Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Inevitable SNL Skit
Once we took a gander at SP with her Tina Fey glasses we knew that this skit was just around the corner.
Friday, September 12, 2008
McCain the Feminist?
How does the mainstream media actually decide on it's news stories? How is it that we don't hear much about Cindy McCain's drug past? And what about John McCain's language? He recently lambasted Barack Obama for using the phrase "when you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig." The McCain camp claimed that Obama was obviously referring to Sarah Palin. John McCain has used that same metaphor numerous times himself. What would the press do if John McCain ever demeaned women . . . or insulted his wife in front of the press? Hmmm...
Incidentally, the comment attributed to John McCain in this video has been reported as fact by various sources. You can use "the Google" to find more on his use of the "C" word.
Incidentally, the comment attributed to John McCain in this video has been reported as fact by various sources. You can use "the Google" to find more on his use of the "C" word.
And the Lies Just Keep on Coming
Being a veteran myself it still galls me that McCain claims to have help pass the most recent G.I. Bill when in actuality he was opposed to the bill. He agreed with the Bush administration's cockamamie reasoning that offering soldiers an education after they got out of the service would cause a depletion in forces. The reality (always different from the Republican viewpoint) is that the attraction of the new benefits would attract enough new volunteers that there would not be any depletion caused by soldiers wanting to get out and get educated. I wasn't lucky enough to get the G.I. Bill when I was in the air force. It ended the year before I joined. We had a crappy program called VEAP. For every dollar I put the government would put in two...up to a total of $8,100. That didn't even pay for two years of electronics school. I still had to take out student loans to make up the difference.
Here is a piece I found on Andrew Sullivan's blog at the Atlantic Monthly, exposing the lies of John McCain.
Here is a piece I found on Andrew Sullivan's blog at the Atlantic Monthly, exposing the lies of John McCain.
John McCain the Whiner
I am really tired of John McCain claiming the negative and deceptive ads recently put up by his campaign are only used because Barack Obama refused to accept McCain's offer of a series of town hall type debates. So in other words, if Obama had just agreed to do things McCain's way, then his campaign wouldn't have been forced to release lie after preposterous lie about Barack Obama. I've even heard McCain stick to his guns about the "lipstick on a pig" comment, which no sane person believes that Obama was in any way referring to S. Palin. John McCain himself has used that phrase at least three times in the last year, and once specifically referring to Hillary Clinton's health care plan.
I find it hard to write about politics lately, because just the thought that enough ignorant Americans could elect the party of ultimate hypocrisy into office again, after being screwed by the Bush/Cheney regime for the last seven years, fills me with sadness. Why can't people learn to sift through the bullshit that makes up American culture and learn the facts for themselves? The right wing has managed to get their views included in any debate even when they are categorically wrong. Do we really need to listen to the other side on evolution and global warming when the scientific data is clear? And if you don't think that the data is conclusive why not read up on these very important issues that concern the globe? When you live life with blinders on you'll never discover the reality that surrounds you.
The Republicans are constantly saying that they want to keep the government out of our lives and yet they want to impose the morals on the rest of us. If they really want to stay out of our lives then what is the problem with women having choice? When Sarah Palin says she is against abortion even in the case of rape or incest (Alaska having the highest incidences of rape in the country) she says it's because she "chooses life." But she somehow thinks it's okay to take that power of choice away from the rest of the women in this country. Banning books at your local library is another instance of the government interfering with my intellectual well-being.
It's just more hypocrisy from the masters of deceit. They don't want the government out of lives completely. They just don't want the government to be a helping hand for those in need. They want everyone to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps even if one doesn't have any boots!
I find it hard to write about politics lately, because just the thought that enough ignorant Americans could elect the party of ultimate hypocrisy into office again, after being screwed by the Bush/Cheney regime for the last seven years, fills me with sadness. Why can't people learn to sift through the bullshit that makes up American culture and learn the facts for themselves? The right wing has managed to get their views included in any debate even when they are categorically wrong. Do we really need to listen to the other side on evolution and global warming when the scientific data is clear? And if you don't think that the data is conclusive why not read up on these very important issues that concern the globe? When you live life with blinders on you'll never discover the reality that surrounds you.
The Republicans are constantly saying that they want to keep the government out of our lives and yet they want to impose the morals on the rest of us. If they really want to stay out of our lives then what is the problem with women having choice? When Sarah Palin says she is against abortion even in the case of rape or incest (Alaska having the highest incidences of rape in the country) she says it's because she "chooses life." But she somehow thinks it's okay to take that power of choice away from the rest of the women in this country. Banning books at your local library is another instance of the government interfering with my intellectual well-being.
