It's All Downhill from Here

Whiling away the hours

2012-01-20T14:14:00.003-05:00

The words of one of my college professors from 15+ years ago came to mind just now. "Are we just whiling away the hours until we die?"

It seems to me that life is meant to be enjoyed, but sometimes short term pleasure, something that's amusing for awhile, leaves nothing. Is it worth it because "a moment enjoyed is not wasted" as a popular video gaming website likes to say? Perhaps.

Yet what did I gain out of several years in my 20s when I was practically addicted to online role-playing games? I usually enjoyed it, but on the other hand, I don't spend much time telling people about all those great times we had back then staring at a computer screen. Mind you, it's no worse than many other activities people do to fill their time. Plenty of people go home and stare at the television screen for hours every night.

"Moderation in everything" also comes to mind. Then again, some people become truly great at something by doing it obsessively and they seem to like it that way.

Amusing Ourselves to Death. Great book title. "Kill the spirit, sell the flesh, we amuse ourselves to death." Words from a song by Bill Mallonee.

No answers... just musings...

Youth on Wall St

2011-10-04T19:46:00.003-04:00

For the many young people spearheading protests on Wall St. and now in many other cities:

Your energy can be the engine for change.

Money Rules

2011-09-30T00:12:00.003-04:00

If there was any silver lining in the disastrous Supreme Court ruling on the Citizens United case, the case that opened the floodgates for unlimited individual and corporate donations to political action committees, it was that who donated and how much they donated had to be disclosed.

Tonight Stephen Colbert humorously, yet depressingly for those of us who still give a damn about good government, demonstrated how those donations can be rendered completely anonymous. Bonus: It's sooooo easy. Start with the SuperPAC such as Karl Rove's American Progress, an organization that must disclose all donations given to it. Then simply add a shell corporation under a legal designation called 501(c)(4). Rove's shell corporation is called Crossroads GPS. The corporation can take unlimited anonymous donations from individuals and corporations, then spend the money directly on "issue-oriented" political advertisements, OR give the to the SuperPAC. All the SuperPAC has to disclose is that it received the money from the shell corporation, thus completely shielding all contributors.

To show how easy the process is, Colbert created a shell corporation to gather anonymous donations, creatively named Anonymous Shell Corporation, to go with his already created SuperPAC.

S&P credit downgrade proving insignificant

2011-08-08T14:44:00.003-04:00

Interestingly, S&P's credit downgrade of US debt is not looking like near the disaster many expected.

The headlines today are full of declarations that stocks are falling because S&P downgraded US debt from AAA to AA+. These headlines are simply wrong. The stock market is not a measure of investor confidence in the US's ability to repay its debt. The interest rate the nation must offer on its treasury bonds to attract buyers is that measure. If investors have less confidence in our nation's ability to repay its debt, that interest rate will rise.

The exact opposite is happening. Interest rates on US treasury bonds fell today. People are selling stocks and buying US treasury bonds, still considered the safest place in the world to keep money.

Of greater concern to investors is the Euro-zone economic crisis that's showing no signs of letting up. Of greater concern to the US economy as a whole is the continuing high joblessness and underemployment rates as well as the stagnant growth rate.

By the way, why are we listening to credit rating agencies like S&P? They completely destroyed their credibility by being a major cause of the 2008 financial collapse. They gave AAA rating after AAA rating to the mortgage backed securities that were pure, toxic garbage. They handed out these absurdly high ratings because they were competing with one another for income from the very banks that were selling the mortgage securities and paying the rating agencies to rate them. They're corrupt profit mongers with no credibility. The S&P gave Lehman Brothers an A rating right up to the month of its bankruptcy. They're morons. Krugman has more today on this topic.

Speaking of government spending and deficits during a bad economy, we've been here before and massive budget cuts is not the answer. Facing criticism of high deficits, FDR slashed his New Deal programs in 1937. The unemployment rate had dropped from well over 20% to 14% in the prior few years. In a matter of months after he slashed the New Deal programs, it was back up to 19%. After about a year, FDR realized his error and worked to restore the program funding. The result? The recovery began anew.

2011-07-30T13:52:00.004-04:00

Harry Reid's debt ceiling bill is very similar to Boehner's bill before the latter's most recent idiotic revisions made at the behest of the moronic teabaggers in Congress. Reid gives Republicans almost everything they wanted. Nevertheless, all 43 Republicans in the Senate have signed a letter, released on Saturday, saying they will not vote for a Democratic plan to raise the debt limit.

Letter I've sent to Senator Dick Lugar, which I'm sure won't do any good:

"Reuter's today: "All 43 Republicans in the Senate have signed a letter, released on Saturday, saying they will not vote for a Democratic plan to raise the debt limit."

Why? Harry Reid's bill gives the GOP almost everything they wanted. It is quite close to Boehner's bill before his most recent revisions made at the behest of the radical, economically ignorant tea party backed House members. I had some hope for the Senate, but your latest foolish actions have destroyed it. Your party is willing to drive the country off a cliff.

Why is the GOP utterly unwilling to compromise? Raising the debt ceiling shouldn't even be up for debate. The money is already committed and you know it. The US government has agreed to pay. Not doing so means a default and that would be catastrophic. Those who think otherwise are stunningly ignorant. Stop this ridiculous game of chicken and get a compromise bill.

Poll after poll shows that a strong majority of Americans want a bill that combines spending cuts with revenue increases. Harry Reid took even modest tax increases and tax loop hole closure off the table in an attempt to get GOP votes. You've still refused.

Meanwhile the GOP controlled House is pushing a terrible, extremist bill that will never pass the Senate and will not be signed by the president. What a waste of time! Also, ask most any economist how smart a balanced budget amendment would be. It's a horrible idea.

Despite some policy disagreements, I once had great respect for you, Senator Lugar. No longer. Your actions in lockstep with the rest of the GOP senators absolutely disgust me. Think of the country's well-being and get your house in order. The nation can't afford the increasingly far right wing insanity that now dominates the once reasonable GOP."

US likely to lose AAA credit rating

2011-07-26T14:17:00.003-04:00

Yep, we're already likely to lose our top credit rating, which will amount to a huge tax on the American people as interest rates go up across the board. On top of that, if the debt ceiling impasse continues, we will default on our debt, triggering an economic collapse of immense proportions.

You bear the responsibility for this disaster, Republican lawmakers. You are pathetic. You're playing chicken with the nation's economy in an attempt to get your demands met, demands that should be debated during budget talks, not when the full faith and credit of the US government is on the line.

For the sake of the US economy, the debt ceiling must be raised. It should not be contingent on the GOP's ridiculous demands. It should simply be done. Budget haggling is for another time. Economists know that a default would be a total disaster for the US economy. Since the GOP refuses to compromise, even after Obama and the Democrats in the Senate have offered concession after concession, far more than they ever should have, and even when poll after poll shows that a strong majority of Americans want a compromise solution with spending cuts and tax increases, I can only conclude one or both of the following are true:

1) GOP congressmen do not give a shit about the country.
2) GOP congressmen are too ignorant to begin to understand the massive consequences of the political game they are playing.

These two options are not mutually exclusive.

Once again the GOP is proving that they are an ignorant, broken party hell bent on destroying what's left of the United States in order to please their wealthy friends.

There was a time when we had two major, worthwhile parties in this country. That time has passed. The GOP is worse than worthless. They are destructive to the nation and everyone in it except for a wealthy few. I hold out little hope that what needs to happen will ever happen, but we need another major political party, better yet more than one, but at least one to replace the ignorant, anti-intellectual, far right wing disaster that is the Republican party.

Gov Christie's bizarro world

2011-05-24T12:35:00.003-04:00

In a New York Times story about New Jersey, where the state supreme court has to order the governor to stop screwing over poor people so much, I found this line:

Gov. Chris Christie, whose efforts to rein in school spending and teachers’ salaries have ... helped establish him as a leader in national education circles.

Slashing education funding and teacher salaries makes one a leader in education circles? Welcome to bizarro world.

Senate keeps tax breaks for the world's most profitable companies

2011-05-18T10:28:00.002-04:00

Today our sorry excuse for a legislative body, the US Senate, blocked a bill to repeal $2 billion in tax cuts for Big Oil corporations. This move is despite an analysis, mentioned in the article, indicating that the move would not raise prices at the gas pump. It's also despite the fact that the GOP especially is insisting that we need massive budget cuts and is totally fine with doing that on the backs of the poor and middle class.

Yeah, guess which party blocked the bill? They can't let their hugely profitable corporate buddies bear any costs, but screwing over most of the actual citizens of our country is fine. Welcome to the GOP.

How the media tried to string us along about Trump

2011-05-17T09:17:00.001-04:00

This article shows just how pathetic our media is:
Was he ever serious? How Trump strung the country along, again

Myself and so many other people knew that Trump's supposed flirtation with a presidential run was bullshit. We talked in various forums about how it was certainly a publicity stunt and there's no way he was going to actually run.

Yet despite how obvious this fact was, the media went on and on about him, breathlessly covering his every utterance as though he were a serious presidential contender. Polling results indicate that many Republicans took him seriously and actually supported his run, but let's put the blame where it belongs. They took him seriously because so much of the media took him seriously, idiotically giving Trump all the attention he wanted and more. Attention, after all, was the whole point.

A voice of reason

2011-04-28T11:34:00.001-04:00

From a comment under this Politico article about the birther crap, we have proof that at least one reader of that site has some sense:

Why can’t the media just accept that a good plurality of conservatives in this country are clinically insane? Their brains have been rotted by 20 years of nonsense AM radio and Republican hyperbole. Once upon a time, it was just the communists that lurked under every bed — since 9/11, it’s become Arabs, Muslims, and ever since the dixiecrats gravitated over the Republican party – the blacks, too. Why is the 80% of the country — some liberal, some moderate, some actually even NON-crazy conservative — are forced to play games with the stupid 20%? I’m not advocating for any sort of quarantine or worse – I’m just asking why can’t we ignore them? When Republican politicos kowtow to them because they know they need the crazy vote to win, why can’t we just call them out and shame them? Why does our nation need to deal with millions of people that are just too stupid to deal with? Let them stand on their streetcorners – both virtual and real — ringing their bells of crazy, wearing their sandwich boards of crazy, and shouting their crazy nonsense. Ignore them. Look the other way. Don’t give them their loose change. Don’t talk to them – lord knows they’ll just follow you home, yammering nonsense about secret Muslim FEMA camps hellbent on bringing gay atheist socialism to America, stealing your guns, your bibles, and whatever idiotic tripe pops into their diseased heads.

On debt ceiling, tell GOP to f**k off

2011-04-11T10:44:00.002-04:00

We can argue about the federal government's debt for years on end and we have. We can debate what should be cut, how, when, etc. However, one thing we cannot do is fail to raise the debt ceiling. The government has obligations to pay that will force the debt to continue to rise when we reach the current debt limit in mid May. There is absolutely no getting around that fact, no matter what spending cuts are proposed or passed. It's going to happen.

Now if the debt ceiling is not raised, the government will default on its debts by early July. That would be an economic catastrophe on an immense scale, one that would destroy our economy. No one who gives a damn at all about our country wants that to happen, at least no one with a functioning brain cell. Yet the GOP is promising a huge fight over raising the debt ceiling. Boehner says they won't raise the ceiling "without something really, really big attached to it".

In other words, the GOP's message to America is: Do what we want or we will destroy the economy. They are fools, scum, or both and they want to play chicken with the economy. The Democrats should grow spines and tell them to go fuck themselves. The GOP won't commit the economic suicide of allowing the United States to go into debt default.

Republican riders in the budget bill "compromise"

2011-04-07T17:21:00.002-04:00

Here's a list of riders the GOP House has added to the budget bill. As will quickly become apparent, they largely have jack and shit to do with the budget. The main focus is to gut health care and destroy the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as satisfy a host of other Republican dreams to turn the United States into a hell hole.

There was a time when the policy disagreements and resulting compromises between Republican and Democratic politicians were a vital part of ensuring the creation of good public policy. That time has passed. GOP politicians have become so extreme, so regressive, that they no longer represent a political party worthy of serious engagement in public policy debates. They are scum, plain and simple. They don't care about the country, the environment, health care, women, the poor, the middle class, or much of anything else except making the wealthy even wealthier. That's their goal. They should driven through the streets and run out of Washington like the swine they are.

Climate change answers

2011-03-04T12:04:00.002-05:00

Skeptical science is the best page I've seen for responses to climate change deniers claims. Responses often include several levels of detail via tabs depending on how in depth you want the information to be: Basic, intermediate, and advanced.

Libya

2011-02-21T22:34:00.001-05:00

It appears that thousands, not hundreds, of Libyans are dying. It's not Tunisia or Egypt. Gadhafi has vowed to crush the protests. I hope that the US government condemns Qadhafi's regime in no uncertain terms and that the regime falls soon.

