Here is my semi-complete rundown of my take on the events of the RNC week. And what a week it was.
-We started off the week with many on the left and in the media drooling over the prospect of Hurricane Gustav wrecking the Gulf Coast and ruining the RNC. The sense of disappointment on Monday night was palpable. It was sad and amusing at the same time.
-Bobby Jindal really seemed to be on top of things in the few days leading up to the storm.
-That picture of Governor Palin holding the M-16 is probably the hottest thing I've ever seen in my life.
-On Monday afternoon I went to cnn.com to get the latest info on the storm. The top 3 stories on the web page were about Bristol Palin's pregnancy. The fourth was about the hurricane. No ideological agenda there. It's too bad the baby's father isn't John Edwards. If that were the case the mainstream media would have declared that it "wasn't news" and the LA Times would have banned any discussion about it on their website.
-I'm not sure if the McCain campaign was laying an ambush for the Obama campaign, hoping that they'd rail against Palin's inexperience, but if it was they walked right into it. I thought it was funny that Obama supporters of all people cared about experience, and I knew she would probably address this when she spoke, but I was completely unprepared for the devastating manner in which she did so.
-The press release from the Obama campaign deriding the fact that she was the "mayor of a town of less than 9,000" was probably ill-advised given the earlier comments Obama has made with regard to "guns and religion" as well as the statement that Americans embarrass him because we can't speak more languages. I for one would like to see the U.S. government run more like that of a small town. You know, with spending restraint, priorities, etc.
-I'm glad my parents' professional lives don't hinge on what my judgment was like at age 17. Aren't you?
-I liked the fact that Obama seemed genuinely pissed off when he told the reporters that peoples' children should be off-limits. Of course he was completely ignored by the press, who apparently decided they still haven't sucked enough blood yet.
-Now, on to the convention itself. I thought the three-day format actually wound up being better. The major speakers were kept but there wasn't nearly as much filler material. This made for much better television, in my opinion.
-I noticed that they didn't do a lot of fake-diversity stuff like they have in the past few. In the 96-04 conventions it seemed like they had every black republican in the country sitting within 50 feet of the stage, in an effort to make the party look more diverse. Black voters, however, were not fooled by this. This time they just said "ah screw it. Let's just put all the hot chicks up front." Which brings me to my next point.
-I thought it was a very good-looking crowd. It seemed like every crowd shot had some very attractive women in it. By contrast, a lot of crowd shots in Denver reminded me of the bar scene from Star Wars. What does that have to do with anything? Nothing. It's just the kind of thing I notice.
-Another contrast was the people being celebrated. Nearly every speaker or video was celebrating achievement. They had videos of past presidents, Medal of Honor winners, etc. and a lot of the speakers were people who've built successful businesses. The Democratic convention, on the other hand was a celebration of victimhood. It seemed like every other person to get up there was somebody who'd lost their job, gotten sick, or lost their health insurance. I understand that victim status is the highest honor the Left can bestow, but after that you'd think the unemployment rate was 30% and there was no such thing as "health insurance". Are we in rough times economically? Yes. Are we living in some kind of Dickensian nightmare? No.
-I was hoping the Bush appearance would get canceled entirely and we would only see Laura. I was also glad that Dick Cheney was not seen, heard from, or mentioned the entire week. Hopefully this keeps up until the election.
- Fred Thompson's tub-thumping speech on Tuesday was the best I've ever seen him give. He wasn't that passionate when he was the one running for president. The part about taxing businesses was funny and on-target at the same time.
-Liebermann better hope there's a cabinet position waiting for him if McCain wins.
-I felt sorry for the woman trying to speak when Papa Bush walked in and the crowd cheered for several minutes before she could start speaking.
-Mitt Romney did absolutely nothing for me in his speech. He sounded like his party was the one that had been out of power for 8 years. Huckabee was good as always.
-I knew beforehand that Rudy was going to be coming after 'em. Rushing the passer, if you will. He did not disappoint. "nothing. nada." His shots on Obama and Biden were a hit with the crowd. I thought he would be a pretty tough act to follow, and that Palin would have a hard time topping him. I couldn't have been more wrong.
-After several days of talk about her inexperience and people on the left questioning McCain's judgment, I expected that Governor Palin would give a pretty good speech and hit on some of the areas where her resume' matches up pretty well to Senator Obama's. I was not prepared for what came next. She gave the best speech of the convention season. That's right, better than Obama's. And it was perfectly set up by all of the inexperience talk. This allowed her to go on the attack without coming across as being quite as mean. I remember thinking during Obama's speech that there were a few softballs he left hanging over the plate that could be hit back if the GOP was on it's game, like the line about him and Biden "fighting for you". She hit all of them out of the park. She was very conversational, not preachy. She came across as very confident, and from everything I've gathered over the past few days, she has absolutely electrified the base. For example, the next morning Michael Reagan wrote a column entitled "Welcome Back, Dad." Yeah, that's what we're dealing with here. I can't believe the Obama people didn't see this coming with all the inexperience talk. I also found it ironic that the Obama people are now saying that it's not about personality. If that were the case Hilary would be the nominee.
-I also like the fact that she talked about her family and the media, but didn't come across as whining.
-They made a big deal about the Bush speech writer, who I'm sure was thrilled to finally write one for somebody who can actually speak.
-There has been a run on the Kawasaki 704 glasses frames that Sarah Palin wears.
-I saw an article in an actual "respected" newspaper criticizing the way her hair was done for the speech. I'm not going to claim a double standard or anything, but the morning after Biden spoke I don't recall reading the phrase "hair plugs" one time in any newspaper story.
-I was afraid going in about overdoing the Vietnam stuff, and it was mentioned by every speaker, but I'm not sure you can tell the McCain story without talking about a formative experience like that. I mean five and a half years is longer than I've lived in Colorado, which seems like a long time.
-Senator Graham actually did less for me than Mitt Romney.
-Pawlenty wasn't bad. "Who voted against securing loose nukes in the former USSR?" (paraphrased). That one passed unanimously as I recall as well.
-I would have done more to point out the details of those 2 ethics reform bills Obama touts. One had 47 co-sponsors and passed the Senate unanimously. The other had 18 and passed 96-2, with 2 senators not voting. Not exactly tough legislation that has to be rammed through. If Obama had vehemently opposed them it would have made zero difference. Zero.
-The Cindy McCain video was very moving. She is clearly not a professional speaker, and I think the speech was not written very well in terms of being easily delivered. There were too many multi-comma'ed sentences. That said, the actual content about her charity work over the years in some of the most miserable places on the planet was incredibly touching. I can't help but contrast this to Mrs. Obama who was excellent in delivering her speech but whose biggest applause came because she doesn't hate America. I think a lot of the Michelle stuff has been unfair, but the way this went off kind of reminded me of her earlier statement.
-McCain started off kind of slowly and looked a little distracted when all the idiot protester stuff happened at first. It's kind of funny that to some people on the left, trying to interrupt and shout down a man while he's giving a political speech is actually considered an exercise in free speech. I wonder if a persons brain can atrophy to that level simply from lack of use, or does it require ingesting narcotics on a constant basis for a long period of time? Liberalism will always bare any burden to defend your right to agree with it. Okay, maybe it isn't fair to blame liberals for this one instance since most of the people I saw were from a Communist front group known as Code Pink(perhaps best known for donating $600,000 to the families of Fallujah insurgents).
It still makes me regret not carrying out my plan to disrupt the Obama speech. I know I wouldn't have been able to sneak a sign in, but security has no way of knowing that someone's going to get naked and try to run around the stadium. Missed opportunity, I guess.
-Would you be in any hurry to tackle a naked guy? I can't say I would.
-Anyways, back to McCain. I thought he got a lot better as the speech went along. Some of the domestic policy ideas mentioned in the middle of the speech sounded interesting and will hopefully be rolled out in detail once we get into debate season. This is one area where I think the Democrats are the ones living in the past. They'd like to try to stuff the Globalization Genie back into the bottle and go back to a time when manufacturing jobs were the back-bone of the economy. So would I. It just isn't going to happen, I'm sorry to say. His speech got better and better the closer he got to the end. When he ended with the call to service with the crowd going absolutely nuts and multiple shots of crying people, it was the best imagery I've seen from the right in a long time.
-All in all I thought the convention was well done, but without as much economic focus as I would have liked to see. It was also strictly about McCain and Palin as opposed to the party as a whole. This was kind of weird as well. Whether the enthusiasm can sustain itself remains to be seen, but it looks like another long night November 4th.
Showing posts with label quick hits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quick hits. Show all posts
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Quick Hits 9: When the Oceans Started Receding.
I haven't posted anything lately because work has left me completely exhausted for the past few weeks. So here are a few things on my mind lately.
-So were finally down to two candidates. I find myself agreeing with George Will on a couple of points he has made about the upcoming election. He stated that Obama is the more volatile a choice than Hillary would have been. Hillary would have gotten between 48% and 52% of the vote pretty much regardless of what transpired between now and November. Obama, on the other hand, could rise as high as 55% or sink as low as 46% depending on what happens. He also said that this election really isn't about McCain. It will wind up being a referendum on Obama. McCain is a known quantity, so people pretty much already know where they stand with regard to him.
-If I were advising Obama, I would have him take a week to do nothing but sleep, with maybe a few radio interviews and other low intensity campaigning. Last week I heard him give an answer to a question (a couple of them actually) that was almost Bush-like in terms of verbal ineptitude. At one point he continually groped for the word "ventilator", at one point saying "breathalyzer" before settling on "inhalator". I can only assume this was due to the physical exhaustion of all the months of a grinding campaign schedule.
-If McCain has gained any traction in the past few months, I haven't seen much evidence of it.
-The Obama's Witness/Obamamessiah phenomenon seems to be returning after seeming to wane during all the talk about his nutty pastor. I can't decide if this is just the result of people wanting to believe in something so badly that they'll put this guy up on a pedestal, the result of the ongoing dis-enlightenment (a phenomenon I believe is perfectly summed up in a lot of the utterly meaningless and anti-rational language used in this article), or something he is actually working to cultivate. His speech after the last primaries makes me think that the latter may be the case. The lofty rhetoric about when we started "caring for the sick", receding oceans, etc. probably rallied the faithful, but left me chuckling and shaking my head. He does mention that he's not a miracle worker often enough, but which part do you think sticks in peoples' minds? Also whenever he says (paraphrasing) "it's not just about me it's about you" I feel like completing the sentence by saying "it's about your ability to elect me". This carries a risk of disillusionment if he is elected and doesn't bring about rapid economic growth, universal health care, or "end the war" (something he seems to me to be trying very careful not to promise).
-For all the talk of McCain not having any new ideas, I've heard two that interest me. The "League of Democracies" idea seems to be one that could be a good idea. And I really like his idea about having the president have to go before congress on a regular basis to get grilled the way the British Prime Minister has to in the House of Commons.
-If I were the Republican National Committee, I would pay for Howard Dean to be on one of the Sunday talk shows every week. The last time I saw him on there he dealt the race card at least 4 times in the course of 10 minutes. If the Dems want to alienate the electorate, screaming "racism!" for the next 5 months would be a good way to do it. I think they should save that for cases of, you know, actual racism. But I don't know if that's in there DNA. I guess it's one of the dangers of building an electoral coalition on identity politics and grievance-mongering.
