I voted for Obama because i wanted to see “change.” However, I think my definition of change was more along the lines of “Let’s give someone besides a silver-haired Republican white male a chance.” than “Obama won, now i won’t have to pay rent!” kinda change.
I get the vibe from a lot of people that they voted for a freebie, like this “redistribution of wealth” thing meant that they would be off the hook from their taxes, or working for a living or something. Or that white people voted for him so they could use the old “I’m not racist, i have a black friend!” line of thinking.
I’m happy he won. I’m happy that there is something different going on. I’m extremely interested to see what happens over the next 4 years. I am going to be weary about declaring some new paradigm in American thinking, however. If the world doesn’t get better in the next 4 years, if America’s economy doesn’t rebound quickly, if there aren’t significant moves made in Iraq quickly, Obama will be blamed far faster than any other president in history. Whether it is his fault or not, the progress that the talking heads are claiming will face an enormous setback if this man doesn’t come through on some tangible results in a hurry. This could be bad. Overall, however, i’m disappointed in the results of this election.
In Arizona, we re-elected Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas, two of the biggest criminals and law manipulators this state has to offer. We didn’t make any significant changes in our local, county or state governements. And we voted to add a Gay Marriage Ban (when gay marraige was already illegal in this state) to our frigging state constitution.
The biggest disappointment Tuesday…What i think got lost in all of this back-patting by guilty white liberals who voted for a black guy is that every single gay marriage ban in the country passed. In an election where everyone is cheering about the huge strides we’ve made in social progress, they seem to have completely forgotten about another major minority group who took an enormous step back. We have a black president…huzzah…now wake the fuck up. We just voted to continue the marginalization of a group of American citizens. If you voted against Gay Marriage and for Obama and his “change” you should be fucking ashamed of yourself.
No matter what side of the issue you are on, i think we can agree that the self-congratulations by all the people who are cheering “change” is ironic, at best.
Is there a world in which that sentence would be true? Up until a few hours ago, i wouldn’t have even risked joking about it. Then, this morning, with the catalyst of an intelligent comment left on a blog post that has become known for its stupidity (There is intelligence on the Internet! Shock, i know.) my brain started mulling over the possibility…should i vote for John McCain?
About 27 months ago, when the candidates started campaigning, there wasn’t a chance i was voting for anyone but the democratic candidate. I’ve often felt that the only way to hold elected officials responsible for their actions is to boycott their party. If the Republicans fuck up for 8 years or so, then you have to put them as far out of business as you can…that is, until the Democrats screw up and then you do the same to them.
When it appeared that Obama would be that candidate, i was cautiously hopeful. I read (well, 100 pages) of Audacity of Hope, tried to believe in what he said and was absolutely MOVED when he gave his speech on race back in March. For about half a second, i actually thought that –regardless of experience or other issues — he was a leader and a person who actually had the best qualities of this country at heart. And then the last 8 months happened.
Both candidates have flip-flopped, back talked, shown ugly sides, pandered, coddled special interests, answered everything but the questions asked of them and acted, well, like politicians. Fine. Whatever. I’m not upset about this. I expected this. But at the heart of all his stirring oratory and thunderous rhetoric, i had been told by Senator Obama that he was different, that he was above that behavior. He wasn’t. He could not stay on that road (the road being the one less travelled, or even the high one). At the end of the day, he was a politician trying to interview for a job.
If you haven’t seen this clip of the two candidates at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner a few weeks ago, check it out. It’ll melt your skull. These two guys, in front of a wealthy, influential audience in tuxedos, actually act human…and you know what? It looks like they’re making fun of each other, but no. They’re making fun of us. THIS IS HOW THEY ACTUALLY ARE…WHAT WE SEE ON THE CAMPAIGN? IT’S ALL A FUCKING ACT! They’re not bad guys. They don’t hate each other. They’re actual people with a sense of humor. Why can’t we see this side of them? This proves to you how dumb they really think we are. Hands down.
One of my favorite quotes regarding presidents goes something like this: “Presidential candidates spend millions to get elected to a job that pays $400,000 a year. Must have one hell of a health plan.” I digress.
