It’s Almost Over
Finally, it is coming down to the wire. The election is almost here and that means I’ll finally be free from all these stupid political campaign ads. Sure, the general political chatter, gossip and griping will continue, but I won’t be completely bombarded with it.
Did anyone watch the Obama infomercial? I thought that was a pretty decent use of campaign funds. Sadly, people once again prove themselves to be dumber than the dirt they are made from. I have heard numerous people (all republicans) saying that they know Obama got that money for that infomercial from his “foreign friends”. If you are one who holds with this opinion, then you shouldn’t be voting because you obviously aren’t paying attention. Obama holds the record for the best fundraiser in American political history. Aside from that, or rather- in addition to, he is supported by a large portion of Hollywood. If you gross well into the millions on a regular basis, you can imagine that a campaign contribution to someone whom you feel is the guy for the job is going to be fairly large.
But why be reasonable? Why use facts or logic or common sense? Fuck it. Obama got his money directly from Bin Laden. They even shook hands, had a few beers and blew up some infidels while they were at it. All the while Biden was running about small-town America bludgeoning small business owners and working class families with a shovel. What kind of right wing acid trip are you ripping on???
These two toons are so similar it makes no sense for them to run against each other. Indeed, if it weren’t for the partisanship in America they would probably be on the same ticket. The only real difference is where each candidate wants to make the tax cut. McCain wants to keep rolling with Bush’s program and Obama wants to give the same amount of relief to the middle-class (who will undoubtedly put it back into the economy because we have no fucking concept of money or what to do with it. Investments? My new HUMMER is an investment !!).
Also, I’ve spent my morning perusing the Rush Limbaugh site looking for a good laugh. What do you know, I got one!
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102908/content/01125108.guest.html
I was pretty entertained by this. This to me seems to uphold that upper-class republican point of view that Democrats are socialists and otherwise horrible people for being concerned about the well being of those who are struggling. My favorite part?
FDR: “People that are in need are not free.”
Rush: “Yes, they are!”
Wow. Are you serious? Have you been that well off for that long that… oh. Wait. Nevermind.
I guess some people at the top forget (pretty easily it seems) that when you have to struggle for your basics needs (healthcare, employment, shelter, etc.) you are DEPENDENT! Let’s not even get into the fact that in this world we are ALL slaves to SOMETHING. No man is an island. No man can stand on his own. Even the mighty Rush Limbaugh relies on his listeners for his livelihood.
The piece de resistance for Limbaugh (and I am assuming the other Republican comentators/ pundits/ whathaveyous) is him taking a poke at Obama for mixing up a reference to Sanford and Son which can be read here:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102908/content/01125114.guest.html
This is why I listen to Limbaugh. He grasps at straws cause he’s got nothing legitimate to go after and as a result ends up making an ass of himself by making fun of a confused reference to a 70’s TV show. It’s good to know that when you decide to use television metaphors or references Rush will always be there to fact check you. I honestly think the man should drive his car into a volcano or something.
One more thing on that last link… Obama was not quoted. It was highly paraphrased. I listened to that audio clip myself. This article makes it seem that Obama is speaking in the text. If this were the case, then their transcription of his speech skipped over a few words. I wonder what else they dissect for their own convenience over there?
ok… I can’t go on. The stupidity of this whole affair has made my brain seep into my shoes.
Avoiding Work: Thoughts to get you thinking.
So it is roughly 9:30am on a Wednesday morning and I am avoiding doing any real work. Instead I have decided to share with you some of the thoughts running through my head. It’s going to be a bungle of non-sequitur thoughts in no particular order… so hold on.
I think this election (and all other modern elections for that matter) are utter bullshit. It’s totally bogus. Especially when the constituency isn’t qualified to select their own leaders. I think you should have to take a test on history, politics and government to get registered to vote. I heard a McCain supporter make the most retarded claim I think I have heard this election season this morning on the radio. She said she is a McCain supporter because McCain is “for every American”. Are you serious? Does she think that Obama is not? If you are running for president, odds are that you honestly think that you can do some good for the country as a whole, which generally incorporates the constituency- aka AMERICANS. People like this should be flogged with cudgels and driven back into their cro-magnon subterranean dwellings so they can scribble their 5-year old crackpot drawings on the cave walls and keep such ridiculously flawed statements out of the ears of the more informed and less lunatic public.
