Monday, April 30, 2007

I’ve Been Having Strange Conversations Lately.

I was talking to a friend of mine on AIM, and had a pretty startling conversation. I have several people that I debate politics with. For that reason, I’m friendly with quite a few conservatives. I hadn’t heard from one of them in a while and so I decided to send him an instant message to see how he was doing. The conversation that ensued floored me.

(Note: This is the real conversation we had. Nothing has been changed except our screen names, which has been replaced for obvious privacy reasons.)
Me: hey man
A Conservative Guy: hey
Me: how you been doing?
A Conservative Guy: eh, ok. You?
Me: pretty much the same.
Me: this Iraq stand off is beginning to look like a game of chicken.
A Conservative Guy: I honestly don't know anything about it
Me: oh yeh...that's right. you refuse to watch the news right?
A Conservative Guy: just weather
A Conservative Guy: though I usually just go by weather.com
Me: i'm too much of a news junkie
A Conservative Guy: I can't watch
Me: why not?
Me: i mean...you could scream at the tube. I did it for 6 years.
A Conservative Guy: It makes me too depressed to see certain things.
Me: well...now the bushies are getting caught with hookers.
A Conservative Guy: I really can't talk about it
Me: well...it's funny.
A Conservative Guy: I don't think any of it is funny. it's sad.
Me: well you have to laugh...or i'd be pissed and depresseed all the time. so I just laugh at it all.
A Conservative Guy: I just stay away from it all now
Me: were you planning on voting anymore?
A Conservative Guy: no
Me: damn man.
A Conservative Guy: It's lose lose, if I vote for what I think is best for the country, I get called names and ridiculed and eventually trhe people I don't like get into power, if I don't vote, the people that are opposed to what i think is best get right in. So what's the point in voting?
Me: well...you have a republican representing you still right?
A Conservative Guy: yeah
A Conservative Guy: unless he was forced out
Me: what district are you in?
Me: I still have a republican representing me. I was pissed about that.
A Conservative Guy: 15th District.
Me: dave weldon? does that sound like the republican in your district?
A Conservative Guy: Yes, that's him
Me: well he's still there.
A Conservative Guy: ok
Me: and not voting would be just like giving a democrat an extra vote in your district.
A Conservative Guy: like I said, it doesn't matter.
A Conservative Guy: either way I lose
Me: well, power isn't absolute. the more power the republicans have the less the dems have.
A Conservative Guy: I would rather spend the last few days of this country being as it was intended ignorant and in my own little world rather than listen to it being demiolished from within.
Me: you expect it's going to be demolished?
A Conservative Guy: it was last time I was watching, I don't expect it's any better, and quite frankly I don't want to see it go like that.
Me: well, what if the country actually gets better.
A Conservative Guy: last I checked, it wasn't, just losing what little was left of what we once had. Soon we'll be a part of europe again, just another satellite state
A Conservative Guy: I'm pretty sure I'll be dead by then, and glad of it.
Me: i don't think europe wants us
A Conservative Guy: Europe has always wanted our power and influence, ever since they lost it. They'll be more than glad than to belittle and take us apart, and to help those within trying to do so, until they can be over us once again
Me: well, the thing is that the old power structure of europe is dead and gone. there is no more great in great britain. the empires are history. the european union is too diverse and democratic to be impirialist. China might take our spot..but that's it.
Me: mostly we're loosing the domestic side of things. people are better taken care of in europe. that's where we're really lagging behind to an embarrassing amount
A Conservative Guy: I can't talk about this, it's exactly what I'm talking about.
Me: we can't even keep up with Brazil now. they've got bio-fuels to run their cars.
A Conservative Guy: There was a time when people wanted their country to be great, but now all they want is to be taken care of. Americans have lost their spirit. That's why I can't talk about it, it depresses me to see us become Rome.
Me: well, if we as a people are well taken care of, isn't that the same as all of us taking care of each other? isn't that great?
A Conservative Guy: maybe it's inevitbale in any powerful civilization
A Conservative Guy: to fall apart under the weight of it's own greed and selfishness.
A Conservative Guy: bred and circuses to keep the masses happy until the government goes broke buying them bread and circuses
Me: well, our greed and selfishness has been hurting us for a while...but i think most common regular americans on the street are pretty compassionate
A Conservative Guy: most jsut want to be coddled, well now it can take care of me, too I just don't care
Me: well, we haven't been taking care of each other, and we're broke now by 8 trillion.
A Conservative Guy: it doesn't matter, might as well be 15 trillion, no one cares about the debt as long as they're aken care of.
A Conservative Guy: I just can't tgalk about it anymore, man, no more
Me: we need to raise taxes like crazy and cut spending like crazy.
Me: yeh man.
A Conservative Guy: It makes me sad, I can't talk about it anymore. I have to just stay out of it
Me: man, I don't mean any offense. but have you considered that what you think is best for the country might not be?
A Conservative Guy: I can't talk about it, I believe we've lost our spirit and surrended to our want for life to be easy. I can't talk about it.

