I'm going through my LJ tags, because I don't use them well, and only once or twice usually, and I came across this entry, dated August 13,
2007.  To quote myself:

But I'm sure we'll see the Machiavelian devil return in the next election, advising the GOP front runner (who will gain Rove's help after the primary)

It's sad when cynicism is accurate.
So you should know Rove is advising McCain, unless you watch Fox news.

Tags: politics, radical liberalism

Politics makes my chest hurt. Just the left side, and sometimes my left arm goes numb when I think about about. For example, I surfed by Glenn Beck talking to Jonah Goldberg, who has written a book equating Liberalism with Fascism. I drove to my writing group screaming at these idiots until my voice was thrashed and I saw spots.
But today I actually went to look at the websites for the four survivors (I think Ron Paul is still running, but I didn't look). I Noticed something strange. It really looks like all four sites are exactly the same. None of the sites have a colophon or "about this site" that I can find, but it really looks like the same web company built all four of these things. The layouts are spooky-similar.
Even Hillary's and Obama's "Fact Check" sites are similar. They don't fact check themselves, but fact check each other. Trying to sort out exactly what Hillary thinks of Nafta, then, is difficult. Both sites offer facts and fact checks that contradict each other.
Go figure.
The only advantage the Republicans have, from a web design standard, is the blessed lack of a splash screen. Both Hillary and Obama start with splash screens that only allow you to sign up for the email, with the option of skipping to the site. McCain and Huckabee draw you directly into the site.
It's still not enough to earn my vote, though.

Tags: politics, web design

What the hell. That's unexpected.
Now the media is claiming there are two Republicans left: McCain and Huckabee.
Never mind Ron Paul.
I'm still wondering if John Edwards was aware that he'd dropped out. The media seems to love telling us who we can vote for, and they loved Romney.
What gives?

Tags: politics

I just lost this post. Now I'm pissed at LJ as well as the RNC. You see, they sent me a letter. They told me that either Hilary Clinton would become president (and will "raise your taxes, pack the judiciary with left-wing activist judges, gut our military and intelligence services, ignore the problem of illegal immigration, expand the federal government's power and influence, and staff every federal agency and bureaucracy with cronies, Big Labor bosses and radical environmentalists.") or the Republicans will move forward with their agenda of economic freedom, individual responsibility, and a strong national defense.
You know, I wondered about the elections. I'm convinced the Republicans stole elections in 2000 and 2004. For the first time in decades, the exit polls were wrong. This is not statistically impossible, but when every single error favored Bush, that's even harder to take, statistically. I think they're doing the same thing. The RNC is deciding who wins, only they're doing it on the Democratic side this year.
Anyway, back to the letter. More scare tactics about the far-left bogeyman, including the one where our troops will be forced to surrender and lay down their arms "and give up the fight against an enemy who will stop an nothing to destroy our way of life."
Booga booga booga.
The census questions are horribly slanted: "Should we continue working to permanently repeal the Death Tax?"  No. Because there's no such thing. Don't chase bogeyman with tax-payer dollars, thank you. Only a few are even worth asking, like "Should Republicans renew the fight for a Balanced Budget Amendment?" Yes, they should, because they attacked Clinton for eight years about it and then didn't mention it once Bush was handed the Oval Office Play Pen.
I'm tempted to copy everything and fill it out and send it in, but since I'm ethical, I'd add a post-it note simply stating "I am not, nor have I ever been a registered Republican."
I called my county election office, just to make sure no hanky-panky was going on. They still have me registered properly, so I don't know how they got my address.

Tags: politics

Why the hell is the travel alarm going off at 2:15 A-frikken-M? Oh, yeah, that eclipse thing. We drove to Meldrum Bar Park, which was officially closed but the gate was open, so we drove down to the beach to watch the moon. Too much light.
So we went to Clackamette Park. Too much light.
The overlook on 99E that looks over Willamette Falls? Way to much light.
My lord, are we still afraid of the dark?
Finally, halfway between Oregon City and Canby we found a service road next to the train line that let us park and stick our heads out the windows to watch the eclipse. We also got to watch a bit of meteor shower. The Alpha Aurigids, I think. I'm not sure. According to my planetarium program (which I don't have with me right now) the shower came from right behind the moon, but Stephanie had better luck watching the zenith.
Uranus and Neptune were also right next to the moon, but we forgot to bring a telescope or the binoculars to get a better look. Not that we could have seen them with binoculars, at least.
Then we got pulled over. At least, a cop came by to find out if something was wrong. Where was this cop six hours previously when I called 911 because someone was out in the parking lot screaming "GET OFF ME YOU F*CK, HELP!"? No one came after my 911 call. I'm sure they don't take it seriously. For a while we had the sheriff responding to 911 calls about once a week. They hear the address and figure, so what. Whatever the problem is, things are usually cleared up long before they get here.
I is an abused housewife

