February 5, 2009
What’s Amusing Me Today
- All the staunch Republicans ridiculing or otherwise attacking Obama for not implementing enough “Change” — or not implementing it quickly enough. Um, think about that one for a second. If it still doesn’t strike you as funny, ask yourself: change from what?
- How comfortable the talking heads on Fox News seem to be with expressing hope that our new president actively hurts the country.
- That anyone is still taking Rush Limbaugh seriously.
How about you?
posted on February 5, 2009 at 5:21pm
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January 23, 2009
Things I Never Thought I’d Say, #1
“Hey, this blog post from the White House crashed my RSS reader!”
posted on January 23, 2009 at 10:02am
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January 21, 2009
Hello New Day
“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation. But in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.”
Yes. And,
“…we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.”
Yes. Begone, you foul children. Begone, you petty scoffers, you small-minded squinters, take away your grasping claws and sour wheezing laughter. We are a better people than what we have been.
We are better than you.
Goodbye, you back-door dealers, you double-talkers, you new-speakers. May you live long, long lives of peace and health. May your minds stay sharp to the ends of your days, so that you may hear what is said, read what is written, learn what is taught about you.
So sorry you can’t stick around, but the grownups have important things to discuss, and it’s long past your bedtime.
posted on January 21, 2009 at 10:32pm
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November 5, 2008
Purple Nation
Ladies and gentlemen, can we please put the fucking ridiculous red-state-versus-blue-state bullshit to rest now? No group can be characterized by the sort of sweeping terms used in politics lately, least of all a completely arbitrary group based on geography (as California progressives have learned to their dismay with the passing of Prop 8). Tuesday’s election was significant for lots of reasons, but one of my biggest reliefs was to see President-elect Obama winning states that have traditionally been thought of as Republican strongholds. What better evidence do we need that people don’t slot neatly into political categories?
The traditional electoral results maps look like this (or, at least, are likely to once NC and MO are finally called):
But when you look at it county-by-county, using a continuum of red to blue to reflect the proportions of votes for each candidate, it’s a very different picture:
Continue reading “Purple Nation” »
posted on November 5, 2008 at 12:55pm
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November 4, 2008
It Begins!
Well, some polls are now officially closed. We are at the beginning of the end of a long-awaited day. I’m nervous and excited, happy to be part of the great process of democracy, and eager to see this seemingly endless campaign season over.
I figured now might be a good time to put out a few suggestions for the days ahead:
1. To those of you whose favorite candidate wins, be gracious to those who supported The Other Guy. No matter who wins, lots of people are going to be disappointed. No need to make them feel any worse by rubbing it in. (This goes double for those of you who, like me, support Obama: Practice the unity that you preach. Walk the walk. If this election is, like Senator Obama says, about ending “politics as usual,” then let’s make sure we help with that.)
Continue reading “It Begins!” »
posted on November 4, 2008 at 3:41pm
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February 4, 2008
Super Tuesday
OK, the last thing I wanted to do was break a weeks-long habit of not updating my blog with a political post, but it just occurred to me that, you know, tomorrow is kind of a big deal politically. So if you don’t want to read about politics, please don’t be ashamed to back slowly out of the room. I’ll have a huge brain-dump mega-update post very soon, I promise. Game-related, even!
So, I’m in Ohio, which means our primaries aren’t for another month. But Ohio has sort of an interesting primary system. From what I understand — and this will be my first time voting in Ohio since 1992, so I could easily be wrong — anyone can vote in the primaries of either party. It’s just that when you walk into the polling place, you have to pick which party’s primary you want to vote in. And that choice means that you become a registered member of that party until such time as you vote in the primary for a different party.
Now, I’m a registered Independent, because I’m really not much of a joiner. I’ll vote for who seems likely to do the most good, no matter which letter appears in parentheses after their names (e.g., previous posts on the matter).
But you can be damn sure that, come March 4, I’ll be considered a (shudder) registered Democrat. (At least until I can figure out how to unregister and return to my natural (I) state.) Why, you ask? The answer is simple:
posted on February 4, 2008 at 4:08pm
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October 24, 2006
Another Political Post: An Addendum
[This was in response to comments on the original post at 1UP.com.]
Dear anyone who attacked my original post because Stewart and Colbert aren’t “real journalists”: that was EXACTLY MY POINT. See: “Comedians. Jesus.” The fact of the matter is that our national newsmedia is, as a whole, a bunch of quivering, empty suits jumping onto the latest ratings spike. For anyone in the newsmedia — and I say ANYone, on either side of this fake political dichotomy we’ve convinced ourselves we’re in — to actually stand up and make a well-reasoned, challenging argument is so novel as to be almost shocking. This instance was Olbermann, but had it been someone on Fox News making a similarly strong, well-defended argument, I’d be all over that too. (Please, please don’t say O’Reilly. He’s an excellent entertainer — much like Limbaugh, Stewart, Colbert — but much like the vast majority of the talking heads in the newsmedia, there’s not an ounce of honesty there.)
Dear anyone who interpreted my post as saying “My only heroes are Olbermann, Stewart, and Colbert”: Read again. If you still believe this after a second reading, please go away.
Continue reading “Another Political Post: An Addendum” »
posted on October 24, 2006 at 8:38pm
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October 20, 2006
Another Political Post
Do you know what habeas corpus is? You should. Here’s the Wikipedia definition: …a legal instrument or writ by means of which detainees can seek release from unlawful imprisonment. A writ of habeas corpus is a court order … ordering that a detainee be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that person is imprisoned lawfully.
The reason you should know this is because President Bush just kinda, uh, eliminated it. At least for "enemy combatants." Funny thing about enemy combatants, though…an enemy combatant is a person the government claims is an enemy combatant. Neat, that, eh? And the method by which such a claim can be disputed: Habeas corpus.
Keith Olbermann on MSNBC (video, pops) has a particularly chilling commentary on this whole deal. It’s worth watching the entire thing.
That guy may be a bit melodramatic, but he’s quickly becoming one of my heroes — one of three people I know of in the media who actually appear to have balls.
The other two are John Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
Comedians.
Jesus.
posted on October 20, 2006 at 11:46am
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September 19, 2006
For the Love of God, Will Someone Make it Stop?
It is time for us to say to our government, “No. This we will not allow.”
For those of you who don’t like clicking links, I’ll summarize: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wants to require all ISPs to keep records of ALL of your online activity, for purposes of catching pedophiles and, presumably, tur’rists.
Here’s the problem. Senator Stevens has made it very clear that our government does not understand technology. Now, I’m no hAxx0r but I do seem to recall a technology called “IP spoofing” that makes internet traffic look like it’s coming from someplace other than its actual source. So, what happens when someone trolling online for kiddie porn uses a spoofed IP address that happens to point to the computer grannie uses to e-mail her bridge partners? Or some al-Qaeda sympathizer spoofs the IP address of some random Arabic college student?
This isn’t even touching on the potential for willful misuse of this kind of information. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but considering how much of our day-to-day life is conducted online these days — business, commerce, communication — there’s an enormous potential for abuse. Not to mention simple, ham-fisted, governmental incompetence.
I hate sounding like a foil-hatter, honestly I do, but I’m starting to worry that these tiny nudges on the boundaries of our civil rights are not the random flailings of an incompetent administration, but rather calculated straining at the bumper of the juggernaut of fascism.
Continue reading “For the Love of God, Will Someone Make it Stop?” »
posted on September 19, 2006 at 6:11pm
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