It's just more hypocrisy from the masters of deceit. They don't want the government out of lives completely. They just don't want the government to be a helping hand for those in need. They want everyone to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps even if one doesn't have any boots!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Be Afraid . . . Be Very Afraid
So first John McCain seeks out Rev. John Hagee's endorsement, but then he has to distance himself from the pastor's nutty pronouncements. He also had to break his public ties with Rod Parsely, because of Parsely's anti-Muslim statements. Back before the 2000 election he called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson "agents of intolerance" and now he has someone with a similar mindset as his vice presidential running mate. This warped theology they push worships the affluent and leaves the poor to fend for themselves. If you don't think that Sarah Palin should be lumped in with these extremists then take a gander at the videos below and be schooled in the language of the fundamentalists. I do not plan to sit on the sidelines while the crazed Christians do their best to warp this country into their own vision.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Sarah Palin was not Miss Congenialty
Where to begin. George W. Bush in drag? Like everyone else I have had my fill of the moose-eating mom from Alaska over the past week. Ever since John McCain pulled the rabbit out of the hat others have covered the phenomenon known as Sarah Palin better than I could, but I’ll step into the foray anyway.
Once at the convention the hypocrites were in overdrive, trying to con the public into somehow believing that the Republican party wasn’t in charge over the last 7 and a half years (forget the Democrats being in charge of congress for the last two years when the Repugs can use rules they created to basically kill any decent legislation.) It all comes down to making the tax cuts for the richest among us permanent and stirring up the culture wars to get the ignorant blue-collar bible thumpers out to the voting booths this November. It was the same old same old, except they had a feisty “hockey mom” from nowhere to fire up the conservative base. (Not that Wasilla, Alaska is nowhere. On the contrary. I’m sure it’s a beautiful spot. I’m mean symbolically that Sarah Palin is from nowhere. She has no significant political background. She is being used as a political tool to engage a certain voter: anti-choice, book burning creationists. The same lunatic fringe that elected George W. Bush . . . twice. (Of course the results of the 2000 election show that George W. Bush was selected not elected; and the results of the 2004 election should probably be examined a little more closely. (Hello Ohio.) )These voters have never been crazy about John McCain, who once (accurately) called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson “agents of intolerance.”
The ploy at this week’s convention was obvious. Sarah Palin was there on Wednesday night to (literally and metaphorically) give the conservative base a hard-on. While John McCain’s job on Thursday night was to appeal to the independents and those dissatisfied with the way things have been run for the last 7 and a half years. His choice of Palin was such a obvious political hail Mary pass. A desperate overture to the fundamentalists in the extreme right wing of the Republican party. If you are John McCain — a self-professed maverick — you don’t go from considering Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge for the V. P. spot one week to suddenly picking the radical mother/governor, who is already embroiled in a bit of controversy. Now she is thrust onto the national stage, along with her political and familial baggage (and they seemed to be tied together in this case) to rev up the base before hightailing it back to Alaska to sort out her affairs (no pun intended) and bone up on foreign policy. I’ve heard that she is being quickly schooled in the ways of the world by the ever stalwart (hack!) Joe Lieberman. It seems that Joe has nothing better to do than lick the boots of Republicans since being re-elected back in 2004.
All in all I’m not worried by this recent turn of events. The idea that Hillary supporters are going to flock to McCain now that he has a vagina on the ticket is preposterous and insulting to thinking women everywhere. As has been pointed out, there were much more qualified women on the right to fill that position, such as Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Susan Collins. If people are not riled up enough to get out in force and elect Barack Obama in an attempt to overturn what has been done to this country for the past seven years then we, as a country, will get what we deserve. When I mention to my conservative parents the things that repel me about Bush’s control of our government: legalizing torture, systematically stripping away fundamental constitutional rights, consistently rewarding his corporate buddies. They blithely respond, “well, we don’t know about that.” Exactly, and that’ just how the powers-that-be want it. The public is being dumbed down by a corporate culture run amok, so that they cannot get off their lazy asses one day out of the year to vote the bastards out of office.