-I read Barry Goldwater's book The Conscience of a Conservative recently. Having been written in 1960, some parts were dated but the majority of it is just as true today as the day it was written. Many of the principles he talks about have been completely repudiated (to their detriment) by the current Bush-led GOP. For example he says spending cuts need to come before tax cuts. The current plan is tax cuts and increased spending based on the ideas of Laffer, etc.
-I read an article that said the home town of Ernesto Guevara, tee shirt model and executioner for Castro, has built a bronze statue in his honor. Maybe Charles Manson's home town should build a statue in his honor. Okay, maybe that's not fair. Guevara was involved in a lot more deaths than Manson was. "Go ahead and try them tomorrow morning- but execute them NOW!"
-Gore Vidal reminded us this week (again) how a steady diet of ideological extremism can atrophy a person's brain when he suggested that perhaps John McCain wasn't really a POW in Vietnam. This seems odd to me given the fact that the North Vietnamese used him for propaganda videos, took pictures of his capture, and built a monument at the spot where he was pulled out of the lake. The odd part is not that Vidal would say something stupid (he's made a lucrative career out of that), but that he would actually disbelieve the claims of a communist regime. I guess there's a first time for everything.
-The tribute to Tim Russert on Meet the Press was very well done. I wonder who will take over hosting that show. I hope it will not be Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann, both of whom are way too obnoxious for that show.
-Finally, I was talking to my mom last night about her recent trip to Europe. At one point while in Bavaria her tour group went to the site of a mansion that had belonged to Adolf Hitler. I cracked up when she told me that. The thought of my mom touring something associated with Hitler was hilarious, because I can't imagine two people farther apart on the spectrum of human behavior than Hitler and my mom.
-So were finally down to two candidates. I find myself agreeing with George Will on a couple of points he has made about the upcoming election. He stated that Obama is the more volatile a choice than Hillary would have been. Hillary would have gotten between 48% and 52% of the vote pretty much regardless of what transpired between now and November. Obama, on the other hand, could rise as high as 55% or sink as low as 46% depending on what happens. He also said that this election really isn't about McCain. It will wind up being a referendum on Obama. McCain is a known quantity, so people pretty much already know where they stand with regard to him.
-If I were advising Obama, I would have him take a week to do nothing but sleep, with maybe a few radio interviews and other low intensity campaigning. Last week I heard him give an answer to a question (a couple of them actually) that was almost Bush-like in terms of verbal ineptitude. At one point he continually groped for the word "ventilator", at one point saying "breathalyzer" before settling on "inhalator". I can only assume this was due to the physical exhaustion of all the months of a grinding campaign schedule.
-If McCain has gained any traction in the past few months, I haven't seen much evidence of it.
-The Obama's Witness/Obamamessiah phenomenon seems to be returning after seeming to wane during all the talk about his nutty pastor. I can't decide if this is just the result of people wanting to believe in something so badly that they'll put this guy up on a pedestal, the result of the ongoing dis-enlightenment (a phenomenon I believe is perfectly summed up in a lot of the utterly meaningless and anti-rational language used in this article), or something he is actually working to cultivate. His speech after the last primaries makes me think that the latter may be the case. The lofty rhetoric about when we started "caring for the sick", receding oceans, etc. probably rallied the faithful, but left me chuckling and shaking my head. He does mention that he's not a miracle worker often enough, but which part do you think sticks in peoples' minds? Also whenever he says (paraphrasing) "it's not just about me it's about you" I feel like completing the sentence by saying "it's about your ability to elect me". This carries a risk of disillusionment if he is elected and doesn't bring about rapid economic growth, universal health care, or "end the war" (something he seems to me to be trying very careful not to promise).
-For all the talk of McCain not having any new ideas, I've heard two that interest me. The "League of Democracies" idea seems to be one that could be a good idea. And I really like his idea about having the president have to go before congress on a regular basis to get grilled the way the British Prime Minister has to in the House of Commons.
-If I were the Republican National Committee, I would pay for Howard Dean to be on one of the Sunday talk shows every week. The last time I saw him on there he dealt the race card at least 4 times in the course of 10 minutes. If the Dems want to alienate the electorate, screaming "racism!" for the next 5 months would be a good way to do it. I think they should save that for cases of, you know, actual racism. But I don't know if that's in there DNA. I guess it's one of the dangers of building an electoral coalition on identity politics and grievance-mongering.
-I read Barry Goldwater's book The Conscience of a Conservative recently. Having been written in 1960, some parts were dated but the majority of it is just as true today as the day it was written. Many of the principles he talks about have been completely repudiated (to their detriment) by the current Bush-led GOP. For example he says spending cuts need to come before tax cuts. The current plan is tax cuts and increased spending based on the ideas of Laffer, etc.
-I read an article that said the home town of Ernesto Guevara, tee shirt model and executioner for Castro, has built a bronze statue in his honor. Maybe Charles Manson's home town should build a statue in his honor. Okay, maybe that's not fair. Guevara was involved in a lot more deaths than Manson was. "Go ahead and try them tomorrow morning- but execute them NOW!"
-Gore Vidal reminded us this week (again) how a steady diet of ideological extremism can atrophy a person's brain when he suggested that perhaps John McCain wasn't really a POW in Vietnam. This seems odd to me given the fact that the North Vietnamese used him for propaganda videos, took pictures of his capture, and built a monument at the spot where he was pulled out of the lake. The odd part is not that Vidal would say something stupid (he's made a lucrative career out of that), but that he would actually disbelieve the claims of a communist regime. I guess there's a first time for everything.
-The tribute to Tim Russert on Meet the Press was very well done. I wonder who will take over hosting that show. I hope it will not be Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann, both of whom are way too obnoxious for that show.
-Finally, I was talking to my mom last night about her recent trip to Europe. At one point while in Bavaria her tour group went to the site of a mansion that had belonged to Adolf Hitler. I cracked up when she told me that. The thought of my mom touring something associated with Hitler was hilarious, because I can't imagine two people farther apart on the spectrum of human behavior than Hitler and my mom.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Quick Hits 8.
I thought I'd post some pictures of a Bible and my guns. ( well, not technically my guns but pictures of the same guns I found on the web. My Magnum is more tricked-out than the one in the picture) I did this for two reasons; to tie in to my first item and to pay homage to Charlton Heston.
-So I was cleaning my guns while reading my Bible the other day when I heard the Obama quote about fear, guns, religion, anti-trade sentiment (?), and xenophobia the other day. And I gotta tell you......he's got a point, at least on the xenophobia front. Lumping guns and religion in was a bit of a mistake, one that I think could hurt him a little bit in Pennsylvania. But, I think he was right in some cases. Also, I don't tend to judge people as harshly for off-the-cuff remarks (unless truly egregious) as I would if they say something more deliberately. So this wasn't a huge issue to me, but then I'm not what you'd call a fence-sitter and I am familiar enough with his voting record to know where he stands on most issues at this point.
-I'm going to move on to three things that pissed me off in the past week. We'll start with Senator Jay Rockefeller talking about how John McCain can't possibly know what common people go through. Because when I think of ordinary, hard-working people I think of the Rockefeller family. I'm sure Rockefeller had plenty of contacts with "ordinary people" growing up: chauffeurs, gardeners, nannies, window washers, etc. But that's not the part that pissed me off. Why is it that McCain can't identify in Rockefeller's view? Spending close to 30 years in government? Marrying into an incredibly wealthy family? No. It's because he served his country in Vietnam! "He was flying fighter planes dropping laser guided bombs on people from 35,000 feet. He was never around to see what those bombs did.(paraphrased)" This was absurd and offensive to me on two levels. First, I'm not the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee or anything, but "fighter plane", "laser guided bombs (in 1967, no less)", "35,000 feet"? Secondly, yeah actually McCain did see what those bombs did to people when he was nearly killed in the U.S.S. Forrestal fire, in which he was wounded by shrapnel and 134 of his fellow sailors lost their lives. According to his book it made him re-think what he was doing, but ultimately he decided that he had to do his duty and continue.
-Rockefeller then went on to talk about Obama having the good judgment to oppose the Iraq war from the beginning. I for one find this far less impressive in light of the fact that he had spent about 16 years going to a church that denounced "American Imperialism" on a regular basis. Also, Rockefeller spoke in favor of the war and voted for it. He supported it until people started dying. What the Hell does he think war is? Did he think he was voting to authorize a tug of war? Because those can be dangerous too.
-The second thing that pissed me off is how some people (media and otherwise) used the death of Charlton Heston as an excuse to take shots at the guy for being the president of the NRA. The same people don't bring up the fact that Charlton Heston also marched with Dr. King at a time when it was not cool in Hollywood to be seen marching with Dr. King. That actually took some courage. It's not like today where you have idiots like George Clooney rushing to get in front of a camera for whatever the trendy cause is lately like raising "awareness" for Darfur. Those people don't need our awareness (which has done them a Hell of a lot of good so far), they need guns. Also, I for one don't find the fact that Charlton Heston was devoted to protecting my right to bare arms to be a bad thing. I believe a prohibition of guns (or "war on guns") wouldn't be every bit as successful as the prohibition of certain narcotics. I mean, marijuana is illegal and now no one can get a hold of that, right? I also recalled an interview with Heston talking about how some of his Hollywood liberal friends called him up during the LA riots back in the early-nineties wanting to hang out or borrow guns.
- Also, there is not a "pregnant man". There is a pregnant woman who wishes she was a man. I saw the headline "pregnant man" and thought it was some kind of deal like that Schwarzenegger movie. No it turns out this is a woman. But she likes to think of herself as a man and pump herself full of male hormones (which I'm sure is really good for the fetus). "But Steve, can't people choose to be what they want to be?" NO. There are certain things in life that you just can't change ( like your age, your race, your gender, your species, your parents, etc.) Mutilating your genitals doesn't make you a different gender, just like gluing hair to myself, eating bananas, and swinging from trees wouldn't make me a monkey. To make this worse, the politically correct thing to do is to enable these delusions. To anyone who disagrees, I'm sorry if biology offends you.
-I've noticed that radical leftists have been crawling out of the woodwork at a rate I haven't seen since I started following politics back in 1992. This is a good thing in my opinion. The best thing that could happen to the right is stronger opposition. This is my "free market of political ideas" theory that the more competition, the better. When the left imploded as a political force in the late-80's/early-90's, the right became unfocused because there wasn't enough of a struggle to force us to keep refining our ideas.
-I had to laugh at the Obama sound-byte where the questioner accidentally asked him about how he would go after "Obama Bin Laden". It had to be way more embarrassing for the questioner than for Obama, who handled it very well.
-Does anybody really think Hillary is a hunter and gun enthusiast from way back? I'd like to see all the candidates in each election gather to see who can shoot the best. (Who do you think would win in a "shoot-off" between Bush and Kerry? I think Kerry might have won that one) Maybe a shooting contest would not be as entertaining as it sounds but there seems to be a desire among voters for some kind of "macho factor". I think there should be a talent show, a macho test, and perhaps a dance off. (There should NOT be a swim-suit competition, which Obama wins by default.) I think certain candidates like McCain, however, would be exempt from the "macho" competition.
