Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Some People Say
It's not just Fox News, but still incredibly grating to the ear, particularly after you watch this. Outfoxed is a great piece of attack film, by the way.
When I took Journalism 101, I was always told to never quote or paraphrase the words of others without attribution. While in certain situations the use of unnamed sources is ethical, as in the case of whistle blowers, one should quote or paraphrase them very, very rarely, extremely carefully, and only as a last resort, i.e. if the information they present cannot be obtained through any other source. It's also important, when using unnamed sources, to provide some context to what you do decide to use, and provide justification for your source remaining unnamed. The ethical foundation of this is self evident.
Apparently if I had pursued this degree, I would have learned in a 400-level class that it's completely ethical to insert my own opinion, or my boss's, using this phrase.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Pounding the Table
There's an old lawyer's maxim that:
New RNC chair Michael Steele is quoted to have said: "Not in the history of mankind has the government ever created a job."
Really? Really?
There are all sorts of things you could say about how much the stimulus bill sucks that would be rooted in truth and to which I could grudgingly agree. Do that. All I see are counter factual arguments, from FDR's New Deal making the Depression worse, to now, apparently, this.
In high school I had to write a critical essay on a book that I didn't want to read. So I skimmed through the book, picked a few quotes, and summoned all my powers of bullshit to fill the paper out to the required length. I failed in a completely spectacular way.
What I selected to base my entire opposing position was, in fact, so completely divorced from the range of the book that my paper was marked up almost entirely with "???" and "see me after class," and "buggery means sodomy, is that really what you're trying to say?" I will always remember the lesson, which could be summed up in the famous quote of physicist Wolfgang Pauli, "That's not right. It's not even wrong."
If the law is on your side, pound the law; if the facts are on your side, pound the facts; if neither is in your side, pound the table.Usually, to understand what the national party is doing on any given issue, it's best to get your hands on the actual talking points, as opposed to trying to pierce the veil of any given politician's ignorance of the topic. But has political ideology become so completely postmodern that it simply no longer possible for both sides to agree on basic historical facts? I've grown increasingly concerned about this. Republicans seem to be simply pounding the table on the stimulus bill with patently false condemnations.
New RNC chair Michael Steele is quoted to have said: "Not in the history of mankind has the government ever created a job."
Really? Really?
There are all sorts of things you could say about how much the stimulus bill sucks that would be rooted in truth and to which I could grudgingly agree. Do that. All I see are counter factual arguments, from FDR's New Deal making the Depression worse, to now, apparently, this.
In high school I had to write a critical essay on a book that I didn't want to read. So I skimmed through the book, picked a few quotes, and summoned all my powers of bullshit to fill the paper out to the required length. I failed in a completely spectacular way.
What I selected to base my entire opposing position was, in fact, so completely divorced from the range of the book that my paper was marked up almost entirely with "???" and "see me after class," and "buggery means sodomy, is that really what you're trying to say?" I will always remember the lesson, which could be summed up in the famous quote of physicist Wolfgang Pauli, "That's not right. It's not even wrong."
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Oh for Fuck's Sake.
HHS Secretary appointee Tom Daschle is a crooked, sumbitch tax cheat!
I think that maybe having our gonna-have-to-spend-a-whole-lot-more secretaries and other cabinet-level officials cheating on their taxes is pretty disappointing. Maybe that's just me.
There's two things that piss me off:
One, it's the stupidity of accepting a nomination in which you know your tax cheating will be exposed. These are not just failures of personal morality, these are issues of judgment, and I seriously doubt Daschle's.
Two, it's the gall to ask me to not call for his head once his stupidity is exposed. It isn't the tax cheating that gets me, I already assume anyone with any money does it. It's that people who engage in criminal behavior still have a shot at getting confirmed. WTF happened to ethics and statesmanship? How much douchebaggery creates an acceptable level of scandal for that person to resign? It's insulting to me.
Daschle must go not because he's a fucking criminal, I'm not that idealistic. He's gotta go because if health care reform, which is important to me, is a priority of this administration, the HHS secretary is going to have to be the one to sell it to the American people in front of Congress. I'd just assume not have it sold to the public by an idiotic douche bag.
