written by Tim Wise over on IP Politik.

Labels: politics

We were having a heated political discussion around the dinner table and Sullivan wanted to weigh in with his thoughts about who we should support since he's unable to vote for another 16 years or so.

Either way, Obama has a lock on cute kids stumping for him.

Labels: cute, politics

So, if you watch the news, you've likely seen the clip of Cindy McCain talking about her blood running cold when she found out that Barack Obama voted not to fund her son in Iraq.

Guess what? Her own freakin' husband voted against the troop funding as well. But I'm sure she's alright with that.

Having seen Cindy McCain speak and then seeing two interviews with Michelle Obama, they aren't even close. Cindy McCain is a reflection of her angry husband while Michelle Obama is a reflection of her thoughtful, considerate and articulate husband.

Michelle Obama carries herself with grace and dignity where Cindy McCain is either completely mute or sniper selecting arguments to whip up Republicans into a racist frenzy. She has two expressions, blank and outrage. Neither is especially First Lady-ish.

Also, I have the distinct hunch that, not so deep down, Cindy McCain is terrified of black people (and probably poor people and yellow people and red people and pretty much anyone not white and rich).
I have zero respect for John McCain or his selective outrage autobot wife.

Labels: politics, selective memory

If you are planning on voting this November and I highly recommend that you do vote regardless of your political affiliation then it would be a good idea to consider why you are planning on voting the way you are planning to.

Are you going to vote against one candidate's ticket or are you going to vote for a candidate's ticket?

I know some people that are going to vote for McCain/Palin because of uncertainty about Barack Obama regardless of the reality of how much of a nutter unknown Sarah Palin is and how much greater the chance that McCain dies in office and she takes over.

I know some people that are voting McCain/Palin because they believe that Obama/Biden are going to lead us even further down the economic ruin path that we've been shoved down for the last 8 years under a Republican government.

I know some people that are voting for Obama/Biden because John McCain comes across as a deeply angry, bitter, mean, nasty and erratic old man flailing about for some semblance of relevance.

I know some people are voting Obama/Biden because they truly believe in the need for a real change in leadership, not just new talking heads but new thoughts, new plans, new deeds.

I know some people are voting Obama/Biden because of how thoroughly disgusted they are with the grotesque charade the Republicans are putting up. The negativity, the smear, the lies repeated often enough to convince some that they are true, the glossing over of contradictory statements, the selection of Sarah Palin for the GOP's VP nominee when she really and truly and honestly has absolutely no business, qualifications or temperament to be being considered for the second most powerful job on earth. None.

So why are you voting the way you are planning on voting? So long as you have a valid rationale for your vote, I've got no truck with it. But if your rationale is to vote McCain/Palin because Sarah Palin's "hot" then you need to climb up out of that trap the GOP laid for you. Its exactly why she was selected. Well, that and she can parrot talking points well and can attack with a smile and has zero issue with an utter lack of credibility or the irony of calling out Obama's "associates" while her husband was a member of secessionist group. Oh and then there's the whole censorship book banning thing, creationism, charging rape victims for rape kits and wanting to force them to keep babies created during rapes. Any one of these revelations about Sarah Palin should be enough to cross her off your vote list permanently but I'm sure there are those of you out there with your reasons. Are they supporting McCain/Palin or unsupporting Obama/Biden?

If you think that Barack Obama is evil, inexperienced, elitist, too smart, too white, too black, not black enough or whatever else, if that's how YOU really feel then I can't really fault you. But if you're allowing the liars on Fox News or Rush Limbaugh to tell you how to vote then you're sheep and unable to think for yourself.

Why are you voting the way you are?

Labels: politics, vote

I watched the debate from the start to the end, I listened to each candidate's answers, I watched each candidate's body language, comfort level, knowledge and candor. And, in McCain's case, I watched for signs of barely contained rage.

This post has been moved off to IP Politik if you want to read the rest.

Labels: debate, politics

Some days I feel like the Little Engine That Could. Others I feel like the Little Engine That Could Not. And still other days I feel like the Little Engine That Just Wants A Nap.

I think part of this is due to my lack of exercise lately and the changing of the season from sweet summer to wet and windy fall.

Oh and the never-ending depression that is the state of politics in America. And its downstream effects on the economy, the mortgage nightmare, the endless war in Iraq, the disgusting Republican doublespeak and the generalized venality of partisan life these days. When I see a McCain sticker on a car, I have an immediate tendency to think that the person driving that car is an asshole. I know that's a bad kneejerk reaction but I just cannot help myself. If you support an asshole then it stands to reason that you are, at best, an asshole sympathizer.

Let's be clear, McCain and Palin are poison to the future of this nation. They are the continuation of the exact same policies that have gotten us to this sad state we're in now. Voting for them is a vote for more of the same, only worse since Palin is actually a nastier and more deeply frightening VP candidate than even Dick "Shoot 'Em in the Face and Fuck You All" Cheney. And that is saying an awful lot. But the McCain campaign is employing the politics of desperation, smear and lies now and its very easy to see how poorly their message is resonating with Americans (bye Michigan, bye Ohio, bye Nevada, bye Virginia).

