Contributors

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Sarah Smile

I am still trying to get my head around McCain's pick for VP. What was he thinking? I suppose she might get more of the base to turn out because she is a staunch conservative but those same people have been squirting about Obama's supposed inexperience.

Imagine if McCain, aged 72 and cancer survivor, dies. My initial reaction is....great, now we have Michelle Bachmann running the country.

A former beauty queen? Really?

For an absolutely hilarious take on what went on behind the scenes in the McCain camp when they were trying to pick a VP, click on the electoral map on the left. Andy really outdid himself with this one.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Half Time Is Over, Folks

We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.

-Democratic Nominee For President, Barack Obama, 8-28-08, Denver, Co

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Are We Ready?

Originally, I had planned on discussing Obamanomics this week. I thought it would be beneficial to really get into the meat of his ideas for the economic direction of our country which I think is the most important issue facing us at present. This all changed, however, when it was discovered that three men were planning to kill Senator Obama when he gives his acceptance speech tonight and Invesco Field.

My mind just hasn't been on the economy...it's been on whether or not we, as a nation, are ready to move forward. I look at our country and see a very large group of people who are, essentially, children. They don't want to go forward...they want to stay backward. Inexplicably, they think that nothing is wrong with our country. Some of this group doesn't like Senator Obama because he is black. Some don't like him because of his name or they still believe the falsehood that he is a Muslim. Many in the group don't like him because they think both of these things but can't face the disgusting bigotry inside of themselves so it comes out in different ways....like mentioning the fact that Obama's middle name is Hussein and then feigning innocence when called on it. "What? That IS his name," they say.

I have to admit I'm pretty nervous about tonight. I don't know if I will even watch. Up until now, the masters of this large group of people I am talking about have been content in character assassination of Senator Obama. I wonder if they are content any longer. Because the hard truth is that Barack Obama is a major threat to their way of life...a way of life that depends on the ignorance and fear of their lapdogs. Some or most of that ignorance and fear would be gone in an era of Obama which means....they would be gone as well.

In many ways, I am disgusted by what our country has become in the last eight years. Many people who post here rip me for blaming Bush for everything. In the final analysis, they might be right. I look at what is being said about Senator Obama and the clear hatred of him...hatred that is clearly violent...and have realized that a very large voting bloc of this country are complete pieces of shit.

They have no fucking business deciding the direction of this country and will continue to hold us back as from becoming what we should be as long as well allow them to do so.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Only A Matter of Time

Remember all that talk like....oh....since forever on this blog about how most conservatives aren't shit kicking rednecks?

And about how yours truly is filled with bias and hate?

Oh, and how liberals are the ones that are fascist?

Take a look at these three fucks.
From left to right they are: Nathan Johnson (aka Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel), Shawn Adolph (!), and Tharin Gartrell. These three men, along with Johnson's girlfriend, were arrested today in a plot to assassinate Barack Obama on Thursday night in Denver when he gives his acceptance speech. They were found with scopes, high powered rifles, bullet proof vests, and Nazi literature. Adolph (no surprise here) jumped out of his hotel window to try to elude police. Apparently, there was some meth involved as well.

Take a look at these three faces. My first thought went to some of the anger and violent bile I read on various right wing blogs. Here are three of their regular commenters, I'm sure....unless each of them has their own blog discussing how Obama is going to destroy this country with socialism. Or was it fascism? I can never remember what idiocy is the moronic theory du jour.

Now, I know that some of you will say that these guys are just nuts and the left has their nuts too. Well, a conservative friend of mine at the gym..one who I used to have a lot of respect for....a respected doctor in Edina....came up to me today and asked me if I had heard about this plot. When I answered in the affirmative, he looked at me and said, very seriously,

"It's too bad they got caught. They could have saved our country."

Monday, August 25, 2008

That Moment

If John McCain goes on to lose the election this year, it will be because of the economy. The moment everyone will remember will be the one where he didn't know how many properties he owned.

A new site, complete with Google Earth map, shows the properties and very neatly details why this is not a "petty" issue as some on the right would have you believe. A quote from the site.

Before a president can effectively govern this diverse nation, they must first be able to understand the needs and struggles of its citizens. McCain’s astonishing wealth makes it impossible for him to relate to the millions of Americans who have been hurt by the economy.