I think that maybe having our gonna-have-to-spend-a-whole-lot-more secretaries and other cabinet-level officials cheating on their taxes is pretty disappointing. Maybe that's just me.
There's two things that piss me off:
One, it's the stupidity of accepting a nomination in which you know your tax cheating will be exposed. These are not just failures of personal morality, these are issues of judgment, and I seriously doubt Daschle's.
Two, it's the gall to ask me to not call for his head once his stupidity is exposed. It isn't the tax cheating that gets me, I already assume anyone with any money does it. It's that people who engage in criminal behavior still have a shot at getting confirmed. WTF happened to ethics and statesmanship? How much douchebaggery creates an acceptable level of scandal for that person to resign? It's insulting to me.
Daschle must go not because he's a fucking criminal, I'm not that idealistic. He's gotta go because if health care reform, which is important to me, is a priority of this administration, the HHS secretary is going to have to be the one to sell it to the American people in front of Congress. I'd just assume not have it sold to the public by an idiotic douche bag.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Follow-Up to "Infuriating"
This will probably come as quite a shock to you, but even as I wrote that the Republicans were doing their best to water down the stimulus bill in the house, I knew they would never vote for it.
And not a single one did.
So I just wanted to say here, "I told you so," because I told you so.
It's just as easy, if not easier, to show you how this will work in the Senate.
And not a single one did.
So I just wanted to say here, "I told you so," because I told you so.
It's just as easy, if not easier, to show you how this will work in the Senate.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Infuriating.
Far from rolling over, House Republican leaders are trying to win concessions from President Obama over the massive economic stimulus package and have proffered a bill of their own to put on the negotiating table.
The counter-package would shift focus entirely from spending to tax relief. Though a full House vote on the Democratic package is expected in a matter of hours and President Obama said he's confident it will pass, GOP lawmakers are hoping their substitute proposal at least influences the final product.
Infuriating, but not surprising.
Official Pictorial Record of Congress, 2006-2008:
Monday, January 26, 2009
Biggest Game of Poker Ever.
The players: The American Government, Chinese Lending Institutions, American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry, the European Union, and Americans Who Shop at the Mall.
The American Government keeps getting shit hands, and is down about 5 years salary. They have a magic bag that produces unlimited chips from the Chinese Lending Institutions.
The Chinese Lending Institutions are not even playing a hand, they only play Go with friends back home. They're just betting on the American Government's hand with chips made from panda bear habitat.
The American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry has been bluffing fast and loose with a huge amount of bravado. This infuriates the European Union, who then proceed to copy him. However, the American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry knows that the American Government will spot him whatever he loses at the end of the game, and in fact has already given him decals he can put on his $5 chips to make them appear to be $50 chips. The American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry thanks the American Government with a gift of a $500 chip, which is really only one of those $5 chips that he's put his own decal on. The American Government wonders how anybody got a $500 chip at a $100 table, but they're not about to seriously ask any questions.
The European Union was sitting on two pair, kings and jacks, but noticed that since American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry drew 3 cards, they needed to draw 4. Now they realize they've given up a possible full house for a pair of treys and a queen. Their chips are exceedingly better made than the American chips, and come in 13 different colors, but they've set a goal of reducing this amount to only 3 colors by 2018. If they lose too many of them, Russia will pick a huge fight when they get home.
The Americans Who Shop at the Mall have no idea what they're doing. They need to lose some weight, and since they've seen it on ESPN, they figure poker must be pretty athletic. All they really know about it is that if they bet as much as they can for as long as they can, they might impress the hot chick that's been sitting with the American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry. Unsure how to play, they keep asking everyone else to teach them. The European Union keeps giving the Americans Who Shop at the Mall consistently good advice, which is automatically dismissed. They rely solely on the judgment of the American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry, who now owns their cars, houses, and children's college funds. Increasingly, they are uneasy about the Chinese Lending Institutions, who keep waving shiny plastic trinkets in front of them, which they immediately buy, remarking on their low price. Both the American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry and American Government have pressured Americans who Shop at the Mall to go all in, which they do, bewildered.
The American Government calls and shows a pair of deuces. The Chinese Lending Institutions ask for some of their chips back, which the American Government produces from the magic bag.
The EU folds.
