One of my best friends lives up in DeKalb, IL. Now my buddy is not the most politically astute person in the world, but ever since he attended my college graduation (from Knox College, the most underrated college in the country) and heard Barack Obama give the 2005 commencement address, he's started to pay a little bit of attention. I think there's a chance that he might actually vote this year, and it will be for Obama. Now here's the good news in his neck of the woods: apparently, everyone is starting to hate Republicans. If my buddy's thinking about voting for Obama in Denny Hastert's old district, the same district that just voted in a Democrat, then indeed the times they're a changin'. And this can't be good for the GOP or the McCain campaign -- not that he stands a chance in Illinois anyway, especially if Obama gets the Dem nomination.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Sunday Springsteen and Steinbeck
Over at Crooks and Liars (one of my favorite blogs), bluegal posted a clip from The Grapes of Wrath to start an open thread, so naturally I thought about this song. By the way, can't wait to get together with Peace Vet in Seattle for a couple of Bruce shows and some baseball!
Monday, February 25, 2008
The real Saturday radio address
I just came across this great diary from BarbinMD over at the Daily Kos. I have to tell you, if I weren't so busy laughing then I would surely be weeping. My favorite is this: "Without protection from lawsuits, [private companies will be increasingly unwilling to take the risk of helping us with vital intelligence activities] impeachment might be back on the table when Joe and Jane Six-Pack find out my administration has been spying on them."
Check it out, and please let me know your thoughts.
Video of the day
This clip is a pretty good example of what made me such an over-the-top Springsteen fan all those years ago. It's from a concert in Passaic, N.J. in September 1978. Enjoy.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The Nexus of Terror and Politics
I urge everyone to see this piece that Keith Olbermann ran on Countdown last Thursday. I've been aware of this confluence for a long time, but to see everything connected in such a succinct manner as Keith and his producers have done simply staggers the imagination. A novelist could not get this published, it is so ridiculous.
I warn you, it tracks in a little long at just over sixteen minutes, but it's well worth your time. If it were up to me, this would be required viewing in every high school government or history class in the country.
Thank you American people for electing these idiots, crooks and liars to two terms. As Winston Churchill said, the best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.
The FISA Follies roll on
Once again, Glenn Greenwald at Salon gets to the bottom of what's really going with the expiration of the Protect America Act (PAA). Namely, that while the administration and Republicans in Congress (along with quite a few DINOs) cry wolf about terrorists already benefitting from the expiration of the act, they are the ones who forced the expiration. I believe the word is chutzpah.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Cindy McCain's pride in America
Perhaps it shouldn't surprise me that Cindy McCain was so quick to jump on Michelle Obama's comment about being, for the first time in her life, really proud to be an American. Cindy has every reason to be proud. For example, in America only a rich Senator's wife can manage to hire attorneys like John Dowd to avoid a drug prosecution.
Cindy McCain's drug history
Maybe it's time the mainstream media takes a closer look at this loving couple. McCain was involved in the Keating Five Savings and Loan scandal in the late 80s, and now it's apparent that his wife has had a few problems of her own along the way.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Another loss for the Bill of Rights
The cowards in the Senate once more gave in to a lame duck President today, voting 68-29 to grant ridiculous spying powers to a President who doesn't give a damn about our Constitution. The bill also gives immunity to the telecom companies who without a doubt broke the FISA laws by allowing illegal wiretaps on American citizens.
In all my years of study, I can't find an instance where the American people rolled over for an authoritarian government the way we've rolled over for everything Bush and Cheney insist upon. The saddest thing is that most people don't even seem to realize what's being done to them in the name of fear and national security.
Jay Rockefeller and Joe Lieberman, along with every other Senator who voted for this bill, should be ashamed of themselves. How much are we willing to put up with from people who supposedly represent us, the citizens whom the Constitution and Bill of Rights is supposed to protect?
I'm telling you, if the Democrats somehow manage to lose the election this year, then the America I in which I grew up and for which I served in the Armed Forces will be in serious danger of disappearing.
UPDATE: See this post by Glenn Greenwald in Salon for a thorough explanation of just exactly how wrong this is for our country.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Why I'm supporting Barack Obama
I voted in the Arizona primary this week, and my vote went to Barack Obama. There are several reasons why I'm supporting him, but one in particular stands head and shoulders above all the others: he spoke against the war when it was an act of political courage to do so, and she voted for it.
My problem with Senator Clinton isn't just that she voted for the war -- a sizable number of Democratic senators did (Dodd, Edwards, Daschle, etc). My problem is that she still refuses to admit that it was a mistake. The others did.
The present idiot-in-chief has consistently proven that he cannot admit a mistake. The last thing I want to see is another President with that same character flaw.
Don't get me wrong. Come the general election, I'll vote for the Democratic nominee, whether it be Obama or Clinton. I don't think our Constitution and government can stand four more years of Republican rule. And after watching John McCain as my Senator for over twenty years, you couldn't pay me enough money to vote for him. So I'll do anything I can to see a Democrat get elected and to see that they increase their majorities in each house. However, if the nominee is Obama, it will be a lot easier to be enthusiastic about my support.
Why is impeachment off the table?
The more I think about it, the angrier I become. The FISA scandal alone seems to be to be solid ground for impeachment, without even looking at little things such as lying us into a war, politicizing the justice department, torturing people in contravention of U.S. and international law, etc....
Isn't it obvious to everyone that the only reason the Bush administration could possibly have for insisting on amnesty for the telecom companies is that they broke the law -- at his behest? This seems like such a no-brainer to me. I can't understand why Pelosi won't listen to people like Robert Wexler who insist that, at the very least, it's time for an investigation into the wrongdoings of the Bush/Cheney crime family. Let's face it, the Corleones had nothing on these people when it came to breaking the law and not getting caught or paying any consequences.
