Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Another Cult Member Exits Stage Left!
Clint Murphy has left The Cult, ladies and gentlemen. And it took a bout with testicular cancer to spur him into reflection. Of course, this comes after Newt Gingrich, who last week said that Republicans had "zero" ideas for a replacement to the Affordable Care Act.
“I will bet you, for most of you, you go home in the next two weeks when your members of Congress are home, and you look them in the eye and you say, ‘What is your positive replacement for Obamacare?’ They will have zero answer,” Gingrich told the Boston crowd, said a report from CNN. Gingrich said the party has a “very deep problem” with a culture that promotes negativity. “We are caught up right now in a culture, and you see it every single day, where as long as we are negative and as long as we are vicious and as long as we can tear down our opponent, we don’t have to learn anything. And so we don’t,” Gingrich said, according to video of the event from MSNBC.
Gee, Newt, I've been saying that for...oh...I don't know how many years now...
Mr. Murphy had much more to say. His Facebook post on Obamacare last week, addressed to his Republican friends, was something of a surprise:
“When you say you’re against it, you’re saying that you don’t want people like me to have health insurance.” Murphy would like to call himself a Republican, but has been too dismayed by his party’s cavalier attitude toward the health care debate. “We have people treating government like a Broadway play, like it’s some sort of entertainment,” he said. So call Murphy an independent.
Obamacare isn’t perfect, the former political spear-carrier said. “But to even improve it, to make something work, you’ve got to participate in the process. [Republicans] are not even participating in the process.”
They do a fine job of entertaining all too willing masses and a downright crappy job of participating in the process. Kind of like...oh, I don't know...a lazy adolescent who has problems with this parents?
“I will bet you, for most of you, you go home in the next two weeks when your members of Congress are home, and you look them in the eye and you say, ‘What is your positive replacement for Obamacare?’ They will have zero answer,” Gingrich told the Boston crowd, said a report from CNN. Gingrich said the party has a “very deep problem” with a culture that promotes negativity. “We are caught up right now in a culture, and you see it every single day, where as long as we are negative and as long as we are vicious and as long as we can tear down our opponent, we don’t have to learn anything. And so we don’t,” Gingrich said, according to video of the event from MSNBC.
Gee, Newt, I've been saying that for...oh...I don't know how many years now...
Mr. Murphy had much more to say. His Facebook post on Obamacare last week, addressed to his Republican friends, was something of a surprise:
“When you say you’re against it, you’re saying that you don’t want people like me to have health insurance.” Murphy would like to call himself a Republican, but has been too dismayed by his party’s cavalier attitude toward the health care debate. “We have people treating government like a Broadway play, like it’s some sort of entertainment,” he said. So call Murphy an independent.
Obamacare isn’t perfect, the former political spear-carrier said. “But to even improve it, to make something work, you’ve got to participate in the process. [Republicans] are not even participating in the process.”
They do a fine job of entertaining all too willing masses and a downright crappy job of participating in the process. Kind of like...oh, I don't know...a lazy adolescent who has problems with this parents?
Monday, August 19, 2013
Breaking News: Rafael ("Ted") Cruz Releases Birth Certificate
Remember all the hoo hah about President Obama's birth certificate, and that he couldn't be president because some nuts on the right insisted he was born in Kenya, even though every single iota of physical evidence, from birth certificates issued by the state of Hawaii to birth notices in the newspaper indicated that Obama was an American born in America?
Now Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and Tea Party darling, has been forced to release his birth certificate. And the document not only proves that he was born in a foreign country, but also that his father was from Cuba (and, incidentally, he fought alongside Fidel Castro in the revolution)! Incredibly, Cruz also continues to hold dual citizenship in Canada and the United States. Where do his real loyalties lie? Is he secretly beholden to the queen of England?
Cruz's mother happens to be American, but that meant nothing to the millions of birthers out there who insisted that Obama couldn't be an American even if his mother was. As it turns out, Cruz is even less American than the president.
The other piece of important information that we learned from this birth certificate is that Cruz's real name is Rafael. So, all you birthers out there, listen up: you have derisively called Obama "Barry" for years. It is now your duty to harangue Cruz with your every breath, calling him "Rafi" and "Rafaelito" at every opportunity.
On a serious note, this does not disqualify Cruz from being president. But it's patently ridiculous that nitwits like Orly Taitz have kept the birth certificate brouhaha alive for years. The craziest thing about her is that she was -- I kid you not -- born in the Soviet Republic of Moldavia!
Which gives her absolutely zero standing for questioning just how "real" an American the president or Cruz or any other US citizen is.
