Wednesday, June 6, 2007

351 - Sigh

Democrats

1. Democrats
None of the current Democratic nominees for president, with the exception of Mike Gravel, are honest. They all spend a lot of time spouting rhetoric and never saying anything with any substance. Mike Gravel, from what I can tell, has some legitimate ideas that I agree with (like the legalization of marijuana.) But unfortunately, during these debates, he just loudly chastises the other nominees for their past actions. He comes of as, at best, a curmudgeon (for which which he has the perfect name) or at worst (and possibly most accurately) a nutjob.

Republicans

2. Republicans
On the Republican side, it is pretty much the same story. They have one guy, Ron Paul, who is willing to state his beliefs without worrying about politics. The difference between Ron Paul and Mike Gravel is the lack of insanity. There are some points that I feel Ron Paul goes too far on, but during these debates, I've agreed with virtually everything he's said, especially the infamous "blowback" exchange he had with Rudy Giuliani who proved himself to be either a moron or a deceitful manipulator, or possible both.

Goldwater Loses

3. Goldwater Loses
Before watching these debates, I had always associated the Republican Party with the Religious Right, assuming the term "conservative" referred primarily to social and moral issues. I had no idea that it originally referred to financial and governmental concerns. The Republican Party was supposed to be about small government, fiscal responsibility, and individual liberty. So what happened? The Libertarians of today, seem more like traditional Republicans than the Republicans themselves do.

Cable News

4. Cable News
A real problem is our reliance on the news media for information about politics. I'm not a big believer in anti-media conspiracies. I think it is easier to believe in the incompetence of the networks than a plot to keep the public ignorant. But why can't they spend more time informing the public about some of the second tier candidates without coloring the reporting negatively. Ron Paul actually has been getting a bit of mainstream attention due mostly to his online supporters, but virtually every story marginalizes his campaign by claiming his success in the polls is due to "those crazy kids and their computers." Both ABC and CNN, and possibly others, have sunk so low as to remove pro-Paul comments from their online articles, and delete those polls which show him as most popular.

Pallette Cleanser

5. Palette Cleanser
When Paul inevitably loses the Republican nomination, I suspect he will parlay his new found popularity into another presidential bid, this time running under the Libertarian party's flag.

That's enough politics for a while. I'll leave you now with something a little lighter. How would you feel about a baby porcupine being bottle fed? How do you feel about unintended advertising for Quicktime Pro?

P.S. I was hoping to have a big celebration when I reached 10.000 page views, but my sitemeter didn't register any for almost 48 hours and that took the wind out of my sails. I'm guessing it was malfunctioning since I've never had a day go by without any visitors before. Anyway, it's right over there in the sidebar, 10,000 plus visitors. Woo-hoo, only took a year to get there.

P.P.S. This post probably took me longer to put together than any other I've ever done. It definitely received the most re-edits after publication. You better freaking LOVE it.

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9 comments:

rachel said...

I do love it, but I don't like the libertarian philosophy. I visited the cato institute when I was on a policy trip to DC last year, and the meetings left me very disenchanted with libertarianism. it sounds good in the abstract. but in practice, people who need help (e.g., kids who need special education, people living in poverty) get screwed.

Christopher Clark said...

The free market libertarians seem to think that if the government stepped out of those areas, stopped forcing U.S. citizens, against their will, to help people in need, then everyone would have more money. That would be beneficial to the poverty stricken and people of means would be able to donate more to private charities. It all seems a bit rose-colored-glassesy, but I'm really not a fan of imposed morality and robin hooderery either.

JD said...

first, i'm very proud of you and your 10k visitors acheivement! AND i point out that it has not yet been a whole year. congrats!

second, fuck that 'imposed morality' / 'robin hood' shit. what's the alternative? anarchy? libertarians (and republicans and democrats) don't have the answer. stop paying taxes for a year and see how many charities you get around to donating to. if we stop thinking in such limited, selfish terms, we'd realize that we are a collective and need to do things collectively. i think the best solution to any of these questions is to have millionaires (and billiionaires) pay their share like the other 95% of us. i just heard a story about a guy who grossed over 3million in a year and payed 30k in federal taxes. that's ONE percent. guess what percent of my gross income last year went to federal taxes. a lot more than one percent. the answer is neither to get rid of social services nor to rely on bill and melinda gates to fund them. it's to 'force' everyone to fund them equitably.
everything in our lives is touched by tax money or regulated by the gov't. there is no feasable way to cut most of that stuff loose (just ask california residents how that utilities deregulation went!) as for 'forced morality', what kind of burden would 'special needs' people put on the consumers if they can't pay medical bills - or any bills for that matter. i really don't know economics but it seems that if the doctors and such are losing money on some accounts, their going to recoup that money from people who CAN afford it. and as prices rise, that group of people will get smaller and smaller, forcing the formerly self-reliant lower S-E classes into the 'special needs' and dirt poor class. it would create and even wider rift than the current shit-ass system has.
anyway, sorry for the rant but i'm super sick of politicians (one and all.)

rachel said...

really? because I am all for robin hoodery. in fact, I am breaking into scrooge mcduck's house t'nite!

can you think of a better word than 'hoodery?'

Christopher Clark said...

What's this Pinko "collective" shit? Remember Russia? That worked out great and provided the world with Yakov Smirnoff.

Anyway, I guess you didn't notice that porcupine baby, cause you were too busy standing in bread lines.

Anonymous said...

Ron Paul said he would not run as a Libertarian during an interview with Hannity & Colmes

Why to vote for him
• Never voted to raise taxes
• Never voted to raise congressional pay
• Never voted for an unbalanced budget
• Never voted to increase executive branch power
• Never voted for federal restriction of gun ownership
• Never taken a government paid junket
• Voted against the Iraq war and the Patriot Act
• Is against regulating the internet
• Supports a smaller federal government
• Returns part of his salary each year
• Has exempted himself from the congressional pension
• Will not give in to pressure to vote for bills that he views as spending taxpayers' money in a wasteful manner or for bills that he feels violates the

I’m against robin hoodery also but I am for the word hoodery when following robin. By itself it sucks big time.

Anonymous said...

I didn’t notice that porcupine baby, cause it is a picture of a baby hedgehog so I boycotted the link.

JD said...

yeah, communism sucks too. but not because it's a bad idea (it works "on paper") but because of the rampant corruption that seems to go along with any form of gov't. i'm moving to montana to live in a yurt!

JD said...

that porcupine/hedgehog post seems like something i would do - but, brother, it ain't mine!
i'm not super keen on porcupines either though.
just look at those creepy 'hands' that thing has!
gave me a shiver.
i have an interview/audition to design and perform science demonstration and the museum of science and industry and i have an interview to be part of the education dept. at shedd aquarium!
i'm super excited/nervous.