It’s a nation of flag-waving hypocrites exhorting a war that they do not actually have to fight. When ever anybody utters the word “draft” they are immediately hushed. I support the draft, because then, if more citizens were forced to serve militarily, they might be more apt to oppose a senseless illegal war. When your ass is literally on the line then you might be more likely to say, “hey wait a minute!” Two of the Republican party’s most aggressive chicken hawks warmed up the crowd for Sarah Palin on Wednesday night: Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. Thompson was deferred from the draft during the Vietnam era, because he had children. Rudy Giuliani, who was fresh out of law school, had influential judges in New York excuse him from duty, by declaring him vital to their staff. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of these speeches, including the highlight of the evening Gov. Palin. I find that I hearing lies and propaganda continuously for a few hours damaging to my health, mental and otherwise.
McCain and Palin were stumping in Wisconsin today, repeating some of the same lies that they introduced during the RNC. For sixty days we will be subjected to some of the basest and most vile attacks on Barack Obama, Joe Biden and on roughly half the country in disagreement with right wing ideologues. If we question their ginned up war we’re labeled unpatriotic (even those of us who have served in the military.) If we urge diplomacy over military aggression than we’re called appeasers. If we want a fair wage and decent affordable health care we socialists! And what’s wrong with socialism anyway? Our capitalist democracy seems to favor the wealthy few over the masses. Why would any sensible working individual fall for the scam called “trickle down economics?” As Dennis Kucinich shouted at the most recent Democratic convention: Wake up America!
The flag waving half of the country drink the Kool Aid by watching Faux News, and getting stirred up about gays and immigrants while their jobs are being sucked away by the corporate elite. I’m sure the oil execs were creaming their jeans when they heard the crowd at the Republican convention start chanting “Drill Baby, Drill!” Election after election common working people hand the richest few in the country everything they want and desire. Before Bush & Co. leave office they are determined to get drilling approved for ANWAR, contraception declared abortion, and they are gutting the endangered species act among other things. The right wing thugs have raped and pillaged this country for the last seven and a half years. Enough!
As for Sarah Palin: the idea of a Dominionist, who believes that God has a plan for Iraq being the vice president to a president, who is a seventy-two year old cancer survivor, sends chills down my spine. The warped ideology of those who would urge on the apocalypse, because they believe that they are going to rise up into welcoming heaven at that moment, is just as dangerous as the Jihadists, who believe that they have 77 virgins awaiting them after their martyrdom. And as for Ms. Palin being once voted Miss Congeniality during a beauty pageant?
Now that I've got that out of my system. Let's take a break for a little cooking instruction.
Once at the convention the hypocrites were in overdrive, trying to con the public into somehow believing that the Republican party wasn’t in charge over the last 7 and a half years (forget the Democrats being in charge of congress for the last two years when the Repugs can use rules they created to basically kill any decent legislation.) It all comes down to making the tax cuts for the richest among us permanent and stirring up the culture wars to get the ignorant blue-collar bible thumpers out to the voting booths this November. It was the same old same old, except they had a feisty “hockey mom” from nowhere to fire up the conservative base. (Not that Wasilla, Alaska is nowhere. On the contrary. I’m sure it’s a beautiful spot. I’m mean symbolically that Sarah Palin is from nowhere. She has no significant political background. She is being used as a political tool to engage a certain voter: anti-choice, book burning creationists. The same lunatic fringe that elected George W. Bush . . . twice. (Of course the results of the 2000 election show that George W. Bush was selected not elected; and the results of the 2004 election should probably be examined a little more closely. (Hello Ohio.) )These voters have never been crazy about John McCain, who once (accurately) called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson “agents of intolerance.”
The ploy at this week’s convention was obvious. Sarah Palin was there on Wednesday night to (literally and metaphorically) give the conservative base a hard-on. While John McCain’s job on Thursday night was to appeal to the independents and those dissatisfied with the way things have been run for the last 7 and a half years. His choice of Palin was such a obvious political hail Mary pass. A desperate overture to the fundamentalists in the extreme right wing of the Republican party. If you are John McCain — a self-professed maverick — you don’t go from considering Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge for the V. P. spot one week to suddenly picking the radical mother/governor, who is already embroiled in a bit of controversy. Now she is thrust onto the national stage, along with her political and familial baggage (and they seemed to be tied together in this case) to rev up the base before hightailing it back to Alaska to sort out her affairs (no pun intended) and bone up on foreign policy. I’ve heard that she is being quickly schooled in the ways of the world by the ever stalwart (hack!) Joe Lieberman. It seems that Joe has nothing better to do than lick the boots of Republicans since being re-elected back in 2004.