Now Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and Tea Party darling, has been forced to release his birth certificate. And the document not only proves that he was born in a foreign country, but also that his father was from Cuba (and, incidentally, he fought alongside Fidel Castro in the revolution)! Incredibly, Cruz also continues to hold dual citizenship in Canada and the United States. Where do his real loyalties lie? Is he secretly beholden to the queen of England?
The other piece of important information that we learned from this birth certificate is that Cruz's real name is Rafael. So, all you birthers out there, listen up: you have derisively called Obama "Barry" for years. It is now your duty to harangue Cruz with your every breath, calling him "Rafi" and "Rafaelito" at every opportunity.
On a serious note, this does not disqualify Cruz from being president. But it's patently ridiculous that nitwits like Orly Taitz have kept the birth certificate brouhaha alive for years. The craziest thing about her is that she was -- I kid you not -- born in the Soviet Republic of Moldavia!
Which gives her absolutely zero standing for questioning just how "real" an American the president or Cruz or any other US citizen is.
Compromise: the Dirty Word
Mark's post about conservative attitudes contained the following:
"Compromise is the filthiest word in their language..."
I had been contemplating that idea recently. The word "compromise" has two main definitions:
I would further hypothesize that this reflects your underlying worldview. Liberals and moderates believe that through compromise that everyone can win. Conservatives seem to think that life is a zero-sum game and that they can win only if their enemies lose: there's no such thing as a reasonable accommodation, and anything less than total victory is betrayal of everything that is good and holy.
This way of thinking is flawed. Compromise is an essential part of life.
Without compromise it would be impossible for any business to be conducted: companies would be eternally at war with their employees, customers and suppliers. Marriage would be a living hell: husbands and wives would be constantly bickering about sex, money, TV, what's for dinner, etc. No children would ever reach adulthood: parents would strangle them out of frustration because they refuse to obey their every command. Disagreements among neighbors would quickly degenerate into armed mayhem and murder. Organized religion could not exist: no parishioner accepts verbatim everything that their priest or minister says. (Some would say this describes life in red states to a T.)
So why should the basic business of running our nation be conducted any different than running a company or enjoying a harmonious family life?
The underlying premise of this country is that we're all in this together. If we all work together we can make this a better place. But it seems that conservatives reject that very concept and want to divide the country up into factions that are constantly at odds.
The problem, as we've seen with conservatives constantly bickering among themselves over who's more conservative than who, is that no one will ever be ideologically pure enough. Conservative groups demanding purity will splinter into tinier and tinier factions, and will fight amongst themselves as much as they fight Democrats. Tea Party "primarying" of the more reasonable get-'er-done Republicans is direct evidence of this disintegration.
The more conservatives bicker, delay, sabotage and run out the clock until the 2014 election, the less likely swing voters are to cast ballots for the obstructionists and nut jobs. And given how narrowly the Republicans have gerrymandered themselves into control of the House of Representatives, that could spell oblivion for the Republican Party.
"Compromise is the filthiest word in their language..."
I had been contemplating that idea recently. The word "compromise" has two main definitions:
1) settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessionsand
2) a concession to something derogatory or prejudicial (a compromise of principles)I would hypothesize that moderates and liberals believe that the primary meaning is 1) and conservatives believe that the only meaning is 2).
I would further hypothesize that this reflects your underlying worldview. Liberals and moderates believe that through compromise that everyone can win. Conservatives seem to think that life is a zero-sum game and that they can win only if their enemies lose: there's no such thing as a reasonable accommodation, and anything less than total victory is betrayal of everything that is good and holy.
This way of thinking is flawed. Compromise is an essential part of life.
Without compromise it would be impossible for any business to be conducted: companies would be eternally at war with their employees, customers and suppliers. Marriage would be a living hell: husbands and wives would be constantly bickering about sex, money, TV, what's for dinner, etc. No children would ever reach adulthood: parents would strangle them out of frustration because they refuse to obey their every command. Disagreements among neighbors would quickly degenerate into armed mayhem and murder. Organized religion could not exist: no parishioner accepts verbatim everything that their priest or minister says. (Some would say this describes life in red states to a T.)
So why should the basic business of running our nation be conducted any different than running a company or enjoying a harmonious family life?
The underlying premise of this country is that we're all in this together. If we all work together we can make this a better place. But it seems that conservatives reject that very concept and want to divide the country up into factions that are constantly at odds.
The problem, as we've seen with conservatives constantly bickering among themselves over who's more conservative than who, is that no one will ever be ideologically pure enough. Conservative groups demanding purity will splinter into tinier and tinier factions, and will fight amongst themselves as much as they fight Democrats. Tea Party "primarying" of the more reasonable get-'er-done Republicans is direct evidence of this disintegration.