As I'd noted before, I did watch the Elite XC fights on Saturday night already knowing that Kimbo got knocked the fuck out. There were still some decent fights on the card and, when there were not, I'd just jump to Spike and watch the Griffin/Rampage rerun. That was a 25 minutes war between Forrest and Rampage and it really could have gone either way. But Forrest won, Rampage's life went sideways for a little bit and now we're looking at Forrest fighting Rashad Evans (fresh off his knockout of Chuck Liddell).

And then there were the other sports, the baseball and the football. Bummer on the Cubs for meekly rolling over and letting the Dodgers have their way with them. That sucks because I like the Cubs and freakin' hate the Dodgers and loathe Manny "Duffbitch" Ramirez. They are the first to bow out of the post season after having an outstanding year. Which leaves the Phillies to face the Dodgers and the American league possibilities are still open with the Angels and Red Sox still fighting and the White Sox still alive against Tampa. I would be happy seeing anyone but the Dodgers in the World Series at this point but, if they do make it, I'd love for the Red Sox to pound them out in four.

As for football. I lost a mere 3 games in the football pool yesterday but they were three big point games and I was out of the running by the start of the afternoon games. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the games. The Niners had a chance to win but not much of one against a bye week Patriots team coming off a loss. The Raiders didn't lose because they didn't play and the Redskins continue to shock, amaze and awe with a win last week over the Cowboys and a win this week over the Eagles. Right on! Oh, and I got crushed in my fantasy league this week.

That's about it for the Monday morning wrap up. I suppose I should get to working now. Oh wait, I have been, I'm waiting for a drive to empty its trash. What joy.

Labels: baseball, football, politics, wrap-up

Okay, so here are some thoughts after having watched the debate last night and thought about it a bunch since.

One, showing up to a debate and barely even bothering to answer the questions being asked before going right back to memorized talking points isn't a debate. Sarah Palin did just that. She effectively avoided answering any questions by just not answering them and talking about whatever she felt like talking about.
Two, on a pure facts and knowledge scorecard, there's simply no way that Joe Biden didn't annihilate her.
Three, these debates need a fact checker to cut through the he said, she said bullshit. When one claims something that the other refutes and they keep doing it, that's called a stalemate. Without a third party fact checker on hand to say yes or no, its just who's more believable, not who's more truthful.

The debate wasn't a game changer, neither side made any serious gaffes but neither did either side score that huge soundbite winner. The low expectations for Sarah Palin mean that the GOP talking heads are declaring she has won even though she didn't answer any questions and was factually incorrect numerous times.

Joe Biden won but it was nowhere near the exciting show that most people were hoping for. He was knowledgable, he spoke of his own personal track record, he spoke of foreign leaders he knew personally, he drew on his passion and he answered the moderator's questions thoroughly.

What did I come away with? Sarah Palin is, in no way, no stretch of the resume, ready to become the vice president. She doesn't have the knowledge and she doesn't have the experience. Her nasal voice aside, she was a robot up there, reciting talking points she worked hard to memorize. You could easily see when she was off the script and then when she'd snap back to it. There was no connection, there were talking points, pseudo-zingers and attempts at folksy-charm.

I don't want a vice president who's folksy, I want a vice president who has a firm grasp of what the hell is going on around the world and how to best support the president in staying on top of everything. I just don't see Sarah Palin being that person. I don't think she's stupid but I definitely think she's not even close to having the right experience and info to take the job she's applying for. The news channels are saying polls have 51% saying Biden won, 33% or so saying Palin won and the rest were too busy picking their noses to pay attention.

Labels: politics, vp debate

The McCain campaign implosion continues apace. Remember the scene in the Back to the Future movie where Marty tosses colored logs into the locomotive to make it go faster? That's pretty much what McCain and Palin are doing to their campaign only they are speeding its descent into the chasm from where there is no return. This new polling shows a 35 vote loss in a very short period of time.

If the debate doesn't go well tomorrow night, and there is every rightful expectation that it will not, then expect the disintegration and desperation to accelerate.

Labels: electoral vote, politics

Here's a quick update on some personal fronts.

The bite on my hand is pretty well healed up, it still looks a little gnarly but doesn't hurt much at all and has shown no sign of infection at all. Which is just fine by me and it means I will likely be able to go riding this coming weekend.

Hey, its October! I thought yesterday was the first but I always screw up that 30 and 31 day month thing. Anyway, September was decent, here's hoping October is just as good or better.

As any regular reader of this space would know, I'm anticipating the veep debate, tomorrow night at 6 pacific, with some optimism that it will be the start of the end of Sarah Palin on the national stage. I make no excuses for how little I think of this woman and her "qualifications" to be running for the second most powerful seat on the planet (arguable but it sounds good). She has experience in the public debate space and has her own set of weapons that I'm sure she'll deploy. But, at the end of the night, what she says, what she knows and what she admits she needs to learn should be the important takeaways. Not that she had some good quips or that she was able to parrot GOP talking points accurately, not that she's a decently good looking woman (arguable) or that any hard questions leveled at her by the media is sexist and/or "gotcha" journalism. I fully expect her to crater and maybe even explode. Nor is it about Tina Fey's spot-on impersonation or the sad fact that Tina Fey is probably more capable, experienced and would be a better vp nomination than Palin.