Unfortunately, my representative is the (dis)honorable Trent Frank, who has not even bothered to respond to my barrage of emails and letters urging him to look out for the Constitution rather than for his pork barrel buddies, and my communications with Rep. Pelosi have been similarly to no avail. However, if any of you have a rep who doesn't have his nose stuck all the way up the shrub's behind, please contact them and demand explanations for their dereliction of duty. After all, their oath is to the constitution -- not the President.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Friday, February 1, 2008
So why the hell is he a hero?
He got shot down and taken prisoner. He knew the Gulf Of Tonkin was a BS story. (he was there) If the people who are going to vote for him had their way he'd still be in the Hilton.
Whats his name?
Monday, January 28, 2008
MisState of the Union
Well, that was, at the very least, a completely uninspirational SOTU address. It seemed to me to be a laundry list of the the last seven years -- war on terror (we're winning and it's the ideological struggle of this century); Congress ineffectual (damned Democrats, won't give me everything I want for my rich cronies); entitlement programs that must be fixed (privatize SS & Medicare now! Do you hear me?); and so on and so on, ad infinitum.
Why can't a lame duck President at least make a transparent attempt to reach out, not only across the aisle, but to all Americans who want to be inspired by our leaders? Is this guy's ego really so fragile that he is psychologically unable to at least make an effort, especially when his party looks as if it's falling into an abyss heading into this election?
Perhaps Presidents should be forced to undergo serious psychiatric analysis while in office -- in this case, it certainly couldn't have hurt.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
I dont understand
Why I'm considered the idealist. I want a peaceful world. Those assholes want to destroy it. I want all people to live fed, clothed. and housed. Those assholes suck the lifeblood from us and send our children to kill and die in their fucking wars.
They should be branded the idealists for expecting us in this day and age to believe their bull shit.
But no. We watch the wanna be idiots ridicule each other so we'll pick one..
Don't know about you but they can all kiss my ass.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
It's hard to believe it's been four years since the Man in Black passed away
I seem to be in a mood to remember events today by using Bruce's music, and I just came across this video at YouTube. It's a very elegant tribute to the woman whom the Man in Black loved all his life. Thanks to "Yankees123456."
Please watch this video tribute to all those who passed away on 9/11
I should have posted this a couple of days ago, and I apologize for being tardy. I don't know who made this video (somebody at YouTube who posts under the name "DarkSkyMind"), but I sure as hell appreciate it.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
It's like deja vu all over again....
Can someone tell me when we, as the American people, are finally going to get fed up with the idiot-in-chief? I'm serious....
Now it's Iran who supports Hamas, Hezbollah, is pursuing WMDs, etc. Didn't we just go through this four years ago?
And if, as the most corrupt, incompetent administration in the history of the country now claims, we are fighting for democracy in the Middle East, why are we so determined to demonize groups that, while I think they are despicable, have actually been brought to power in elections that are actually more fair than the last two presidential elections in our own beloved democracy?
As I watch the Bush administration continue to dismantle our Constitution, I can't help but wonder -- why is it that the Democrats, moderate Republicans, and independents still allow this bullshit? It just makes me want to puke.
Yes, 9/11 was one of probably the two most catastrophic days in our history. I lost two very good friends that day, and it pissed me off. Yet when I hear rhetoric such as, "if we don't fight them there, we'll have to fight them here," I wonder why we don't seem to have a single politician in the country willing to stand up and be counted. Let's face it, from the 50's through the 80's we actually had an enemy who had the power to destroy us. We defeated them. And we all know that while the fanaticists in the Middle East have the power to inflict damage -- and possibly some severe damage -- on us, they do not, by any stretch of the imagination have the power to destroy us as the Soviet Union did.
In fact, it seems to me that the most dangerous thing my beloved country faces -- and I speak as a disabled vet -- is the administration currently in power which seems determined to eliminate the Constitution. And why 28% of the country still supports them is absolutely beyond me.
But hell, I guess it really doesn't matter in the long run. We're raising a generation of idiots, as Miss Teen South Carolina has amply demonstrated, and it is surely more important for Bubba, Billy Bob and all the other 28% who still continue to blindly support our idiot-in-chief to worry about how Michael Vick's woes will affect their fantasy football team.
I'm sorry, this is the first time in a while that this pissed off vet has posted, but I'm more sorry that no one seems to give a crap.
By the way, we lost a few more soldiers today. I guess that doesn't really matter to most folks in this country.
Good news....and bad news
OK, I am so pissed off at the Democratic Party that I haven't posted anything in quite a while -- but this really takes the cake.
I heard Bruce's new single, "Radio Nowhere," today. I personally can't wait for the new album to be released. And then I saw the first tour dates.
You see, I grew up and now live again in Arizona. If any of you know anything about Springsteen's history, you'll know that we loved him in Phoenix long, long before anybody in Chicago, Minneapolis, etc. ever heard of him. We are fanatical. Yet, today I found that he's not going to be performing in Phx, Vegas, or anywhere within 350 miles of me in the first leg of the tour. He will be in L.A. on Oct. 28, but there's still no announcement of the venue or when tickets will go on sale.
Maybe this seems petty, but this actually pisses me off as much as the way the Dems caved on the freakin' surveilance act.
What is going on, Bruce? Did you forget all those peeps out here who sold out shows when you couldn't draw 500 people in other towns?
I'm sorry, but I am really, really fucking angry today. I just finished checking on hotels in the L.A. area for Oct. 28 and it looks like I'm going to have to pay more than $300 bucks for a room in the L.A. area due to conventions booked that week. C'mon Bruce, can't you use one of those open dates to do a show that I, as a poor, working fan of yours, can actually attend?
