04.15.09
Posted in Political Commentary at 22:27 pm by Josh
I’m not even going to link to an article about the “tea parties”. Let’s just say we all know what’s going on.
First, if you are going to protest, please come up with something original. Throwing tea into a Boston harbor in a wig doesn’t make the statement you think it does; it makes you look like an ass. And it wastes good tea. If you must throw useful things into a river (which, by the way, does not have a positive effect on an already-struggling economy), why don’t you toss the newest Ford Explorer into the harbor while wearing a John Deere cap? Otherwise, people will think you’re protesting something to do with tea and cotton hair, and I think we’re all well past that, don’t you?
Second, don’t blame the Obama administration for anything yet. The man has been in office for three months and already he’s done more than GWB did in his first eight months (and he only did anything in the last four of his first year because of that whole 9/11 thing). You may not see the whole picture yet, but you elected President Obama, and enthusiastically, might I add. Don’t lynch him before he’s has a chance to make a difference.
America, we have to be done with Band-Aids. “It’s not fair that the government spends $700 billion on bailing out the wealthy.” No, it’s not. But that’s capitalism, kids, and you’ve supported it since seeing the light of day outside of the womb. If you don’t, good for you, but then the problem isn’t bailouts. It’s economic structure. Either way, no one should be bitching about the stimulus package until we can see the ramifications of it. “Well we haven’t had a chance to read the stimulus package to really support it.” That’s why we elect leaders. No taxation without representation meant just that; it didn’t mean each person was present, but that representatives for the people were present. You elected President Obama. You elected his House. You elected your senators. You have representation. On top of that, some sizeable majority of Americans don’t read a single book in a year. A single book. I’m not talking about Dante, here. I mean Danielle F’ing Steele. We don’t even read shit, let alone the sort of language that would be posed in the written stimulus package. Stop crutching on the easy thing to crutch on, pretending to represent the American people when you start flapping your lip to a media that will eat just about anything you give them as long as it doesn’t appear to support traditional American values. No one would read the stimulus package even if it was available, and fewer would be able to honestly vote on it.
So here’s the deal: I’ll get off my soapbox if you get the hell off of yours. Ready, and…GO!
Permalink
01.16.09
Posted in Rants, Political Commentary, Reflections at 00:50 am by Josh
It has been eight long years.
Look, I know it sounds cliche, but honestly, they have been long years. All eight of them. In the beginning, it wasn’t so bad. The year 2000 brought about some of the finer jokes I’ve heard and some heavy-handed yet light-hearted criticisms of President Bush as he seemed to spend more of his first year as the world superpower’s commander in chief on vacation than he did in office. That was the last time life in America was not only good (for it still is and then some), but for the most part, carefree.
Enter September 11th. That day will live in on the memories of Americans not only because of the tragedy that took place, but also because of the direction it sent our President and consequently, our country. When President Bush first “declared war”, I was inspired. It is the only time in my life I felt compelled to fight, the only time I have ever tasted (and I pray the only time I ever will) what it means to leap to the defense of those you consider “your own people”. If there had been a draft, I’d have enlisted. If there had been a real war, I might have done the same. But we all know what followed: A war under the facade of diplomacy. That is precisely the sort of war no one can ever win. I think of it as fighting with “light” weapons. It’s a silly idea; the other side will not be so ill-equipped. Whether or not the American people agree with war as a majority is irrelevant. If you make the choice to fight, you sure as hell had better go in there blasting. Mr. Bush did not. Mr. Bush made excuses. Mr. Bush found scapegoats. Mr. Bush changed the course of the war to the extent that the real purpose was never realized. Now, as Mr. Bush leaves office, we remember that Osama bin Laden is still alive somewhere in the world. So much for avenging the United States.
But I do not have only contempt for the President. I want to make it very clear that I believe the job of criticising the President is much easier than the job of being the President. I do not believe, under any circumstances, that Mr. Bush maliciously or carelessly made any decisions which have affected the American people today. I do believe he made mistakes. I do believe that the President of a country should not make as many mistakes. But I also believe that this President faced some of the toughest circumstances — perhaps the most difficult since Franklin Delano Roosevelt — this country has ever seen. FDR, his cousin Ted, Abe Lincoln; these men were up to the challenge. George W. Bush, I think, was not. That’s no slur on the man; it’s just what I see from the very distant seat I sit in. I’m not sure who would have been up to it. Al Gore is a definite no-no, and Kerry would have been only a little bit better. Sure, we like to have a scapegoat just as our President did, but let’s not forget that we as the American people have not done a great job of supporting the proper leaders over the years. We could blame money, trust funds, silver spoons, oil rigs; it doesn’t matter. We The People are still the ones who did nothing but complain to each other about it.