Either way, it is truly must see tv and is expected to be the most watched veep debate in history.

Which reminds me, Easy emailed me a very interesting piece about White Privilege and how it has negatively impacted this race. I may cherry pick it and post some parts to try and illuminate the double standard of qualification being applied to Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.

That's about it for right now. I know, not very exciting lately. I'll try to do something stupid soon.

Labels: politics, update

Yes, this is racing all over the internets at, well, internets speed. But its pretty funny in a scary kind of way because I'd guess the call really did go down something like this.

Have a listen to McCain's Voicemail to Palin Leaked to Press and have a laugh before you start cringing because these idiots are still in the race.

Labels: politics, satire

Will John McCain be a no-show for the first of the presidential debates? I expect he will end up showing up, with a flourish and some dropped hints about how much more he cares about the crisis than his opponent.

McCain has already admitted that he has little understanding of economics and yet now we're supposed to believe that he's essential to hammering out a solution?

There are people calling John McCain a hero for suspending his campaign to address this crisis but he's not a hero, he's a distraction without any relevant input trying to duck the reality of the campaign trail. The debates are an extremely important part of our election process and he wants to deny the American people the opportunity to see him in action. Why? Because he's smart enough to know that the GOP can't compete on the issues, that Obama is a substantially better speaker and that he's a grumpy old out of touch fuddy-duddy.

The McCain/Palin ticket has lost its luster and looks like the crap wagon it really is, a old grump with a questionable medical history and an idiot false-sound-bite-spouting beauty queen with a deeply troubling belief system.

If McCain does skip the debate, I hope Obama goes ahead with it and uses it as a platform to discuss just how he plans on putting America back on the right path to prosperity and dignity.

Yes, it plays well with his core to show what a stand up guy he is, but the reality is that McCain doesn't want to debate Obama and he'll use whatever shield he can, even if he has absolutely no particular expertise in the crisis he's suspended his campaign to deal with.

Labels: politics

In a bold move intended to delay the inevitable defrocking of Sarah Palin, the McCain campaign has asked to delay the election campaign because of the economic crisis. This comes fast on the heels of McCain declaring the economy is sound. I guess he must have gotten to the chapter in Greenspan's book where he discusses major financial institutional failure and the repercussions something like that might have.

There is a chance that McCain is genuinely worried about this crisis, no, not on a personal level, he's still rich as sin. But there's also a chance I might fart a living canary, not much of one but there's a chance.

A delay would give Sarah Palin another couple of days to cram for her foreign policy parrot act. What? You didn't think she was actually learning anything, did you? She's basically prepping for an acting role and working hard to memorize her lines as best she can.

The numbers are sliding off of McCain and he's grasping at straws to try and regain some of that juice that announcing Sarah Palin gave his limp and sagging campaign. The only thing is that she's provided almost nothing of substance and came with a closet stuffed full of skeletons and idiotic actions and statements.

The more America learns about Sarah Palin, the less electable she and Grumpa appear. And that's just fine by me.

McCain wants to cancel debates because he doesn't want to be exposed for having no discernable differences between his policies and those of George W. Bush, the same policies that have led this nation into the economic abyss. Of course, he wants to cancel or delay the debates, nobody likes being exposed for being nothing but the same as we've already had, especially given the public and ugly damage those policies have wrought.

Labels: economy, politics

Palin, McCain contradict each other on spending about the Bridge to Nowhere earmarks that Palin requested until she saw the writing on the wall and flip-flopped to oppose them.

John McCain stated on that bastion of political discussion, The View, that Sarah Palin never took earmarks as governor when the public record clearly shows she requested 31 earmarks worth nearly $200 million.

McCain/Palin - Integrity ain't nothing but a word.

Labels: lies, McCain, politics

I watched enough of Sarah Palin's acceptance speech at the RNC. I got to see her attempts at sarcastic humor, her factually incorrect jabs at Obama, her factually incorrect revisions of her own record and her general snide GOP-style meanness.

This was her first national coming out party and she did a decent job of it. But it doesn't change the facts stacked up behind her.

Sarah Palin is a bad choice and a downright scary VP given how extreme her religious beliefs are, her zero regard for a woman's right to choose, her desire to "teach" creationism alongside evolution in our schools, anti-environment, pro-gun and an earmarked funds flip flop once public opinion flared up and her Bridge to Nowhere project became a national mockery (she kept the money she'd already gotten, of course).

More than all of this, she's mean. She's got a nasty streak in her, one that enables her to fudge facts for dramatic effect. Plus, her speaking voice has some kind of nasal tone in it that's just annoying to listen to. Maybe its because her intonation is so heavily flecked with self-congratulatory sarcasm and unearned wit but either way, she reminds me of Mike Myers' character Linda Richman and Coffee Talk, too nasal.