The more conservatives bicker, delay, sabotage and run out the clock until the 2014 election, the less likely swing voters are to cast ballots for the obstructionists and nut jobs. And given how narrowly the Republicans have gerrymandered themselves into control of the House of Representatives, that could spell oblivion for the Republican Party.
Hometown Epiphanies
I just got back from a visit to the town where I grew up in Wisconsin. My mom still lives there and has since we moved there from Missouri in 1973. Forty years...wow...where did the time go?
I spent most of the weekend with my hometown buddies and, as is usually the case, had a political discussion with my childhood chum named Paul. I love Paul like a brother and have known him since we were both kids but he is, without a doubt, the poster child for the Tea Party. He is loud, quick tempered, weighs 300 pounds, has a pathological distrust and hatred of the federal government, and lives with his mother.
I mention the last bit because someone somewhere needs to commission a study on conservatives regarding the following hypothesis: the political emotion of your modern day conservative is fueled by unresolved issues from adolescence stemming from a fundamental breakdown in their relationship with one or both parents. This, in turn, leads to massively irrational behavior that quite frankly helps to exacerbate the problems we have in this country largely by the blunt force of inaction but also by them being...well...assholes.
I've been talking about this for awhile but as I sat and listened to Paul's mouth foaming about the federal government "worming its way into every aspect of our lives" and our country falling apart (any day now), several ideas coalesced for me. I started to think about all the people I know who are conservative and, as I have stated previously, all behave, in many ways, like they are 12-14 years old. This is especially true when they talk about politics. It's one long adolescent temper tantrum and stomp down the hallway because "they don't wanna!" Since I now have a teenager in the house, it's all very familiar.
But I knew all this before so quickly moving on from that, I realized how many of the conservatives I know (as well as many that I don't know personally) clearly have very serious mommy and daddy issues. I started to count how many still lived at home with the parents and went over the list with my wife in the car on the way back to Minnesota. She laughed as the number got higher and higher. It didn't matter what age they were...far too many did.
Science tells me, however, that this is merely anecdotal, hence the reason why a study needs to be undertaken. Unlike my colleagues on the right, I'm not going to fall prey to the logical fallacies of hasty generalizations or misleading vividness. At this point, it is merely an observation. Consider how the ensuing study and results would be fascinating. They could ask for volunteers from the comments section of The Smallest Minority (I wonder how many of them live at home with their parents) or my own comments section:)
So, the mommy and daddy stuff lead me to the idea that your modern day conservative is very insecure about themselves and their lives. They are probably pissed off about their perceived lack of control in their lives (I say perceived because no one is forcing them to live at home with their parents) and the federal government is the perfect whipping boy with which they can spew all their unresolved life issues upon. Suddenly, everything is the government's fault, not their own. Ironically, they scream about victim culture when they themselves behave in the same way. Further, they have not come to terms with the fact that they are not in control of everything that happens to them and, like your average adolescent, don't take too kindly to being told that there are rules that we have to follow in society if it's going to be a decent place to live.
People like Paul also bring new meaning to the word stubborn. Compromise is the filthiest word in their language and when they don't wanna, they really don't wanna! In fact, Paul told me that he, along with the rest of his fellow Tea Partiers in Wisconsin, don't care if they ever win the White House again. They more or less have a lock on the House and will do everything they can to keep it that way. This jibes with what I have asserted previously. They don't care about winning elections as long as they remain pure.
In many ways, the whole conversation with him made me quite sad because a very key assertion of mine was finally confirmed. Conservatives are so afraid of irrelevance that they are now hysterical. We went down the list of all of the problems we have in this country and his answer to every one was basically do nothing. Clearly, he was frightened of any sort of success by Democrats and other liberal types as massive demonization went on throughout the entire conversation. Doing anything meant the apocalypse.
What a way to view the world...
I spent most of the weekend with my hometown buddies and, as is usually the case, had a political discussion with my childhood chum named Paul. I love Paul like a brother and have known him since we were both kids but he is, without a doubt, the poster child for the Tea Party. He is loud, quick tempered, weighs 300 pounds, has a pathological distrust and hatred of the federal government, and lives with his mother.
I mention the last bit because someone somewhere needs to commission a study on conservatives regarding the following hypothesis: the political emotion of your modern day conservative is fueled by unresolved issues from adolescence stemming from a fundamental breakdown in their relationship with one or both parents. This, in turn, leads to massively irrational behavior that quite frankly helps to exacerbate the problems we have in this country largely by the blunt force of inaction but also by them being...well...assholes.