I don't think McCain really understands what is going on with the economy. By his own admission, it isn't all that important to him. That's a real problem because we need to have a leader who does understand and will make some very tough choices. Starting tomorrow, I am going to be breaking down an article from yesterday's New York Times magazine on "Obamanomics." Click here if you want a preview.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Biden

I'm not quite sure how I feel about the Biden pick. On the one hand, I like his experience on the foreign stage, his attitude (see: fuck you), and his overall belief that government can work. His ego, though, gives me pause and I wonder how much of that is going to interfere with his judgment. I think the Obama campaign has weighed the five gaffes Biden will make between now and election day and determined that more votes will be acquired by his experience.

In addition, from a purely political standpoint, what states is he going to help Obama win? Kaine would've been the better choice from that standpoint because he would've locked up Virginia. And is Biden really an "outsider" to Washington? How does that fit in with Obama's change motif?

I guess it was experience that won the day. Overall, Biden's not a bad pick....he's just not incredibly stellar, which is something I have grown to expect from my guy.

Friday, August 22, 2008

A Bad Week for John McCain

This clip was posted on YouTube...a few days before McCain couldn't answer a reporter's question regarding how many houses he and his wife Cindy owned. It essentially makes fools out of those people who think that Barack Obama is elitist.

How out of touch is John McCain? The number one issue on people's minds is the economy and he continues to go after Obama on foreign policy experience. Couple this with the accord that is about to be signed between Iraq and the United States regarding a troop withdrawal date and....why should anyone vote for McCain again?

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Gee, I'm Shocked.

The Brookings Institution released a report last week that stated that most of the economic gains that poor people made in the 1990s have been reversed over the course of the last eight years. Anyone like to take a guess why?

It's pretty obvious to me that Krugman was right when he wrote his piece on the Great Wealth Transfer. The 1990s saw more people with more of the nation's wealth. The economy was in great shape and there was a definitive shift in the direction our country was heading. People in this country were being re-trained for new jobs and there was a palatable feeling that we were heading one direction: FORWARD.

Then President Bush came into office and the more people having more money thing went out the fucking window. The people that put Bush in power want LESS people having MORE of the money. In their minds, the 1990s were a stain on America. Think of the horror. Some scumbag in a smelly T Shirt having stocks and having a say in how this country is run? It quite literally sends shivers up and down the spine.

So, over the course of the last eight years, we have seen more money go to the wealthiest people in this country and the gains that many poor communities made in the 90s are forever gone. And, according to the report, have no hope of coming back. Here is a key quote.

Such increases in concentrations of poor people in specific neighborhoods create a kind of self-perpetuating economic segregation.That's because low-income neighborhoods generally have lower-performing schools, less access to good jobs, poorer health outcomes, higher crime rates, and less economic investment.

The last three words are key: less economic investment. The people that own most of the wealth in this country...the ones that really run the show....the top 1 percent....the ones that have been President Bush's biggest supporters.....knew that in order to maintain their stranglehold on the direction of this country all they had to do was get the almost as rich to stop investing in these neighborhoods. And that's exactly what has happened.

What I find to be completely hilarious about all of this is that when you here certain people talk about poverty, their child like solution usually is something along these lines:

Buck up and pull yourself up by your boot straps!

To quote Hawkeye Pierce, I think these cretins should pull themselves up by their own jock strap.

If we really want to get these poor communities back in shape again, what we really need to do is: a) Elect a president that is not a pimp for power whores and b) Expand on an old proverb. Remember the one that goes "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day...teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." I say teach a village to fish and you create an economy. Throwing more money at these communities will help somewhat but what is really needed is an investment of time from successful business leaders around the country to educate folks in these poorer communities. People in this country need to learn how to run a community from an economic standpoint. It has to be the combination of money and time, not just money. From this investment of time comes a framework or a structure that can help solidify the economies of these communities for decades.

Now which presidential candidate has more experience building up communities?

Hmm..let me think about that one for a....millisecond.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Can John McCain Read?