On the plus side, her standing next to John McCain makes him look like he's almost fossilized. Or maybe he's been replaced with a Disney animatronic clone? Seriously, there are old people and then there are old old people and McCain is definitely one of them. The chances of Sarah Palin having to step in as president if their ticket somehow wins is pretty high.

And the thought of Sarah Palin as our president is downright scary. This nation needs to move away from the religiosity we've been overtly beat over the head with for the last 8 years.

And the calls for change were kind of bizarre. These people have had the White House for 8 years and they're talking about bringing massive change to America? Why? Because they have to, because they need to distance themselves from the rolling travesty that has been the Bush presidency. You think its a coincidence that Bush and Cheney aren't there? The GOP leaders don't want them there, they want distance because the nation, world and reality itself is sick and tired of the bad combination of venality, stupidity and cowboy posturing that is the Dubya administration. Oh yeah, and corruption, of course, can't forget about the corruption.

And, last thought, is it just me or does Rudi Guilliani look like he's just happy to have an audience to smirk at and with? I think I'm going to start calling him Gobliani because of that goofy look-at-me grin he gets when people clap for him.

By the way, yes, I'm well aware that I'm pretty much the only one who cares about these political posts and believe me when I say I post about one in five that I write. The thought of McCain/Palin taking over from Bush/Cheney is deeply unsettling both personally and for the country. They are the wrong prescription for this country and they will do nothing but continue the policies begun by Bush.

We need change, we need real change, we need leaders who lead, we need vision, we need a real plan not more smoke and mirrors and lies from the GOP. They've had their chance over the last eight years and they have failed miserably on almost every front. Its time for Obama/Biden to start to put our nation back on the path to honor, prosperity and unity.

Labels: GOP mean, politics, Sarah Palin

After having thought about John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin for his running mate for the last day or two, I've got an idea of why he did it. Its part of his strategy to confuse and keep the Democrats counter punching. It keeps him in the driver's seat.

Sarah Palin may be hot, I can see it but she doesn't do much for me, but she's pro-life even in cases of rape and incest, pro big-oil, believes in the intellectually stunted concept of creationism and her appointment is more strategic than anything else. She has almost no political experience and is supposed to be ready to step in and take over in case the president is incapacitated? Are they serious? She's supposed to be ready for that? By what freakish stretch of qualifications could they they think she could ever step in much less be ready for it in under six months?

She is low hanging fruit for severely warped Hillary supporters who would rather directly oppose Hillary's wish to support Obama. I don't know how large a group those people are but I'm hopeful they are not numerous. How angry do you have to be to vote for the exact opposite of what you are asked to do? How short sighted and stupid do you have to be to see Sarah Palin and vote for her because she's a woman with pretty much the exact opposite worldview as Hillary Clinton? And no experience.

Sarah Palin may inject some excitement into the election but this is a near desperation move by McCain. He knows he's trailing and will only trail further and further until his efforts are completely futile. Bringing Sarah Palin on board might slow down the process but I don't think it will change the end result.

McCain loses, Obama wins, the world rejoices, America can hold its head up again and be proud of itself and can start to undo the massive harm done over the last 8 years.

Labels: obama, politics, president

If you aren't planning on voting for Barack Obama in November, why not? What does McCain offer that actually appeals to you?

Oil barons and big business types need not reply, I know your answer and it has big dollar signs all over it.

Obama is about hope and a plan for a brighter and better future for all Americans, how in the hell can you possibly not want that? Unless you're some kind of jerk or something.

Labels: politics

It helps that my pal Jack over at What Would Jack Do regularly blogs politics. I've tried to but I find myself shaking with rage far too often and that's just not healthy.

One of my favorite series he's been running is categorized as The Road to Hell is Paved with Republicans and has lately been detailing the myriad insanities muttered by John McCain on his trudge towards the glory of GOP nomination for President.

I know there are staunch Republicans who'd rather buy a hybrid than vote Democrat. And I suppose, on some levels, I can respect that loyalty although I'd metaphorize it into being the abusee in a dysfunctional relationship. Unless you've gotten rich over the last eight years, you're the backs the GOP has been standing on to get rich. If you have gotten rich then send some of the ill gotten loot my way (I promise to shut up if you do). Backing the Republican party at this juncture is like trying to live with your head in the sand. The GOP has made such a thorough clusterfucking mess of the world that its hard to remember that things weren't always so damned bleak and awful in the US.

There was a time when there were jobs, when there was money for everyone, when Americans abroad didn't pretend they were from Canada, there was a time when the presidential scandals involved plump interns, cigars and stained dresses. Now the scandals involve thousands of dead soldiers, an intractable war, an economy on life support with rolling blackouts and an overall level of venality unseen since Attila walked the earth.

I'm not saying everything will be all roses when Barack Obama is elected President. It won't. Ships don't right themselves in a heartbeat and the damage done over the last eight years will take some time to undo. But damn, oh damn it is about frigging time to start undoing the damage.

