1) First, Internet comments like those from YouTube and BoredAtButler.com do not necessarily come from a representative sample of society. They come from people who enter those sites, and then take the time to comment. It is the case that many pages open to user comments are viewed more than contributed to. A video from The Young Turks YouTube Account received 1,618 views, and 79 text comments. Though repeated views and comments by the certain users can distort these numbers, it shows that most viewers of a webpage remain quiet. There is very little to be learned about the quiet ones from these statistics besides the fact that they seemed to have Interests in videos with titles such as "DWTS At Blvd 3 Part 2" and "Love Is A Lie." With this information alone, however, we know little about why the viewers find find whatever they have interest in interesting.
2) If you use the Internet to teach you about humanity, you will believe that people are jerks who make rape-jokes, believe 9-11 was a false-flag operation, and/or disdain capital letters.
3) An interesting thought: that some loud people, or "Internet gangsters," are more demure in person. Even polite. Due to cowardness?
4) Another thought: most rude behavior performed when jerk is in a position of perceived safety. Perhaps when surrounded by friends, or the abused seems less likely to defend in manner meaningful to jerk.
5) Certain acts of kindness performed from position of weakness. "Kiss up, kick down." A convicted murderer asking the court for mercy.
6) A thought: our perceptions of others are warped by our personalities, our desires, our fears, our experiences. Our views of the world are centered, strictly, around the self. Our ability to handle conflict may affect our willingness to appreciate headstrong people; whether we cling to them, or disdain them. Perhaps a fear that personal appearance will pervent meaningful interpersonal contact will promote shy behavior, thereby perventing meaningul interpersonal contact.
7) Misogyny, racism, any sort of bigotry are aspects of the more broad problems interpersonal conflict. The abuse of other people: requires explanations more broad than "I hate his face." The results and expression are the interplay of personal psychology, the psychology of others, accessibility of resources. Misogyny is nothing like a monster with a chain-saw teeth. It a variety of ideas shared by people, the varieties are more pronounced between individuals than cultures, really.
8) The Devil lives in the abstract world, pulling strings that connect him to the physical world. Metaphorically, I mean.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Who The Superheroes Would Vote For
I can't help but write this:
- Captain America: First off, Steve Rogers would never use his identity as the Sentinel of Liberty to campaign for any politician ever. It has been established that he won't even consider running for public office, even though he is aware that people would sure as hell gravitate toward him as a leader. Captain America is a symbol for the nation. This means keeping politics away in lieu of coloring the symbol in a divisive slant. Now...personally, though, he would lean toward Ron Paul. If he were even alive. He would appreciate Paul's candor, and constant, open championing of the consistitution. Stable societies rest on fair rules, which every one respects.
Bucky, the new Captain America, is technically dead. So, too bad for him. He can't even vote.
- The Fantastic Four is divided on this one.
The Thing is definitely for McCain. Obama seems too much like a hotshot for him; a man who spent at least half of his Senate career running for president may have too big a head for the job. Anyway, The Thing likes that McCain promises to help people with their mortgages because it's the biggest problem that he sees.
The Human Torch knows nothing about politics. His eyes glaze over at the words "Habeas Corpus" and "dividends." But he remembers McCain's first appearance on SNL, where the Senator sang Streisand songs. He thinks that the man is f-ing awesome for that reason alone, and yet it is a great, great reason.
The Invisible Woman believes that it is important for women to keep their right to choose, so she leans toward Obama.
Mr. Fantastic really really likes Obama's 10-year, $15 billion dollar a year to get the US off foreign sources of energy. "Actually, I have some ideas..."
- Spider-Man's life is so hectic, he feels he knows way too little to make a choice he feels comfortable about. He saw Obama in the third debate, and thinks Obama has a very cool head. Besides, the Parkers are registered Democrats.
- The Punisher doesn't care, but his father voted for Barry Goldwater (McCain's predecessor in the Senate) in the 1964 election.
- Ms. Marvel is definitely up for aggressive, responsible military defense (read Mighty Avengers #1). Also, she cut her teeth in the Air Force. From a president, McCain, for sure.
- She-Hulk is a lawyer. Though she loves her superhero life more than her lawyer life, she respects Obama's temperment. She's been in enough universe-shattering events to appreciate a guy who sits back, digests a situation, then makes a responsible descision.
- Iron Man is totally torn on this one. The former Secretary of Defense is no war monger, but he respects and knows the need to maintain peace through force. But he knows it can cause just as many problems as if fixes. In any case, if Obama had been running against the John McCain of 2000, it would have been McCain, easy. But the McCain of today bothers him. McCain has flipped his opinion on Roe v. Wade, Bush Tax Cuts, and cozied up to certain constituencies not out of real interest, but to win votes. McCain has alienated Stark, and Stark, though trusting in McCain, is really not all that trusting of McCain.
