| Fun little test. |
[Sep. 20th, 2005|12:14 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  apathetic | ] |
Know I've been gone for a while, shit nearly a year but I did take a cool little test on the net:
You are a
Social Liberal
(65% permissive)
and an...
Economic Conservative
(83% permissive)
You are best described as a:
Libertarian
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid |
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| Politics |
[Oct. 5th, 2004|08:07 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Sean Hannity Show | ] |
Getting ready to watch the VP debate tonight, looks like it will be pretty damn cool. It's funny how caught up I get in politics this time of the cycle. They are important to me always , but this time it seems especially important. The democrats have gone batshit crazy, they have for years. Thing is I disagree with a lot of Republican issues, though I definitely respect them more. I decided a while back that a hird party candidate waas not an option. While surfing the net today I came across this article on a blogger. It pretty much spelled out everythign I have been feeling about the democrats these last four years. I think it shows why I don't think that not voting this year or voting for a thrid party candidate is a really bad damn idea this year:
BTW I know I love poting long articles, bear with me on this one.
From Korla Pundit.
Dissent Is Patriotic.
That's why Democrats hate it.
So what was it that drove me to (1) realize that voting for a third party as a symbolic gesture was a stupid waste of time, (2) get involved in any way shape or form in a political function, and (3) actually register as a Republican, a party whose views I can sympathize with but do not largely embrace?
It was certainly a long process, but when the thunder finished rolling, there was no uncertainty. The Democrats have become something downright scary. I have come to accept that they must never, ever regain power in this country, and must be demolished and replaced with a new loyal opposition.
There were early rumblings several years back: a failed attempt to sneak through a bill that illegalized home schooling; the David Dinkins administration that almost destroyed New York with the Crown Heights race riots and the illegal Red Apple deli boycott; the Colin Ferguson rampage and Democratic response to it; the Tawana Brawley affair and Al Sharpton's slander against New Yorkers (and the Democrats' embrace of a man that belongs in prison), ad hominem accusations of being a racist if you dared to think OJ Simpson was guilty, the Clintons' attempt to destroy the American medical system through Socialism, Janet Reno's real destruction of American civil rights (forget the Patriot Act; think Waco, Ruby Ridge, Elian Gonzalez, etc), Hillary's attempt to pin the Oklahoma City bombing on Rush Limbaugh and his Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (is that a band name or what?), and a bunch of other incidents.
Then there was all the Clinton Whitewater stuff, and Hillary's obvious criminal trading activity which nobody cared about, and the Monica distraction which nobody should have cared about. And then I started to notice things about the press, like when Dan Rather sighed "Well, we've lost another one" as a state on his map turned red. Sure, the press beat the Monica dead horse, but only because sex trumps party loyalty. But the idea that the press might be reporting actual news had cracked beyond repair by then.
Then came a more frightening omens: the 2000 election. As I waited on line (that's right, I said "on" line!) to vote for a third-party candidate, the person in front of me, a typical homeless guy, and evidently illiterate, stood studying a scrap of paper that somebody had given him. It read:
GORE
CLINTONE
Here was some bum being told which levers to click on, obviously by somebody who had given him some kind of payment, probably cigarettes. And even the person who wrote it couldn't spell Hillary's last name.
And outside, there was some typical Park Slope mother, with a pinched face and a "No Son of a Bush in the White House" button, yanking spoiled little Joshie by the arm away from the entrance. She was already in a bitter rage. At what? Had Bush already lied? Had people already died? No. There was some hidden agenda I didn't know about that was making the Democrats crazy, even before the election. And when I got to work, I read all about the various scams of cigarettes-for-votes, double-voting students, etc, across the country. Almost exclusively by Democrats. And it really started to make me afraid.
Afraid that this country, this democracy, was being quietly dismantled, was being subverted. There was a coup going on here. And I realized with horror that if they succeeded in cheating their way into the White House, we would be just another banana republic. This was the kind of crap they did in South America. Not in America.
Then the election was a near tie. And Gore lost. And we had the recount. And Gore still lost.
And he had the gall to say "Don't get snippy!"