And voting for McCain is a vote for more of the same ugly bullshit politics we've suffered plenty of for the last 8 years. Aren't you ready for a real change? Aren't you ready for some hope and some light at the end of the long, angry tunnel? Barack Obama brings hope and a vision for the America we all know, remember and loved.

Anyway, Jack's got the quality GOP slammin' goods. Check him out. His truth only hurts those who aren't ready to open both eyes and recognize how deeply unfit John McCain is to lead this country.

Labels: John McCain, politics

McClellan's book blasts Bush administration, you know, the same administration he was the spokesman for. The one he lied for, obfuscated, berated and otherwise misdirected the press and effectively ran interference for the worst administration in the history of the world.

And now, after the smoke is starting to clear and the universe is looking forward to getting Bush out of office, now you want to cash in on your part in the great deception?

Sorry, Scott but you can go fuck yourself. If you'd published your book within a year of leaving the position then I'd be lauding you. But you've waited until his term is nearly over and the GOP as a whole is trying to distance itself from him even though its just lipstick on an elephant.

You were complicit, Scottie, and now you want a big payday for it by turning on the hand that fed you and gave you pets. It is nice to see the rats deserting the ship that is the Bush administration but its still far, far too little far, far too late.

Labels: bush, politics

Having gone through the delightful process that is putting on a wedding and having to put together a list of people to invite to the wedding I'm already well aware that there are concessions that must be made to keep from having a reception with 2000 people. Which would be fine if you've got an endless supply of money and could rent AT&T Park to house them all.

But reality dictates that some people will get invited over others. It is the nature of the process.

And sometimes the first tier invites aren't as able to come as you might have thought they were. So, sometimes, the couple will drop down a tier to try and fill out the wedding.

I know all of this, I understand it all and I accept it as part of the nature of the process.

But that still doesn't mean, in any way, shape or fashion, that I have any interest in being your wedding filler. I have no interest in being invited solely because others weren't able to make it.

Especially when the family member in question has either ignored or otherwise just decided to not respond to previous attempts to make contact and interact as two members of the family on the west coast. Not for a period of weeks or months but for a period of years.

Ignore me for several years, invite other members of my family in the first wave of invitations and then drop down to invite me and my family and you have some expectation of my family actually attending? To what point? Why would I have the slightest interest in the event? You've made it pretty clear you have zero interest in my life and my family. Why would you possibly think I would take an interest in yours?

And yes, I'm well aware of the potential hornet's nest I'm stirring up by posting this as I know family members read this and it is likely to get back to the party in question. But the honest truth is that I'm done trying to gladhand the long-strained relations with my extended family. I'm done putting on a smiling face to people who are strangers in everything but family tree. And I'm also well aware that the stock-in-trade response of email not having been received would be trotted out like some excuse horse. But it rings false, emails with misspelt addresses bounce and it isn't like there's no way to get, you know, MY email and contact me. Besides, I'm not stupid, I'm pretty capable of typing an email address correctly, verifying and trying it more than once. With no response.

Do I sound bitter? Maybe I am. Maybe I'm extending my personal life dissatisfactions onto interpersonal relations amongst my family that makes no sense and does nothing but increase the chasm between us. This could be truth, I could attempt to overcome and move beyond and forgive and forget.

I could also sprout wings out of my ass and horns on my shoulders but I'm not holding my breath for that to happen either. And believe me, if this sounds bitter and harsh then you should read the first couple of attempts. It would be a very bad day indeed if my draft posts somehow made it out into the wilds.

Labels: family, politics, relations, wedding

NPR: Cunningham Renounces McCain After "Hussein" Flap which was after McCain renounced Cunningham for his warm up the crowd rhetoric that was more like cheap shot rhetoric.

McCain also recently tried to retract a statement that his campaign would succeed or fail based on Iraq. And then he realized that it was a really stupid thing to say so he publicly said he no longer wants that statement applied to him.

Which is fine, the more he looks like a confused and jowly deer in the headlights, the better. I'm starting to think McCain is getting his chance now because his party has made such a colossal mess of things on every front that he's got little chance of winning or repairing the damage they've done.

Why would I not vote for John McCain? There are plenty of reasons but I can distill it down to just a couple. One, he is strongly pro-life and would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade. Two, he's pandered to just about every special interest group he possibly can and owes more favors than a hooker with a gambling problem. Three, he's old and looks it. His person is not presidential, its more crony-ential.

Which isn't to say that I don't have some modicum of respect for the man. He is, after all is said and done, a war hero and a POW and I will never deny him that respect. But it doesn't mean I want his crazy ass making decisions in how to run the country.

Labels: gop, politics, smear

I'm feeling a little extra cynical this morning so I thought it would be fun to go through an off-the-cuff list of people in the news who really need a good, hard cock punch and why.