****
- Wonder Woman dislikes both candidates' interventionist policies. But she wouldn't vote for Ron Paul, a noninterventionist, because she has the feeling that Paul is a coot, albiet lovable. Besides, she's not even a US citizen.
- Superman grew up in Kansas, baby. The friggin heartland. Smallville ain't seeing any meaningful federal assistance from nobody since...when?...but Clark Kent is putting his vote for Obama, for the man's promise to move out of Iraq.
- Now, I actually asked Batman who he was for. In Midtown Manhattan, on 1st ave, he had no mask on, calling for a taxi. I was in a white 1937 cadillac town car with some friends. This is a true story. I rolled down my window, and asked, "Is Batman for McCain or Obama?"
"McCain!"
- Captain America: First off, Steve Rogers would never use his identity as the Sentinel of Liberty to campaign for any politician ever. It has been established that he won't even consider running for public office, even though he is aware that people would sure as hell gravitate toward him as a leader. Captain America is a symbol for the nation. This means keeping politics away in lieu of coloring the symbol in a divisive slant. Now...personally, though, he would lean toward Ron Paul. If he were even alive. He would appreciate Paul's candor, and constant, open championing of the consistitution. Stable societies rest on fair rules, which every one respects.
Bucky, the new Captain America, is technically dead. So, too bad for him. He can't even vote.
- The Fantastic Four is divided on this one.
The Thing is definitely for McCain. Obama seems too much like a hotshot for him; a man who spent at least half of his Senate career running for president may have too big a head for the job. Anyway, The Thing likes that McCain promises to help people with their mortgages because it's the biggest problem that he sees.
The Human Torch knows nothing about politics. His eyes glaze over at the words "Habeas Corpus" and "dividends." But he remembers McCain's first appearance on SNL, where the Senator sang Streisand songs. He thinks that the man is f-ing awesome for that reason alone, and yet it is a great, great reason.
The Invisible Woman believes that it is important for women to keep their right to choose, so she leans toward Obama.
Mr. Fantastic really really likes Obama's 10-year, $15 billion dollar a year to get the US off foreign sources of energy. "Actually, I have some ideas..."
- Spider-Man's life is so hectic, he feels he knows way too little to make a choice he feels comfortable about. He saw Obama in the third debate, and thinks Obama has a very cool head. Besides, the Parkers are registered Democrats.
- The Punisher doesn't care, but his father voted for Barry Goldwater (McCain's predecessor in the Senate) in the 1964 election.
- Ms. Marvel is definitely up for aggressive, responsible military defense (read Mighty Avengers #1). Also, she cut her teeth in the Air Force. From a president, McCain, for sure.
- She-Hulk is a lawyer. Though she loves her superhero life more than her lawyer life, she respects Obama's temperment. She's been in enough universe-shattering events to appreciate a guy who sits back, digests a situation, then makes a responsible descision.
- Iron Man is totally torn on this one. The former Secretary of Defense is no war monger, but he respects and knows the need to maintain peace through force. But he knows it can cause just as many problems as if fixes. In any case, if Obama had been running against the John McCain of 2000, it would have been McCain, easy. But the McCain of today bothers him. McCain has flipped his opinion on Roe v. Wade, Bush Tax Cuts, and cozied up to certain constituencies not out of real interest, but to win votes. McCain has alienated Stark, and Stark, though trusting in McCain, is really not all that trusting of McCain.
****
- Wonder Woman dislikes both candidates' interventionist policies. But she wouldn't vote for Ron Paul, a noninterventionist, because she has the feeling that Paul is a coot, albiet lovable. Besides, she's not even a US citizen.
- Superman grew up in Kansas, baby. The friggin heartland. Smallville ain't seeing any meaningful federal assistance from nobody since...when?...but Clark Kent is putting his vote for Obama, for the man's promise to move out of Iraq.
- Now, I actually asked Batman who he was for. In Midtown Manhattan, on 1st ave, he had no mask on, calling for a taxi. I was in a white 1937 cadillac town car with some friends. This is a true story. I rolled down my window, and asked, "Is Batman for McCain or Obama?"
"McCain!"
Monday, October 20, 2008
Several Characteristics of My Ideal Government (1st draft)
1) A representative democracy is the one major detail I will refuse to back off from. A representive democracy would be less messy than a direct democracy, and less prone to national unhappiness than a dictator ship.
A) Giving all adult citizens the ability to vote for politicians and constitutional amendments (state, federal) will provide flexibility in the system. Yes, the leaders in Washington make the decisions, but once constituents are dissapointed in a leader, they can kick him out for some one who they like. Leaders must know they that are in this position of power not because they are necessarily smarter than every one else, but because it is easier for only several hundred congressman to write a bill rather than several thousand, hundreds of thousands, or millions.