I've been talking about this for awhile but as I sat and listened to Paul's mouth foaming about the federal government "worming its way into every aspect of our lives" and our country falling apart (any day now), several ideas coalesced for me. I started to think about all the people I know who are conservative and, as I have stated previously, all behave, in many ways, like they are 12-14 years old. This is especially true when they talk about politics. It's one long adolescent temper tantrum and stomp down the hallway because "they don't wanna!" Since I now have a teenager in the house, it's all very familiar.
But I knew all this before so quickly moving on from that, I realized how many of the conservatives I know (as well as many that I don't know personally) clearly have very serious mommy and daddy issues. I started to count how many still lived at home with the parents and went over the list with my wife in the car on the way back to Minnesota. She laughed as the number got higher and higher. It didn't matter what age they were...far too many did.
Science tells me, however, that this is merely anecdotal, hence the reason why a study needs to be undertaken. Unlike my colleagues on the right, I'm not going to fall prey to the logical fallacies of hasty generalizations or misleading vividness. At this point, it is merely an observation. Consider how the ensuing study and results would be fascinating. They could ask for volunteers from the comments section of The Smallest Minority (I wonder how many of them live at home with their parents) or my own comments section:)
So, the mommy and daddy stuff lead me to the idea that your modern day conservative is very insecure about themselves and their lives. They are probably pissed off about their perceived lack of control in their lives (I say perceived because no one is forcing them to live at home with their parents) and the federal government is the perfect whipping boy with which they can spew all their unresolved life issues upon. Suddenly, everything is the government's fault, not their own. Ironically, they scream about victim culture when they themselves behave in the same way. Further, they have not come to terms with the fact that they are not in control of everything that happens to them and, like your average adolescent, don't take too kindly to being told that there are rules that we have to follow in society if it's going to be a decent place to live.
People like Paul also bring new meaning to the word stubborn. Compromise is the filthiest word in their language and when they don't wanna, they really don't wanna! In fact, Paul told me that he, along with the rest of his fellow Tea Partiers in Wisconsin, don't care if they ever win the White House again. They more or less have a lock on the House and will do everything they can to keep it that way. This jibes with what I have asserted previously. They don't care about winning elections as long as they remain pure.
In many ways, the whole conversation with him made me quite sad because a very key assertion of mine was finally confirmed. Conservatives are so afraid of irrelevance that they are now hysterical. We went down the list of all of the problems we have in this country and his answer to every one was basically do nothing. Clearly, he was frightened of any sort of success by Democrats and other liberal types as massive demonization went on throughout the entire conversation. Doing anything meant the apocalypse.
What a way to view the world...
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Proved Wrong-Again!
Hmm...perhaps I generalize too much about the South. Stories like this give me a tremendous amount of hope. And, for the second time this week, Colbert made me laugh my ass off!
Saturday, August 17, 2013
The Future Is Getting Closer...
A company in New Zealand is getting closer to making a real-life jetpack. The future is almost here!The Martin Jetpack isn't really a jetpack. It's basically a one-passenger hovercraft. It has no tail rotor, which makes it much safer than helicopters, which often crash when the tail rotor strikes trees and power lines.
The jetpack sounds like a giant weed whip. It's made of carbon fiber and uses a two-liter two-stroke gasoline engine. It has payload capacity of 100 kg, range of 19 miles, maximum speed of 40 knots and a running time of half an hour. It should be able to reach altitudes of more than mile.
Originally targeted at the leisure market, they're trying to sell it for other applications such as firefighting and military reconnaissance (that is, to organizations that have enough money to pay for it). The design incorporates features that make it safer to fly than other VTOL craft like helicopters. It will hover in place if the pilot provides no input. It has a roll cage and a quick-deploying parachute, which you can see in the video of one of their remote-controlled test flights. Even with the parachute, if you lose power at altitudes too low for proper deployment you'll be in for serious hurt.
Martin's goal is to make a recreational jetpack available for about $100K. But if all you're interested in is getting off the ground, there are other options available at a much lower price. Several companies offer jetpacks that are connected by a hose to a jet ski for less than $10K (hardware modification of your jet ski is required):
It ain't rocket science, but it looks like a lot of fun!
The first iteration of the Martin Jetpack is unlikely to be practical for anything other than recreation: unmanned drones will be better for aerial reconnaissance. Air search and rescue in rugged areas that can't afford a full-fledged helicopter and pilot would seem an obvious fit, but range and flight time are extremely limited. It doesn't have enough payload capacity for a pilot, a passenger and equipment. But it could get a paramedic to an injured person on a mountain faster than anything else.
Immediate practicality is beside the point. The Wright brother's first plane was made from bicycle parts and only flew for a few seconds. In just 60 years the X-15 was flying on the edge of space. The engineers at Martin are making this sort of technology cheaper, safer and more accessible to non-pilots.
As long as we keep dreaming and pushing, anything might become possible.
