Sarah Palin

This will be my last Sarah Palin post. I have never been a fan and do not understand the media attention this woman garners.

Contrary to right-wing opinion, I do not dislike Palin because she did not attend an elite East Coast University, or because she is moderately attractive, or that she has five children or owns guns. I dislike Sarah Palin because she has NO substance, no intellectual curiosity, no stick-to-itiveness (as my grandmother used to say). The McCain campaign is partially to blame for the Palin frenzy, but now with the election over for more then a year we can blame the MSM. Here's a memo guys, just because Faux News is covering her doesn't mean she's a story. Stepping down as Governor of Alaska, with one & a half years left to her term that was news, more proof of just how unfit a choice she was for VP.

The rest of it; her book & book tour not really news. Nobody really cares, the damned thing is already on the bargain tables. Judith Warner in the New York Times this week called her pat, scripted answer to Oprah about Levi gracious. Are you kidding me, the venom that was dripping from her when she made that statement was far from gracious. She is not that good of an actor, but apparently Ms Warner was fooled. Now, I will admit, I do not watch Oprah and certainly did not watch the Palin interview; the woman holds no interest for me. She has proven to be an excellent media whore and has even dragged her oldest daughter into the fray; forcing her to shill for abstinence only education. Hypocrisy much?

Anyone who thinks a woman or anyone for that matter who can't fulfill her commitment to a small state as governor certainly has no business being discussed as a potential presidential candidate for 2012. I know small children with longer attention spans than Mrs Palin. We saw this again recently, she left a book signing before everyone who was guaranteed a signed book was seen, she couldn't even manage to finish a 5K turkey trot in Washington State this week. She lives for the limelight, but the reality there is nothing to see here; it's time everyone in the media; inside & outside the beltway moved on.

Wanker of the Day

David Brooks of the NY Times thinks because he saw a few white folks eating food from black vendors and listening to rap music that none of the current criticism against the President is racially motivated. Can you say clueless white guy? Douche, asshat.

"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/opinion/18brooks.html"

Beyond No

Republicans have gone beyond simply being the party of 'NO'. They have become the party of no facts, no questions, no solutions and absolutely no clue. The protesters in DC this past weekend were an amalgam of I don't know what. No one really seemed to know exactly why they were there.

Plenty of Obama as Hilter posters-I don't even know where that comes from. Nazi analogies are just bizarre; no matter what side uses them. No one is suggesting genocide as a solution to anything, so let's tone down the rhetoric. Lots of anti-socialist screeds too. I wonder how many of them really know what socialism is? According to Webster socialism is (noun):
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

Last time I checked that was not what was going on. But, if socialism doesn't get your blood boiling maybe Oligarchy will. Again from Webster's:
Oligarchy (noun)
1 : government by the few
2 : a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes; also : a group exercising such control
3 : an organization under oligarchic control

Let's try Fascism (noun)
1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control

Often the President is depicted as all three at once. Though I'm not quite sure that is possible, but I dwell in the reality based community and inhabitants of right-wingnuttia well, don't. They don't care what words mean, as long as they sound scary. The truth is optional, especially if it gets in the way of their story line.
Let's face it Fox News rails against Mainstream Media as if they are not a part of Main Stream Media. They rail against NBC & MSNBC as if it's a workers collective over at the GE owned conglomerate; MSNBC has three liberal anchors fox has how many psycho rightwingers anchoring shows? It's hardly a level playing field.

I want to be clear I love disagreement; I love to debate a point to death; I don't have a problem with dissent. I do have a problem with dishonesty and that's what this boils down to inherent intellectual dishonesty. President Carter was right when he said on NBC News the other night people are angry. The sad part is people don't really know why they are angry. I take that back, they do know some of the reasons, the budget deficit is huge and banks got bailed out by the government and people continue to lose jobs and we aren't getting any bailout money. I get that all understandable to an extent, I'm pissed about that stuff too. Difference is I know the deficit wasn't created by the President who was sworn into office 9 short months ago; I know the bailout wasn't voted on the current congressional makeup. All this stuff happened before President Obama was President-elect Obama. The wars in Iraq & Afganistan are the reason the budget deficit is larger than it was under Reagan. The financial industry was able to run hog-wild because Reagan, G.H.W Bush, Clinton & G.W. Bush decided regulation was a bad thing and that industry should just police itself. We had already tried that once at the turn of the last century and it didn't work out really well then either. But Americans have no sense of history, we think prior mistakes can't happen again, even when we toss aside the lessons learned from those previous mistakes.

