13 posts tagged “politics”

America did a good thing turning out for the vote yesterday. Group hug!

Just wanted to note that fools like Limbaugh and Coulter have lowered the bar for discourse in politics, and they really don't deserve to be labeled as Americans. Our country wasn't founded on calling names, or shooting below the belt, or blindly washing over the truth with a sensationalist brush and calling it "reality."

So Anne and Rush, you're more un-American than Stalin, Lenin, and Krushev combined. If your brains weren't clouded by the piles of cash your ugly mouths barf up, you'd realize this. Instead, you're trying to influence policy in a similar manner to Hitler: using bigotry and reactionism. Nicely done! See you in hell.

So right now "regular voters" are asking questions of politicians on the television. OMFG! Call the internets! Wait, that's YouTube videos-- the very same from the "Person of the Year 2006" in TIME magazine-- ME! Well, not me, but us. We, the scraggly, the confused, the stupid, the rich, the poor, the dull, the savvy...

In other words, anyone who isn't a politician or a journalist. Because, let's face it, they aren't like us. They are Holy Men (and Women). They are special. They are magic (like Jesus and Harry Potter). They make rainbows from farts and shit ambrosia. Yes, we are SO lucky to have them vetting our pedantic, foolhardy questions. So lucky are we to be here on this mudrock with them, for what would we do without their golden light shining through the darkness?

Like a bat takin' a pee.

Yes, the CNN hypemachine is in overdrive tonight, pretending that the YouTube questions, from regular ol' Joe Jackasses like me'n'you is some astounding spectacle without precedent in the history of mankind.

Except, like the dim bulbs that dreamed this up, it isn't. In fact, back in the day politicians regularly were shouted at, spat upon, and, SHOCK asked questions by regular Americans. Even more shocking is that we didn't have Anderson Cooper there to moderate our silliness. Thank you, fourth estate, for saving us from ourselves! Won't someone think of the children???

Didn't we do this already? Town hall anyone? Lyceum? Friggin' whistle-stop tours? Yes, and before that and before that and before that... back in the pre-dawn of man, long before the internet made jackasses relevant, before Anderson coiffed his pearly mane, democracy took root and flourished. It was direct, sometimes ugly, but always relevant.

Now we act like the damn internet is some strange bird from another galaxy. Poke and prod it like the apes in "2001: A Space Odyssey." At least, the media still treats it as such. iCaught! oooo, you too can send in crappy, shaky videos of your friends stealing money! Lame. Look, TV, you are mass media. Enough with the "Daily Web vid" and "Looksee, we surf The Internet too!" Guys, your style guide says to Capitalize the Word Internet as Though It Were Someone's Dad. It isn't. It is internet, and web, and email. Lower case, these are tools. You don't cap hammer do you? English lives, you grow dusty, and pretty soon all we'll need you for are big shows like Lost, BSG and the like. So shut up, quit trying to "get it" like an old man trying to get some college tail, showing up in the freshman courtyard. You're creepin' me out.

And for you journalists still trying to comprehend what BCC: does? I spent 2 years in academentia learning your ways. I've observed you in your habitats. By and large, we may not be smarter than you, but we know a thing or two. And we citizen journalists aren't going to take your demeaning tone any more. Cokie Roberts was on NPR today sniggering her way through this debacle:
"(snicker) Some even wanted to VOTE on what questions were going to be asked tonight!" Direct quote.

This part I just made up (put on your fanciest, haughtiest air here):
"I KNOW, can you just IMAGINE Buffy? I mean it's dreadful, perfectly DREADful that these pissants, these commoners would DARE to address politicians. That's OUR job."

Yeah, you do great work throwing softballs and never asking follow-up questions if you get "the eyebrow"...

Get off your damn high-horse Cokie. We own your ass. Without us, you are nothing. One of my buddies saw you years ago, trying to claim the media doesn't set the agenda for discussion. WTF? Are you that clueless? So those headlines just randomly barf up on the page? What, exactly, do you think digg was set up to counteract? You people and your limited visions. Those who can't DO something, act like fucking journalists.

So yeah, 4th estate, you've been there for us in the past, and you'll maybe stick around a little longer, at least until Murdoch owns everything. But don't be so quick to count out the entire population of the United States. Last time I checked, we were here before you. And student of history that I am, I know that your crowd has seen much better company in the past. Perhaps you'd like to consider rehab? At the very least, stop to sign an autograph once in a while. I still can't shake that evil look Anderson shot me while sitting in Sushi Samba that morning-- get over it dude, you pull your pants up like the rest of us. Only with gold hooks I guess.

Yeah, well, the Dems are stuffing their pockets like everyone else in our New Land Grab Nation, and who should be surprised? We've really painted ourselves into a corner on every conceivable topic.

- Immigration: Dems have to pander to labor unions who oppose "jobs going overseas" and Reps have to shout "TERROR" like a bigoted Frankenstein all day to make a point. No one's winning anything here.

