Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

On Politics, Star Wars, the NBA and Voltron – Part II

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Yeah, I know that you’re saying to yourself, “No really, what does Voltron have to do with anything.” Ok, here goes.

There are a lot of people in this country that truly believe that every Democrat, liberal, progressive, or whatever you want to call yourself is nothing more than a baby-killing, Communist, fascist, snobby wackjob. Well, they’re right (for the most part). The other half of the country things that every Republican, right-wing, tea partyist is nothing more than a war-mongering, Capitalist, polluting, racist redneck. And you know what, they’re right, too (for the most part). There was a time when I disagreed with a lot of that, but then I actually had time to listen to these morons that we elect every even year.

Ok, the oil spill in the Gulf is a big story, right? How is this not the biggest story of ALL TIME? We’re still talking about the Euro, and the stock market, immigration in Arizona, Greece. Obama hears BP’s newest plan to cap the leak, and says, “Go for it.” And the plan fails. If this had happened in the Bush years, would everyone be reacting the same way? Wouldn’t we be hearing about how Bush is single-handedly destroying the world? Wouldn’t John Stewart stroke out with the limitless opportunities for taking down a Republican? Seriously, why is the oil company allowed to try and ‘save’ the well over and over again, while the oil destroys everything? Obama’s all, “Let BP stop the leak.” And that’s all we can do? How about we bring in the Army Corps of Engineers and all the badasses that stopped the Kuwait oil fires? Drop a couple of megatons of high explosives and blow the hole closed!

The sad thing is that even if Bush had done exactly that and closed the hole days after it opened, he would be getting more flak from the left that Obama is for leaving it open for weeks.

So you’re thinking that I’m a right-winger, right? Well, not quite. I’ve paid enough attention to know that the politicians of both sides are just lying to us. What really changed for having Bush around for eight years. Weren’t we promised a smaller government that worked better and was less oppressive. How did we end up with a much larger government that deregulated by just not watching anymore. Deregulation was supposed to be about making it easier to do business the right way, not about bribing your way to no oversight and milking the stock market for a couple of billion dollars.

Some of you may say that this is the way that it’s always been, and that may well be true. It just took me a little bit longer to see it and realize where I stood with things. Most people view themselves as belonging to one side of the political spectrum, just like I used to. But just like my time with 80′s cartoons, aligning yourself with a political viewpoint is silly and unwatchable.

We continue to Star Wars and the NBA and some more politics too.

On Politics, Star Wars, the NBA and Voltron – Part I

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

There are a number of things that I can now look back on and realize that they are not how I remember them. Memory is a very strange thing. We seem to remember how we felt about a certain thing rather then remembering exactly what a thing was. Allow me to elaborate.

Voltron.

Yes, the giant robot lions that can transform into a giant robot sword-wielding space dude was just about the most awesome thing that ever struck my 7-year-old eyes back in the mid-80′s. Other kids were enthralled by He-Man or G.I. Joe, but I was a die-hard Voltron-holic. I had the toys and played with them constantly (hell, I still have them in the garage). Long after the show was on the air, I continued to remember Voltron with good feelings.

Then the internet was invented.

That is just about the worst thing I have ever seen. How did I like this? Was every kid in the 80′s an idiot, or was it just me? I hope it wasn’t just me? That’s right, I’m hoping that we were all idiots. Hooray for the future of the country.

So what does this have to do with do with politics or the NBA or anything at all? Well, it’s like this. The things that I believed and treasured in the past aren’t necessarily the things that I treasure now. I still love the idea of Voltron. What’s not to love about giant space robots? But the show itself is unwatchable. I’ve changed. Most people don’t really care that I used to watch Voltron, but now I can’t stand the seizure-inducing train-wreck of a cartoon. Politically, I used to accept everyone and everything on the right and automatically despise all things left. Things change.

Continued soon.

Truly LOL

Monday, January 26th, 2009

I have rarely blurted out in laughter so loudly in the middle of the night and risked waking up my wife after hearing something on the TV, but the following made me do just that.
Personally, I would say something along the lines of bumping fists, but, yeah. Woah.

Tax Alert

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

You only have 6 days left to file your taxes.  Of course you’ve been planning for this day for an entire year and now that it’s here and you know you’ll be receiving a huge refund, you filed two weeks ago.  Or you’re like me and you decided to wait for the very last payday possible instead of kiting a check on Uncle Sam.

Even if you’re one of the people who don’t file taxes usually, you should this year because that’s the only way you’ll get your hands on that rebate check the government passed so ‘quickly’ in order to avert recession.  I guess their definition of fast and my definition of fast differ on a fundamental level.  Or maybe it’s an East Coast thing I just don’t understand.

So go fill out that 1040EZ and make sure you keep a copy for yourself.

Tell Me What You Want Me to Feel

Friday, March 21st, 2008

CNN is interesting.  They’ve had three different takes on what is ruffly the same story today.  First the news that Obama’s passport info had been breached – just a regular story but the one that gets the biggest picture on the home page.  Later they put n their red stripe across the top that there is BREAKING NEWS – Clinton’s passport info has been breached.  Now they have decided the story isn’t all that important but not quite as unimportant as it originally was so we have a yellow stripe DEVELOPING STORY – all three presidential candidates’ passport files have been breached.