This one rates right up there with people complaining that Obama is socialist because he wants the assholes at the top of the fiscal heap to give a little more than they would of their own accord. I mean, I don’t really care if he IS socialist. I tend to lean that way anyways… I think they call my stance Social-Capitalism (or some equally absurd butchery of the two words and a hyphen). I guess I’m crazy too (maybe even a terrorist by Republican definitions) but I think that in this day and age the existence of poverty is an abhorrent testament to our collective selfishness. Why should I spend an average of $100-200 a month on things that I want but don’t need when someone somewhere is starving, freezing and sick? It’s appalling. I have no problem giving a little bit of my wealth, meager though it may be, to help those who have it worse than I do. My only concern from a political standpoint is whether or not that money is used as effectively as possible to alleviate the problems of the people it is intended to help.
Moving, on… Why the hell can’t we get a legitimate third party? I think it’s because most Americans have their memory erased by the bombast of media their minds are assaulted with every day. TV and Video games have shown to negatively impact memory. I think that, combined with the fact that we hear what the media outlets want us to hear, makes it pretty easy to forget what things were like 4-8 years ago. If you can’t remember all the stupid shit we’ve put up with in the last 8 years, why would you listen to someone who represents the “none of the above” category in politics? A category in which many people refer to (especially in this election) . I hear a lot of republicans saying “well, I don’t care for McCain or Palin, I guess I’ll vote Democrat” when they don’t agree with the democratic platform and vice-versa! WHY THE HELL DONT YOU TAKE THE THIRD OPTION!?!? Only in America.
The Tragically Hip is my new favorite band. Damn it’s been a long time since I’ve heard good ol American Rock and Roll. Especially Rock and Roll that doesn’t have any hint of affectation.
The Wawa breakfast sandwhich with scrambled eggs and cheese is hands down the most vile, evil, obscene and delicious thing ever to touch my palate before 8am.
I don’t see the point in working. Every so often I feel like my mind just snaps awake and I see the futility of “society”. The rediculousness of it all. Can you believe some people build their lives around making things like those plastic coffee cup lids or those things you get in gumball machines??? What the hell? Why do so many of us spend so much time pursuing things that have no real consequence. Why do we make things that will have no impact on history (but impact the environment for sure)? What the hell makes us so persistent and intent on pursuing that which does not lift us up, make us stronger, and better people? More disconcerting…what keeps us in place? Why don’t we just walk away and abandon it all? 1000 years from now, will the world be a better place because I sat in this office 8 hours a day?
Revolution has been just around the corner since the Civil War. While the Civil War was largely unsuccessful, it made a statement. As did the protests in the sixties and the riots in the 70s. I can’t remember a time in my lifetime that our generation has taken up arms (literal or figurative) to stop the abuses which we all feel being pressed upon us. Again, I think the government figured out that if they can provide adequate distraction they won’t have to answer for anything.
Why are the best chocolate bars so expensive?
I think I’d like to go fishing. I’d definitely like to get out to my dad’s and shoot shit for a couple of days and maybe hang out on the porch and drink coffee or cider.
Is it just me or does time seem to move a bit slower in the fall?
Paper money: What sense does money make? Here’s this piece of paper. I say it is worth 5 of whatever you have in your pocket. I’ll give you this piece of paper if you give me 5 of those things in your pocket… GTFO! ARE YOU SERIOUS>!?!?
I hate people. Largely because that which sets us apart from the animals makes us lower than them. We can think, but we use it only to decieve ourselves and each other.
Shouldn’t batteries last longer now than they did 10 years ago? Whose dropping the ball now?
I wonder if someone somewhere in Africa is having a good time right now.
Is it possible to go to a place man has never been before? And if you could, would you?
Debates: Take Two
First off let me say that I was grossly disappointed in last night’s presidential debates. I knew it had the potential to become a mess since the town hall meeting style has a tendency to lend itself to a higher degree of disorganization (despite the commanding voice of Tom Brokaw).
