MucheDumbre

What is going on!?! I have always been a middle of the road democrat. I fall on the liberal side for some issues and the conservative side for others. While I’ve never ruled out voting for a republican, I have only ever voted democrat. I have spent the last few years gorging myself on the Bush’s admin polices, actions, cronyism, incompetence and deceitfulness just to vomited out tirade after tirade about the illegality of the man and everyone surrounding him. I have taken criticism for speaking out against a sitting President and have been called unpatriotic because I asked questions and didn’t support the ridiculous answers given. I have become polarized against the GOP over the last 8 years because of the likes of Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Libby. For many millions of middle of the road democrats it has been a long 8 years, a tough 8 years hell, even a painful 8 years. But I have waited for the day when finally I get to do my part to rid the country of a Republican President and switch things up a little to help us get back a little closer to center.

So why I am looking at John McCain to be the next president?

What is wrong with this picture? I am attacking the only man who can bring about the change I so crave. I am attacking in the same way I attack Gonzales and his 72 “I don’t recall’s”. I am attacking him the same way I attacked Scooter Libby’s “The vice president told me to leak classified information to discredit Wilson”. I’m ranting about him the same way I ranted about “Good job Brownie”.

Why do I loathe and distrust the only democratic hope for president?

Because I know nothing about him. Well, I know that he will say whatever he needs to about any issue just to get votes. If your area doesn’t like off-shore drilling when comes there and gets in front of a TV or reporter he’ll tell you that he doesn’t approve of it either.

If your area seems to be ok with the idea, he’ll tell that well, he’s not really against off shore drilling.

If your for the rights of the people of the country and don’t believe the government should be able to do wiretap and listen in on it‘s citizens phone calls and the telecom companies shouldn’t get immunity, then he is with you. If you think that telecom companies should get retroactive immunity for illegally wiretapping the public and are for a bill that allows the government to keep on tapping it’s people, then he is with you too.

If you are against dirty politics in a campaign race and are just plain tired of the mudslinging. Obama is right there with you. In fact he doesn’t miss the opportunity to call people out for making things dirty. Of course it doesn’t bother him to go out imply that the only woman running has PMS when he said… ’periodically’ she has her ‘up’s and down’s’.

What is it about him that people support so whole heartedly. Yesterday’s headlines were, PELOSI HOLDING FIRM, BLOCKING OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING VOTE followed by “Obama shifts position on offshore oil drilling… *” If that is not the biggest slap in the face to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats, what is? The FISA vote obviously wasn’t a hard enough slap because they just took it and kept going, so what will they do this time?

My guess? Nothing. What can they do. Dean and Pelosi did all they could to get one person out of the race that people knew everything about it in favor putting in the man no one, not even his ‘grass roots’ know anything about until he decides to tell them. But even that doesn’t matter because in the next town or the next speech he’ll just change his mind and tell those people what they want to hear. Even his pastor told us he would do that. Why nobody believed the man’s spiritual adviser to him and children for 20 years is still a mystery to me.

How can I vote for a man that has no one stance on any issue? Whose only accomplishment so far is that he can read a script off the teleprompter and make me believe him the same way Heath Ledger read his script and made believe he really was as evil as the Joker.

Maybe that’s what it is. In our fast-food, Hollywood celebrity sycophant society, we are drawn to the one who gives us the best ‘after school special’ speeches. We don’t have to hold him to those speeches and promises, because it’s TV and this is just a role he’s playing and like any good actor he can say what he wants and we forget what he just said the last time we saw him. Just look at Kevin Costner’s speeches in Bull Durham

and JFK

See, we can believe both depending on what ‘role’ he’s in. We don’t have to know what he truly stands for, we just have to believe in him.

The sad fact is we didn’t know anything about Obama when this all started. But he could sure talk. We threw out the people who had been around, who were known to the world, who policies and ideas and votes we could track and trace. We wanted flash and pizzazz and we got it. The republicans tried to do the same but ultimately chose the one with a past and a congressional record that is as long as War and Peace. Funny how the Democrats mocked them for this. Mocked the GOP for thinking they could put an old man with a 30+ year public past up against the new and fresh no-name from Chicago.

What I wouldn’t give now for someone with an actual stable record. Someone I can trust on Thursday to say the same thing on Friday.

Obama isn’t Presidential because of his senatorial voting, his political history, his 300 advisers, his “meet the Messiah” world extravaganza… he’s presidential because he watched “Jeb Bartlett” and learned how to give a good “episode ending, goose-bumpy” speech. So let’s reward him for that. But let that reward be an Oscar or an Emmy and save the Oval Office for someone with an actual plan.

Why is McCain even wasting his time and the party’s money. Sure the polls put him pretty much dead even with the Messiah, but c’mon…Hillary was close too. In fact Hillary wound up beating the Messiah only to be questioned every single night “why is she in it” “what does she want” “when will she quit” “what, does she think she can win” “she’s dividing the country” blah blah blah until she was finally tossed away and forgotten like a cheap whore… Didn’t McCain pay any attention? Or has he just forgotten?

Dude, why don’t you just retire already.

Why don’t you just stop your campaign and go back home.

You can’t win.

Hillary won the popular vote and where is she?

It doesn’t matter if you win the popular vote McCain. The electoral vote will go towards the Messiah and they count more than us little people who can‘t decide for ourselves who we want to lead us.. Just like the super-delegates votes counts more that the regular delegate.

McCain, you’re doing nothing but making a mockery out of the Republican party. The mighty-mighty Republican party, the party of Reagan for God’s sake. The longer you stay in the race, the more divided this country will be. But more than that, the more you will hurt the GOP. Your little stunt yesterday? You know, where you thought you could go up against the Messiah and the media? Remember? What? One reporter was there to look at you? One whole reporter. What did you think, that the media would care? HA! They had the Messiah’s 3-pointer to cover. And today? While the Messiah was giving the sermon from the mount, did you really think anyone at that German restaurant cared that you were there? Hell no they didn’t. The chosen one was speaking and all must show reverence and ululate and then genuflect or else the Messiah will leave us. Didn’t you watch any of the Hillary vs. Messiah race?