Snowblind

2011-02-17T22:38:00.002-05:00

Think Harlem in the early '70s:

"Everywhere you look there is this new standard of cool. And you pick up on it. And if your man is stepping out of a Rolls Royce, you know he's doing something right. Add to that the fact that he's got knife wounds all over his body and in America you've got yourself a culture hero. Here is a guy so downright virile, and sure of it, he can afford to dress like a woman. He's wearing a monk coat, a contoured silk shirt and high-heeled crocodile shoes . . . he's got diamond rings up and down his hands . . . he's . . . the fucker's wearin' pearls! . . . He's got on a white felt hat with a brim as wide as the Astrodome . . . and maybe there's a feather in it . . . velvet trousers with a twenty-eight-inch flare . . . and shades . . . always shades . . . three A.M. and shades . . . he's got lace cuffs . . . and . . . Jesus Christ . . . a cane . . . with sterling silver brightwork. And the son of a bitch is six-four. He never bends his knees or his back . . . he folds at the waist . . . he pivots from the hips and struts like a bayou water crane. He has a tall, fragrant, fox-furred woman on either arm, calling him baby . . . or sir! And this motherfucker's wearing a sixteen-hundred-dollar, gold and ivory, emerald-encrusted coke spoon around his neck.
Step aside, suck-er.
Now, you know your girl friend is going to be in bed with him tomorrow. All day. Broadway Joe has let you down. Budweiser is a thing of the past. You have been sold down the river. And all you can say is shit . . . suck-er."

From Snowblind: A Brief Career in the Cocaine Trade by Robert Sabbag.

Walk like an Egyptian

2011-02-04T10:13:00.002-05:00

No filibuster reform. Again.

2011-01-27T10:36:00.002-05:00

Once again the Senate has refused to reform the badly broken filibuster rules. As such the de facto requirement of 60 votes to pass ANYTHING in the Senate will remain because the minority party is willing to rampantly abuse the rule and filibuster every damn bill of any importance whatsoever. In the last congressional term, Republicans once again blew away the record for most uses of the filibuster.

The Senate is a broken institution. Between the filibuster and senate holds, especially the controversial secret holds, their rules are easily abused yet they refuse to change them. The Senate is where meaningful legislation goes to die.

Screw this system. It's a disaster for a variety of reasons. We'd be better off with a parliamentary system, but of course that will never happen.

When Vultures Attack

2011-01-21T11:42:00.002-05:00

From Virginia we get this story about a vulture infestation and a father who didn't think his cunning plan all the way through:

Homeowner Scott Koehn had a bright idea to chase away vultures. He stepped outside his split-level home in northern Staunton with his son, Andrew, 9, and started firing paint balls into their roost in pine trees.

A single vulture sailed into action, swooping toward them. "It vomited on my son," Koehn said. "It was like a half pound of ground beef on his shoulder. It was so disgusting. We got it off him. Got his shirt off. And got him to stop screaming."

Bwahahahahahahahaha....

Yes, vultures do in fact defend themselves by projectile vomiting. Isn't nature beautiful?

Just thinking...

2010-12-28T16:53:00.002-05:00

Strength doesn't mean inoculating yourself against the painful moments of life. It means feeling every ounce of the pain and not letting it stop you, continuing to wear your heart on your sleeve and putting yourself out there again and again, thereby opening yourself more to the joyful moments and making the lives of those around you a little bit better.

So often I'm just not that strong.

"You sew your heart onto your sleeve
and wait for the ax to fall."
-- Bill Mallonee from his song "Skin"

Don't speak ill of the dead? Bah!

2010-12-14T13:50:00.002-05:00

"Bryan was a vulgar and common man, a cad undiluted. He was ignorant, bigoted, self-seeking, blatant and dishonest." -- from H. L. Mencken's obituary for William Jennings Bryan, July 27, 1925.

Read the entirety of perhaps the most vitriolic obituary written here.

For comparison, check out Hunter S. Thompson's brutal obituary for Richard Nixon. (May 1, 1994). Thompson held Mencken's work up as the standard to which he aspired on this piece.

Revolting scum versus spineless twits, the two party system in America

2010-12-06T23:48:00.005-05:00

All indications are that President Obama is going to cave to the GOP minority yet again. He will give them their tax cuts for rich people at a cost of $700 billion over the next ten years despite our gigantic budget deficits.

The congressional term isn't over. Democrats still have a huge house majority and 58 seats in the Senate, plus they have the Presidency. Yet again and again, they give in to the GOP despite the fact that it seldom gets them any GOP votes at all. The President appears to have a pathological need to "compromise" and after nearly two years still somehow hasn't figured out that the GOP's doesn't give a fuck about compromising.

The GOP's idea of compromise is "give us everything we want". The Democrats are too spineless to really fight them on it. Obama gives away compromises before debates even start. For example, he abandoned any advocacy for a public option in health care reform before the reform debate even began. The Democrats simply refuse to play hardball and that's all the Republicans play. Despite what Obama and the Democrats gave away on health care reform before serious debate even got going, they didn't get a single GOP vote despite ultimately passing health care reform that bears a strong resemblance to GOP proposals from the '90s. Naturally that resemblance didn't stop today's GOP from calling the bill a socialist nightmare. Newsflash: reality has nothing to do with GOP rhetoric. Center-right bills are labeled socialist and a President who bends over backwards to accommodate them is called the most liberal President ever.

The GOP congressional leadership has publicly stated that their #1 priority is to make Obama a one term President. That's right. Their top priority isn't jobs. It isn't improving the economy. It isn't ending the wars, improving health care, or any other actual issue effecting Americans. It's to get rid of Barack Obama at all costs. They vote against anything Democrats want simply to deny them a victory, regardless of whether or not a bill is good for the country.

The congressional GOP simply does not give a shit about the country. That's the reality. It's time congressional Democrats and President Obama woke the fuck up and realized it.

I'm sick and tired of having two significant political parties in this country, a far right wing party led by unrepentant scum who don't give a flying fuck about the country but fight tooth and nail, no holds barred for what they want and a center right wing party led by spineless twits including the President.

Congressional Republicans are assholes - more proof

2010-12-01T13:20:00.001-05:00

They are the minority. There are 42 Senate Republicans. All 42 have signed a pledge to block all progress in the Senate until their demands are met. The most important thing to them is extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, a measure proven to provide very little economic stimulus that will carry a price tag of $700 billion dollars over the next ten years. The GOP is against government deficits? bwahahahahahahahah.... pull the other one.

The Party of No strikes again. They don't care about the country. They're just assholes serving their wealthy corporate masters. They also want to make sure that nothing is accomplished by anyone with a D next to their names, no matter how helpful or just it will be. The GOP doesn't give a shit about just or beneficial bills. They just want to stop the Democrats.

p.s. Why can 42 senators out of 100 block everything? Easy. They will simply filibuster everything. The Senate is completely broken thanks to the rampant abuse of the filibuster and anonymous Senate holds. Since the Senate is broken, our government is broken as nothing can be passed without it.

The abuse of the filibuster means that a minority party that moves in lockstep as Republicans do can stop anything and everything they want.

Bigoted swine

2010-11-29T22:28:00.002-05:00

Congratulations, Lindsey Graham, John McCain and others... you continue to move the goalposts to support your blatantly bigoted stance in support of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

McCain and others originally claimed that if the military study to be released tomorrow on the policy said that the policy should be repealed, which it does, they would support that move. Now of course they say absolutely not. The goalposts have been moved again.

There is one inescapable conclusion here. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and others in the Senate are anti-gay bigots, plain and simple. Assholes.

Today's word is "Socialism"

2010-11-17T16:57:00.005-05:00

From Webster’s:
so•cial•ism
noun
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property
b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

These days opponents label the President a socialist. It’s grossly inaccurate and ignorant. To counter the claim, let’s look at an argument I heard recently that Obama’s passage of the health care reform bill makes him a socialist.

If Barack Obama is a socialist for signing HCR (a very middle of the road bill that uses many of the same ideas proposed by Republicans back in the ‘90s but that’s a different discussion), then the majority of congressmen and women are socialists since they voted yes. We also have to conclude that other socialistic government programs signed in the past make the congressmen who voted for them and the Presidents who signed them socialists. I guess we should include everyone in the United States who supports any of these programs too, socialists one and all.

Here’s a partial list of socialist programs in the United States:

Social Security – Signed: 1935. President: FDR (let’s also not forget FDR’s alphabet soup of government assistance programs including the CCC, the WPA, etc.)

Federal Unemployment Tax Act – Signed: 1939. President: FDR. This act is the basis for today’s joint federal-state unemployment programs. (As for the federal government financing extended unemployment benefits, George W. Bush did so in 2002-2003 and Barack Obama has done so now.)

Disability benefits added to Social Security – Signed: 1956. President: Dwight D. Eisenhower. (There have been numerous other amendments to SS signed by various Presidents over the years, but let’s move on.)

Medicare – Signed: 1965. President: Lyndon B. Johnson

Medicaid, food stamps, and welfare were also signed by LBJ.

Medicare-D – Signed: 2003. President: George W. Bush. This bill was a huge expansion of the Medicare program. Over the next ten years it’s expected to cost the federal government over $700 billion.

TARP – Signed: 2008. President: George W. Bush. The federal government bailout of Wall Street is a great example of a socialist action.

For the record, President Clinton signed welfare reform that cut benefits and led to a massive 60% decrease in the number of people on the welfare rolls. I guess he was the anti-socialist.

If we’re going to claim that Barack Obama is a socialist, at a minimum we need to label FDR, Dwight D. Eisenhower, LBJ, and George W. Bush socialists too as well as all of the congressmen and women who passed the bills above and everyone who supports any of these programs today.

Where were today’s “Obama is a socialist!” protestors when Bush was signing Medicare-D or the TARP bill or extending unemployment benefits? *crickets*. Huh. How about that?

The fact is that labeling any of these people socialists is asinine. Labeling the hundreds of millions of Americans who support one or more of these programs a socialist is equally asinine. You’re not a socialist for supporting these programs. You’re supporting a socialistic policy, but that’s not the same thing.

The United States, like every other first world democracy, is a mixed economy. That means it’s a blend of capitalism and socialism. Nations are at different points on the spectrum between capitalism and socialism, but almost any knowledgeable person would agree that the US leans more toward the capitalism side than most other first world democracies (most of Europe as well as Canada, Australia, etc.)

The “socialist” label implies someone who wants our system of government to be a socialist state, something that absolutely none of these Presidents wanted. Calling Barack Obama a socialist isn’t as stupid as calling him a Nazi, but I’d rank it up there with calling him a Muslim. Both claims are false and make the accuser look ignorant.

You know who else doesn’t think Barack Obama is a socialist? Actual socialists.

Idiotic GOP rhetoric

2010-11-17T14:52:00.002-05:00

Old clip from this past May... Newt Gingrich said "The secular-socialist machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did". Gingrich is referring to Obama and Democrats as the "secular-socialist machine".

Yet somehow there are people, as I learned last night, that still don't think political rhetoric is absurd and grossly exaggerated these days.

anonymous Senate holds

2010-09-30T23:06:00.002-04:00

So apparently our Senate rules are so fucking stupid that a single Senator can anonymously table legislation to keep it off the agenda, effectively stalling the legislation indefinitely. A billion dollars in aid to Haiti has been held since soon after the devastating earthquake. The anonymous Senator responsible? Coburn. Senator Coburn has single-handedly prevented the US from fulfilling its pledge to Haiti.

Obviously Coburn is a total scumbag, but what kind of system allows this to happen? Why the bloody hell do our Senate rules allow it? Between Senate holds and a filibuster that is so ripe for abuse it has made 60 votes the de facto requirement to pass anything in the Senate, our system is badly broken. The Senate is a joke. It's the place where legislation goes to die.

They actually think it's trickling down

2010-09-24T10:21:00.002-04:00

A new study shows that in a randomly selected survey of 5,522 Americans, we think that the wealthiest 20% of Americans own 59% of the wealth. The actual amount owned is 84%. It gets better:

"The respondents were presented with unlabeled pie charts representing the wealth distributions of the U.S., where the richest 20 percent controlled about 84 percent of wealth, and Sweden, where the top 20 percent only controlled 36 percent of wealth. Without knowing which country they were picking, 92 percent of respondents said they'd rather live in a country with Sweden's wealth distribution."

Yes, here in America many of us actually think the wealth is trickling down. I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or repeatedly facepalm.

Fact: Income taxes have decreased

2010-09-15T22:32:00.003-04:00

Since Obama took office, 98% of Americans have received a cut in their federal taxes. That's a fact. Fully one-third of the economic recovery act (the stimulus package) consists of tax cuts.

Yet despite these completely objective facts, 1/3rd of Americans think their federal taxes have increased, 50% think they have stayed the same, and eight percent,yes, 8, think that taxes have gone down. EIGHT.

The objective reality is that for 98% of Americans, their federal taxes have decreased. EIGHT PERCENT think they've gotten a tax cut that 98% have actually gotten. Unbe-fucking-lievable. Talk about an astonishingly effective campaign of disinformation by the right wing.

Fox fails again

2010-08-23T23:08:00.002-04:00

This morning Fox News complained that a man they think will fund the so-called "terror mosque" is the head of the Kingdom Foundation, a Saudi organization, and he supposedly funds radical madrassas all over the world. They claim that since this Saudi man supports the imam who wants to build the community center in Manhattan, it must be bad. The imam must be a radical.

