Ingredient: 3 stalks of LOL, chopped.

Bill Dennis posted a blog about the SC(r)OTUS decision to overturn the Washington DC handgun ban, a decision I support. BJStone’s response was great and sums up my view beautifully.

Woo hoo! More guns! We don’t have enough! Give me more! Woo hoo!

The problem is not that the “liberal Democrats” oppose homeowners having guns…most of us DO NOT oppose the constitution or the right to bear arms…the problem is WHAT guns, HOW MANY, and WHY in the hell you need ‘em?

Want a shotgun or rifle to hunt? Fine, good, great even. Want a pistol to defend your home? Fine, good, we can work with that I think. Want a semi-automatic or a military assault rifle so you can put not just one cap, but 324 caps in some poor rabbit’s ass? We don’t get it.

*clap*clap*clap*

Ingredient - Sour Apples; fry for thirty seconds, then flip.

Obama’s flip-flopping is getting pretty annoying. I don’t blame the man himself, I blame his campaign supervisors who are still stuck in the Clintonian mindset that “the Centrist wins.” As NPR points out, Obama has steadily been moving towards the center to posture himself as a moderate on many issues as a gambit to draw more votes from centrists in the General Election.

This is a mistake. The reason we had record turnout during the primaries, the reason he won the Democratic nomination and the reason voter confidence is so high on our side is because he hasn’t been a moderate and hasn’t played election-year politics. This is a serious error and very detrimental to his campaign.

Think about it, he’s leading in all of the recent polls by, in many cases, large margins. Liberals and left-leaning people throughout the country are fired up and eager to get out there and vote. As much as I hate to use the word, we have indeed been galvanized. Things like this are only going to dampen spirits and reduce enthusiasm, and, Mr. Obama, whoever advised you to move to the center ought to be fired immediately.

Enthusiasm is the number one thing we have going for us in this election; get more of our people to vote than theirs. Honestly, the gains to be made though moderation are not larger than what we stand to lose in doing so.

You’ll note that I listed enthusiasm as our major advantage, rather than the war, the state of the economy or the excesses, lies, fuck ups and tyranny of the Bush administration. That’s right. You see, due to the fact there are still Republican voters who have not defected by now–after all this they still remain unmoved–the only reasonable conclusion one can reach is that they will not be moved.

Let’s not kid ourselves: the old ways are gone. The lines have been drawn and people have chosen sides. As a strategy to strengthen your side during an election year, I think making inroads to the others’ base has become mostly obsolete. Appeal to your own base, stick to your guns, and when the chips fall you can say you were right all along. People will defect in the end.

Remember, Barry? Like you did with Iraq? Let’s get back to that mindset, hm?

Ingredient: a spritz of brainwashing.

For you guilt-wracked Republicans out there who flog yourself with an electric metal cross while pretending to speak in tongues over the mental stress of realizing all the glaring inconsistencies in your belief patterns and are now thinking about defecting but fear you’ll go to hell and be shunned at the country club for doing so… *deep breath* let’s do a little exercise to put you back in la-la land.

Repeat after me:

• Republicans are not warmongers.
• Republicans are not warmongers.
• Republicans are not warmongers.

If you tell yourselves that enough times, you might even start to believe it again.

I understand why he’s doing it. I understand the nuance involved, but I still don’t like it. Yes, I’m referring to Barack Obama’s apparent flip-flopping on the FISA bill. I understand the importance of the bill, but damn, are we really going to give another free pass to the telecommunications companies? Honestly? We’ve given them wiggle room in many areas, and what have they done with it? Bandwidth throttling, anti-competitive business practices, illegal surveillance… Once again, the Republicans are favoring them over the American people. I swoon in disbelief.

Naturally, even though this act shows bipartisan effort and the ability to compromise (a marked improvement over the President v.43 model), John McCain and the Republicans at large will undoubtedly attack him on this issue (even though he’s conceding to them) for being a flip-flopper.

I would challenge the wisdom of this. Maybe I should join the trend and switch to John McCain over this one issue. Y’know, like the fanatical portion of Hillary Clinton supporters did.

It’s not like I don’t have reasons. Another issue I strongly disagree with Obama over is the issue of Ethanol. John McCain agrees with me. Oh wait, maybe not. Oh well, at least he shares the view that people like Jerry Falwell are bad for the nation. What? He’s down with Jerry? Hm.

Well, there have got to be plenty of issues we see eye to eye on. Abortion? He used to. Surely he disagrees with the use of torture. Damn. Offshore drilling? Damn. I KNOW I heard him say he was against the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy… DAMMIT! Gay Marriage? Pff, that was short-lived.

What about the issues we know Obama has flipped on? How about his decision not to take public financing? Nope. McCain can’t attack him on that, considering he doesn’t even agree with himself over what campaign finance reform ought to be. Then there’s the issue of immunity for the telecoms. Can we honestly say he flipped on this issue too? Yes. We. Can.