-I've begun studying 1st Corinthians. My plan is to go through all of the New Testament epistles, spending a week or two on each of them. I also cashed in my change jar and ordered a bunch of study-helps (concordances, commentaries, dictionaries, books on exegesis, etc.) on Amazon. It's been pretty interesting so far.
-James Dobson still won't support McCain. Thank you, doc. Keep up the good work reminding people that McCain is not like you.
-Rush Limbaugh had this whack-job guest host on Friday talking about the need for less regulation of airlines (and everything else). His argument was "let the market handle it". Let them have crashes, get sued, lose reputation, go out of business, etc. I prefer the option that doesn't involve letting a bunch of people die so the "free market" can sort it out, but looks to prevent the crash in the first place. I've grown used to hearing some wacky stuff on Limbaugh, like when he talks about his love for oil (seriously he is literally in love with oil) and how he works himself into a lather while talking about how great oil is, but this guy was even more out there.
-Speaking of "out there" I saw Ted Turner on Charlie Rose a week or two ago. Man, talk about a nut-job. He was talking about how global warming will cause all of us to either die or become cannibals. I agree it's a problem, but cannibals? He also talked about how we should rid the earth of all nuclear weapons. Right. There's only one way to get rid of all nuclear weapons, and the solution is much worse than having the nuclear weapons. I've also noticed how whenever Charlie Rose has a guest who is not a white male he interrupts them constantly (I mean even worse than Sean Hannity).
-I saw an interesting passage in the Bruce Bawer book I was reading about how the European media loves to point out anything bad that happens in the U.S. He mentions how the French media went on and on about how terrible the U.S. government was because of the roughly 1,200 people who died in Hurricane Katrina (which was an absolute disgrace, I don't disagree), when over 11,000 people died in France that same summer during a heat wave. A heat wave! You don't have to call out the 82nd airborne to keep people from dying in a heat wave. You just need to set up some fans and open some fire hydrants.
-I was listening to a clip from the "compassion forum" this weekend where one of the social-justice preachers asked the Democratic candidates if they would pledge to cut poverty by half in the next 10 years. What this question overlooks is that nothing could be farther from the interests of the Democratic Party than the elimination of poverty. To do this would be to destroy one of their core voting blocs. It's in their interest to make people's poverty a little less grinding, but if people are brought out of poverty and actually start paying taxes they might become Republicans. It's a lot like asking oil companies to try to get people to use less oil. This also explains why government aid programs are often designed to subsidise poverty rather than to create wealth.
-I read a New York Times article about Prince Harry in Afghanistan and how this relates to the dilemma if McCain gets elected in regards to his two sons, Jimmy and Jack, who are currently in the military (and thus can't relate to real people). It's an interesting situation, because on the one hand they would be prime targets for the insurgents. On the other hand, one of the things I respect most about Senator McCain is that he's not a politician calling for American involvement in the Iraq war to continue without his family making a contribution. Put another way, when he talks about the need to stay the course, he isn't just asking other people's kids to put their lives on the line, he's also including his own flesh and blood in this. The article also mentions that given McCain's history as an admiral's son and POW, he is uniquely familiar with the idea of being a very valuable target for the enemy, and as such is uniquely qualified to make this decision.
-Lastly, this week an anonymous person paid 1.5 million dollars at auction for a Marylin Monroe sex film. I think I may know who it is, and I have just one question. "Isn't that money that could have gone to a good cause, like using it to help your wife's presidential campaign?"
All joking aside, I bet it was Hugh Hefner. He paid a ton of money to be buried next to her when he dies, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was him.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
quick hits 7: RIDIN' DIRTY!
Good Lord, what a week it has been for interesting news items.
-The Jeremiah Wright videos have really made my week. I have several observations about this, but first I'd like to give my first impression and the thing that really stuck out to me about these videos. (and you have to see the videos, transcripts or audio clips don't do the guy any justice) Can this guy PREACH or what!?! Damn, talk about bringing the fire! I'll guarantee you nobody fell asleep during those sermons. My favorite in terms of crowd reaction was the "Hillary Clinton ain't never been called a nigger" sermon. Half the audience is standing up, yelling. Two guys run up and high-five each other behind him while he's preaching. A woman in red appears to be giving the old sieg heil salute. I've probably watched it 15-20 times over the last 3 days. I've heard a lot of commentators ask people: "would you go to a church like that?" My answer is unequivocally YES! I'd be there every week sitting in the front row with popcorn and a soda thinking "I can't wait to hear what he says next".
-My favorite line out of all of it is when he says: "He did us just like he did Monica Lewinsky! HE WAS RIDIN' DIRTY!!!" I was rolling on the floor laughing. The thought of Bill with contraband in his vehicle puts a smile on my face, I guess.
-You know, a lot of the stuff the guy said was true.
-I think he could have at least waited until the bodies were cold before talking about how America deserved 9/11. He may have had a valid point, (I don't think he did,when talking about what nations "deserve" you are trying to speak on behalf of the Almighty which I don't think any of us is qualified to do. And I can guarantee you that when I stand before God on judgment day, I will not be asking Him to give me what I deserve. Justice is the last thing I want in that case.) but seriously 5 days after the attack was not the time.
-I couldn't care less what color Jesus' skin was.
-To correct an inaccuracy Wright committed: yeah, actually Barack Obama is rich and privileged.
-I'm trying to imagine the reaction at my church if the pastor said "shit" or "God damn". It's a pretty funny mental picture.
-Did you catch the part at the end of the sermon where government agents storm the building, shoot several congregants, drag Rev. Wright off to prison and burn the church building down?
You're saying "Steve, that never happened". Yeah, and do you know why it didn't happen? Because Reverend Wright is fortunate enough to live here in the good ol' "U.S. of KKKA" where he has the freedom to get behind the pulpit and criticize the government or say any dumb thing he wants without fear of persecution. Just thought I'd throw in a little perspective there.
- I heard Jack Kemp talking about this situation and he echoed my thoughts exactly. I don't want Obama to lose the election because of what people around him are saying or anything stupid like that. I want to see him lose the election on the issues, fair and square. At this point, though, I'm increasingly suspected that he's a good man who happens to be surrounded by whack-jobs. I guess now we're going to see how strong that Kool-Aid really is.
-This is not a joke. I swear this is true. I checked a copy of Senator Obama's book The Audacity of Hope out from the library yesterday. I got about 30 pages in and noticed 2 pages stuck together. True Story.
-The producers of Nightline, in their infinite wisdom decided that the night the Eliot Spitzer story broke we viewers needed to hear Heidi Fleiss' opinion on the situation. I was relieved because all day I'd been thinking "man, I need to get an ignorant whore's perspective on this story". Way to go, Nightline!
-Word to the wise; if you're a public official who likes him the whores follow Sam Kinison's advice. Make sure it's some Cambodian girl fresh off the boat who speaks no English and couldn't pick you out of a police line-up even if it was you standing between 2 midgets wearing hats. And just because you're in a different city doesn't mean you're less likely to get caught.
-If you need to throw up, check out the latest issue of Rolling Stone, their puff piece on Obama was what prompted me to write that "dentist" post. Apparently his middle name is the key thing that will get the Arabs to like us. I guess their problem wasn't our support for Israel or troops in Muslim holy lands (both of which President Obama would continue), no, it's all about names. I mean, it's not like people with Arabic names are killing each other every day in that part of the world.
-I'm trying not to let this become strictly an anti-Obama blog. I like the guy, I really do. But this stuff just seems to be what holds my interest. I'm also trying to come up with some non-political stuff to keep from getting burned out.
-I read a good article by James Carville this week about how thin every one's skin on the left has gotten. Quit calling for peoples' resignations every time they say something mildly hurtful to you already. So what if you got compared to Kenneth Starr or called a "monster"? Grow up already.
-I don't have a problem with the fact that Samantha Power called Hillary a monster. I have a problem with the fact that Samantha Power was a Senior National Security Advisor in the first place. Let's see, a 37 year-old who did some reporting from the Balkans, wrote a couple of books, and tries to be "edgy" in interviews to show how cool she is. Sounds qualified to me. This is one reason I'd rather have Hillary as president than Obama. I'll take my chances with "Straddlin' Madeleine (sp?) Albright and Wesley Clark over Samantha Power and Tony Lake (who Clinton fired for being too dovish and who resigned during the Nixon admin. because Nixon had the gall to bomb North Vietnam while fighting a war against North Vietnam). Yes, I know the Clintons are corrupt as hell. I know there will be scandals that embarrass the nation. But at least I'd feel like she had adults to rely on for foreign policy advice. Not only that, I can guarantee that no foreign leader would go into a meeting with Hillary and think "now here's somebody I can steam-roll". I pity them if they do. This may seem odd given previous statements I've made, but there's a difference between being a better person and being a better president. Jimmy Carter, for example, is a great human being.
-Seat the delegates!
-SNL had a pretty funny McCain sketch last night. It was an NBC "breaking news" piece where they issued the shocking revelation that John McCain is officially.....OLD. It was hilarious. Their evidence was security camera footage of him going into Bob Evans for dinner......at 4:30 in the afternoon! Darrel Hammond does a great impression too.
-If Hillary comes back, it'll be thanks to SNL.
-I read this week that the "Bible Code" says Clinton will get elected....maybe. Maybe? You know there's a long list of words I can't imagine God using. "Maybe" is at the top of that list, right ahead of "fo'shizzle".
-I bought this memory foam mattress pad this week and I'm expecting big things from it. Well, maybe not big things but it'd be nice not to wake up with bruises from a mattress spring digging into my hip.
-I heard on the radio that they were sweeping the congressional chambers to make sure there were no bugs planted to spy on congress debating the surveillance bill. Yeah, cause I'd hate to have anyone eavesdropping on congress while they debate about eavesdropping on us.
-Lastly, remember every time you see a picture of a hippie you're looking at one family's tragedy.
-The Jeremiah Wright videos have really made my week. I have several observations about this, but first I'd like to give my first impression and the thing that really stuck out to me about these videos. (and you have to see the videos, transcripts or audio clips don't do the guy any justice) Can this guy PREACH or what!?! Damn, talk about bringing the fire! I'll guarantee you nobody fell asleep during those sermons. My favorite in terms of crowd reaction was the "Hillary Clinton ain't never been called a nigger" sermon. Half the audience is standing up, yelling. Two guys run up and high-five each other behind him while he's preaching. A woman in red appears to be giving the old sieg heil salute. I've probably watched it 15-20 times over the last 3 days. I've heard a lot of commentators ask people: "would you go to a church like that?" My answer is unequivocally YES! I'd be there every week sitting in the front row with popcorn and a soda thinking "I can't wait to hear what he says next".
-My favorite line out of all of it is when he says: "He did us just like he did Monica Lewinsky! HE WAS RIDIN' DIRTY!!!" I was rolling on the floor laughing. The thought of Bill with contraband in his vehicle puts a smile on my face, I guess.
-You know, a lot of the stuff the guy said was true.