Speaking of race….. Lance Armstrong? Really?…. Um, he’s like stupid. What ever happened to Chuck Norris. Did you know that Chuck Norris once challenged Lance Armstrong in a “Who has more testicles?” contest. Chuck Norris won by 5.

Did you know that there are no steroids in baseball. Just players Chuck Norris has breathed on.

On his birthday, Chuck Norris randomly selects one lucky child to be thrown into the sun

So where is he?

Oh…. My….God.

Now I understand….

Now I see …..

The Messiah ate Chuck Norris.

I know… ridiculous right? Sadly it isn’t. It’s the truth (well, the messiah didn’t really eat Chuck Norris). Any day now the media will begin to question why McCain is even running. The same media that is now making a mocking of their own coverage over the soon to be anointed one. Hell they are already rejecting his op-ed’s until he can make it more like the Messiah’s.

They know what they’re doing..but that isn’t stopping them from acting like 12 year old school girls backstage at a Jonas Brother concert. McCain should have seen this coming and prepared better for being the sacrificial lamb. Then again, did anyone see all of this blind devoition coming? Sure there was adoration for the Messiah when he was up against the Clinton machine. But did anyone see this… “invasion of the body-snatchers meets Jim Jones, David Koresh, Charles Manson-like cult love”?

The scariest part of this is that this fervor is no longer found in fringe journalism or local media. This is coming from the 3 biggies, CBS,NBC,ABC. The granddaddies of all news media have now been assimilated. Resistance is now futile. There will be no more investigative journalism when it comes to the Messiah. No story on earth will make the Granddad’s go against the Messiah. We saw what happened when the administration we have now had free reign from the media. Only now, not only is the media involved, the entire world is backing this man. The world wants him as president. (yes, that is a real website)

We’re fucked……. We are so fucked.

But what if the Messiah doesn’t live up to … Wait…what am I saying, it doesn’t matter if he lives up to anything.. He hasn’t done anything to live up to and look at the mania surrounding him.

I’ve asked so many times…. “What has he done in his political or personal life to show that he deserves this and can be the leader then entire world wants him to be?” I have yet to get an answer. So I have a new question, one that I hope will get an answer and make my life so much easier and ‘flower-y’… Where the hell is the punch bowl? I want to be blinded by a semi-precious smile and a great (when rehearsed 1000’s times) speech giver. I want to be assimilated to save my sanity….. So where in the hell is my blue pill?

Breaking news: The Surge worked.

Actually it’s not so breaking.  The results have been apparent for several months now.  Civilian casualties are down, military casualties are down, and acts of violence in general are down.  Iraq is no paradise, but on the other hand it’s not quite the hell on earth that could have safely described it in 2006.  It’s hard to argue now that it was the wrong strategy, so let’s take a look down memory lane and see who opposed it eh?

Senator John Kerry:  “The simple fact is that sending in over 20,000 additional troops isn’t the answer–in fact, it’s a tragic mistake. It won’t end the violence; it won’t provide security; …it won’t turn back the clock and avoid the civil war that is already underway; it won’t deter terrorists, who have a completely different agenda; it won’t rein in the militias.”

Kerry’s fellow Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, declared the surge, “an immense new mistake.”  Kennedy actively tried to fight sending any more troops.

Senator Christopher Dodd, former Presidential candidate and onetime threesome partner with the previously mentioned Senator Kennedy:  “We don’t need a surge of troops in Iraq–we need a surge of diplomacy and politics. Every knowledgeable person who has examined the Iraq situation for the past several years–Baker and Hamilton, senior military officials, junior officers–has drawn the same conclusion–there is no military solution in Iraq. To insist upon a surge is wrong.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (really, is that his real name?), when asked is she was worried that the gains of the surge might be lost if the troops were removed too hastily, “There haven’t been gains, Wolf…The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure.”

Governor Bill Richardson, former Presidential candidate and yapping Vice Presidential wannabe had this to say on the surge:  “The president is wrong. We don’t need anymore troop surges, we need a diplomatic surge. We must get all our troops out of Iraq as soon as possible.”

Senator Joseph Biden, yet another former Presidential nominee, and currently running for either Obama’s Vice President or his Secretary of State, whichever will put him in front of the cameras the most, told this to Secretary of State Rice on the surge:  “We heard a plan to escalate the war, not only in Iraq but possibly into Syria and Iran as well…I believe the President’s strategy is not a solution, Secretary Rice, I believe it is a tragic mistake.”

And of course Senator Hillary Clinton, who tried to play the man in her ultimately failed Presidential race against Senator Barack Obama:  “Based on the president’s speech tonight, I cannot support his proposed escalation of the war in Iraq…The President simply has not gotten the message sent loudly and clearly by the American people, that we desperately need a new course. The president has not offered a new direction, instead he will continue to take us down the wrong road, only faster.”

There was some Democratic support however.  Senator Lieberman said this in support of the surge:  “it’s just unfair to our troops implementing the surge, to Gen. Petraeus, who helped create this totally different strategy — which is working — to essentially pull the rug out from under them, to take away their reason for fighting before they even have a chance.”

Oh wait, Lieberman is an independent now.  Although he caucuses with the Democrats he is regarded as traitor.  Quite a fall from being the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate 7 plus years ago.  But I don’t want to make it sound like only Democrats opposed the surge.  There was some Republican opposition as well. 

Retiring fence sitter and amateur historian Senator John Warner had this to say, “Young men and women of US forces and coalition forces should not be caught in the crossfire of a civil war prompted by who should have succeeded Mohammed in — what is it? — 650 AD?”

Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, who teased the country on his decision to think about deciding to consider whether to entertain the notion of running for President, had this to say:  “This is a dangerously wrong-headed strategy that will drive America deeper into an unwinnable swamp at a great cost. We cannot escape the reality that there will be no military solution in Iraq.”

But right now, the opinions of those who matter most are the two Presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama.  Come January of next year, no matter who wins, George Bush will be packing his bags and whatever White House towels he can get away with.  As he leaves, his policies leave with him.

McCain’s views on the surge are well known.  In fact, you could argue that he risked his political career on the surge.  But what did fellow contender, Barack Obama have to say?

