'Put Aside Politics'?

Bush Urges Senate to 'Put Aside Politics' to Confirm Bolton

Wait a minute. I'm tired of Bush and his bullshit. He's basically telling Senators to just approve whatever he supports. That shouldn't be a surprise though... he's suggested such things throughout his entire time in office.

He talked the Senate into allowing him to go to war at last resort, then acted on it as if the Senate said "go to war!" (.. then called Kerry a flip-flop for speaking out about it)

He talked his way into a second term by making lies about the war in Iraq, by creating a victim out of all Christians by telling them if he isn't elected gay people will get married, abortions will continue, and that God won't be happy. Not to mention his continued lies during the debates and the GOP's undeniable skill at not telling the whole story.

He talked up his 'plan' for social security, which would effectively make the system completely insecure. He called them "private accounts" at first because that's exactly what they are - privatized accounts. The suggested system is guaranteed to not work unless all Americans are forced to care about stocks and bonds. After the American people realized how terrible of a plan it is (how much it would benefit the rich and cut benefits in half, etc.), the whole right wing decided that "private accounts" are now "personal accounts" to make them seem better somehow.

He's pushing to make it so there's no filibuster. You know why? Well, if your party has power of all the cards (Senate, House, White House), it would be pretty damn convenient if you could just ignore the whole process and just pass everything that your party puts out. The filibuster was created to protect the minority. Since we play a two sided game, a filibuster would make a guarantee to the party in power... why even discuss the issues? why even debate? the parties are so busy having circle-jerks instead of voting what they truly believe that the lack of a filibuster would completely kill the democratic system.

The main reason they want to rid of the filibuster is to give his judicial candidates a nice, slippery slide through the voting process. Sure, he said in his speaches that he doesn't use the "litmus test", but come on. Look at his nominees... he wants the most right-wing, fundamentalist judges as he can get. He owes it to the religious right for coming out to the polls to end abortion and end (err, keep from starting?) gay marriage and in the process getting him 4 years of re-election free Presidency with complete majority in the House and Senate.

...

AND NOW HE WANTS THE SENATE TO 'PUT ASIDE POLITICS'?

I haven't even looked into this candidate yet, but don't you think "may the best man win" or maybe something like "If his beliefs and record represent your constituents, I hope you consider voting for him" would be a much more noble thing to say?

"I welcome you to the nation's capital, where sometimes politics gets in the way of doing the people's business," Mr. Bush said early on. "Take John Bolton, the good man I nominated to represent our country at the United Nations.

"John's distinguished career in service to our nation demonstrates that he is the right man at the right time for this important assignment. I urge the Senate to put aside politics and confirm John Bolton to the United Nations."

Fuck you, George W. Bush.

I hate it when politicians use 'politics' (in a bad way) to describe what happens when people think, question, and vote for what they think.

To him, politics (in a bad way) is when the system is questioned, the nominees are questioned, the laws are questioned, the amendments are questioned, and the intent is questioned.

I suppose that means good politics is putting all of that aside and voting for whatever your noble party leader says to.

Well guess what.... that's not how it's supposed to work. We're not supposed to have a monarchy. And I still can't believe people don't see through his rhetoric, lies, and misnomers ('protect freedom','mission accomplished','spread democracy', etc.).

If you want to understand what 'politics' Bush wants his followers to ignore, read this article in the New York Times.

But above all else, remember the new Bush-American slogan:
...You're either with us or you're against us!

reporting

So I was talking to a certain reporter I know who did a story on blind people voting electronically.

Here in Muncie, and most other counties in the U.S., they have new money to spend on electronic voting equipment.

I mentioned how irritating it is that in every local story about electronic voting that I've seen, I have yet to see any questions of voter fraud possibility, paper trails, or verifiable votes.

She said "well I just use whatever vosots (voice over sound on tape) we get from who I'm interviewing."

So here's my open letter to all reporters in the world:

Dear reporter,

YOU'RE A REPORTER and an INTERVIEWER. It's YOUR JOB to ask the questions. It's YOUR JOB to be subjective. It's YOUR JOB to get answers to the important questions. If they avoid the topic, stick it to them. If they don't seem to know answers to the important questions, ask them who does, and make sure you mention in your story that they didn't know or refused to comment. These are important things.

If you don't do the above, then you're a talking press release, you're only reporting the positives, and you're only talking up their game plan.

Thank you,
People that want to know

The first paragraph describes what many call "the liberal bias". The second paragraph describes what I call "Fox News style".

On that note, I have a very definite opinion of electronic voting.

Diebold, the company that tallies about 80% of the total votes in the U.S., relies on Microsoft Access databases, which are easily compromised.

In August 2003, Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold, announced that he had been a top fund-raiser for President George W. Bush and had sent a get-out-the-funds letter to Ohio Republicans that said he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

The company has had several leaked memos, including "Do not to offer damaging opinions of our systems, even when their failings become obvious" in their support guide and "As a business, I hope we're smart enough to charge them up the wazoo [for this feature]" in response to Maryland's request for a paper trail.

And perhaps you've heard of blackboxvoting, who shows how easily these machines are compromised and even presents substantial evidence that the machines were compromised in the 2002 elections, and proof that they were compromised in the 2004 election.

Pressured by Evangelical Minister, Microsoft Withdraws Support for Civil Rights Bill

From AMERICABlog:

Microsoft Corporation pulled its support for a gay rights bill in Washington state last month after complaints from a single radical right anti-gay leader, according to an article just published in the Seattle paper, The Stranger.

...
The radical right activist reportedly told Microsoft it had better pull its support for the gays or anti-gay bigots would launch a nationwide boycott of Microsoft, and guess what - Microsoft caved. A single anti-gay jerk, and Microsoft chose to reverse over ten years of policy and bash gays.

This is a HUGE deal. Microsoft has been a big supporter of gay rights for over 10 years, and now they've pulled support of this bill, which they announced support of last year, because of a single radical anti-gay leader. Microsoft has received numerous awards for their support of human rights. They endorsed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act at the federal level. Even their website brags about their support of diversity and human rights.

"I believe adultery is wrong, I believe sex outside marriage is wrong, I believe homosexuality is wrong. Therefore, I cannot give government protection to this behavior."
-Senator Jim Hargrove, Washington, Democrat

I FORGOT that all homosexuals commit adultry... And he's right about sex outside of marriage because HOMOSEXUALS CAN'T GET MARRIED!

The bill just lost, 25-24. All but 2 democrats voted for it.. those 2 and all Republicans voted against it.