What they didn't say was this Saudi man's name. Why? Because the guy, who's name is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, is the second largest owner of Newscorp shares next to Rupert Murdoch himself. Seriously. Without saying his name, gee I wonder why, they are demonizing the SECOND LARGEST OWNER OF THEIR OWN COMPANY. Unbelievable. To what idiocy will the people over at Fox News not stoop? We've yet to find it.

/facepalm

p.s. Al Qaeda absolutely hates the Sufis. They are considered apostates. The imam in Manhattan is a Sufi. In fact last month an Al Qaeda attack on a Sufi shrine killed scores of people.

2010-08-17T09:31:00.001-04:00

Another comment on the Muslim community center that won't be at ground zero and won't even be visible from ground zero, but people are going nuts about it anyway:

WHY THE F*CK ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT THIS SHIT?! There are far, far more important issues going on in this country, yet the news cycles have been completely dominated by this stupid f*cking issue for days on end! Let's talk about our wars or our shitty economy or health care or something that actually matters. Bloody hell. Americans are so easily led away from important issues to focus on trivial bullshit. Why do we even have news networks at this point? Mostly they just shovel shit. OMG! Look at what Britney Spears did today! Wow! Ooohhh... time to check CNN for the latest news on American Idol! Yeah, that's a great use for a news network, updates on a f*cking television show. Damn it all to hell.

Baaa-ah-ah-ah! Baaaa-ah-ah-ah! Feed me more mindless schlock. I hate thinking about stuff. Ow, my balls!

/rant

Sad that it's even an issue

2010-08-15T19:06:00.003-04:00

The media has been heavily covering the objections to the construction of a Muslim mosque community center two blocks from ground zero in Manhattan. How sad for our nation that it's a controversy at all. Islam did not attack New York on 9/11. A particular group of radical fundamentalists did. We are a nation of many races, ethnicities, creeds, and beliefs. Why are so many here in our great melting pot so willing to give in to bigotry? Polls are saying 70% are opposed to the mosque. Sad.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the Republican party is attacking Democrats over this mosque. As usual the Republican party is perfectly willing to encourage bigotry for their own political gain. It's sick. They are an embarrassment to our nation and I can only be disappointed that so many in my country go along with it.

By the way, there's already a mosque about four blocks from ground zero and it's been there since 1970.

On marriage

2010-08-13T04:09:00.002-04:00

My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed that what the judge said, that it was God's plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against peopl...e in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation's fears and prejudices have given way, and today's young people realize that if someone loves someone, they have a right to marry.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the 'wrong kind of person' for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about."

-- Mildred Loving 1938-2008
-- This quote is in reference to Loving v. Virginia, the case that struck down the laws that prohibited mixed race marriages.

Death Biscuits

2010-08-11T19:20:00.002-04:00

I bought some Jimmy Dean Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches. Maybe I should have read the packaging first. Each one of these things weighs just 3.5 oz. Into that little biscuit sandwich, they've managed to pack 330 calories, 29% of the fat RDA, 35% of the saturated fat RDA, 35% for cholesterol, and 39% sodium. I don't usually worry too much about that stuff, but damn! How did they manage to make a 3.5 oz item so unhealthy?

Jimmy Dean Death Biscuits. Catchy, isn't it? I suggest they rename this product!

Tax cuts for rich people > teachers and roads

2010-08-09T23:18:00.002-04:00

That's the Republican message to America today. They're opposed to a $26 billion package to help states and local governments do things like keep 140,000 teachers employed and not have to unpave their roads because they can't afford to maintain paved roads. However, Republicans congressmen are for keeping the Bush tax cuts for people making over $250,000 a year. Heaven forbid that the richest Americans would have to pay the tax rate they paid in the 1990's. Oh the HORROR! Maintaining those tax cuts will cost a hell of a lot more than $26 billion, by the way.

Te recap:
Tax cuts for rich people = GREAT
Keeping 140,000 teachers employed and many other services for average Americans = BAD

How do these clowns get any votes at all?

Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged

2010-07-22T10:27:00.000-04:00

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

-- John Rogers, from the blog Kungfu Monkey

Financial reform and news coverage

2010-07-21T20:35:00.002-04:00

Today President Obama signed into US law the most sweeping financial reform legislation since the Great Depression. Love it or hate it, it's a big deal. So about an hour ago, I checked some major news network websites to see what their top story was. Here they are:

CNN: USDA official's firing
NBC: USDA official's firing
CBS: USDA official's firing
ABC: Facebook CEO Zuckerberg Sits Down With Diane Sawyer (seriously, ABC?)
Fox: USDA official's firing
BBC: Obama signs financial reform law

Finally! I found a major news network website covering this legislation as their top story. Of course, it's a British website. Yeah, the news networks here are that pathetic.

Most of the networks are focused on the lady from the USDA who was fired after professional scumbag Andrew Breitbart released a deceptively out of context video clip portraying her as a racist. Surprise, surprise, Breitbart was full of crap. However, why is this story the lead? What impact will it have on the rest of us? The answer is none. None at all. On the other hand the financial reform law has the potential to affect all of us in some way in the years to come, even if we're not aware of it.

As for the ABC News site, I have no idea what they're thinking. Sawyer talks to Zuckerberg? That's your lead story, guys? Wow. Their second story is "Glenn Beck fires back at ABC News Goldline investigation". I can't even find any mention of the financial reform law anywhere on the main page of their website. Nothing.

So what's the best network news site for delivering American news stories that actually matter? The BBC. What's wrong with this picture?

Lieberman kills another health care reform compromise

2009-12-14T21:25:00.001-05:00

In 2000 campaigning with Gore, Joe Lieberman was for allowing people 55+ to buy in to Medicare. Three years ago campaigning for the Senate he was for it. He also spoke favorably of a public option. Three MONTHS ago he spoke favorably of that campaign stance.

Now no matter what the CBO says about the cost, Lieberman is against it. It's now being reported that the Democrats have come out of a long meeting with the Medicare buy in gone. This was supposed to be the compromise when the Democrats gave up on the public option because of Lieberman and a couple other Senators. Instead Lieberman killed it too.

Seriously, screw this guy. He's a hypocrite of the highest order, an embarrassment to the Senate and the people who voted for him because he lied off his ass to them. Even the party created for him after he lost in the Democratic primary in '06, Connecticut for Joe Lieberman, is now against him. Seriously. Follow the link. It starts with these words: "The Connecticut for Lieberman Party (CFL) rejects the fraud perpetrated on the members of this party and the citizens of Connecticut by Joe Lieberman". No, I don't know why they haven't changed their party name.

It's all possible because the Senate is broken. The filibuster is standard practice now and that's a recent development. Not so long ago it was rarely used. Now any bill must have 60 votes to get through the Senate. It makes the Senate an inherently conservative body and gives far too much power to backstabbing attention whores like Joe Lieberman. It allows the minority to thwart the will of the majority. It is quite simply a gross abuse of the legislative process.

More hypocrisy: In 1995 Lieberman co-sponsored a bill to get rid of the filibuster. He said the filibuster was wrong, created gridlock, and led to a tyranny of the minority. Yep, that's Senator Lieberman, serial hypocrite and liar.

Forget the supposedly filibuster proof 60 votes Democrats wanted. It's long past time to strip Lieberman of his committee chairmanships and tell him to get the hell out. What use is having someone in your party caucus if you can't even get their procedural vote on your most important legislation?

This is so stupid that I weep for America

2009-11-19T22:28:00.005-05:00

52% of Republicans think ACORN stole the election for Obama. Seriously. I do not have enough palms to apply to my forehead to do this level of idiocy any justice. I thought such an absurd view was on the fringe even in the GOP, but apparently it's the mainstream Republican view. Unbelievable.

Among Republicans, however, only 27% say Obama actually won the race, with 52% -- an outright majority -- saying that ACORN stole it, and 21% are undecided. Among McCain voters, the breakdown is 31%-49%-20%. By comparison, independents weigh in at 72%-18%-10%, and Democrats are 86%-9%-4%.

Once again, Republicans show that ACORN is their all-powerful boogieman, their Illuminati, if you will. They somehow believe that this underfunded organization that relies mainly on volunteers and low wage workers produced a 9.5 million popular vote, 365-173 electoral vote win for Obama.

In fact ACORN only registered 1.3 million new voters for the '08 election. Even if every single one of them was a fake registration and that fake person voted, it wouldn't have been enough. As it is, most of those registrations were legitimate. In a few areas there was evidence of voter registration fraud, which by the way is NOT the same as voter fraud. It means some bogus names showed up on registry lists and by the way, ACORN reported that fact themselves before the election as required by law. It does not mean that those fake people were then able to vote.

ACORN is simply not that powerful, people. Not even close. I don't know where you could possibly get the idea otherwise. Okay, I actually I do know where. I'm looking at you, Fox News.

Stewart spoofs Beck

2009-11-13T20:53:00.002-05:00

Another brilliant Daily Show bit, the best I've seen in a long time...
Last week Jon Stewart spoofed insane right wing conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck and it was beautiful.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The 11/3 Project

www.thedailyshow.com

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Full Episodes

Political Humor

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Hannity uses bogus footage to make DC rally look bigger

2009-11-11T18:21:00.002-05:00

Link o' the day

This one was a beautiful Daily Show moment and an example of Fox News's Sean Hannity caught deliberately lying. He's talking to Bachmann about her rally last Thursday in DC to protest against health care reform. Independent estimates put the crowd at 5-10 thousand. Of course Bachmann absurdly claims it was 20 to 45 thousand. Bachmann said it was a spontaneous, word-of-mouth rally. A prior Daily Show segment showed people talking about the dozens of buses arranged to take them to the rally. In other words, word of mouth, my ass.

But the crowd footage was the best part. Hannity switched from a shot of Thursday's rally to a crowd shot of the larger rally from September 12th and misrepresented the latter clip as being from this past Thursday. The sky went from clear to cloudy. The leaves were suddenly green again. It was blatant and pathetic.

Congratulations on the Tour de France

2009-07-26T09:51:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to the winner of the 2009 Tour de France, Alberto Contador. He was simply untouchable in this race. The Tour is grueling and the rider who has the best combination of strength and solid tactics always wins. That rider was Alberto Contador. Remarkably, he's now won the last four Grand Tours that he's entered.

Also congratulations to Lance Armstrong. He's almost 38 years old. Moreover he retired after his 2005 victory. To come back to cycling at his age and after such a long layoff and take a podium spot in the Tour de France is truly an amazing feat.

Finally, 24 year old Andy Schleck deserves credit for a fantastic ride that made him the runner-up. The Schleck brothers are a great cycling story and we can look forward to them going head to head with Contador for years to come.

Astana's top three

2009-07-20T14:52:00.002-04:00

As much as I hate to do it, I should move Armstrong to a long shot for the yellow. Not only does he have to make up 1:37 on Contador, he's also stated that he will support his teammate 100%. So unless Contador has an absolutely horrendous day in the mountains, so bad that Armstrong and Kloden go on without him, or he's really awful in the final time trial, Armstrong will not overtake him.

The possibility of an Astana sweep of the podium is still there. I don't know if they'll try it, but it would be spectacular to see Contador, Armstrong, and Kloden attack together up a mountain, setting a high enough pace that perhaps a few top riders could follow but none could accelerate past them.

Contador owns the mountain in stage 15

2009-07-19T19:09:00.004-04:00

Alberto Contador put himself in the yellow jersey and gained 43 seconds or more on all of his rivals in stage 15 today. It was Andy Schleck coming in second place at 43 down and everyone else 1:03 or more back. Armstrong admitted that he simply wasn't strong enough to keep up on the final climb. He lost 1:35 and sits in 2nd place at 1:37 down. I'm still holding out hope that he can pull off something amazing in this Tuesday's stage, but from the beginning the prospects of a guy who's almost 38 years old winning the Tour would be miraculous, even the best Tour de France rider in history. Don't count him out though.

Nibali and Wiggins continue to surprise and are still in it. Nibali's best prior finish in a Grand Tour was 11th place in last year's Giro. Wiggins has never had a strong Grand Tour finish. He was 71st in this year's Giro. Yet suddenly he's climbing very well and now in 3rd place at the Tour de France at 1:46 down. He's also expected to be very strong in the time trial whereas Andy Schleck probably needs to have the yellow jersey and about two minutes on Contador and Armstrong going into the time trial. Vande Velde lost a lot of time and trails by 3:59. 2009 Giro winner Menchov now trails by over ten minutes.

Contador is definitely in command now though. That's the big story.

Yellow:
Contador

Contenders:
Armstrong, A. Schleck, Wiggins

Long shots:
F. Schleck, Sastre, Kloden

Really long shots:
Evans, Nibali, Martin, Vande Velde

Forget about it:
Kirchen, Menchov

Leipheimer out of the Tour

2009-07-17T17:41:00.002-04:00

Levi Leipheimer broke his wrist in a crash near the end of yesterday’s stage and has had to withdraw from the Tour. Obviously it’s got to be hugely disappointing for him. He was in fourth place in the GC and one of Astana’s incredible four riders who have a shot at winning the Tour.