But then the lawyers swooped in. And with Terry McCauliff's guidance, Gore tried to push the coup into a new realm: litigation. And they put select county recounts into the hands of local Democrats to examine ballots chad by chad, and through a system of guessing who the voter wanted based on vague impressions on over-handled paper ballots and a pinch of psychic empathy. And still Gore lost.
And it went to the Supreme Court. And Gore lost again.
I thought the coup had finally failed. But it goes on even now four years later. And they still claim Bush "stole" the election, or that the Supreme Court "appointed" the "resident." "Selected, not elected." Even though it was Gore that decided to spit on the Constitution and history and honor and tradition by litigating the democratic process. I've got to say, this pointless act by the Democrats sure ruined the Christmas of 2000.
And it made me start to realize the Democratic party of FDR, Truman and Kennedy was truly dead. Instead we were stuck with the party of Jesse Jackson and Ted Kennedy.
Then the Clinton pardon scandal. And the vandalism of the White House by Gore's people. The W-less keyboards. We were truly witnessing a level of government beneath the Sandanistas. Couldn't these people just admit defeat this time around, like everybody else did before, and think "We'll be back in four years"? (I believe there was some more serious vandalism by the sore losers, some of whom are still in the bureaucratic capacity they occupied during the Clinton years, and not simply on inanimate objects, but that will have to wait for a future post.)
No, there was more to it than that. There was still some hidden agenda that was making the Dems freak out. A simple loss of the Presidency had never had this effect before. What could it be?
I think I'm starting to put the pieces together. More later.
That about says it. Not much a conclusion but it says a lot. All the crap that they are now pulling is nothing new. We're already hearing about how the vote is going to be fucked by the republicans, it's already beginning. Prolly be back after the debate.
PS yeah politics helps me get my mind off of work. |
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| Random Shit. |
[Sep. 24th, 2004|05:11 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | None | ] |
Found this and thought it was funny as hell
Good ol' dem ingenuity.
Pissed off as hell at a lot of shit but that comes later. |
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| The joys of journalism. |
[Sep. 16th, 2004|09:31 am] |
It's funny, I love journalism. I think it's one of the greatest pursuits in this country. I have an associates degree focused on it, and hell, I even won an award for a column I wrote. The crazy thing is, the principles I was taught, be fair, set personal bias aside, and for the most part analyze every bit of information you get and make damn sure it's right. That doesn't seem to be happening anymore. At least on the major news level.
I know that most journalists are pretty damn liberal. It comes from personal experience. I think so many got into the industry at this point with an agenda to show the TRUTH behind the big evil corporate world. Now most I think do try to be objective. The problem is those who don't put their bias away. That's where we get to Dan Rather.
First, read this:
Now Dan fucked up. I don't think anyone really doubts the fact that he did. Except for maybe Dan, who keeps on spinning words in a Clinton esque matter. He's saying that basically it doesn't matter whether or not the documents that the story are based on are true or not. The Bush administration should answer for them anyways. That's ridiculous.
What infuriates me is that Dan Rather has the auspices of being unbiased. Where is his tough questioning of Kerry on admitted war crimes? Surely THOSE are more important than some documents that only half of your forensic experts agree COULD be real. Dan of course tries to confuse the issue.
"If you can’t deny the information, then attack and seek to destroy the credibility of the messenger, the bearer of the information. And in this case, it’s change the subject from the truth of the information to the truth of the documents.
Great Dan, the thing that you are forgetting is, that without evidence, information holds no weight. For example I can say that someone raped my sister, I can have a signed affidavid from the guy who did it. However if that document is a forgery and that is what the entire case was based on. The charges hold no water. If I were to forge documents that showed Dan Rather funneled funds to Al Qaeda just before the 9/11 attacks and those documents were aired publicly as forgeries, would Dan still need to answer for them? Of course fucking not!
Either way, it's just showing how the old media can't handle the current reality. People like Limbaugh, Hannity, and even Franken, at least have the decency to admit that they are biased. Rather should either become a liberal commentator, or go back to Journalism 101.
Until then, well, we will continue taking everything with a spoonful of salt. |
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| Losing a friend |
[Aug. 29th, 2004|08:53 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  melancholy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | None - it's dead quiet around here | ] |
It's weird, I'm sitting here and it still seems damn surreal. Ben had been around for years, and I can still remember the first time I met him. We were never very close, but, I always knew that he got it as far as the club was concerned. Ben was a geek, unashamedly, and that's not meant as derision, it's what he was. He loved his Star Trek, his Transformers, and of course his Anime. He was a good guy above all else.