Now, depostism shares the same fundamental problem with anarchism: human nature. All systems of government share this problem, but depostism and anarchism are especially sensitive. Consider the Roman Empire, where Pertinax got murdered by soldiers. He was replaced by Didius Julianus, who was sentenced to death by the Senate after only a couple of months of being Emperor. He was replaced by Septimius Severus, who died from illness, thank God for that. But then Caracalla, assassinated. Geta, assassinated by Caracalla (!). Macrinus, executed. Diadumnian, executed. Elagabalus, assassinated. Alexander Severus, assassinated. Look, I don't need to list every body else. Let's just say that the only job more dangerous than Roman Emperor is a taxi driver who works on a mine field.
There was no system in place to make things kosher. It was run like the heavyweight championship. No simple line of succession. Or peaceful system to remove rulers who want to stay. If people don't like a lawmaker or executive, they can kick him out come election day.
2. A voting system garners respect for the government because voting will know that they stake in the system. They respect the system because they own it. That means keeping unruly mobs to a minimum. Know why there were so many riots in the 60s? Because the rioters felt that they had no other recourse. They felt powerless in the greater scheme of things. Giving people the vote--as many as physically possible--is the best means to garner respect for the system. Yes, that means giving felons the vote, too (except when they are in prison, since politics is a great way to light short tempers). The minute convicts leave prison is the minute their registration process should begin in their state.
In short: Any economic system can thrive. Any general philosohpy for law enforcement can work for the betterment of society. All you need is good management, and democracy is the best way to move with the many variables involved with governing. For example, consider when Americans during the Great Depression replaced the laissez-faire President Hoover with FDR.
2) Transparancy
The number one reason why no one trusts government. First...you need mandatory waiting periods before bill are enacted or even voted on, where the exact text of the bill is available to the public online, and in appropriate physical publications. That means 3 - 5 days for any legislative body, and 3-5 days before the executive office will sign the bill into law. When the waiting period is over, the lawmakers will vote on the bill. Appropriate parlimentary procedure will ensure that no one can amend the bill from the moment the lawmaking body decides to send the bill into its waiting period to the moment that they as a body vote for it. If it passes and goes to another law making body (eg. from the House to the Senate), and that new body decides to vote on the bill, they must wait another 3-5 days where the bill is published for the general public. Then if they pass the bill, then it is sent to the executive, who waits antoehr 3-5 day. No earlier than the exact moment of the bill's online publication should the waiting period be considered to have begun, in any governmental body.
All government funding is revealed to the general public.
All court cases are open to the general public.
Government pays for advertising to run on prime time television listing the candidates for local, state, and national office from the beginning of the 30 days before the election to the night before the election. (Television networks can reject the government's request to buy ad time, but the government must have found a byer by the relevant date.)
3) Federation
A national government handles issues that are strictly interstate, where state governments handle issues that are relevant to them. This is just a better management principle than having too many relevant decisions made for you by people who have no stake in your community. That would be like a sandwich franchise telling a New Jersey location of the franchise to overstock on mustard, but, apparantly, mustard is unpopular in New Jersey.
A) Giving all adult citizens the ability to vote for politicians and constitutional amendments (state, federal) will provide flexibility in the system. Yes, the leaders in Washington make the decisions, but once constituents are dissapointed in a leader, they can kick him out for some one who they like. Leaders must know they that are in this position of power not because they are necessarily smarter than every one else, but because it is easier for only several hundred congressman to write a bill rather than several thousand, hundreds of thousands, or millions.
Now, depostism shares the same fundamental problem with anarchism: human nature. All systems of government share this problem, but depostism and anarchism are especially sensitive. Consider the Roman Empire, where Pertinax got murdered by soldiers. He was replaced by Didius Julianus, who was sentenced to death by the Senate after only a couple of months of being Emperor. He was replaced by Septimius Severus, who died from illness, thank God for that. But then Caracalla, assassinated. Geta, assassinated by Caracalla (!). Macrinus, executed. Diadumnian, executed. Elagabalus, assassinated. Alexander Severus, assassinated. Look, I don't need to list every body else. Let's just say that the only job more dangerous than Roman Emperor is a taxi driver who works on a mine field.
There was no system in place to make things kosher. It was run like the heavyweight championship. No simple line of succession. Or peaceful system to remove rulers who want to stay. If people don't like a lawmaker or executive, they can kick him out come election day.
2. A voting system garners respect for the government because voting will know that they stake in the system. They respect the system because they own it. That means keeping unruly mobs to a minimum. Know why there were so many riots in the 60s? Because the rioters felt that they had no other recourse. They felt powerless in the greater scheme of things. Giving people the vote--as many as physically possible--is the best means to garner respect for the system. Yes, that means giving felons the vote, too (except when they are in prison, since politics is a great way to light short tempers). The minute convicts leave prison is the minute their registration process should begin in their state.