The American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry has an ace.
The Americans Who Shop at the Mall have three sevens and two aces, which the American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry immediately foreclose on, while selling two junk cards to the American Government for $1.2 trillion. The Americans Who Shop at the Mall call on the American Government for help against this unfairness, and the American Government responds by giving the Americans Who Shop at the Mall one of its deuces, saying that it's worth two aces in blackjack, which they should learn to play in community college.
The American Government keeps getting shit hands, and is down about 5 years salary. They have a magic bag that produces unlimited chips from the Chinese Lending Institutions.
The Chinese Lending Institutions are not even playing a hand, they only play Go with friends back home. They're just betting on the American Government's hand with chips made from panda bear habitat.
The American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry has been bluffing fast and loose with a huge amount of bravado. This infuriates the European Union, who then proceed to copy him. However, the American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry knows that the American Government will spot him whatever he loses at the end of the game, and in fact has already given him decals he can put on his $5 chips to make them appear to be $50 chips. The American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry thanks the American Government with a gift of a $500 chip, which is really only one of those $5 chips that he's put his own decal on. The American Government wonders how anybody got a $500 chip at a $100 table, but they're not about to seriously ask any questions.
The European Union was sitting on two pair, kings and jacks, but noticed that since American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry drew 3 cards, they needed to draw 4. Now they realize they've given up a possible full house for a pair of treys and a queen. Their chips are exceedingly better made than the American chips, and come in 13 different colors, but they've set a goal of reducing this amount to only 3 colors by 2018. If they lose too many of them, Russia will pick a huge fight when they get home.
The Americans Who Shop at the Mall have no idea what they're doing. They need to lose some weight, and since they've seen it on ESPN, they figure poker must be pretty athletic. All they really know about it is that if they bet as much as they can for as long as they can, they might impress the hot chick that's been sitting with the American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry. Unsure how to play, they keep asking everyone else to teach them. The European Union keeps giving the Americans Who Shop at the Mall consistently good advice, which is automatically dismissed. They rely solely on the judgment of the American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry, who now owns their cars, houses, and children's college funds. Increasingly, they are uneasy about the Chinese Lending Institutions, who keep waving shiny plastic trinkets in front of them, which they immediately buy, remarking on their low price. Both the American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry and American Government have pressured Americans who Shop at the Mall to go all in, which they do, bewildered.
The American Government calls and shows a pair of deuces. The Chinese Lending Institutions ask for some of their chips back, which the American Government produces from the magic bag.
The EU folds.
The American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry has an ace.
The Americans Who Shop at the Mall have three sevens and two aces, which the American Commercial Banking & Finance Industry immediately foreclose on, while selling two junk cards to the American Government for $1.2 trillion. The Americans Who Shop at the Mall call on the American Government for help against this unfairness, and the American Government responds by giving the Americans Who Shop at the Mall one of its deuces, saying that it's worth two aces in blackjack, which they should learn to play in community college.
Testicular Fortitude.
Impeachment proceedings against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich are scheduled to begin Monday in the state Senate, but the embattled governor is expected to skip the trial and instead appear on several television programs.
Now, look. The man is in a difficult spot. He can't defend himself at the impeachment because he's in the middle of a criminal case. So going to the proceedings would be pointless. But you don't have to go on national television, piss off your lawyer and have him resign, compare yourself to Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and I forget the third guy, Jesus Christ, probably. You don't do that. You say you have evidence that proves your innocence? Show it at the trial, and shut the fuck up until then.I can't say this is totally shocking coming from a man who blackmailed a children's hospital for campaign contributions.
It's clear by now that he's just doing whatever he wants. He said today that he considered Oprah for Obama's senate seat that eventually went to Roland Burris. Oprah? Fuck it, why not. He has nothing to lose, he might as well get as crazy as he wants and enjoy it. He'll have a few years in a federal prison to write his book, and the crazier he is right now the more stuff he can write about.
Anyway, as long as you're not pretending to govern, knock yourself out, man. Just don't touch the state stuff, let the grown ups do that.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Finally President
Now all there is to do is wait for the next constitutional crisis, which will immediately ensue after the election of the first mute to the Presidency.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Nobody could have predicted...