I've been spending this whole day with it at the very least in the back of my mind. It's strange, I mean this was supposed to be a fun weekend, my dad was coming into town, I had a concert yesterday, and there was going to be a fun VMA party tonight. The morning started off alright, but, it's been downhill since there.
Ben's dead. The words still don't seem quite real, they probably won't for days now. It just doesn't seem like it should have happened. I mean, people who die in horrible car accidents are supposed to be faceless strangers, not someone who you have seen damn near every week for probably damn near five years. I remember going who the hell was that creepy guy the first time I met him. I remember, getting to know him better and realizing that there was a good guy in there too. I remember seeing that guy becoming more socially adept. He did, he loved AGA, and through everything, he was there.
I remember soon after his father died, how he was so depressed. I remember how happy he would be watching some new anime, or cracking a joke, and I remember how he wanted to be friends with damn near everybody. It's over.
From my understanding, Ben was an only child, I can only imagine what his mother is going through right now. It's just not right. I wish I had been closer to him. It's weird, seeing all these people who never even knew him expressing condolences. In a way it makes me angry, I know it shouldn't, it's just... I don't even know.
All I know is Ben's never going to see another episode of one piece, cosplay, or crack a stupid corny joke again. I'm probably going to miss those corny jokes most of all.
Actually that's a lie, the club just isn't going to be the same without Ben Feld. He may not have been the loudest voice there, but he was an anchor, and it's just a shame that it took his death for a lot of us to realize it. We'll get through it. I know we will, we'll never forget Ben, but as time goes on we'll get over it. It's what people do.
I just hope that Ben's closest friends can help his mother and his family, because whatever hell we're going through, theirs is going to be immeasurably worse. There is no reason any of this should have happened. None. My god this really does suck.
Some friends of mine were in that car, one, Terry got off with a horribly fractured arm. I pray for his speedy recovery and thank God that no one else died. I don't think I could handle that. I get to thinking what happens when we die. Personally I believe in heaven. Probably a result of my christian upbringing. It gives good solace in times like these. If reincarnation turns out to be true, I hope Ben gets reborn as a rich attractive socialite who gets tons of women. Of course, I don't think that he'd have anything other than a complete love for all things geeky. Things like that are burned into your soul I think.
In darker thoughts I then wonder what if this is it? What if, via the Atheist view. All we have is the synapses that fire off, and all that waits for us after the end is nothing but a big black void. At times like this that really scares me. Because if so, Ben is truly and irrevocably gone. Or maybe not, maybe the memories we have keep him alive. Stream of conciousness is a motherfucker isn't it?
Either way this has me on edge. I mean I think of all the things I have yet to accomplish in my life and then contrast with all the things Ben had yet to do in his. He'll never get a chance to finish those. Luckily, I suppose I'll have a chance to finish mine. Death scares the shit out of me, i think because of that. I mean as nice as a proverbial heaven is, I still end up thinking that what we do here is the most important shit ever. At least it is for each one of us, in a very personal way.
In the end Ben, you will be missed. You were taken too soon. Next to death all this petty shit of who's pissed at who over what, and me being bitter about an unsuccessful love life, or being bummed because I won't get a chance to do some acting after so long seem insignificant. Though if we are only here for such a short time. Maybe they're not.
Maybe the greatest message is to really savor everything life has to offer. Boy, I'm just living in the cliches. I guess there is still some merit to it though.
Rest in Peace Ben, heaven is a better place with you in it.
I think I'm going to fight back tears now. |
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| You've got to be shitting me... |
[Aug. 24th, 2004|10:04 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | annoyed | ] |
Check this out!
Come on people, how long are we going to friggen bitch about this horseshit? It's a friggen ballot, it's not rocket science and sadly, nothing appears that it's ever going to be good enough for these old Jewish broads. That of course should have been expected.
I still remember an interview in 2000, where some old lady in a retirement home was swearing that she thinks she voted for Buchanan when she meant to vote for, I shit you not, Al Lieberman. Can't we have a test of a base level of fucking competence to vote? You don't need to have a Ph-fucking-D, but I think that showing the ability to CONNECT a friggen line!