In short: Any economic system can thrive. Any general philosohpy for law enforcement can work for the betterment of society. All you need is good management, and democracy is the best way to move with the many variables involved with governing. For example, consider when Americans during the Great Depression replaced the laissez-faire President Hoover with FDR.
2) Transparancy
The number one reason why no one trusts government. First...you need mandatory waiting periods before bill are enacted or even voted on, where the exact text of the bill is available to the public online, and in appropriate physical publications. That means 3 - 5 days for any legislative body, and 3-5 days before the executive office will sign the bill into law. When the waiting period is over, the lawmakers will vote on the bill. Appropriate parlimentary procedure will ensure that no one can amend the bill from the moment the lawmaking body decides to send the bill into its waiting period to the moment that they as a body vote for it. If it passes and goes to another law making body (eg. from the House to the Senate), and that new body decides to vote on the bill, they must wait another 3-5 days where the bill is published for the general public. Then if they pass the bill, then it is sent to the executive, who waits antoehr 3-5 day. No earlier than the exact moment of the bill's online publication should the waiting period be considered to have begun, in any governmental body.
All government funding is revealed to the general public.
All court cases are open to the general public.
Government pays for advertising to run on prime time television listing the candidates for local, state, and national office from the beginning of the 30 days before the election to the night before the election. (Television networks can reject the government's request to buy ad time, but the government must have found a byer by the relevant date.)
3) Federation
A national government handles issues that are strictly interstate, where state governments handle issues that are relevant to them. This is just a better management principle than having too many relevant decisions made for you by people who have no stake in your community. That would be like a sandwich franchise telling a New Jersey location of the franchise to overstock on mustard, but, apparantly, mustard is unpopular in New Jersey.
Friday, October 17, 2008
A quick thought at an ungodly hour
Why not spend more attention in the media on unemployment rates? This would, while also looking at the Federal debt and DOW Jones, would give a more detailed understanding of the economy for the lay man.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
The Legacies of Presidents
Respected presidents served during turbulent times in history. The men we tend to place on the top of the president's list, like FDR, Lincoln, and Washington, all served during a time when the future of the country itself was really uncertain, and no one would have been nutty to predict a bleak future. The Great Depression, the Civil War, the founding of the freaking country itself. Yet, they, their aides, congress, and the citizens all teamed up and reasserted the strength of the nation, and they are considered great, even though few people would love to visit 1931, 1862, or 1790. The great presidents served at times when life in the nation was rough.
Yes, Bill Clinton seems to have been a pretty good president. Sure, he left office with a surplus in the budget. But he didn't save the country from dissolution. All the military actions committed during his presidency had to due with locations and interests with no direct effect on most citizens. Yeah, he helped improve the economy, but he didn't have to deal with a complete, utter and unprecidented failure in the system, where even the federal government doesn't seem to have the money to fund it's own programs, the credit markets seem to be drying up, and the ultimate damage on most people has yet to occur. That's why Bill only gets a gold star and a handshake, even if he had the ability to confront a calamity.
Dow dropping below 8,500. Nobody can buy their own home. Gas sucks. Debt sucks. A 10 trillion dollar national debt. Hell, I am more worried about the health of the national government than I am about what's happening on 'Main Street.' People are robust, and can watch their own backs; governments are transitory entities held together by enough consent from the governed, and enough power from the governors. And the governors are running out of cash. Ron Paul would probably pop a vein to see my analysis of this, but a successful president would get a lot of credit should he implent and support a variety of policies that turn around this financial failure.
Whoever wins the presidency will go down in history as one of the greats (FDR, Lincoln, Washington) or as one of the greatest asshats (Buchanan, Hoover, George Walker Bush). It doesn't matter how hard he tries, how many hours he puts into the job, how hard he sweats; the results are what matters. If he is unable to have a prominent hand in turning things around, historians will be likely to plant a big 'dunce' cap on him.
Yes, Bill Clinton seems to have been a pretty good president. Sure, he left office with a surplus in the budget. But he didn't save the country from dissolution. All the military actions committed during his presidency had to due with locations and interests with no direct effect on most citizens. Yeah, he helped improve the economy, but he didn't have to deal with a complete, utter and unprecidented failure in the system, where even the federal government doesn't seem to have the money to fund it's own programs, the credit markets seem to be drying up, and the ultimate damage on most people has yet to occur. That's why Bill only gets a gold star and a handshake, even if he had the ability to confront a calamity.
Dow dropping below 8,500. Nobody can buy their own home. Gas sucks. Debt sucks. A 10 trillion dollar national debt. Hell, I am more worried about the health of the national government than I am about what's happening on 'Main Street.' People are robust, and can watch their own backs; governments are transitory entities held together by enough consent from the governed, and enough power from the governors. And the governors are running out of cash. Ron Paul would probably pop a vein to see my analysis of this, but a successful president would get a lot of credit should he implent and support a variety of policies that turn around this financial failure.