On second thought, maybe I’ll stick to the guy who has been giving me the straight talk. Y’know, the one who has been mostly consistent. You know which one. Still, you just know they’re going to drag him through the mud over this. Despite everything John McCain has flipped on, they’ll accuse Obama of pandering. The thing is, considering his Democratic and largely liberal base, doesn’t his stance on FISA prove that he is not pandering? (Ethanol, not so much. We’ll take ownership of that one.)

I’m troubled by the fact that John McCain turned out to be the kind of politician who will say anything to gain power, leaving us without the foggiest clue as to what he’ll actually do with it. Frightening. He had such potential in 2000.

Charles Black, a top McCain adviser, said that a new terrorist attack “certainly would be a big advantage to [McCain].”

Ever wonder why there are 9/11 conspiracy theories all over the place?  Ever wonder where they get their ammunition?  Let’s look at the list:

• Government officials acting as if they’re hiding something
• Blocking investigations
• Refusing to testify
• Mishandling evidence
• Lying about trivial things
• Lying about important things
• Refusing to answer questions
• NEW:  Making cynical, dumbass statements like this.

Looks like Mr. Black let the cat out of the bag, confirming many long-held suspicions that the Republicans are lusting after another 9/11 to legitimize their wars, their military budget and agenda, their grievous attack on civil liberties and the consolidation of power in the Executive Branch.  That’s to say nothing of all the Halliburtons out there who would benefit from exclusive, no-bid government contracts for billions of dollars.

I think the fact that this guy wasn’t immediately terminated for the statement reinforces my opinion on the matter.  It’s as if the Cons are saying,”why bother?  They already know, we’re not fooling anyone.”  Fortunately for the CT’s, if we do get attacked between now and November, this statement gives them another argument to support their case:  a motive.  Good job, dumbass.

Ahhh, nothing wakes me up like the smell of wingnut in the morning.

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson is one of those crusty old historical revisionist fundiecons who thinks the way forward is to regress.  Like many on the right, he’s a gay-hating, anti-intellectual xenophobe who has the gall to suggest/holds the delusion that Christians are being oppressed and their values diminished.

Today I read that he has attacked Barack Obama for “deliberately distorting” the bible and having a “fruitcake interpretation” of the constitution.  Actually, the full quote is that Obama is “deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology.”

What the crispy crap?  Hey, that sounds familiar!  Kind of like supporting wars in the middle east as a way to hasten Armageddon, or suspending your literal interpretations of God’s direct words to allow yourselves to support the death penalty, or telling each other to be Christ-like, yet vote for the political party who is traditionally hostile to the poor and consistently favors the rich.  Somebody’s theology is confused indeed.

At least he appears to understand that the bible is indeed something to be interpreted by using the word “understanding,” though “traditional” is highly subjective.  He goes on to say “[Obama] is dragging biblical understanding through the mud,” confirming yet again what we already knew about fundamentalist mindset:  only my interpretation is the correct interpretation.

In light of that, it’s not so difficult to understand their fascist tendencies, considering their refusal to tolerate disagreement, let alone dissent.  I won’t even bother with his statement about constitutional interpretation.  The common fundamentalist delusion of authority with regards to anything constitutional would be comical if it weren’t so damn scary.

Dobson apparently didn’t have much of a defense for his opinion, since he changed the subject by reminding everybody that Obama is pro-choice and abortion is the only issue that matters, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, OBEY, all your base are belong to us, etc.   Cheap.

Friday

Finished Catcher in the Rye.  Not my favorite book ever, but a fun read.

Remember that thing I said a few weeks ago about the shithead attitude that SUV drivers generally have in common?  NPR confirms it:

Poelstra says back in the good old days when gas cost $2.50 a gallon — last year — he was spending $100 a month to fill up his pickup, just to travel to places like the grocery store. The cost of electricity for the Xebra is $10-$12 a month. He loves the car and loves telling people about it.

A passerby outside the grocery store inquires about the Xebra. Poelstra says the car is totally electric and requires minimal maintenance.

“Right on! That’s pretty cool,” Clay Dierdorff exclaims. Poelstra says he gets such inquiries all the time.

“Every time we park, somebody wants to talk about the car,” he says. Poelstra’s 12-year-old son Alex says that drivers in large SUVs occasionally aren’t so polite.

“A couple of people yell when they see it,” Alex says. Sometimes they use “words you would not want to say — especially on national radio.”

Told ya so.  Fucking assholes.

Saturday

Didn’t do shit all day.  I took my wife to work, played with the boy, then played Lord of the Rings Online all night.  I don’t get to do this often, so it was a nice break.

Sunday

Went to the Old English Faire, added a few new bottles to my blue bottle collection, picked up a leather-bound blank book, then got harassed by some medieval fundies selling absolution.  They were play-acting, of course.  But it is sad that after hundreds of years, the real fundies haven’t changed much.