Before the surge: “It is clear at this point that we cannot, through putting in more troops or maintaining the presence that we have, expect that somehow the situation is going to improve, and we have to do something significant to break the pattern that we’ve been in right now.”

After the surge was announced:  “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq are going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.”

Of course you will have to look a little bit for Obama’s earlier comments now.  He scrubbed his website to clear out his previous anti surge comments.  Now, guess what?  The surge worked:  “In the 18 months since President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda–greatly weakening its effectiveness.”

Hey, anyone can be wrong.  It’s possible that someday I might be wrong about something.  It’s not likely, but never say never.  But it’s stunning when an entire political party is wrong about something so important.  The Democratic Party and the mainstream media was as one on the idea a year and a half ago that the surge couldn’t work and shouldn’t be tried. 

In this election, Barack Obama isn’t running on the experience card.  McCain has that locked up.  He’s running on his judgment. Because he opposed the war on Iraq, he is somehow supposed to have better judgment?  Sean Penn opposed the war too and he thought it was a good idea to marry Madonna.  His supposedly superior judgment had him opposing the surge too.

It wasn’t judgment that had Obama opposing the war,  it was the reflex of the anti-war left.  The same reflex that had him oppose the surge.  I’m still waiting for an example of his good judgment.

Rumors have been swirling that Obama,Dean and Pelosi are trying to negotiate Hillary’s name off of the ballot at the Convention next month. It seems they don’t mind her being on the ballot as long as it’s as a symbolic, roll-call gesture . They want her name on the ballot, they just don’t want placed on the ballot for nomination.

Neither Obama nor Hillary won enough votes to secure the nomination. Obama may have 390 more of them if all the super delegates who pledged to him actually vote for him at the convention. But with his shine getting a little a duller and with 18 million voters voting for Hillary, having her name as a nominee on the ballot and having to listen to all her delegate vote for her would make his ass pucker. All it would take is for her to have prime placement in the speeches and just knock it out of the park. The amount of delegates she has and the problems with his incessant flip-flopping could remind the delegates that she really does have a damn good chance of beating McCain. If she, or Bill were to remind them that her poll numbers against McCain were better than the 46% he and Obama share now…. Who knows what could happen and that’s why he needs to get her of the nominating ballot.

So what can he do about that? Well he can use his political influence to make sure that she is taken off the ballot as a nominee and placed there just as his symbolic 2nd. He’s done this before. Obama only likes to win when he’s uncontested. When Alice Palmer, the former state senator who picked Obama to be her successor back in the mid-90s wanted back on the ticket, he had her kicked off. The problem with Hillary is that there is no legal reason to have her bumped off the ballot. More than that though, if her voters aren’t allowed to vote for her then it’s game on and party unity my ass.

It would be quite embarrassing to Obama if there was a open-air-stadium-like response to Hillary getting on stage and giving a blow-out speech.. This is his shining moment and Hillary can’t be allowed to outshine him once again. But at the same time, Obama wants to project a ‘party-unity’ that just isn’t there. In order to keep that faux-appearance, Hillary just can’t be on the ballot and steal the sunshine from his over-whelming, ever engorging ego. It would ruin his grand plan to take over the world.

Don’t think he has a plan?

Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha

He’s going to give his outdoor stadium speech on the 45th anniversary of MLK “I have a dream” speech while being the 1st nominee to give an outdoor speech since JFK did it in 1960. Yeah, someone is a little full of himself huh?

Here’s the thing. I don’t really give a rat’s ass if it’s embarrassing to Barack Obama. His people screamed like little bitches that Michigan shouldn’t count because he wasn’t on the ballot when they are the ones who took him off. So could you imagine the screaming and race-crying if there was a plan in the mix to get him placed on the ballot as a token 2nd choice? I think Motley Crue, The beatles and Charles Manson had a prediction for that scenario called “Helter Skelter”

This Manson predicted scenario is really just one wrong move from happening as it is. If the press caves, if Obama misteps in such a way that it just can’t be ingored we might have to call Charlie “profit” instead of whack-o-nut. But it would take alot to make the press go against the messiah I mean have you read a story on Obama? The other day there was a story that comics can’t even make fun of him, in that story the writer says

“But there has been little humor about Obama: about his age, his speaking ability, his intelligence, his family, his physique”

Is he Adonis or something? Maybe he’s Jesus? Or maybe he’s the reincarnation of Budda himself .

Jon Stewart tried to make fun of him, but met resistance from the audience. He had to tell them “You know, you’re allowed to laugh at him.”

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm ….Did Jim Jones’ followers ever laugh at him?

Every week I decide I am going to have to swallow my hatred and get on the ball and get the bad stuff out about McCain. Because there really is a lot of stuff out there….. I mean look at this response to a question about his surrogate saying that some health insurance will pay for viagra and not birth control and women would like to have the choice (response at about 5:00).

Could you imaging him being asked a really important question? HA!

Anyway, every week I want to change. I hope that I can finally sit down and do something positive about Barack or if not positive then something about McCain. But every week Barack tweaks my ire with something else and I completely forget about the crazy old man that might just be our next president and I shouldn’t.

This man is just as dangerous and the other one.

How in the hell did we get these 2 “unelectables in a sane year” as our only 2 choices?

Three words

George W Bush.

Yes, that’s right. What kind of liberal rant would this be without putting some kind of blame on Bush? But it’s true. The DNC figured that no matter what and no matter who, they had this election in the bag. The republicans could clone Ronald Reagan and it wouldn’t matter. George Bush fucked this country up so bad and didn’t give one shit about it that anyone running as a (D) would win.

Look say what would want, but even McCain knows this and is doing everything in his power to avoid being linked to Bush.

So the DNC is all it’s wisdom gave us…. No forced upon us.. A liberals wet-dream. No the wet-dream isn’t a woman… No-no… the true liberal wet dream is a good looking black man. Harold Ford jr would have been my choice, but his skeletons have already been vetted out so a no name senator would have do. Hopefully he could get the nomination and election before they were weeded out by the press. But if not, what to do?

Then, a “Karl Rove like” idea was formed.