Of course, even in this election cycle, this isn't really news, listen to the gutteral whine of Air America radio, or listen to any of 500 Dem pundits and you're going to find that they have been clanging the disenfranchised voters bell for months already. They already swear that this next election will only be won by Bush if the Republicans rig the election. They're getting ready to cause a ruckus if things don't go their way.
If this happens I think that we are going to be in worse shape than we were in 2000, consumer confidence is barely on the rise as it is, and sadly disputes over the presidency are anathema to a healthy stock market.
Not that it matters, each side right now is moving blithely along, barely even making a ripple or saying anything of real interest, the ads are as scathing as they ever were, Kerry keeps on chaging his position on everything, and Bush keeps on doing well, a whole lot of nothing. This campaign season is PITIFUL!
What ever happened to the exchange of ideas, of debating the value of how to reach the same goal? We've been arguing the same shit since the hippy movement and not a damn thing has changed. The attacks are the same, the responses are the same, and people just keep ignoring what's actually happening for whatever a candidate says.
Where is the faith in our country, we need someone who will make us BELIEVE in ourselves again, because it seems like not much of the country does anymore. Of course again, that's not a surprise, so many people have been rallying around all our wrongs in our short history that some people actually believe we are evil. That's a damn shame, it's as short sighted as believing that we can do no wrong.
But no, we keep dwelling on the bad, day after day and soon I think its going to bite us in the ass. We are flawed yes, but I think we are the best country in the world and I wholeheartedly believe that.
Now if only we would start acting like it. I'm not talking on an international scale, I mean right here at home. I wish people would give a shit in politics, would at least do a cursory examination of an issue and at least try to weigh facts and points. We don't of course, we operate strictly on emotion, and when you have an emotional response, the validity of the statement used to get it doesn't matter for shit. You got the emotion, you have them by the proverbial balls.
So, that's why Hollywood, and the media have people by the balls. That's why they are sowing the seeds for arguments to be used against Bush should they lose this next election. However things go, it's going to be messy as hell. |
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| Well, first post... |
[Aug. 24th, 2004|12:45 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pensive | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Disturbed - Remember | ] |
Tired, yeah I know its late as shit, but well, still tired. Not quite up for the whole morose post thing tonight, so I'll probably just leave it as frustrated, doubt too many people will be reading this at this point anyways, but...
I dunno, I feel like I'm stuck in a horrible rut right now, with work, life the whole shebang, and everyone tells me it's easy to get out of but it just doesn't ever feel that way. It seems like a lot of other people have this switch that they can flick and suddenly they just snap out of what is bothering them. I dunno, I just dwell on shit, all the damn time. Not just bad stuff mind you, but I guess it's just how I look at things . I have a tendency to fixate on the negative, and while in the back of my mind I know that there are better ways to be living my life. I dunno, I'm just so damn used to fucking shit up, I don't know how I'd handle, well, not. Every time I feel like I'm moving forward, I do something to sabotoge myself. Am I just comfortable where I am? Or is it I'm so damn scared of some future failure/rejection when I don't have an excuse that even though consciously this sucks, my subconscious feels that these smaller failures that I'm used to will hurt less. Why couldn't the human psyche be easier to fucking deal with?
In happier news, the new crew seems to be fairly cool, still kinda freaky running into people I've met before when hanging with them. It's kinda funny how everyone falls into a role in all social groups, Michelle acts very much like the den mother watching out in many ways for the young'ns in her way, and in return they watch out for her too. Still haven't quite figured out how I integrate, but that always takes time with me. Always has.
I can see the group has bits of drama in it, but as Angel says, and as I had mentioned to him before, that shit is unavoidable, when you have a sufficiently large group of acquaintances some people are going to rub each other the wrong way. Or someone will just do something horribly stupid and fuck over a friend. It sucks but I can't say I ever see that changing. It happened in OA with Jeff, hell, it happens all the time.
Still, I have a good feeling as far as something that Angel is after, and I hope it works out for him. I at least want my best friend to be happy.
In other news, I suck at DDR, well that's a given and maybe I'll try fop practice this Sunday, as Michelle said, 86 breasts sure as hell ain't a bad thing. |
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