Whoever wins the presidency will go down in history as one of the greats (FDR, Lincoln, Washington) or as one of the greatest asshats (Buchanan, Hoover, George Walker Bush). It doesn't matter how hard he tries, how many hours he puts into the job, how hard he sweats; the results are what matters. If he is unable to have a prominent hand in turning things around, historians will be likely to plant a big 'dunce' cap on him.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
How John McCain Broke My Heart (1st draft)
In 2002ish, he sang Barbara Steisand songs before a national TV audience.
http://politicalhumor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=politicalhumor&cdn=entertainment&tm=12&gps=22_13_600_498&f=00&tt=9&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//vodpod.com/watch/835874-mccain-sings-streisand
Even after reviewing the video now, I am sort of inclined to vote for him. Look at him with his microphone, and shameless love of making an ass out of himself. In that same episode, he played a creepy husband, and overzealous hippie school teacher. He fielded questions from Psuedo-Tim Russert.
Think of all the damn cliches. He had that spring in his step, that glint in his eye. You must respect a person who can stand up and make an ass of themself, then turn around and basically says, with a straight face, "I want to represent you in government. I want to use the tax money that the government takes from you, and use it for initiatives that will benefit our land."
I knew very little about his policies of that time. I did not know how long he had served as senator, or that he had served in The House. I did not know what division of the US armed forces he was in. I did not know who his wife was, or that she was his second spouse, and far younger than he. I did not know what legislation he introduced and helped pass. I only knew that he once ran for the Republican nomination for General Election of 2000, and that, if he ran again, he would be my first choice for president. Once I came of voting age. And bothered the vote.
I missed the 2004 election due to my age (I was 17) and missed the midterm election due to a friggin address issue that is my fault because I didn't stick a neddle in the gov't's eye long enough to make sure my application really get enterned into the system, and I ended up getting turned away on election day. I am definitely registered this time, as a Democrat in Queens. And I have learned that four years is a long time. A long time.
This has nothing to do with presidential terms. This has nothing to do with a senator's 6 year term, or Congressman's 2 year term. Nothing about Bush or Dick. Nothing about going from Colin to Rice. Just growing up is the thing. A person at 17 is several personalities away from who (s)he will be at 21. That just seems to be the law of life.
So, it's the very last day of high school. The very very last day. The seniors were forced to sit in the auditorium to watch a slideshow of photos of prom. And all of the pictures features just about the same circle of friends. Pay attention to the loud whispers in the audience, and you would notice more than one complaint about the students who set up the slide show.
People stay in their circles, no matter how physically small that circle. This was true in my high school. The teenage cliche of different cliques sitting in different lunch tables were pronounced in several different ways. We were a performance art high school, so creative writing majors might sit with their CW classmates. Actors with actors, artists with artists, sports players with sports players. Of course, people Simply came together due to similar interests.
And then there is the race thing. About over 50 percent of the people there, at Howard W. Blake High School in downtown Tampa, FL.
Malcolm X got it right, I feel, when he disparaged legal attempts at integration, and said the only real integration would happen in marriage. Now, he was defining real cultural integration too thin, but people can't just be allowed to hang out with each other. They can't be given gov't incentives to hang out together, do business. They have to willingly, with a limit on agenda, go up to the other person and say, "Hi, how are you. How was your day? What are your interests?" That quotes, and any embodiment of it performed sincerely, represents my image of integration. Something happens on a micro level between any two people. Fuck race. That's just a red herring for humanity's problems (but more on that some other time).
Let me just mention that some of the magnet school students in the school had a name for the rowdy kids: "Ghettys." As in Ghetto, not the gas station, chief.
Now, this apparently wasn't racist. Apparently. It was a reference to the perception of the school being pretty uncomfortable. Because a number of the student body enjoyed writing gang signs on the wall, and occasionally starting fights, and being rude to the women, and the most vocal of these rowdy people were black dudes. most of these black dudes were neighborhood students, from surrounding areas, including the housing project right across the street. The white kids getting bused in from other areas didn't aways appreciate the atmosphere, and the users of the ghetty word were more mostly white. And their defense of the word had to do with the perception of the rowdy kids being from an immature culture. A 'ghettoish' culture of cursing, disrespect for authority, homophobia, misogyny, reverse racism, at least from my view point.
Now I'm not going to spend too much time on the word ghetty, and it is an interesting subject to spend a good little time on, to try to get a 3D coverage of it, because that is really interest. So I will only state the opinion I had when I originally had and kept personal at the time: Let's face it. That shit is tap dancing on the border to racist. It is walking on the edge of racist. Simply because of the association, man. I mean, that word is suspicious.
And this essay is now officially wack and represents why 2nd drafts are a good idea. Never write an essay while often leaving the apt. to do laundry, or you will lose coherent train of thought, but this all has to do with indirectly shaping my perception of John McCain, our silver hair champion of liberty, free market, unborn fetuses, and Sarah Palin, the most promising and disappointing Vice-Pres candidate ever.
