EXACTLY!

If there is one good thing about Fox News, it is Shepard Smith.

I Wish I Had Said This

When both are asked which historical figure they'd like to be, in order to do something different, Al Franken deftly illustrates the stupidity of Ann Coulter.

from YesButNoButYes

Worth a Shot

I don't find internet petitions particularly credible, but in this case, I'll sign.

Petition to Re-Open Proposition 8 for California

FOX News Aghast at Nader

Not often do I find myself firmly on the side of FOX News, but here we have the end of Ralph Nader as a political figure and Shepard Smith can't believe what he's hearing.

America Wins, California Loses

I'm kind of surprised at how mixed my reaction is to this election result.

Obama, obviously, I'm thrilled for. Unquestionably the most significant and positive political event since the fall of the Berlin Wall, if not before.

But California ... I'm just stunned and ashamed of my state for passing Proposition Hate.

Why, why, why would you do this?

We pass a law giving chickens more rights, but slap gay and lesbian humans in the face?

Make no mistake: If you voted "YES" for Proposition 8, you are either a bigot or an idiot.

Your choice. You're not a "conservative" -- true conservatives want less government mucking with our personal lives. You're not a "Christian" -- no one was going to force Christian churches to perform or endorse same-sex marriage. You're not "protecting children" or "families" -- same-sex couples have children and families just like everyone else, and your petty insistence on marriage being defined the way you think it should be doesn't make those families any less valid (thank God).

You have intentionally changed the constitution to limit the rights of a group you don't like.

Shame on you, California.

Vote

Oh, and obviously I'm voting for Obama.

I mean, come on. McCain may have been a good candidate a couple of years ago, but he has blown his political capital and credibility in almost every possible way, the most egregious of which being his choice of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

She symbolizes just how far he had to go to pander to the most extreme elements of the Republican right. She also shows how little he knows or cares about women's issues. Her relentless anti-intellectualism is frightening, and the divisive nature of her dialogue is sickening. "The Pro-America" parts of the nation should be rejecting her just as much as those of us who don't believe there is such a thing as an Anti-America part of America.

McCain might have been offended and hurt by the comparisons made between his Post-Palin campaign and the idiom of Joseph McCarthy or George Wallace, but that doesn't make those comparisons any less apt.

That doesn't even take into account the fact that Palin, who he touts as a very capable and ready leader, can't even name a periodical she reads when asked. "Gotcha question," indeed. How would she respond if there was actually a crisis?

I'm not in any hurry to find out. We've had eight years of "gutsy," "folksy" leadership that has been just about the worst eight yeas of leadership in our nation's history. Let's hope we've learned our lesson.

End of the Road

This is it. Finally.

Tomorrow we get to resolve this election, after what seems like four years of campaigning.

In the spirit of being an independent voter, I've assembled my own list of California ballot initiatives, read the analysis and arguments on the state site and made decisions without consulting the Democrat or Republican parties.

Here's how it shakes out:

Prop 1A- Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century
Me: YES Democrats: YES Republicans: NO

My Take: This sounds like Progress to me. Our local rail systems are modern, but our long-distance rail is incredibly outdated. We need a viable high-speed rail system.

Prop 2- Treatment of Farm Animals
Me: NO Democrats: YES Republicans: NO

My Take: The penalties are so minor that the only people likely to suffer are smaller producers. The examples are all about pigs and other large mammals, but it really only hits egg producers in California. I don't oppose making life better for chickens, but I'm not in a big hurry to spend money on it at this particular time.

Prop 3- Children’s Hospital Bond Acts
Me: NO Democrats: YES Republicans: NO

My Take: Since it has nothing specifically to do with "children's hospitals," rather than hospitals in general, I find the name crass and irritating in a "PATRIOT Act" sort of way.

Prop 4- Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy
Me: NO Democrats: NO Republicans: YES

My Take: Who does this help? Kids who are already able to come to their parents in time of crisis and discuss abortion don't need this law, and kids who face real danger from their parents if they reveal a pregnancy can only be hurt by it.

Prop 5- Nonviolent Offenders. Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation
Me: YES Democrats: YES Republicans: NO

My Take: Jails are overcrowded and expensive. We imprison people far too often for things that I don't even think should be crimes. Nonviolent drug offenses get hugely disproportionate sentences and this chips away at that a little.

Prop 6- Criminal Penalties and Laws / Public Safety Funding
Me: NO Democrats: NO Republicans: YES

My Take: Throwing more money at crime brings diminishing returns. I think we're already seeing that, as our crime rate is relatively low, historically. "More Police" sounds good, but I just don't feel like we have too few.