George Bush - um, because he's been a miserably crappy jackass of a president
Bono - his desperate need for a cock punch is only outpaced by his desperate need to appear to be a good and decent guy when he's really a colossal douchebag
Al Davis - thanks for continuing to guide the Raiders into the black hole that is your own asshole, your public emasculation of Lane Kiffin to try and force him to quit to save $4 million is beyond contempt and you have doomed your team to the cellar until you sell them or die
Arnold Schwarzenegger - you want to shut 48 California State Parks to save $13 million over two years, the asinine-dness of this proposal is truly staggering
Bud Selig - thanks for being a hypocritical ass
Roger Clemens - you juiced, everyone knows it, quit pretending you didn't because all its doing is making you look like an even bigger dick than you already are
Lynne Spears - you writing a book on parenting is like Ted Bundy writing a book on dating tips, you are an all-time hall of fame bad parent of an insane 20something and a pregnant 16 year old, your parenting advice is laughable
Jessica Simpson - just because the stupidification of America started with you, you incredibly dense simpleton
Rudy Guiliani - every day you look more and more like a ghoul with receding lips and gums, like monkey trying to show dominance or something
Tom Cruise - dude, just shut up and go away. You and your scam religion are just annoying and stupid

That's all I've got for right now, I'm sure there are more. Who do you think is in desperate need of a cock punch?

Labels: celebrity, cock punch, politics

Saw this over on The People's Republic of Seabrook (originally from Democratic Caucus which has data source attributions) and had to post it here because it provides a very, very clear picture of just how far we, as a nation, have fallen under Dubya's dubious leadership.
The standout data: more Americans in poverty, the cost of insurance has doubled to $12k per year, the shocking drop in views of the US around the world (12% for Turkey!), greater consumption of foreign oil, negative personal savings and almost twice consumer credit debt over 2001.
There's no way to avoid the fact that George W. Bush has been an abject failure as a president and has done almost immeasurable harm to our nation on every front. Whoever replaces him in the White House will have a steep hill to climb out of the pit Dubya dug for us.

Labels: bush, legacy, politics

I just happened to hear a Mike Huckabee quote about changing the US Constitution to reflect the "living word of God" which pretty much dismisses him as any suitable presidential candidate. Ever hear of the separation of Church and State, Mikey? Or those Constitutional amendments guaranteeing my right to practice my religion free of persecution? You might want to bone up on the documents you're proposing to re-write.

I understand and have zero issue with people having strong religious beliefs. My issue is when people feel justified in ramming their religious beliefs down my throat.

I don't loudly proclaim that God is a comforting figment of people's imagination and that he/she/it doesn't exist in any real sense of the word. This is my fundamental belief but I don't feel the need to talk about it all the time.

I'm sick of the religious pandering and general religiousification of our culture. Thankfully, I see alot more of the pandering on the GOP side who have absolutely zero chance of getting my vote (unless the Democrats nominate Joe Lieberman or Al Sharpton).

If Huckabee did get elected and started to move to rewrite the Constitution to suit his narrow religious needs then I would imagine (and hope) the national outrage would see him back down right quickly.

Oh yeah, the "living word of God" is an oxymoron. God doesn't speak to anyone, God doesn't write anything, the Bible is a bunch of stories written by men like you and me, it wasn't written by God's secretary and handed to man from on high. Its a storybook not unlike any other fictionalized storybook. Calling it the Word of God is illogical and false. It is the Word of God as Presumed by Man, at best.

I know this election season is going to drag out forever and a month and we will all be thoroughly sick and tired of all of it long before the end is in sight. Can't we just skip to the inauguration? We can flip a coin to see if Hillary or Barack wins since I firmly believe either would be a monumental upgrade to the current band of jackasses running the country.

Labels: politics, religion

I took the Select-a-Candidate survey at Minnesota Public Radio and learned almost nothing new about my potential vote for the next president.

Not anything I didn't already know.

My scoring looks like this:
Hilary Clinton: 27
Barack Obama: 26
John Edwards: 24
Chris Dodd: 23
Joe Biden: 22
Bill Richardson: 19
Rudy Giulliani: 15
Mike Gravel: 14
Mike Huckabee: 7
Mitt Romney: 7
Ron Paul: 6
Duncan Hunter: 4
John McCain: 4
Tom Tancredo: 4
Fred Thompson: 4

A couple of thoughts: Who is Mike Gravel or Duncan Hunter? I've never heard of either of them. I like that McCain is in the bottom, he's about as far from my inclinations and desires as Bush is. I'm surprised Grinning Giulliani scored so well since there's no chance he'd get my vote. The guy puts the Der in pander.

At this point, there's zero chance I'd vote Republican since they have been very good at showing what despicable hypocrites they are.

By the way, was I the only one who saw the previous sex partners and targets of Larry Craig coming out of the woodwork? Dude must be smoking crack (and pole) if he thinks his previous gay partners weren't going to appear. He doesn't have enough money or power to make them all disappear. And embattled doesn't even begin to cover this dude's existence. Not that he doesn't deserve every bit of ridicule and speculation because of his rampant hypocrisy. Note, I don't care in the least that Larry Craig likes gay sex, that's fine by me, the problem is that he is a public crusader against gay rights while being a private purveyor of gay pleasures. And that, friends, makes him a lame ass hypocrite.

Labels: candidates, politics

Otherwise known as the link dump.