Anytime anyone dissed this candidate, scream racism.( Which as you know is the liberal kryptonite.) Scream it at every charge and eventually no one will make any more charges and if the do they can be put off as people who just don’t like blacks.

Howard Dean may not have known about Obama deciding to do the open-air stadium rapture until he saw it on the news, but he damn sure knows his liberals.

The problem is liberals don’t just sit silent and fall in with the party-line because the party wants them to. But to silence them forever Dean and his subordinates can only do one more thing to ensure the nomination goes to the exalted one. Get Hillary off the ballot at the convention.

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I hope The Denver Group accomplishes it’s goal. Because Hillary may be an old school politician, but she is still better and saner than anyone else out there. The question is though, are more and more people with the power to do something about it paying attention?

I got a call from a polling firm the other day.  I guess even polling is now outsourced to India based on the accent of the person interviewing me.  The loud bustling and noise in the background had me imagining a Hindi boiler room.  When the interviewer asked me if I was going to support the Florida Marriage Amendment, I confess I was caught by surprise.  “Is that up again this year?”  I thought to myself.  “I thought that got kicked out by the courts or something last time?”  Of course to the interviewer I acted like I knew it was on the docket all along, “I will not be supporting that.”  I replied.  I thought about putting on a redneck voice and saying, “Zat so I kin’ marry my sister?”  But I figured my poor interviewer was straining enough under his English language burden as it was.

Of course after I hustled the guy off the line, I had to go look it up. The Florida Marriage Amendment will be coming to a Florida ballot near you this fall.  Look for it.  This seemed like a sleeper amendment to me.  I’m not sure if it would have kicked up much of a ruckus if it hadn’t been for California’s Supreme Court’s decision in May to overturn California’s gay marriage ban.  However, as much as conservatives deride those liberal courts, they do have their uses. 

In 2004 the Massachusetts Supreme Court suddenly discovered that their state constitution, ratified in 1780, actually authorized gay marriage.  Who knew those puritans meant that?  Those wacky Adams brothers… 

The results, besides the increased business for wedding planners and a state wide shortage of ice swans, was the mobilization of social conservatives  across the country who feared their State could be next on the gay marriage hit list.  This lead to a renewed surge in political activism among social conservatives nationwide, who suddenly viewed the make up of the US Supreme Court in jeopardy if Kerry won the election.  This even had an effect on the black vote in certain key states.  George Bush, whose popularity among African-Americans was only slightly higher than police water hoses and sweaty southern sheriffs, suddenly had black ministers stumping for him in the pulpit.  In Ohio, the key state in the 2004 election, this lead to a surge from a normal 9% of black Republican support to an astounding (for Republicans that is) 16%.   

And….four more years.

The funny thing is, Kerry’s and Bush’s position on gay marriage was identical.  They both supported civil unions, but didn’t support gay “marriage.”  In fact all of the major presidential candidate’s position on gay marriage in 2004 and 2008 has been virtually the same: Yes to civil unions, no to marriage. In an era known for its remarkable divisiveness on so many political and social issues, this is an issue for which there is remarkable consensus.  Polling has shown that nationwide, 55% of the U.S. population supported the idea of gay civil unions. The public’s comfort with the idea of civil unions has increased year after year and I expect the trajectory to continue.  The only thing that could put a stop stick in this increased acceptance is …

…liberal courts.

Given the success at letting the courts decide issues that should be decided through the electoral process (see abortion), one can hardly be surprised at the outcome.  Social conservatives mobilized, gay activists mobilized and a divisive issue becomes even more divisive. 

Currently, this is good news for Republicans.  While polling seems to support civil unions, if the word marriage is thrown in, the support drops off precipitously. If the issue was strictly within the normal electoral process, it really wouldn’t be much of an advantage to Republicans. But as an issue that is being decided in the courts in response to lawsuits, rather than the normal electoral process, who is on the court matters as much as who is in office.  The electoral process is following, rather than leading the issue.

And this is where the California’s court decision comes in.   Between the wedding cake and matching tuxedo rentals, on the November ballot will be another issue besides Obama vs. McCain; Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage.  Even in a pretty liberal state like California, gay marriage is not a sure bet.  In 2000, California votes approved by more than 61% Proposition 22, which amended California statutes to limit marriage between a man and a woman.  Prop 22 is actually what was challenged by the City of San Francisco and others.  The issue, In Re Marriage Cases, overturned the part of the State statute that was amended by Prop 22, freeing the way for gay marriage in California.

Proposition 8 has text virtually identical to Proposition 22:

Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California

The difference is that Prop 22 amended the State statutes.  Prop 8 amends the State Constitution. 

Cases like this increase the urgency of the issue to be handled by constitutional amendment, rather than just trusting state laws, which generally define who is and isn’t eligible for marriage.  If Massachusetts’s 18th Century constitution can be reinterpreted by sympathetic judges to decree that the puritan fathers always intended for dudes to marry each other, how long before activist judges on the nations Supreme Court decree the same thing?

“Yep, if you look right here in the preamble, it’s just barely visible, but it’s obvious what the founders meant,

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect GAY union…

It’s all right there, in the penumbras and emanations of the constitution.  Not in words so much….

Currently three States will have ballot initiatives this year to ban gay marriage.  Of the three, election turnout in Florida could make the difference on whether the State goes with Obama or McCain.  What, oh what, could bring social conservatives to the voting booth this year? 

Republicans almost don’t deserve the luck they’ve had.  In a year that should be an easy give me to the Democrats, Republicans nominated the one candidate who might possibly appeal to independents and renegade Democrats.  True, it seemed as if the cost would be social conservatives sitting home this November, but then a wonderful (to Republicans) thing happened:  The California Supreme Court reminded social conservatives that godless gay secularists were still out there, ready to overturn God’s law in favor of Satan’s.

It would be a strange irony if liberal court decisions helped defeat a liberal Presidential nominee this year.  But it’s happened before.  In fact, it happened last Presidential election.

And what about me?  Why would I oppose the Florida Marriage Amendment when it could help elect a candidate I prefer?

The way the amendment was written the intention is not just to ban gay marriage, but civil unions as well.  In that regard, I am with the majority of Americans and our major Presidential candidates in favoring civil unions.