Friday, April 27, 2007

The First Democratic Debate.

The mainstream media has concluded that in the first Democratic debate there was no clear and decisive winner. However, the Rubert Murdock owned The Times of London seems to have concluded that Hilary Clinton was the only real winner.

What debate were these corporate hacks watching? As far as I could see, it was a half dozen candidates bantering in group-think, while Congressman Kucinich played with them like mice. But Kucinich wasn’t the only cat on the prowl the other night on MSNBC. I was particularly startled by a guy the media has managed to ignore so well that even I had never heard of him. That’s right: Former Alaska Senator Michael Gravel.

Who is Michael Gravel? For one, he was one of the key Senators who ended the Vietnam war by cutting off the war funding for miserable part of US history. In addition, he was one of the guys who put what’s now known today as The Pentagon Papers into public record. Gravel is also a proponent for a National Initiative which would give every US citizen equal lawmaking power with Congress. Hell yes!

To get a taste of this guy, which him respond to the other candidates when discussing ending the Iraq War.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

From An Angry Soldier

I came across this on Craigslist and thought it was only fitting to post it here as well.
I’m having the worst damn week of my whole damn life so I’m going to write this while I’m pissed off enough to do it right.

I am SICK of all this bullshit people are writing about the Iraq war. I am abso-fucking-lutely sick to death of it. What the fuck do most of you know about it? You watch it on TV and read the commentaries in the newspaper or Newsweek or whatever god damn yuppie news rag you subscribe to and think you’re all such fucking experts that you can scream at each other like five year old about whether you’re right or not. Let me tell you something: unless you've been there, you don’t know a god damn thing about it. It you haven’t been shot at in that fucking hell hole, SHUT THE FUCK UP!

How do I dare say this to you moronic war supporters who are “Supporting our Troops” and waving the flag and all that happy horse shit? I’ll tell you why. I’m a Marine and I served my tour in Iraq. My husband, also a Marine, served several. I left the service six months ago because I got pregnant while he was home on leave and three days ago I get a visit from two men in uniform who hand me a letter and tell me my husband died in that fucking festering sand-pit. He should have been home a month ago but they extended his tour and now he's coming home in a box.

You fuckers and that god-damn lying sack of shit they call a president are the reason my husband will never see his baby and my kid will never meet his dad.

And you know what the most fucked up thing about this Iraq shit is? They don’t want us there. They’re not happy we came and they want us out NOW. We fucked up their lives even worse than they already were and they’re pissed off. We didn’t help them and we’re not helping them now. That’s what our soldiers are dying for.

