This was originally going to be a sort of post-script to my previous post, but it got long enough and strayed far enough from the subject that I thought it deserved its own post.
Here is a funny little article wherein the commentator tries her hand at portraying those at AIG who did not have a hand in the current mess as martyrs by using the letter from Jake DeSantis, a top AIG exec, recently posted in the New York Times . These are the people getting the big bonuses, she says, not the villains who were the real architects of the collapse. She even invokes the mighty Hawthorne to title her piece (although for no apparent reason). She labels them as simply patriots, doing their duty to their country out of pure love; and yet, big bad Congress wants to take away any and all compensation that these selfless beings deserve.
America has a malignant tumor eating it away from the inside; and instead of extracting it or treating it, we’re giving it all the delicious nutrients and mutating radiation it could ever hope for. It’s convinced us that we need it to survive in order for the country to survive; that, contrary to reality, it is what nourishes us, and… we, all of us, we’re falling for it. We have decided to help it, we are deciding to help it, and we will continue to decide to help it. Squabbling about the little things, the easily-comprehensible things, we will let it continue to consume us, like a parasite feeding off its host, until it’s too late. Because we only care about the little things; and we’re content to ignore the tumor as long as we’re trying to fix the symptoms.
A new class of people in America have found a way to exploit our innocent little republican democracy, to feed, like parasites, on its idealistic foundations and oblivious public, in order to line their pockets. How? Like street magicians; with smoke and mirrors, imaginary phantoms, mirages–-and, above all, with meaningless words, a convoluted language that only they can speak or understand. The Wall Street elite and their kin are the cancer that is killing America, and they’re desecrating the honest citizens right now.
Rush Limbaugh, whose sizable ego is only slightly exceeded by his physical mass, has been spouting nonsense longer than most people can remember without losing faith in humanity. His radio show is older than I am. I remember riding around in my dad’s truck when I was a youngster and listening to the idiocy blast through my young, impressionable brain, infallibly leaving a migraine in its wake as it slowly deteriorated my good sense, confusing me as if blindfolded. Eventually, years later, I was rescued by something utterly foreign to that radio show, and something which will, without fail, right any wrongs Rush may commit in a person: that is, thinking; and ever since I started doing that, I have miraculously turned out normal.
Now, before I start, let me say that I’m as happy as the next guy that we’ve all put Obama in the White House– actually, wait, scratch that. I’m not nearly as happy as the next guy.
It’s not my fault, it’s just the the next guy is completely fucking raving over it without knowing or apparently caring about what specific part of his life is going to improve over the next four years. The next guy is bubbling with a sense of genuine anticipation not felt since his fourth birthday, but for the life of me, I can’t find the specific source. Maybe my parents just didn’t love me enough, but I’m pretty sure people are making a bigger deal of him than they were of George Washington. Now there was change! In my time, we had REAL change! And we had to walk 15 miles in the snow for it, and we liked it! etc. etc.
Introduction: As I’ve mentioned before, I’m working on a series called Controlling the Joystick. In this series, I’ll be looking at some hot-button issues surrounding the video game world and the impact it has on our politics, life, culture, etc. Today, I’ll be looking at a recent controversy surrounding video games in libraries.
Mrs. Clinton, who in her new position is no doubt finding herself answering more phone-calls at 3 A.M. than she ever knew she wanted to, is in the far East, shaking hands and/or bowing to those countries’ head-honchos and their ministers. As I talked about in an earlier post, East Asia has been seeing some strange things going on lately–and things have only gotten stranger, with the Japanese finance minister showing up in Rome under the influence of something, and then resigning, etc. etc. Read the rest of this entry »
A few days ago the House Republicans made the bold move of rejecting the much-needed stimulus package, a gesture not unlike the Tienanmen Square Incident, except that, following that analogy, the House Republicans would have gotten crushed by tanks. A risky move in the political game of chess no doubt, voting against a popular incoming president’s (mostly) popular and much-needed bill even though they knew it would pass. A useless gesture, one might say. To top it off, they did it an hour after Obama had invited them behind closed doors to woo them.
It was seen as a slap in the face by everyone except the House Republicans themselves. They all agree that the stimulus package is necessary. They just think it’s too stimulating. “Too much spending!” they cry from the rooftops. But the Republicans in the House didn’t suggest anything better.
Except tax breaks, of course.
In fact, despite Boehner’s statements to the contrary, that the Republican party is about “more than just tax cuts,” that’s all they could come up with. They even drafted their own bill comprised of all tax cuts. It failed, of course.
A tax cut would be nice, but Recessions are mental. If you just keep cutting taxes, people will get money, but, chances are, it won’t get spent. If people are afraid of losing their livelihoods, they’ll be saving all they can, whether they have money or not. Granted, the cuts are important, and it’s good that they’re in there, but alone, they’re just not enough to properly arouse our economy.
The cries of “Too much spending!” are also problematic. Spending is the whole point of the package. It’s to spend money, the lubricating oil in the… cogs of our economy. When people think the economy is drying up, they stop spending, which makes things all the worse. This is most apparent in the stock market, but it’s obvious everywhere else, too.