But I tip my hat to the Florida Marriage Amendment, and the California and Massachusetts Supreme Courts.

Thanks guys!

What an elitist dumb-ass…

Ok…… 1st….He needs to learn to speak English and quit the fucking stuttering. I mean for God’s sakes man, practice your speech… listening to you speak is more embarrassing than only knowing ‘merci beaucoup’ . Why is that more embarrassing? Because you’re running for the leadership of the last superpower and you sound like a dumbass. We’ve had dumbass for 8 years and we don’t need it anymore.

2nd.

“instead of worrying about whether about immigrants can learn English..they’ll learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish”

Are you fucking kidding me? I need to worry less about immigrants and more about my child learning to speak their language?

How about this Barrack. How about we teach kids English, grammar, punctuation, writing, math, history and science before we worry about teaching them Spanish. How about we find a way to pay teachers enough money so we don’t have 50 kids in one class. How about we use math teachers to teach math and gym teachers to teach gym instead of the other way around. How about we get rid of the FCAT that does nothing to benefit the child and can only be used against them when it’s time to move to the next grade or graduate. Or how about you worry about immigrants flooding over the boarders and draining the hospital systems and let me worry about what fucking language my kid should learn in their own fucking country.

What a pandering son of a bitch. Look, it’s simple.. You want to come to America fine. But you have o follow the rules. Come legally and become a productive member of society. That means you have to learn the language. Not because we can’t say “thank you very much” in French, but because it helps you get a better job than picking tomatoes.

Would it be nice to be like France and have bi-lingual kids? Sure, but it would nice to be like France and have universal healthcare also. It would be nice to be like France or England have a currency that isn’t lower than something called “the Loonie” It would be nice to have and education systems like Finland but unfortunately our politicians are more worried about making the American born conform to the wishes of illegal so we don’t hurt their feelings. Or so they give pandering politicians their vote.

Now before you get your panties in a twist. I have no problem with people coming here and doing it the right way. I think we benefit every day from people raised and educated in other countries. We are so self-aborbed that its good to get new blood. But when giving a speech on immigration and trying to find something to counter the unpopular “you should learn English” (which if you watch, is exactly what he did) the last thing you should say is “Don’t worry about me immigrating legally or otherwise or learning your language, you just worry about your kid learning to speak the native tongue of my country”

How’s that for a Fuck you to America from the presumptive Democratic party presidential nominee…

Oh but don’t worry, he and his wife are really proud of the country. She because she said “really” and he because he wears a flag pin.

Can they do this?

Some people use the Internet simply to check e-mail and look up phone numbers. Others are online all day, downloading big video and music files.
For years, both kinds of Web surfers have paid the same price for access. But now three of the country’s largest Internet service providers are threatening to clamp down on their most active subscribers by placing monthly limits on their online activity.

One of them, Time Warner Cable, began a trial of “Internet metering” in one Texas city early this month, asking customers to select a monthly plan and pay surcharges when they exceed their bandwidth limit. The idea is that people who use the network more heavily should pay more, the way they do for water, electricity, or, in many cases, cellphone minutes.

Are you fucking kidding me? Is this the future of the internet? That we get charged for how much we are online.

All three companies say that placing caps on broadband use will ensure fair access for all users.

No, it’s not fair. Just because someone only goes online to check their email doesn’t mean I need to charged more because I , or someone in my house spends all day online. Why do the ones using it get punished and the ones not using it get all the fucking glory?

How about this. Set up a package for people who only use the internet for email and leave the rest of us alone. It could be like $10 a month for 450 minutes, that’s 15 minutes a day x 30 days. That’s all you need for an email check right? Once you do that though I guarantee more of these ‘email-only’ users will say “oh wait, I need an hour a day for email because I write really long letters”.

Yeah right. Too bad! You want to complain that that’s all you use it for… well then you get the small package, if you want more, then you pay what everyone else pays.But to start charging like we do for electric or water is just ridiculous. The internet is what makes us all equal in the world. Everyone has access to it and noone is richer/poorer than the next guy. But once you start putting a meter on it, the poorer people are going to have a hard time paying for more access while the rich people just run willy-nilly all over.

But the companies imposing the caps say that their actions are only fair. People who use more network capacity should pay more, Time Warner argues. And Comcast says that people who use too much — like those who engage in file-sharing — should be forced to slow down.

These people can suck my dick! No I don’t engage in ‘file-sharing’ but to hell with being ‘forced to slow-down’ ….. what the fuck is that all about?

In that trial, new customers can buy plans with a 5-gigabyte cap, a 20-gigabyte cap or a 40-gigabyte cap. Prices for those plans range from $30 to $50. Above the cap, customers pay $1 a gigabyte. Plans with higher caps come with faster service.

A high-definition episode of “Survivor” on CBS.com can use up to a gigabyte, and a DVD-quality movie through Netflix’s new online service can eat up about five gigabytes. One Netflix download alone, in fact, could bring a user to the limit on the cheapest plan in Time Warner’s trial in Beaumont.

Are you kidding, so one online DVD rental gets you over your monthly limit?

Again, why are the people using the internet being the ones punished?

“Should be forced to slow down”

Wtf? It’s a superhighway sure… but it’s not I-95. What is more speed, more sharing, more learning, more evolution hurting?

This whole thing is about greed and money. Companies are drooling all over themselves to find a way to tap into making more money off something they did not create and have nothing to do it’s evolution. They can’t charge you for content (well, they can, but you know what I mean) so they charge you to get on to the content…. And they charge you royally. But that’s not enough, now they want to charge you for how fast you use that free content.

Imagine, being charged at the library a higher rate because you read faster and more than someone else.

“Im sorry Ms. X, but you read Gone with the Wind way too fast so we’re going to have charge you double for War and Peace. You understand don’t you? It’s not fair to the slow reader that you get the same fee-guidelines as they do.”

fuck that!

I don’t know how to stop this from happening. I don’t know who to call or write to complain. I am afraid that congress really thinks the internet is a ‘series of tubes’ so they won’t help. Even they do know what the internet is, they’re pretty much sucking at getting anything done. Obviously I can’t go to my provider, because they are one of the ones pimping this horrible idea.