-I think he could have at least waited until the bodies were cold before talking about how America deserved 9/11. He may have had a valid point, (I don't think he did,when talking about what nations "deserve" you are trying to speak on behalf of the Almighty which I don't think any of us is qualified to do. And I can guarantee you that when I stand before God on judgment day, I will not be asking Him to give me what I deserve. Justice is the last thing I want in that case.) but seriously 5 days after the attack was not the time.
-I couldn't care less what color Jesus' skin was.
-To correct an inaccuracy Wright committed: yeah, actually Barack Obama is rich and privileged.
-I'm trying to imagine the reaction at my church if the pastor said "shit" or "God damn". It's a pretty funny mental picture.
-Did you catch the part at the end of the sermon where government agents storm the building, shoot several congregants, drag Rev. Wright off to prison and burn the church building down?
You're saying "Steve, that never happened". Yeah, and do you know why it didn't happen? Because Reverend Wright is fortunate enough to live here in the good ol' "U.S. of KKKA" where he has the freedom to get behind the pulpit and criticize the government or say any dumb thing he wants without fear of persecution. Just thought I'd throw in a little perspective there.
- I heard Jack Kemp talking about this situation and he echoed my thoughts exactly. I don't want Obama to lose the election because of what people around him are saying or anything stupid like that. I want to see him lose the election on the issues, fair and square. At this point, though, I'm increasingly suspected that he's a good man who happens to be surrounded by whack-jobs. I guess now we're going to see how strong that Kool-Aid really is.
-This is not a joke. I swear this is true. I checked a copy of Senator Obama's book The Audacity of Hope out from the library yesterday. I got about 30 pages in and noticed 2 pages stuck together. True Story.
-The producers of Nightline, in their infinite wisdom decided that the night the Eliot Spitzer story broke we viewers needed to hear Heidi Fleiss' opinion on the situation. I was relieved because all day I'd been thinking "man, I need to get an ignorant whore's perspective on this story". Way to go, Nightline!
-Word to the wise; if you're a public official who likes him the whores follow Sam Kinison's advice. Make sure it's some Cambodian girl fresh off the boat who speaks no English and couldn't pick you out of a police line-up even if it was you standing between 2 midgets wearing hats. And just because you're in a different city doesn't mean you're less likely to get caught.
-If you need to throw up, check out the latest issue of Rolling Stone, their puff piece on Obama was what prompted me to write that "dentist" post. Apparently his middle name is the key thing that will get the Arabs to like us. I guess their problem wasn't our support for Israel or troops in Muslim holy lands (both of which President Obama would continue), no, it's all about names. I mean, it's not like people with Arabic names are killing each other every day in that part of the world.
-I'm trying not to let this become strictly an anti-Obama blog. I like the guy, I really do. But this stuff just seems to be what holds my interest. I'm also trying to come up with some non-political stuff to keep from getting burned out.
-I read a good article by James Carville this week about how thin every one's skin on the left has gotten. Quit calling for peoples' resignations every time they say something mildly hurtful to you already. So what if you got compared to Kenneth Starr or called a "monster"? Grow up already.
-I don't have a problem with the fact that Samantha Power called Hillary a monster. I have a problem with the fact that Samantha Power was a Senior National Security Advisor in the first place. Let's see, a 37 year-old who did some reporting from the Balkans, wrote a couple of books, and tries to be "edgy" in interviews to show how cool she is. Sounds qualified to me. This is one reason I'd rather have Hillary as president than Obama. I'll take my chances with "Straddlin' Madeleine (sp?) Albright and Wesley Clark over Samantha Power and Tony Lake (who Clinton fired for being too dovish and who resigned during the Nixon admin. because Nixon had the gall to bomb North Vietnam while fighting a war against North Vietnam). Yes, I know the Clintons are corrupt as hell. I know there will be scandals that embarrass the nation. But at least I'd feel like she had adults to rely on for foreign policy advice. Not only that, I can guarantee that no foreign leader would go into a meeting with Hillary and think "now here's somebody I can steam-roll". I pity them if they do. This may seem odd given previous statements I've made, but there's a difference between being a better person and being a better president. Jimmy Carter, for example, is a great human being.
-Seat the delegates!
-SNL had a pretty funny McCain sketch last night. It was an NBC "breaking news" piece where they issued the shocking revelation that John McCain is officially.....OLD. It was hilarious. Their evidence was security camera footage of him going into Bob Evans for dinner......at 4:30 in the afternoon! Darrel Hammond does a great impression too.
-If Hillary comes back, it'll be thanks to SNL.
-I read this week that the "Bible Code" says Clinton will get elected....maybe. Maybe? You know there's a long list of words I can't imagine God using. "Maybe" is at the top of that list, right ahead of "fo'shizzle".
-I bought this memory foam mattress pad this week and I'm expecting big things from it. Well, maybe not big things but it'd be nice not to wake up with bruises from a mattress spring digging into my hip.
-I heard on the radio that they were sweeping the congressional chambers to make sure there were no bugs planted to spy on congress debating the surveillance bill. Yeah, cause I'd hate to have anyone eavesdropping on congress while they debate about eavesdropping on us.
-Lastly, remember every time you see a picture of a hippie you're looking at one family's tragedy.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
quick hits VI
A rather bizarre week all around. I'll jump right in.
-Last Saturday it was 73 degrees and sunny. Sunday was 30 degrees and snowed all day with strong winds. That was kind of a sign right off the bat that I was going to see some weird stuff go on in the world this week.
-Did you ever think you'd live to see the day when Hillary Clinton of all people would bring up the fact that someone else had an associate who was being indicted? Yeah, 'cause it's not like there are any shady characters she's been associated with (or married to) over the years. I'm not going to research the exact number but I'd be willing to bet she's had her share (and your share, and my share....etc.) So yeah, the only FLOTUS ever to be subpoenaed is trying to smear someone else's ethical judgment.
-I managed to catch 60 minutes last Sunday. One of the more interesting signs that there's some residual anti-Hillary bias in the press was when she was asked for her opinion on the asinine "Obama is a Muslim" e-mail going around. Hillary should have responded: "Oh really, there's a false rumor about him going around on the internet? Just 7,958,322 more and we'll be even". A lot of people don't know this but the first e-mail message ever sent right after Al Gore invented the internet claimed that Hillary Clinton was personally responsible for the deaths of millions of people. I mean honestly, let's keep some perspective here.
-I have a great deal of respect for Senator Russ Feingold. I probably don't agree with him on a single issue, but I like the fact that he's a man who sticks to his principles and doesn't pretend otherwise.
-If Hillary were president and the red phone rang at 3 A.M. it would be for one of two reasons: 1) a girl calling looking for Bill or b) Bill calling to say not to wait up for him.
-A little free advice to the Clinton and Obama campaigns. National Security is probably not the best issue to tear each other apart on since it's the one issue McCain consistently polls ahead of either of them by double-digits. This really plays into his hand.
-I read an interesting article earlier this week about how Obama should not go negative on Hillary. The gist of the article is that Hillary wants a knife fight while Obama has gotten this far by staying above the fray and being "a fresh alternative". If he loses this advantage, he risks becoming just another politician, a first-termer at that.
-A lot of people think that dealing with the Clinton attack machine will be good practice for dealing with the republican attack machine. I beg to differ. You see, the Clintons are still using the old Model 92, which was good in its day but is no comparison for the new state-of-the-art MX47-6 machine we republicans are using. The old model 92 had clumsy handling, left deep tracks, and had a motor which emitted the most annoying whining sound you have ever heard in your life. The one we use now is at the cutting edge of attack machine technology. It features:
Self sharpening blades, larger payload bay, the ability to change directions on a dime, a radio jamming device, stealth technology, run-flat tires, the ability to alter or even reverse reality for a few months at a time, and a guidance system so easy to use that it was driven all the way to the white house by a man viewed by many Americans to be functionally retarded (twice). Sadly, the engine still doesn't sound great. I've probably said too much.
-I'm sick of the fake outrage. All week I listened to Sean Hannity pretend to be so angry about Michelle Obama's statements. Come on, every body knows that when he heard that he didn't get angry, in fact he probably felt a sense of glee bordering on sexual arousal. So can we all please get over ourselves and save the outrage for things that actually matter?
-Third parties would have a lot more credibility if they would build up from the bottom, win a few congressional seats, maybe even a governorship before trying to run someone for president. That would be much harder work and far less quixotic, which is probably why it doesn't hold appeal for them.
-If any liberals should stumble on to this blog: You know Nader's working for us, right? I mean we're just using him to suck away the hippie/leftist-crusader-want to consider myself a radical-but don't want to actually do anything in life that doesn't involve narcotics or wearing camouflage pants and an old army surplus jacket that smells like pot- types. I mean come on, no one really talks like Nader in real life, do they?
-I've never written out a hyphenated reference before so maybe I was supposed to use hyphens between each word rather than just the concepts.
-At some point this week I must get my hands on one of those "John McCain is my homeboy" tee-shirts. They had another one with Mac and Hillary on the front that said "bros before hos" which was tacky (not to mention old) but still made me chuckle. The one with Mac and Obama had a similar rhyming theme, but I didn't find it funny at all. Plus this particular shirt would probably not be safe to wear unless you lived in Utah or Idaho.
-20% of the democratic primary voters in Ohio said race played a factor in their vote. 20% in 2008! This group went overwhelmingly went for Hillary. This doesn't mean 1 in 5 primary voters may harbor some racial prejudices, this means that number were HONEST about it. Makes me wonder how many others voted against Senator Obama because of the color of his skin but weren't honest about it. I hope this helps lay to rest the myth that racism only exists on one side of the political spectrum. I'm not claiming that liberals are any more likely to be racist, I'm saying that racism sadly exists at all points on the political spectrum and runs much deeper than just a person's politics.
- I read the first 40 Psalms this week and I was thinking that if King David had had a myspace page and posted stuff like some of the ones where he's really depressed and I were his father, I'd definitely be taking him in to see a mental health professional. In some of the Psalms it's like he's the original emo kid (only way more popular with the ladies).
-Finally, I heard Karl Rove on the Hannity show yesterday talking about what McCain needs to do in the next six weeks. Rove said that he needs to show voters who John McCain the person is. People know about Vietnam and the whole maverick thing, but voters want to know the man himself before they'll elect him. Rove then told the touching story of how the McCains adopted their daughter Bridgette from Mother Theresa's orphanage back in the early nineties to illustrate McCain's character. I'm familiar with the story so there was nothing new to me there. What was weird was hearing it come out of the mouth of KARL ROVE! I'm like isn't this the same daughter you ass-holes used in a smear campaign against McCain in South Carolina 8 years ago when she was like 9 or 10 years old? Just bizarre. And no, no one will ever convince me that the Bush people didn't have their hands dirty on that one. I also read that over the next few weeks McCain will be visiting some hot-spots around the world just so people know that he's the foreign policy guy in this race. He is expected to visit various European allies and probably Iraq or Afghanistan. If I were him I'd also visit Israel in case he does wind up facing Senator Obama, who seems to be having trouble with the Jewish vote. (this is the only explanation I can think of for a poll I saw earlier this week had McCain and Obama in a statistical dead heat with Mac up a point or two in mother f'ing New Jersey!) He is also planning major economic and domestic policy speeches in April which they are promising will be specific and bold. There had better be more there than just the corporate tax thing or else I will be disappointed.