Morford's latest: Outrage Fatique hits home, its too easy (and plays directly in their gameplan) to just tune out the scandals, hypocrisy and stupidity of our government leaders.

The zeroHouse is very green, off-the-grid and cool looking too. No electrical hook ups, no sewage hookups. I want one.

Next up is a video of Time-lapse photography at Vikings-Packers game. Pretty cool to watch a day in the life of Lambeau Field.

And here we can learn how to
Build a Hackintosh Mac for Under $800 which doesn't include the hours of work to get this Frankenputer working.

Here are some cool Ipod skins to Steampunk-ify it.
Gelaskins: Steampunk because everyone knows if its cool it becomes cooler when it gets Steampunk'd.

Labels: greentech, ipod, links, macintosh, politics

Dear Ex-Senator Larry Craig,

Apparently you are the only person in the universe who is unaware of the fact that your political career ended when you pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct for trying to pick up an undercover police officer in that airport bathroom.

Your party does not want you, your constituents do not want you and the cop you tried to solicit did not and does not want you either.

But please continue to embarrass yourself and your party. And then, finally, reality will set in and you'll retire in abject humiliation to your ranch in Idaho.

You and politics were good friends but politics has left you at the bus station with a one way ticket to Go-away-ville. Get on the bus or don't and continue to be cannon fodder for comedians.

Note, the fact or unfact of your supposed "gayness" is NOT the issue. The issue is that you solicited a cop for sex in a public place and then plead guilty to doing so in the incredibly stupid hope that it would "just go away". Maybe you panicked, maybe you knew you'd been caught trying to get your hands on another man's cookie jar? Who knows? Who cares? You're done so maybe you should get the fork out.

Sincerely,
The Universe at Large

Labels: dumbassery, politics

I hope the special prosecutor won't forget about Alberto "We Have a Right and Duty to Torture" Gonzales in the wake of his first good decision in years, the decision to jump ship and resign.

He also had district attorneys with whom his administration had a political beef with, fired. He also screwed up terrorist investigations and pretty much undermined most Americans faith in the justice system in this country.

Good riddance, just stay where we can see you, Al. I'm sure there are going to be more questions about your lack of ethics and general sliminess.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., reacted to the announcement by saying the Justice Department under Gonzales had "suffered a severe crisis of leadership that allowed our justice system to be corrupted by political influence."

Yep, that does a nice job of summing it up.

But really, I lost any respect for Alberto Gonzales when he came out strongly in defense of the US torturing terror suspects. Good guys don't stoop to the methods used by the bad guys and that's exactly what he was advocating. Dragging the US of A into slime and doing a terrible disservice to the country and our soldier's serving in his boss's ridiculous and never-ending pet war.

Good riddance. That makes four after Rove, who's going to be the next slimy little rat to jump ship?

Labels: politics, resignation, torture

I can't be the only one who's outraged over Bush's partial pardon of Cheney's lapdog, Scooter. The shockingly overt wrongness of this pardon by the people Scooter was protecting is wrong on so many levels that I just can't even fully comprehend the monstrous balls this took.

This is like having the warden be your partner in crime and is so deeply wrong that I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't result in furhter investigation and charges and crimes that Bush won't be able to just to erase by his will.

Of course, it isn't like his approval rating can sink any further, he's at his rabid base who will blame everything he's fudged all to hell on liberals because that's what the talking heads tell them. I bet they've explored pre-emptive pardons for their own pending charges.

Why yes, I am feeling extra cynical today.

Labels: injustice, politics

Elizabeth Edwards politely and respectfully asked Ann Coulter, directly and not on some interview, to stop with the personal attacks against her husband, John Edwards.

Coulter's response was to try and conflate the request into asking Ann to stop speaking altogether (we should be so lucky). Which is, of course, totally untrue and par for her course, when cornered, she makes something totally over the top up and rides that to safety regardless of its logic or reasonability.

Ann Coulter cares not about respect or discourse, she cares about derailing the political process for her personal financial gain. She cannot possibly believe the bile she spews, nobody is that articulate and that stupid. Therefore, she's playing a game, a baiting game to see who she can get on her hateful little hook to yank around like a toy for a while.

My sister-in-law once mentioned that she listened to Dr. Laura on the radio and was attempting to use some of the harpie's advice in our conversation. At which point, my opinion of her dropped to about half of where it had been. If you parrot hate, if you are nothing but a conduit for the stupid blatherings of the Right Wing Hate Squad then you are truly nothing at all. And I pretty much told her so. Which didn't score me any points but that wasn't my purpose.

Do not be mistaken, Ann Coulter craves the attention she gets from slandering Democrats and their allies, she lives for it and thrives on the anger and frustration she sows. The very best response to her frenzied (and really pretty stupid) rantings is to look upon her with pity for her desperate ego need and then ignore her altogether.

To give her the attention she requires does not a thing but feed her insatiable appetite for more which explains why she's going further and further out on a limb with her insane ramblings. Calling a sitting Senator a faggot? Publicly wishing for his assassination? Wow, scrape that barrel, you pathetic harpie, scrape that barrel until all you get are the splinters you so richly deserve.