Found out George Carlin had died a little past midnight.  I knew it was coming eventually (the guy was a dinosaur), but I didn’t know I’d be so damn depressed about it.  The world really is a better place because he was born, and we’re sad to see him go.

My wife was looking for some pictures to see how far along our baby may have gotten by now and had this to say about her google experience:

OMG.

I hate “googling” pictures of babies at 4, 5, 6 weeks gestation…and keep finding Christian extremist websites of abortions. If I wanted to see a motherfucking abortion, I would have looked that up!

I don’t get heavily involved in the abortion issue; arguing the issue is almost always a lose-lose situation. I personally could never abort, and I don’t like it, but I’m not about to tell somebody they can’t do it because they’re going to burn in the fiery pits of hell. I just don’t like finding pictures of severed arms and legs when I’m trying to find out what my child might look like.

To the extreme religious zealots that push this shit on *everyone* whether they’re pro-life, pro-choice, or somewhere in the middle–fucking get your point across some other way. I’m not offended by bumper stickers that say “Abortion stops a beating heart,”–I have to agree with that sentiment–but when you shove pictures of that shit in my face when I’m just trying to do research, yeah, it fucking offends me.

Sorry. Must be the pregnancy hormones. That just eats my ass. I know what an abortion is. While I’m expecting a child, though, I don’t want to see pictures of that, especially when I didn’t look that up. Fucks.

Eat it, fundies:

Since rejecting theism it took me quite awhile to warm up what we called “Darwinism,” which was our way of painting the other side as a bunch of fanatics who worshipped Charles Darwin and were out to destroy Christianity, so oppressed were we. *snort*

Since then I learned what evolution is, its impacts and the science that has come from it. Since Christian biology class mandates that you learn a Christian-filtered critique of “Darwinism” than hold any real discussion on the theory of evolution, most arguments supporting the theory (outside of the theory itself) have been formulated independent of others’ opinions. In the past year, I’ve been learning more about what others say about it via blogs and topical websites, as well as discussion forums.

Two topics I’m interested in: learning more about the theory of evolution as it pertains to origins. The topic of human origins is where are the controversy is. It’s the topic that really pisses off the fundie circus known as the religious right. I’d also like to learn from people who are more outspoken against the fundamentalists. For that reason, I went to Barnes and Noble.

Lucky for me, they had what I was looking for. There was a small section dedicated to Richard Dawkins, and “The Singularity is Near” by Ray Kurzweil. That’s another thing, bio-singularity. I was first introduced to it by following the Dresden Codak webcomic and forum. I haven’t made up my mind on the matter one way or another, but it definitely piqued my interest.

However, I didn’t buy those books. The reason: I’m already in the middle of several other books, and Barnes & Noble didn’t have ‘em in hardcover. That’s just how I roll.

However, I did pick up some others that were on my literary To-Do list. They were on a shelf marked “buy two get one free.” Y’know, like cigarettes:

• The Arabian Nights
• Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
• Candide - Voltaire
• The Federalist - Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay
• Paradise Lost - John Milton
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
• The Origin of Species - Charles Darwin

Total cost: $45. All are in paperback, save for Douglass, which I found in the bargain bin.

In anticipation of my Composition 2 class this fall, I’m working on my sorry-ass writing skills. I have a copy of “The Call to Write,” a textbook for a similar such class at the University of St. Francis. Also working my way through “The Everyday Writer,” another one sold at Uni of SF. I ought to be done with both of them (or close to done) by the time I start this class in the fall. It has been 6 years since I passed my first Composition class, so I’d like to be prepared.

More so, I feel that in order to master the art of writing one must read constantly. I’m almost done with The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, which has taught me a thing or two about the narrative style. It makes me think of a sober version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Next on my list is either going to be Dante’s Inferno, the Life of Frederick Douglass, Julius Caesar (Shakespeare) or The Hobbit. I’ll let you know when I make up my mind.

Some filler for the transition:

“While we may never know the answers, Scott McClellan alone will have to wrestle with whether it was worth selling out the president and his friends for a few pieces of silver.” - comment from Republican Lamar Smith to Scott McClellan over his book chronicling the corruption of the Bush Administration during his time as a White House aide.

The important phrase here is “for a few pieces of silver.” This is what anchors the whole statement–a biblical reference to the betrayal of Jesus by his disciple Judas for thirty pieces of silver.

I’m not bothered by the comparison of McClellan to Judas. From the Administration’s view that one is easy to understand. What I find troubling is the equation of Bush to Jesus in the same reference. WTF?

People, this is the kind of batshit mindset we’re up against.

—————-

Things are coming along with the redesign. Once I get a handle on this whole theming process, everything else should fall into place.

Bleh.

UPDATE:

I’m currently working on redesigning and reorganizing the site.  I’m still figuring out the template system, but it shouldn’t be long before I have something concrete.  Also, the site will be divided into different sections, but pages will be re-directed appropriately.  Hopefully I’ll be done soon!