Cavendish won back to back stages again and made it four stage wins for this year’s Tour. He’s really cemented his position as the world best’s sprinter.

Other than Leipheimer’s injury, this week’s Tour stages have made little difference in the GC. Saturday and Sunday may be a different story.

Top contenders:
Contador, Armstrong

Long shots:
A. Schleck, F. Schleck, Sastre, Evans, Vande Velde

Really long shots:
Kloden, Kirchen

Forget about it:
Menchov

Dark horses:
Martin, Wiggins, Nibali (I consider them really long shots, but they've been impressive so far)

Tour ten stages in, Cavendish makes it three

2009-07-14T19:15:00.003-04:00

Cavendish won yet another bunch sprint to take his third stage of the Tour. What an amazing sprinter.

The last three stages have made little difference in the GC. I have to consider everyone but Contador and Armstrong a long shot though. I had A. Schleck up there with them, but on further consideration, he’s behind already and he’s weak in time trials, so he actually needs to put about 4 to 5 minutes into both Contador and Armstrong in the Alps to make up for the current deficit plus the time he’ll likely lose in the final time trial.

Other updates: Pereiro dropped out of the Tour. Added Nibali to dark horses. Again, Leipheimer and Kloden are longer shots than their performances suggest because they look to be riding on behalf of Contador and Armstrong rather than trying to beat them.

Top contenders:
Contador, Armstrong

Long shots:
A. Schleck, F. Schleck, Vande Velde, Sastre, Evans

Really long shots:
Kloden, Leipheimer, Kirchen

Forget about it:
Menchov

Dark horses:
Martin, Wiggins, Nibali (consider them really long shots, but they've been impressive so far)

Tour hits the mountains

2009-07-10T21:45:00.005-04:00

Stage 7 of the Tour de France was today and the Astana team continued their dominance, finishing the stage with four of the top six riders overall. They have so much talent that an Astana sweep of the podium in Paris is not out of the question.

Armstrong and Contador are now just two seconds apart in 2nd and 3rd place. First place has six seconds on Contador, but is not a General Classification (GC) contender, so we can expect him to drop in the coming stages.

Armstrong did exactly what he said he would do before stage 7: “I know Alberto wants to assert himself in the race. I don’t need a team meeting to tell me that. I know he’s ready to go. If he does – and no one can go with him – I will just hang back and stay with the other leaders.”

Contador attacked near the end of the stage. Evans looked like he might follow and Armstrong got on his wheel. When it quickly became clear that Evans wouldn’t be able to keep up with Contador, Armstrong stuck with Evans and other top GC contenders. Wiggins even thought it looked like Armstrong might have had the legs to follow, but chose to block for his teammate instead. Interesting. I can't imagine Armstrong has given up his own hopes for a Tour win just yet, but he might be planning to make a go of it late in the race if he's still close to the yellow jersey.

Here's how I see the chances of the top contenders coming into the Tour after the first mountain stage:

I rank Leipheimer and Kloden lower than perhaps their times would suggest. That’s because they would have to beat their teammates Contador and Armstrong to win and not only would that be very difficult, but so far it looks more likely that they will work for the top two instead. As for all but Armstrong, Contador, and Andy Schleck being long shots or worse, I'm just saying it's going to be very difficult to put time into Contador and Armstrong and that's what all the other contenders have to do now. Andy Schleck is a great climber and is rapidly maturing as a rider. Two years ago at the age of 22 he was runner up at the Giro. I give him the best shot of getting a break on the Astana pair.

Top contenders:
Contador, Armstrong, A. Schleck

Long shots:
Vande Velde, Leipheimer, F. Schleck, Sastre, Evans

Really long shots:
Kloden, Kirchen

Forget about it:
Menchov, Pereiro

Dark horses:
Martin, Wiggins (consider them really long shots, but they've been impressive so far)

Today's facepalm

2009-07-08T22:52:00.003-04:00

Keith Olbermann just mocked, justifiably, a state congresswoman who when talking about uranium mining in her state that "the earth has been here for 6,000 years". Olbermann went on to point out that one of the reasons we know the earth is billions of years old is because of dating using uranium decay rates. So far so good, Keith. But then he added that this was "carbon dating", blah blah blah...

*facepalm*

Really, Keith? We use uranium to do carbon dating? Guess again. To do carbon dating, we use... wait for it........ carbon! sigh.

Stage 3 of the Tour de France – Armstrong steals time!

2009-07-06T18:12:00.001-04:00

First, here's a link to the stage results from Velonews.com.

It’s amazing to me that in a flat stage the peloton let a general classification contender get away in the break and gain time. Other than the time trials, the mountain stages are all that were expected to matter for the GC. That makes today a really big day for Armstrong. If it took more energy than he’d expect to spend on a flat stage, that should be alright. As long as he holds up well in tomorrow’s team time trail, more flat stages to come will give him time to recover in the peloton without much chance of losing time so he’ll be ready when the Tour reaches the mountains.

It remains to be seen if Armstrong can truly contend for the top spot in the mountains at almost 38 years old. He didn't quite have the juice in Italy, but the goal of his training has once again been to peak in France. Nevertheless, an incredible four riders on team Astana are considered capable of winning the Tour (Contador, Armstrong, Kloden, and Leipheimer) and it's surprising the peloton would let him get away in the flats.

Cancellara and Tony Martin are not considered GC threats. That effectively gives Armstrong the early lead among GC threats now.

I can't decide if the press is making too much of a possible Astana inter-team rivalry or not. The way the Astana team is so incredibly stacked with top riders came as a big surprise to me given Armstrong’s stated goal of winning the Tour de France. Yet then he joined a team that has four Tour contenders including the man, Contador, many think is the favorite to win. Armstrong won all of his previous tours as the clear team leader on teams that were built around him. This year’s Astana is rather a bizarre way to build the team.

If Armstrong can't hang at the top in the mountains and Tour favorite Contador can, it won't matter. They'll talk about how they're focused on the team and they'll push to give Contador the yellow. Yet if Armstrong is strong in the mountains, stronger than he was in Italy, things could get messy. He said he was coming out of retirement to win the Tour and I can’t imagine him taking a back seat to Contador if he thinks he has a chance of winning it all. What happens if we get through a couple mountain stages and Armstrong and Contador are 1 and 2?

What are Armstrong’s chances? Well, it's going to come down to whether at almost 38 years old he can still do it. When he won his seventh Tour, he was the oldest man to win the Tour de France since 1948. That was four years ago. In the mountain stages in Italy he was often one of the top ten or fifteen climbers, but he was consistently not one of the top three. He will have to be stronger. If anyone can win at his age, it's Armstrong, but aside from maybe his first win coming back from cancer, it will easily be the most miraculous of his Tour wins.

As for today's stage winner, Cavendish may well be the best sprinter in the world.

Teabagging sheep

2009-04-15T17:14:00.002-04:00

The right wing only cares about excessive government spending when Democrats are the ones doing the spending. Where were they when the Bush administration and the Republican congress (for six of the eight years of Bush) were doubling the national debt in eight years?

It comes down to this: the Republican party leadership only oppose government spending when the Democrats are doing the spending. Most of the people protesting today only oppose government spending when Republican leaders, radio blowhards, and Fox News tell them to care about it. People are sheep. Today some of the sheep went teabagging.

Moreover, many have no idea what they're really protesting. They're complaining about high taxes when the current taxes are the rates set by the Bush tax cuts. They're complaining about Obama's tax plan when the vast majority of them will get a further tax cut under his plan. Only the highest tax bracket will pay more, and they'll stay pay substantially less than the highest tax rate for most of Reagan's presidency. Ignorance reigns supreme.

Safety vs. Ideals

2009-01-21T18:00:00.000-05:00

As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

-- Barack Obama, 2009 Inaugural Address

Echoes of Nixon

2008-12-21T21:17:00.002-05:00

If you've watched much television at all lately, you've probably seen the advertisements for the movie "Frost Nixon". Included is the following famous exchange:
Frost: Are you really saying the President can do something illegal?
Nixon: I'm saying that when the President does it, that means it's not illegal.

It's a chilling statement of Nixon's megalomania, of his blatant disregard for rule of law.

Well today we have echoes of Richard Nixon from the mouth of Vice-President Dick Cheney in his interview with Chris Wallace.

Wallace: This is at the core of the controversies that I want to get to with you in a moment. If the president during war decides to do something to protect the country, is it legal?

Cheney: General proposition, I'd say yes.

Cheney goes on to defend the administration's actions in the war on terror and point out that the President doesn't need to check with anyone to launch a nuclear assault. Shortly thereafter he claims that the War Powers Act, which provides for some measure of Congressional oversight of the executive branch's use of the military, is unconstitutional. The full transcript is here.

Vice-President Dick Cheney continues to have a gross disregard for the checks and balances of our three branch system of government. He is unrepentant and even proud of violations of the law, the Constitution, and international treaty as evidenced by his continued defense of such abuses as warrantless wiretaps and torture. He should be prosecuted in a US court of law and if found guilty, imprisoned. Our nation suffers every day that Dick Cheney and people like him remain in power. We can at least be thankful that his time in office ends soon.

Couric interview will be easy because she's a woman?

2008-11-14T21:15:00.001-05:00

I heard today that Rick Davis, McCain campaign chief, is saying they thought Palin's now infamous interview with Katie Couric would be fairly easy because the interviewer was a woman too. Ok, so Davis and company are sexist. But my other thought was this: if I wanted someone who wasn't going to pull any punches with a woman, especially a woman who many people said was very attractive like Sarah Palin, I'd look for... ANOTHER WOMAN. Duh! Guys are much more likely to fall for their almost instinctive habit of taking it easy on a woman, moreso if she's pretty. Another woman isn't going to fall for that crap though. Send in a female interviewer though and she'll come out swinging.

NBC calls Indiana for Obama!

2008-11-05T02:25:00.000-05:00

That's right. It looks like for the first time in 44 years, Indiana has voted for a Democratic candidate for President. What a historic time to do it!

Yes we did!

2008-11-05T02:00:00.002-05:00

Tonight has truly been a historic moment, a defining moment, for this country. We'll tell our children and our grandchildren about it. It is our time. Let's make the most of it.

It's time for change

2008-11-04T08:34:00.001-05:00

Don't boo, just vote!

2008-11-03T22:52:00.002-05:00

As John McCain's campaign has grown increasingly negative in the final weeks and days, as rallies have become increasingly hostile, Barack Obama's message of unity has presented a sharp contrast. At many rallies like this one, when his supporters so much as boo at the mention of his opponent, Obama's message is this: We don't need that. Don't boo. Just vote!

Worst political ad ever?

2008-10-31T22:33:00.005-04:00

Elizabeth Dole is facing a very tough Senate race in North Carolina. This ad is definitely in the running for most disgusting political ad I've ever seen.

The voice at the end that sounds sort of like Dole's opponent Kay Hagan is absolutely not her. Hagan is in fact a Christian and active in her church. As for that "secret event" supposedly hosted by the Godless Americans PAC... it wasn't secret and it included over forty co-hosts including Senator John Kerry.

But the false implication isn't the worst part. What really pisses me off is that Dole thinks it's okay to attack her opponent's religious beliefs OR the lack thereof. Let's pretend, even though it's false, that the implication of the advertisement is true. Let's pretend Kay Hagan doesn't believe in God. So what? Can you imagine if the ad had instead attacked Kay Hagan for being Buddhist? "Kay Hagan attended a fundraiser by the Buddhist Americans..." *duh duh duh!* Or Hindu? Or Muslim? Oh wait, the Republicans do attack opponents with implications that they're Muslim, but they're usually at least smart enough not to come right out and say it in a campaign ad.

Then despite the outcry over this terrible advertisement, Dole released another ad trying to link Kay Hagan to the Godless Americans PAC.

No US politician at the national level would dare run ads attacking their opponent for being a different religion, but Elizabeth Dole thinks it's fine to attack them for not being religious. Disgusting. Hopefully this close race turns into a landslide for Kay Hagan.

Public financing system for Presidential campaigns is a joke

2008-10-30T23:41:00.003-04:00

The McCain campaign has made much hay out of the fact that Barack Obama chose not to stick with his original plan of taking public financing for the general election. The McCain campaign did take the $85 million in taxpayer money, which prohibited them from spending any more than that on the general election campaign. Obama did not and as has been widely reported, has raised far more money than that.

What's not mentioned as often is that both party's national committees can continue to raise money and spend as much as they want on behalf of their candidates. Moreover, and this one surprised me, they are apparently not limited to the $2,300 donations per person that the candidate's on campaigns are. So you can give $2,300 maximum to the McCain or Obama campaign, but you can dump far more into the coffers of the DNC or RNC if you so wish.

While Obama continues to finance his campaign primarily through small donations from what's now over three million different people, the McCain campaign is relying heavily on RNC money and they are getting it from... you guessed it, the wealthy few. In mid October the RNC held a fundraiser in NYC that brought in $10.6 million in a single night. More than 1,000 people paid $1,000 each for tickets to the main fund-raiser. Nearly 250 people who contributed $25,000 got dinner beforehand with Mr. McCain.