So I come to you, the ones on the internet that will be charged more money because you decided to read this blog instead of just checking the latest dick-growth fat burner. We need idea’s to stop this. BitTorrent couldn’t. But maybe that was because it happened to them too fast. We actually have warning. Unfortunately I make problems and don’t solve them so I am at a loss for what to do. But someone, somewhere has the solution. …. He or she has to. Putting a meter on the internet is putting a meter on learning and in this country we need all free the learning we can get.

Barack Obama made a “patriotism” speech last Monday.  Every once in a while, if Obama feels he is being threatened on a particular issue, he does a speech on it, and declares the issue closed.  For a normal candidate, that would bring up more questions and widen the issue, but not with Obama.  With a lickspittle media to back him up, he seems to be able to have the definitive word on an issue.  Like his infamous race speech, given to try to get out from under widening questions about his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, Obama mentioned it to end it.  The speech, in which Obamaphile first, journalist second, Chris Matthews, declared “Worthy of Abraham Lincoln” and “the best speech ever given on race in this country,” did end the issue until Jeremiah Wright himself forced it back on the front page, pulling kicking and screaming main stream media with him.  Of course if Obama himself wants to use race, such as in his more recent “Did I mention he’s black?” speech, he is free to bring it up and start tossing race bombs at any time.

But the issue Obama feels threatened by now is patriotism.  I can hardly think of a time when that has been an issue in Presidential politics, but here we are.  I can’t imagine McCain giving a defensive speech counseling others not to question his patriotism.  McCain probably in his wildest dreams wouldn’t imagine who would be dumb enough to attack him on his patriotism. 

But Obama’s problems with the issue are his own making.  Last year, when asked why he didn’t wear the flag pin, he could have answered in a number of ways that would have made the issue as throw away as the question should have been. 

“Sometimes I just forget to put it on.”

“Michelle dresses me, and she hates America.”

“I don’t care for the bling.”

Any of those answers would have been better to how he really answered:

“The truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security…”

“I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest. Instead I’m going to try to tell the American people what I believe what will make this country great and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism.”

Gee, I never got the memo.   Flag pin equals the Iraq war?  I have not been counting flag pins, but I suspect there were plenty of people who opposed the war but still managed to wear flag pins.  It’s a tribute to Obama’s inexperience that he managed to take what is in essence a silly issue, and stumble on it with a defense that opens up a whole host of symbolic, but deadly issues for anyone running for political office anywhere other than Berkeley.  If Obama thinks the flag pin represents support of the Iraqi War, what does a flag sticker on a car mean?  Support for invasion of Pakistan?  Actually we ought to check Obama’s car for that.  It’s just a guess, but I suspect that there is no flag pole at the sprawling Chicago Obama Manor.

Senator Obama laid down the law with this line, “I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign. And I will not stand idly by when I hear others question mine.”  Luckily Obama supporter Wesley Clark’s bumbling attack on McCain’s military record was made the day before Obama’s speech.  Clark’s attack so backfired that I suspect the whole patriotism speech had probably been sitting on a shelf waiting for a more appropriate time until Clark forced Obama’s hand.

He was going to have to give the patriotism speech eventually though.  Not to cover for Wesley Clark, who may have blown his VP chances, but to protect someone a little closer to home.  Michelle Obama clearly lacks her husband’s political skills, as well as lawyer’s penchant for parsing words so precisely that you have to go over it with a fine tooth comb to make sure you really understand what he is trying to say.  Although Michelle is a lawyer too, she is by no means a subtle one, describing the country as “just downright mean.” But my favorite Michelle tag line is this, “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country …” 

I’m sure the Obama’s were shocked that phrase kicked up quite a controversy.  What would there to be proud of in this country until Barack Obama decided to run for President?  Damage control to the rescue.  Politics must seem so easy for a candidate who has all of the main stream media at his beck and call.  No gaffe or misstatement is so big that it can’t be either ignored or explained away.  And that’s how we got Michelle on The View. 

Not being a regular View watcher, I have no idea how much of this dullard housewives kaffee klatch is scripted, but the part where English Professor Whoopi Goldberg brings up Michelle’s quote in order to clear things up seems right out of script book.  Professor Goldberg explained that Michelle’s use of the word “really” modified her statement to mean that the first part of her phrase didn’t really exist.  For example, this is what Michelle Obama said:

“For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country.”

However using the special Whoopi rules it really means:

“——————————, I’m really proud of my country.”

Not having Whoopi’s knowledge of English grammar, I felt stupid and ignorant for not understanding what Michelle Obama was really trying to say.  I guess I must be an uneducated bitter American.  I decided to give it a try to see if I could use the Whoopi “really” sentence construction in real life situations.

Me:  You know, for the first time in our marriage, I really love you.

Wife:  What???

Me: You know what I mean. I really love you for the first time in our marriage.

My wife has a temper that can go from zero to eighty in about three seconds flat.  Three seconds was about how long it took to try explain to my wife that she was bitter and angry for not understanding what Michelle and I was trying to say.

Me:  I’m trying to tell you that I really love you; for the first time in our marriage!  Can’t you see that?

Anyway, she didn’t see that.  So because of my wife’s ignorance of the English language, I have about 14 more days on the couch before I can come back to the bedroom.  I only hope that the American people have a better understanding of English than my wife does.

Everyday I hear more and more people moan about the Democrat’s choice we are forced to swallow. When the primaries started I was amazed at how many people actually cared. There was an electricity in the air, like just before a thunderstorm. That metallic smell was all around, people were hungry for a change and they couldn’t wait to get the ball rolling.

I witnessed 2 camps. One camp was strong and confidante for the future. The dollar was going down, gas was going up. The war was costing billions and people were starved for change. They knew it was a full-blown fact that a democrat would be elected and while that person might not fix all the problems that he or she was left to fix, they would better than what we’ve had for the last 8 years. They were happy and content that the stronger, better candidate would win.

The other camp had the pep and zip of a 12 year old boy. They got out there and worked. They rallied around their man, they weren’t content to sit there and just let it all happen. No they wanted to make a grand statement, they wanted pop and flare.