Oh while I’m good and worked up, the government doesn’t even have the decency to help out the soldiers whose lives they ruined. If you really believe the military and the government had no idea the veterans’ hospitals were so fucked up, you are a god-damn retard. They don’t care about us. We’re disposable. We’re numbers on a page and they’d rather forget we exist so they don’t have to be reminded about the families and lives they ruined while they’re sipping their cocktails at another fund raiser dinner. If they were really concerned about supporting the troops, they’d bring them home so their families wouldn’t have to cry at a graveside and explain to their children why mommy or daddy isn’t coming home. Because you can’t explain it. We’re not fighting for our country, we're not fighting for the good of Iraq’s people, we’re fighting for Bush’s personal agenda. Patriotism my ass. You know what? My dad served in Vietnam and NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

So I’m pissed. I’m beyond pissed. And I’m going to go to my husband funeral and receive that flag and hang it up on the wall for my baby to see when he’s older. But I’m not going to tell him that his father died for the stupidity of the American government. I’m going to tell him that his father was a hero and the best man I ever met and that he loved his country enough to die for it, because that’s all true and nothing will be solved by telling my son that his father was sent to die by people who didn’t care about him at all.

Fuck you, war supporters, George W. Bush, and all the god damn mother fuckers who made the war possible. I hope you burn in hell.
What can I anyone say to this? I understand your pain? I don’t. I haven't lost anyone in Iraq. All I can say is I feel ashamed that I didn’t do more to stop this bloodbath in Iraq. As an American, every day it gets harder for me to look in the mirror knowing the blood I have on my hands. Every day I wish I lived in a country where I wasn't morally responsible for the deaths of over 600,000 innocent people who have never done a damned thing to me. How much longer will we, as Americans, have to put up with this? I guess the only thing I can say is, I'm so deeply sorry.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

What’s The Big Deal With The Virginia Tech Shootings?

I turned on the news today and heard about a school shooting. “Another one?”, I asked. This time not in some far off place like Columbine, but this time at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. “Hey don’t I know some people who graduated there?” I asked myself. “Yes. Yes I do.” I answered. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing they’ve graduated now.” I told myself. “Yes, indeed.” I told myself. “Friends have a tendency to be a little less social when they’re filled with lead.” I noted. “Yes, that’s true. But sometimes they’re more interesting though.” I answered.

School shootings. Again. Why am I not surprised? Hell, if the Amish can shoot each other, why should I expect any different from some Virginia computer geeks? In fact, this entire story gets a 9 on my yawn-o-meter. It would get a 10 if it wasn’t for the fact that it took place in the same state I live in.

The last time I visited Virginia Tech me and some friends stopped off in Staunton, Virginia, off I-81 to get some food at a convenience store. The old guy at the counter, pushing social security age, was hitting on one of the customers, a local girl who looked like she might be barely out of high school. They were discussing a murder that happened there locally, and judging from the conversation it had something to do with a black male killing his white wife. The guy told this chick, “well that’s what happens when you mess with those niggers. I’d like to kill him myself, but this girl had it comin’, marrying a guy like that.” The girl nodded in agreement, although I don’t know if she genuinely agreed or not. The chick leaves the store and I get to the counter, and I’m trying to keep my eyes from popping out of my head having just heard this. The old guy leans over on the counter with a big grin and says softly to me as he’s scanning my little bag of pistachios, “I’d love to have a piece of her, but I think I might be a little old for her.”

At this point I was wondering if I should drag this guy out of the store and just clobber the shit out of him, just on plain principal. Instead, I glance over to the newspaper headline that had stirred the racist conversation between this old fuck and the girl. The headline read, “Man Arrested After Assaulting Wife, Alcohol Involved Police Say”. Turns out that black guy didn’t murder anyone, he just beat his wife after he got drunk.

This is America folks. A bunch of fucked up insane jackasses who shoot first and ask questions later. And at the same time 33 white kids get gunned down in Virginia, 36 Iraqis get killed in 6 separate bombings across the country. Anyone give a shit? Why should anyone give a shit at this point? In the state of Virginia it is perfectly legal to carry a concealed firearm, so long as you have a license to do so. To get such a license, all you need to know how to do is show to your local law enforcement that you know how to handle and shoot a gun. Is there any requirement for you get a psychological exam to make sure you’re not fucking nuts before you can get such a license? No.