There’s no way to avoid noticing that it got pretty ugly for both sides last night and the little confidence I had in one candidate diminished and the other candidate failed to prove to me that he was any better. I think it was pretty bad that not only did both candidates fail to stay within the time period allotted for responses (which were mutually agreed upon) but to make matters worse Brokaw had to keep reprimanding them and reminding them. I actually got mad with Obama who just would not give up the chance to retaliate in regards to an accusation thrown by McCain which, to McCain’s discredit, was grossly distorted.
Speaking of distortion here is a really good rundown of who said what and what the truth is. It is taken from MSNBC’s website. Apparently both sides took more than a few liberties with the facts. This, I believe, seems to reinforce that neither party is above playing party politics as usual when it comes down to it. I also think this emphasizes the need for a third party candidate who really is from outside of DC.
I found it interesting that Fox news, which I have noticed (and I am sure others have as well) to be kinder to McCain showed that their focus group from Arlington, VA ( a decidedly RED part of VA) was more in favor of Obama after the debate. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that FOX is biased toward MCCain, just that they play down his failures while other networks and news outlets have a tendency to play them up. The general consensus lately is that Obama is taking the lead here in the last leg of this race.
I still don’t know what to think or who to pick. It seems that the media has too much to say and the soundbites we get from each candidate are almost always taken out of context. Both sides want to just sling mud at this point and try to paint the other side as a liar. Wouldn’t it be nice if our candidates sat down like rational people, told us what they wanted to do- how they would do it and lay out the pros and cons in an honest fashion? I think there are people out there who are willing to do such a thing, but unfortunately in order to get any attention you have to have access to the media. Access to the media is not cheap and many people cannot buy the kind of coverage necessary to get their name into the discussion. I think this is part of what is robbing America of the leadership that we need. Our best leaders have been common sense people who came from humble beginnings. I guess we’ll have a chance to start fresh when the economy finally collapses. Maybe there will be another revolution to follow? I think it could do us some good.
The Nature Of Politics (or: How I Would Do It Different)
Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s here. The low point of the election season. The mudslinging is in full effect. I imagine this is the end of the highbrow, educated, well-thought out jabs at the opponent’s policy, ideals and methodology. It started when we descended from those focus points to the candidates credentials (which, as American history has proved, don’t seem to make a great difference one way or the other). Once the credentials debate is exhausted (it really is one-sided since McCain keeps bringing it up and Obama has to keep defending it). Now they’ve gotten down to nit-picking each other’s backgrounds and dredging up parts of the past and taking those bits of the past out of context. I’m not surprised because this is how it always goes. Apparently, politicians just aren’t taking the right attitude towards the whole thing. Here’s how I’d play it a bit differently (WARNING! I play by my logic which aims to confuse, disorient and discredit my opponent. It is not always 100% correct or 100% understandable. Prepare Yourselves):
Disinformation is one of the most powerful tools our government and politicians use to control us. It is a grossly inarguable fact that some people go about distributing information that is blatantly false or alter true information in order to better their own position. While I think it is a dirty tactic, I would gladly take part in it as soon as I had evidence of its use against me by an opponent.
Most disinformation takes a marginally true fact and then adds to it, takes it out of context or falsely expounds on it. The most recent example is the McCain campaign (more specifically, Sarah Palin) attempting to connect Obama to a 60’s extremist and then going a step further to say Obama was “associated with terrorists”. Clearly a ridiculous notion attempting to take advantage of today’s public’s fear of anything associated with terrorism (which ironically didn’t exist at all prior to the Bush administration- despite global plane hijackings, embassy bombings and other major at-home disasters like the Oklahoma City bombing).
I promise that whatever disinformation the other side is emanating I can generate at twice the speed, with twice the absurdity and have 10-times the impact.
ME: I associate with terrorists?
Funny, because as my team was doing research on your background we discovered that when you ran for senate you had a surplus in your budget that, after the election was not properly appropriated. The funds were suspiciously lost and unaccounted for. We have reason to believe that on your June 200X trip to Europe you gave this surplus to X, a know terrorist and human trafficker.
Them: That’s absurd and you have no proof.
Me: Have you been to Europe?
Them: Yes
Me: Do you know who X is?