Prop 7- Renewable Energy
Me: NO Democrats: NO Republicans: NO (not very popular, is it?)

My Take: Nobody likes this.

Prop 8- Same Sex Marriage Ban
Me: NO Democrats: NO Republicans: YES

My Take: If you vote YES for this, please don't tell me. I will think less of you.

Prop 9- Criminal Justice System. Victims’ Rights. Parole.
Me: NO Democrats: NO Republicans: YES

My Take: This overlaps a lot of existing California law, needlessly. It also is endorsed by PEOPLE WHO TYPE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, which leads me to believe it is not well thought-out.

Prop 10- Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy
Me: NO Democrats: NO Position Republicans: NO

My Take: Nobody likes this one, either.

Prop 11- Redistricting
Me: YES Democrats: NO Republicans: No Position

My Take: It has always seemed pretty dodgy to let the politicians who are currently in power draw voting districts.

Prop 12- Veterans’ Bond Act of 2008
Me: YES Democrats: YES Republicans: YES

My Take: Similar bond issues have been pretty much paid for by the recipients' mortgage payments, so I don't see any reason not to do it again. We owe the military an awful lot of late.

Knowing is Half the Battle

Where do you get your information?

Jesus, how hard is it to say, "I read X," or "I read Y," ... unless, of course, you don't read anything.

Double Standards

There may be bigger hypocrites out there than these republican pundits, but I really can't think of any. This is almost surreal.

It's Smart Politics to be a Maverick

Nice little reality check on the Republican VP nominee over at Time's website.

Sounds like she's a maverick because being a maverick is popular.

Oh, and she wanted to ban books and threatened to fire the head librarian of Wasilla when she wouldn't play ball.

Nice.

Vice Presidential Nominees

Obama: We need to bring Change to Washington! And to help me do that, here's my running mate, six-term Senator Joe Biden!

McCain: We need experienced leaders in Washington! And, speaking of experience, here's my running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin! She's been leading the great state of Alaska since 2006! (Well, December 2006, but still!)

Somethin's goin' on, and it's probably not good.

So the Russians are feeling a little nostalgic about the good old days and decided to roll on into Georgia. Why? Well, the Georgian military rolled into South Ossetia to take the fight to some rebels, and Russia had to come to the defense of the Russian citizens in the region, not to mention the poor Georgian citizens who were being attacked by their own country.

Of course, Russia pretty clearly premeditated this by issuing Russian Passports to Georgian citizens in the region so that they could then turn around and claim they were concerned about the safety of Russian citizens when Georgia moved in to try to contain the secessionist rebels that Russia had openly backed anyway.

(Apparently, Russia is very supportive of breakaway republics, provided they are not named Kosovo or Chechnya.)

The Kremlin is paranoid, because even former Soviet Republics are starting to look a lot better than the near-totalitarianism Russia has reverted to. Nationalization of industries, cronyism, and a deterioration of free speech and a free press have all shown that the guys in charge don't have anyone's interests in mind but their own. Let's just hope that nobody mistakes a Russia run by ex-KGB agents and mobsters for the democracy it claims to be and tells the U.S. to mind it's own business, because, for once, we shouldn't.

Wait a minute, though.

Do you think Russia's growing belligerence could have anything to do with the fact that NATO has expanded to a ludicrous degree all around its borders? Or that maybe they're feeling like they have to show the world they're still in business since the U.S. is planning to base "missile defense" systems (which are missiles, for those keen on irony) in Poland, to counter the imminent threat of ... what? Maybe Iran, if it ever builds some ICBMs?

(Honestly, I'm still not sure if Bush means to piss off the Russians with this missile defense bullshit, or if he's too stupid to understand why they're pissed, or what. I find it kind of hard to believe that anyone would truly be that stupid, however.)

Unfortunately, any demands or even threats that we might make in order to get the Russians to back down ring pretty hollow these days. Who out there in the world doesn't know that the U.S. is in no position to jump into another war? We've been ground down by a dispiriting war in Iraq for years and are now seeing disturbing resurgence by the Taliban (since we dedicated so much of our military power to the idiotic war in Iraq, rather than trying to stabilize and consolidate our successes in Afghanistan).

Well, if we couldn't threaten to send planes or troops, we could damn well send Condi! And look, we got ourselves a cease-fire!

Yeah, that agreement means exactly jack shit to Russia, since it contains this provision:

While awaiting an international mechanism, Russian peacekeeping forces will implement additional security measures.