The aforementioned comment that started all this reads as follows:
For a different and perhaps more pragmatic point of view… I voted for McCain and against Obama, simply because neither party distinguishes itself when it has control of Congress and the Presidency. Seems they all come down with a fatal case of “Potomac Fever”, when given the opportunity to stick their hands in the cookie jar, without opposition. Since we can’t send them out of town on even more vacations, then gridlock is a fairly effective way to keep them out of mischief. Look, the first priority of politicians is to be elected, then re-elected, or to run for higher office. All of ‘em will take care of their main campaign contributors FIRST, whether it’s through obscure holes in the tax code, sweetheart govt contracts, or favorable legislation. Doesn’t matter which side they are on, or how pure they were when they first decided to seek public office. The reality of how the game is played, will mold most of them into relentless fund raisers and panderers to monied special interests. By the time they are elected, most have completely sold out. This last, dismally long campaign cost probably a billion dollars. Who gained? Media consultants, media outlets, sign makers, and caterers. Each could have had 24 hours, on one of the c-spans to tell interested voters exactly what their platforms are… probably 12 times over, and then re run it weekly until the election. They’ve squandered donated funds, with the same reckless, self serving, abandon with which they will spend taxpayer dollars.
The current Democrat Congress has been in power for two years and has accomplished nothing, aside from ignoring Fannie, Freddie, etc, as well as addressing domestic energy policy. They’re as worthless as the Republicans, when they controlled both House and Senate.
Bottom line, it’s not going to be good when Obama wins. Democrats will spend like there is no tomorrow, and you can be darned sure no obsolete, inefficient, or redundant programs will be cut. The Treasure is firing up the printing presses, and if you thought you lost your arse in the market crash, just wait until the dollar really plummets. We’re in for a prolonged and very deep recession. All the politicians will do is point fingers, fund raise, and hope for re-election, while our economy tanks.
I hope someone can come up with an argument that refutes this…but honestly, it floored me. I’ve never considered voting like this. Voting to retard the system. Maybe it’s all the Anti-Obama emails my dad has been sending me, but i’m starting to believe that in the current state of our economy, Obama isn’t the one who will make it better. As liberal as i have always leaned, i despise big government. I don’t want it to be a free-for-all for democrats who seemingly are going to spend on their own states just to get re-elected again. This comment shook me because i’m that cynical. I don’t believe they have our best interests at heart and i don’t believe that any of these candidates are willing to make the tough choices needed to get this country back on track and at least begin to clean up the clusterfuck that was Bush Part Deux. So is gridlock the only answer? Is voting so that the parties oppose each other at every turn and have to work together to get anything done the only solution? Will they really take full advantage of having a more streamlined process of completely fucking the American people? It’s hard to believe they won’t.
At the end of the day, i’m voting for Obama. I want history. I want to tell my children of the first black president (hey kids, it only took 230 years!). I think that the President of the Unites States should be mostly a figurehead. A person who can stand up and make amazing speeches and fill the country and the rest of the world with awe and faith and trust in the U.S. Even if it is all smoke and mirrors…i don’t care. JFK, LBJ, FDR, even Clinton recently…these were men who didn’t always have the answers or make all the right decisions but they let us think that everything would be ok so we could go about our daily business of going to work and paying our taxes and making this economy roll the way it should without fear that it was all going to end in chaos and anarchy (or totalitarianism.)
If gridlock is the only answer, then doesn’t that prove just how fucked the system is? (and maybe it is busted beyond repair at this point.) I’m not willing to believe that just yet.
McCain is an angry, curmeodgenly old-fuck professional politician. Sarah Palin was barely qualified to be the principal of my high school (3,000 students, just 6,000 less than Wasilla AK). These people do not signify anything better for our country. They signify the status quo. And maybe at the bottom of this, i am scared of Obama. I am scared of change. I am the status quo. I am going to be a middle-aged, middle upper class white man here pretty soon. Fine, i admit it. I don’t want to be taxed because i’m succesful. I don’t want to hand over half my paycheck to people who are abusing the system (i’ll most likely give it to them myself out of my own charity work and my own goodwill towards people, but that’s different then being fucked out of it by a large federal government, isn’t it?) Happy now Dad?
