06.24.08
Don’t Talk To The Police
After watching this, I will never, ever say anything to the police again. Wow.
One of those videos where you go “30 minutes, wtf…” then, half an hour later, you pick up your jaw off the floor.
06.20.08
Martian Skies
Martian Skies – The Big Picture – Boston.com
Some really incredible and awe-inspiring images from Mars.
06.19.08
John McCain’s Connection to Big Oil & The Enron Loophole
How do we solve the gas problem? We get rid of the futures market. The futures market is providing you with $4/gal gas.
The Republican solution, of course, is to go after Off-Shore Drilling, which will do nothing to the price of gas (I repeat: nothing), and of course they’re all rip roaring to drill in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve as well. Again, these ’solutions’ are none of the sort. They are for oil companies who stand to make a lot of money through this deregulation while we see little to no benefit. Hey, it’s the Republican way!
Check out this report. You need to see this.
When you have lobbyists for the oil industry creating your energy policy, I wonder who will benefit from it the most?
06.16.08
DO WANT: Rock Band for Cheap
Wow, now this is a hell of a deal. $100 for the whole Rock Band package? Sign me up!
I’ve always wanted the whole Rock Band setup, but the price ($250-ish) was the hold up. No longer.
To those who’ve already had Rock Band for ages and are wondering how in the world I could’ve lived without it…you may now regret how much you paid for yours.
06.15.08
Jack Sparrow Speedpainting & Birthday Wishes
By far the coolest thing I”ve seen all day:
Learn how to draw at 5min.com
Also, today is Annie’s 6th(!) birthday party (her actual 6th birthday was on the 8th). I will be manning the grill, of course, hoping to one day learn how to properly cook things on a grill. Just a few weeks ago I believe I mastered the art of ‘how many charcoals to use’. This skill took years to develop. I can only imagine how long I have to wait for ‘when to flip the burgers or turn the `dogs’.
Just the Facts
From FactCheck.org, a non-partisan organization:
Tip of the hat to one of my favorite websites, One Good Move.
06.13.08
Feeling Small Much?
If you aren’t, you will after you check this out.
Just a neat reminder of how small we are in the universe. Reminds me of Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” that always gets me:
06.12.08
On Politics
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here, for a variety of reasons. The main one is that blogs are very tough to both begin and end. When you stop blogging, every day that passes makes it harder for you to post something. It gets a little more awkward, a little more intimidating. Not sure why, but I’m here and let’s delve into opinions, shall we?
On Politics
I am fed up with the sheep that live in Washington, DC. And by sheep I mean Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. I’m a pretty hard-core liberal, and this “Impeachment is off the table” bullshit is ridiculous. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Dennis Kucinich, a congressman whom I have infinite respect for, actually took a stand and brought 35 counts of impeachment against President Bush. Bush has systematically made congress irrelevant with his signing statements that circumvent laws and his super-secret dealings via Cheney and crew.
I’m frustrated and tired of it. I’m tired of them not voting for environmentally friendly initiatives, I’m tired of them using gag orders to stop investigations, and most of all I’m tired of us getting Democrats in power to only watch them bend the will of the president in his idiotic war that was based on bad intelligence (at best) and is more than likely based on the outrageous ideology that we can force democracy by the barrel of a gun.
There comes a time when people (i.e. the Middle East) who are shit on, no matter how shit on they may be, actually choose and approve of said shitting. They adore their power structure, which generally puts men above women in every sense and hide behind religious reasons when questioned. There is nothing we can do to ’save’ the middle east. They are too fervent, they are too ideological (far more than Bush and Cheney ever realize) and they will not ‘let it go’ and accept Jesus Christ as their pers–er, I mean, accept democracy.
And McCain, God help us all if that guy gets into power. I personally don’t think he has a shot in hell of winning anything, let alone the presidency. Let’s face it, if the man were running for anything but Bush Term #3, we may actually have a real debate. But voting with Bush 95% of the time last year, in right and wrong, makes you wonder. He wants to double the tax cut to the wealthiest Americans, who don’t need it and didn’t ask for it. Call it a political talking point if you wish, but it’s true.
Better yet, how is he going to pay for said tax cut? He doesn’t know. There are no answers here. “The market will just make it work,” the campaign says. Or they’ll double or triple our existing debt into the 5-7 Trillion range. Yes, with a T.
Another Republican talking point is on Universal Health Care. We need this. We NEED it. It’s not an ‘if’ proposition, it’s a ‘when’ proposition. And, if anything, in twenty years when it is in place, it will be a non-issue. Have you seen Sicko? You should. In it you meet people in the ‘Conservative’ party of other countries, and they are all for taking care of those who can’t take care of themselves. But you can’t mention something about free health care (or, at the very least, affordable insurance from the government) without the Bill O’ Reilly’s of the world flaunting the most heinous examples of how it will destroy America or whatever. “I’m not going to be paying for some drug addict to blah blah blah.” Give me a break.
The funniest argument to me from Republicans is “we want families to make their own choices.” You know what I want? No medical debt. No health care for profit. No doctor ever being denied to perform a procedure or a treatment because it is deemed too expensive (and by too expensive they simply say it is ‘too experimental’ or ‘let’s try other (cheaper) avenues first’). What they don’t understand is, I don’t really give a damn if I have to go see Doctor A instead of Doctor B. If that means I don’t owe $500+ when it’s over, I think I can deal with that.
The simple answer is this: John McCain has never had to pay a medical bill in his life. He’s never had to pay for his own education. He owns many, many houses and is more wealthy than every person who ever reads this post–combined. He doesn’t know what it’s like to have bill collectors call his home.
Think about this, my dear Republicans: How many of you are a horrific car accident or heart transplant away from bankruptcy? Because other countries absolutely fall out of their chairs laughing about this. Medical debt is a punchline in other countries, while my own family stares down thousands of dollars in bills from years and years ago; bills that I generally pay off just as the next medical emergency hits. Having a kid should not come with a $5,000 bill attached, and that’s with freakin insurance, not without.
I can’t even fathom why someone would vote for McCain any longer. Regardless of whether Barack takes Hillary as his VP running mate or not, the man has a history that is far more in line with the majority of Americans than that of McCain. A single mother who was on food stamps at one point? Can you fathom McCain ever worrying about money?
And you wonder why he has no idea how the economy works? It blows my mind that people will actively vote against their own economic interest. This man doesn’t give a damn about your wage or your taxes. He’s supported this over-the-top administration that has shit on civil liberties, created secret prisons where inmates don’t get trials, and frankly just duped the entire country into a war that we’re now stuck in, and one that McCain wants to continue until God knows when.
Republicans who support the war are in the constant chicken-and-egg scenario for explaining why we are staying there: We’re staying there because the violence is so bad, or, if the violence is down, then we’re staying there to keep the peace and get the Iraqis to run their own show. Good luck with that, because 4,000 dead soldiers have now lost their lives for the ideology of one man, and the whims of Vice President Cheney.
If you’re looking for the morality angle of the debate, do note he cheated on and then left his newly-crippled wife to marry a beer distribution heiress half his age.
I don’t know all of the political answers, but I do know that Change (capitalized, natch) is what will not come from a McCain administration. The secret dealings among administration officials, the trampling of civil rights, the disregard for Congress, this will continue. Voting for McCain is saying that you approve of these actions, and I just can’t imagine why you would ever do so.