The Q and A last Saturday night at Rick Warren's church brought a moment which I think very much defines John McCain. When asked about evil in the world, he pounded his fist on the table, said that Al Qaeda has made their decision to make Iraq the center of the war on terror and that, as president, he would stay there until the troops came home in victory.

This would be a fine example of why he should not be president. All of our national intelligence estimates point to Pakistan and Afghanistan as the epicenter of Al Qaeda and those who would use terror as a weapon. A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor details this quite clearly. So why doesn't John McCain get it?

In fact, this is the area of the world that has always been the problem and our current president has largely ignored what has to be done over there, both militarily and diplomatically. I guess McCain just can't operate outside of a certain parameter, in this case the Iraq one, which is about a one centimeter box. I'm not sure he is capable of forward thinking when it comes to Al Qaeda and Barack Obama needs to take advantage of this.

Take a look at the first sentence in Obama's plan to fight the war we need to win.

The first step must be getting off the wrong battlefield in Iraq and taking the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

No shit. This plan is the main reason why I am voting for him. McCain's only advantage over Obama is on defense and he is being terribly backwards in his philosophy. His position just doesn't make sense. If someone can explain it to me, I'm all ears.

Monday, August 18, 2008

The Biggest Supporters

Next time you have a conversation with your average conservative, ask them how they feel about affirmative action. Between their not-so-genuine insistence that they are not racist and their spittle from screaming at the top of their lungs about how unfair everything is right now with employment standards (i.e. I'm white and I'm all a feared of these different colored folks), try to insist that they tell you EXACTLY what they find to be faulty with current laws regarding equality in the workplace.

The most common answer they will give you is that businesses should be able to hire the most qualified person regardless of sex, race, color or creed. It's too bad that they don't stand by their words. I offer the picture below as an example.

Shouldn't a man who is supposed to be patriotic know the proper way to hold our flag?

Most conservatives don't actually want someone who is qualified for the job of presidency. This explains why many of them despise John McCain, a man who I generally disagree with on most issues, think his only direction for the path of this country is backwards and is more or less full of crap. He is, however, qualified for the job. And we can't have that, can we?

In looking at President Bush, take just a moment and think....what is the one thing that a president must do on a daily basis? The one thing he should be impressive at?

Take a moment....

Take a moment....

It's public speaking and putting an impressive image out to the world. He is a miserable failure at both. The photo above clearly demonstrates how poor he is at the latter and one need only do a simple YouTube search to see how poor he is at public speaking. I recall a conversation I had a few years ago during the 2004 election in which a person I was playing tennis with told me he was voting for President Bush because, y'know, he was in the military and that's what military people do. He went on to say, "But keep him away from a microphone. That man is a horrible public speaker!" Setting aside the fact that the Republican Party has been the worst thing to happen to the US military, umm......isn't public speaking one of the top qualifications for the FUCKING JOB OF PRESIDENT!!!!!

Sheesh...

If he were at a job interview, a conservative would look at his resume and laugh. Hmm...let's see...ran oil company into the ground...ran Texas Rangers into the ground....ran Texas into the ground....and you want to be our CEO....how exactly are you going to do that? Buh Bye.

Here's the deal, folks. Conservatives like to talk a good game about affirmative action but at the end of they day, THEY vote on their feelings and beliefs, not who is better for the job. They want someone who thinks like them, looks like them, and someone they can have over for a barbecue. Conservatives are the biggest supporters of affirmative action. And, if that person does not share their EXACT beliefs and is clearly more intelligent than them? Well, then they are elitist. They are arrogant.

They are......Barack Obama.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Wake Up, Shit Asses

Last Thursday, I went to the club where I work out. I forgot to bring a bottle of water so I went into the cafe they have there now which basically looks like a Starbuck's. As I waited in line, behind someone who was getting a half caf double decaf half caf with a lemon twist (aka a painfully long process to go through just to get a fucking cup of coffee), I looked around the counter. Everything...and I mean EVERYTHING...was geared around one simple word.

Energy.

Drinks, food, pockets of powder, and a wide variety of other consumables were all guaranteeing a an increase in energy to help you in your life....which, according to many of the products, all of us are lacking. I realize that designer coffee has been a trend for awhile but the "boost" business has really gotten out of hand. Are people in this country in that dire need of a jolt?