So here’s what I’ve decided to do. Stop caring. It works for me, and chances are it’s been working for you too. If the people of this country is going to kill 600,000 Iraqis and feel no shame about it, much less risk killing all life on this planet just so we can have the convenience to drive our big fat American asses to the mall, then the least we can do is stop caring when some more of our death-cult-culture comes-a-shooting on American campuses. Because the American people seem to be dead set on that we have the right to bear arms, but graduating college without a 9mm slug your chest is a privilege. So fuck it, let the bullets fly. Maybe it’s just nature’s way of thinning the herd by getting rid of some of the crazies.

But why should American technical schools have all the fun? Like hell they should. So I’ve decided to make things interesting. I am embarking on a mission, not to take firearms out of the homes of every American. Hell, who has the time for rational solutions? No, instead I’m going to embark on a mission to give semi-automatic weapons with plenty of ammunition to homeless people. Yes, homeless people. Do you really think you’ll tell that crazy black guy with a long gray beard to buzz off and get away from your car with that window squeegee if he’s also got a glock pointed in your direction?

Maybe if we can get every thug, homeless guy, and crazy in the ghetto an Uzi, then maybe white America will finally wake up and say, “we’ve got to do something about guns in this country.” After all, it’s not like that hasn’t been tried before, has it? Maybe we should throw in some money for bus fare to the white suburbs while we’re at it.

But until that time comes, keep this crap off my television. 33 killed at Virginia Tech. Like I give a fuck assholes. I’ve got better things to do than hear this shit. Isn’t a new episode of COPS on?

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Don Imus Looses His Mind.

These kind of stories I typically avoid, simply because they’re not as important then they’re made out to be by the media.

But I leave it at this: Don Imus shouldn’t loose his job, nor should he be suspended.

Instead, what he should have to do is do his radio show out on the street in Brooklyn and have Paul Mooney over for one segment per week.

What we should be wondering, is why is the Reich wing media trying to turn Imus' comments into a political issue? You find this each and every time among Reich wingers. There is a never-ending attempt to try to legitimize racism. And they will try to legitimize it by any way they can.

Recently, Democrats have managed to prevent having Democratic presidential debates on the Fox Noise Channel. Then it looked like the Congressional Black Caucas would sponsor another debate on Fox, but Barack Obama backed out of it, effectively ending that debate.

So I have something to ask of our fellow Americans of African decent. If the Reich wing media is going to try to make traction by defending the racist comments of Imus, then no black American should go on the Fox Noise Channel.

Not that this will prevent the Fox Noise Channel from defending racist comments…but they will look like the freaking jackasses they are when the only person they can get on the air to talk about Imus’ crap is Michael Richards.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

The Insanity Of Sex Offender Registries.

The idea seemed simple enough: establish public sex offender registries so that if you happen to live close to someone who molests children, who know where they live. The idea was to give the community power over sexual predators, so that they would be less inclined to commit similar crimes in the future.

Yet, one thing that wasn’t addressed, that while sexual predators are indeed a problem, state laws that define sexual crimes are often ridiculous, if not absurd. Further, it tends to treat a complicated set of circumstances narrowly.

For instance: I came across this story recently.
Man sentenced for sleeping with wife when she was 15

A 23-year-old Barnesville, Minn., man was ordered to register as a sex offender but spared jail time for having sex with his 17-year-old wife when she was 15.

David Anthony Cox began the relationship before the two were married. He was 20 at the time.

Clay County District Court Judge Michael Kirk gave Cox an 18-month stay of imposition of sentence and ordered him to pay $582 in fines and court fees for the third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge.