It kinda reminded me of the Tortoise and the Hare fable. I think everyone expected the hare to peter out while the tortoise moseyed over the finish line. There was no way the hare would actually go the distance. It just couldn’t happen this time because there was too much at stake, too much to gain and even more to lose.

They were wrong. The hare didn’t peter out. In fact he brilliantly beat the tortoise at her own game and then stole her shell and shit in it.

Months later, with the convention and official ‘crowning’ coming up. I am seeing and hearing more and more people get more and more disgusted with the whole thing. The electricity is gone, the metallic thunderstorm smell has abated and people are looking around asking what the hell happened.

These people never expected Obama to really get this far. Sure, he’d make a big splash but eventually he’d be vetted out of the race. His past history, associates and lack of experience would overcome him and he could walk way silently.

Everyone expected ‘race’ to become involved in the ‘hunt for the white house’. It was to be expected just like sexism was to be expected against Hillary. What people didn’t expect was that race would be played against everyone by the black candidate and the sexism would overshadow any and everything else that was left.

I’ve talked to so many people, white and black from a pediatric anesthesiologist to a house cleaner, from ‘red neck to city-slicker’ and all of them say the same thing. “what can we do now?”

Again I am reminded of a tortoise, these people are like a tortoise without it’s shell. They don’t know what to do come November. They have never considered voting republican but are finding excuses to justify a vote for McCain. They look at how he was 8 years ago, when he was a more himself and less George Bush, when he stuck to what he believed and not the just party line. And they are saying “well, maybe he’ll be like that in the White House, right now he just has to pander to the Right in order to get elected” These people will not under any circumstance vote for Obama.

I have actually tried to play devil’s advocate and say “well, the next president will put 2 justices on the supreme court, If McCain gets the chance women’s rights will go back 50 years”

The reply “Roe v Wade will never be repealed. It’s been the law of the land for so long that it’s safe no matter who is on the court”

I say, “McCains party is all for limiting the pharmaceutical companies liability when they market a drug and it makes you grow a third nipple on your nose’”

The reply “I think the FDA is stronger than that”

I say “Bush changed the clean water act by ‘ Allowing masses of industrial wastes to be dumped in streams, lakes, rivers, and wetlands’….do you think mini-me-McCain would go against this?

The reply again, “well, that’s alway been happening and will keep happening no matter who is in office”

Mind you, I detest Barrack. I do not trust him. I think there is so much hidden dirt on him that when it comes out we will all beg for 4 years of Dick Cheney, but I want to make sure these people know what they are saying when they try and justify McCain.

I cannot convince them to vote for Barrack. Nothing I say makes a dent. They are as adamant as I am about him.

How did this happen?

He is supposed to the one who brings us ‘unity’ and instead he is the one dividing the democratic party. Those who never thought he had a chance feel so shut out that they are willing to vote the other side. That’s not bringing us all together and singing kumbaya around the campfire… that’s Hatfield and McCoy shit right there.

We all watched as nightly Hillary was attacked for her cleavage, her tears and how her voice reminded men of their nagging wives. We all watched as anything negative or even questioning was said about Barrack was turned into “that’s racially offensive”. We all watched in amazement as his own supporters couldn’t give a single one of his accomplishments. No matter how you look at that, it’s a problem. When you ask someone ‘what qualifies you for the job of President of the United States” and the only answer that is given is “I am inspirational” it becomes a joke. When that person goes on to take the party nomination, it becomes divisive.

We are all used to having to vote for the lesser of the two evils. We’ve all said “well he’s not my 1st pick, but I’ll take him” So what is the difference now?

I think that while Obama’s people were trying to make sure “race” was never brought up they went too far and saw ‘race’ in everything and that pissed a lot of people off. These people have never been anything but neutral to positive when it comes to gender, sex or race. They are liberals for God’s sake. They embraced the gays, the blacks, the Hispanics, the poor and the sick. But all of a sudden they were made to feel like David Duke because Barrack wasn’t their 1st, 2nd, or even 11th choice. They were made to feel like they were holding the whips and beating the slaves when they questioned “He sat in the church for how many years?” “His “white” what?” ..”a fairy tale is racist now? Huh?”… “RFK means she’s sending code to Jason Bourne?”… And all of a sudden they got sick of it. So sick that they will sell their rights and their values because they will not vote for Barrack.

So much for unity.

This divide was once blamed on Hillary because she dared to stay in the race, but now that she’s out of it… it‘s still festering and even growing. So who really was to blame?

When asked “I don’t know what I’m going to do come Novemeber”…. how do you answer? Because I’m at a loss…

discussion

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I would like, really like, to believe in some things that everyone else believes in. It’s tiring to have to constantly explain your views and be looked at as some sort of kook. I now know how a Scientologist feels.

But at least a Scientologist has to actually go out and seek his kookiness. I merely stood in place, while the rest of the world went gaa gaa over something that seems totally mind numbingly laughable.

No not American Idol, I’m talking about Global Warming.

Although I really don’t get American Idol, and have never seen an episode, at least it is on TV with lots of flashing lights and primary colors. Global Warming has none of that. There are no jerky camera angles, no bright colors, no music. It really just has Al Gore with a power point. But what a power point! To my knowledge, the first power point slide to win an Oscar. That sure beats the one I made that had the box that made the boing sound. It seemed cool at the time, but it was no Oscar winner.

So as I was standing still, the debate was suddenly over. Al Gore, Leonardo DeCaprio, and Larry David’s wife, accomplished scientists all, declared the debate over. Global warming had won, and all that was left was to figure out how to get the maximum amount of self righteousness from the least amount of inconvenience.

In spite of my youthful good looks, I’m actually old enough to remember other environmental fads that ran through the media and intelligentsia before burning out and losing interest. Some, I just don’t know what happened to. The media stopped reporting them. Did we ever get all of our wetlands restored? Or did they just rename them swamps and marshes and abandoned them? How about acid rain? Is all the acid gone now? That one I actually do remember. To my knowledge, the last appearance of acid rain in the mass media was a 60 Minutes story in which they said, “Oops, it’s mostly a natural phenomena; forget about the last 10 years of hysteria. Your children won’t burn to death in a spring shower.”