-That's all for now. Next week I will be talking about environmentalists being tempted to use (gasp) capitalism to solve a problem and whatever else I feel the need to get off of my chest from the coming week.
-Last Saturday it was 73 degrees and sunny. Sunday was 30 degrees and snowed all day with strong winds. That was kind of a sign right off the bat that I was going to see some weird stuff go on in the world this week.
-Did you ever think you'd live to see the day when Hillary Clinton of all people would bring up the fact that someone else had an associate who was being indicted? Yeah, 'cause it's not like there are any shady characters she's been associated with (or married to) over the years. I'm not going to research the exact number but I'd be willing to bet she's had her share (and your share, and my share....etc.) So yeah, the only FLOTUS ever to be subpoenaed is trying to smear someone else's ethical judgment.
-I managed to catch 60 minutes last Sunday. One of the more interesting signs that there's some residual anti-Hillary bias in the press was when she was asked for her opinion on the asinine "Obama is a Muslim" e-mail going around. Hillary should have responded: "Oh really, there's a false rumor about him going around on the internet? Just 7,958,322 more and we'll be even". A lot of people don't know this but the first e-mail message ever sent right after Al Gore invented the internet claimed that Hillary Clinton was personally responsible for the deaths of millions of people. I mean honestly, let's keep some perspective here.
-I have a great deal of respect for Senator Russ Feingold. I probably don't agree with him on a single issue, but I like the fact that he's a man who sticks to his principles and doesn't pretend otherwise.
-If Hillary were president and the red phone rang at 3 A.M. it would be for one of two reasons: 1) a girl calling looking for Bill or b) Bill calling to say not to wait up for him.
-A little free advice to the Clinton and Obama campaigns. National Security is probably not the best issue to tear each other apart on since it's the one issue McCain consistently polls ahead of either of them by double-digits. This really plays into his hand.
-I read an interesting article earlier this week about how Obama should not go negative on Hillary. The gist of the article is that Hillary wants a knife fight while Obama has gotten this far by staying above the fray and being "a fresh alternative". If he loses this advantage, he risks becoming just another politician, a first-termer at that.
-A lot of people think that dealing with the Clinton attack machine will be good practice for dealing with the republican attack machine. I beg to differ. You see, the Clintons are still using the old Model 92, which was good in its day but is no comparison for the new state-of-the-art MX47-6 machine we republicans are using. The old model 92 had clumsy handling, left deep tracks, and had a motor which emitted the most annoying whining sound you have ever heard in your life. The one we use now is at the cutting edge of attack machine technology. It features:
Self sharpening blades, larger payload bay, the ability to change directions on a dime, a radio jamming device, stealth technology, run-flat tires, the ability to alter or even reverse reality for a few months at a time, and a guidance system so easy to use that it was driven all the way to the white house by a man viewed by many Americans to be functionally retarded (twice). Sadly, the engine still doesn't sound great. I've probably said too much.
-I'm sick of the fake outrage. All week I listened to Sean Hannity pretend to be so angry about Michelle Obama's statements. Come on, every body knows that when he heard that he didn't get angry, in fact he probably felt a sense of glee bordering on sexual arousal. So can we all please get over ourselves and save the outrage for things that actually matter?
-Third parties would have a lot more credibility if they would build up from the bottom, win a few congressional seats, maybe even a governorship before trying to run someone for president. That would be much harder work and far less quixotic, which is probably why it doesn't hold appeal for them.
-If any liberals should stumble on to this blog: You know Nader's working for us, right? I mean we're just using him to suck away the hippie/leftist-crusader-want to consider myself a radical-but don't want to actually do anything in life that doesn't involve narcotics or wearing camouflage pants and an old army surplus jacket that smells like pot- types. I mean come on, no one really talks like Nader in real life, do they?
-I've never written out a hyphenated reference before so maybe I was supposed to use hyphens between each word rather than just the concepts.
-At some point this week I must get my hands on one of those "John McCain is my homeboy" tee-shirts. They had another one with Mac and Hillary on the front that said "bros before hos" which was tacky (not to mention old) but still made me chuckle. The one with Mac and Obama had a similar rhyming theme, but I didn't find it funny at all. Plus this particular shirt would probably not be safe to wear unless you lived in Utah or Idaho.
-20% of the democratic primary voters in Ohio said race played a factor in their vote. 20% in 2008! This group went overwhelmingly went for Hillary. This doesn't mean 1 in 5 primary voters may harbor some racial prejudices, this means that number were HONEST about it. Makes me wonder how many others voted against Senator Obama because of the color of his skin but weren't honest about it. I hope this helps lay to rest the myth that racism only exists on one side of the political spectrum. I'm not claiming that liberals are any more likely to be racist, I'm saying that racism sadly exists at all points on the political spectrum and runs much deeper than just a person's politics.
- I read the first 40 Psalms this week and I was thinking that if King David had had a myspace page and posted stuff like some of the ones where he's really depressed and I were his father, I'd definitely be taking him in to see a mental health professional. In some of the Psalms it's like he's the original emo kid (only way more popular with the ladies).
-Finally, I heard Karl Rove on the Hannity show yesterday talking about what McCain needs to do in the next six weeks. Rove said that he needs to show voters who John McCain the person is. People know about Vietnam and the whole maverick thing, but voters want to know the man himself before they'll elect him. Rove then told the touching story of how the McCains adopted their daughter Bridgette from Mother Theresa's orphanage back in the early nineties to illustrate McCain's character. I'm familiar with the story so there was nothing new to me there. What was weird was hearing it come out of the mouth of KARL ROVE! I'm like isn't this the same daughter you ass-holes used in a smear campaign against McCain in South Carolina 8 years ago when she was like 9 or 10 years old? Just bizarre. And no, no one will ever convince me that the Bush people didn't have their hands dirty on that one. I also read that over the next few weeks McCain will be visiting some hot-spots around the world just so people know that he's the foreign policy guy in this race. He is expected to visit various European allies and probably Iraq or Afghanistan. If I were him I'd also visit Israel in case he does wind up facing Senator Obama, who seems to be having trouble with the Jewish vote. (this is the only explanation I can think of for a poll I saw earlier this week had McCain and Obama in a statistical dead heat with Mac up a point or two in mother f'ing New Jersey!) He is also planning major economic and domestic policy speeches in April which they are promising will be specific and bold. There had better be more there than just the corporate tax thing or else I will be disappointed.
-That's all for now. Next week I will be talking about environmentalists being tempted to use (gasp) capitalism to solve a problem and whatever else I feel the need to get off of my chest from the coming week.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Quick Hits 5
-I'm kind of torn about the upcoming Ohio and Texas primaries this Tuesday. On the one hand I'd like to see Hillary win to keep the chaos going in the Democratic primary for a few more months. On the other hand, if Obama can wrap it up I'll feel like one of those orcs in mordor when that green beam shoots up and they can finally march on Minas Tirith. Because Hillary is right when she talks about how tough the republican attack machine can be.
-I don't think Ralph Nader will prove to be anywhere near the threat to Obama that he was to Gore, because Gore was far more centrist than Obama. Obama is also strong amongst college students and hippies which seemed to be Nader's strongest constituency. If you've got a few bucks burning a hole in your pocket, it still may not be a bad idea to send him a check. You know, in the interest of "fairness".
-I think this is the most interesting pair of (presumptive) nominees in a very long time. You have a guy with a fascinating life story, who would make history if elected, doesn't toe the party line, transcends party in a lot of ways, has shown a willingness to bring people together to get things done whether it's popular or not.......and on the other side you have Barack Obama.
-I think if I were a midget I would prefer the term "midget" over "little person". Little person sounds more demeaning to me.
-Howard Dean has announced plans to sue the McCain campaign on financing. Now without getting into what Howard Dean can go do with himself as far as I'm concerned, I'm just shocked. That's so unlike the left to go around suing people.
-While I'm on the subject of people who belong in straight jackets, people who get their children humiliating hair cuts should be looked into by the authorities. It's 2008 people. I should not have to see a 4-year old boy walking around with a freaking rat-tail.
-I'm also kind of sick of conservatives complaining that the media picked our candidate. I could have swore he won because he got the most votes, but maybe I'm just being naive there.
-If I may play Andy Rooney for a moment: why is it that a job that really blows is referred to as a "suck-job" but when somebody su......you know, never mind. I'm not gonna go there.
-I noticed looking at the websites of both McCain and Obama that neither of them list crime in their list of issues at the top of the page. This seems like an area where McCain could make some inroads if he were so inclined.
-I watched a couple of youtube videos of Reagan speeches this week. Now there was a guy who could give any kind of speech. We may never see that good of a speaker again. He wasn't just good at firing people up he could do it all (oratorically). One of my personal favorites was the one from the night of the Challenger disaster " they waved goodbye, then slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." I got goosebumps just typing that.
-I've spent the last few days analyzing Senate voting records. A few weeks ago I questioned the claim of Obama having the most liberal voting record over the last year. I now stand corrected.
- In my city we have laws against aggressive pan-handling near the entrance to a business. Why are the girl scouts exempted?
-I heard some air-head caller on Air America radio the other day say in response to the Obama/patriotism flap that "running for president is the most patriotic thing you can do". So if someone's running for president they must be a patriot. (I don't care about his patriotism one way or the other, I'm more concerned with his socialism so I'd respond the same way if a McCain supporter had said this) Really? What's more patriotic than running for president? I don't know, maybe dying or being grievously wounded on a battle field in anonymity far from home during the prime of your life, sacrificing whatever future you may have had for people you don't know or a cause you may not even believe in? No, not at all. Trying to become the most powerful (and probably most famous) person on earth is way more patriotic.
-I thought the clip of McCain accidentally referring to himself as a liberal yesterday was pretty funny.
-And lastly, the other night I was listening to the radio and during one of their half-hourly "news" updates the second thing they mentioned was that Eddie Money is going to launch a career in country music. Now that's news in 2008! The only way Eddie Money should be mentioned in news would be a story that involves the words "dead" or "arrested for murder".
-I don't think Ralph Nader will prove to be anywhere near the threat to Obama that he was to Gore, because Gore was far more centrist than Obama. Obama is also strong amongst college students and hippies which seemed to be Nader's strongest constituency. If you've got a few bucks burning a hole in your pocket, it still may not be a bad idea to send him a check. You know, in the interest of "fairness".
-I think this is the most interesting pair of (presumptive) nominees in a very long time. You have a guy with a fascinating life story, who would make history if elected, doesn't toe the party line, transcends party in a lot of ways, has shown a willingness to bring people together to get things done whether it's popular or not.......and on the other side you have Barack Obama.
-I think if I were a midget I would prefer the term "midget" over "little person". Little person sounds more demeaning to me.
-Howard Dean has announced plans to sue the McCain campaign on financing. Now without getting into what Howard Dean can go do with himself as far as I'm concerned, I'm just shocked. That's so unlike the left to go around suing people.