Giving Me Hope
The Times has an amazing piece about John Lewis up this week that everyone should read. It's very refreshing to see how far we have come since he walked across Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday. It also gave me a great deal of hope to see that Eric Cantor took the walk across the bridge with Congressmen Lewis this year with his college age son in tow.
These are the kinds of stories we need in this day and age.
Friday, August 16, 2013
So Cool!
This story is so fucking cool!
In 2012, the owner finally revealed the site's location after swearing Raines to secrecy. Raines then did his own dive and discovered a primeval Cypress swamp in pristine condition. The forest had become an artificial reef, attracting fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and other underwater life burrowing between the roots of dislodged stumps.
The forest contains trees so well-preserved that when they are cut, they still smell like fresh Cypress sap, Raines said. Imagine what we are going to learn in the coming years of what life was like in this part of the world 50,000 years ago!
In 2012, the owner finally revealed the site's location after swearing Raines to secrecy. Raines then did his own dive and discovered a primeval Cypress swamp in pristine condition. The forest had become an artificial reef, attracting fish, crustaceans, sea anemones and other underwater life burrowing between the roots of dislodged stumps.
The forest contains trees so well-preserved that when they are cut, they still smell like fresh Cypress sap, Raines said. Imagine what we are going to learn in the coming years of what life was like in this part of the world 50,000 years ago!
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Using Democracy to Subvert It
The greatest strength of democracy is also its greatest weakness: leaders derive their power from the will of the people. But if the majority of the people don't believe in democracy, they will elect people who believe likewise, and the institutions of democracy will be used to destroy it.
We can see this playing out in Egypt today. The country is going through violent convulsions now because the two main contestants -- the military and the Muslim Brotherhood -- don't believe in democracy. Though elected democratically, Morsi declared himself above the courts and pushed through a lop-sided constitution. In Egypt the military and the Muslim Brotherhood believe they deserve to rule and will do anything to gain power, and damn the rest of the country, democracy and the rule of law.
Sadly, the same dynamic is playing out here in the United States in states controlled by the Republican Party. In response to a lawsuit over their 2011 redistricting plan Republicans responded:
DOJ's accusations of racial discrimination are baseless. In 2011, both houses of the Texas Legislature were controlled by large Republican majorities, and their redistricting decisions were designed to increase the Republican Party's electoral prospects at the expense of the Democrats. . . . The redistricting decisions of which DOJ complains were motivated by partisan rather than racial considerations, and the plaintiffs and DOJ have zero evidence to prove the contrary.In other words, they think it's fine to subvert democracy as long as the motivation is partisan political gain and not racism. But the main reason Republicans are so desperate to make these changes is to solidify their political position ahead of the upcoming demographic shift: the number of white voters in these states is in decline, and without this sort of trickery Republicans will be out of power because they'll soon be in the racial minority.
And it's just not true that the Department of Justice has "zero evidence" that the motivations behind the passage of these laws is racist. Republicans have screwed up and publicly admitted that they don't want blacks to vote because they won't vote Republican:
“I’m going to be real honest with you, the Republican Party doesn’t want black people to vote if they’re going to vote 9-to-1 for Democrats,” Ken Emanuelson said.Republicans are treading on thin ice. In many states, such as Ohio, they have gerrymandered large Congressional and legislative majorities by packing all Democrats (and often blacks and Hispanics) into a few overwhelmingly Democratic districts and given themselves small majorities in the rest of the state.
When the voters in the middle grow tired of this naked power grab even a small shift among swing voters could result in Republican being completely locked out of power. Natural growth and migration patterns could result in Texas becoming Democratic in the next four to eight years, just in time for the next redistricting after the 2020 census.
This may already be happening in some states: after Republicans gained control of both houses in Minnesota in 2010 they circumvented the normal legislative process and pushed controversial voter ID and anti-gay marriage constitutional amendments. This caused a severe backlash and Democrats swept to large majorities in the House and Senate in 2012. A few months later gay marriage was made law.
With their complete contempt for fairness, democracy, compromise and cooperation all these Republican machinations may ultimately backfire on them. And then they'll be the ones demanding protections for minorities.
Just Imagine
Imagine for a just a moment that the president took a vacation to a foreign land with a Hollywood type. Add in high unemployment and a taxpayer cost of 3.5 million dollars. What would the Right say?
Well, they said nothing when Ronald Reagan did it.
So they probably would say nothing now if Barack Obama did it, right?
Take note of how admirably the media portrayed Reagan as well.
Well, they said nothing when Ronald Reagan did it.
So they probably would say nothing now if Barack Obama did it, right?
Take note of how admirably the media portrayed Reagan as well.
