The Stupid Party

So, I saw this on SNL a few weeks ago and I think it sums a lot of things up. I think it's amazing how the Republicans are now concerned about the national debt. These are the same folks who wanted to spend $400 million on a bridge to nowhere, who are currently spending $10 Billion a MONTH on a war that never should have happened (close to $600 billion according to The National Priorities Project), and who just kept running up the national debt!

And, now that the country has let them know that they don't trust them by electing more Democrats to congress, and a Democratic persident, they seem to have found their fiscal resposibility again. Of course this is only a joke wherein they play the devils advocate for everything, anything the Dems want, the repubs should oppose. I think that they are playing the wrong game, and I think that it will turn out to hurt them in the end. No one wants the minority party to just say no because they are the minority party, they want them to be constructive and help to find compromise. The Republicans keep saying there was no compromise in the stimulus package, but none of them attempted to make any suggestions that fit with where the bill was set to go. More tax breaks aren't going to do it, we're actually going to need to spend some money, and hopefully once the economy rebounds, we'll be in a good position to gain money and cut the deficit.

Check out this article from Scott Horton of Harpers magazine for more good points.

And so it begins

Well, just heard from CNN that president-elect Obama's pledge to not allow lobbyists into his white house may be already fading away. It's just another case of what I'll call the Nowick syndrome where politicians say anything to get elected, then when they actually are elected those things tend to change. Of course, this was to be expected, and I think that McCain would have ended up being worse, but it still annoys me.

Here's the clip from CNN:

Election Roundup!

Well, it's been a week and I've had a chance to ingest all the information from the election. It looks like a pretty good score to me... The Democrats picked up several seats (now up to at least 57) in the Senate and a bunch in the House. I'm very excited that Colorado went Blue. They got a new Democratic Senator and showed Colorado Springs who's boss.

In Washington, the Governor's race wasn't as close as it was last time, which is a good thing. Even though she seems to be somewhat ineffective, I'd prefer an ineffective Democrat over an ineffective Republican. Hopefully she realizes that a lot of people are really looking for her to do something.... We also approved a "Death with Dignity" initiative. I think this is a good thing. I think there are a lot of people against it who still don't really understand it. A lot of the Anti press seemed to make it sound like anyone could just go to a doctor and get some pills and kill themselves. The reality is that they would have to be terminally ill with less than 6 months to live and be approved by 2 physicians. It's not like doctors are in the business of offing people, but when there is no other choice, people should have the option of making that choice for themselves. I hate to bring up the little fact that people kill themselves every day without a doctors help, so it's not like we're providing the only way to kill themselves....

California did the unthinkable (at least to me) and took away people's rights with an election. Voting on Proposition 8 undid the law allowing gay marriage. This makes me sad. Why do people think they have to tell others what they can and can't do. My favorite argument against allowing gay marriage was because it redefines marriage, then one woman said : "What if I wanted to marry my dog because I love him? Should that be legal?" My god, you must be the dumbest person on earth. Other than the stupid statement comparing your dog to a sentient human, it just doesn't make any sense. Dogs cant sign contracts, can't give consent and their breath smells like balls. Hopefully something will be done to fix this, but I wouldn't count on it.

Here's a little bit of Keith to give some perspective:



Anyway, I think it's a great thing we all did and I think this will help get the US back on the right track. With Bush's approval ratings in the shitter and the opinion of the US as one of the "bad guys"

My Comment on a friends blog

Today I was wandering around the Internet and ran into a blog posting from a friend of mine, Jay. He was angry with all the crap the politicians were saying to and about each other (and everything in general). Read his blog to get the background, here was my comment to him:

Hey Jay,Great post (and great comments). I know how you feel, the whole thing about continuing to say something, even though you know it isn't true, has been in the Republican playbook for years now. I found it funny that at one point John McCain was scolding Barack for saying something that was true over and over again...

The idea that Obama's tax plan is equivalent to Socialism is just another scare tactic. We (you, me, and everyone else who pays taxes) have just actually approved a Socialist takeover of the banking system. This actually is socialism; the goverment now owns an equity stake in several banks.

Of course, most people don't really understand Socialism as it exists today in Europe. There is still a free economy, but yes, there are higher taxes. Those higher taxes assure that every citizen is able to get healthcare, top-notch education, and infrastructure improvements.

Taxes are one of my biggest complaints about the Republicans. They call the Democrats "Tax and Spend", but the Republicans are "borrow and spend". Howdo they think the three wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, terrorism) we're carrying out will get paid for? When Sarah Palin said it wasn't patriotic to pay taxes, I was wondering how she expected her son's body armor to get paid for? I'll tell you how, we borrow money from the Chinese to pay for the tax cuts for the rich, that never seem to trickle down to you or me (at least I know not to me!)