I have no ill words for our Outgoing. I’m not happy with the job he’s done, but I hold nothing against him. The American people — not their leader — need to wake up and realize a few things. You can’t just elect the commander of a democracy and expect him to figure it all out. You also can’t just elect people who hold wealth and power in the country’s financial investments and expect that they will be the right people for the job. Sometimes you need someone who understands people, someone who understands true justice and stands for it above all else. You need someone who cannot be swayed by the petty offerings of the declining greenback, someone who speaks a language beyond that of capital or investments or future profit. America is a country, not a corporation. We are citizens, not a board of directors. We cannot sit up high and proclaim what is fair and unfair, what is profitable and what is not, without doing something tangible about it. No more useless protests. No more useless petitions. If you don’t like what the President is doing, get yourself into politics, change it yourself. “I don’t have the same corporate funding.” Who cares. If your ideas are really better, the people will listen. I’m sick of blaming one man for the faults of a country. I hope and pray that President Obama will do wonderful things for Our Great Nation. But in the meantime, I propose that we applaud President Bush for doing the best he knew to do for a country I have no doubt in my mind he loves with all of his heart.
Permalink
09.04.08
Posted in Rants, Political Commentary at 15:08 pm by Josh
This promises to be a very long political season.
First, let me say that I have not declared my support for any candidate yet. I have only announced who I do not support and for those of you simpletons who think that means I must automatically vote for McCain/Palin, think again. Need I remind my faithful readers that four years ago, I voted for no one on the principle that there was not a suitable candidate for president? I’m not here to choose the lesser of two evils, and the American people should not be so misled based simply on the wonderful blessing of the freedom to vote. Look, I’m free to sleep around with half of New York City. It’s not illegal, I’m old enough to be responsible about it, etc. It still does not make it right. Just because you have power doesn’t mean you have to use it, or that you should.
Second, I’m vastly disappointed that this election looks to be headed down the same path most elections have over the last twenty years, which is to attack the people and not the policies. It takes my confidence away from any candidate when they cannot look to one another and say, “So-and-so would not be a good president because So-and-so wants to pull everyone out of Iraq right away, leaving a small force to maintain insurgencies until sometime in 2010. It would make more sense to leave the full force there, pulling out bit by bit, since I believe a small force will get its tail kicked in without proper backup.” There. You’ve won my presidential vote. But when you say, “So-and-so has no experience and so-and-so was mean to the Democratic party,” it sounds like a six-year-old deciding to pack up his ball and go home because he didn’t get his way on the playground.
Third: Calling all Americans! Stop being ignorant societal drones! Just because it sounds good in a speech, doesn’t mean that it’s true! Consider the likelihood that something can be done. Consider the humility with which it is proposed. Consider the fact that our country is slowly turning into something we never wanted (and still don’t want) it to be and continued support of any presidency which promotes scathing insults towards fellow politicians in the interest of a better country will never bring us back to true freedom and democracy. Stop funding the campaigns. Stop choosing the one who sounds a bit more reasonable. My Fellow Americans, we need an All-Star and we don’t have one yet, so far as I can tell. If we want to salvage what’s left of Our Great Nation, we need to work together, not tell one party that it’s ugly and the other that is smells. Let’s all grow up.
Permalink
09.03.08
Posted in Rants, Political Commentary at 17:18 pm by Josh
I’m not going to post a news link because I doubt there’s an American out there who hasn’t heard that the 17-year-old daughter of the Republican VP nominee is pregnant. I am, however, going to address this because I’m kind of appalled.
Now it doesn’t surprise me in the least that the media is doing its very best to exploit the mistake of Palin’s daughter. After all, 230 years in the making we Americans like to present that clean-cut, country feel that once made everyone like us so much. I don’t agree with it, but in the name of the sport of presidential candidacy, I see why they’ve taken this angle. The easily-fooled American people think they are tired of a Republican administration. Nevermind that everyone — Republicans included — is sick of one particular Republican administration. In the land of the free and home of the stereotyping, let’s go ahead and lump them all into one group. I mean, it’s not really discrimination if all of the players involved are white, rich and conservative. And it is most certainly the media’s job to fuel the propoganda started by the loudest-mouthed, most ignorant members of Our Great Nation in the first place. I’m not speaking out against any of this in the current post. That’s all for another argument and another day.
