Dramatis Personae
Barack Obama, President of the United States
Joe Biden, Vice-President of the United States
OBAMA: I have one small concern about our health care proposal.
BIDEN: What’s that, boss?
OBAMA: Don’t call me “boss.”
BIDEN: I’m sorry — I thought that was the lingo. You know, jive talk. [Read more →]
One look at the House and Senate health care bills shows who Congress’ favorite constituencies are. It must be sheer joy to be on that list. If you or your group are there, it means Big Brother loves you and will address your every whim. Of course this largesse comes at the expense of others, but you’re not worried about that. You’re more important, more deserving, a little more equal than the rest.
What’s more interesting than who is on the dole, is who isn’t. For example, there’s not much in there for doctors. The bills are loaded with rules and regulations, those type of sentences that contain the words “shall” and “must.” Somehow, Congress left the goodies out. No scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, no guaranteed minimums, no cushy boards to create steady streams of government cash into the pool of physician pockets. [Read more →]
With President Palin and the Republican Congress stubbornly insisting on invading Iran, it has been the proud and seemingly quixotic task of the 44 Democratic senators to prevent cloture on the war resolution. But now Majority Leader McConnell is threatening to use the reconciliation process to pass the bill over the objections of not only Democrats but of the majority of the American public. [Read more →]
So, James Cameron went on The View and finally revealed that Avatar was intended as a thinly-veiled vehicle for anti-corporate and environmentalist propaganda, confirming the suspicions of Republicans, mercenaries, and unobtainium miners everywhere. The funny thing is, even though he obviously wanted to send a very specific message, what the movie ends up meaning depends on one’s point of view. You might call it a reflecting pool, or a Rorschach inkblot test, in which everyone sees the confirmation of his or her political ideology in the story. Environmentalists might see it as glorifying the beauty and sanctity of nature and condemning man’s destructive and myopic exploitation of it. Socialists might revel in its message that living without money or trade is a more fulfilling and humane existence and that profit breeds violence and coercion. Doves might see it as challenging the military mindset and imperialist impulses of American culture. [Read more →]
On the surface, the debate is about economics. Deficit spending, health care entitlements, and taxes all get top billing in newspapers and on television. However, many Americans understand there is more at stake than policy tweaks and social initiatives. They know the real issue is power.
The debate is not unlike the one that took place in the decade or so before 1776. As happened then, two camps are coalescing around broad concepts. On one side are the Royalists, those who believe government has the answers and therefore deserves the authority necessary to implement them. On the other side are the Rebels, who prefer to work out their own solutions and live with the consequences. [Read more →]
Sex is essential. People who have regular sex live longer than those who do not. These people also tend to be healthier and happier. Given the importance of sex in the lives of Americans, you would think that our government would do all it could to ensure that everyone had equal access to sexual services. Tragically, this is not the case.
In fact, our government has stood by while sexual services have been controlled by sex industry workers who seem far more interested in turning profits than turning tricks.
U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra is in trouble for not engaging in a socialist activity: saying the Pledge of Allegiance. It’s a case of “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
By now, you know that Indiana Senator Evan Bayh is retiring because of excess partisanship, or legislative gridlock, or because he’s “an executive at heart,” or something.
Less noted, but of infinitely greater importance, is the retirement of juvenile uses of Evan Bayh’s surname by poor journalists, tacky aggregators, nattering twits, and everyone else who doesn’t know how to resist an impulse.
That wacky Gallic advocate of total war, Georges Clemenceau, is reputed to have said something like (in French, I suppose), “Not to be a socialist at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head.” Fair enough. But what does it mean when, as the years pass, a man finds himself becoming more of an anarchist? [Read more →]
Although Philip K. Dick passed away in 1982, his novels and stories still have a feel of immediacy. These works of speculative fiction dealt with themes that still preoccupy our minds — the overreach of governments that lie to their subjects in order to increase their power, corrupt corporations that attempt to control every aspect of peoples’ lives, and the nature of identity in an increasingly confusing world. Hollywood studios love him, because his personal stories of alienation in modern society appeal to modern filmmakers, who have turned his fiction into classic films such as Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, and at least three other films that I have seen, but whose titles escape me at the moment.
