Nobody Asked Me, But...

1) So George Zimmerman felt that his life was threatened. And he has a point: a kid sitting on top of me, even if I weigh a hundred pounds more than me, bashing my face in and banging my skull against the ground would be a threat to me, and he wouldn't have to say a thing. But then I'd remember I sort of brought this on myself and while I'd fight to get away and maybe even end up killing him, I wouldn't try to justify it as some heroic act of self-defense. George? Just imagine how threatened you'd feel if some black hooded figure followed you in a car for fifteen minutes in a neighborhood that you don't live in. You murdered an innocent man, and you will pay for that in some way.

 

2) When Romney spoke at that Hispanic leadership conference yesterday, how many audience members were remembering how he had to fire his migrant gardeners because "I'm running for President, for God's sake"? I'm thinking it wasn't enough, and I'm thinking liberal Latinos need to get out in front of this and start blanketing the airwaves with that sound bite.

 

3) Remember, this guy was heavily influenced by American "pundits" like Pamela Geller and Daniel Pipes. When he is sent away to prison for the rest of eternity, so should they accompany him as accomplices.

 

4) A "failure of leadership" is code for "The US won't sign the damn thing anyway, so why bother?" Barack Obama ought to unilaterally sign the agreements then dare Congress to knock it off his shoulder.

 

5) Weaker Boener, where are the motherfucking jobs?

 

6) Four years too fucking late, Moodys. You should have done this when all those CDOs and CMOs were on the books making them gobs of money.

 

7) Let me get this straight: Barack Obama protecting Alberto Gonzalez through the use of executive privilege has the conservative clown car up in arms? Ooooooooooooooookay............

 

8) Remember that second scientific paper about the avian flu and it's pandemic potential that would have given terrorists a blueprint for how to build a virus? It's been published.

 

9) You're fifteen hundred feet from summiting Mount Everest when a cop pulls you over...

 

10) Say, you know who else liked a nice rack?

Why the FUCK Didn't You, Madame Speaker?

"I could have arrested Karl Rove on any given day," Nancy Pelosi said to laughter, during a sit-down with reporters. "I'm not kidding. There's a prison here in the Capitol ... If we had spotted him in the Capitol, we could have arrested him."

You mean like so many on the left asked? Begged? Pleaded? Why not?

"It doesn't serve our country, and it undermines the true purpose of contempt of Congress."

Get the fuck out of here. No, seriously, GTFO! When are the Democrats going to get it through their thick skulls that the only way they're ever going to right the ship of state and get to a place where Republicans are willing to be flexible and negotiate is to smack the fucks on the snout with a 2x4?

If the Teabagger movement tells us anything, it's that Republicans are not only perfectly willing and capable, but seem to enjoy sinking into the gutter in order to stop this nation from doing, well, anything except a war that Republicans themselves declare (else why the argument over Libya?)

The Democrats are the human in the middle of a pack of rampaging junkyard dogs and you know how you beat down a pack of junkyard dogs? You don't try to soothe them or bribe them: you take the lead dog, and crack him across the nose to show him who is boss.

Arresting, even just arresting, Karl Rove would have gone a long way to making the GOP realize you're serious and to be taken seriously.

My God, woman, these are the thieves and crooks who stole elections, raped our nation, destroyed her good name and credit both domestically and internationally, Murdered thousands of our young men and women for wars that had no point and no end, and plundered the values of our homes! Fuck "contempt of Congress," they are traitorous, murderous slimy bastards who if we had a Bastille and guillotine would be lined up at La Barrière!!

Arresting Karl Rove would have been, as they say, a nice first step.

How much different would the first four years of the Obama administration have been if, say, you had on January 1, 2007, slammed your gavel down and said "I will entertain a bill from Congressman Kucinich authorizing an investigation into a bill of war crime charges against officials of this Administration"? Or criminal negligence for ignoring the urgent warnings surrounding 9-11? Or hell, any number of things including charges of voter caging in 2004 or rigged elections in 2000?

I can tell you this much: Karl Rove would have spent the last six years running and hiding and spending money on lawyers and not building a superPAC war chest (after persuading five SCOTUS justices to pervert the First Amendment) to try to get the HNIC out of the White House. The Republicans would have thought twice before raising the birther issue, or banning abortions, or passing "Stand Your Ground" laws.

They would have respected you. Yes, they would have worked overtime to get rid of you, to take Congress over anyway, but guess what? It happened, despite your gestures of conciliation. You know who else reconciled with a tyrant hell-bent on destroying nations?

"Peace in our time," my lily-white ass!

 

Mysteries Deepen

 

It looks as though it's possible some of the bones of John the Baptist may actually have been buried in a church in Bulgaria for centuries.

 

John the Baptist is a pivotal figure in Christianity. He prophesied the coming of the Christ, baptized Christ (imagine trying to dunk Him under water...) and was beheaded by Herod for condemning Herod's marriage to his niece.

 

The legends surrounding John the Baptist are myriad, especially in the former Byzantine Empire. John is essentially the patron saint of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and it's said that his bones were gifted by Byzantium during the Crusades, possibly as incentive or reward for assistance during the Crusades.

