Bush vs. Clinton

Although Shelly the Republican wishes it wasn’t so, CNN just had an interesting factoid: currently 55% of Americans think the Bush presidency is a failure. Yet one month AFTER Clinton was impeached only 25% of Americans thought his presidency was a failure.

This speaks volumes as to just how bad Bush is. Many of those that voted for Bush in retrospect call him a failure.

Might be time to peel that W sticker off your SUV, losers.

Also, it’s pretty funny that when Bush went to “spend his political capital” with Miers the Right smacked him down so hard his teeth rattled. Yeah, buddy, capital. That’s what you have. R i g h t.

Bush vs. Clinton

Rich Republican Assholes Can't See Obvious Facts

Rich Senators Defeat Minimum-Wage Hike

This happens all the time. Rich folks try to justify these sorts of acts of stupidity. In the end it is because they believe in trickle-down economics — give the money to the rich people, they will spend it on their luxurious and extravagant lives, and those of us at the bottom can fight over their scraps. Wow, such a valid economic theory!

Listen, folks, when you give someone that works full-time and makes $206/week an extra $44 per week, two very good things happen. #1, they have $44 more dollars to help scrap out a living. #2, the money goes instantly and directly back into the economy. It doesn’t go into a trust account somewhere to pamper affluent unborn great-grandchildren of today’s elite.

Let me point out another obvious economic fact: the cost of living goes up by 4%/year on average. When you compound this over the 7 years since the minimum wage was raised, it amounts to a 27% increase in the cost of living. People who work for minimum wage make much less than they used to in 1997.

Raising the minimum wage makes economic sense, it rewards hard work, is a path out of poverty and is something that every American should support. We should fire these rich Republican assholes who can’t see these obvious facts.

Rich Republican Assholes Can't See Obvious Facts

Halloween Is Not Evil

Primary school cancels Halloween celebration

This is low-hanging fruit, I know, but I have to point out this sort of nonsense. Halloween is not a religious event nor is it an anti-religious event. It is play-acting. Fiction. It’s like a costume party for fun. It is not an endorsement for Satanism or Wicca or anything else. It’s the same as if you had an Alice in Wonderland party. Nowhere herein is there cause for offense.

That people try to eliminate our secular holidays based on their religious beliefs offends the hell out of me.

Halloween Is Not Evil

Too Much Liberty

My personalized Google home page shared this Thomas Jefferson quote with me today:

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

This hits the nail on the head in regards to how wrong the Right can be. They see the inconveniences of “too much liberty” and they seek to minimize them by taking away our liberties. There are many examples but to use a dumb one: flag burning. I’d rather live in a society where freedom of expression includes rather idiotic acts such as burning a flag than live in a society with less liberty where you can be arrested and jailed for such behavior. The inconvenience of watching someone disrespect our national flag is, to me, more tolerable than the inconvenience of jailing people for expressing ideas, even unpopular or idiotic ones.

To me, this is self-evident.

The same is true for this torture debate. I’ve heard that Bush may veto the McCain bill which would ban torture as a tactic of our government or armed forces

I can handle the inconveniences of living in a world where bad people do bad things. I can’t handle living in a world where supposedly good people do bad things. That we hold ourselves to a higher standard than the bad guys is something we should be proud of, even though it does create inconveniences. We shouldn’t even be debating torture — it should be so fucking obvious that we could never condone such tactics.

Let me point out, too, whenever our service men and women are captured by the enemy we go on and on about how they better not be tortured and the Geneva convention should be applied, etc. I agree with this. Why on earth do we think this shouldn’t be the case when we capture foreign nationals? Double-standards don’t work.

The Republican party is in many ways the party of anti-liberty, as evidenced by their hatred of the ACLU, an organization whose sole mission is to protect our liberties.

Jefferson was right, the Right is wrong (again).

Too Much Liberty

Cowards

2 charged in beating of 13-year-old

Two 17-year olds armed with baseball bats against one unarmed 13-year old? What a bunch of fucking pussies. First of all, Lord knows what is to be gained by inter-gang warfare anyway. It seems like an artificial conflict to me. Even if this kid was in the rival gang, which he wasn’t, is their point that all rival gang members must be killed on sight?

I understand that gangs may be filling a void for some kids and in some ways, it may even be slightly positive. I also understand that white trash like myself may not get the whole picture and I am somewhat hesitant to expose my ignorance from here in the ‘burbs.

I still think these attackers are a bunch of pussies and I hope they enjoy a lifetime of incarceration.

Cowards

DefCon

This looks interesting:

DefCon is an online grassroots movement combating the growing power of the religious right. We will fight for the separation of church and state, individual freedom, scientific progress, pluralism, and tolerance while respecting people of faith and their beliefs.

I couldn’t agree more. There is not a war going on between the religious and the non-religious. There is a war going on between intolerant, radical theocrats and tolerant, compassionate secularists. Which side are you on?

DefCon