Anyway, just wanted to let you know my feelings, I may post this comment on my blog. One of my favorite clips is from Jon Stewart and I have it on my blog, check it out: http://tevsplace.blogspot.com/2008/09/jon-stewart-best-ever.html
It shows how Republicans (and yeah, I suppose Democrats too) will say completely
opposite things depending on the situation.

Talk to you later,
Tev

I know any of you who read this somewhat regularly won't be surprised with my comment, but I thought it was a good point that I wanted to share.

Newspapers and Politics

I was reading some articles on politics today, and through the rat hole, I came across a list of newspapers and who they are endorsing in the presidential election. Some highlights:

Obama:
The Denver Post
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Times

McCain:
The Pueblo Chieftain
(Spokane) Spokesman-Review

Of course these were picked to highlight my point, that the big cities lean democrat when the smaller more rural cities lean republican.

Let's hope that a lot of people from the big cities get out and vote!

Smart Guys Vote Obama

This guy actually did invent the Internet (sorry Al). Well, I'm voting for Obama too, so I guess non-smart guys are voting for him too.

The Great Economic Inequality

So, I ran across this article in the New York Times, which talks about how different people (rich, poor, and otherwise) have been affected by the different parties since WWII.

It talks about how the Rich (over $180,000/year) have been better off when Republicans are in office, but how the Not Rich (less than $180,000/year) have benefitted from the Democrats in office.

The stark contrast between the whiz-bang Clinton years and the dreary Bush years is familiar because it is so recent. But while it is extreme, it is not atypical. Data for the whole period from 1948 to 2007, during which Republicans occupied the White House for 34 years and Democrats for 26, show average annual growth of real gross national product of 1.64 percent per capita under Republican presidents versus 2.78 percent under Democrats.

That 1.14-point difference, if maintained for eight years, would yield 9.33 percent more income per person, which is a lot more than almost anyone can expect from a tax cut.

Some of my family seem to think that they will be better off financially when the Repulicans are in office, but I am fairly sure that none of them make over $180k. so, if they really want to get richer, they should be supporting the Democrats and Barack.

Democratfix

So - tonight I watched a little bit of the Democratic convention. I watched Hillary's speech. It was really good. I was impressed with how it sounded like she meant everything she said and I think it had a good chance of changing some people's mind.

I've been wanting to do a political blog for a while and I think I've pondered enough to let it all go! In Chris fashion I'm going to make it a list entry.

3 in 10 Hillary Supporters are now "uncommitted" or voting for McCain
Look, I understand that you're miffed about Hillary not winning the nomination, and not really being considered for VP either, but truthfully, it was her own doing. Her campaign got so many things wrong that there was no way she could win. So now you want to take your toys and go home? That's the Democratic spirit! When the going gets tough CAVE.

Let's look at some of the overwhelming similarities on her two big issues that make it easier to choose McCain over Barack:

Abortion:
Hillary - Pro-choice, not pro-abortion I suppose that this clarificaiton needs to be made to avoid the republicans calling her a baby killer any more than they already do.
McCain - "I have stated time after time after time that Roe v Wade was a bad decision..."
Conclusion - Well, pretty much a no-brainer (which may be just enough for this 30 percent). I would say in general Democrats are pro-choice and that would pretty much put them on the exact opposite side of the spectrum as John McCain.

Healthcare:
Hillary - Require all americans to have health insurance.
McCain - "I've made it very clear that what I want is for families to make decisions about their health care, not government..." ( TEV - it's worked well for the 47 million without healthcare so far)
Conclusion - Again, while you may be pouting about Hills not being the woman, Barack's healthcare plan is MUCH more like hers that McCains ever could hope to be.

Anyway, it seems completly ludicrous that ANYONE who was supporting Hillary Clinton 2 months ago would now switch sides just because she lost the race. If you're truly contemplating voting for McCain over Barack then fuck you. You're dumber than the republicans and you deserve them.

Attack Ads 5 Minutes After VP Announced (and feigned outrage of said attacks)
Moments after Biden was announced as the VP, there were ads on the Internet bashing Obama using Biden's words. I'm sure the republicans had 3 different versions of this ad ready depending on who was actually selected as VP.

One thing I can't stand are these attack ads.They don't actually acomplish anything but try to create fear or doubt. Then of course the atackee gets in a big huff about it, complains about how the other guy is not talking about the issues and is muckraking. Then 20 minutes later they launch their barrage of misleading attack ads and the process continues until november. Wow, what a great way to campaign.