At the end of the day this upcoming Tuesday, we need a change. No matter how bad the democrats are, or how bad they will act over the next 4 years, we have to give it a shot. If George W. Bush has taught us anything, it’s that no matter how shitty a president is, the world won’t end. It’ll get ugly. It’ll get embarrassing. But it won’t collapse. I hope that President Obama will do what he said he would. I hope the democratic majority House and Senate won’t go apeshit and plunge us further down this toilet of debt and stupidity and corruption we’re currently sitting in. I hope the world starts to hate us a little less now. Maybe that is an audacious hope.
Here’s your chance Junior Senator from Illinois. Don’t fuck it up. Or else i’ll see you in the voting booth in 2012, where i’ll absolutely hold you accountable for your actions…by voting Republican.
Filed under: Lindsay Lohan, McCain, Obama, Olympics, On The Road, alaska, links
The hiatus was unannounced and mostly unplanned. My apologies. I blogged a lot over the last few months…mainly because i was sitting at a computer in a cubicle doing nothing all day. It provided a lot of time to find things that are inevitable signs of the arrival of the Four Horsemen, etc. Since i quit, my home laptop decided that it didn’t want to have wireless anymore and it crashed. Because of this, my computer is now hooked into a landline (how 2004…) and cannot be taken with me wherever i go. I’m finding that making myself sit down to blog (or go on myspace, facebook, twitter, etc.) is out of my way and mostly unimportant. I’m comfortable with this…i’m reading more, cooking for my friends (if kelli will allow me, i’d like to host a community dinner soon.), planning for my new job that starts in mid-September and enjoying my time and my thoughts away from the internet. Being in Wyoming for two weeks without much of a computer was kind of liberating, i’m not going to lie. I’m not saying that i’m not going to blog anymore. I’m just probably going to only do it when i have something quality to say. We’ll see how that works out. Moving on.
Apparently Michael Phelps is making out with chicks in the Olympic village. Duh. If i were him i would have arranged an “all-around” with as many gymnasts as i could find before the pool water was even out of my ears (as long as they meet the age requirement…drum kick!). Oh, and i hope those fancy new suits are STD proof, because Lindsay Lohan has been a lesbian for like 5 months and is hungry for a big c… OK FINE…. “piece” of the winningest swimmer of all time. Better get some extra chlorine tablets in that pool.
And speaking of underage girls, Gary Hall Jr. blogs about why being a 14-year old Olympic gymnast can’t possibly be an advantage. Can’t say i disagree, nor can i say how much i can’t wait for the controversy to go away.
This is sad and wrong on so many levels. Guess i’ll let the cornacopeia of available jokes slide.
Bush Told to Sign Birthday Card for Someone Named ‘Kyoto’ (from the Onion, of course.)
It’s about time we had a real Shmuck in office. Thanks to Frank Shmuck in Chandler, we’ll have that opportunity. Man i wish i could vote for this guy. Sam, forget Dan Saban…Shmuck needs our help more!
Here are a bunch of videos from “hypermilers” that are getting 70-80 mpg in their hybrids. Interesting stuff. On my recent road trip, i had the cruise control set at 65 and drove 480 miles on one tank…that’s 34 mpg and i could have made it to 500 if i wasn’t so worried about running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. On my trip, i drove almost 3,000 miles and i definitely noticed how different my consumption was at different speeds. At 65, i could drive forever…at 80, i could almost see the needle moving. Big difference.
Tiki Barber and Jenna Wolfe have been hosting an Olympic Wrap-Up show on NBC and they haven’t really been getting along. But did Tiki call her the c-word on air? You make the call…
Republicans and Democrats alike are gearing up for their respective conventions…you know who else is getting ready? The hookers! Politicans can’t agree on national healthcare, but both parties can agree on whores. Love this country.
I really wanted a Palm Treo Pro…but since it’ll be $550, i guess i’ll pass.