As of October 15th, the RNC and McCain campaign combined had $84 million, $20 million more than the DNC and Obama combined, and yes, the RNC spends a great deal of that money on supporting McCain.

So the ideas that public financing severely limits a party's Presidential campaign and that it prevents the negative influence of campaigns being financed by big donors are both utter bullshit.

Once in a generation

2008-10-27T22:14:00.004-04:00

While the McCain campaign seeks to divide our country into "real Americans" and everyone else, Barack Obama continues to give a message of unity and hope. He asks much of himself, but he asks much of the American people, too.

Obama speaking today in Canton, OH:

We only see a leader of this caliber once in a generation, if that. Let's vote November 4th and make sure this man has a chance to lead the United States of America.

John the Panderer

2008-10-21T11:26:00.003-04:00

Every time I hear the McCain campaign say "Joe the Plumber", I want to punch my television. It's such stupid, hokey, pandering bullshit. The McCain campaign doesn't like to talk to us like we're adults. Bob the Builder, anyone? They're actually trying to get tens of millions of people, 98-99% of whom will never make more than 250k a year, to get riled up about Obama's plans to raise taxes on those who make 250k or more and they're using populist rhetoric to do it. It's very much like how the GOP got so many people who will never, ever have to pay it to get upset about the estate tax.

Most of the poor and middle class Republicans getting mad about the estate tax and Obama's plans to tax the wealthy aren't upset because they don't think it's fair to tax rich people even though they themselves will never be rich. No. The problem is that so many people think that some day they will be that rich and they don't want to pay higher taxes then. It's a fantasy much like people who's retirement plan is to win the lottery. So as they've done in other recent elections, they will vote against their own self-interest because of this fantasy that they will be wealthy one day. Obviously for the vast majority, that day will never come.

The Republicans have successfully gotten people to vote against their own self-interest for several election cycles recently and the gap between rich and poor continues to grow. It's now at Roaring '20s and Gilded Age levels. Their efforts are less successful this year though because the economy is hurting so badly. It's harder for people to believe they will one day be one of those upper tax bracket wage earners when they're having trouble putting food on the table today.

It's too bad it takes a massive financial crisis to wake people up.

Undecideds scoring it for Obama

2008-10-08T09:35:00.002-04:00

CNN is also saying that undecided voters gave last night's debate to Obama and it's by a wide margin. The poll suggests that independent voters thought Obama won the debate. Fifty-four percent of those identifying themselves as independents said the Illinois senator performed best, with 28 percent saying that McCain did the better job.

So right now we have to assume that Obama will hold his current polling lead and possibly expand it.

No game changer at the debate plus more on the economy

2008-10-07T22:54:00.004-04:00

Quick comment on tonight's debate: the title says it all. We went into the debate with John McCain needing a game changer to reverse his recent fall in the polls. It didn't happen. There were no knockouts tonight for either side. Unfortunately for the McCain campaign, they need one to get back into the race.

Update: I've obviously already decided my choice for President. What really counts in the debates is what undecided people think. Once again in the CBS post-debate poll of undecided voters, Obama won.

516 people were polled. 40% said Obama won. 26% said McCain won. 35% called it a draw. The other main takeaway from the poll is this: Seventy-two percent of uncommitted voters remained uncommitted after the debate. Fifteen percent committed to Obama, and 12 percent to McCain. I'd have to say that's within the margin of error, but remember that McCain is behind overall and this reinforces the view that he didn't make up any ground tonight. We'll see what the polls show in the coming days.

On a different note, I've a little self-correction for a comment I posted a couple entries down. The acronym I was looking for related to the economic crisis is CDS, not CDO. The term is Credit Default Swap, and it has a great deal to do with our current crisis as banks were leveraged to the hilt on CDSs, which are a form of insurance on mortgages. Millions of mortgages were given out by brokers who had no significant stake in whether or not those mortgages went bad. Banks issued and traded CDSs backing those mortgages. Home values went down. Far more mortgages started going bad than what issuers and buyers of CDSs anticipated, and we got a huge economic crisis.

Of course it's more complicated than just the CDSs. For one thing, deregulation caused banking sectors that were previously shielded from each other to be thoroughly intertwined. Both parties bear some responsibility for that deregulation. One key example is when Republicans in congress pushed for a bill that gutted the Glass-Stiegel Act, which was originally designed to prevent another S&L crisis. However, Clinton signed it into law after the Republican congress passed it. One of the main architects of the repeal was Phil Gramm, a key economic advisor in the McCain campaign.

McCain has to run the table

2008-10-04T16:46:00.003-04:00

If the election were held today, John McCain would have to run the table on states that are tied or "barely Democratic" according to Electoral-Vote's latest tabulations. The states in question are North Carolina, which is a tie, plus Nevada, Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, and Florida. They're all listed as barely Democratic. He'd also need to hold on to Indiana and Missouri, which are currently barely GOP. Those are long odds.

Fivethirtyeight.com shows similar odds and calculates a 15.6% chance of a McCain win. It's also worth noting that the only Kerry state for which McCain is really still fighting is New Hampshire, and the latest two polls there showed Obama opening a double digit lead. He's still in Pennsylvania too, but has been trailing in most polls there by more than the margin of error.

Republicans have to hope for a major swing the campaigns over the next 31 days. Either that or they have to hope that all the polls are wrong. That seems unlikely. It would require a big Bradley Effect, or a superior turnout for McCain supporters at the polls. I'm very skeptical of the former having a significant impact on the race. The most recent Senate or gubernatorial races between white and non-white candidates show little evidence of such an effect. This isn't 1982.

As for getting people to the polls, for one thing Democrats still report a slightly higher level of enthusiasm for their candidate than Republicans, which should help their turnout. The bigger factor for the Democrats may well be the ground game. Democrats are way ahead of Republicans on registering new voters this year. Also, at least anecdotally from the guys at fivethirtyeight.com, who've visited numerous campaign offices around the country, the Obama campaign offices are consistently active and busy. The McCain campaign offices are consistently quiet. Even though the "enthusiasm gap" in the polls isn't huge, what people say over the phone doesn't appear to be jiving with what's being seen in the field.

VP debate

2008-10-02T22:53:00.003-04:00

Summary on Palin:

1. Palin said she wouldn't answer the questions.
2. Palin didn't answer the questions.
3. Palin loves to say the word "maverick".

Analysis:
Clearly the McCain campaign realized that Palin's problem in interviews was actually having to answer the question that was asked. They told her to forget about that. Just stick with your talking points.

The truly sad part:
My fear is that many, many people will react as Pat Buchanan did and ignore the fact that she didn't answer the questions and just stuck to her talking points. "She was sensational!" Word is that worked for her in the Alaskan gubernatorial debates.

On Biden:
For the most part he answered the questions. He attacked McCain but declined to attack Palin even when she went after him. At times he should have responded more to her points. He did outline Obama's tax plan, but a couple of times he didn't respond to it when Palin yet again kept repeating the obvious LIE that Obama was going to raise taxes for anyone but people making over 250k a year.

On the moderator: Very disappointing. Gwen Ifill didn't push the candidates to ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTIONS.

McCain blames Obama and other Democrats for bailout bill failure

2008-09-29T16:32:00.003-04:00

The bailout bill failed to pass the House today. The McCain campaign quickly blamed Obama and the rest of the Democrats in Congress. As usual, the McCain campaign is completely divorced from reality. Here are the facts on the House vote:

The vote failed 228 to 205.

Democrats: 140 for, 95 against.
Republicans: 65 for, 133 against.

And it's the Democrats fault? How stupid does McCain think we are?!

No clear winner and why it bodes well for Obama

2008-09-26T23:51:00.001-04:00

I don't think either candidate had a significant edge in the substance of the debate or in "scoring points" against each other. It just wasn't decisive one way or the other.

That said, I see two points that bode well for Obama.

Point one: Appearances. Where was McCain looking? As has been graphically illustrated repeatedly in this thread, Obama turned and addressed John McCain. McCain looked, I'm not sure where (at Lehrer?), but it wasn't at Obama. McCain threw some odd facial expressions while Obama was talking as well. I don't like the fact that appearances count so much in elections, but they do.

Point two: If any debate was going to play to McCain's strengths, it was this one, the foreign policy debate. Obama held his own and I don't expect to see much movement in the polls from this debate. The toughest night for Obama is now out of the way. He'll likely get stronger in the next two debates. Then there's the VP debate, which if Palin doesn't get it together better than she has in her interviews thus far, is going to be a bloodbath.

McCain cancels Letterman because of crisis

2008-09-24T21:35:00.002-04:00

Well, that's what ol' Johnny said anyway. It turns out he was just down the street talking to Katie Couric. Oops! Can this guy become anymore of a joke? Word is that Letterman tears into him for it. I'll be watching the show tonight.

He wants to postpone the Presidential debate so he can run around Washington pretending to solve the financial crisis in an effort to look more presidential. The crisis is a situation that other lawmakers have been working on all week in negotiations that McCain has had no significant part in at all. Harry Reid said today that he doesn't want either candidate there right now, dragging presidential campaign politics into the midst of tense, difficult, extremely time-sensitive negotiations.

Now the McCain campaign is saying they want to postpone the VP debate too. So let's recap:

They've been shielding Palin almost entirely from the press since her selection.
They got the VP debate format changed to have shorter answers and less time for back and forth between the candidates.
They now want to postpone both the presidential and vice-presidential debates.

It's very clear that the McCain campaign does not want to deal with any tough questions about major issues facing America. They want to make this election about the same old cultural wedge issues the Republicans have been using for many years now. It's their only chance to win.

It's the economy, stupid

2008-09-19T00:16:00.005-04:00

The disaster on Wall Street continues and the US government is planning a taxpayer funded rescue plan that's expected to cost at least $500 billion and quite possibly $1 trillion. Alan Greenspan called the current situation a "once in a century event". NY Times columnist and Princeton economist Paul Krugman was just talking about how serious this crisis really is on the Rachel Maddow show. Apparently current Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke and others told Congress today that if this rescue plan wasn't happening, we'd have the 1931 bank crash all over again. Literally no one would be able to get a loan and the economy would grind to a halt. The consequences, much like the Great Depression, would be catastrophic. Even with the government bailout, no one knows if it's going to be enough.

A Newsweek journalist just made an interesting point. "We are all socialists now." The bailout plan is necessary, but socialist in nature.

Campaign declares Palin above the law

2008-09-19T00:16:00.003-04:00

Add Sarah Palin's husband to the growing list of people associated with trooper-gate who will refuse to cooperate with the Alaskan legislature's lawful subpoenas. The McCain campaign had already said that Palin's aides would not be cooperating.

In other words, the campaign has declared the Palins above the law. They know that the next step for Alaska's state congress would be to hold anyone refusing the subpoenas in contempt, but congress won't reconvene until January, obviously well after the election.

The Palins have taken a page from the Bush administration in refusing lawful subpoenas. It worked for Bush's staff because Congress has no balls. It'll probably work for Palin too. It's just stunning that a candidate would do it though. When they finally get around to reconvening, the Alaskan legislature should start with holding all of these corrupt fools in contempt. Then assuming McCain/Palin loses the Presidential race, the next step should be to force Palin to cooperate with the investigation or kick her ass out of the governor's mansion. The end. If they somehow win the Presidential race, well, we'll have far bigger problems.

Inconsistency

2008-09-18T00:15:00.002-04:00

John McCain managed to contradict himself in a single day this week, truly an impressive feat! On Monday he said that "the fundamentals of the US economy are strong". Three hours later he said, "the fundamentals of the US economy are at risk."

In the intervening three hours, the Obama campaign was already rolling out a new commercial attacking McCain for saying the economy is strong when so many Americans are hurting. Presumably the McCain campaign went into damage control mode immediately. Now in an even bigger stretch, McCain has been claiming that by the fundamentals being strong, he meant American workers and whatnot because you know, we're the best workers and such. Yeaahhh... sure ya did, John. Sure ya did.

Now to recap a few of his other notable positions that he's completely changed his tune on in just the last couple years and even the last few months:

McCain was against government regulation of business before he was for it. He seems to have changed his mind just this week.

He was for stem cell research before he was against it.

He was for keeping Roe v. Wade intact before he wanted to overturn it.

He was against offshore drilling (just this past spring) before he was for it.

He was for his OWN immigration reform bill before he was against it. Yes, in January he said he would vote against his own immigration bill even in its original form.

He was for the supposedly vital qualification of experience to be President before he selected an inexperienced running mate whom he'd put a heartbeat from the Presidency.

Doesn't a subpoena mean you have to show up?

2008-09-17T17:48:00.002-04:00

I don't understand how the GOP can do it. At the federal level the Bush administration has already ignored subpoenas without consequence. Now it's happening at the state level. Palin, who previously said she would comply with the Alaskan legislature's investigation, is now refusing to do so. What a shocker. To wit: "Aides to Gov. Sarah Palin won't comply with subpoenas issued by state lawmakers "

How the hell does that work? Is the conversation pretty much this?
Legislature: We've subpoenaed some of your people. We'll be taking their testimony.
Executive: No.
Legislature: Oh, ok.