Minnesota law prohibits sexual relationships between someone older than 13 but younger than 16 with someone more than 24 months older, regardless of consent.

Under the sentence, Cox will be on supervised probation for up to 15 years and will be required to serve the 18-month sentence if that probation is broken.

It is utterly ridiculous that anyone should have to deal with the indignity of being processed through the legal system, and having his register as a sex offender for having sex with someone they are in a relationship with. Further, this guy will also have to deal with the fact that he must now, and for the rest of his life seek a job as a sex offender for sleeping with his wife.

Perhaps, such insanity can be discarded, simply because the system doesn’t work correctly 100% of the time. However, consider this:
Murders Put Focus on Sex-Offender Registry Policies

Nobody knows why Stephen Marshall killed two men who were on the sex-offender registry in Maine. Immediately after, he took his own life.

One of the men Marshall killed, Joseph Gray, was on the registry for raping a child. The other, William Elliott, was listed because he'd slept with his girlfriend before she turned 16.

These deaths and others raise troubling questions about the public sex-offender registries which every state has. And they highlight the fact that many states list hard-core predators alongside people who may pose little risk to the community.

When Mark Perk read about the men murdered in Maine, he thought the same fate might have befallen him. “They put my name and address on there,” Perk says. “Anyone can find me. Yeah, it scared us.”

Perk is on Illinois’ sex-offender registry for having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. She’s now his wife and the mother of their two children. Perk says he knows he broke the law -- but he says he’s no child molester. He’s just treated like one.

And thus, we have a problem. Not only are certain people being singled out for having a consenting sexual relationship, but they are violating peoples’ rights of privacy. If someone is a sexual predator, and is indeed a danger to the community, then remove them from the community. If they are not, then leave them the hell alone.

A great deal of the problem is that state laws governing sexual practices were written decades, sometimes centuries ago. To give my readers how some of the laws read in my home state of Virginia, check this out:

Under Virginia state law, § 18.2-63,
If any person carnally knows, without the use of force, a child thirteen years of age or older but under fifteen years of age, such person shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
However, under Virginia state law § 18.2-67.5:
An attempt to commit aggravated sexual battery shall be a felony punishable as a Class 6 felony.
An attempt to commit sexual battery is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Yes, folks. Attempted sexual battery, even if it’s aggravated, is not quite as bad as having consensual sex with someone a day younger than 3 years your junior if you happen to be 18. This gets better.

Virginia state law § 18.2-361 is known as the “Crimes against nature” clause. What counts as such a horrific crime to be labeled “against nature”?
If any person carnally knows in any manner any brute animal…he or she shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony.
Okay, you got me there. Fucking chickens, sheep, and cows is fucking gross. And yeh, I suppose you could call that unnatural. Just don’t tell anti-abortionist nutcase Neal Horsley that. But that same Virginia state statute continues:
[If any person] carnally knows any male or female person by the anus or by or with the mouth, or voluntarily submits to such carnal knowledge, he or she shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony…
In short, in the eyes of the law in the state of Virginia, it is just as bad for you to have your wife give you a blow job then it is for you to fuck Mr. Ed. And it is equally as bad for your wife to give you a blow job than it is for you to try to commit aggravated sexual battery.

But here is the kicker: Under Virginia state law § 18.2-346
Any person who offers money or its equivalent to another for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts…and thereafter does any substantial act in furtherance thereof shall be guilty of solicitation of prostitution and shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
So lets review: fucking a minor who’s a day younger than 15 when it’s completely consensual, Class 4 felony bad. Aggravated sexual battery, Class 6 felony bad. Fucking your neighbor’s cow, also Class 6 felony bad. Fucking your wife in her ass, your wife giving you a blowjob, or you dining at her Y, all Class 6 felony bad. Soliciting a ho, Class 1 misdemeanor.

