A Rebuttal

So Josh over at TPM posts a classic 'my intent is not to mock' editorial - where of course he mocks those who are upset by the situation in Washington.

What people keep forgetting with regards to those who choose the democatic or republican party - is a very fundamental difference in mindset. Those who trend conservative and republican place loyalty above everything - truth, justice, fairness... those who trend left of center are far more willing to abandon following those that do not live up to their vision of their ideals. Those left of center are harder on themselves, and harder on others when it comes to who they will willingly support. What this means is that a smaller number of very loyal jerks have significantly more power in the country than the 'big tent' full of fractious infighting lefties. The progressives learned this lesson - hard - over the years... and so they put up with a lot of things they dont agree with - simply to try to keep those jerks out of power - because otherwise we get W.

BUT - when there's finally a sense of 'ok - we have taken all 3 seats of power' - we're safe... and instead we get the Stupak amendment? FOIA protections for torture photos? An expanding war... a pro-landmine president... giant shovelfuls of cash to connected wall st bankers through the giant money-changer that is AIG... is there really a difference?

There is a point where a lefty's sense of loyalty - limited and tenuous as it is - becomes challenged... where they begin to question whether the perceived illusion of democracy is in fact an illusion - and corruption and corporate greed are simply going to run the country no matter who is in power. A point where we begin to believe we've been taken for a ride. We look up and wonder whether we should vote for Kang or Kodos... and Josh's response in this editorial, in classic simpson's form, is essentially 'what are you going to do? throw your vote away?'

If you're going to mock them - i think mocking them for being hopeful to begin with is more appropriate than threatening them with the 'it could be worse' line. If your husband punches you in the face every night - and escalates to using a baseball bat - you dont wait to leave until he goes into the garage for the chainsaw. Screw the democratic party... and screw you Josh for playing the cheerleader card.

Banks

Banks should loan moar...
banks are good upstanding pillars of the community - i'm sure they'll listen.

I swear... it's almost as if everything Obama says runs counter to what his administration is actually doing. How long do you suppose he can keep telling people war is peace and getting away with it.

So....

After reading this from a Dec 9th poll...

Who would you rather have as President right now: George W. Bush or Barack Obama? If George W. Bush, press 1. If Barack Obama, press 2. If you’re not sure, press 3.
Bush ............................................................... 44%
Obama............................................................ 50%
Not Sure.......................................................... 6%

Palin/Bachmann 2012 - get used to it...

Lots to agree with here..

Taibbi is off nailing Obama to the wall on being a sellout - and backing it up rather nicely.... and the ACLU is even getting in on the act.

The healthcare bill is about to become a mandate you purchase private insurance... and even if you believe you're going to be getting something positive out of it on the left, dont bet on it. Most of the changes dont kick in till 2013 - plenty of time for the republican congress in 2010 to make changes that take back most of the compromise elements in favor of even greater profits for the corporate machine that has bought the souls of so many dems.

I'm really almost ready to just give up and leave.

History

So you go into a country with a corrupt 'elected' leader who everyone knows is a prop. You say you're going to have troops there as a stop-gap, while you train the locals to fight their own war, the plan being to leave at the end and they'll just manage the whole thing without you... You have a bunch of people just across the border inside a country you cant really attack - and they're getting tons of funding and support from there but you're politically constrained from doing anything about it. The fighting isn't giant pitched battles - there are no Kursks in this war...

I was talking about vietnam btw... did you think i meant something else?

the best way back to the base...

there is no better way to turn a generation of hopeful young people into disillusioned cynics... i will celebrate the day this man is no longer my president.

Thanksgiving

You know - a lot might be wrong with the world - but i for one am thankful that a year after a fairly resounding 'hell no' by the electorate we've got so much of the change we were looking for. right?

Hey Lloyd - your party sucks. Drop the DEM label and maybe I'll vote for you.

What I Voted For

I'm not sure...
but i'm thinking this isnt it.
I wonder if they give out Nobel Peace Prizes for this.

Heh

I love when the grandstand at the funeral.

"I'm still not giving up. I want every Senator who's not in the pocket of the private insurers or Big Pharma to introduce and vote for a "Ted Kennedy Medicare for All" amendment to whatever bill Reid takes to the floor. And if this fails, a "Ted Kennedy Real Public Option for All" amendment. Let every Senate Democratic who doesn't have the guts to vote for either of them be known and counted."