Today Mudflats makes the case that accusations of the investigation being a Democratic hit job on Palin are completely ridiculous and unfounded.

Among other things, the investigation started this past summer when "the Legislature’s Legislative Council voted 12-0 (8 Republicans and 4 Democrats) to hire an investigator, and appointed Democratic Senator Hollis French, a well-respected former prosecutor, to find an investigator. "

Last friday: "on Friday the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 (2 Democrats and 1 Republican in favor); and the House Judiciary Committee issued a 7 - 0 (5 Republicans, 2 Democrats) advisory vote, to issue subpoenas to witnesses the McCain camp had previously stopped from testifying."

In deeply Republican Alaska, Democrat Hollis French is so popular and well respected that the GOP didn't even run someone against him this year. This is the guy they now claim is out to get poor Mrs. Palin.

Then it gets weird... Palin filed an ethics complaint against herself in an effort to get the whole case moved to a state personnel board made up entirely of Republican appointees. Now her lawyers are withdrawing their own ethics complaint saying she doesn't appear to have done anything wrong, so it should all just go away. Seriously.

Mudflats article here.

Reporters are scary!

2008-09-15T23:50:00.003-04:00

Palin will refuse to cooperate with the Alaska trooper investigation. Everyone had to see that coming. She pledged full cooperation before being picked as McCain's running mate, like that would last after. As soon as I heard a report on the investigation was due on Oct 31st, I said the McCain campaign will use stalling tactics to push it out past the election. Sure enough. Corruption, thy name is the GOP.

And by the way, the bipartisan panel in Alaska investigating Palin, the one she now wants us to believe is a tainted partisan witch hunt... yeah, it has 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats on it.

So we're supposed to believe that Sarah Palin is ready to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency, but the McCain campaign won't even let most reporters talk to her. Campaign manager Rick Davis said they wouldn't let the press talk to her until they showed "respect and deference". ie. He wants softball questions.

When they finally did allow one interview, last Thursday's sit down with Charlie Gibson, it was clear just how ignorant Palin was on foreign policy. Now they're once again keeping the press at bay until her next permitted interview. And who's it with? Sean Hannity. yes, Sean freaking Hannity, a guy who if anything is to the right of Rush Limbaugh. Expect to hear questions along the lines of, "how did you get to be so spectacular, Governor Palin?!"

This is laughable. Colbert nailed it tonight saying that she's ready to be VP, to face down world leaders, but watch out for those prickly Kansas Star reporters!

Palin links 9/11 to the Iraq war, doesn't know what Bush Doctrine is

2008-09-12T00:22:00.004-04:00

Sarah Palin linked 9/11 to the Iraq war, "telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would 'defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.'"

The really scary part? She said that on 9/11/2008. Years after it has been shown conclusively that Iraq had NOTHING to do with the 9/11 attacks, a claim that even the Bush administration has had to drop, she's still linking the Iraq and 9/11. Unbelievable.

Also coming out today, in her interview with Charlie Gibson, Sarah Palin was asked her opinion of the Bush Doctrine. As you can objectively see in this clip, she doesn't know what it is!

We are freaking doomed if this ticket wins the election in November.

Obama-McCain tax plan - the truth vs. the lies

2008-09-10T12:33:00.002-04:00

I am becoming deeply concerned about the misinformation on this issue. The "fact check" article here -
MSNBC: Lie or Fact - tells us that even now, 51% of people think that Obama will raise their taxes. Excerpt:

"A Washington Post-ABC News poll taken Sept. 5 to Sept. 7 found that 51 percent of voters think Obama would raise their taxes, even though his plan would actually cut taxes for the overwhelming majority of Americans. Obama has proposed eliminating income taxes on seniors making less than $50,000 a year, but 41 percent of those seniors say their income taxes would go up in an Obama administration."

This misconception is because of the McCain campaign advertisements that blatantly lie about Obama's tax plan. Unfortunately it is also, in my opinion, because the Obama campaign has not effectively hit back against the lie.

Where's the national advertisement? An ad explaining in succinct detail the tax breaks in Obama's plan should be a centerpiece of the campaign! The fact is that under Obama's plan, most Americans will get a bigger tax cut than they will under McCain's plan, and only the top 2% or so will see their taxes go up. The campaign should be blasting this information from every outlet they can!

Where's the concise response from the campaign during appearances and to the press? I've seen a little of that, but not nearly enough. They need to employ repetition on behalf of the truth in the same way that the McCain campaign is using repetition of a lie to drive it into voters' heads.

For reference, the Tax Policy Center has an extensive analysis of both candidates' tax plans.

We don't need no education

2008-09-01T13:09:00.004-04:00

College education level of our Presidential/VP candidates:

John McCain: Graduated from the US Naval Academy, ranked 894th in a class of 899.
Sarah Palin: BS in communications-journalism from U. of Idaho

Barack Obama: Law degree, Juris Doctor magna cum laude from Harvard, undergrad was a poly-sci major with specialization in international relations from Columbia U.
Joe Biden: Law degree, Juris Doctor from Syracuse University, undergrad was double major in history/poly-sci from U. of Delaware

The PTA - a stepping stone to the Presidency?

2008-09-01T12:53:00.003-04:00

Yesterday in an interview with Brian Williams, John McCain defended the experience level of his VP pick and argued that she has more experience than Obama. In ticking off her experience, he included, I shit you not, her PTA membership. Her freaking PTA membership! I really, really wish I was joking. Yeah, there's a qualification for being a heartbeat away from the Presidency!

Senator McCain apparently also counts being a mayor of a town of fewer than 7,000 people in rural Alaska as more impressive experience than the Illinois Senate.

Again, the only reason he made this VP pick is obviously because she has ovaries. She's not the only pro-life, pro-gun pick he could have found and she's far less qualified than almost anyone on his short list. Oh, and speaking of pro-life, Palin is on the extreme side of pro-life. She wants no abortions allowed even in cases of rape and incest. This woman is a religious fundamentalist who wants to teach Creationism in public schools. So of course the religious right is now ecstatic about a ticket they barely cared about before.

Truly this election has become even moreso a test of ignorance. Are we as a nation stupid enough to continue down the path of the last eight years? Are we willing to elect another administration that's based on wedge issues and ideaology rather than an intelligent analysis of the issues?

McCain looses the pander bear

2008-08-30T20:08:00.003-04:00

Seriously, has there ever been a VP pick that's more obviously just pandering? Sarah Palin? Really? She was the mayor of a small rural village of less than 6,000 people for a few years and she's been governor of Alaska for a year and a half. Now Alaska's an absolutely beautiful place, but keep in mind that the entire state has less than half the population of Brooklyn. While I love to travel and it's a wonderful place to visit, I also know it's very much a different world up there. How on earth will this woman fully understand the issues facing much of the country?

McCain had numerous more qualified individuals he could have chosen and didn't. There's absolutely no other reason to make the selection he did except one: she's a woman. He's hoping to get some disgruntled Clinton voters, despite the fact that Palin is a polar oppose of Hillary Clinton on the issues. So McCain is hoping that women will vote for a ticket with a woman on it solely so they can vote for a woman. That's it. Issues don't matter. She has ovaries! Women should be insulted.

In one stroke McCain has also completely undermined his best attack against Obama, that the Democratic nominee is lacking in experience. How can McCain argue that more experience is so vital while at the same time trying to put an even less experienced person a heartbeat away from the Presidency on his own ticket?

If McCain wins the President, I'll be downright scared of him dying in office. That would make Palin the President and that is a frightening notion.

Here's one Alaskan's view of giving Sarah Palin the VP nod. Bonus: it includes a picture of downtown Wasilla, the village where Palin was mayor.

Nanking - documentary film

2008-05-14T21:04:00.004-04:00

Nanking is a 2007 documentary about the fall of Nanjing, then the capital of China, to the Japanese in 1937. Over 200,000 Chinese citizens were killed, many tens of thousands simply executed after the city fell, and tens of thousands of women were raped. It's difficult to adequate describe this story. It's depressing, horrific, and deeply moving. The actions of a handful of foreigners including Americans and Germans saved hundreds of thousands of lives. The documentary details their actions as well as the atrocities committed by the Japanese soldiers.

Actors read the actual text from diaries of these foreigners. Their words are inter-spaced with interviews with Chinese people who were really there and even several Japanese soldiers who were there. With regards to tens of thousands of unarmed Chinese men and boys who were suspected of being soldiers and were executed, one of the now elderly Japanese men chillingly states that there were 30,000 to 50,000 Chinese soldiers and the Japanese army was unable to tend to so many, so what else could they do? (but execute them)

I got a shock at the end of the film when text appeared on the screen saying "dedicated to Iris Chang, 1968-2004". That name sounded familiar and a quick wikipedia check confirmed my suspicion. Iris Chang was the young author of The Rape of Nanking. It's a book that I read a couple years ago and highly recommend. Published in 1997, sixty years after the fall of Nanking, it was the first non-fiction English language book about the terrible events of that time that were, startingly, little known outside of China for decades after they occurred. I had no idea that Iris Chang had died and was dismayed to read just now of her descent into mental illness that concluded with her suicide. Upon reading this line, "Chang was also reportedly deeply disturbed by much of the subject matter of her research. Her work in Nanjing left her physically weak, according to one of her co-researchers." (SF Chronicle), I couldn't help but think that in some way the horrors of Nanjing claimed another victim.

Reading or watching documentaries about what happened in Nanjing certainly isn't the pleasant escapism that most of us prefer, but I think it's something about which the whole world should know.

Prague - Beauty and Beer

2008-05-12T12:42:00.001-04:00

The first thing I noticed in Prague is how absolutely beautiful the downtown area is, especially high on the hill where the 17th-18th century government buildings are along with a massive cathedral. As it started to get dark, I wondered through this historic district with my group and descended down a crowded, narrow, cobblestone street to the rest of the city. We met the bus at our hotel and unloaded our luggage while our bus driver pissed off a bunch of Czechs because the coach was blocking most of the street.

Later that night, after being lost for awhile, a small group of us found a drinking establishment that had been recommended to us. It is a place that could never exist here in the States. The beer taps are actually in the middle of each table. A little digital display keeps track of how many liters have been poured at the table since the last bill was paid. When you’re ready to leave, you signal a waiter and pay the tab. Until then, pour your own and drink up. As if that’s not enough to encourage overindulging, the bar assigns each table a number and actually projects a visual count onto the wall of how much each table has consumed. If your table passes the quantity of beer quaffed by another table, your corresponding mug on the display will swap places with the other table’s mug. Yes, the entire bar is set up as a drinking contest. Even if such a place could ever open their doors here in the States, they’d quickly be sued out of existence when some drunk got in an accident on the way home. Ahhh… Prague.

I spent much of the next day exploring Prague on my own and it continued to blow me away with just how beautiful it really is. I mostly just walked all over the place including back up the hill to the historic government buildings and cathedral. It was good to see everything in full daylight. Unlike many of Europe’s major cities, Prague was not heavily damaged by either of the World Wars, so block after block of its grand old buildings are still fully intact.

I should note that while absolutely worth visiting, travelers should expect Prague to be crowded with tourists. Gone are the days soon after the Soviet Union dissolved when Prague was a very inexpensive, mostly undiscovered gem. Word is out and even in November some areas were quite crowded. It’s not what I’d call cheap either, but like I said, it’s definitely worth seeing.

Death by Ignorance

2008-04-04T11:47:00.004-04:00

Earlier this week an innocent 11 year old Wisconsin girl died a horrible death because of her parents ignorance. She died of a form of diabetes. Her insulin was too low. It was that simple and that easily treatable, but her parents thought that praying to God for healing in lieu of seeking medical attention was the way to go. Because of them, and because of whoever taught them this nonsense, their child is dead.

Bafflingly, some ethicists say that the case isn't clear. Huh? This child died horribly because her parents wouldn't take her to the doctor. It's not like they couldn't afford it and didn't have access to medical care. They simply didn't believe in it. They should be prosecuted. What a tragedy...

She's playing for the wrong team

2008-03-13T10:02:00.002-04:00

I'm frustrated to see Hillary Clinton's campaign try to inflame class tensions among Democratic voters. One of her aides referred to Obama voters as the "latte-sipping" crowd and they keep belittling the states Obama wins. Nevermind that's he won about 2/3rds of the states and in all geographic regions, but many of them are in middle America and that's what her campaign is mocking. The "latte-sipping" comment sounds just like right wing claims that the Democratic party is the party of the "liberal elite".

How does Clinton think these divisive attacks are appropriate? Is she running as the Republican candidate now?

She certainly seems willing to tear the Democratic party apart in her attempts to get the nomination. The divide encouraged by the above comments is nothing compared to what will happen if she manages to get the nomination even with Obama winning the pledged delegate count.

An interesting take on the debate

2008-02-16T14:01:00.003-05:00

I'm reading former President Jimmy Carter's book entitled Our Endangered Values. In one particularly interesting passage, he links the abortion debate, contraception, and social services. Carter is personally against abortion due to his religious beliefs, but he also does not think his religious beliefs should be the law of the land.

He points out that the most common factor among those who get abortions is poverty. In the United States, six out of ten women who get an abortion have an income below $28,000 for a family of three. With good social services and the economic prosperity of the '90s, American abortion rates actually dropped to a twenty-four year low of sixteen per thousand women of childbearing age. The data shows that in nations where women "have access to contraceptives, the assurance that they and their babies will have good health care, and at least enough income to meet their basic needs", abortion rates are low. In Belgium and the Netherlands, the rate is approximately seven per thousand women of childbearing age.

Yet many conservatives think the Netherlands is a filthy liberal Gomorrah? hah.

Meanwhile Carter cites several countries where abortion is illegal and social services are very inadequate such as Peru, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. The abortion rates are about fifty per thousand.

Yet many of the same people here in the United States who are adamant pro-lifers are at the same time against ready access to contraceptives and the very social programs for those in poverty that help convince women to keep their babies.

Conclusion? If your goal is to minimize the number of abortions, stop yelling at pro-choice people and start advocating the social programs that give expectant mothers hope that they can care for a baby if they bring it into the world. Guess what? Most of the pro-choice people will be all for those programs. Work together. Also, knock it off with the abstinence-only programs. The data is clear. They don't work! Moreover, by supporting ready access to contraception, we will reduce the abortion rate even further.

These are goals people on both sides of the abortion debate should be able to support.

Berlin

2008-02-16T00:19:00.004-05:00

First things first. In Berlin I saw the worst use of neon lights ever. Here it is:

This sign says "All art has been contemporary". Of course that's hard to read because they inexplicably put the sign behind the pillars. Nevermind the fact that on this old building fronted by a row of pillars, I can't think of anything that would go worse with it than freaking NEON! Who's idiotic idea was this one? And why didn't they just go ahead and add a neon cowboy on the roof while they were at it? Way to ruin the front of one of Germany's best known museums, morons. For the record there was a very nice Egyptian exhibit inside.

But let's rewind a day. The coach arrive in Berlin in the evening and our hotel was on the outskirts of town. Our tour manager told us how to get downtown if we wanted to go that night, but said he'd just be hitting the bar in the Generator hostel next door to the hotel. Most of us thought that sounded like a good plan, so we joined him. It was Halloween night.

The Generator in Berlin is an enormous hostel. The drinking age in Berlin for beer and wine is fourteen years old. Hostels, with their cheap, low grade accomodations, attract mostly young people. Ergo, the hostel bar was full of drunken teenagers. That was kind of different to see in a bar, especially for an American like myself who's used to a legal drinking age of 21. I didn't think much of it at first, but when a guy who looked to be about fifteen stood on a chair and started stripping, it was just wrong.

The drinks were cheap (for Europe) and plentiful, so before long our entire group was feeling pretty good. Not much longer after that, many of us were feeling much more than that, but it quickly became obvious that the most blitzed people in our group that night would be... our tour manager and our driver. After a couple hours, our manager crumpled to the floor. A couple of us picked him up, and a little while later he crumpled to the floor again. Repeat. I learned that Berlin isn't really concerned about serving drunk people at the bar. He'd stagger back up to the bar and they'd sell him another drink.

Meanwhile our driver was smashed out of his gourd too. The following is second hand from the only other American on our tour, a Georgian named Bo who hung out with our driver a lot that night: Our drunken driver, after hitting on a girl that Bo warned him was too young and proclaiming that if you go two of the girls that made 28 (years old), insisted that he was staying in the hostel that night. They were skeptical, but Bo and another guy helped him up to the third floor of the hostel, where he proceeded to try to open one of the doors with what turned out to be his hotel key card. Yeah... it didn't work. They tried to explain to him that he was staying next door at the hotel, not here. He didn't get it. He collapsed on the floor in the hallway and started yelling incoherently. It was about 3am. They convinced a couple kids staying there not to call the front desk, and then they tried to get him to get up and leave with them. He told them to fuck off. They left him on the third floor of the hostel and went back to the hotel to get some sleep. He seemed alright in the morning. Somehow.

So anyway, I did my touring of Berlin the next day. The Third Reich walking tour was interesting. The aforementioned museum was kind of cool. It had a bunch of obese looking statues in front of it. No, really. There was a fat cat, a fat horse, a fat woman or two, and other fatties. Blame Botero. It's what he does. Quite frankly though, I thought Berlin was a depressing city. It looks like it still hasn't fully recovered from the wars. Germany has made a bad habit of starting and losing wars, and Berlin took much of the resulting damages. I'm sure the overcast skies didn't help.

The second night in Berlin we did a fairly forgettable pub tour. Then it was on to Prague!

How fast do you type?

2008-02-15T15:51:00.005-05:00

97 words

First try. 1 error. Boo yah!

I noticed two things about that little test. Having to pause every couple lines while the next set of words came up slowed me down. However, the fact that it was all common words made it much faster for me. Typing code and technical speak is obviously much slower.

Tried again the next day on my home computer (1 error again):
103 words

Stupid voting criteria

2008-01-27T12:29:00.000-05:00

As the Presidential primaries heat up, it's really highlighted for me some of the really asinine reasons that people vote for their chosen candidate. Here's a few:

1) Race - Barack Obama got 80% of the black vote and only 25% of the white vote in South Carolina yesterday. What that tells me is that a lot of people on both sides are voting their race. That's just depressing. Is the racial divide really so deep in South Carolina? It's hard to think of a dumber reason to vote for or against someone.

2) Gender - In the New Hampshire primary and in many national polls, women in the Democratic party are skewing heavily for Hillary Clinton. That tells us that women are voting for her because she's a woman and also some men may be voting against her for that reason. Sigh. Forget actual qualifications! Is the candidate male or female? That's what counts! Stupid, stupid, stupid...

3) Home state - Candidates usually win their home states and as we saw in Michigan, Romney won in part because he grew up in Michigan. Which makes me wonder, why do people vote for President like they cheer for a sports team? It's not a freaking basketball game! You're not supposed to mindlessly support Home over Visitor!

4) Height and looks in general - In the television age (JFK and later), most Presidents have been of above average height and are not heavy set. Taft, who's weight pushed 300 pounds, wouldn't have had a chance of getting elected if he had run in a time of televisions. What does height, weight, or attractiveness in general have to do with making good decisions as President? Jack. shit.

5) I'd like to have a beer with him! - This ridiculous voting justification came to light during Bush Jr.'s campaigns. Some people supported him because he seemed like the kind of guy they'd want to join for a beer down at the neighborhood bar. Seriously? Yes. Why would your main criteria for a President be that he seems like a "regular guy"? You're electing the leader of the free world, not picking who would be the most fun on a night out with the guys. The mind boggles...

Polls are worthless

2008-01-08T23:25:00.000-05:00

So the polls showed Obama 8-12% ahead of Clinton going into today's NH primary. Yet Clinton just won. So much for that +/- 4% margin of error many of them claim, huh?

The two keys to victory? First, old people voted like crazy. 67% of Democrats were over 40 according to CNN. Will this be another election where young people get excited about a candidate, but don't turn out to the polls in sufficient numbers? That's happened many times before. That's why when I hear that Obama has a very strong following among young people, I'm skeptical about how significant that will be. The fact is in every election, no matter how many "get out the vote" campaigns that youth media outlets like MTV run, older people vote in far greater percentages. It doesn't matter how excited people are about a candidate. If they don't freaking go to the polls, it counts for nothing.

The other was female voters. From CNN... "According to the exit polls, Clinton had a sizable lead over Obama among women, 47 percent to 34 percent." In Iowa she actually lost to Obama among women voters.

So that's what this is about for some NH women voters? Come on... voting for someone based on their gender is about the stupidest reason I can think of to cast a vote. But yes, I saw some interviews too where people said things like, "well I'm voting for Hillary because I think it's about time we had a woman President". Sigh. Was it the crying thing? Every guy I talked to thought her tearful response to a question at a rally yesterday was kind of pathetic and would hurt her at the ballot box. But apparently the tactic worked on at least some people.

Presidential primaries are looking up

2008-01-07T22:49:00.001-05:00

Well the primaries are looking interesting now and in my opinion encouraging. I've been saying for many months that my biggest concern with long time Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton is that she's too polarizing. After eight years of George W., this election is the Democrats' to lose, but if they nominate Hillary, they just might manage to blow it again. Rational or not, too many people hate her.

Then we had the surprise in Iowa last week. Polls had shown Clinton ahead for much of the campaign, then in a dead heat in the final days before the caucus. Yet Obama won by eight points. Now the latest polls in New Hampshire are showing a big surge in Obama's favor. He's very likely to win New Hampshire tomorrow.

On the Republican side, I'd written off John McCain a few months ago. His polling numbers just weren't there. Yet now he's in a dead heat with Romney in the New Hampshire polls and has gained considerable ground across the country as Giuliani has faded. The latest Gallup poll shows an almost significant four point NH lead for McCain while showing an impressive 13 point NH lead for Obama over Clinton.

Yes, Huckabee is a strong contender with his victory in Iowa and his domination of the evangelical Christian vote. The latter may now be a weakness though. His appeal is too narrow, possibly even for the primaries and much more definitely for the general election. Too many people are sick of the religious right and their continued efforts to push this nation toward theocracy.

I liked McCain when he was a moderate. I lost respect for him in the last couple of years when he started kissing up to the far right. Still, both he and Obama draw a lot of independent, moderate votes. It's good to see them gaining ground. Maybe people are finally sick of the divisive politics embodied by Karl Rove and the Bush administration. "Uniter", my ass...

Sex and the City, Dutch style

2007-12-29T16:20:00.000-05:00

After meeting my tour group, which was comprised mostly of Aussies (23 of the 32 people), we left London the next morning. By evening we'd crossed the English Channel at the White Cliffs of Dover, passed through Belgium, and arrived in Amsterdam. Along the way we found out that our day song -- the day song being a Contiki tradition where a song selected by the tour manager is played pretty much ever day -- was "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. Our manager, nicknamed Nemo, said many people don't seem to like the song at first, but they usually love it by the end of the trip. For the record, he was right.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city featuring more canals than Venice. That night our tour manager took us on a different sort of sightseeing though. We took a stroll through Amsterdam's infamous red-light district with its plethora of "coffee shops", prostitutes in the windows, and swarms of tourists. Just a note, many of the coffee shops don't serve any coffee. Our destination was a small, garishly lit theater. Yes, it was time for a good ol' fashioned Amsterdam sex show. Ok, so there wasn't much good about it and I really doubt it's ol' fashioned. But anyway, for too much money we got a couple beers and watched people going at it on a raised, rotating stage. There was a certain novelty to it at first, then there were the laughs we got from the startlingly bad dancers, and finally a couple acts where they picked people out of the audience and embarrassed them on stage were amusing. However, we then became perhaps the first Contiki group to stand up and walk out early en masse. We just got bored with it. Oh look, it's yet another couple having sex. Yawwwwwwn. So we want to a bar instead.

The next day I started hoofing it around Amsterdam, determined to see as much as I could see. Of course knowing which attractions were closed for renovations would have been nice. A long walk to a naval museum ended at the "closed for renovations until 2009" sign. On the opposite end of downtown, my sojourn to the Heineken Experience came to a halt at the "closed until 2008" sign. Gah! Oh well, Heineken kind of sucks anyway. I just heard the museum was fun.

En route to the Heineken Experience that wasn't, I passed a couple of buildings surrounded by police cars and trucks and dozens of police in riot gear. The first building had all its windows shattered and there was some sort of grey crap all over the ground. I wondered if a bomb had gone off. So naturally I stopped and took a couple of pictures. At the next one, it looked like police hadn't gone into the building yet. Inquiring with a local, I learned that these buildings were full of squatters and the police were clearing them out. The grey crap on the ground was paint that had been hurled at the officers. Fun!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I wandered around, took plenty of pictures, went out for dinner and drinks, and eventually crashed back at the hotel. The next morning we left for Berlin.

London Calling

2007-12-26T20:03:00.000-05:00

I recently spent three weeks in western Europe. It was spectacular. Before I forget too much, I'm going to start a sort of belated travel log. I'll begin at the top with my first destination, London.

London, Oct 27th – I got into Heathrow around 11pm. I was lucky enough to book the only ticket that started in Fort Wayne and ended up in London without being an overnight flight. I despise red-eye flights as I find it impossible to sleep on the plane. Once I got my luggage in Heathrow, I was hoping to take the shuttle bus to my nearby hotel. Unfortunately it had stopped running for the night and I had to take the cab. That's when I learned that London cabs are shockingly expensive. Eighteen pounds (over $36) for a 10-15 minute ride is just crazy. That's quite a racket they've got going. The important part was I got a good night's sleep for a change upon arriving in Europe.