-While I'm on the subject of people who belong in straight jackets, people who get their children humiliating hair cuts should be looked into by the authorities. It's 2008 people. I should not have to see a 4-year old boy walking around with a freaking rat-tail.
-I'm also kind of sick of conservatives complaining that the media picked our candidate. I could have swore he won because he got the most votes, but maybe I'm just being naive there.
-If I may play Andy Rooney for a moment: why is it that a job that really blows is referred to as a "suck-job" but when somebody su......you know, never mind. I'm not gonna go there.
-I noticed looking at the websites of both McCain and Obama that neither of them list crime in their list of issues at the top of the page. This seems like an area where McCain could make some inroads if he were so inclined.
-I watched a couple of youtube videos of Reagan speeches this week. Now there was a guy who could give any kind of speech. We may never see that good of a speaker again. He wasn't just good at firing people up he could do it all (oratorically). One of my personal favorites was the one from the night of the Challenger disaster " they waved goodbye, then slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." I got goosebumps just typing that.
-I've spent the last few days analyzing Senate voting records. A few weeks ago I questioned the claim of Obama having the most liberal voting record over the last year. I now stand corrected.
- In my city we have laws against aggressive pan-handling near the entrance to a business. Why are the girl scouts exempted?
-I heard some air-head caller on Air America radio the other day say in response to the Obama/patriotism flap that "running for president is the most patriotic thing you can do". So if someone's running for president they must be a patriot. (I don't care about his patriotism one way or the other, I'm more concerned with his socialism so I'd respond the same way if a McCain supporter had said this) Really? What's more patriotic than running for president? I don't know, maybe dying or being grievously wounded on a battle field in anonymity far from home during the prime of your life, sacrificing whatever future you may have had for people you don't know or a cause you may not even believe in? No, not at all. Trying to become the most powerful (and probably most famous) person on earth is way more patriotic.
-I thought the clip of McCain accidentally referring to himself as a liberal yesterday was pretty funny.
-And lastly, the other night I was listening to the radio and during one of their half-hourly "news" updates the second thing they mentioned was that Eddie Money is going to launch a career in country music. Now that's news in 2008! The only way Eddie Money should be mentioned in news would be a story that involves the words "dead" or "arrested for murder".
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Quick Hits IV
More oddities from this week:
-Ralph Nader is expected to announce that he is running for president on meet the press tomorrow. I strongly support this development. Somebody needs to siphon off a few far left votes, give 'em hell Ralph! I want him out there touring with all of his classic hits: "Republicrats", "both parties are the same", "evil corporations", "capitalist pig-dogs", "imperialism, imperialism, imperialism!"
-If you're going to use a public restroom, I'll thank you to refrain from moaning while you urinate.
-I remember thinking six years ago when I had to write a research paper (and participate in a 60-minute round table discussion) on the subject of Kosovo that it would be a major headache when they declared independence. Without going into details the Serbs view this region as their Jerusalem and it's just one more way to rattle Russia's cage.
-Darfur continues to be a great example of how "awareness" has never stopped people from killing each other. I think a better idea would be to arm the people being persecuted. When they show up at the UN aid station say "here's your sack of wheat and here are your AK-47's".
-What's the deal with these chicks fainting at the Obama rallies? I've seriously got to go to one of these things. I'll bet they leave feeling all hopeful and euphoric. Perhaps willing to "reach across the aisle" for a little "bipartisanship", if you follow my train of thought.
-I saw the NIU shooter's girlfriend on the news. wtf? girlfriend? When's the last time a guy who shot a bunch of people had a girlfriend, but didn't kill her when he did the shooting? That struck me as odd.
-You don't change Washington. Washington changes you.
-Jimmy Kimmel was pretty funny talking about this McCain/NY Times thing. He said that for every year you spend in a Vietnamese prison camp you should be entitled to one extra-marital affair. So in his book McCain could have up to five and it would still be alright.
-I think pretty much any candidate who gets elected will have at least one situation come up while in office that makes them say "this is the toughest situation I've ever been in"........except one. The capitol could be burning down and McCain would be like "this still isn't as bad as the time I was in the middle of a fire that killed 134 guys on my ship, or the day I got shot down, broke three limbs and was bayoneted twice, or the time they stuck that live leach up my ass".
-I should add that the leach thing is something I made up, unlike the other 2.
-I couldn't care less who there is a picture of hanging in one of the Obama campaign offices.
-Did you ever notice how every Democratic nominee is vilified as probably being the "anti-christ" except John Kerry? I heard Glenn Beck mention this and I was like "yeah, Kerry should be very offended". He should be like "do they think I'm too boring to be the six-hundred three-score and six?" Just not beastly enough I guess.
-We've got two alleged centrists likely to face off in November. One (McCain) votes with his party 87.3% of the time (according to a database maintained by the Washington Post) and another in Obama who votes with his party 96.5% of the time.
-Shouldn't a guy who's major theme is his ability to reach across party lines to find common ground and consensus on major issues be able to point to ONE time he's done so? (Don't give me "ethics reform" or "nuclear non-proliferation" either those were slam dunks.)
-According to an article I read this week, apparently it's "disguised racism" to suggest that a candidate with very little experience has, you know, very little experience.
-I've just finished reading the book Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky (my favorite writer) and while it's impossible to describe, he to some degree foresees the totalitarianism and blood-shed that would come to his motherland in the 20th century. Despite being written in the 1870's it kind of predicts how Marxist ideology would grow into a movement worse than the problems it was trying to fix. It was also very screwed up. There's "screwed up" and then there's "screwed up even for Dostoevsky". This was the latter. At the end it's like: "I hope you weren't too attached to any of the characters". I've read enough Russian novels to know better than to expect a happy ending, but I expected at least one protagonist to survive the book besides the narrator.
-I thought McCain's speech Tuesday night talking about Senator Obama and his "eloquent, but empty call for change" and going on to point out how liberal he is was pretty good. The way McCain needs to go is to stay on the issues and not try to get into a personality contest.
-Somebody else mentioned how fascinating the Obama story is. Which confused me because if you want fascinating life stories, Clinton and McCain's lives would both make for a far more interesting movie than one about Obama. Better special effects in the McCain story. More sex scenes in the Hillary story. The Obama movie would be one of those "guy goes to the hood and teaches the gangstas calculus" snoozers.
-I've been studying Senator Obama's proposals for what he would do as president along with his senate voting record. There is plenty of substance there. He has a ton of ideas. There are specifics every where. I'm torn now. I wish I could go back in time and ...........DONATE MONEY TO HILLARY CLINTON! Seriously, if my economic plan called for almost $2 Trillion in new taxes I don't think I'd be bringing it much on the stump either. I'd stick to the "hope" and "change" talk too. I'm sure I'll be bringing this up again constantly for the next nine months or so.
-I hope this isn't lost on the McCain people. Don't waste time talking about "experience" because if you look at the past several elections where the White House has changed hands, the less experienced candidates have had a decent record (Kennedy v. Nixon, Carter v. Ford, Clinton v. Bush, Junior Bush v. Gore to name a few). And don't waste time talking about 'Nam because War Veterans have lost the last 4 presidential elections. (yes, I consider Gore in this group because, while he wasn't strangling people with piano wire or locked in a Hanoi-pit-of-Hell, he was in-country with the military during the war.) So with this in mind I was very happy to hear a McCain advisor say last week about Obama: (paraphrasing) "He was just named the most liberal member of the Senate for 2007. I don't think most of these moderates and conservatives coming out for him know that... but they will."
-Ralph Nader is expected to announce that he is running for president on meet the press tomorrow. I strongly support this development. Somebody needs to siphon off a few far left votes, give 'em hell Ralph! I want him out there touring with all of his classic hits: "Republicrats", "both parties are the same", "evil corporations", "capitalist pig-dogs", "imperialism, imperialism, imperialism!"
-If you're going to use a public restroom, I'll thank you to refrain from moaning while you urinate.
-I remember thinking six years ago when I had to write a research paper (and participate in a 60-minute round table discussion) on the subject of Kosovo that it would be a major headache when they declared independence. Without going into details the Serbs view this region as their Jerusalem and it's just one more way to rattle Russia's cage.
-Darfur continues to be a great example of how "awareness" has never stopped people from killing each other. I think a better idea would be to arm the people being persecuted. When they show up at the UN aid station say "here's your sack of wheat and here are your AK-47's".
-What's the deal with these chicks fainting at the Obama rallies? I've seriously got to go to one of these things. I'll bet they leave feeling all hopeful and euphoric. Perhaps willing to "reach across the aisle" for a little "bipartisanship", if you follow my train of thought.
-I saw the NIU shooter's girlfriend on the news. wtf? girlfriend? When's the last time a guy who shot a bunch of people had a girlfriend, but didn't kill her when he did the shooting? That struck me as odd.
-You don't change Washington. Washington changes you.
-Jimmy Kimmel was pretty funny talking about this McCain/NY Times thing. He said that for every year you spend in a Vietnamese prison camp you should be entitled to one extra-marital affair. So in his book McCain could have up to five and it would still be alright.
-I think pretty much any candidate who gets elected will have at least one situation come up while in office that makes them say "this is the toughest situation I've ever been in"........except one. The capitol could be burning down and McCain would be like "this still isn't as bad as the time I was in the middle of a fire that killed 134 guys on my ship, or the day I got shot down, broke three limbs and was bayoneted twice, or the time they stuck that live leach up my ass".
-I should add that the leach thing is something I made up, unlike the other 2.
-I couldn't care less who there is a picture of hanging in one of the Obama campaign offices.
-Did you ever notice how every Democratic nominee is vilified as probably being the "anti-christ" except John Kerry? I heard Glenn Beck mention this and I was like "yeah, Kerry should be very offended". He should be like "do they think I'm too boring to be the six-hundred three-score and six?" Just not beastly enough I guess.
-We've got two alleged centrists likely to face off in November. One (McCain) votes with his party 87.3% of the time (according to a database maintained by the Washington Post) and another in Obama who votes with his party 96.5% of the time.
-Shouldn't a guy who's major theme is his ability to reach across party lines to find common ground and consensus on major issues be able to point to ONE time he's done so? (Don't give me "ethics reform" or "nuclear non-proliferation" either those were slam dunks.)
-According to an article I read this week, apparently it's "disguised racism" to suggest that a candidate with very little experience has, you know, very little experience.
-I've just finished reading the book Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky (my favorite writer) and while it's impossible to describe, he to some degree foresees the totalitarianism and blood-shed that would come to his motherland in the 20th century. Despite being written in the 1870's it kind of predicts how Marxist ideology would grow into a movement worse than the problems it was trying to fix. It was also very screwed up. There's "screwed up" and then there's "screwed up even for Dostoevsky". This was the latter. At the end it's like: "I hope you weren't too attached to any of the characters". I've read enough Russian novels to know better than to expect a happy ending, but I expected at least one protagonist to survive the book besides the narrator.
-I thought McCain's speech Tuesday night talking about Senator Obama and his "eloquent, but empty call for change" and going on to point out how liberal he is was pretty good. The way McCain needs to go is to stay on the issues and not try to get into a personality contest.