We need to get away from this silly idea that government is bad, and all it wants to do is take your money. Taxes are the price we pay for citizenship. We need roads,

Wanker of the Day

Mr. I was all for the invasion of Afganistan back in 2001; but now well, maybe it's not a good idea. Tom Friedman




Friedman actually has a point in this piece today, but Bob Herbert & Nick Kristoff have already covered this information and it took an article in the Times earlier this week to make Friedman aware that the situation in Afganistan is untenable. There's that forward thinking for ya. He is such a tool.

Fed says economy leveling out

That's nice for the Fed and I'm sure the investment bankers, but what about we mere mortals? Can we get some extra unemployment dollars? Something? I'm sick of hearing about how we are bailing about industries and yet people are left to their own devices. I have been looking for a job for 17 months now, I keep hearing you're overqualified, you're underqualified oh and by the way because you have no children we can't help you. That last is from state & federal agencies, I'm waiting for someone to tell me I should have gotten married and then I wouldn't have to worry my pretty little head about paying those nagging bills like rent, electric etc.

I really wish the Government and the MSM would stop reporting that the financial crisis is over, it may be for business but it still isn't for real people. Maybe someone from CNBC should look into that.

Wit's end

I'm done, I have no idea what my next move is. Or even what it should be. I've been out of work since 29 February 2008, my severance and unemployment benefits have run out and because I have always worked and paid my taxes the only help I am entitled to is food stamps. No medical no financial assistance from the state, now, if I was irresponsible, never worked, never paid taxes, never used birth control and as a result of this lack of judgment had children I was emotionally and financially unable to support I could get anything I needed.

Don't get me wrong I think children should get all the help they need, we have too many children in this country living below the poverty level; but we are in a situation now where somewhere like me also needs help. I shouldn't have to suffer because the child brides of polygamists in the state of Utah suck up all the available resources. I know the common wisdom now is that illegals are sucking up all the resources we are back to Regan's welfare queen argument, which was a fallacy in the 80's and is still one today, but it's a good sound bite and no one wants to look deeper.

The social safety net was designed for folks like me caught up in times like these and yet there are no options for someone like me. There is not a single job that I have not applied for. I hate not working!

Like many people I get a sense of myself from my job, not working for the past 18 months has made me question not only my abilities but also my sense of worth. I am a hard worker, I am a good employee and yet I can't even get a job at Whole Foods working a cash register or stocking shelves. I don't understand what is going here. I am lost, completely and totally lost. Honestly, I don't know how I manage to get up and keep going everyday except I have no other choice.

I have many friends who are in situations where they are out of work, but they have one advantage I don't, a spouse or partner with a job and while I know things are difficult for them financially, they at least have one income coming in. I'm all I've got and it's scary out there. I'm out of money, options and time; I don't know what my next move is

Worst Disaster Movie EVER!

I consider myself something of a disaster flick aficionado. It probably has something to do with growing up with disaster flicks like the Towering Inferno; The Poseidon Adventure; and Earthquake. So imagine my disappointment tonight when I turned on Meteor on NBC this evening and it sucked ass!!

This is the worst disaster flick ever! It had most of the usual elements of a standard disaster flick, it just lacked everything. There was the crazy convict guy, but you never knew why he had a vendetta for the cop and his family and the cop was a really bad cop. I mean after shooting him they just assumed he was dead even though the viewer could tell he had only been winged in the arm. The sad part was you kind of hoped for the end of the world, because no in this movie grabbed you and made you want to care.

this wasn't even bad in a campy some day this will be a cult classic sort of way, it was a low-budget made for summer teevee movie and they didn't even care how bad it was. That's two hours of my life I'll never get back. At least my dinner was lovely and delightful; salade nicoise with rosemary & pepper encrusted grilled tuna and lemon mint vinagrette. It was excellent! So the evening wasn't a total waste.