Wednesday, December 30, 2009

2 1/2 years from now

when you're telling your friends and family 'but you have to vote for obama - sure he's bad, but the alternative?! They're awful'

I'm going to remind you of this. Personally - given a choice between a scary person who tells me 'hi, i'm scary, i'm going to cook squirrel in my popcorn popper and serve it to foreign dignitaries at the whitehouse' and one who will simply lie about being scary... i'd rather have the honest one.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Bwahahahahaha

ok... so the son of a nigerian banker (no really) gets on a plane in lagos, reconnects through amsterdam, and ends up with a condom full of extremely high explosives on a plane over detroit - where the only reason he fails to blow the thing all to hell is his improvised and poorly put together blasting cap.

This is an actual honest to god terrist - and apparently he's a moron.

So now - we have new rules covering the last hour of the flight. You aren't allowed to get out of your seat - so you cant go to the bathroom. You cant have anything in your lap (books, laptops). You cant have access to your carry-on luggage - nor open the overhead compartment.

So apparently - if you're a terrist - you cant blow up the plane in the first hour of the flight.

In the mean time - if that mother with the 6 month old needs to change a diaper right after takeoff on the shuttle from NY to DC... you're going to be treated to 45 minutes of screaming infant, topped off with the fine smell of babyfood diarrhea. For those of you who fly a lot - I really really hope you have alternatives.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Xmas

Another year, another xmas... Family for the holidays - with all the somewhat typical silliness... food i dont want to eat (but i'll be good and eat it)... gifts i dont want (but i'll be good and thank them for them)... but honestly? i cant complain about the people in my life at all. There are some truly special ones - and for those I'm really really very grateful.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

gah

here at the end of the year when we use our commonly secular holiday to celebrate the magical ravings of goatherds
i've decided i'm in the wrong business...
i should be selling magic wands
or barcode reading anti-terrorist software
or maybe i should just promise the govt several million dollars and not pay

Monday, December 21, 2009

You know

this all seems about right to me...
you tell me...

Friday, December 18, 2009

Typical

“And that’s where we agreed to list our national actions and commitments, to provide information on the implementation on these actions through national communications, with international consultations and analysis under clearly defined guidelines. We agreed to set a mitigation target to limit warming to no more than 2 degree Celsius, and importantly to take action to meet this objective consistent with science.”

Right.

Even after everyone saw the leaked UN report saying 'this is going to be 3c not 2c'. Pretty obvious someone wrote his speech beforehand - and he just called a meeting with some folks, agreed to announce a NON-BINDING agreement with 4 other countries, leaving everyone else out of the conversation, and took a big ole wizz all over everyone else. This is nothing less than a humiliating embarrassment for the president - and I hope the rest of the world understands that not only did he fail to commit to anything, but he will deliver absolutely NOTHING of what he suggested he might. NOTHING. He has neither the intention nor the power nor the leadership nor the courage to do so.

Of course - the leaked UN report is probably just junk science... afterall, Climate Interactive, using an MIT software model, is sporting a model spewing +3.9 degrees and a co2 concentration of 770 ppm by 2100.

Hey world - welcome to our nightmare. A president who doesn't care about real substantive progress - but loves to slap his name onto longwinded speeches about progress and making the world better - and call things 'healthcare reform' or 'agreements to combat global warming' when they're nothing of the sort.

He's a jackass, a worthless corporatist windbag that deserves scorn, ridicule, and no end to mocking. If the man came to my house to shake my hand i'd kick him in the balls and tell him where to find a goat and what he should do to it.

But for all that you have to put up with our asshattery as a nation - and for that I once again apologize - at least some of you have health care.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

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.

Monday, December 14, 2009

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.

Friday, December 11, 2009

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.

Friday, December 04, 2009

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?

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

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.