Them: Yes, but-
Me: Do you see where this is going? You’ve finally trapped yourself in your own lie!
Them: That’s absurd! It’s not true. I’ve never met X.
Me: So you handed the money- the AMERICAN PEOPLE’s (you always want to keep things about the people, otherwise they may lose interest) money to a cohort or henchman of X and not X himself? That’s just as bad!
Them: I didn’t hand anyone that money!
Me: So you kept it? That might explain why you have that fancy house in X.
Them: What? No! I didn’t keep it!
Me: I have an inside informant (who does not wish to be identified) who claims that you still have the funds!
and so on…
Absurd arguments can be perpetuated indefinitely. I should have Karl Rove’s job. Moving on, the issues: no one can remember who has said what about the basic issues. Here are my stances should I ever find myself running for an office.
Healthcare: Total Free-for-all. You want health insurance? fine. You have to pass a rigorous medical exam and genetic testing. We’re going to weed out the weak, so in the future we won’t need health care. That’s right… My plan will rid us of the NEED for healthcare.
Poverty: Are you homeless? Not anymore! You are part of my new government program! We will shelter and feed you (3 squares a day! Just like Leavenworth or San Quinton). In return you will be responsible for all manual labor projects covering infrastructure, preservation and management/maintainence of utilities. No pay, but food and shelter are free.
Education: European education plan. You’ll have the equivalent of an associates when you graduate high school. Everyone will be tested from 6th to 10th grade, every year to chart their academic strengths and students will be strongly encouraged to follow academic paths in accordance with their strengths. Those choosing vocational education will begin in 10th grade and will graduate with a certificate in their respective field in addition to their associate degree.
Government Spending: Simple. Reduce the size of government. Anything that can be handled by the states should be. Why have duplicate institutions at state andfederal levels? Cut military spending. Give them the necessities, but no new projects. No new tanks/planes/boats/subs/guns/etc. Our biggest enemies right now are working with military tech. from the 80’s or earlier. We don’t need 22nd century tech to beat them. Dissolve Nasa or privatize. There are so many spin-off products from the space program they could definitely keep themselves afloat on the sale of those products. While we’re at it, let’s dramatically cut foreign aid, raise taxes on imports (slightly) and invest the money we’ve saved on infrastructure and research for alternative energy and transportation. Solar Powered bullet train anyone? Grant citizenship to all illegals as long as they file necessary papers. They will then be taxed on the income they make in our country. Tax revenues will rise noticeably.
The War: Leave Iraq. Station 1/8th of our troops there to prevent anarchy or a coup. Everyone else goes to Afghanistan. Pakistan, we don’t want to hurt you, but if you get in the way we will bomb you day and night for a year.
International relations: Europe- sorry we’ve been such a dick. What can we help you with? Africa: sorry for ignoring you. We’ll send our national guard to Darfur, gun’s blazing. That shit will be straight in a week. I promise. If anyone puts up a fight I’ll have the green berets, navy seals and army rangers there in a heartbeat on a special mission to kill the leaders in charge of the genocide. Ya dig? Russia, look- we like you, but you’re being kind of a dick andyou’re doing things behind our back and we’re hearing about it from other people. What do you want? Maybe we can work out a deal. If you wanna get loud about it, we don’t need troops to take you down a notch. But we’d much rather just have you over for dinner. SouthAmerica. You need help stabilizing yourselves. We’ll send you some of our best city planners, economists and we’ll even allow some of our corporations to have a plant or two in your countries… however, the flow of drugs out of your borders WILL cease. The illegal migration WILL cease (we need our tax dollars). China, our clean energy tech is your clean energy tech. Stop polluting our west coast. Japan… you are more than welcome to rebuild your army should you so choose. Your tech grows faster than ours and we can’t be bothered with defending you should N. Korea flip its lid. Go build a gundam or Godzilla or something. Austrailia- keep doing what you’re doing.
The stance on Roe V Wade will stand. And we won’t talk about it anymore. As for sex ed… Let’s just say that Human Anatomy is now one of the required courses in the 6th and 7th grade curricula. Reproductive systems will be covered.