So, to some up high school, everyone was a ghetty, in some way. Self-righteous, sometimes petty, sometimes bereft of complete acceptance of others, very un-Carl-Rodgers-like And while I pretty much kept out of the ghettyness (overtly), it was soon to infect me, and blow up like HIV.
I DON'T have HIV.
But I do have the disease of ghettyness, the pervasive disease in the humanity. and when you act ghetto, you are ignorant of the fact.
Slipknot is an underrated band, by the way, though the lyrics of their latest single is pretty sloppy. Just so you know.
So in the fall of 2006, I went to college, and John McCain was two years into his fourth senate term. And I kept to myself, and took my spanish class, and other classes to finish the college's core requirement, and John McCain, who has been in the senator longer than I have been alive(!) prepped for his run for the presidency. And over this time, I noticed that his pupils had gotten bigger. His jowls hung lower than before.
His mom is in her 90s, and doing great. Okay.
And then his paternal grandfather died at 61. Okay.
And then his pop died at 70. Well, medicine has made advances since then, 1981. Okay.
And John S. McCain, III, senator from Arizona, is 72. The oldest man ever to run for office.
(quick McCain tidbit, "[McCain] recalls in his writings how, as a toddler, he sometimes held his breath and fainted during moments of fury." - Washington Post's Michael Leahy, regarding his infamous temper)
Is he crisp? Is it the best decision to run for
Will I get to 70, and think of 21 year old me as a presumptuous dweeb?
Hell, never mind his age. I just don't like his campaign. I dislike his he dismisses Obama's tax plan as merely raising taxes. I dislike how he blames his opponent for having no real plan, yet speaking in "Hooray terms" without substain. How are you going to reform the system, dude?
I agree with the Obama's policy toward companies that happen to pollute; simply set caps for how much they can pollute, and make them pay to go over that amount.
I am fond of his tax plan.
i am skeptical of his health plan, especially in this environment.
i am pleased with his policy on Iraq and Afghanistan, considering the past 7 years.
It's 11pm, and sleep must come, and the second draft of this will wait.
BUt if Ron Paul were still running, I'd vote for him. Seriously.
And Sarah Palin, what? She's a hardass lady. *Fill in blanks; I'm setting about watching her interview with Charlie Gibson, but so far it seems for some reason is NOT answering questions from the press. Wow.
Personal bitchyiness, personal ghettyness, internship, yada, yada.
Something something about Lincoln and Doris Goodwin Kearns, Team of Rivals is a great book.
Meditations on power, pride, Fidel Castro, people, why they go after all that responsibility. Do they really do this for other people? messiah complex. Obama, wanting him to lose to Clinton just so maybe he would get humbled. Because it was painful to figure things out. Blah blah
Okay, step by step, how are you going to reform things. I don't mind you holding back on precise details, but I'd like actual specific policies before I invest the next 4 years on you. you're making me have to dig up your plan, John.
research research
solution?
****
Hosanna to the highest! Our LOUD
*
Our LORD has cast down his cross, and immitation of sacrifice, he has painted red on his hands and feet. He dabs a part of his ribs with water from Aquafina, and says that he has been stabbed. And he cries what a voice, supported by loud speakers, "you are my children, and i am your father, who loves you, and cares for you, and
Our LORD ordered 'plumbers' to break into Watergate.
Our LORD bathed in White Water.
Our LORD flirts with pages.
Our LORD shot himself through the mouth.
Our LORD cheated on his wife.
Our LORD might actually not care that her husband cheats on her, but that's just a brief assumption.
Our LORD gets caught banging hookers after publicly condemning prostitution. The media pretty much ignores his state's severe deficit.
Our LORD onced fathered a part-black kid, and later made damn sure black people would have nothing to do with white people (what, dude, the mom break your heart or something?)
Our LORD is going to cut health insurance for underpriviledged children.
Our LORD is 9 trillion dollars in debt, and even cannot pay for at least (at least) over 400 billion in programs he wants to accomplish. He asked me for a loan, about 20 twenty dollars, just for laundry. I said, "Uh."
The LORD took our faith in Him, and very probably used it to hide child pornography in his computer (seriously! An assemblyman from New Jersey is accused of doing that!)
"My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
http://politicalhumor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=politicalhumor&cdn=entertainment&tm=12&gps=22_13_600_498&f=00&tt=9&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//vodpod.com/watch/835874-mccain-sings-streisand
Even after reviewing the video now, I am sort of inclined to vote for him. Look at him with his microphone, and shameless love of making an ass out of himself. In that same episode, he played a creepy husband, and overzealous hippie school teacher. He fielded questions from Psuedo-Tim Russert.