The next day I caught the Piccadilly line into London, dropped by Contiki headquarters near Russell Square, and checked into my hotel next door. Then it was off to Tower Bridge. That proved challenging as the two main Underground lines that go to the heart of London (Parliament, Westminster, etc.) were shut down for the day. Eventually I found the route that put me as close as possible and walked. It was cloudy with a light rain and crowds were definitely down.

Tower Bridge is very cool. Forget London Bridge. It's frankly kind of ugly. If it did fall down, I wouldn't miss it. But Tower Bridge is wonderful Victorian architecture. It's beautiful and definitely worth a visit. From there I headed south of the Thames and walked into Borough Market. I was looking for a particular pub (Market Porter) that I'd heard had excellent cask ales. En route I got distracted though. I came upon a crowd of at most a couple hundred people and a small stage on which a man in an indeterminate animal costume was playing a violin and was joined by other musicians in period costumes while people in the crowd danced. A sign behind the musicians said, October Plenty (I just found the linked page. It's for this specific festival, which is put on by a group of London actors). I'd stumbled across a local harvest festival. I watched for awhile, strolled past booths selling fudge, breads, and other foodstuffs, and had a chat with a man in a purple robe who told me a little bit about the festival. Then I headed a couple blocks down the way to the pub.

It was a nice pub and I had a couple pints. Then I was drawn back to the festival. I found a booth selling some wonderful hard cider (New Forest cider, if you're ever in the Borough Market and want to look for it). A man dressed like a tree or maybe a lush, fruity bush was dancing around and no, I wasn't having a fever dream. The musicians wound up their performance and the purple robed guy I'd spoken to earlier took the stage. He explained that they would be making a procession to the site of an old cemetery a few blocks away where prostitutes and other undesirables had been buried centuries ago. The walking tree led the way, purple robed guy strummed his guitar, and off we went. Yes, we. I just had to join this one as did about fifty other people.

About ten minutes later we reached a fence festooned with ribbons, twigs, onions, and other festival symbols. Behind it was where the cemetery had been. The purple robed guy led some songs that are perhaps best described as some combination of Druidic and hippy. A very simple, short one that all were invited to join in singing went like this:

The green man has come (x3)
To bless our garden.
The green man has come (x3)
To bless our garden
With flowers and trees (x3)
For future children.
With flowers and trees (x3)
For future children.
(repeat the whole thing)

The tree guy still wandering around was the green man. Here's some background on the green man mythology. Apparently he's found in many different traditions and is likely an amalgamation of them. As a result, no single origin can be pinpointed.

Finally purple robed guy told us about how he was visited by the ghost of some lady (one of the prostitutes buried in the cemetery?) ten years ago and it changed his life. Okay, so he was a bit crazy. The festival as a whole and especially this last procession was one of those weird, memorable experiences of traveling though. I thanked purple robed guy for his efforts and went on my way. I'm glad I found this little festival.

Later I returned to Contiki headquarters for the evening meeting and met some of the tour group for the first time.

What's Congress doing lately?

2007-09-28T11:41:00.000-04:00

We've got a very expensive (in both lives and treasure) and very unpopular war going on, horrendous trade deficits and government deficit, a health care system that doesn't cover 40 million plus people, a stagnant to sinking median real wage, a plunging US dollar, and other major problems to address in this country.

So what's Congress been doing? This week the Senate added an amendment to a bill to specifically condemn moveon.org for their General Petraeus or General Betrayus ad in the New York Times. Sure the ad was in poor taste, but how does that mean the US Senate should spend any time at all on it?

Meanwhile a Congressional committee held hearings to discuss profanity and violence in rap music.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

Foreclosures

2007-09-18T10:35:00.000-04:00

Home foreclosures are up 36% from last month and are double the rate in 2006. Still think the economy is great? The dollar continues to sink (the Euro hit another all time high recently at $1.39) and people are losing their homes at astonishing rates. I wonder if Bush Co. will come up with some way to blame the Democrats?

Today's embodiment of evil

2007-07-16T12:49:00.000-04:00

When she's not cruelly accusing a distraught mother of a missing toddler of committing the crime, a mother who is innocent and kills herself shortly after the nationally televised interview airs, I can only assume Nancy Grace is frightening small children or perhaps kicking puppies. Confirmation of her evil was found this weekend when I saw her show at a bar with no volume. Closed captioning and no sound made this woman even more horrifying, if that's possible.

I can't quite pin down what it is about her that makes my skin crawl, but I do wonder how she's still a CNN anchor. Saturday night's show was an entire hour on who we should blame for dead professional wrestlers. This crazy woman wants a Congressional investigation of wrestling. Seriously. Look... if they're taking illegal substances, that's a matter for law enforcement, not Congress. But that's not even my point. My point is that this shit is what passes for news, a full hour of it in fact. Television sucks.

We don't need no education

2007-07-11T12:07:00.000-04:00

Why is it that given two of the most egalitarian media content sources in history featuring content provided entirely by the near countless users, youtube and wikipedia, some conservatives claimed "liberal bias" and created their own conservative versions of each site? I don't know of any special liberial version of such sites.

Why is it that the ranks of the home-schooled are dominated by the children of very conversative (and Christian) parents?

Why is it that I often see a conservative book club advertised on the web, but I've never even heard of a liberal one?

A conservative Fox News pundit, Bill O'Reilly, often claims that he's really standing up for the views of the majority of Americans. If he's correct, how is it that the purported liberal minority apparently controls almost all sources of media, education, science, and information in general and the supposed conservative majority must strive to insulate themselves from it?

If we claim that media people, educators, and scientists have a liberal bias, aren't we saying that many of our smartest, most well-informed people have a liberal bias? If that's the case, how is it a bad thing? Intelligent, well-informed people aren't to be trusted? Does that mean we should listen to uneducated, uninformed people instead?

I'm so confused.

Quick movie reviews

2007-06-19T13:57:00.000-04:00

Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny
I got this film from Netflix because I felt like something goofy and remembered the video for their song "Tribute" being pretty funny. As for the film, it had a few funny moments as JB (Jack Black) reveals his obsession with overly dramatic, hedonistic themed, '70s and '80s rock. They really play up the silly devil imagery that was popular with many bands at the time. A young JB praying to a poster of a demonically attired Dio (of Black Sabbath fame) is an amusing touch. But was the movie worth my 90 minutes as a whole? Not so much. Mostly it was just stupid. It's probably better if one is very drunk, very stoned, on an acid trip, or some combination of all three.

The Devil Wears Prada
In this modern day fairy tale we meet Anne Hathaway's frumpily clothed character, Andy Sachs, who gets a job at a high fashion magazine in NYC populated by a cast of the most snooty, shallow, annoying people on the planet. They make stereotypes of the French look humble and down-to-earth. Meryl Streep is quite good as the repulsive ice queen of fashion, Miranda Priestly. Andy Sachs predictably goes from girl next door to fashion obsessed bitch and back again. She means well throughout the film, but it's made very obvious to us how screwed up her priorities are once she goes over to the dark side of ridiculous high fashion. I fail to see how anyone could stand to be around any of the principle characters in this film for more than thirty seconds. I see an IMDB reviewer commented that at last, fashion conscious people are not being portrayed as brainless bimbos. You're quite right, reviewer. They are portrayed as selfish, psychotic bitches. Is that better somehow? The film has it's funny moments, but overall I don't see the point of exposing oneself to ninety minutes of really irritating people.

Invest in cacti

2007-06-18T14:44:00.000-04:00

It's never going to rain. I found a nifty little graph that shows precipation compared to the average for my area. My little slice of the county is at maybe half an inch in the last 30 days when the norm is 3-4 inches. Everything's turning a lovely shade of brown. Since I need more plants around the house, I think cacti are the only reasonable option. That's all for now from sub-Saharan, Indiana.

Personal news? yep, bought a house

2007-05-06T23:53:00.000-04:00

Oh, you mean when people have blogs they usually update them with what's going on in their lives? Damn. I suck at that part. Actually I suck at updates in general.

So toward the end of March I finally bought a house. You mean that's pretty big news for me personally? Yeah, I guess it is. For going on eight years I stayed in apartments, not inspired enough to bother buying a house. Actually I thought I would get out of Fort Wayne so it wasn't worth doing. Well... I'm still here. So I gave in and got the house. Finally. Don't get me wrong though, it's a good thing. The house is excellent. Sure I finally have to mow a lawn (d'oh!), but it's very much worth it. I've become a Lowe's customer as I find odds and ends that I need for a home.

In other news, last week I headed to Munster, Indiana, a little town by Chicago, for this year's Dark Lord Day at 3 Floyd's brewpub. I bet it's the biggest beer release party in this part of the country and maybe in the whole country. Hundreds of people, maybe a couple thousand, I'm not sure, turn up for the release of this incredible brew. I got there just before they started selling it at noon and stood in line for 2 1/2 hours to get it. Fortunately there were assorted beers brought by visitors like me set on the picnic tables in the parking lot, free to sample. 3 Floyd's knows their market well (beer snobs) and lets us bring our own beers for a big outdoor sampling party. Some of us then retired to the nearby Hampton Inn for another tasting and then called it a night. Good times, good times...

Today I FINALLY went hiking for the first time this spring. Usually by May I've already gone a couple of times. About six miles in a bit under two hours was a comfortable pace for the first hike of the season. This time of year is perhaps the best for hiking. A temperature in the 60s is, in my opinion, just right, and in early May the bugs haven't really come out yet, but the trees and underbrush are getting nice and green. It's great.

Virginia Tech - Focus on victims, not shooter

2007-04-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

In the aftermath of the massacre at Virginia Tech, one of the things that's bothering me is how the major news media keeps putting the shooter on the front page. Pictures and quotes from his "manifesto" and his atrociously written plays feature prominently in the top headlines across the country.

They're given this sick man what he wanted: attention. I worry that this type of coverage serves as nothing but inspiration for other disturbed and potentially violent individuals.

Take the shooter off the front pages. Put the victims there instead. They're the people we should remember.

How is this news?

2007-02-16T18:09:00.000-05:00

First of all, why did this past week have saturation coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s death? Why the hell do people care? She was a gold-digging, attention-whoring, train-wreck. It’s too bad when anyone dies, but it doesn’t deserve blanket news coverage. At least I can be amused by the increasing number of men who say they might be her baby’s father. Of course the perfect ending to sordid, asinine tale would be paternity tests that show her dead 20 year old son is the father of her new baby. That’s my pick in the father pool.

New research!
Another study was just released saying that we may be getting fat because of our high calorie drinks.. Wow, that’s news! I thought I could suck down all the sugary goodness of a twice daily Super Big Gulp and never, ever gain weight! Why thank you, Captain Obvious! I’m in luck though. I limit my intake of regular soda and reach for a beer instead. Whew!

Surprise, surprise, here’s some more research suggesting that Freud had major issues. Among the study’s conclusions are that most people are appalled, even at a subconscious level, at the idea of sexual relations with close family members. Suck it, Oedipus!

More news:
I’m going to watch the documentary Jesus Camp tonight. I’ve heard people describe it as downright scary, but I’d prefer to see for myself. I’ll let you know if I think it should be considered a horror movie.

Next up, take a look at another whacky cult leader. He’s Paul! He’s Christ! He’s the anti-Christ! It’s the amazing morphing cult leader! To be fair, adding dissociative identity disorder to a Messianic complex is an intriguing combination.

Some crazy guy is planning to swim the length of the Amazon river. Hey, good for him, but one of the dangers he faces is about the scariest thing I’ve read. His assistants will have buckets of blood with them to dump in the water in case the dreaded toothpick fish is nearby. This little bastard likes to swim into small umm… orifices… erect its spines, and feed on blood and tissue. Note to self: no matter how unlikely it is that this horror could happen, never, ever go swimming in the Amazon.

There’s news that Bulls great
Scottie Pippen wants to come out of retirement for an NBA playoff run. Yeah, because that worked so well for Michael Jordan….. and keep in mind that Pippen’s skills had already gone downhill quite a bit by the time he retired in 2004. Don’t do it, Scottie! You were great, but it’s over! Don’t be “that guy” who’s always trying to get back to his glory days.

Film - It's All Gone Pete Tong

2007-02-10T16:47:00.000-05:00

I just finished watching a film called "It's All Gone Pete Tong". The title is a phrase which wikipedia tells me is cockney rhyming slang for "It's all gone wrong". It certainly has as this movie develops. The film is a mock biopic of fictional DJ Frankie Wilde. Shot on location in Ibiza, the sights of Pacha, Amnesia, and I believe the patio of Space brought smiles of recognition as I thought back to my nights at these super-sized nightclubs.

Early on, Frankie Wilde is on top of the world of techno music DJing. He's living it up on Ibiza with women, drugs, money, and anything else he wants. Then he starts going deaf and the movie chronicles his fall. The scenes of a man losing everything and sinking further and further into drugs and despair manage to be both tragic and comical. Watch out for the coke badger! The story isn't over though, and surprisingly, the movie ends up being, dare I say it, rather heartwarming.

For the music and for a little taste of Ibiza, I'd recommend the movie who like electronic music and the club scene. Even if you're not into the music though, consider watching it for the story of a man who rises, falls, and rises again.

Colts

2007-02-04T22:36:00.000-05:00