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[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 19, 2009 by admin in Politics
Thursday, November 19th, 2009DEMOCRACY is just an acronym for Deliberate Entitled Manipulation Of Citizens’ Right to Accurately Counted Yearnings
I’d like to propose a new word and a new acronym for use in politics. The word is “pretesident”. In the states, we’re all familiar with that guy who became president for two consecutive terms by actually losing the elections, and who, once in office, had the nerve to not even be in charge, but instead “played Lamb Chop” to his advisors’ Shari Lewis. What we haven’t heard much about are a few other pretesidents around the world. Recently, one took office in Afghanistan without much uproar, in spite of rather clear evidence that the election was rigged. A little ironic, because he was chosen by our former puppet to uphold democracy and replace the Taliban. In Mexico, we have The Legitimate President of Mexico. He’s not actually the legitimate president of Mexico, he’s just another guy who lost what was probably another rigged election, but has the nerve to run around saying “I’m The Legitimate President of Mexico“. For a little more depth, see this Wall Street Journal piece. And soon, we’ll have the President of the European Union. There have been rumors that it’ll be that Bush administration butt-lick Tony Blair, and those ballsy EuroLeaders not only aren’t letting the people vote on it, they’re not even telling how they make the selection. With all these “pretesidents” running around, I’m surprised ol’ Dick hasn’t claimed the title of Emperor or something. I mean, George Lucas already gave it to him, he might as well take it and run with it. Which brings me at last to the acronym I referred to earlier. It’s D.E.M.O.C.R.A.C.Y., and it stands for “Deliberate Entitled Manipulation Of Citizens’ Right to Accurately Counted Yearnings”.
Bart Stupak, Bishops, & The Family: So Much For Separation Of Church & State
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 12, 2009 by admin in Politics
Thursday, November 12th, 2009Yes, Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak pulled a “dick move”, but the shadowy organization behind it is even creepier than his Liebermanism.
I thought I’d Appoint |
I got a little annoyed when I read that it was a Democratic congressman from my state that engineered the last minute amendment to the house’s draft of the health care bill that limits federal funding for abortion. It wasn’t anything to do with the fact that the amendment limits federal funding for abortion; I’m not sure I think I approve of the government paying for abortion anyway. It was the fact that congressman Bart Stupak was pulling a total “dick move” that will almost certainly advance his career, while otherwise bringing nothing but divisiveness to the party of which he is technically a member. You know when the GOP calls something a “win win” that what they really mean is “we win”. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stupak later pulled a Lieberman and jumped parties completely just to win an election. But the thing that disturbed me even more about Stupak’s political whoring was the quiet but driving force behind it all. We’re all aware of the incredible influence fundamentalist Christian leaders have on policy in the United States, but I wasn’t aware of The Family until yesterday. The fact that the organization’s name sounds more like the title of a John Grisham novel than the name of a faith-based fellowship is apt; the group’s shadowy and mysterious nature is summed up well by Ronald Reagan’s remark that “I wish I could say more about it, but it’s working precisely because it is private.” Stupak’s little career-advancing stunt is heinous enough in its Karl Rovian manipulation of faith issues for voter sentiment, but it was playing out against a heady background of Catholic influence peddling. And if you don’t think The Family is creepy enough because of its basic nature, read a little about how its leader Doug Coe compares devotion to Jesus to devotion to the Nazi Party.
Berlin Wall 20th Anniversary: A Bittersweet Celebration
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on November 7, 2009 by admin in Politics
Saturday, November 7th, 2009Sure, the Berlin Wall is gone, but Germans still have to endure David Hasselhoff.
 The new Berlin Wall not only gets a test run, it was created by the youth of the city instead of crusty post war commies. |
Sometimes I miss the Berlin Wall. As a mildly rebellious youngster in the 80′s, it represented a lot of what I thought about the world, having been raised on the doom and gloom of the cold war’s prediction of nuclear apocalypse. It was a central symbol of everything punk, and the actual wall was a great photo backdrop for the likes of Iggy Pop, David Bowie, or any globetrotting rebel that felt compelled to make the punk rock pilgrimage. I want to express a special thanks to the band U2 for helping clarify the zeitgeist as we approach the 20th anniversary of the wall being torn down. Back in the 80′s, the wall was between two superpowers. In 2009, U2 graciously highlighted the fact that the wall today is between haves and have-nots. It’s going to take the unemployed and broke people that comprise America’s red vs. blue polarity a while to figure it out, but the real dividing line of our times is the one between the entitled elite and the working class stiff. The anniversary of the wall coming down is also a good time to take note of the fact that although Ronald Reagan is often credited with the wall’s eventual demise because of his “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall” line, nothing could be farther from the truth. He was just a witty actor delivering a line with impeccable timing. Even he said “How can a president not be an actor?“. Regardless of who brought the original wall down, U2 aren’t the only ones building new walls in Berlin; the youth of the city have created a wall of “dominoes” as part of Kulturprojekte’s Das Dominobuch (page is in German), which was created to keep kids thinking about the significance of the history of the wall. They’ll be knocking the wall down to kick off the festivities of the Festival of Freedom on November 9. And while this is indeed a time of celebration for Germans, we must show some sympathy as well. Although the wall is gone, they still have David Hasselhoff to deal with. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome To The United States Of Earth
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 2, 2009 by admin in Politics
Monday, November 2nd, 2009Why don’t you simpering intellectual liberals get more upset about things like Barack the Barbarian comics? Oh. You’re not dumb enough.
Why aren’t the snobbish, intellectual liberals of America more outraged by the racist overtones of things like the Barack the Barbarian
It Takes A Pillage
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on October 26, 2009 by admin in Politics
Monday, October 26th, 2009The public has been slow to react to investment banks’ plundering of the economy, but some protests are finally taking shape in Chicago.
If you’re amongst the nation’s 14 million unemployed, maybe you should see if you can get a job delivering the plasma screen TV’s and cases of champagne that bailed out bankers will be buying to celebrate another year of million-dollar bonuses. Finally, even people like billionaire investor George Soros say you should be angry about the obscene bonuses received by Wall Street. In spite of the fact that the White House “pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg is imposing restrictions on certain companies’ compensation, it’s largely agreed that this is pointless, because what bank executives don’t get in salary and cash bonuses, they get through stock options and other benefits. So while New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo releases a study (see No Rhyme or Reason: The ‘Heads I Win, Tails You Lose’ Bank Bonus Culture) that looks in detail at how bailout recipients Merrill and Citigroup both lost more than $27 billion in 2008 but still somehow justified paying nearly $9 billion in bonuses, and while Treasury Department watchdog Neil Barofsky continually points out the appalling misuse of bailout funds, 2009 bonuses at companies like Goldman Sachs will be double what they were in 2008. Call me naiive, but I remain astounded at the idea that one can run global economy into the ground and get a bonus for it. I was originally going to use the analogy of a man with gambling problem for today’s little rant, and thought it a little corny. But Nomi Prins – author of It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street