Now I’m not one to form my own opinions, I need someone to do that for me and CNN is the source I have chosen.  Exactly how am I supposed to feel about this?   Is this just another day at the beach, horrifying or something I might want to be concerned about later?  I hope they figure out how I’m supposed to feel about this soon, because all I’ve got to go on right now is anxiety.

Can You Denounce But Not Reject?

Friday, March 14th, 2008

Like I said, I read too much news.  But how else would I be able to bring this post to you.

Remmeber a couple months ago,  Farrakhan said something that people didn’t like and there was a todo about how Obama denounced what was said but did not reject it?

Well this time it seems Obama’s pastor said something people don’t like (7 years ago and it was pretty awful in my opinion). But Obama has learned from previous complaints and if people need him to BOTH denounce and reject, he will.

Quoting from the CNN article: “I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country…. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue.”

Let there be no misunderstanding this time.

Geraldine Ferraro Stikes Again

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

Apparently Geraldine Ferraro is still out there.  I don’t remember much about her from when she was running for office with Mondale – just that she was the first woman to do so.

But now there’s her recent comment about Obama only being where he is because he’s black.  The whole quote confused me a bit.  I’m not sure what her point was supposed to be.  There was something about not getting to where he was if he were a woman of any color and something about only being there because he’s a black man.

I think she might have been saying he’s only ahead of Clinton because he’s a he – not that he got there because he’s a BLACK man but because he’s a black MAN.

So she’s not racist, she’s sexist.

Party Politics

Friday, March 7th, 2008

In a weird twist of events, CNN is reporting that neither Obama nor Clinton can win the Democratic nomination unless Florida and Michigan get their delegates counted.  Some are calling for a redo of the primary or caucus (whichever it was they held) so that the rules set by the DNC will no longer have been broken.

If they do so, I think it indicates that Clinton will win since she won both of those races when they were held the first time.  Then again, Obama wasn’t on the ballot at the time.   Then again, there’s no reason to believe that he would have win.  Then again, we don’t even know if there will be a redo.

Ok I guess we just wait and see.  Why, oh why can’t these people make decisions before the end of a news cycle so I can find out what’s going on?

Third Party Candidate

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

Keep your eyes peeled for the possibility of a new entrant into the presidential race. It is rumored that Ralph Nadar is going to throw his hat into the ring when he appears on “Meet the Press” this Sunday. The rumor is based on the information that he formed an exploratory campaign last month and that in 2004 he announced his bid on the same show.

If he does make a run, you’ll at least know who the winner won’t be.

Cuba Regime Change?

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

Fidel Castro made it official today – he’s retiring.  But this doesn’t really mean anything has changed since his brother is expected to be ‘elected’ by the other leaders of the country as the next dictator.  The United States has said sanctions will not be lifted but that they hope this news will enable coutries around the world to help Cuba develop a democracy.

I read a brief history about him and was surprised to see that by the time he was my age, he’d conquered a country.  It makes me feel like I’ve been sitting on my duff.  But then again, maybe it was just alot easier to overthrow governments back in the 50s and I don’t have to be so down on myself. :)

Inflammatory Statement Issued (by me)

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

The caucus process confuses me. You’ve got your Dem delegates and your Rep delegates; you’ve got your super-delegates too; there are penalties for holding a caucus too early but those delegates might be given back at some point. At no point do people actually get to directly vote for who they are nominating or who they want to win the presidency. It doesn’t seem like the most democratic process to me. (I know, I know – we’re a republic, but still…)

Ah, I am SO inflammatory.

Dewey and Obama

Friday, January 11th, 2008

The Obama defeat in New Hampshire reminded me of the “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline from the 40s – wrong because they didn’t wait for the results.  Although I don’t know what poll it was that put Obama ahead by double digits, no  poll I’ve seen has had a margin of error that large so the results were just plain wrong.  It kinda nice to know that even in an age where so much importance is placed on polls that the variable of people changing their minds cannot be statistically removed from the equation.

Super delegates

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

Little did I know how un-democratic the Democratic party truly is.

At their convention this summer there will be 4,040 Democratic delegates voting to choose which member of their party will be on the 2008 presidential election. However, almost one out of five of those delegates will not have been chosen by any of the state primaries or caucuses. Instead they are various party members, congressmen, and other elected officials called superdelegates. These are assigned by the party to vote for whoever they want.

Hard to call the process Democratic when 20% of the votes don’t come from the people.

New Hampshire primary 2008

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

With the results being tabulated as we speak, McCain looks like he’s going to take away the nomination from New Hampshire. Even being from Arizona, I didn’t think that McCain would be able to pull this one off with all of the focus being on the new blood in the campaigns. Until today it seemed that voters were leaning away from the standard politicians and towards new people, younger people, with new ideas.

On the other hand, McCain has always been somewhat of a maverick, so maybe he fits right in with all of the other delegates in this year’s election.

The Democratic race is still too close to call at this point in time, but Hillary is currently in the lead. Again, I am a little surprised. I thought after the trouncing she took in Iowa that voters would be jumping from the Clinton ship and into the arms of other popular candidates.

We’ll all see soon enough.

Caucuses Begin

Friday, January 4th, 2008

Looks like Obama and Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses last night.  And now this is supposed to set a precedent for the rest of the country by instantly making them the front runners in their parties.  It’s amazing that a state with less than 1% of the population can have historically had so much clout in the final results just by being the first to hold a caucus.