 

John's head is rumoured to be now held in the Vatican, but it may have been the single most important relic the Knights Templar held, apart from the San Greal (Holy Grail).

 

If these are John's bones, they would be the first tangible physical proof to confirm contemporary accounts of the era of Christ's birth, including Josephus's narrative, which is widely cited as one of the few historical accounts of the existence of Jesus (along with Tacitus and Suetonius.) John is mentioned prominently by Josephus and the Biblical accounts of events in Jesus' life are confirmed by Jospehus.

I Knew They Were Slow, But...

 

Fossilized turtles caught in flagrante delicto.

Ruminations

 

It strikes me that this election cycle seems to be a good one to try to get a liberal message out in the ether, to effective re-frame the context of our arguments that have been so thoroughly deconstructed by people of evil intent.

 

The Dark Side, if you will.

 

After all, the past few years have seen a signal change in the electorate: it has gone from what seemed to be a unified body of sheeple into a fractured coalition of people looking for change, whether they be angry Teabaggers or calmer, more thoughtful Occupiers.

 

Both pictures are an inaccurate reflection of the American people, I ought to point out: we have neither been fully comfortable with a conservative agenda, nor has Occupy ushered in an new era of enlightenment.

 

But both sides have raised questions, good questions (yes, I just paid the Teabaggers a compliment, such as it was); Questions about privacy, the role of government, the responsibilities of citizens to themselves and to other citizens.

 

Liberals need to frame answers. In particular, in light of the budget issues that are raised like bogeymen whenever conservatives feel the agenda is slipping away. The temptation has been to ignore them, ignore the fears they try to raise, and it's gotten us precious little progress in America. We're stalemated at best, and stalemates in society lead to backslides.

 

We have to rebut these criticisms our positions get and then take our case to a higher level. The question is, how? How do we ask taxpayers to let us pass tax hikes on the richest one percent to pay for services we deem vital, like healthcare, like education, like infrastructure repair, like science and the arts?

 

One thing that occured to me this morning was to appeal to something even more primal than greed.

 

Common sense. Particularly when it comes to families.

 

Here's the thing: people will be cheap when it comes to themselves. They believe they can either do without something or pay less than someone else (this is why stores put things on sale, even though they know they won't lose all that much money.) People are really good at sussing out the price of something. They suck at sussing out the value of something.

 

Our job is to point out that, not only are they missing the bigger picture of value, but the price they're paying is high, as well.

 

Take education: a parent will think nothing of complaining about how high school taxes are, or the school budget is, but ask them to pay for educating their child and let them go out and actually price what a quality education costs, and suddenly they start to realize they had a bargain.

 

So here's my thought: pose these budget items as a legacy. Is it worth a couple hundred bucks a year to ensure your kid gets a better job and make more money? Is it worth a couple hundred bucks a year to make sure your kid can live a longer life with better health, keeping the environment clean so he or she can breathe clean air and have clean drinking water? Or have health insurance when you're too old to work and pay for his insurance? You'd leave him the money in your will, obviously, but this is an instance where you could put that money to work now and leave him a better and bigger legacy.

 

Is it worth a few hundred bucks for him to have a good infrastructure? You'd buy him a bike because it's fun, but what if you took that money and put it towards a better rail system or safer streets? You'd give him a body guard if he needed one, but why not pay that money towards your police and ambulance services? You'd put out a fire at his house, so why not pony up the money to hire a professional who'll answer the call?

 

Aren't these things-- your child's mind, his income, his safety-- worth just about anything?

Y'Know, Life Could Be Worse

 

You could get beaten by your meat.

I Like DREAMing

I'm glad Obama at least made a passing reference to the status of undocumented immigrants last week.

 

If, like me, you missed the news, President Obama has ordered the DHS to stop deporting young undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children. You have to be under 30 without a criminal record, brought here before you were 16, and either be enrolled in school or have a diploma or have completed military service with an honorable discharge.

 

It's the tip of an enormous iceberg, but it's a start. We are a nation of immigrants. Our economic growth depends on immigration, and it is absolutely not a coincidence that our nation's economy started to fracture and striate the moment the Federal government started crackdowns on immigration, both legal and illegal. In order to put this economy back on track, immigration has to be a linchpin to any strategy that involves the long-term economic health of the United States. Period.

 

Some would criticize this move as pandering to the Latino vote, and that sentiment is echoed in Romney's latest politcal ad (a true pandering if ever there was one) and Romney's inability to state a clear case as to whether he'd overturn this latest Presidential order should he take over the office.

 

There's your pandering. Romney has in the past said he would overturn the DREAM act, of which this is an extension. Over the weekend, altho he tried to beat up the President for the policy, he never once said he would overturn it. That's having your cake, eating it too, and trying to share it with your base AND the crumbs with Latinos.

 

 

Light Blogging

Due to an underestimation on my part with regards to a challenge I put to myself over the weekend, blogging will be a bit light the next couple of days.

 

- I didn't keep up with the news during either my prep or my recovery.

 

- I can barely move my fingers.

 

- Work piled up on the one day I took off from work.

 

I anticipate that, by Wednesday, I'll be my old crabby self. Please forgive me and bear with me. Your patience is greatly appreciated.