- Fiscal Policy: remember tax-and-spend Democrats? yeah, now we've got spend-and-spend Republicans and hide-the-cheese Democrats. None of US are seeing the money, but their corporate buddies get bigger severance packages every year and corporate welfare is at an all-time high. Say, how much does gas cost again?

- Personal Rights: don't forget, TERROR! So yeah, we're going to need you to keep that phone line open so we can listen in, ok? Ah the Dems are OK with you being a private nutjob, unless of course you want to hack your digital TV so you can record your shows on VHS. Then, I'm afraid, they put you in Copyright Violators Jail, which is under the jail where they put the pedophiles.

Now let's all forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream!

So Bush has what, 18 months left? And we're JUST NOW launching an investigation into Karl Rove? Come on! Within a few months of Clinton being in office the shitstorm began-- investigation after investigation, from Whitewater to haircuts, bj's to damn near anything else the man did... But Rove has orchestrated a near Theocratic dictatorship and we're gonna get to the bottom of it in a year? Yeah, right. Nothing much will come of this, and it smacks of political parlay. Make a little noise to pretend you're "keeping it real" and that'll make us trust Republicans again, somehow.

In other news, Rush blames Cho's actions on his "being a liberal" and a Republican congressman from California admonishes a crowd, saying he hopes they suffer from a terrorist attack because they dared groan when he made an asinine comment in a hearing. Oh, and the Army lied about so many things even the Army can't keep track.

Times like this make me want to get into politics... a truly scary thought indeed.

US AG Gonzalez sez about the firings of several US attorneys... Yeah, he should have. As in, "I wish we could fire anyone we deemed politically unfit for our purposes."

I used to make a habit of knocking baby boomers, but right now I'm feeling pretty unfriendly towards my own generation... How bad does the Bush administration have to desecrate our Constitution before there is any outcry whatsoever? I mean, if you look historically, this administration has done so much to trample the rights of Americans, to undo the last 50 years of political progress.

In terms of freedom personally and financially, we are MUCH worse off now than we were 10 years ago. Ask the people who got shoddy loans and are having their houses taken away. Ask the military wife who had to sell blood to buy her kids Christmas presents (don't bother asking the guy who runs the factory making unusable body armor though-- he just threw a $10 million bat mitzvah for his daughter). Ask the millions who are back on government assistance (remember, Clinton took the roster down to a 30-year low). Ask the accountants in the Treasury who witness our huge debt to foreign nations...

Absolutely chilling what is happening in DC, and only slightly more frightening how we aren't responding with outrage.

Politically speaking, that is. 2008 will be a dirty, nasty, bloody political year. 2007 is already showing up as pretty ugly, but it's gonna get a lot worse. Think about this:

Democrat: you've got a black man versus a woman. Completely splitting the party between two hopeless causes. Trailing in a distant third is probably the only guy who could get elected: John Edwards.

Republican: this really gets nasty. Because you've had the religious right slowing taking over the party, and this year the schism will hit the fan. Giuliani is no friend of the neocons, and Mitt Romney is as wacko religious nutjob as it gets. So all those good vibes the 'pubs were feeling these past 8 years? Totally gone.

Whoo boy, we have a long road to the White House. It'll be littered with the debris of hate, racism, sexism, intolerance, greed and disgust. Brace yourself.

So I'm trying to show a stupid little video (no really, the video is silly) on here. Two attempts, no luck. Vox is apparently choking on video, because my wife has been trying to upload some videos of the kids for a couple of days, and they never even finish. At least mine will "upload" but never gets "processed" on Vox's end.

Therefore I added this to YouTube, a known entity, and I'm linking it on here. It was supposed to be shown in the post below this one, and it's a somewhat inelegant political satire... of sorts. The point will be immediately obvious to anyone who listens to the news once a month.

Think about it, won't you?

NOTE: this video, 5 days later, is still unavailable... What gives?

Continuing their allergy to votes, the Dems are staring 2 un-electable candidates in the face as "top contenders" for the 2008 race. I like Obama. He's smart (despite a nicotine addiction, but we all have our flaws), he's capable, and for a politician, he is practical-- a rare blend. He's also a rare blend of unfortunate last name and mixed heritage. Sadly, this is a deadly combo in today's political market. Last week I received an email from one of my "head in sand" sorta-relatives proclaiming, with great "evidence" and thunder: Obama is a closet redical Muslim! This is the kind of crap you can't shake if you drive to any construction site in the country. The blue-collar backbone of the democratic party just won't "get" Obama.

And then there's Hillary. If Bill thought he had it rough, I hope he's taking some strong meds-- Hillary's character assassination will be legendary, historical even. And I'll tell you, there's no way I'm voting for Hillary myself. She's an ideologue in the same way the top Republican contenders are, and that's the last thing our country needs (having spend nearly 8 years under one).

Boy, this is going to be a very depressing political landscape... Someone tell the Democratic leadership to stop the madness, please? Or we're going to be a debt-laden, militarized theocracy before you know it. Just wait until Bill O'Reilly is Press Secretary.