Oh, and as for the Virginia sex offender registry, yes, there are people up there for committing “crimes against nature”. There is no indication of what specific crime against nature that was violated, but I would bet there’s at least one guy up there who was getting head from his girl when a cop came tapping at the window.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Bill O'Reilly Looses His Lower Intestine On The Air.

I was watching some of the latest clips of one of my favorite sites, crooksandliars.com, and couldn’t believe the latest from Bill O’Reilly.

Bill literally lost his lower intestine and popped a few blood vessels in his forehead screaming at Geraldo.

I really don’t know what the hell they were talking about, and really don’t care. I was just hoping both of them would pull out a rifle and off each other on the air. It’s hilarious.

The best line is when O’Reilly accused Geraldo of being an anarchist. Classic gold. Enjoy.


Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Republicans Cut And Run!

A week ago, on Sunday March 25th, Vice President Dick Cheney addressed a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Manalapan, Florida.

As usual, Cheney’s rhetoric was harsh against Democrats on the heels of the House Iraq War funding bill that demands a pull-out from Iraq by September of 2008. Cheney said of the Democrats:
Twisted logic is not exactly a new phenomenon in Washington -- but last month it reached new heights…this may be the first time in history that a Congress voted to send a new commander into battle and then voted to oppose the plan he said was necessary to win that battle.

When members of Congress pursue an anti-war strategy that’s been called “slow bleed,” they’re not supporting the troops, they’re undermining them. And when members of Congress speak not of victory but of time limits, deadlines, or other arbitrary measures, they’re telling the enemy simply to run out the clock and wait us out…

If they really support the troops, then we should take them at their word and expect them to meet the needs of our military on time, in full, and with no strings attached…

The terrorists do not expect to be able to beat us in a stand-up fight…The only way they can win is if we lose our nerve and abandon the mission -- and the terrorists do believe that they can force that outcome…

A sudden withdrawal of our coalition would dissipate much of the effort that has gone into fighting the global war on terror, and result in chaos and mounting danger. And for the sake of our own security, we will not stand by and let it happen.

While this kind of talk is nothing new from Dick Cheney, what is new is that Senate Republicans are looking at the writing on the wall, and are shitting their pants.

Last Sunday on the Chris Matthews’ show, guest Andrew Mitchell spilled the beans on the Republican pants shitting, saying:
The Republicans were against the surge but they felt it was fait accompli, and that they were willing to give Petraeus until August. He told them there will be real progress by August. They have told him at a caucus meeting as very, very recently, that if there isn’t progress by August — and real progress means not a day of violence and a day of sanity — that they will pull the plug.
As Bob Fertik noted over on Democrats.com, this revelation is so stunning it needs to be broken down piece by piece.
1. Republican Senators met alone with Gen. Petraeus. Is it common for commanders to meet separately with a Congressional minority? Or is this just another example of the GOP putting raw partisan politics ahead of national security?

2. Republican Senators micromanaged Gen. Petraeus. Isn’t this one of the absolute unbreakable Republican rules, practically handed down to Moses with the Ten Commandments - that politicians should never micromanage commanders?

3. Republican Senators set a deadline for Iraq. How many times have Bushco shrieked that a deadline guarantees the humiliating defeat of our forces and the victory of terrorists? Why do Republican Senators hate America and love the terrorists?

4. What exactly do Republicans mean when they say “pull the plug”? The Supplemental Appropriations bills approved by Democrats in the House and Senate both call for phased withdrawals over the next 12-18 months. Would Senate Republicans support a Democratic plan, or would they offer a plan to leave Iraq even sooner?

5. Given this Republican betrayal, why did Bush repeatedly attack Democrats in his weekly radio address? Is he unaware his fellow Republicans are planning to "pull the plug" on Iraq?

That, of course, leads me to a question of my own. Does Vice President Dick Cheney know that his fellow Republicans in the Senate are willing to “let the terrorists win” just so that they can win re-election in 2008?

Monday, April 02, 2007

My Thoughts Exactly.