-Somebody else mentioned how fascinating the Obama story is. Which confused me because if you want fascinating life stories, Clinton and McCain's lives would both make for a far more interesting movie than one about Obama. Better special effects in the McCain story. More sex scenes in the Hillary story. The Obama movie would be one of those "guy goes to the hood and teaches the gangstas calculus" snoozers.
-I've been studying Senator Obama's proposals for what he would do as president along with his senate voting record. There is plenty of substance there. He has a ton of ideas. There are specifics every where. I'm torn now. I wish I could go back in time and ...........DONATE MONEY TO HILLARY CLINTON! Seriously, if my economic plan called for almost $2 Trillion in new taxes I don't think I'd be bringing it much on the stump either. I'd stick to the "hope" and "change" talk too. I'm sure I'll be bringing this up again constantly for the next nine months or so.
-I hope this isn't lost on the McCain people. Don't waste time talking about "experience" because if you look at the past several elections where the White House has changed hands, the less experienced candidates have had a decent record (Kennedy v. Nixon, Carter v. Ford, Clinton v. Bush, Junior Bush v. Gore to name a few). And don't waste time talking about 'Nam because War Veterans have lost the last 4 presidential elections. (yes, I consider Gore in this group because, while he wasn't strangling people with piano wire or locked in a Hanoi-pit-of-Hell, he was in-country with the military during the war.) So with this in mind I was very happy to hear a McCain advisor say last week about Obama: (paraphrasing) "He was just named the most liberal member of the Senate for 2007. I don't think most of these moderates and conservatives coming out for him know that... but they will."
Saturday, February 16, 2008
quick hits 3
-I was thinking the other day about how much I've changed in the last 8-years. In 2000, I was an agnostic nihilist who got drunk every day and screwed anything that moves. But I voted in lock step with the religious right. In 2008, I am a Christian who is a lot more moderate politically and views the religious right as the scariest force in American culture. Kind of a weird transformation.
-I have and will continue to point out reasons I don't support Senator Obama's candidacy but I will point out things that I like. I like his health care plan better than Hillary's. The fact that his plan does not use the power of government to force people to buy health insurance the way hers does. I've never sat around thinking: "I wish the government would force me to do more things. That's the problem these days, too much control over my own life."
-My sense is that Hillary is done, but I'm not sure "her legs are protruding from under the house" yet.
-According to the Wall Street Journal, Senator Obama has proposed $800 billion in new federal spending so far. This doesn't sit well with me. I view borrowing as the biggest threat to the long term survival of the republic.
-The History Channel should change it's name to The "Marching Nazi" Channel.
-Bill Moyers' Journal continues to be my favorite television show. I like the fact that people actually come on there and talk about substantive issues for longer than 3 minutes. Bill also reminds me of my father, between the southern accent, the way he looks at people while they talk and the fact that he used to be a minister.
-The headline on www.johnmccain.com currently reads "Ready to Lead on Day One". Uh oh, hey John that slogan hasn't really worked for Hillary so far. I'd try something else if I were you.
-I do believe that most of the coverage I see at this point is biased against Hillary and for Obama.
-Quote from Obama's Super Tuesday speech: "Nothing in this country has ever happened except somebody, somewhere, was willing to hope." You know, hope is nice. Action is better. Hope didn't kick out the British, free the slaves, or destroy Hitler. Even in Obama's own life story where he talks about hope, it seems to me that actions had a much bigger hand in his rise above his circumstances. The fact that he worked hard, studied hard and did everything in his power to make himself a better life resonates more with me than the ad-nauseum appeals to hope. I wonder if this would be as powerful of a message with the electorate at-large, though.
-I saw this video called "No, You Can't" based on the Obama "Yes, We Can" stuff. It was an attack on McCain which is fine with me, but they took a shot at Cindy McCain's addiction to prescription drugs in the 80's and early-90's. Word to the wise: 1) Let's leave the families out of this. 2) It would probably not be a good idea to make mention of anyone else's past drug use if you're trying to help Obama. Otherwise, a-holes like me are going to go out and constantly remind people of the days when Barack was doin' something back in the neighborhood. I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book. So let's try to stick to the actual issues involved with who we want leading the nation for the next four years.
-Two funny things I saw on Jimmy Kimmel's "fun with unnecessary censorship" segment last night. 1) Obama speaking: "They come up to me and whisper 'Barack, I'm a republican but I support you.' And I say '____ you!'"
2) McCain speaking: "I am f___ed up and ready to go!" Hillarious.
-I can't begin to tell you how much I wish McCain had beaten Bush in the 2000 primaries.
-I have and will continue to point out reasons I don't support Senator Obama's candidacy but I will point out things that I like. I like his health care plan better than Hillary's. The fact that his plan does not use the power of government to force people to buy health insurance the way hers does. I've never sat around thinking: "I wish the government would force me to do more things. That's the problem these days, too much control over my own life."
-My sense is that Hillary is done, but I'm not sure "her legs are protruding from under the house" yet.
-According to the Wall Street Journal, Senator Obama has proposed $800 billion in new federal spending so far. This doesn't sit well with me. I view borrowing as the biggest threat to the long term survival of the republic.
-The History Channel should change it's name to The "Marching Nazi" Channel.
-Bill Moyers' Journal continues to be my favorite television show. I like the fact that people actually come on there and talk about substantive issues for longer than 3 minutes. Bill also reminds me of my father, between the southern accent, the way he looks at people while they talk and the fact that he used to be a minister.
-The headline on www.johnmccain.com currently reads "Ready to Lead on Day One". Uh oh, hey John that slogan hasn't really worked for Hillary so far. I'd try something else if I were you.
-I do believe that most of the coverage I see at this point is biased against Hillary and for Obama.
-Quote from Obama's Super Tuesday speech: "Nothing in this country has ever happened except somebody, somewhere, was willing to hope." You know, hope is nice. Action is better. Hope didn't kick out the British, free the slaves, or destroy Hitler. Even in Obama's own life story where he talks about hope, it seems to me that actions had a much bigger hand in his rise above his circumstances. The fact that he worked hard, studied hard and did everything in his power to make himself a better life resonates more with me than the ad-nauseum appeals to hope. I wonder if this would be as powerful of a message with the electorate at-large, though.
-I saw this video called "No, You Can't" based on the Obama "Yes, We Can" stuff. It was an attack on McCain which is fine with me, but they took a shot at Cindy McCain's addiction to prescription drugs in the 80's and early-90's. Word to the wise: 1) Let's leave the families out of this. 2) It would probably not be a good idea to make mention of anyone else's past drug use if you're trying to help Obama. Otherwise, a-holes like me are going to go out and constantly remind people of the days when Barack was doin' something back in the neighborhood. I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book. So let's try to stick to the actual issues involved with who we want leading the nation for the next four years.
-Two funny things I saw on Jimmy Kimmel's "fun with unnecessary censorship" segment last night. 1) Obama speaking: "They come up to me and whisper 'Barack, I'm a republican but I support you.' And I say '____ you!'"
2) McCain speaking: "I am f___ed up and ready to go!" Hillarious.
-I can't begin to tell you how much I wish McCain had beaten Bush in the 2000 primaries.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
quick hits from this week: part 2
-I've been listening to both right-wing and left wing talk radio a lot this week. I find it amusing that the lefties devote a great deal of time bashing Hillary Clinton, and the righties have done nothing except bash John McCain. Am I living in bizzarro-world? It doesn't seem to be doing much good on either side. Now granted the right has (as it usually is on most issues) been much more forceful. The moment of the week for me was Sean Hannity pleading with Zogby and Rasmussin to say something other than the obvious: that John McCain leads Romney by a wide margin and fares much better against either Democrat in November.
-Note to the Romney people: If he can't beat the "liberal" John McCain in a Republican primary, how can you expect him to have a chance in the general election?
-Here's a fun game: get a piece of paper and a pen and see how many U.S. Senators you can name from memory. I scored 52. (Bob, I wouldn't be surprised if you scored a 100 on this.) Ah, the things I do to cure insomnia.
-Make him spend it all, Mac!
-Am I the only one who finds this "scientific", "computerised" (whatever the hell that means) survey that came out this week saying Barack Obama was the most liberal Senator to be an absolute joke? No Russ Feingold? No Bernie Sanders?( a self-described Socialist) I mean come on. They also had Joe Biden ranked number 3 most liberal. Another example why anything put out by a "conservative think-tank" should be viewed with suspicion.
-Can Barack and Hillary strike a balance in a debate? It's either the Jerry Springer show or a love fest. I half-expected them to start making out on Thursday.
-The Iraq strategy of both Clinton and Obama seem like the worst of both worlds to me. Okay, so we reduce the number of troops to the point where they can do nothing to keep the country from spiraling out of control, but we leave a smaller force there that will be less able to defend itself so we keep having American casualties? How is this a good idea? I've said it before and I'll say it again; I want there to be a large number or none at all. I believe this war was a mistake from day one, but a half-ass solution is worse to me than choosing between what we have now and a complete withdrawal.
-I for one am glad people like Ann Coulter are not endorsing Senator McCain. If she had one less synapse firing in her brain, she'd be in a coma.
-I'm really into the Dropkick Murphys these days.
-I'm considering spending my economic stimulus package money on a tattoo for my chest. The ideas I have are a) some type of flaming skull b)Old Glory c) the words "No Control" or d) the words "Liberty or Death". I am open to suggestions.
-I think the worst thing to happen for Mike Huckabee's campaign was when he increasingly transitioned from being seen as "former governor" to "former minister". I don't know if this is something done by the campaign or by the media, but I think this was, along with that stuff about changing the constitution and sodomizing people with flag poles the undoing of his campaign.
-Larry King used to do a stream-of-thought column in usa today (much like the one I'm doing right now, only with shorter sentences) in which he would impart such deep wisdom as "I have no tolerance for people who commit rape". Some deep thought right there.
-Al Qaeda (how the hell do you spell that anyway?) is now using women with Downe's Syndrome as human bombs. I'm not shocked by the fact that these are evil bastards, but this caught even me off guard. Do you think they just sat around going "what's the most evil thing we could possibly do today? Oh, I know. We'll use mentally handicapped people to blow up a pet-market full of schoolboys who have the day off! When I hear stuff like this it makes me hope that a) There is a literally burning hell and b) that God grades on a curve.
-If you've still got the piece of paper you were using for the Senators quiz, go to www.cnn.com (or www.foxnews.com if you prefer), look at all of the stories they have links to on their front page. Now count how many are actual news and how many are simply sensationalistic headlines. Usually stories like "celebrity x reportedly nailing celebrity y" or "dildo sales up 20%" or "cute child reunited with cute puppy" outnumber stories like "Are Pakistan's nukes secure?" or "Skyrocketing price of rice endangers world's poor" by a ridiculous margin. Is it safe to say the word "news" is false advertisement at this point?
-Note to the Romney people: If he can't beat the "liberal" John McCain in a Republican primary, how can you expect him to have a chance in the general election?
-Here's a fun game: get a piece of paper and a pen and see how many U.S. Senators you can name from memory. I scored 52. (Bob, I wouldn't be surprised if you scored a 100 on this.) Ah, the things I do to cure insomnia.
-Make him spend it all, Mac!