Anyway. With Gonzo resigning, I wonder why no pundit has offered a scene from the next reality show: Survivor: The Constitution. Twenty six amendments start by dancing on the grave of XVIII, praising XXI for his underhanded backstabbing to take control of the booze industry, which was run by the mob and not taxed, but is now run buy giant corporations and not taxed.
II is ill, and wants to quit the show, but he's really popular so the producers never vote him off, but XXII and XXIV are in trouble. There's a clique of seven ready to vote him off, because he's just too rational. V is not part of this, because he refuses to say anything. They'd kill him in a minute but they all have their own secrets to protect.
Just a thought.

Tags: constitution, cops, eclipse, politics, science

I was going through my news aggregator and found a link from the Project for the Old American Century, which claims to find liberal news in the main stream media. One of their links has this quote from the newly published Reagan Diaries:

The entry is dated May 17, 1986. 
'A moment I've been dreading.  George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job.  Not the political one who lives in Florida.  The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless.  This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job.  Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something.  That looks like easy work.'

Sadly, as far as I can tell, this is false. I would love to have proof that Ronald Reagan, the god of the republican party, disliked Emperor George, but I can't find it. Since I work in a library I can go to a shelf and grab a copy of The Reagan Diaries* and confirm this. I can't find this passage anywhere in the book. It seems to fit the language of the book, as Reagan wrote casually in his diaries, but the passage is made up.
May 17 1986 was a Saturday, and there is only one note for the day: "had lunch with members of the Honor Guard; radiocast; Rex returned in good condition."
Emperor George was born July 6, 1946, so 1986 is the correct year as far as "almost 40" goes. But the website that has the story is www.globalresearch.ca (link). And if you look through the entire page, you see a copyright notice for The New Republic, a moderately liberal magazine.
Emperor George, also known as George W Bush, 43rd president etc so forth, is not mentioned in the book as far as I can tell. There isn't an entry in the index for him. There is one for Jeb Bush, but it has nothing to do with this. Similarly, there is one reference to Kinsley and two to the New Republic magazine.
Nada.
It seems they are making things up, and I've already written an email to the editor to ask what's up.

Tags: bush, news, politics, reagan

But I'm sure we'll see the Machiavelian devil return in the next election, advising the GOP front runner (who will gain Rove's help after the primary) or, God help us, Jeb Bush in 2012. Expect to find that he is still on the Executive Staff payroll all the way to Bush's dethronement.

He's not done. There are things in America good and wholesome that he has yet to defile.

Tags: politics, raving liberalism

Just watched the tape of the first episode of the Masters of Science Fiction. I was impressed. I haven't read the story, but I do have a copy of the Sci Fi channel's Seeing Ear Theater production.
The acting was good. I was impressed with how young Sam Watterson sounded. Judy Davis was equally impressive, but I don't know her that well. I'm not likely to watch The Reagans, but one can't channel surf without seeing Law and Order.
The pacing of the story seemed perfect for commercial breaks. Each piece of the puzzle laid out as a cliffhanger to let you, the viewer, figure things out faster than Havelmann does.
The story is a classic idea-driven form, punched up with social commentary on the duty every person has in a democracy. Heavy handed? Maybe. But it's short and important. The story was published in '84 or '85, the threat of nuclear war probably hung around like a bad stench. The message is just as important today as it was when a lot of people were afraid of the Gipper, especially those of us who are really afraid of Shrub.
Why go through the charade? Justice. Logically it is unfair to judge someone who is incapable of understanding the judgment, or in this case remember it. Americans don't have to have Korsikoff's to realize that all of the wiretapping and surviellance the current white house regime does means we can be convicted of a crime and jailed without warning. Hell, the way they see it they don't even have to charge you with anything. One day, bam, you're in jail with no rights whatsoever. Am I reading too much into it? Does a twenty year old story still mean anything? You have read 1984, right.

The world will start again and they will look back to this moment and they will be reminded that none of us can can surrender our individual responsibility. Not those who lead, not those who follow. It's all we have, sir. It's all we'll ever have.

Thank God we have science fiction to tell us this before it happens.

Tags: masters of science fiction, politics, science fiction, television

This "I just soiled my pants in abject terror" moment brought to you by the Cheney for President campaign.

Please let this be some Rovian misinformation to get the progressive media riled up over a fake story...pelase.

Tags: politics

There were some tough choices here.

Tags: meme, politics, quiz