You all enjoyed this post about a certain ridiculous anti-Obama email i received a while back…check it out again. Read the comments that have trickled in. You won’t be disappointed.
Alright, that’s all for today/a while. Enjoy your weekends people. I’m off to Alaska.
We’ve talked a lot recently about Obama and Racism (here, here, here and here) but this isn’t racist. Because this person isn’t racist. This person is a lame New York hipster trying to get famous. This person is a publicity whore starting a controversy just to sell some t-shirts…(and i know a thing or two about being controversial to get attention and also about selling a $4 shirt for $35…) Great idea, right up until you run into 4 black girls on the street and they whip the shit out of you.
As we’ll see this afternoon in another post, some (ok, most) people deserve what they get.
Sign of the Apocalypse:
This man:
was arrested when he showed up at a house to meet a 14-year old for sex.
Irony, thy name is Daniel Everett.
WTF Award Nominee: A guy named Rampage was arrested for going on a… well, Rampage.
I wonder how they would have identified him if he had gotten away?!?
Did you know that U.S. Customs prohibits HIV positive people from entering the U.S.? I did not. But apaprently that could end soon.
Bush Lifts Offshore Drilling Ban…the Onion’s take.
Some follow-up thoughts on the Obama New Yorker cover…from an e-mail i wrote to Nole:
The beauty of this — i think — is that The New Yorker assumed, rightfully, that their readers are smart, intelligent and aware people that would understand satire when it was presented to them (major clues include the obvious overstatement, overt mockery AND THE FACT THAT IT’S A FUCKING CARTOON!) but where this went wrong is that The New Yorker thought they were publishing in a vacuum. They thought that only their readers would see it. As soon as some moron walks by the newsstand on his way to buy a pack of smokes and this month’s copy of Juggs, he’s going to be like “See? I told ya’ll that he was a towelhead.”
They were talking about it on talk radio last night while i was on the way to see Wall-E (have you seen it? it’s awesome) and the guy was saying how he feels like the cover is OK because he wants to believe that people are smart enough to realize a joke when they see one, that we don’t have to protect readers from themselves. But then he quotes the statistic that 12% of voters in this country still think Obama is actually Muslim (and by extension, that Muslim = terrorist) and it totally disproves his argument. Americans are not smart enough to separate it or understand the difference.
Beyond that, Obama screwed this up completely by pretending to be appalled by it. Why couldn’t he endear himself to the intelligentsia in this country by saying “Hey, idiots. Relax. Read the article. It’s satire. They actually have my back and were just showing how dumb you all are by getting caught up in rumors and mudslinging and believing dumb email forwards. I appreciate that New Yorker for starting an intelligent debate on these beliefs which i’ve been fighting my whole life.” That would have been a huge moment. Instead, he just fell back on the stock press conference BS statement, “I’m disappointed that this is published…blah blah.” Want to know why he did that? Because he’s playing for the middle now and he needs the dumb people to vote for him. He already convinced us when we bought his book and actually read it 2 years ago (because, you know, we learned how to read.). We’re on board. Now he has to pander to the idiots. It’s really disappointing.
Filed under: Obama
Because that’s what makes it satire.
The New Yorker is going to get some shit for this.
So far in this election, the talking heads have taken Michelle Obama’s completely understandable line about being proud of her country, taken it out of context and used it against her. But nobody has mentioned Cindy McCain’s prescription drug addiction.
So far in this election, Hilary Clinton’s campaign released a picture of Obama in traditional African dress as a way to discredit him and tie him to Muslim extremists. But nobody has mentioned John McCain’s ties to Fife Symington’s fraud and corruption scandals. (Also here)
So far in this election, Obama has been the subject of some of the deepest background digging we’ve ever witnessed, and yet nobody has mention how McCain, after returning from war, found that his wife had been injured in a car accident, was handicapped and had gained weight…and then conveniently found himself a new wife.
Update: In case i haven’t made this entirely clear…McCain is also a pandering liar, even when it comes to Football.
