Archive for February, 2008
Next Entries »McCain’s Senility Shows on Torture Vote / The McCain Contra Connection.
Thursday, February 14th, 2008This is the vote I was waiting for. The torture vote. This vote would require the intelligence community to follow the Army Field Manual in regards to torture. This would effectively make waterboarding illegal.
McCain, a former POW who was tortured, has spoken about waterboarding on several occasions saying waterboarding “is not a complicated procedure. It is torture.” and “very exquisite torture.” In fact McCain was one of the few Republicans that spoke out against torture. He even supported the Detainee Treatment Act back in ‘06, which would “bar cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of any detainee.”
So how did he vote? Did he stick to his guns even though they are unpopular with the idiots in his party or did he sell out?
The fucker sold out. Maybe McCain needs a refresher course on what it is like to be tortured.
On top of all this Daisy Cutter over at Daily Kos did a little bit of digging and found that McCain monetarily supported the Nicaraguan Contras.
McCain supporters, you have been fleeced. Now touch the monolith little monkeys and see the truth.
Anonymous Vs. Scientology
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008Watching this all unfold has been the highlight of the year thus far. I’ll have a full write up on it soon but for now here is a teaser.
Does It Matter Where Your Food Comes From?
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008Or for that matter, what you eat?
If you’ve seen Supersize Me, the answer is abundantly clear. So, obvious health concerns aside (red meat/everyday=premature death on a stick), what difference does the matter you force down your gullet truly make?
Almost a year ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes. Coupled with that was an alarming cholesterol level and triglycerides that were off the chart (for the uninitiated, triglycerides are basically the level of fat in your bloodstream– healthy is considered a rating less than 150, I was at 1400). Doctors refer to this as Metabolic Syndrome– a cluster of factors that could lead to a plethora of health issues, not the least of which is the aforementioned early deadsies.
Faced with this news, and the fact that I was 37 and the father of a then 4 month old, I found myself forced to re-evaluate my diet. I like to cook, I like to eat. It was just as easy to whip up a batch of alfredo sauce as it was to call the local pizza joint for a delivery of steak pizza and BBQ wings.
Naturally suspicious of the medical profession and HMO’s in general, I shunned a referral to a dietitian and researched the issue myself. I came across a few studies that suggested a vegan diet was found to help diabetics manage their blood sugar effectively– so I gave it a shot. Within three months, I was off Insulin and just taking pills. I wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination 100% vegan, but probably a good 80%.
Like I said, I like to cook. So I started reading vegetarian and vegan cookbooks and found plenty of recipes that were acceptable– none of them were slow smoked ribs or strip steak, but hey– 80%, right? However, I found that the vegetarian magazines that I was buying at the local co-op were just a little to preachy, a little too extreme: here were people who attached their eating style to their sense of being. They were no longer people, they were vegans. It smacked of the same lemming-like behavior that people who referred to themselves as “goth” or “Republican” flaunted with ironic non-conformity.
Furthermore, I started coming across references to “eating locally”– this seems to have become the current progressive food trend, taking the space that “eating organically” occupied a few years ago. The thinking is that What You Eat is tied intrinsically to the planet itself, an argument popular amongst strict vegetarians and vegans– for example, the land required to raise a single cow could be used to grow enough agriculture to sustain a small town. Proponents of “eating locally” suggest that, given global warning, eating locally would have a profound effect on the levels of emissions in the atmosphere because of the reduction in fuel needed to transport out of season foods into a given area– think strawberries available in Buffalo in winter. Furthermore, if people strictly ate locally, they would support small local farms and companies, thus reducing the stranglehold that a small number of corporate food conglomerates (Nestle, Beatrice, etc) have on our global economy.
It makes sense when you think about it, but it also suggests a certain degree of isolationism and promotes the unfortunate arrogance and elitism that plagues any hippie-driven movement– never mind the personal economics involved; eating strictly organic foods alone downright cost prohibitive. Factor in restricting oneself to local products is downright bankrupting. Keeping my kid in organic milk alone is cleaning out our checking account. To switch to strictly organic, locally farmed chicken would be disastrous.