Think of all the damn cliches. He had that spring in his step, that glint in his eye. You must respect a person who can stand up and make an ass of themself, then turn around and basically says, with a straight face, "I want to represent you in government. I want to use the tax money that the government takes from you, and use it for initiatives that will benefit our land."
I knew very little about his policies of that time. I did not know how long he had served as senator, or that he had served in The House. I did not know what division of the US armed forces he was in. I did not know who his wife was, or that she was his second spouse, and far younger than he. I did not know what legislation he introduced and helped pass. I only knew that he once ran for the Republican nomination for General Election of 2000, and that, if he ran again, he would be my first choice for president. Once I came of voting age. And bothered the vote.
I missed the 2004 election due to my age (I was 17) and missed the midterm election due to a friggin address issue that is my fault because I didn't stick a neddle in the gov't's eye long enough to make sure my application really get enterned into the system, and I ended up getting turned away on election day. I am definitely registered this time, as a Democrat in Queens. And I have learned that four years is a long time. A long time.
This has nothing to do with presidential terms. This has nothing to do with a senator's 6 year term, or Congressman's 2 year term. Nothing about Bush or Dick. Nothing about going from Colin to Rice. Just growing up is the thing. A person at 17 is several personalities away from who (s)he will be at 21. That just seems to be the law of life.
So, it's the very last day of high school. The very very last day. The seniors were forced to sit in the auditorium to watch a slideshow of photos of prom. And all of the pictures features just about the same circle of friends. Pay attention to the loud whispers in the audience, and you would notice more than one complaint about the students who set up the slide show.
People stay in their circles, no matter how physically small that circle. This was true in my high school. The teenage cliche of different cliques sitting in different lunch tables were pronounced in several different ways. We were a performance art high school, so creative writing majors might sit with their CW classmates. Actors with actors, artists with artists, sports players with sports players. Of course, people Simply came together due to similar interests.
And then there is the race thing. About over 50 percent of the people there, at Howard W. Blake High School in downtown Tampa, FL.
Malcolm X got it right, I feel, when he disparaged legal attempts at integration, and said the only real integration would happen in marriage. Now, he was defining real cultural integration too thin, but people can't just be allowed to hang out with each other. They can't be given gov't incentives to hang out together, do business. They have to willingly, with a limit on agenda, go up to the other person and say, "Hi, how are you. How was your day? What are your interests?" That quotes, and any embodiment of it performed sincerely, represents my image of integration. Something happens on a micro level between any two people. Fuck race. That's just a red herring for humanity's problems (but more on that some other time).
Let me just mention that some of the magnet school students in the school had a name for the rowdy kids: "Ghettys." As in Ghetto, not the gas station, chief.
Now, this apparently wasn't racist. Apparently. It was a reference to the perception of the school being pretty uncomfortable. Because a number of the student body enjoyed writing gang signs on the wall, and occasionally starting fights, and being rude to the women, and the most vocal of these rowdy people were black dudes. most of these black dudes were neighborhood students, from surrounding areas, including the housing project right across the street. The white kids getting bused in from other areas didn't aways appreciate the atmosphere, and the users of the ghetty word were more mostly white. And their defense of the word had to do with the perception of the rowdy kids being from an immature culture. A 'ghettoish' culture of cursing, disrespect for authority, homophobia, misogyny, reverse racism, at least from my view point.
Now I'm not going to spend too much time on the word ghetty, and it is an interesting subject to spend a good little time on, to try to get a 3D coverage of it, because that is really interest. So I will only state the opinion I had when I originally had and kept personal at the time: Let's face it. That shit is tap dancing on the border to racist. It is walking on the edge of racist. Simply because of the association, man. I mean, that word is suspicious.
And this essay is now officially wack and represents why 2nd drafts are a good idea. Never write an essay while often leaving the apt. to do laundry, or you will lose coherent train of thought, but this all has to do with indirectly shaping my perception of John McCain, our silver hair champion of liberty, free market, unborn fetuses, and Sarah Palin, the most promising and disappointing Vice-Pres candidate ever.
So, to some up high school, everyone was a ghetty, in some way. Self-righteous, sometimes petty, sometimes bereft of complete acceptance of others, very un-Carl-Rodgers-like And while I pretty much kept out of the ghettyness (overtly), it was soon to infect me, and blow up like HIV.
I DON'T have HIV.
But I do have the disease of ghettyness, the pervasive disease in the humanity. and when you act ghetto, you are ignorant of the fact.
Slipknot is an underrated band, by the way, though the lyrics of their latest single is pretty sloppy. Just so you know.
So in the fall of 2006, I went to college, and John McCain was two years into his fourth senate term. And I kept to myself, and took my spanish class, and other classes to finish the college's core requirement, and John McCain, who has been in the senator longer than I have been alive(!) prepped for his run for the presidency. And over this time, I noticed that his pupils had gotten bigger. His jowls hung lower than before.