What that means is that, until the UN moves troops in and establishes a peacekeeping force, Russia can do whatever the hell it wants.

And guess who can veto anything that the UN tries to do?

Russia has no plans to coexist peacefully with Georgia, and barely even bothers to pretend. Hell, Russian "diplomats" casually mention the imminent extinction of Georgia as a state. That's really not something you do if your goal is harmony.

Imagine if Bush said something like that about one of our neighbors!

A Change of Heart

After 15 attempts to secure permission to deliver humanitarian supplies to victims of Cyclone Nagris, the U.S. has finally given up and ordered the USS Essex and its accompanying vessels to leave Myanmar's coastal waters. Short of violating the territory of a sovereign nation, there is little the U.S. can do absent what they refer to as "a change of heart" on the part of the military junta that runs the country.

That, of course, isn't going to happen, since you actually have to have a heart to change it, and the rulers of Myanmar quite clearly don't.

It's a little bit sad that, because Myanmar isn't technically in the Axis of Evil that we're probably just going to forget about it. I mean, they don't have any oil, so I suppose it may not be worth the bother.

True, they have been suffering under an oppressive military dictatorship since seventeen years before Saddam Hussein seized power in Iraq, but who can even find Burma/Myanmar on a map? Probably not an American kid, what with budget cuts to education and all -- gotta fund that Iraq war, right?

What motivation could we possibly have for making a fuss over Myanmar, other than those poor people we just can't give aid to?

Myanmar is currently building a nuclear power plant with Russia's help.

I'm sure that's entirely for the benefit of the people that the government cares so much about.

Myanmar has had several Saddam-style "99% turnout" sham elections since the 1962 military coup that ended democratic rule.

Sham elections are better than no elections at all, right?

Myanmar is rife with child labor, forced labor, human trafficking, and has effectively institutionalized sex slaves for the military.

Yeah ... okay, that's pretty evil.

It's probably too late now, but maybe the Bush Administration should have considered "Operation Drop Food on Burma" to show that we don't really care whether the evil motherfuckers in charge of the place want to let us help or not. At least we could have brought it up for a vote at the UN.

As it is, what little aid actually got to victims of the cyclone (estimates are that about 1 in 10 victims received some kind of aid) was actually repackaged by the government so it would look like it came from them.

Nice. I'm sure that change of heart is right around the corner.

This Says it All

From Deus Ex Malcontent, a concise lambasting of G.W. Bush and a suggested remedy.

Please Tell me that 33% of us are not this Stupid

From a CBS News/New York Times Poll for Sept. 4-8, 2007.

"Do you think Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon?"

	Yes	No	Unsure
	%	%	%
ALL adults	33	58	9
Republicans	40	51	9
Democrats	27	63	10
Independents	32	60	8

I mean come ON people. Even the White House isn't doing more than strongly implying that anymore.

A Simple Illustration

The other day (week, whatever), I was listening to NPR coverage of a debate among the Democrat presidential hopefuls that was hosted by a Gay and Lesbian group. The story mentioned that the group had invited the Republican candidates to have a similar debate/discussion but that they had all declined.

This is a sterling example of why Republicans are just better at this game than Democrats: They don't bother trying to woo people they will never in a million years get support from.

How many times recently have we seen Democrats hedge on withdrawing from Iraq? On secret courts and wiretapping? On gay marriage? They walk on eggshells around these and countless other topics because they are afraid of offending ... who, exactly?

By and large, Democrats are all for withdrawing from Iraq. I don't know a single person (much less a single Democrat) who thinks giving the government carte blanche to wiretap Americans is a good idea. And is support for gay marriage really going to make somebody vote Republican who wasn't already inclined to do so?

So why pander to people who aren't even going to vote for you? Why compromise your principles for little to no political gain? These aren't even issues that big business really gives a crap about, so I doubt money is going to dry up. Quite the contrary, really, since these are issues that liberal Hollywood takes very seriously; a candidate who actually laid it on the line might win considerable support.

No, wait. Dennis Kucinich did, and he's probably not going to get the nomination, because Democrats are afraid he would alienate right-wing voters. Yeah, those right-wing Democrats are a vital demographic...

I swear, this act that the Democrats put on is so pathetic it makes me ill. They're like high school nerds trying to imitate the cool kids, who are laughing behind their backs.

(Except, in this case, the cool kids are entrenched dogmatic misanthropes with a stranglehold on our society and no respect for anything but their own agenda.)


And now, back to our regularly-scheduled vacuous, semi-comical rambling...