All in all I’m not worried by this recent turn of events. The idea that Hillary supporters are going to flock to McCain now that he has a vagina on the ticket is preposterous and insulting to thinking women everywhere. As has been pointed out, there were much more qualified women on the right to fill that position, such as Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Susan Collins. If people are not riled up enough to get out in force and elect Barack Obama in an attempt to overturn what has been done to this country for the past seven years then we, as a country, will get what we deserve. When I mention to my conservative parents the things that repel me about Bush’s control of our government: legalizing torture, systematically stripping away fundamental constitutional rights, consistently rewarding his corporate buddies. They blithely respond, “well, we don’t know about that.” Exactly, and that’ just how the powers-that-be want it. The public is being dumbed down by a corporate culture run amok, so that they cannot get off their lazy asses one day out of the year to vote the bastards out of office.
It’s a nation of flag-waving hypocrites exhorting a war that they do not actually have to fight. When ever anybody utters the word “draft” they are immediately hushed. I support the draft, because then, if more citizens were forced to serve militarily, they might be more apt to oppose a senseless illegal war. When your ass is literally on the line then you might be more likely to say, “hey wait a minute!” Two of the Republican party’s most aggressive chicken hawks warmed up the crowd for Sarah Palin on Wednesday night: Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. Thompson was deferred from the draft during the Vietnam era, because he had children. Rudy Giuliani, who was fresh out of law school, had influential judges in New York excuse him from duty, by declaring him vital to their staff. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of these speeches, including the highlight of the evening Gov. Palin. I find that I hearing lies and propaganda continuously for a few hours damaging to my health, mental and otherwise.
McCain and Palin were stumping in Wisconsin today, repeating some of the same lies that they introduced during the RNC. For sixty days we will be subjected to some of the basest and most vile attacks on Barack Obama, Joe Biden and on roughly half the country in disagreement with right wing ideologues. If we question their ginned up war we’re labeled unpatriotic (even those of us who have served in the military.) If we urge diplomacy over military aggression than we’re called appeasers. If we want a fair wage and decent affordable health care we socialists! And what’s wrong with socialism anyway? Our capitalist democracy seems to favor the wealthy few over the masses. Why would any sensible working individual fall for the scam called “trickle down economics?” As Dennis Kucinich shouted at the most recent Democratic convention: Wake up America!
The flag waving half of the country drink the Kool Aid by watching Faux News, and getting stirred up about gays and immigrants while their jobs are being sucked away by the corporate elite. I’m sure the oil execs were creaming their jeans when they heard the crowd at the Republican convention start chanting “Drill Baby, Drill!” Election after election common working people hand the richest few in the country everything they want and desire. Before Bush & Co. leave office they are determined to get drilling approved for ANWAR, contraception declared abortion, and they are gutting the endangered species act among other things. The right wing thugs have raped and pillaged this country for the last seven and a half years. Enough!
As for Sarah Palin: the idea of a Dominionist, who believes that God has a plan for Iraq being the vice president to a president, who is a seventy-two year old cancer survivor, sends chills down my spine. The warped ideology of those who would urge on the apocalypse, because they believe that they are going to rise up into welcoming heaven at that moment, is just as dangerous as the Jihadists, who believe that they have 77 virgins awaiting them after their martyrdom. And as for Ms. Palin being once voted Miss Congeniality during a beauty pageant?
Now that I've got that out of my system. Let's take a break for a little cooking instruction.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
A Breath of Progressive Fresh Air
Mark your calendars folks! This Monday, September 8th, marks the debut of the Rachel Maddow show. Her show will immediately follow Countdown with Keith Olbermann in an attempt to keep those MSNBC ratings high. I've have been hoping for months that the powers-that-be at the network would see the value in giving Rachel her own show, and low and behold, they must have agreed with me. Below is an interview Rachel gave with Think Progress about the format and so forth:
Also, last Friday marked the beginning of the fall season of Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. We had added HBO to our cable package just as the last season of Real Time was ending. Now, with Keith, Rachel and Bill Maher on each week, it's starting to feel like there are at least, well, three voices of reason on mainstream television. It's downright refreshing and will help me keep my sanity as the country fumbles toward it's next presidential election. Will reason win out this time around? It certainly seems to have a louder voice than in the previous two presidential elections.
Also, last Friday marked the beginning of the fall season of Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. We had added HBO to our cable package just as the last season of Real Time was ending. Now, with Keith, Rachel and Bill Maher on each week, it's starting to feel like there are at least, well, three voices of reason on mainstream television. It's downright refreshing and will help me keep my sanity as the country fumbles toward it's next presidential election. Will reason win out this time around? It certainly seems to have a louder voice than in the previous two presidential elections.
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