His mom is in her 90s, and doing great. Okay.
And then his paternal grandfather died at 61. Okay.
And then his pop died at 70. Well, medicine has made advances since then, 1981. Okay.
And John S. McCain, III, senator from Arizona, is 72. The oldest man ever to run for office.
(quick McCain tidbit, "[McCain] recalls in his writings how, as a toddler, he sometimes held his breath and fainted during moments of fury." - Washington Post's Michael Leahy, regarding his infamous temper)
Is he crisp? Is it the best decision to run for
Will I get to 70, and think of 21 year old me as a presumptuous dweeb?
Hell, never mind his age. I just don't like his campaign. I dislike his he dismisses Obama's tax plan as merely raising taxes. I dislike how he blames his opponent for having no real plan, yet speaking in "Hooray terms" without substain. How are you going to reform the system, dude?
I agree with the Obama's policy toward companies that happen to pollute; simply set caps for how much they can pollute, and make them pay to go over that amount.
I am fond of his tax plan.
i am skeptical of his health plan, especially in this environment.
i am pleased with his policy on Iraq and Afghanistan, considering the past 7 years.
It's 11pm, and sleep must come, and the second draft of this will wait.
BUt if Ron Paul were still running, I'd vote for him. Seriously.
And Sarah Palin, what? She's a hardass lady. *Fill in blanks; I'm setting about watching her interview with Charlie Gibson, but so far it seems for some reason is NOT answering questions from the press. Wow.
Personal bitchyiness, personal ghettyness, internship, yada, yada.
Something something about Lincoln and Doris Goodwin Kearns, Team of Rivals is a great book.
Meditations on power, pride, Fidel Castro, people, why they go after all that responsibility. Do they really do this for other people? messiah complex. Obama, wanting him to lose to Clinton just so maybe he would get humbled. Because it was painful to figure things out. Blah blah
Okay, step by step, how are you going to reform things. I don't mind you holding back on precise details, but I'd like actual specific policies before I invest the next 4 years on you. you're making me have to dig up your plan, John.
research research
solution?
****
Hosanna to the highest! Our LOUD
*
Our LORD has cast down his cross, and immitation of sacrifice, he has painted red on his hands and feet. He dabs a part of his ribs with water from Aquafina, and says that he has been stabbed. And he cries what a voice, supported by loud speakers, "you are my children, and i am your father, who loves you, and cares for you, and
Our LORD ordered 'plumbers' to break into Watergate.
Our LORD bathed in White Water.
Our LORD flirts with pages.
Our LORD shot himself through the mouth.
Our LORD cheated on his wife.
Our LORD might actually not care that her husband cheats on her, but that's just a brief assumption.
Our LORD gets caught banging hookers after publicly condemning prostitution. The media pretty much ignores his state's severe deficit.
Our LORD onced fathered a part-black kid, and later made damn sure black people would have nothing to do with white people (what, dude, the mom break your heart or something?)
Our LORD is going to cut health insurance for underpriviledged children.
Our LORD is 9 trillion dollars in debt, and even cannot pay for at least (at least) over 400 billion in programs he wants to accomplish. He asked me for a loan, about 20 twenty dollars, just for laundry. I said, "Uh."
The LORD took our faith in Him, and very probably used it to hide child pornography in his computer (seriously! An assemblyman from New Jersey is accused of doing that!)
"My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Casting The Muppets/Sesame Street 2008 Presidential Campaign Movie
* Barack Obama -- Kermit the Frog
* John McCain -- Kermit the Frog, with a white wig
* Sarah Palin / Hillary Clinton / Cindy McCain -- Miss Piggy (Who else can do all three?)
* Joseph Biden -- Gonzo
* Ted Kennedy -- Fozzie Bear
* Bob Barr -- The Swedish Chef
* Fred Thompson -- Mr. Snuffleupaguses
* Pat Buchanan -- Statler
* Robert Byrd, Senator and former member of the KKK -- Waldorf
* Sean Hannity -- Bert
* Alan Colmes -- Ernie
* Bill O'Reilly -- Oscar the Grouch
* Al Franken -- Scooter
* Oprah -- Nanny
* various protesters -- Animal
* John McCain -- Kermit the Frog, with a white wig
* Sarah Palin / Hillary Clinton / Cindy McCain -- Miss Piggy (Who else can do all three?)
* Joseph Biden -- Gonzo
* Ted Kennedy -- Fozzie Bear
* Bob Barr -- The Swedish Chef
* Fred Thompson -- Mr. Snuffleupaguses
* Pat Buchanan -- Statler
* Robert Byrd, Senator and former member of the KKK -- Waldorf
* Sean Hannity -- Bert
* Alan Colmes -- Ernie
* Bill O'Reilly -- Oscar the Grouch
* Al Franken -- Scooter
* Oprah -- Nanny
* various protesters -- Animal
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