The Onion, January 17, 2001.
Spent billions on new weapons systems? Check.
Slashed social services? Check.
Gulf war? Check.
250% Military Spending Increase? Check (Only doubled it, if you don't count Iraq/Afghanistan).
Impinged upon a woman's right to choose? Check.
Disenfranchisement of African Americans? Check.
How could they not have predicted how he could have overseen the destruction of a major American city?
How could they not have predicted how he would permit torture of suspects?
How could they not have predicted how he would politicize the Justice Department?
I guess some things even the Onion thinks are a little unbelievable.
My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."Fucked up the national parks? Check.Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.
During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.
"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?"
Spent billions on new weapons systems? Check.
Slashed social services? Check.
Gulf war? Check.
250% Military Spending Increase? Check (Only doubled it, if you don't count Iraq/Afghanistan).
Impinged upon a woman's right to choose? Check.
Disenfranchisement of African Americans? Check.
How could they not have predicted how he could have overseen the destruction of a major American city?
How could they not have predicted how he would permit torture of suspects?
How could they not have predicted how he would politicize the Justice Department?
I guess some things even the Onion thinks are a little unbelievable.
Centrist
One of the many problems a leftist has with a Democratic centrist is Republicans are much better at shifting the Overton Window than we are, so any "compromise" is really a 75/25 split, in their favor.
Quote of the Day
Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
Militant Democrat.
I think we got pretty good at developing various rules of thumb to anticipate what Bush was going to do. Obama is a different person, but he is not the opposite of Bush. So we are going to have to develop new ways to anticipate his actions. It will take time, considering we've been creating, tweaking, and using our usual ways for the past 8 years.
I don't know what Obama is going to do, and you don't either. I'm not a policy expert, and you aren't either, so stop talking about what he should do.
(I will follow this up later with many posts explaining what Obama should do.)
I don't know what Obama is going to do, and you don't either. I'm not a policy expert, and you aren't either, so stop talking about what he should do.
(I will follow this up later with many posts explaining what Obama should do.)
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thomas Friedman.
Name one thing Thomas Friedman has ever said that is true, or has turned out to be true.
One fucking thing.
I'm not even sure he's done the basic research to know his own surname.
A
nd now he's on the TV telling me all I need to know about the stimulus, and the housing crisis, and what Obama should do, what he shouldn't do, etc.
Seriously, I want that gig. I can make up bullshit and say it convincingly, too. I can even stare at my interviewer and raise my eyebrow, just like him.
Let me be a tool, too! I can be your corporate tool, your industry spokesman, your foreign policy monkey, your war-selling hack! I can bring my own bullshit perspective and wildly inaccurate sense of Zeitgeist to continue the narrative that I am smart and insightful. Fuck! Of course I am capable of knowing everything, I am a columnist for the New York Times! I buck conventional wisdom by using conventional wisdom to sell my conventional ideas--WITHOUT ANY INNATE CONCEPT OF HOW SUCH THINGS WORK! Correlation can imply causation if we really want it to because this is America! I can sell your bullshit with a dramatic flourish of eyebrow gesticulations
and blunt invective against cultures I do not understand! I once had to rent a Lincoln, because they were out of imports at the airport! Americans can still make quality cars! I drove one for 3 days! I know! I wasn't even that embarrassed! I had a kid from the neighborhood program the time on my laserdisc player! Let's see a Nigerian kid do that! America is special and is going to win! 
But we should still give all of our Betamax shit to Nigeria so they can create their own Hollywood, because rich celebrities make regular people want to succeed, and this is how you make Africa prosperous. What part of this sentence do you not understand? Fuck! I peer at you from under my eyebrows so you know I'm serious, and so you know that I know I just won the argument I just decided to have! 
Do you see how easy I make it? Tell me where you want me to go to be wrong about something! I can be wherever you need me--I have an Orvis catalog in the shitter, I am prepared for anything! Let me be your Friedman monkey! Suck. On. This! 
Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! We can use the money from the oil to pay for it all! We can bury the dead Iraqis in a large pit and put something heavy on top, like the corpse of the antiquated Fourth Amendment, and in 6 more months we'll have more oil! 