York Channels Moi
Byron York has a piece up that could have well been written by me. When a Fox News contributor and author of the The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy writes something like this...
Even with lower ratings these days, the American people like the Republicans even less. That's because their party is made up of far right paranoids who have no plan to improve the country and would rather behave like juveniles. One need only read the comments section of this blog to see exactly what I am talking about.
So what should the Right do?
What that should tell the GOP is that Republican candidates don’t need to tell voters what a bad job the president is doing. They already know that, and besides, Obama won’t be on the ballot in 2014. What GOP candidates need to do is convince voters that they would do a better job than Democrats.
And if they don't?
If they don’t — if Republicans stick to being an opposition party on the attack rather than the alternative party offering an agenda — then Obama’s much-discussed dream of retaking the House in 2014 might come true, despite all the odds. And that would be a nightmare for Republicans.
What I like about this scenario is that it is a win-win for Democrats. If the Republicans continue with their adolescent behavior, they lose more seats in the House, if not the chamber itself all together. You can pretty much kiss any hopes of retaking the Senate either. If they actually change and compromise on issues like immigration and the budget, then our country is better off for it. They will likely win more elections but it will be because they came to their senses.
I'm hoping it's the latter. We have very serious problems in this country and really no time for temper tantrums from little boys.
Behind the scenes — in whispered asides, not for public consumption — some Republicans are now worried that keeping the House is not such a done deal after all. They look back to two elections, 1998 and 2006, in which Republicans seriously underperformed expectations, and they wonder if 2014 might be a little like those two unhappy years.
...it's time to for the Right to start shitting themselves. Why?
GOP strategists look at the president’s job approval rating on the economy and see an opportunity. A recent Quinnipiac poll, for example, found that 54 percent of those surveyed do not approve of Obama’s handling of the economy. Yet when the pollsters asked who respondents trusted to do a better job with economic issues — Obama or Republicans in Congress — respondents chose Obama, 45 percent to 39 percent. Lots of other polls have shown similar results. Voters don’t approve of the way Obama is handling the economy. Yet they prefer him over Republicans.
...it's time to for the Right to start shitting themselves. Why?
GOP strategists look at the president’s job approval rating on the economy and see an opportunity. A recent Quinnipiac poll, for example, found that 54 percent of those surveyed do not approve of Obama’s handling of the economy. Yet when the pollsters asked who respondents trusted to do a better job with economic issues — Obama or Republicans in Congress — respondents chose Obama, 45 percent to 39 percent. Lots of other polls have shown similar results. Voters don’t approve of the way Obama is handling the economy. Yet they prefer him over Republicans.
Even with lower ratings these days, the American people like the Republicans even less. That's because their party is made up of far right paranoids who have no plan to improve the country and would rather behave like juveniles. One need only read the comments section of this blog to see exactly what I am talking about.
So what should the Right do?
What that should tell the GOP is that Republican candidates don’t need to tell voters what a bad job the president is doing. They already know that, and besides, Obama won’t be on the ballot in 2014. What GOP candidates need to do is convince voters that they would do a better job than Democrats.
And if they don't?
If they don’t — if Republicans stick to being an opposition party on the attack rather than the alternative party offering an agenda — then Obama’s much-discussed dream of retaking the House in 2014 might come true, despite all the odds. And that would be a nightmare for Republicans.
What I like about this scenario is that it is a win-win for Democrats. If the Republicans continue with their adolescent behavior, they lose more seats in the House, if not the chamber itself all together. You can pretty much kiss any hopes of retaking the Senate either. If they actually change and compromise on issues like immigration and the budget, then our country is better off for it. They will likely win more elections but it will be because they came to their senses.
I'm hoping it's the latter. We have very serious problems in this country and really no time for temper tantrums from little boys.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Makes Perfect Sense To Me
After this story, I'm pretty embarrassed by the state in which I was born.
Perry Beam, who was among the spectators and has called attention to the act, told the Associated Press that "everybody screamed" and "just went wild” over the rodeo show. "It was at that point I began to feel a sense of fear. It was that level of enthusiasm," said Beam, a Higginsville resident.
Ah, the dark heart of American populism. My buddy Reverend Jim remarked this was "just as bad as when the bloody Bushitler posters went up." Really? I don't recall clowns play hitting the big lips of W as they did with the Obama mask at this rodeo.
Of course, it all makes perfect sense considering that now that it's town hall season (see: old white people yellin' and all afeared of blackie!) the birth certificate had to come up again.
