And, of course, I would be remiss in my duties if I did not also give due credit to the outgoing administration at this time of seemingly magical wonder.
So here’s to ya, W. We wouldn’t be where we are today, both good and bad, without you!
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Dick.
A scant 20 minutes after the polls opened here my ballot was cast with a satisfying whirr and beep of the tried and “true” non-Diebold counting machine. I confess to being a bit giddy as I moved through the queue. I couldn’t stop myself from flipping open the blue privacy folder to look at my vote a 2nd, 3rd and 5th time. I couldn’t help but smile.
This is the first time in a long, long while where I was really and truly happy to cast my ballot.
My mood is only dampened by the reports of rampant voter fraud/tampering by the local GOP. Not the least of which by our own Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. Our “top cop” is the chair of the WIsconsin Republican party. Hell, he’s hosting the McCain/Palin “victory party” tonight in Waukesha. I ask you, how can the person who’s charged with enforcing a fair and accurate election possibly do so while jerking off the home office? Where is his zeal for justice when it comes to prosecuting paid temp workers who were TOLD TO LIE to people about their affiliations? Yeah, thought so. You are a blight, sir, and I look forward to your opponents victory party next time ’round.
What scares me? These people actually get a vote. The problem with democracy isn’t the politicians. It’s people like the ones in that video. Here are some helpful tips, from me to you, o’ people of the video.
1) Catholic doctors and Catholic hospitals are allowed to have all the moral objections to abortions or penicillin or anything else that sticks in their craws. What they are NOT allowed is to deny legal treatment to patients. Here, try this for some light reading. I know fitting the time in for intelligence is tough, what with a full day of demagoguery and dunking witches in the river, but give it a fucking shot, eh? Oh, and nice touch with the triple-peck on your baby. Why won’t those evil Democracts PLEASE think of the children?!
2) The tenets of Socialism, morally, are a beautiful thing. The belief that people should contribute to society based upon what they are able to contribute and should receive the full sum of benefits that they require from society is pretty god damned idyllic. That doesn’t make me or Obama a Socialist. Social programs in this country allow millions of good, honest and hard-working American’s to provide enough to eat for their families and to keep a roof over their heads and the lights on. But hey, it’s not you, right? So fuck poor people. Fuck people with disabilities or who are just down on their luck. The measure of a society is how it cares for the least among them. I don’t believe in hand-outs for the sake of hand-outs. I don’t believe in punishing people for being rich or successful. If a penny from me, a penny from you, and pennies from everyone in this country can feed a child in poverty or keep the fucking lights on so some single mother in Peoria can study for her GED before heading out to her 2nd job? Money. Well. Spent. I wish every fuckwit who bashes social programs could get put on a biiiiig list and then summarily denied access to each and every one of them. I wonder what that old goat says if his Social Security check is a day late?
3) There is no far-left agenda. We can’t agree on ANYTHING, let alone a fucking agenda. I realize that’s not a rebuttal, but it informs point number two – Barrack Obama isn’t far-left. With a few exceptions Senator Obama is a moderate Democrat. Liberal, for sure, but just like Senator McCain he’s nowhere near the outskirts of his party. Oh, and not for nothing, but the last 8 years have been the far right’s agenda being forced upon the country. A country, I might add, who is repeatedly demonstrated that they are MODERATES. The vast majority of people in America have opinions on both sides of the aisle. Even moreso in recent years as the traditional values of the major parties have gotten so murky. We’re currently experiencing the worst economic downturn since the great depression. After 8 years of fiscally responsible growth and prosperity under a “tax-n-spend” liberal this is hardly the crowning achievement for the party of fiscal conservatives, no?
So this is the face of the new Pepsi. I ask: Who the fuck cares? It’s always baffled me why drink companies of ANY variety advertise themselves. I don’t like Coke. I like Pepsi. No ad campaign in the world is going to alter my taste buds. There was some comedian on TV a while back going through his act and he had the best advice for these people. Take ALL that money you throw away on marketing experts and ad buys and send every man, woman and child in America a coupon for a free 6-pack of your product. The price of beverages, while subject to inflation, is static across brands. So if someone likes your drink, they’ll BUY your drink. This is not rocket science.