For me, one of his best works is the novel The Penultimate Inconvenient Truth, which is the story of a conspiracy among scientists and various world governments to convince people that the planet’s temperature (“planetemp”) is rising. In fact, there is little evidence of this — the scientists and governments are just using it as an excuse to consolidate power. The first chapter, reprinted below, is so prescient that it almost feels like it could have been written today, just now, by me, as a satire. Except for all those classic Phildickian terms, of course:
I have documented proof that the first partisan attacks began at no later than 11:51 AM, slightly less than two hours after the crash, and that they were aimed at Obama. The rhetoric is now mostly unintelligible, Democrats bashing Republicans, and vice versa. It makes me want to vomit.
Why can’t people get it through their heads that a certain segment of the population is just going to be crazy, and that any group with a large enough population size will have the same ratio of sane to insane people as the population at large? I’m all for the constant mud slinging over things like health care, the lack of global warming, etc. But at some point we need to acknowledge that sometimes a tragedy isn’t partisan, that it’s just the act of some person who has gone absolutely bat shit insane, that there is no way to make sense of the insane, and that the best we can do is extend our sympathy and condolences to the families of those whose lives were lost.
When I originally saw the headline in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper that President Asif Ali Zardari sacrificed a black goat a day in his presidential compound I was quite excited- could this be another entry for Lucifer Watch? After all the goat, especially a black one, is a beast often associated with the Lord of the Flies. But then again, Pakistan is a country which is 98% Muslim or thereabouts, and I just couldn’t see the people (or military) of that nation feeling all that comfortable with a leader paying tribute to the one they call Iblis; indeed I can’t see the people of any country feeling all that relaxed with a head of state openly in cahoots with Satan. [Read more →]
Bodies are hitting the floor with an alarming tempo but are they smote and dead or are they on the deck playing possum? It’s a mixed bag. [Read more →]
There’s a two-word answer for everything wrong with politics today: Richard Shelby. The Senator from Alabama placed a hold on dozens of Obama nominees… not because he opposes them, but because he wanted to “get the White House’s attention on two issues that are critical to our national security — the Air Force’s aerial refueling tanker acquisition and the F.B.I.’s Terrorist Device Analytical Center (TEDAC).” Coincidentally, both these “critical” matters will result in large amounts of federal dollars being dumped into Alabama. So what seems like pointlessly dragging the government to a standstill — and it’s not like the government moves at breakneck speeds in the best of times — in a desperate attempt to score two extra helpings of pork is in fact his personal quest to keep the rest of us safe. On behalf of the rest of America: thanks, Richard. [Read more →]
Got hold of a new tidbit that I found interesting. The Ozone Layer’s hole, which is closing, is now being reported as “causing global warming”.
<Insert Homer Simpson’s “D’oh!” here.>
I hope you were as appalled as I was by the way the Supreme Court basically said “eff you” to democracy with their decision in the “Citizens United” case. Brave Senator Chuck Schumer and brave Representative Chris Van Hollen are doing their part by proposing a new law designed to blunt the effects of said decision, but I am afraid that nothing less than an amendment to our imperfect Constitution will have any effect — the Supreme Court can always strike down a law. That’s why I, like so many others, have taken direct action by composing a bipartisan amendment to the constitution, designed to protect our democracy (I’m calling it the “Protect Democracy Amendment,” so my intentions will be clear). I’m not exactly sure how these things work, but I think that if enough people sign this proposition it will become an actual Constitutional amendment, in which case democracy as we know it will be saved.
WHEREAS, an informed citizenry is necessary to the perpetuation of our government as it currently exists,
Like many contributors to this site, I find that I align closest with the general co-occurrence of values known to the world as “libertarianism.” But surely many libertarians would disagree with some of the arguments I make, so I’ll just say that I agree with libertarians on many — possibly most — political issues. What follows is my best attempt at establishing a philosophical basis for my political views. This post was partially inspired by Mike McGowan‘s great series of posts entitled “one guy’s thoughts on libertarianism.” [Read more →]
Dramatis Personae
Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics editor-in-chief
Ed Brubaker, writer of Captain America
QUESADA: The wingnuts are all over me for tying-in the teabaggers with those white supremacists. What were you thinking? Don’t you realize these people read comic books? My God, that’s probably all they read.
BRUBAKER: I’m sorry — I didn’t think they were smart enough to figure it out. [Read more →]
Among other stumbles President Obama has recently been using a locution that aggravates dealers, magicians, limo drivers, whores and other fine Americans engaged in the vice trade; he has casually been using Las Vegas, presumably because of its gambling-based economy, as a foil to the rest of the nation. But Vegas will not go quietly into that neon it’s-all-good night. Vegas and Nevada (even Harry Reid!) has taken to heart some other ill-phrased advice from the White House. They are punching back twice as hard! [Read more →]