Conservation: Suburban sprawl will cease. You must build up before you can build out. If you choose to build out before building up, there will be a 40% government real estate tax on the property to be developed figured at the property’s market value. $2500 tax credit for families driving vehicles that get 30+ mpg. $3500 tax credit for those driving alternative fuel cars.
Firearms: All handguns will be considered Class III weapons. Proper permits will be required for use or ownership. Rifles and shotguns will remain as they are. No more concealed carry permits for handguns.
If there’s anything else you’d like me to cover, let me know and I will gladly add on.
An Examination of Republican Policy as Viewed From A Christian Perspective
This morning on my way to work I heard an interesting story on the radio regarding the presidential race in Virginia. Apparently Liberty University is making a huge effort to keep Virginia a red state on Nov. 4th. That’s fine. I won’t get into semantics over what’s wrong and what’s right about a private educational institution promoting a specific political viewpoint. That is another debate for another time. What I want to address is the student’s attitude towards democrats.
Let me begin by saying that I side with neither party. I think both parties are wrong and need to be overhauled; but since Liberty and it’s students are siding with the republicans and there seems to be a genuine prejudice towards democrats, that will be the topic of discussion here today. I also wish to point out that I am not attacking Christians in any way. I myself am a Christian (though not in today’s broader sense of the word). I simply intend to draw people’s attention to some issues for consideration.
The following statement really caught my attention (The direct quote was taken from the article “Can Falwell’s University Tip Virginia To McCain” by Barbara Bradley Hagerty and can be read in its entirety here ).
“I think with McCain, he proves with his life his Christian values, and his whole life has been about sacrifice. I think that’s something that us Christians see as really important.”
First, Obama is a Christian as well- despite the false rumors of him being Muslim (not that it should matter since there is a separation of church and state). His life also well represents his Christian duty as he has had a lifetime of public service. One can not say that helping at home is less valuable than helping abroad. Obama has been involved in the Civil Rights struggle as well. Something unarguably befitting a Christian since any good Christian can agree that all men are brothers and thus we should treat our brother as we ourselves wish to be treated. I don’t mean to discount McCain’s military experience either. It is a very handy thing to have on the resume when you are running for President. However, having heard his racist remarks regarding the Vietnamese and his inability to forgive them, I feel that there he is lacking in his Christian values. Jesus held no grudge against those that crucified him; something just as bad if not worse than McCain’s time in Hanoi. If Christ can say, “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do”, how much more aught McCain forgive his tormentors? I realize that I most likely cannot grasp the ordeal McCain endured, however God has given man the ability to forgive and he deems it necessary that we do so.
Another striking contrast that I see in Republican beliefs versus Christian ideology concerns money. Republicans have a great fear of social programs and the “redistribution of wealth” as they like to call it. As a Christian, it is your duty to take care of others less fortunate than yourselves. As stated in Matthew 25:38-40:
“38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”
This is one of many statements that Jesus makes in regards to caring for the less fortunate. The poor account for 227,080 HOUSEHOLDS as of records gathered from 2006-2008 according to the US Census Bureau. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done here. How can we as Christians tolerate so large a number to live in poverty while people are driving $50,000 SUVs and living in $500,000 homes? I think it is a necessity that we do all we can to look out for others in America if we truly want to uphold our Christian beliefs and our leadership ought to do the same if you are evaluating future leaders by their Christian values. Financially, we also ought to scrutinize the mega-churches as well. How many homeless could you shelter for the cost of one of your huge structures? Is it necessary to have a single venue that seats tens of thousands? Why not break it up by neighborhoods and use the money you save to build a low income subdivision for the homeless as a means of helping them get back on their feet? As far as tax law goes, shouldn’t corporations who control billions and trillions of dollars be forced to care for the needy who, in some cases, were put into such dire financial straits by these very corporations (taking jobs overseas, for example) if the corporation will not do so willingly? Here I think Obama has the upper hand. I like the idea of tax credits (NOT cuts- which actually COST the government money) for companies who stay in America and higher taxes or tariffs on companies who take jobs overseas.
