Not our candidate but our President

Lately, a lot of McCain backers have gone out there under the guise of reconciliation and healing the nation after an often bitter campaign. Mike Huckabee recently penned a few words about how he will be supporting Barack Obama as President but he quickly sets that thought aside to go after President Bush's critics who "went beyond loyal opposition and engaged in angry, vile and mean-spirited hate." The problem with any comparison is the different manner in which Bush 43 got to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and how Obama 44 will.

The facts are these:

1- Bush 43's photo-finish "victory" was in large part due to the disenfranchisement of numerous minority voters in Florida as well as user error on the part of many Florida voters who cast their ballots for Buchanan.

2- Bush 43 had a tremendous amount of support following 9/11 both from Democrats at home and from leaders abroad. He took this good will and used it to implement his idiotic invasion of Iraq despite the protests of people in this country and throuhout the world to let the inspectors do their job.

With those two issues in mind, it is no wonder that millions of Americans who felt cheated by the 2000 election and then lied to in the lead up to the war would vent that frustration and anger with what Governor Huckabee calls "angry, vile and mean spirited hate." Still, even those that called (or continue to call) for his and Cheney's impeachment do not call him vile names like "terrorist" or try to stoke the flames of xenophobic fears to bring him down, and when they do call him a terrorist they do so because of the monumental civilian deaths he has caused in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan to name a few.

So let us dispense with these false words of healing that begin by saying "I want him to be successful in leading our country," when you really mean to attack those brave Americans who from the beginning recognized the lies about Iraq and WMDs and tried, by whatever means they could muster, to stop American boys and girls from dying for Halliburton's bottom line. Doing everything within your means to stop your fellow citizens from unnecessary death is far more patriotic than anything Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity have ever, or will ever do.

Oh yeah, and FUCK YOU Joe Lieberman!

Poor Sarah

While I am tremendously relieved that Wasilla's Sarah Palin will not be our next Vice President, the recent attacks on this poor little fish (barracuda's are fish right?) out of water have really shown the GOP's true side.  By calling her names like "Wasilla hillbillies" the GOP presidential campaign staffers show their true feelings about so called "wal-mart moms" and those folks that live in the "pro-american" parts of the country.  They may have hidden behind their "Joe the plumbers" and "Lenny the lumberjack" but the true powers behind the would-be GOP administration is more elitist than any of Karl Rove's depictions of President elect Obama.

Move on America, and leave Sarah to her gubernatorial duties.  Stop giving any more attention and coverage to this nearly catastrophic candidate and let's focus on what's ahead.  We need the news media now to focus on the work ahead and how we as a nation can and must provide health care and education to all Americans.

And fuck you Joe Lieberman!

YES WE DID

We've managed to change YES WE CAN into YES WE DID. Fantastic! Celebrate! Spend the next short while enjoying this monumental achievement of the American people...but not for too long. The work begins now! Now we have a chance to really steer our country in the right (not to the right) direction. President elect Obama and the new Democratic Congress will need to validate the trust we have shown in them and we will need to be there to guide their policy decisions.

Now is the time when our voices can be heard and attempts by the Congress to implement progressive policies will not be blocked by veto threats. We need to demand an end to this wasteful health care system that sees Americans spending more per capita than any other industrialized country but covering far fewer of the population. We need to demand an end to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. We need to demand increases in funding to our education system and increased assistance for students trying to find a way to afford the skyrocketing college fees and truitions.

YES WE DID! But we must be careful not to bask in the glory too long. YES WE DID! But the work is just beginning. Stay organized, stay informed and stay alert. We've got our eyes on you now Mr. President elect. Do not let us down.

Will a democratic president mean no more political satire?

NO!  Absolutely, unequivically NO!  All these recent blogs and news articles about how it would be difficult for the late night comedians (Stewart, Colbert et al) to make fun of Democrats is stupid.  Think back to the 90s.  They made fun of Clinton all the time.  They currently make fun of Obama, Pelosi and Reid as well.  It's nothing more than stupid thoughtless conjecture and takes the place of real news.  Please stop this nonsense.  The reason the Daily Show succeeds and the "Half Hour News Hour" (Foxnews' attempt at late night comedy) flopped so stupendously is because the Daily Show makes fun of everyone and the HHNH only made jokes about Democrats.  They are skilled comedians and the day to day business of government is always going to contain the c-span clips that provide comedy.  Just in case your mom was doing crystal meth when she was pregnant with you and you were going to cast a vote based on how funny Jon Stewart would be for the next 4 years, don't worry, he will be hilarious regardless, but President McCain will make puppies cry.

Catholics and Politics

I was watching c-span today and I caught a video broadcast of a Denver radio show called Calpis and Silverman.  It's a small radio show gets to be on c-span once a year (or so I understood from the clip I watched).  It fit the genre like so many other bi-partisan shows these days with one host on the far right and other to the right of center, it's an interesting sea saw with one guy on the end and another in the middle (leaning to the right).

Calpis was going on and on about what a radical Obama is and what radical Jeremiah Wright is but what really "ground my gears" (thanks Peter Griffin) was the focus of Calpis' abortion debate.  He talked about Bishop Chaput who has echoed the same nasty rhetoric that we heard back in 2004, that Catholics that support abortion rights or vote for a candidate that does should not be eligible for communion.  While I personally think that Catholicism is shit and that Priests are either child molesters, child molesters that haven't been caught yet, or secretely having sex with parishiners, this idea that if you disagree with the current teachings of the Catholic church you cannot be a Catholic would only make sense if the Catholic church had always been on the right side of history.  Even if they don't believe in evolution, I would turn Calpis and Silverman's audience to the flat earth/round earth debate.  If that was going on today, and the pope with his infallible words was proclaiming that the earth was flat and to think otherwise was heresy, why should that invalidate a person's belief that Jesus was the son of god and through loving him you can attain eternal salvation?

I'm sorry if it seems I'm picking on Catholics.  To be honest I think that all religions are a farce but if you want to believe in spaghetti monsters, your political views should not prevent you from doing so.

NON POLITICAL - Television Comment

I just saw a preview for the upcoming episode of "Heroes" and I just have  to vent my disgust at what I call "filler episodes."  If you have a show and there's a very engaging story arc DO NOT INTERRUPT IT for some mundane flashback kind of episode where you can reveal some things about your characters that you hadn't thought of in the first 2 seasons of your show.  All the shows do it and I don't understand why other than an excuse to let the writer's illiterate nephews and nieces write  an episode of their favorite show.

Letting the fox run the henhouse

If someone believes that government cannot work, don't put them in charge of running the government.  These "small government" acolytes hold near and dear to themselves the belief that no government can function and that we should privatize nearly every service in this country.  If you elect someone who thinks that the government shouldn't run the schools, expect your schools to fail.  If you elect someone who thinks that we should privatize social security, expect social security to fail.  If someone believes that the  government cannot manage health care, then expect to see more failures in medicare, medicaid and the VA system.

Don't let foxes run the henhouses!