Hope everyone had a good 4th of July weekend. Did you know that the 4th of July is a day where we celebrate America’s independence from British rule? Because a guy in front of me at the post office last week didn’t. This guy is talking to a teller at the UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE (!!!) and asks if they’re working on Friday. The lady says, “Haha…no, it’s Independence Day.” And the guy — i shit you not — says, “I don’t understand why we get the day off…we shouldn’t have been over there in the first place.” Really guy?!? Over where? I’m not sure if he was being sarcastic and trying to get a rise out of a postal service worker (not advisable) but the look on my face must have been amazing. I couldn’t make this up if i wanted to… moving on.
Last week, i almost made it 400 miles on a tank of gas. Seriously. I went 383 miles on exactly 14 gallons of gas. I have a 14.5 gallon tank, so i could have made it, but in the end it wasn’t worth the risk of running out of gas just to see the dial click over. I drove to Vegas and back which gobbled up 2 tanks of gas over the weekend (but hey! still cheaper than flying!) but made it between 370-390 miles on those tanks as well thanks to freeway driving. This next tank, i’m making it 400. For those of you wondering how this is possible, there is some serious credence to these anecdotes of filling your tires up (less friction, more roll) and coasting everywhere. I’m amazed at how far my car will coast at a decent speed with zero acceleration. When i get off the freeway on the way to work, i can coast almost a mile to the next light and nobody around me is any the wiser. Seriously, try it. Even if you don’t drive stick, just click your transmission up to neutral and roll for a while. The more time you spend at low RPMs, the better gas mileage you get. Genius right? Oh and also, don’t go over 70. Ever. At all. I’ve noticed that my mileage gets completely shot to hell at speeds above 65. Weird, but true.
This is kind of me these days as my team has lost 2 in a row and fallen out of first place: Fantasy Baseball Owner Rips Team in Media
Fun with presidential candidate word association. I wonder how far down “asshole” was for McCain.
Obama will receive the democratic nomination at Mile High Stadium, which reminds me how much i miss football.
Google apparently has issues with its daycare. So that’s 2,797 good things and 1 bad. Ah, how we love to see the mighty fall.
It’s time for the Running of the Bulls again. And as you know, i always root for the bulls.
Jim Carrey found one way to outsmart the paparazzi.
This is a pretty awful story… Did she have health insurance? Could that have played a part?
The dumbest thing i’ve seen today that is… I received this email from a co-worker…they are predictions on what will happen to America if Obama is elected President. Some of this borders on absolute madness. It would make you laugh, if it wasn’t so amazingly depressing. Without further adieu…(my comments in italics after.)
To close my screed, I want to leave you with some JM predictions in the event the junior Senator from Illinois becomes President and, especially, if the House and Senate are veto proof.
1). Strict new gun laws will be enacted even though he promised he would not.
2). The phrase “In God We Trust” will be removed from all currency. (Automatically? Just because a president said so? Does this asshole know how much time it takes to put money in circulation?)
3). He will back away from his pledge to Israel and leave them to the wolves of Islam. (Israel has one of the world’s strongest militaries… that why the”wolves of Islam” have been throwing rocks for the last 40 years. Israel will be just fine.)
4). Hillary Clinton will be named to the Supreme Court. (Really? Is Obama going to kill Anton Scalia with his bare hands to create the opening?)
5). Tax rates will return to their highest levels in 30 years. (How? Presidents don’t make the budget. Like 543 people get their say in this.)
6). The capital gains tax will be at least double current levels. (Again, how?)
7). Retired Army General Wesley Clark will be named Secretary of Defense. (Oh god forbid we give a general and former presidential candidate a position in the defense department. That actually might lead to logic in intelligence in foreign policy…gasp!)
8). The borders will be ‘basically open’ to all come. Especially those from the Middle East and South America. (“Basically open”..as opposed to complicatedly open? And what border do we share with the Middle East? Baltimore? It’s Baltimore isn’t it?)
9). Amnesty will be granted to all illegal’s now in the U.S.A. regardless of status or even gang members (MS-13). (Obama: “My fellow American Bloods and Crips…you have been granted amnesty…please report to the DMV for your official gang member passports and keep it real. Fo Sheezy, and good night.”)