I like the fact that I can get tomatoes (albeit shitty ones) year round. Restricting our diet to only locally available produce, I’m sorry, would suck in the winter. No cucumbers. No lettuce. No onions or garlic! No fresh herbs– come on!
Ultimately, I don’t suggest to have an answer– I can’t deny the effect eating local, organic foods has had on my health, and in some little way, my family’s little corner of the world. But I’m not maxing out my credit card the next time I want to hold a barbeque.
The wife is bringing home Burger King tonight– haven’t had any in about six months– and I’m looking forward to it.
Presidential Pickings.
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008I’ll admit it, I think Edwards was a good decent guy who would have made a decent President. Compared to out current Fuck-up in Chief he would have been a phenomenal President. Sadly for him he was in the wrong race at the wrong time. Again. Last time he had to try to “humanize” Kerry. This time he was stuck between the first black man with a real shot at the presidency and the first woman with a real shot at the presidency. He sadly got relegated to the part of generic white guy stuck in a historic race. Ah, well, I wish him and his wife good luck.
Kucinich and Hunter have finally seen the light and dropped out of the race. Giuliani finally dropped out after he realized he ran his campaign like shit and most people were sick of hearing his lisping voice repeat 9/11 over and over again.
So who do we have left for fringe canadates?
Even though everyone, including myself, refers to the Democratic primaries as a two person race we actually have a third contestant. Anyone remember Mike Gravel? No? He was the crazy guy with what appeared to be some form of Tourette’s syndrome during the early debates. Because he isn’t being allowed at the debates he has set up a streaming video “alternate debate” on the web. I hope it has sock puppets. I think they should let him back in the debates just for his comic relief factor.
Alan Keys is supposedly still out there somewhere. CNN doesn’t even list him as a candidate though. No matter, he is just a conservative fuckstick.
Ron Paul is still trying to hold on to the dream too. I have no idea why. Anyone who reads this blog knows what I think of him and his idiot supporters. You know what looks good on Ron Paul supporters?
Fire.
Huckabee. An extremist that wants us to fear extremists. What needs to be said about Mike Huckabee that he hasn’t already said and done himself? Lets take a look at his greatest hits.
Supports FairTax. While it has the word “fair” in it this idea is in no way fair. Here is the fair tax in a nutshell:
Remove the IRS, 23% sales tax (By some estimates it will actually factor in at 30%) on purchases.
Fuck that. You know what that does? Fuck over everyone that spends all or most of their paycheck. For the person who lives paycheck to paycheck, a person that spends 100% of their paycheck to survive they get taxed on 100% of that paycheck. 100%. For someone who only spends 1 or 2% of their income they only get taxed on that 1 or 2%. So the rich pay less taxes and the burden is shifted to the poor. Wonderful.
Let’s say there was a 15 year old girl. Now let’s say that girl was retarded. With me so far? Good. Let’s say this girl was raped by her stepfather and was now pregnant from this rape. A judge in the state where this girl resides rules to allow the use of Medicaid funds to be used to help this girl get an abortion. The governor of this state blocks the judges ruling.
This really happened. The governor in question was Mike Huckabee.
Goddamn.
I wonder how Huckabee feels about woman in general?
In August of 1998, Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full page USA Today Ad which declared: “I affirm the statement on the family issued by the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention.” What was in the family statement from the SBC? “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.”
The ad wasn’t just a blanket, “we support the SBC statement,” but rather highlighted details. The ad Huckabee signed specifically said of the SBC family statement: “You are right because you called wives to graciously submit to their husband’s sacrificial leadership.”
(Link)
Oh for fucks sake. People are actually voting for this guy?
And that does it for the rundown of our lunatic fringe. Hope you enjoyed your stay. Visiting hours are now over and Huckabee needs his meds. If he doesn’t get them on time he starts rambling about changing the constitution to fit God’s will and no one wants to hear that.
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