So, if people aren’t spending money and sticking it into the economy, it’s necessary for the government to step in and get the cash stream flowing again. Our options come down to this: building “roads and bridges” and updating other parts of the country, or starting a World War.
Of course the bill is filled with pork-barrel spending and pet projects. That’s the whole point, remember? But some Republicans (Jon Kyl ahem) don’t like the porkers; they can’t seem to differentiate “good” spending from “bad” spending. They say the spending is “wasteful.” I’m sure some of it can be tightened up, but as long as it’s going into the hands of people who need it, it’s not wasteful.
18 billion dollars in bonuses for Wall Street executives is wasteful. They don’t need it. Their pockets are already full. But construction workers, state governments, schools? It’s not a waste to invest in them.
Or is it? What do you think of the stimulus package? Too much? Not enough?
Ah, gratuitous sexual innuendo, when have you ever failed me? And yes, I’m aware it’s pronounced “bay-ner,” but I don’t care. Call it a slant-innuendo, or something.
This is a huge win for Obama as he has a senior member of the Republican Party endorsing him. I’m not sure if he will cause independents and Republicans to vote for Obama (Since it’s so late in the election) but it’s a nice gesture.
McCain is taking a play out of Biden’s book by referring to himself in 3rd person… ”Don’t feel sorry for John McCain, and John McCain will be concentrating on not feeling sorry for himself.”
This is a “food stamp” that was sent via a local Republican(Cheffey Community) Newsletter. The head of the group said in a CNN video that it wasn’t racist and the women that is responsible for distrubuting it is not racist because “shes married to a Mexician”. As you can see the food stamp has a bucket of KFC, watermelon, Kool-Aid and ribs. Obama’s face is put on a donkey (Which is understandable as hes the Democrat nominee.
This is clearly racist. I mean, all of the food/drinks that are present on the “food stamp” are stereotypes of the black community. I don’t care if the woman is married to a Mexician man, she can still be a racist. I know a couple of Japanese people who are only racist against the Chinese. Likewise, I know some Americans who are only racist against the Middle Eastern community. Here’s a message for you Diane Fedele…just because you are married to a particular minority it doesn’t exempt you from everything.
If you are saying that the KFC bucket, ribs, Kool-Aid and watermelon aren’t racist…you need to open your eyes. These stereotypes have been around for a long time. If the ‘Obama Bucks’ just had Obama’s face on a donkey it would be O.K, it wouldn’t have been racist. But Diane Fedele had to take it one step further. It’s also on a food stamp, kind of implying that all Black people are poor. This is just wrong…I can’t believe that this actually happened. I can’t believe someone actually thought it was a good idea and that it wasn’t racist. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is racist and is unacceptable in politics.
…for the Republican Party, at least. And they will continue to be hard for an indeterminate amount of time. According to some fairly reputable predictions, Obama has about a 95% chance of winning the election as of right now; and while McCain says that’s exactly the position he likes to be in, it’s hard to take him seriously. Unless his campaign has a tape of bin Laden and Obama hugging, there appears to be little hope for his campaign, though they’ll doubtless continue to do their darndest to win. And who really knows? Maybe he’ll pull a rabbit out of his ass. But I think it’s fair to say that at this point, things are looking pretty grim for him.
According to that same prediction site, run by baseball statisticians who calculate probabilities of various scenarios based on polls and population demographics, the Democrats have a 100% chance of getting at least 51 senate seats (including Lieberman (I, CT) and Sanders (I, VT), and have at least a 30% chance of getting 60 seats.
Add to that the possibility of the Democrats appointing judges, and there’s a distinct possibility of Democrats holding the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches.
There will doubtless be a great reforming of the Republican party during these next 4 years; they will either go farther Right, nominate someone like Palin, and abandon all hope for winning any more Independents, or else they’ll nominate someone more like Romney, and come to inhabit what is now the center (which, after four years of Democrat rule, could very well be the next Right).
But even then, their image will still be somewhat tainted, most of all for the youngest generation, who really have no memory of the GOP being anything but a terrible, backwards, shady, corrupt party–but who have memories of good times under the Democrats with Clinton. They’ve failed to capture the minds and sensibilities of the youth–a failure which will has in part ruined their chances for this election, and will potentially continue to do so as the youth grows up.
Basically, they done fucked up, and badly. And the McCain campaign has, despite its best efforts, been displaying exactly the mentality of the party that has ruined its reputation: whiney, power-hungry, Machiavellian. But this time, the Democrats have learned a thing or two, and have been employing their own strategies against them, while still being able to take the high road in most situations. This strategy has proven to be quite effective, and, as a result of its use, we have the looming Democratic coup.
Can the Republicans get their shit together enough in the next 4 years in order to threaten the Democratic stronghold which appears to be rising? And will the Democrats, with their uni-party rule, fix the country enough that they will be able to continue to squash their opposition for election cycles to come?
Perhaps; but in the meantime, we’re left with this, the current face of the Republican Party:
Posted by Jesse 