This is what Americans want! If we give $18 trillion to the banks our crisis is solved in 5-6 months! What we have GOT to figure out is that we. can. not. stop. listening. to. columnists. who. insert. dramatic. pauses. into. sentences. they. wish. to. emphasize. on. TV--or we lose to Islam and variable interest rates!
Oh God damn. I almost began sweating in my mock turtleneck, gripped with fear that someone would be onto my game and call me the fool I am! I was wrong. Thomas Friedman, no one can do what you do, day after day, month after month, half year after half year.
One fucking thing.
I'm not even sure he's done the basic research to know his own surname.
A
nd now he's on the TV telling me all I need to know about the stimulus, and the housing crisis, and what Obama should do, what he shouldn't do, etc.
Seriously, I want that gig. I can make up bullshit and say it convincingly, too. I can even stare at my interviewer and raise my eyebrow, just like him.
Let me be a tool, too! I can be your corporate tool, your industry spokesman, your foreign policy monkey, your war-selling hack! I can bring my own bullshit perspective and wildly inaccurate sense of Zeitgeist to continue the narrative that I am smart and insightful. Fuck! Of course I am capable of knowing everything, I am a columnist for the New York Times! I buck conventional wisdom by using conventional wisdom to sell my conventional ideas--WITHOUT ANY INNATE CONCEPT OF HOW SUCH THINGS WORK! Correlation can imply causation if we really want it to because this is America! I can sell your bullshit with a dramatic flourish of eyebrow gesticulations
and blunt invective against cultures I do not understand! I once had to rent a Lincoln, because they were out of imports at the airport! Americans can still make quality cars! I drove one for 3 days! I know! I wasn't even that embarrassed! I had a kid from the neighborhood program the time on my laserdisc player! Let's see a Nigerian kid do that! America is special and is going to win! 
But we should still give all of our Betamax shit to Nigeria so they can create their own Hollywood, because rich celebrities make regular people want to succeed, and this is how you make Africa prosperous. What part of this sentence do you not understand? Fuck! I peer at you from under my eyebrows so you know I'm serious, and so you know that I know I just won the argument I just decided to have! 
Do you see how easy I make it? Tell me where you want me to go to be wrong about something! I can be wherever you need me--I have an Orvis catalog in the shitter, I am prepared for anything! Let me be your Friedman monkey! Suck. On. This! 
Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! Six more months and victory in Iraq! We can use the money from the oil to pay for it all! We can bury the dead Iraqis in a large pit and put something heavy on top, like the corpse of the antiquated Fourth Amendment, and in 6 more months we'll have more oil! 
This is what Americans want! If we give $18 trillion to the banks our crisis is solved in 5-6 months! What we have GOT to figure out is that we. can. not. stop. listening. to. columnists. who. insert. dramatic. pauses. into. sentences. they. wish. to. emphasize. on. TV--or we lose to Islam and variable interest rates!
Oh God damn. I almost began sweating in my mock turtleneck, gripped with fear that someone would be onto my game and call me the fool I am! I was wrong. Thomas Friedman, no one can do what you do, day after day, month after month, half year after half year.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Your side lost more than the election.
No charges will be presented against the so-called 20th hijacker of the 9/11 attacks because he was tortured. He remains in custody at this moment solely because of your illegal policy of indefinite detention.
Also, you fucking dickless wonders,
Since 2002, 61 former detainees have committed or are suspected to have committed attacks after being released from the detention camp [at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba], Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said at a briefing Tuesday.
So let me ask you something, you vile detestable pigs, what exactly have you done to prevent terrorism? Even if you assume these assholes are terrorists, and even if you don't feel obliged to follow the Constitution, you had to have known that the detention of these people would eventually be overturned. You had to have known that these people would be freed. And you mistreated them. You abused them. You tortured them. If any of these people were innocent of the charges you NEVER FILED AGAINST THEM, what did you think would happen when they got out? Wave the goddamn flag?
You engaged in actions that you knew would not be sustainable, that you knew were illegal, and that you knew would possibly lead to more violence against the United States at a later date, and still you did it. You knowingly violated the Constitution of the United States, hurt her image at home and abroad, and left her in more danger than she was at the beginning. And you motherfuckers like to throw around the word "traitor?"
Monday, January 12, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