Another interesting point that comes up is the War. Most republicans I speak to feel the need to stay in the war “until the job is done”. This creates a problem when you apply Christian religious beliefs to the scenario. According to the Bible, God has deemed that the Middle East will not know peace. Ever. The violence there has been going on for thousands of years and will continue for thousands more. Taking that into consideration, are you willing to let your children die for hundreds of generations as the people of the region have done, over a dispute in which we have no part? There can be no peace and there will be no stability and we as Americans may be endangering ourselves by getting involved in a Biblical conflict that has no end.
No one seems to notice that the only real difference between the parties lies in small things like sex education, same sex marriage and the like. Now, I understand that to a Christian these are not small issues. What needs to be taken into consideration is that we cannot fix the serious problems in our society while simultaneously arguing over these issues. I say let’s straighten out the economy, get our diplomatic ties restored, wipe out poverty in the US, take care of the basic needs that aren’t being met for so many people and THEN we can get to these topics.
When it comes to same sex education we see the failure of the program in the unfortunate circumstance of Palin’s daughter. It is very fortunate for this young lady that her parents are well-to-do. She won’t have too much to worry about financially and the baby will likely turn out to be a fine young republican. What we are failing to see is that Palin’s daughter actually had a CHOICE as to whether or not to keep the child. She was not FORCED to have the child. This freedom of choice is one of the many things that makes America great. But what about the millions of others who are being taught the same form of sex education? The sex drives and natural instincts of these kids aren’t going to go away just because we tell them that if they have pre-marital sex they are going to hell. Approaching such a situation with such limited knowledge of how their body works is what gets us into messes like these. This is another reason I feel that Christianity and Republicanism don’t mix. Besides, sex education OUGHT to be the responsibility of the parent. Of course, in today’s society no one is willing to take responsibility for their own actions. I also think that religious institutions waste lots of valuable time and money organizing protests and paying lobbyists when those same funds could go towards counseling services, prenatal care, day care services and other things that COST MONEY. Money is a large problem for underage mothers and is a large part of why they want abortions in the first place. If they could afford the child, then perhaps they might reconsider? Once again, it seems that we are not being proactive enough.
In regard to same sex marriage, I understand the Christian viewpoint on this. The complication here is that this objection is a religious objection to a social issue (or since we have made it so, a government issue). What gets me is that nowhere does the Bible tell us how to get married. It tells us how to get divorced. It tells us under what circumstances we may remarry, but there are no details of how to get married. Taking that into consideration, what makes us think that just because the government grants two guys or two girls a piece of paper that they are suddenly married in a binding holy union? If God objected to the union of two individuals do you think it would matter that they held a piece of paper or had hospital visitation rights? I suppose if God didn’t like it he wouldn’t recognize it as a legitimate marital institution. Under the instructions of Jesus Christ in the new testament we are to love our brothers. This includes being tolerant of others. We can give our opinion on the matter, discuss why we disagree, but we can also live alongside one another and not seek to do each other harm. Would you deny another person the right to see their loved one before they die (hospital visitation rules) or deny them health and other benefits that will help them have a decent quality of life simply because we do not agree with them? Is that not doing them both harm and a great injustice? If you are a Christian, it seems like your obligation is to tell them you disagree, why you disagree and then be done with it. If you can convince them otherwise, fine. If not, let God handle it. We ought to follow the example of Matthew 10:14 where it states, “If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them”. You can only do so much before they close their ears to your words on principle alone. Not to mention that this is a gross example of the need of separation between church and state. We are not a Theocracy. I doubt anyone believes that we would be better run under one. Therefore, do not let your religious beliefs be translated into public law. If salvation is the path that the religious right seeks for the country then they are going about it all wrong. Laws backed by force are not the way to convert others to Christ. One must seek God of his own accord. Otherwise they are not honestly seeking God, but are being forced to him. Religion through conquest stopped in the old testament for Christianity (for a reason). Today there are those who seek to spread their religion and force their religious views upon others and we call them terrorists. Their methodology is different, but they seek the same end.
As I previously stated, I think both parties are wrong. But to assume that one party is more religiously correct than another and will run the country better than another is rather ludicrous at this point. Both parties basically want the same thing. They want us to be at peace and to be prosperous. If you don’t like the way things are going and you want an honest change then you are going to have to give up on both the Democrats and the Republicans. After 100 years what can we say has been the major change that either party has brought us?