Labels: hate speech, politics

Did you see any of those brave photos of John McCain in the Baghdad bazaar? If you didn't then he put all those American soldiers and the Iraqi merchant's lives at risk for nothing. Oh wait, that's exactly what he did.

What McCain didn't mention—but reporters who tagged along clearly saw—was that he and others in his party (including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, other Republican acolytes of Bush's and McCain's "progress" myth) were belted in protective body armor, surrounded by perhaps 100 heavily armed and helmeted troops and surveilled by armed Army security helicopters orbiting overhead.

And there were no Iraqi soldiers present at all. If they wanted to send a message that the Iraqi's were standing up so the US could stand down, then they failed. If they wanted to show what big, tough politicians they are, they failed. If they wanted to create an absolutely bullshit waste of time and resources and lives (the bazaar was bombed by the insurgents within 36 hours of the visit) then they succeeded as only John McCain can.

I used to respect McCain for surviving his ordeal in Vietnam and I still do respect that strength. But I expect a lot more than a lame dick photo op in an Iraqi bazaar to convince me of his worthiness of the most powerful seat on earth. In fact, his op has very capably demonstrated just how unfit he is to lead. Did he think twice about putting all those soldiers and merchants at risk? Did he care that he was the reason the bazaar was bombed the next day? Nope. He needed to boost his sagging poll numbers so damned the troops and damned the Iraqi merchants.

As a politician, he is an absolute pandering scumbag without any concerns about ethics or morals in achieving his goal. He has a slightly better chance at the Oval Office than I do.

Labels: John McCain, politics

I was just watching Tony Snow take questions from the press about the "generous offer" by the President to allow Meirs and Rove to be interviewed while not under oath to tell the truth.

Aside from doing nothing but dodging, ducking, weaving and volleying and not actually answering any questions to any semblance of satisfaction, he makes me want to physically smack him in the face. Scotty Mac didn't really do that, he evoked sympathy, Tony Snow evokes outright dislike and leanings towards outright smackdowns.

But that would be thuggish.

Labels: politics

President Bush thinks you are a drooling fool. He thinks you should be happy and satisfied with his assurances and the testimony of Karl Rove and Harriet Miers without having them swear to tell the truth.

Which is, effectively, having them swear to lie.

Without the oath any testimony is garbage. Without the oath they might as well be singing showtunes.

The Bush White House fired 8 federal prosecutors not for poor job performance but for poor Bush-sucking-up performances. They were told to target Democrats for investigations more than Republicans, they refused to play ball with the partisan wankery and got canned.

And that is wholly and irredeemably politically-based.

But Mr. Bush thinks we should all be happy little sheep and just accept whatever terms and conditions he wants to lay on any discussion or investigation into this latest scandal.

Mr. Bush, respectively, go fuck yourself. You are without a moral, ethical bone in your body and you have done little but lie to the American people for the last six years. The noose is closing around your administration and you will be lucky to avoid its grip.

Alberto Gonzales should be cleaning out his office by now, he's done. Karl Rove should be thinking about his next job, he's done too. Bush? He won't be impeached because that would leave us with Big Dick and nobody, not even the Republicans, wants to see that sick, mean bastard in power.

Testifying without an oath to tell the truth is a joke. I'm glad the Democrats aren't willing to accept these ridiculous terms and will force them to either give up their info or go to jail and they will probably end up doing both. Which is fine.

Labels: bush, politics, scandal

or, Accountability Ain't Just a Word Anymore, Mr. Bush!

Power shift puts Bush team on defense amid scandals about the conditions at Walter Reed and the political firings of 8 federal prosecutors (who had been pressured to investigate Democrats specifically by the GOP leadership).

This is why this country needs it's checks and balances. If the Republicans had retained their strangehold on the reins of power then none of this would be happening. Alberto Gonzales would not be fighting for his job (which he will lose within the next two weeks). Karl Rove would not be being forced to testify. Ol' Rummy wouldn't have been fired. More and more skeletons and scandals are going to surface and ShrubCo doesn't have the juice to shush them away with lame lies and smarmy charm anymore.

Our country needs the checks and balances of a two party system. And now, now the rats are scurrying away from the sinking HMS Bush like the filthy rats they are. Everyone wants to distance themselves as far as possible from these craven, partisan wankers who have steered our nation into very dangerous waters.

Bring on the indictments, bring on the trials, bring on the prison sentences. Hold these crooks responsible and accountable for their crimes against our country and against the world.

I dare George Bush to pardon Scooter Libby. I double dare him. The flameout will be all the more spectacular that way.

Why yes, yes I am pleased that accountability has been re-introduced into Washington. It is about fucking time!

Labels: bush, politics

Just a short note to a longer post on IP Politik about Ann Coulter losing advertisers on her site because of her most recent hate-speech about John Edwards' sexuality.

It won't change her in anyway but that's alright. It feels good to know that others in the world find her as thoroughly reprehensible as I do.

Labels: advertising, coulter, politics