What I’m here to address is the shameless way the media — and the American people — suddenly pretends that the morals of our country are so pure and wholesome and Christian when all they’ve been feeding us for years in the news, in the movies, on TV sitcoms, in print publications, etc. is that free sex is okay for the masses and if you’re not having free sex, you’re old-fashioned, a prude, or just plain old missing out. If I am to gather my understanding of life from the media, then I would have to say that free, premarital sex is perfectly okay, but if a pregnancy results from it, suddenly there is a major moral issue and a problem with the people involved. Did everyone miss that the two things are quite related? That without man-made contraceptives, pregnancy is often the natural result — indeed, even the main purpose — of sex? And where do The Daily News and The New York Post get away with publicising the “unmarried” part on their front pages? When did this country (and city for that matter) — I believe with the highest divorce rate in the world and a rapidly declining married population — care one lick about sacred union between two people? And why, why, does everyone act so shocked that a pretty seventeen-year-old girl is pregnant? Yes, very odd that a young woman and a young man slept together out of wedlock. Certainly not something endorsed by pop culture (Gossip Girl?).
If you want to pick on someone, why don’t you pick on the liberal left-wing (sit down, I didn’t say “democrats”) that promotes promiscuous sex in the freedom of youth? I’m not suggesting people aren’t responsible for their own actions; we are. Completely and one-hundred percent, we make the choices that dictate our futures. But even the smartest, most independant human being is influenced by the world around him or her. If we weren’t, I’m not sure that sin would still reside in the hearts of everyone. We behave based on what we know and what we know is based on what we see, who we talk to, and, whether you like it or not, what everyone else is doing. What Sarah Palin’s daughter did is no different from what so many — and I’m sorry to say, myself included — people do in high school, college, and beyond. Perhaps unfortunately, she now must suffer a repercussion, and I have the greatest respect for her family supporting her in her decision to keep the baby, and especially for their reasons for pledging their support. What I have no respect for is society’s way of exploiting a young woman who is no more or less prone to giving in to temptations of the flesh simply to try to make hypocrites out of the GOP. How about we get back to politics and stop dwelling on the mistakes of a teenager? Last I checked, she isn’t the one looking to help lead this country out of the hole it’s sunk itself into.
Permalink
08.27.08
Posted in Political Commentary at 09:10 am by Josh
Why is Hillary Clinton all over the news? Why is she chanting cliche Democratic catch phrases which have to be headlined and repeated to the point of severe nausea on CNN? Hillary, sweetie, you’re my state senator and until you ran for President, I kind of liked you. But you lost. Twice. Obama won’t even take you as his running mate. He passed you over for the white-haired, trust-funded, two-tongued political norm. It’s good of you to support your party, but do sit down. You’re starting to look a bit ridiculous. Learn a lesson from Al Gore. The people rejected you. If you want to win them back, go write a book.
Permalink
04.30.08
Posted in Political Commentary at 09:23 am by Josh
Just got my Q1 bonus. Not to be tacky, but I’m going to throw the numbers out there so you can share in my woes.
The gross was $1,000. Any idea what I took home? Five-hundred and sixty dollars. Almost half of the bonus goes to the government. That’s the same government that sends people overseas to die for no particular reason I can see at this moment, that stands idly by as gas prices soar over $4/gallon, that withholds financial assistance from Katrina victims until they’ve gutted their broken and condemned homes, and that once told me working hard and getting an education would alleviate such woes. The only thing I find more difficult to believe is that fact that so many Americans still put any faith at all in our government system. Maybe one day we’ll have a leader who cares more about providing for his people than he does about polishing his own silver spoon.
Permalink
09.20.07
Posted in Rants, Political Commentary, Culture, Unsolicited Opinions at 10:55 am by Josh
It seems that Tennessee has banned lethal injections as their official method of execution. I was moved to blog about this after reading the sentence that says, “Harbison could be legally executed once the state adopted a legal method of execution.” Let me weigh in on this.
Picture a bunch of people, probably men, probably white, probably with very dated suits, sitting around a table in a room with few to no windows. They’ve all got coffees and briefcases with clipboards and legal pads, medical journals, history books, court records, and statute books. They’re all ready to discuss the best way to kill a condemned person.