10). The war in Iraq will be brought to an abrupt end, and the results will be tragic, and the consequences to our military will be devastating. (I can’t even make fun of this one…)
I realize that my predictions may not sit too well with some people, and the best we could all hope for is that I am totally wrong. Any bets?
Jerry Molen
Yeah Jerry, i’ve got a bet…I’ll bet a million dollars that you’re a fucking moron. And i’m willing to lay odds that the actual Jerry Molen (Hollywood producer) is not the guy sitting in his grandma’s living room typing this with one hand, masturbating to the O’Reilly Factor and asphyxiating himself with Tucker Carlson’s bow tie with the other.
I weep for our future.
Filed under: Death Penalty, Gun Control, Obama, Suns, apocalypse, basketball, bees, colony collapse disorder, green, guns, rape
I’m excited right now. Lot’s of good stuff going on. Lots to talk about. I’m typing at warp speed and none of my co-workers are any more the weary. They think i’m working hard. Ha!
- In sports, the Suns spent their 15th pick last night drafting Sideshow Bob!
- In other news, scientists are placing 2 to 1 odds on the North Pole melting completely this summer. Awesome.
- If you read this story, and look at this woman’s picture, you find yourself saying, “Yup. That woman looks like a big enough bitch to OWN SLAVES.”
- This “Obama is a Muslim” conversation is killing me. It’s insane. It’s mind-numbing. And there is no winner. If he tries to distance himself from any type of Muslim ties – perceived or otherwise — then the media is going to rake him from being anti-Muslim (a hypocritical action, to be sure)…but if he embraces anything Muslim or is even pictured near Muslim people, then i’ll get 8 Forwards from my father and his friends claiming that Obama wants to turn America into an Islamic country and open an Al-Qaeda training camp on the White House lawn…and there are millions of people (10% according to polls) much dumber than me that will totally believe it. It’s absolutely terrifying the lengths that this country will go to to ignore important things and focus on the inane. And don’t blame the media, blame yourself. The media shows you exactly what you ask them to see. It’s your fault. Take some responsibility.
- There is a great conversation going on over at Nole’s blog about some recent Supreme Court decisions concerning gun control and the death penalty. Surprisingly, I’m torn on these issues. I am against the government deciding that we shouldn’t have guns while they get to keep a firm grip on theirs, and i’m also uncomfortable with any politician deciding who should live or die. But as i said in my comment to Nole’s post — if he ever approves it — anybody who rapes a kid should die. Sorry if that’s a mixed message, but seriously, i’m not kidding. In one case that they reviewed, the guy raped his 8-year old step daughter so brutally that he almost killed her. Because doctors were able to save her, the guy can’t be given the death penalty…if she had died (and for much of that experience she probably wished that she had), we could have fried the fucker. How is that justice? How is that right? This guy should have been put on his knees and executed on the spot. No mercy. No trial. No chance to work the system, make a lawyer rich or waste tax-payer money. You raped an 8 year old, fuck you, die. I understand that there have been numerous murder and rape cases overturned years later by DNA evidence, etc. but what would be the harm in making the rape or sexual exploitation of a child so unbelievably taboo and the punishment so amazingly immediate and harsh in our society that no person would ever think of putting themselves anywhere near the situation? What would be the harm in that? And furthermore, what is the benefit of keeping someone who would do such a thing alive? How does that benefit anyone but the guy who did it? I don’t advocate death or speak in absolutes that often, but if someone rapes a kid, in my mind, they have given up their right to enjoy a heart beat.
- Moving right along to other enjoyable and positive topics…remember that bee thing – Colony Collapse Disorder — that we were talking about a year ago? Well yeah, it hasn’t gone away or gotten any better. And in a final homage to George Carlin this week, i bet if instead of calling it something sterile and scientific sounding like Colony Collapse Disorder, they called it “Holy Fucking Shit! The bees are dying and we’re all going to fucking starve to death!” i bet more people would pay attention. Just a thought.
