Reaping, Sowing

Just wanted to take a moment to direct some of my outrage at this weekend’s events in Arizona at John McCain, who reached a level of cockheaded fuckedupitude of which even I had previously believed him incapable when he issued what the NY Times called “one of the strongest statements” regarding the 22-year-old shooter that killed at least six people, wounded 14, and has left Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition with a bullet hole through her fucking head:

“I am horrified by the violent attack on Representative Gabrielle Giffords and many other innocent people by a wicked person who has no sense of justice or compassion. I pray for Gabby and the other victims, and for the repose of the souls of the dead and comfort for their families.”

I’m sorry, what? Could someone explain to me nice and slow how someone who has played an increasingly significant role in cultivating the dangerously partisan political environment that our country is currently suffocating in could have the audacity to act shocked and horrified that something like this could have happened to a woman who was already receiving threats because of her pro-health reform, anti-insane Arizona immigration law stances? What the fuck?

In his many years on this earth, one would think that McCain would have managed to come across the folkloric warning to be careful what you wish for.

“The Downfall of America?”

That would be homosexuals, of course.

At least that’s what KETK-NBC would like us to believe. The Texas-based NBC affiliate recently aired an amazing fucking segment speculating that The Gays are Taking Over America, and that this will be its downfall.

Not our useless elected officials, not the corrupt corporations that pull their strings, not the increasingly loud bigots who refer to themselves as “voices of reason” amidst the cacophony of “leftist propaganda.” Homosexuals who have jobs in the government.

The compelling cause-effect relationship that is at the root of this hard-hitting bit of reporting goes something like this:

1. Barack Obama’s administration has appointed more openly gay people than the last two asshats presidents combined.
2. This recent study, when decontextualized to the point of stupidity by fundamentalist Christian idiots, can be interpreted to mean that twice as many teens are gay than a decade ago.
3. Therefore, the Obama administration’s tolerance of homosexuality is breeding gayness among our youth, which will, in turn, be “the downfall of America ….(provocative question mark).”

Yes, I know. The logic takes you back to your days in geometry class, when you were learning about laws of equivalent and complementary angles, except that those were mere laws of mathematics, and this here is a law from God.

J.C. has got to be weeping in some toast right now.

Here’s the video, complete with asshole anchors, an asshole correspondent, a 10-second B-roll montage featuring harrowing scenes of happy homosexuals getting married, hugging, and sitting next to each other at what sort of looks like a Bingo hall (thus proving nowhere is safe) that plays on loop for at least four minutes, and a caller segment that kicks in around minute three, the highlight of which occurs at 3:24 when some homophobic cuntbag declares that “we the people doesn’t count anymore.”

While goodness knows we can’t expect better than this bullshit from Texas, we can from NBC, and I encourage any of you who get as blood-boily about this shit as I do to sign the Courage Campaign’s petition to Jeff Zucker and Steve Burke. Cause if they let shit like this happen on their affiliate stations, they’re really just FOX in sheep’s clothing.

For those of you who might still harbor hopes that John McCain hasn’t yet crossed the line into irredeemable douchebaggery

There’s always this.

Train Wreck Series Returns!

Hey, kids!

The series that brought you Miss South Carolina’s bumbling attempts to discuss foreign policy and Britney Spears’ drunk performance at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards is back, this time with Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential nominee.

I have tried really, really hard to ignore Sarah Palin since the election ended and the immediate threat of her holding national office subsided, but today I have to make an exception because 1) she resigned from her post as governor of Alaska a full year and a half before the end of her term, and 2) she sounded completely bat shit crazy while she was doing it.

Go ahead. Watch it. You know you want to.

the “t” word, or, that joke isn’t funny anymore

So, Wanda Sykes likened Rush Limbaugh to a terrorist at this year’s White House Annual Correspondents’ Dinner, and it’s unleashed a conservative media maelstrom about how inappropriate her comments were.

It was, on the other hand, okay when Limbaugh was making similar allusions about a presidential candidate in a decidedly un-comedic context during the election.

Cause that’s, you know. Different.

fight night!

11 pm, Comedy Central. Be there or be square, baby.

It’s not really the “high road” when…

Ok, so a handful of republican-run states are declaring they don’t need the government’s stinking stimulus money, all in the name of the “return to fiscal conservative values” that’s suddenly so vogue among the mountain-climbers of the Grand Ole Party.

Among these states: Idaho, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, and …Alaska.

Yes, Alaska. The same state that, for the past five years, received 18 times more in federal earmarks than the national average. That ranked first in federal spending per capita in 18 of the 25 years between 1981 and 2005, and received $1.84 from the federal government for every $1 it spent on federal taxes in 2005.

I guess it’s easy to say no to a federal stimulus package when you’ve already been benefiting from your own personal federal stimulus for the past two and a half decades.

(In fact, the only one of the five states “threatening” not to accept the stimulus that isn’t a beneficiary state is Texas, for which the money received/taxes spent columns come out close to even. So, fine, Texas. But the other four? Seriously. Bad, bad political bluff.)

“you know you’ve made it when…”

It didn’t take long for the oafishly unflattering Barack pictures to start surfacing…

What you don’t know, hurting you

While all the clean energy folks were still recovering from their Obama-election hangovers, the Bush administration opened–and closed–a 30 day public comment period on a proposition to drill off the shores of Virginia.

The project is now underway.

This reminds me a little of the “public commenting period” earlier this year on a federal rule change that, among other things, aimed to redefine pregnancy as beginning at the point of conception. No one seemed to know about that one, either. I can’t really even begin to articulate how maddening it is that the public isn’t better made aware of these “public” vetting opportunities.

Maybe instead of covering shit like this, CNN and co. can include a section on their websites dedicated to listing rules and policies up for public comment and providing basic ‘how to’ instructions.

a month later

A month after the Election Heard Round the World, a few observations/comments/etc…

First off, I think Clinton was a smart choice for Secretary of State. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer. And don’t be afraid of smart people with strong opinions.

Which brings me to Obama’s appointments in general. He’s gotten a lot of flack for those he has made thus far: Too Clintonian, too bipartisan, too predicatable, et al. More than one headline has mocked the president-elect’s campaign mantra with headlines asking, “What change?” But, for what it’s worth, I think having a leader who is not afraid to give a platform to people who might not agree with him is a change–and one with a significance we should not underestimate.

There’s been a decrease in the blatantly racist comments that national radio show callers were making directly after the election. Instead, folks seem to be reverting back to veiling their racism under the guises of their “political beliefs,” “conservative values,” et al. I’m not sure this is progress. It was acutely horrible about hearing callers “blame” the election on “all those black people” who came out and voted–as though black people’s votes counting was a sneaky loophole or something–but when a statement is that obviously fucked up, it demands a response. The double-speak muckety muck is a lot easier to gloss over, ignore, and make excuses for. And that is not a good thing.

And, on a personal note, politics might still gut my family and leave its collective entrails dragging across the eastern seaboard before the next four (or eight) years are through. Gotta get me some armor…