Farenthold’s declaration came after a woman, who cannot be seen on the video, presents a folder to Farenthold that she says contains proof that Obama’s birth certificate was faked. “I’ll take a look at it,” Farenthold said. “I’ll tell you on the whole birth certificate issue … I think unfortunately the horse is already out of the barn on this.The original Congress when his eligibility came up should have looked into this and it didn’t. I’m not sure how we fix it.” The unidentified woman continued to press, saying “do we allow a president, if he has committed a felony, do we allow him to go unpunished?”
I wonder if any of these creeps are going to question the fact that Ted Cruz was born in Canada. Nah, he's got an R next to his name so he's alright!
Perry Beam, who was among the spectators and has called attention to the act, told the Associated Press that "everybody screamed" and "just went wild” over the rodeo show. "It was at that point I began to feel a sense of fear. It was that level of enthusiasm," said Beam, a Higginsville resident.
Ah, the dark heart of American populism. My buddy Reverend Jim remarked this was "just as bad as when the bloody Bushitler posters went up." Really? I don't recall clowns play hitting the big lips of W as they did with the Obama mask at this rodeo.
Of course, it all makes perfect sense considering that now that it's town hall season (see: old white people yellin' and all afeared of blackie!) the birth certificate had to come up again.
Farenthold’s declaration came after a woman, who cannot be seen on the video, presents a folder to Farenthold that she says contains proof that Obama’s birth certificate was faked. “I’ll take a look at it,” Farenthold said. “I’ll tell you on the whole birth certificate issue … I think unfortunately the horse is already out of the barn on this.The original Congress when his eligibility came up should have looked into this and it didn’t. I’m not sure how we fix it.” The unidentified woman continued to press, saying “do we allow a president, if he has committed a felony, do we allow him to go unpunished?”
I wonder if any of these creeps are going to question the fact that Ted Cruz was born in Canada. Nah, he's got an R next to his name so he's alright!
Monday, August 12, 2013
Movie Review: Elysium
Elysium is the latest science fiction action picture from director Neill Blomkamp, the South African director who made his mark in 2009 with District 9.
The year is 2154, and everyone on earth lives in abject poverty in slums ridden with disease. The wealthiest people live on Elysium, a utopian space habitat that's reminiscent of Larry Niven's Ringworld. The people on Elysium can live forever: medicine has advanced to such a degree that even the worst injury or disease can be cured by a few minutes in a machine that can rebuild broken bones and repair ripped flesh, or rewrite the DNA in your very bones.
Elysium follows Max (played by Matt Damon), a Spanish/English-speaking former car thief who lives in LA working in a factory that manufactures the droids that police the human populace. Max's childhood friend, Frey (played by Alice Braga), goes off to become a nurse but by chance she meets Max again after he mouths off to the wrong droid. When Max is fatally exposed to radiation at work, his only hope is to get medical attention on Elysium.
Jodie Foster plays Delacourt, the French-speaking defense minister of Elysium. She is ruthless, ordering the sleeper agent Kruger (played quite malevolently by Sharlto Copley) to shoot down shuttles carrying sick children illegally into Elysium for medical care. If you think of earth as Mexico (the slum scenes were shot there), space as the Rio Grande and Elysium as the United States you get the picture.
In order to have the strength to fight his way to Elysium Max agrees to have a powered exoskeleton screwed into his spine and skull, and electronics implanted in his brain. In addition to the grit, there's plenty of action in Elysium: spaceships, guns, katana-skewerings, robot dismemberment, hand-to-hand combat, explosions and crashes.
While District 9 was a not-so-subtle comment on the apartheid era in South Africa, Elysium is an equally unsubtle statement on illegal immigration, the wealthiest 1% and the absence of health care for the poorest among us. This is nothing new for the movies: since the very beginning, film has been a medium that caters to the masses, protesting the injustices of inequality that pervade society. From It's a Wonderful Life to Star Wars the triumph of the little guy over entrenched wealth and power has been an ever-present theme.
In the world of Elysium the denial of health care to the masses seems especially heartless because the cure is so cheap and so easy. But we have much the same issue here today: procedures such as knee and hip implants in the United States cost 10 times more than in Belgium, which means many Americans are denied medical care because medical device manufacturers and health care providers artificially jack up prices.
Movies with messages can still be effective as art and entertainment as long as the preaching doesn't hit you over the head. Elysium avoids that trap. If Elysium lacks something, it was a sufficiently tight connection between Max and Frey's daughter, Matilda. Damon's performance doesn't convince me -- all the groundwork was laid, but it lacked emotional impact.
As usual, I have quibbles with technical aspects of the film. The computerized McGuffin is bogus: everyone can instantly recognize what the thing can do -- you'd think the bad guys would name their files something other than "Program to Take Over the World." Also, it's too easy for the illegals to enter Elysium: they can simply fly in because the inside of the ring is open to space. Niven's Ringworld was large enough, spun fast enough and had high enough walls to keep the atmosphere in (it was 180 million miles across). Elysium is just too small -- it would have to be completely sealed to keep the air in and cosmic rays out, but that would make it too hard for illegals to fly in and get a quick cure, removing a major plot point.