I do not advocate the death penalty (haha to all you who thought I was a conservative Republican!). I have my reasons, namely that which tells me we are called to forgive the worst sinner. Lock the murderer up, but let him live. Leave death and judgement to God. That said, I’m not sure who’s worse: the man who takes the life of another in cold blood or the men who debate, in the name of justice, the best way to kill a man.
Let’s be cynical. If you’re going to kill a person, who cares what it feels like? As far as I know, death is painful, notwithstanding the supposed “peace” of natural death (that whole drifting off in your sleep thing). But those who suffer terminal illness, murder, or accidental falls into the Grand Canyon would likely, given the opportunity, report significant amounts of pain or discomfort in their different experiences. To instead speak of making unnatural death “humane” and then to debate the ins and outs of execution in a committee is, in my opinion, to be absolutely revolting and maybe slightly insane.
You know, some people think that my taste in movies and stories is disturbing because I’ve often explored those darker parts of humanity. I’d have to say, with the utmost confidence, that my dabblings in the supernatural and human psyche are nothing compared with the reality that there are people out there who are willing to sit down and discuss ending human lives in an organized and “logical” fashion.
The Random House Unabridged Dictionary (2006) defines cruel in a couple of ways: “Willfullly or knowingly causing pain or distress to others” and also “rigid; stern; strict; unrelentingly severe”. If you want to avoid “cruel and unusual punishment”, how about you just don’t kill people? That ought to save taxpayers a lot of money in these governmental legal proceedings.
Permalink
09.17.07
Posted in Political Commentary, News, Funnies at 12:35 pm by Josh
Hillary’s health care plan according to CNN:
Under the plan, federal subsidies would be provided for those who are not able to afford insurance, and large businesses would be required to provide or help pay for their employees’ insurance.
Thanks, Senator. Real original. Never heard that one before…
Permalink
11.08.06
Posted in Political Commentary, Unsolicited Opinions at 22:15 pm by Josh
While I have a free minute between commuting (5 hours a day?!?!?!) and Nanoing (13,448 words, [insert ghetto expletive here]) I thought maybe we should talk politics.
I’m not going to go into detail here. I’m simply going to tell you why I would have voted for Joe Lieberman had I returned to Connecticut before the polls closed at a rather ugly 8:00PM. Lieberman ran as an Independent after losing to trust-fund pretty-boy, Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary. This decision was criticized by Democrats (including New York’s own Hillary R-to-the-C) because the underdog Dems wanted “party unity”. What foolishness. No wonder why politics are so screwed up in this country. Party unity? Both Senator Rodham-Clinton and Senator John Kerry (snicker, snicker), among others, pledged support for Lamont in support of such unity. I would expect better from those two, as well as the “others”. You choose the man who is right for the job, not the man who bears a party name. Joe Lieberman, while he may be a “traitor” to the Dems, knew that he was a better man for Connecticut and he stood up for what he believed in. That is what I want in a politician. That is what I want in a senator. Heck, that is what I want in a president.
This election was yet another waste of time, money, and phone calls (though I am thankful for all of the temporary work it created between September 30 and November 7 [and I’m not just saying that because I’m under a BTW contract…]). The longer America goes on electing officials because of a party (established over a hundred years ago) whose beliefs are supposed to line up as conservative or liberal (also established over a hundred years ago), the longer we will find ourselves with a 49/49/2 Senate and recounts galore in presidential elections. Here’s an idea: Let’s get some original ideas, free thinkers, and visionaries to run for office and then, let’s actually listen to what they have to say, regardless of party affiliation, and not just what they advertise on the radio or television.
I’m Josh The Blogger and I approve this message.
Permalink
10.14.06
Posted in Political Commentary, Today, Unsolicited Opinions, News at 07:53 am by Josh
A test has confirmed, a week later, that Pyongyang did, in fact, test a nuclear weapon last Monday. However, the US and the UN are stressing that “more tests are needed” to be certain (BBC News). This is exactly why non-UN countries and terrorists like to mess with us so much. What, exactly, would be the problem if we passed sanctions against N. Korea and then it turned out they didn’t use a nuke? Would we have to hang out heads in shame because of Kim Jong-Il’s lie? We’re giving them every opportunity to get set up with more weapons while we deliberate the validity of their claim in a committee that, surprise, does not involve N. Korea. Just sanction them! Good Lord, I’m sick of politics…
Permalink
« Previous entries ·