I haven't even had a drink of caffeine since 1998. I am a pretty hyper and anxious person so I really need the opposite which is usually cured by red wine. So, I guess what I am trying to figure out is this: is the population of this country so asleep that they HAVE to have this crap in order to wake up? Why? What the fuck is the matter with everyone?

Saturday, August 16, 2008

All Apologies

YouTube went maniacal and all of those times that I tried to post the video of Bob Costas interviewing President Bush ended up being posted here. So, if you came to my blog and saw a bunch of the same thing (i.e. a real mess), I am sorry. It was not my fault. Apparently YouTube is having trouble communicating with Blogger.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Why Would A Republican Vote For Obama

I got this great article from Our Girl Friday recently and I thought I would share it with you all. The best line?

We, the Republican Party, are not worthy and do not deserve another four years. Under President Bush we've betrayed every principle we've stood for as a national party -- fiscal responsibility and discipline, limited government and a foreign policy guided by realism and coalition building.

Competence and integrity have no ideology. Obama in '08.


Yep. Pretty much sums it up.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Surprising Me Yet Again

Just when I think that President Bush couldn't be any LESS in touch with reality, he stuns me yet again. During an interview with Bob Costas, at the Olympics, he commented on Russia's invasion of Georgia.

Here we are trying to promote peace and harmony and we are witnessing this conflict take place.

Umm.....was he absent the day they taught irony in his Yale literature class?

For some reason, YouTube can't share with Blogger again so click on the link below to watch the full video. The quote is about 3 minutes in. The stuff before that is also really...just....hard to watch.

Bush Interview with Costas.

Monday, August 11, 2008

A Big, Fat Middle Finger

I have been watching and thoroughly enjoying Generation Kill on HBO. It is a seven part mini series that follows a Marine unit as it enters Iraq at the beginning of the war in 2003. The show is based on the book of the same name by Rolling Stone reporter Evan Wright, who was embedded with a Marine unit for two months.

There are so many things I enjoy about this series. The dialogue is mega raunch which always appeals to me. Some of it is word for word what the marines said and I have to say that even I...crap mouth of the universe...felt unclean after watching the first ep. The acting is great, mostly because of the talents of Alexander Skarsgard and James Ransone who play Sergeant Brad 'Iceman' Colbert and Corporal Josh Ray Person. Even the minor characters are played by wonderful actors, all of which are new and fresh. It feels real and has an edge to it that is very Saving Private Ryan like.

My favorite scene is a big, fat fuck you to both the left and the right which, as you all know, is something I enjoy immensely. The scene occurs in Episode 2, when a group of Iraqis surrender to the Marines. Since the company is moving north, they have no place to keep them and cannot manage prisoners so they turn them loose or "unsurrender" them, as it was said in the episode.

They do this knowing full well that all of these Iraqi men will probably be shot by their own army for being deserters. The reporter sees and hears all of this transpire. He is about to start writing when he stops and sort of looks for permission from First Lieutenant Nathaniel Fick, played by Stark Sands. Fick says, "Write this as you see it" which, of course, he did.

See, folks, this is how it really is. The left likes to gripe that the army hides stuff and that the troops are psychotic baby killers. Not true. Well, the army does hide stuff but it is mostly at a much higher level. We get to hear a lot of real stories. And the right? Well, when they see stuff like this, they usually blow a bowel and call the media a bunch of commie faggots who hate the troops and love to paint the army in a bad light. Again, it's what actually happened and I know many troops who tell reporters the same thing that Fick did.

It's always a good day when the left and the right are frothing at the mouth about the same stupid shit. Check out the show. It's a corker!

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Guv Says Buh-Bye to VP Slot

Well, I guess Governor Pawlenty decided he didn't want to be McCain's VP after all. Senator Obama was in Minnesota yesterday and, when asked to comment on him, the Guv said the following

Say what you will about Barack Obama, people gravitate when you have something positive to say. People want to follow hopeful, optimistic, civil, decent leaders. They don't want to follow some negative, scornful person.

Hmm...sound like he is describing the latest round of McCain ads when he says "negative and scornful person."

I don't agree with our Governor often but he is dead on right here!