And then that was it. We all promised to never mention it again and moved on to the next catastrophe.

But we won’t be moving on from global warming anytime soon. Eventually yes, but for the next 20 years or so, we will be regaled by news stories on “Which Purses are the most Green?’ “How your family can stop breathing and save the earth” or “Bathing: The planet needs you to stay stinky.” Smelly bums in every bus station in America, after he takes your dollar, when he notices the tell tale curl of your nostrils can say with pride, “I’m not bathing so I can save the earth. What are you doin’?” Of course then he can also explain to you that the KGB implanted a chip in his head to keep track of his used tissue paper collection.

And why are we stuck with this particular environmental fad when the others have all come and gone? Because when it comes to environmental crisis’s, Global Warming is darn near perfect. It’s not just a problem for American tree huggers anymore, it’s gone world wide baby! Even the UN is involved. Unlike acid rain, it’s not primarily a Northeastern problem. The depletion of the ozone layer just isn’t sexy unless you live under the Antarctic hole. And wetlands? There are just too many homeowners to sue who have puddles in their yard for more than 3 weeks a year. But global warming effects the whole…what’s the word…globe. Everyone can take notice and get involved to avoid global catastrophe.

And catastrophe is exactly what we have been promised. Twenty foot higher sea levels, super storms ripping across the planet, and islands being inundated; leaving their inhabitants dogpaddling while waiting for a friendly continent to take them in. Who wouldn’t be in favor of stopping that? And apparently the solution is simple. Bike to work, or if you must drive make it a Prius, use only one sheet of toilet paper when you go boom-boom, use florescent light bulbs and bring your own reusable hemp bag to Publix.

In fact it’s so easy, I could take environmental credit right now. I telecommute so I don’t have to go to an office every day, and I already have a few florescent bulbs. However given the toxic levels of mercury in each one, I have my Hazmat suit ready when changing them. Such is the price of a green lifestyle. The toilet paper thing…not quite ready to go there.. My poops shouldn’t be limited like that.

So why don’t I just keep my mouth shut, take my green kudos, and nod sagely when someone mentions climate change? I would appear to be a lot smarter that way. But… I’m a little bit skeptical. Maybe skeptish. Whether it’s doubting the divinity of Jesus during Christmas dinner, or arguing that there is no conclusive proof that Uncle Otis has gone to a “better place” at his wake, for most things I hear, I’m just not buying it. Like that guy from Missouri, you gotta show me.

I’m not a scientist or have in any way the credentials to evaluate the raw data that the sciences generate to prove or disprove a hypothesis. I sometimes think that I am almost that smart though. I can watch a Nova special on String theory, and then explain it, in a most elementary way to someone else, but in reality, I don’t understand it at all. Understanding the universe at that level is impossible for a layman. It can only be properly explained and understood with an understanding of a level of mathematics that I don’t have or have little hope of obtaining. At least not without a grant from the National Science Foundation, in association with your local PBS station…

Luckily String Theory has no impact on public policy.  The public isn’t divided into “Stringers” and “Stringer Deniers.”  I don’t have to listen to Alec Baldwin and Gary Sinise arguing those cosmological points on Letterman.  It’s an extremely complicated theory that is important to how the universe is constructed, but makes no difference in my daily habits or how anyone conducts their affairs on this planet.

But Climatology is worse. The number of different weak and strong attractive forces that a physicist must take into account is minor compared to the possible inputs into a weather system that an atmospheric scientist must consider. And in fact, he (or she- not trying to pull a sexist card here) can’t. We can build a computer model predicting the movement of heavenly bodies that is pretty darn accurate, taking in what we know of Newtonian and relativistic physics. But right now we can’t even get an atmospheric computer model to give us the weather for fixed periods in the past, even though all of the data and inputs are a matter of historical record. So if they can’t predict the weather we’ve already had, how can they predict the weather we haven’t? I hardly need to point to our local “5 Day Forecasts” to show the flaw in the models. Day one is usually pretty close, but after that, things start to get a bit iffy. All of the minor differences that occur in day one add factors to alter the prediction for day two, which increase exponentially for day three, and so on. It’s the butterfly effect, minus Keanu Reeves’ time traveling.

I’m a simple guy, so usually my questions are simple. But for some reason I can’t seem to get the answers to break down this man made global warming thing. Maybe someone can fill in the gaps but this is my understanding of the greenhouse effect:

The greenhouse gases that we are talking about are about 95% water vapor, about 3 ½ % carbon dioxide and 1 ½ % methane and nitrous oxide.   So my question is (and it is by no means the only one), if carbon dioxide increases are driving the earth temperatures up, and they are only 3 1/2 % of the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, why are we so worried about carbon dioxide and not about water vapor? And of that 3 1/2% of carbon dioxide, between 3 and 4 percent of that is human related. Is that an amount that is worth changing any behavior?

It seems to me, if we could do something about the water vapor, we would never have to worry about another cow fart; or my farts for that matter. On that issue my wife has accused me of singlehandedly altering the climate. I’m skeptical of this as well. We could set a thousand more coal fires in West Virginia, and I could run the AC in my car with the windows down and it doesn’t seem like it would make a difference to earth’s temperature. But still, we are getting ready to spend a great deal of money and make a great deal of sacrifice for something that doesn’t appear to make a great deal of difference.

Then again, maybe like with String Theory, I only think I understand the issue. But I do think I understand the people who think they understand global warming. They hate oil, and oddly enough, they hate carbon dioxide. Water vapor is uninteresting to them because it’s neither oil nor carbon dioxide, and there isn’t a damn thing anyone can do about it anyway. But they feel we are so important that all earth is a flutter at every Hummer that’s driven and every incandecent light bulb that’s left on after some one leaves the room.

I’m not willing to bet my home on a stock tip, even one that is a “sure fire” thing.  But considering what is being asked of us from Cap and Trade legislation, we are taking the chance that devastating our economy will save the planet. If I believed, really believed the planet was in that kind of danger and ruining our way of life would save it, then it would be worth it. But given the gaps in our knowledge, I’m willing to wait and see how the science shakes out.

That seems the safer bet.