-Am I the only one who finds this "scientific", "computerised" (whatever the hell that means) survey that came out this week saying Barack Obama was the most liberal Senator to be an absolute joke? No Russ Feingold? No Bernie Sanders?( a self-described Socialist) I mean come on. They also had Joe Biden ranked number 3 most liberal. Another example why anything put out by a "conservative think-tank" should be viewed with suspicion.
-Can Barack and Hillary strike a balance in a debate? It's either the Jerry Springer show or a love fest. I half-expected them to start making out on Thursday.
-The Iraq strategy of both Clinton and Obama seem like the worst of both worlds to me. Okay, so we reduce the number of troops to the point where they can do nothing to keep the country from spiraling out of control, but we leave a smaller force there that will be less able to defend itself so we keep having American casualties? How is this a good idea? I've said it before and I'll say it again; I want there to be a large number or none at all. I believe this war was a mistake from day one, but a half-ass solution is worse to me than choosing between what we have now and a complete withdrawal.
-I for one am glad people like Ann Coulter are not endorsing Senator McCain. If she had one less synapse firing in her brain, she'd be in a coma.
-I'm really into the Dropkick Murphys these days.
-I'm considering spending my economic stimulus package money on a tattoo for my chest. The ideas I have are a) some type of flaming skull b)Old Glory c) the words "No Control" or d) the words "Liberty or Death". I am open to suggestions.
-I think the worst thing to happen for Mike Huckabee's campaign was when he increasingly transitioned from being seen as "former governor" to "former minister". I don't know if this is something done by the campaign or by the media, but I think this was, along with that stuff about changing the constitution and sodomizing people with flag poles the undoing of his campaign.
-Larry King used to do a stream-of-thought column in usa today (much like the one I'm doing right now, only with shorter sentences) in which he would impart such deep wisdom as "I have no tolerance for people who commit rape". Some deep thought right there.
-Al Qaeda (how the hell do you spell that anyway?) is now using women with Downe's Syndrome as human bombs. I'm not shocked by the fact that these are evil bastards, but this caught even me off guard. Do you think they just sat around going "what's the most evil thing we could possibly do today? Oh, I know. We'll use mentally handicapped people to blow up a pet-market full of schoolboys who have the day off! When I hear stuff like this it makes me hope that a) There is a literally burning hell and b) that God grades on a curve.
-If you've still got the piece of paper you were using for the Senators quiz, go to www.cnn.com (or www.foxnews.com if you prefer), look at all of the stories they have links to on their front page. Now count how many are actual news and how many are simply sensationalistic headlines. Usually stories like "celebrity x reportedly nailing celebrity y" or "dildo sales up 20%" or "cute child reunited with cute puppy" outnumber stories like "Are Pakistan's nukes secure?" or "Skyrocketing price of rice endangers world's poor" by a ridiculous margin. Is it safe to say the word "news" is false advertisement at this point?
Friday, January 25, 2008
Quick hits from this week......
These are random crazy notions that crept into my head this week.
-During Monday night's Democratic debate, I kept expecting the crowd to start chanting "JERRY! JERRY! JERRY" during the Clinton-Obama stuff. I had Edwards as the winner again, but almost by default this time.
-During the back and forth I was secretly praying to see Hillary get flustered, just completely lose it and drop an N-bomb before she even knew what happened. Admit it, that's a funny thought.
-Speaking of which, a group of right-wing misogynist hatchet men this week formed an anti-Hillary group called "Citizens United Not Timid". Get it? I'll bet that took weeks to come up with something that clever. I can only hope these bottom feeders will crawl back wherever they came. I'd hate to see what they name themselves if Obama gets the nomination.
-I think it would be way more historic to have a black president than a female president. If you don't believe me, just ask yourself: who has a rougher time in our society, white women or black men? If you look at life expectancy, average income, and most other metrics you'll see that this is a very easy question to answer.
-Speaking of acronyms, According to David Kuo's book the group "Empower America" formed by Jack Kemp and Bill Bennett was originally going to be called the "Lincoln Institute for American Renewal" nobody realized what the acronym would be for a while.
-On Tuesday I watched a Frontline special on kids and the internet. It was a pretty good look at how kids have become addicted to cell phones and social networking. The funny part to me was when these folks took their daughter to testify before congress about the dangers of sex-predators online. Word to the wise, if you want to keep your kids safe from sexual deviants Capitol Hill might be a good place to avoid (along with school, church, summer camps, or shopping malls).
-I heard someone ask someone else if they knew how Heath Ledger died. I wanted to interject: "Pretty much the same that kills any 28 year old celebrity."
-In an effort to be more user-friendly, Al Quaida has started an "ask Zawahiri" section on their web affiliates. It's the best way to stay up to date on your favorite jihadists. So far the most common question is from a guy with the screen-name "cowboyW43" who has posted the question "So, just between u and me, ware u guyz stayin these days?" like a thousand times.
-I'm seriously expecting to see college kids walking around wearing shirts that say "Ron Paul is My Homeboy" any day now. He's quickly becoming something of a folk-hero with a passionate following. I'm sure the person most surprised by this is Ron Paul himself. I personally think he's very good for the party in general.
-How come nobody's talking about the Senate? There are 34 seats up for grabs this year. 23 are currently in Republican control, 11 in democratic. I'd say 10 of the 11 Democrats are all but assured reelection. Of the Republicans, about half will be seriously contested. It wouldn't surprise me to see the dems gain 5 or 6 seats, regardless of what happens in the presidential race.
-Not to be outdone the GOP held a debate this week. My overall impression was that it will be an uphill fight to retain the White House in November. They'd better have Reverend Huckabee pray with all his might that this stimulus package works and that Iraq doesn't spin any further out of control between now and the election. There were some good moments though.
-When Romney said the line about "Bill Clinton roaming the White House with nothing to do" I forgot for a minute how much I dislike the guy. Then Russert pretends to be confused and says "what do you mean by that?" I wish Romney would have said "Dumb-ass, I mean Bill Clinton is a sex-fiend! He's a habitual line-crosser". I'd say Romney had a very good night overall. I'd still never vote for him,(unless it's him and Hillary) but for all the reasons I have not to like him, stupidity is NOT one of them.
-Stick a fork in Rudy, he's done.
-Russert didn't seem to think McCain had economics experience. McCain looked like he wanted to strangle him with his bare hands. McCain's like "Idiot, I've been on the commerce committee for 20 years, and chairman for 7!"
- Mike Huckabee had one of the most interesting proposals of the night. Rather than borrow money from China to mail people checks that they will spend on goods made in China, he proposed a massive infrastructure program. The idea is to spend the money on I-95. That way the money goes to American companies and provides jobs during the project, and afterwards you have something to show for it. Damn good idea. I remember a guy who did this very thing and it in part turned his nation from a broken dispirited nation into a superpower. The guy was Adolf Hitler and the country was Nazi Germany. Not exactly an example one would use as a selling point. All joking aside, I like this idea much better as a stimulus package. Better in the short term, much better long-term, just don't use the example I gave (maybe mention Eisenhower and the inter-state highway system here in the U.S., not.....you know.)
-During Monday night's Democratic debate, I kept expecting the crowd to start chanting "JERRY! JERRY! JERRY" during the Clinton-Obama stuff. I had Edwards as the winner again, but almost by default this time.
-During the back and forth I was secretly praying to see Hillary get flustered, just completely lose it and drop an N-bomb before she even knew what happened. Admit it, that's a funny thought.
-Speaking of which, a group of right-wing misogynist hatchet men this week formed an anti-Hillary group called "Citizens United Not Timid". Get it? I'll bet that took weeks to come up with something that clever. I can only hope these bottom feeders will crawl back wherever they came. I'd hate to see what they name themselves if Obama gets the nomination.
-I think it would be way more historic to have a black president than a female president. If you don't believe me, just ask yourself: who has a rougher time in our society, white women or black men? If you look at life expectancy, average income, and most other metrics you'll see that this is a very easy question to answer.
-Speaking of acronyms, According to David Kuo's book the group "Empower America" formed by Jack Kemp and Bill Bennett was originally going to be called the "Lincoln Institute for American Renewal" nobody realized what the acronym would be for a while.
-On Tuesday I watched a Frontline special on kids and the internet. It was a pretty good look at how kids have become addicted to cell phones and social networking. The funny part to me was when these folks took their daughter to testify before congress about the dangers of sex-predators online. Word to the wise, if you want to keep your kids safe from sexual deviants Capitol Hill might be a good place to avoid (along with school, church, summer camps, or shopping malls).
-I heard someone ask someone else if they knew how Heath Ledger died. I wanted to interject: "Pretty much the same that kills any 28 year old celebrity."
-In an effort to be more user-friendly, Al Quaida has started an "ask Zawahiri" section on their web affiliates. It's the best way to stay up to date on your favorite jihadists. So far the most common question is from a guy with the screen-name "cowboyW43" who has posted the question "So, just between u and me, ware u guyz stayin these days?" like a thousand times.
-I'm seriously expecting to see college kids walking around wearing shirts that say "Ron Paul is My Homeboy" any day now. He's quickly becoming something of a folk-hero with a passionate following. I'm sure the person most surprised by this is Ron Paul himself. I personally think he's very good for the party in general.
-How come nobody's talking about the Senate? There are 34 seats up for grabs this year. 23 are currently in Republican control, 11 in democratic. I'd say 10 of the 11 Democrats are all but assured reelection. Of the Republicans, about half will be seriously contested. It wouldn't surprise me to see the dems gain 5 or 6 seats, regardless of what happens in the presidential race.
-Not to be outdone the GOP held a debate this week. My overall impression was that it will be an uphill fight to retain the White House in November. They'd better have Reverend Huckabee pray with all his might that this stimulus package works and that Iraq doesn't spin any further out of control between now and the election. There were some good moments though.
-When Romney said the line about "Bill Clinton roaming the White House with nothing to do" I forgot for a minute how much I dislike the guy. Then Russert pretends to be confused and says "what do you mean by that?" I wish Romney would have said "Dumb-ass, I mean Bill Clinton is a sex-fiend! He's a habitual line-crosser". I'd say Romney had a very good night overall. I'd still never vote for him,(unless it's him and Hillary) but for all the reasons I have not to like him, stupidity is NOT one of them.
-Stick a fork in Rudy, he's done.
-Russert didn't seem to think McCain had economics experience. McCain looked like he wanted to strangle him with his bare hands. McCain's like "Idiot, I've been on the commerce committee for 20 years, and chairman for 7!"
- Mike Huckabee had one of the most interesting proposals of the night. Rather than borrow money from China to mail people checks that they will spend on goods made in China, he proposed a massive infrastructure program. The idea is to spend the money on I-95. That way the money goes to American companies and provides jobs during the project, and afterwards you have something to show for it. Damn good idea. I remember a guy who did this very thing and it in part turned his nation from a broken dispirited nation into a superpower. The guy was Adolf Hitler and the country was Nazi Germany. Not exactly an example one would use as a selling point. All joking aside, I like this idea much better as a stimulus package. Better in the short term, much better long-term, just don't use the example I gave (maybe mention Eisenhower and the inter-state highway system here in the U.S., not.....you know.)
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