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Tell Me A Story

How many times has this happened to you?

You are at a party or some sort of social situation and you meet someone you don't know. The first words out of your mouth or theirs are, "So, what do you do?" And then the conversation proceeds down the tedious path of each job that you do on a daily basis, how much of a "bear" it is, and how you can't wait to get a vacation.

Setting aside the fact that most of this nation is on permanent vacation (more on that later), Americans seem to love to define themselves by what they do. I have had many discussions regarding this topic with our very own Crabmaster Scratch, currently known as Last In Line. It may surprise all of you to know that both of us are in complete agreement: defining yourself by your means of employment is fucking lame.

A job is not who you are, particularly with so many Americans hating their jobs (more on that later as well). When I think of Crab, I don't think of his work for a medical parts company. I think of softball, salsa dancing, martinis, girls, guns, and his secret life with MI-6.

Well, OK..the last four are someone else but I think you get my point. I am sick and tired of people in this country playing the 'what do you do' game when the meet someone. It is shallow, trivial, and half the time the person they are talking to isn't even listening anyway.

Far be it from, though, to bitch and not offer a solution. I just started doing this recently and the response I have gotten has been overwhelmingly positive. When you first meet someone and that moment comes when you feel the urge to say, "What do you do?" instead say this:

Tell me a story.

At first they might look a little baffled (or uptight if they live in Minnesota), but if you explain to them why you are asking this, that you are much more interested in that part of life that makes them human, interesting, and exciting, they usually open up. Heck, it can even be a story about their job! People love to hear and tell stories and what better way to break the ice than with a tale?

Give this a try and make sure that when you do, you tell them to pass it on and really get it out there. If I have to sit through another shit eatingly boring story about someone's dumb ass job, which they don't really want to talk about anyway, I will go insane.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Hallelujah!

I really need to get more organized with my links and blog information. It's just terrible. Whenever I am having a discussion with someone in comments, it's a real struggle to find pertinent information to back up my points.

The need for organization was played out quite eloquently in a recent discussion I have been having with one reader regarding whether or not the rich are taxed more. I could not come up with the information quickly and was quite unimpressive in the debate.

After searching for days, I finally found the links that show some hard numbers on what is really going on in this country. The main link I was looking for, by Thurman Hart on NJ.com, a New Jersey web site, neatly explains how "Paris Hilton and her pals have gotten windfall tax breaks while Joe Sixpack has had to take up the slack." Bear in mind, his information is coming from the Census Bureau, the IRS, and the Tax Center. Please go and double check his numbers. I did and it is nauseating.

He explains things in a very brief and clear fashion. An example?

The marginal tax rate - the highest tax bracket - in 1968 was 75.25% for incomes over $200,000. Adjusted for inflation, that would be a $1,128,351 - and they would pay 35% taxes on income over $326,450. For someone making over a million dollars a year currently, that's a 40% tax savings! According to the IRS Statistics of Income, that means about 270,000 people benefited from this tax break in 2004 (2005 and later statistics not currently available). So how much money is that? If the whole sum were subjected to only a 20% tax, the United States government would have brought in an additional $98 BILLION. By way of comparison, this is $17 billion more than was spent in Iraq in 2005.

This is a natural function of the multiplier effect of wealth. Less than one percent of Americans earn more than a million dollars, but they account for 11.2% of all income. This doesn't mean we should "soak the rich", but it does mean that over my lifetime the extremely wealthy have benefited from massive tax cuts.


And that has been my point all along. If you need more tables and charts to understand this, check out this site which is chock full o' data. Check out the CEO compensation charts at the bottom of the page.

I also found this article from the Times which further enforces my point regarding the stratification of our society. This was in regards to the Congressional Budget Office report regarding middle class income earners-the same report the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson was coming when he took office. It shows a very bleak future for our country and, if we don't pay attention, we are going to be in real trouble.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Back In Action

Sorry for the lack of posts in the past few days. Blogger mistakenly identified thousands of blogs as spam blogs. These are blogs that contain multiple links to one site that is trying to hawk something or engage in pyramid scam. Mine was one of them.

I should have a new post up sometime tomorrow. Not quite sure what the topic will be...there is so much to choose from :)