Really. Health care reform is dead. It was dead the moment the insurance companies opened up their wallets. Why? Because the democrats we voted for have decided it's their turn at the corporate trough. The house bill was a worst case... the senate bill was an even more anemic version of the house bill... I hope this thing fails - and the happy rebel-flag-waving nutjobs can dance in their compounds. In the mean time we can all be distracted by this smokebomb healthcare legislation so the real underlying problems we are facing as a nation are willfully ignored.

Happy monday.

Only in Europe

This sort of thing would never happen in America.

For those of you that think college and professional sports aren't influenced by leagues pressuring refs or money pressuring players - i have some WWE matches for you to get wound up about.

I have some experience with some people close to this situation... I'm telling you the corruption is far far far far far beyond what you think it could possibly be.

Links

There are times on the internet that someone tells you 'dont click on this link'. Usually they mean it - and people do something dumb, like clicking on the link anyway. It's like saying 'standing in fire is bad' - so they go stand in the fire. There's really no way around it - people are inherently distrustful and curious. 'Sure - he say's standing in fire is bad - but how bad can it be really...'

I read about a youtube video of a man in Lithuania who threw a puppy off a bridge.

Do NOT click that link.

I'm not kidding.

Everyone involved in that situation should be beaten to death with a lead pipe... resuscitated at the hospital... then beaten to death a second time.

Sad when "the internet hate machine" is so much more effective at dealing with these than our traditional religions... maybe more /b/ is a better solution than colby.

Obama in China

Obama goes to China - and delivers a townhall. I find it terribly funny that he's out there preaching about how free and wonderful the internet is, when he's busy negotiating secret WIPO treaties that are the antithesis of his spew. Then again - i suppose that's how government works... if you're an evil blood-crazed warmonger you join a thinktank with Peace in the name. It's one thing to have the freedom to tell the president he's a jackass... it's another for him to care and do something about being a jackass. If he's going to be a jackass anyway - if all the bitching people do amounts to something that he just sits back and laughs about - then how much more valuable is that freedom than knowing Demi Moore is on the toilet.

Happy monday.

Airport Security Upgrade

These british made bomb detectors work so well they should replace metal detectors and xrays in all american airports.... but no... obviously the pro-xray lobby and anti-british lobby must have it out for these guys.

"Proponents of the wand often argue that errors stem from the human operator, who they say must be rested, with a steady pulse and body temperature, before using the device.

Then the operator must walk in place a few moments to “charge” the device, since it has no battery or other power source, and walk with the wand at right angles to the body. If there are explosives or drugs to the operator’s left, the wand is supposed to swivel to the operator’s left and point at them.

If, as often happens, no explosives or weapons are found, the police may blame a false positive on other things found in the car, like perfume, air fresheners or gold fillings in the driver’s teeth."

See - we just have to make sure passengers arent wearing perfume... or have gold fillings.

(if you want to know how the executives at this company sleep at night, my guess is 'very very well')

One Year Later

It's been a year... a year since the election of our first black president... a progressive, dedicated to change - changing the way government worked - making america great again.

What do we have.
Gitmo is still doing business as usual.
AT&T is shielded from lawsuits.
All those pictures taken by the military during the Bush administration are shielded from FOIA requests by law.
The new healthcare bill has provisions in it restricting access to abortion and paying government money for prayer treatments.
The administration has cut deals with big pharma promising not to use the leverage of the govt to cut costs on prescription medication.
They didnt even push for a public option in the health care legislation - and the one that's there is a shell - and even then the thing seems unlikely to pass.
Billions and billions have been thrown to the rich - funneled through failed corporate behemoths in such a way that the american taxpayer gets absolutely nothing in return - all the while NONE of the fundamental causes of the economic collapse have even begun to be addressed.
We're still in Iraq.
We've added more troops to Afghanistan - and we're supporting a president there who rigged his election so badly that it makes the shenanigans from Florida 2000 look like pop warner. (or as the esteemed Mr Cole put it recently - "Hamid Karzai has been declared the winner of the Afghanistan presidential contest by the misnamed Independent Electoral Commission, the local Afghan commission appointed by . . . Hamid Karzai.")
And now the president is negotiating a treaty - in secret - where the details of said treaty are only leaking out - whereby children who copy music from their dvds to their ipods may face criminal prosecution and prison time.

The president is a jackass. If we're going to have an asshole as president it might as well be a republican.

Those of you who defend him because 'he's one of us' - screw you.

oh yeah

a reminder

our president is an assclown

i hope to god the republicans take a shit all over this son of a bitch and gridlock the government all to hell...