Blomkamp still has it in for his native South Africa: Kruger and his bloodthirsty thugs are Afrikaners, even sporting a South African flag on their spacecraft if you missed Kruger's accent. His namesake, Paul Kruger, was the face of the Boer Resistance against the British during the Second Boer War, and the Krugerrand was named after him.
Elysium follows Max (played by Matt Damon), a Spanish/English-speaking former car thief who lives in LA working in a factory that manufactures the droids that police the human populace. Max's childhood friend, Frey (played by Alice Braga), goes off to become a nurse but by chance she meets Max again after he mouths off to the wrong droid. When Max is fatally exposed to radiation at work, his only hope is to get medical attention on Elysium.
Jodie Foster plays Delacourt, the French-speaking defense minister of Elysium. She is ruthless, ordering the sleeper agent Kruger (played quite malevolently by Sharlto Copley) to shoot down shuttles carrying sick children illegally into Elysium for medical care. If you think of earth as Mexico (the slum scenes were shot there), space as the Rio Grande and Elysium as the United States you get the picture.
In order to have the strength to fight his way to Elysium Max agrees to have a powered exoskeleton screwed into his spine and skull, and electronics implanted in his brain. In addition to the grit, there's plenty of action in Elysium: spaceships, guns, katana-skewerings, robot dismemberment, hand-to-hand combat, explosions and crashes.
While District 9 was a not-so-subtle comment on the apartheid era in South Africa, Elysium is an equally unsubtle statement on illegal immigration, the wealthiest 1% and the absence of health care for the poorest among us. This is nothing new for the movies: since the very beginning, film has been a medium that caters to the masses, protesting the injustices of inequality that pervade society. From It's a Wonderful Life to Star Wars the triumph of the little guy over entrenched wealth and power has been an ever-present theme.
In the world of Elysium the denial of health care to the masses seems especially heartless because the cure is so cheap and so easy. But we have much the same issue here today: procedures such as knee and hip implants in the United States cost 10 times more than in Belgium, which means many Americans are denied medical care because medical device manufacturers and health care providers artificially jack up prices.
Movies with messages can still be effective as art and entertainment as long as the preaching doesn't hit you over the head. Elysium avoids that trap. If Elysium lacks something, it was a sufficiently tight connection between Max and Frey's daughter, Matilda. Damon's performance doesn't convince me -- all the groundwork was laid, but it lacked emotional impact.
Blomkamp still has it in for his native South Africa: Kruger and his bloodthirsty thugs are Afrikaners, even sporting a South African flag on their spacecraft if you missed Kruger's accent. His namesake, Paul Kruger, was the face of the Boer Resistance against the British during the Second Boer War, and the Krugerrand was named after him.
Putin's Russia: a Social Conservative's Paradise
Russia has become the new paradise for conservative social issues.
Repression of gays is government policy. Gay marriage is not only illegal: you can go to jail for telling children it's wrong to beat up gay men.
Most abortion is illegal after 12 weeks, and banned after 22 even in cases of rape. There's a two- to seven-day waiting period and women can't even get their tubes tied unless they're 35 or already have two children (articles 56 and 57 of the 2011 Russian health law).
Putin recently signed a law making it a crime to "offend religious sensibilities," punishable by one to three years in prison. Two women from Pussy Riot are still in prison for singing a critical song about Putin in a church.
Do American conservatives really want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with countries like Russia, Uganda and Saudi Arabia?
Republicans keep telling us that we have to defend our freedoms or we'll become like Russia. Yet they're trying to turn us into carbon copies of Russia and Saudi Arabia by letting religious zealots dictate our social and medical policies.
Repression of gays is government policy. Gay marriage is not only illegal: you can go to jail for telling children it's wrong to beat up gay men.
Most abortion is illegal after 12 weeks, and banned after 22 even in cases of rape. There's a two- to seven-day waiting period and women can't even get their tubes tied unless they're 35 or already have two children (articles 56 and 57 of the 2011 Russian health law).
Putin recently signed a law making it a crime to "offend religious sensibilities," punishable by one to three years in prison. Two women from Pussy Riot are still in prison for singing a critical song about Putin in a church.
Do American conservatives really want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with countries like Russia, Uganda and Saudi Arabia?
Republicans keep telling us that we have to defend our freedoms or we'll become like Russia. Yet they're trying to turn us into carbon copies of Russia and Saudi Arabia by letting religious zealots dictate our social and medical policies.
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