The same thing holds true for beer. When I was much younger I was exposed to a certain type of beer. That became my beer of choice. It’s only been in recent years when my associates have pushed me to expand my palette that I’ve discovered the new hotness. I can’t stand to drink that old stuff anymore.
That’s your object lesson for the day. People like what they like, and you can’t tell them differently. But you CAN give them an option. If what you’re selling truly is worthwhile you’ll get the business.
For those of you who care about such things, and that should be ALL of you, it’s been a great couple of days.
Firstly, the opening ceremonies were just plain awesome. I don’t mean the sheer scope of things, although that in and of itself was amazing, but it was just… fitting. China has over 3500 years of recorded history! They’re not going anywhere and our generation is the first that’s truly been able to experience their culture and peoples. The TV was calling it “China’s coming out party.” I’m inclined to agree.
As every human on Earth expected Michael Phelps picked up his first gold and slapped his own world record down by ~2 seconds.
Misty and Kerry, goddesses each, had a slow start but ultimately showed why they are the best players in the world with an easy 2-set win in their opening match. The men’s team, slightly less dominant, got just spanked by Latvia. It was painful to watch, they had nothing going at all.
Katie Hoff just took the bronze in the 400 IM. It’s her first loss in that race in some amount of time, I guess. But the winner (and silver) were both below the old WR. Australia has great swimmers. This is not news. I <3 competition. Oh, and the Aussie who took gold is a little hottie. Must be the accent. I’m weak, sue me.
I watched the crew semi-finals. Or sculling or something. I have no idea. People in boats. It was boring. I made lunch. The US team (both from New England) got spanked anyway.
The men’s gymnastic team his hella-good. So is China’s. The finals promise to be amazing.
The Olympic commercials have been wonderful. Morgan Freeman’s narration for Visa has been poignant, inspirational and just plain good. We’ll call that tasteful commercialism.
That, of course, is the segue to the campaign ads. What the motherless fuck is wrong with the McCain camp? I realize that the Republican party can’t help itself but dissemble these days but come the fuck on. There’s an old tradition called the Olympic cease-fire. It would have been nice for the nominees to read that memo. The Obama ads have been tamer, but not by much. I’m just curious as to how stupid one has to be to fall for this shit? Seriously. Are you so stupid that some narrator guy saying “raise taxes” 5 times in 30 seconds makes you want to give Bush the 3rd a seat in the oval?
So a guildmate and friend of mine is taking a year off of law school to campaign for Barack Obama. That is, in a nutshell, wicked cool.
To chronicle his adventures and to keep in touch with those of us who merely comment on politics rather than put any actual effort in he’s started up a brand new and as yet unnamed blog.
I love how the only real god is the retarded {Jew|muslim|gay|black} hating one. I don’t seem to remember that being in the pamphlets growing up. The fact that the “guest chaplain” didn’t tell these d-bags to go fuck themselves is a testament to his self-control and tolerance of those with significantly lacking mental and spiritual reserves.
It’s one thing to go fanatical zealot freak-o with the whole “thou shalt have no other god” thing in your personal life, but this is the Senate. This is the group of men and women elected to uphold the constitution and to serve the whole of their country. Not just the Christians. Not just the white, male land-owners. The whole god-damned country.
I can scarcely fathom how far one must have their head up their own (or a friends) ass to not embrace what actually makes this country worth a damn. America is and must be a plural society and our leaders must reflect that plurality – even if only once and a while.
Freedom of (and from) religion is important. The same rights that let you pray to baby Jesus implicitly protect the rights of others to praise Ganesha or no one at all. This should not be a difficult concept.
edit: added a suitably ridiculous title as I somehow forgot last night… edit 2: welcome to the reference.
So yeah, apparently I’m unmotivated. This is day … shit, I don’t care. Still no new job. Still don’t care overmuch. Should probably take care of that at some point.
Anywho, minor site note. Dreamhost (my hosting provider) is a certified carbon-neutral org. Neat.
For more details check the link in the sidebar, here or here.
Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Dick.
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