Are conservatives racist, greedy, or just naive?
Racist: So the republicans seem very into keeping those illegal immigrants out. Of course one of our borders seems to be much more 'protected' than the other. I don't see any freaking walls going up between here and Canada. They continue to talk about these immigrants taking our jobs, but these days you can barely get 16 year olds to work at McDonalds, let alone clean toilets, pick fruit in the scorching hot sun, or wash a thousand dishes a day. You know who has no problem doing that? Illegal immigrants. Don't give me crap about taking american jobs, I don't know a single person (remember I grew up in Denver and there were a lot of "those" people) who lost their job or couldn't get a job because some illegal got it. C'mon, really?

Greedy: This is the one I hear a lot when I'm talking to my family, a few of who vote republican. "the Democrats are just going to raise my taxes but the republicans will help me become rich". As if we somehow forgot that "trickle down" economics (aka Voodoo Economics) didn't work in the '80s so we should try it again in the 2000s. See, the problem with trickle down economics is that not enough money ever trickles down to help the people who so desperately want it. They give tax breaks and funds to bussiness owners in the hopes that the money will work it's way down to all the little people. You know what? It never trickles that far. When my brother, who had been unemployed for way too long says that Bush is going to help the economy I can't even bring myself to try and educate him because he is so ignorant of the actual workings of the world that it pains me (I do love my brother, I just hate that he thinks republicans want to help him.)

Naive: My favorite people are the Libertarians. You know the people who say that big governement is bad. They say that the democrats create big government (wrong)and spend way too much money (wrong.) They also like to say that the government shouldn't over-regulate our lives. of course when asked about things like abortion, stem cells, or gay marriage, their views seem to change. "Well, of course we need the government to regulate those things, I mean those things are important!" You can't have your cake and eat it to libby libby libby! Either you want smaller government or you want George Bush. Either you want to curb governmental spending or you want George Bush. Either you want the government out of your private lives or you want George Bush. Of course McCain isn't as bad as Bush, but neither is my cat and I don't want her being the president. (FYI - I don't really have a cat)

In conclusion I'd just like to say:

Stop being whiny little bitches and vote for Barack! Don't act like a fucking three-year old who doesn't get to play red light, green light. Instead, play the next best thing; Simon Says!

Will Obama be a Slave? A Slave to Bush's Terrible Fiscal Policies

Check this article out, it's very well written. There's some information provided by Ross Perot (remember him?)
The article basically tells how the next president will be forced to clean up the mess that Bush has put in place. Of course no one will mention the "T" word because taxes aren't the way to get elected, but unfortunately that's about the only way we'll get out of the crap we're in now.

FISA It's Everywhere You Want to Be

Well, the Democrats rolled over again yesterday and bowed to the wishes of president Bush. The Senate pased a 'compromise' FISA bill. The FISA bill basically set up how the administration can spy on it's own citizens. Another convenient benefit is that it gives immunity to the telecoms who have already allowed the White House to spy on Americans without a warrant.

The new bill basically allows for the ability to spy on Americans without a warrant for 6-12 months. It's all a part of playing the game. Start spying, then work on getting a warrant, if you can't then just appeal it, by continuing to play the game they can get more than 6 months withough ANY judicial oversight. I'm not sure what the compromise is, because I don't see anything that the White House gave up, or that the Democrats didn't. Now there are more protections for Americans living in other countries, but it's not them I'm worried about.

Almost more upsetting is the fact that Barack Obama changed his view and voted to pass the bill. Back in January, when he was trying to win the nomination he was totally against the bill, and now that he has it he's decided the time is right to kowtow to the republicans in order to try and turn some of them.

I spoke with a friend about this and his point was that the bill was going to pass anyway and that he just did it to try and appease the more conservative voters on the fence, like this would show that he's not soft on terrorism. I can understand that rational for a politician, try to get as many votes as you can, give the other side less to go after. But you know what Barack Obama is supposed to be a NEW kind of politician, is supposed to bring change to politics. All this is just more of the same and it bothers me that I fell for it.

I'm sure I'll vote for Obama, after all, what other choice is there? But I'm certainly not going to fall for anymore of his "change" rhetoric. I'll just hope for a slightly higher-caliber politician than we currently have. We'll see how that works out.

For more information on the FISA bill check out:
Ars Technica- They explain how this isn't just about immunity.
Salon- Joan Walsh feels betrayed by Obama too.
Here's a good video too: