31 October 2008
Change Your Middle Name To Hussein
To show you're ready for change, change your middle name to Hussein on all your online profiles through November 4. Oh, the meaningless of names...
30 October 2008
Ann Coulter is Anti-Semitic
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Courtesy of Wikipedia--
On October 8, 2007, Coulter ignited yet more controversy when she was quoted as saying that Jews should be "perfected" into Christians. She was talking about Republicans with Donny Deutsch, a Jewish CNBC talk-show host, and implied that she considered Christianity a virtue. Deutsch asked her, "It would be better if we were all Christian?", to which Coulter replied "Yes". Deutsch asked her, "We should all be Christian?", and got the same response, with an invitation to come to church. Later on, Coulter said, "we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say", saying that this was what Christianity was, and she compared the 'New Testament to Federal Express. Further, Coulter said that Christians considered themselves to be perfected Jews. Deutsch implied that this was an anti-Semitic remark, but Coulter said she didn't consider it to be a hateful comment.
In an April 2, 2008 column, she characterized Barack Obama's book Dreams From My Father as a "Dimestore Mein Kampf." Coulter writes, "He says the reason black people keep to themselves is that it's 'easier than spending all your time mad or trying to guess whatever it was that white folks were thinking about you.' Here's a little inside scoop about white people: We're not thinking about you. Especially WASPs. We think everybody is inferior, and we are perfectly charming about it.
In a May 2007 article looking back at the life of the recently deceased evangelical Reverend Jerry Falwell, Coulter commented on Falwell's statement after the 9/11 attacks that "pagans", abortionists, feminists, and gays and lesbians, among others, helped make the attacks happen. In her article, Coulter stated that she disagreed with Falwell's statement, "because Falwell neglected to specifically include Teddy Kennedy and 'the Reverend' Barry Lynn."[116]
Oh, and don't forget to peruse her archive of political musings:
ANNCOULTER.COM
http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/archives.cgi
She's the love child of Hitler and Mugabe, born to the parents who later gave birth to that wierd guy in The Da Vinci Code. But regardless of her dangerous rhetoric, she is the pretty blonde package that Republicans frequently package their hateful rhetoric in. But I give Ann Coulter credit for one thing: despite her prettiness, and perhaps in spite of it, she doesn't pretend to be anything less than a reprehensible "conservative bigot."
And she gets away with being anti-semitic by falling in hard line with America's support of Israel.
It's amazing that Sean Hannity welcomes her anti-semitic bullshit with open arms. Employing Republican campaign logic, you could say that Sean Hannity welcomes anti-semiticism with open arms.
We should start a new news channel dedicated to the 24hour discredit of the phony folksy cronies posing as the voice of middle America, painting Democrats as taxers, and not owning up to their own highbrow tax relief which they hold as close as possible to their cold, Godless hearts.
Courtesy of Wikipedia--
On October 8, 2007, Coulter ignited yet more controversy when she was quoted as saying that Jews should be "perfected" into Christians. She was talking about Republicans with Donny Deutsch, a Jewish CNBC talk-show host, and implied that she considered Christianity a virtue. Deutsch asked her, "It would be better if we were all Christian?", to which Coulter replied "Yes". Deutsch asked her, "We should all be Christian?", and got the same response, with an invitation to come to church. Later on, Coulter said, "we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say", saying that this was what Christianity was, and she compared the 'New Testament to Federal Express. Further, Coulter said that Christians considered themselves to be perfected Jews. Deutsch implied that this was an anti-Semitic remark, but Coulter said she didn't consider it to be a hateful comment.
In an April 2, 2008 column, she characterized Barack Obama's book Dreams From My Father as a "Dimestore Mein Kampf." Coulter writes, "He says the reason black people keep to themselves is that it's 'easier than spending all your time mad or trying to guess whatever it was that white folks were thinking about you.' Here's a little inside scoop about white people: We're not thinking about you. Especially WASPs. We think everybody is inferior, and we are perfectly charming about it.
In a May 2007 article looking back at the life of the recently deceased evangelical Reverend Jerry Falwell, Coulter commented on Falwell's statement after the 9/11 attacks that "pagans", abortionists, feminists, and gays and lesbians, among others, helped make the attacks happen. In her article, Coulter stated that she disagreed with Falwell's statement, "because Falwell neglected to specifically include Teddy Kennedy and 'the Reverend' Barry Lynn."[116]
Oh, and don't forget to peruse her archive of political musings:
ANNCOULTER.COM
http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/archives.cgi
She's the love child of Hitler and Mugabe, born to the parents who later gave birth to that wierd guy in The Da Vinci Code. But regardless of her dangerous rhetoric, she is the pretty blonde package that Republicans frequently package their hateful rhetoric in. But I give Ann Coulter credit for one thing: despite her prettiness, and perhaps in spite of it, she doesn't pretend to be anything less than a reprehensible "conservative bigot."
And she gets away with being anti-semitic by falling in hard line with America's support of Israel.
It's amazing that Sean Hannity welcomes her anti-semitic bullshit with open arms. Employing Republican campaign logic, you could say that Sean Hannity welcomes anti-semiticism with open arms.
We should start a new news channel dedicated to the 24hour discredit of the phony folksy cronies posing as the voice of middle America, painting Democrats as taxers, and not owning up to their own highbrow tax relief which they hold as close as possible to their cold, Godless hearts.
24 October 2008
Ten Days Until the Election, Ten Proposals for Campaign Reform
Ten Proposals for Campaign Reform
ONE: MARKETING HAS NO PLACE IN POLITICS
Eliminate negative television advertising. Negative television advertising is defined as any advertising that mentions the other candidate. The net effect of this campaign reform would revolutionize the selection of the selection of our leader by would to refocussing candidates message to the electorate on their agenda and what they bring to the table. And it would go far in eliminating over-the-top speculation on what the other candidate will [not] do.
Marketing is great for consumer products. If the product doesn't quite live up to the marketing, you're not stuck with it for the next four years. I don't care how pretty my President is, I just want him to occasionally remind me why I love this country so much!
TWO: HAPPY ELECTION DAY
Make election day a national holiday. This will give everyone time to get to the polls. Plus, its a great opportunity to stimulate the economy. Election day sales. A jumpstart on holiday shopping. But more than anything.
THREE: REAL TIME VOTING
Digital real time voting with uniform rules across all states. It goes like this: Voter scans their ID, scans their thumb, signs their name, votes on touch screen, prints their receipt. Upon completion their votes are sent to a central state hub and onto a national hub instantaneously. Done. Eliminate human error.
FOUR: ELIMINATE THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
It was probably necessary back in the day. But today we have the ability to create technology to let the popular vote count. If the majority of Americans vote for one candidate, but Florida narrowly goes the other way...there's something wrong.
FIVE: REQUIRE THAT ALL CITIZENS VOTE
Make it a civic duty that all voters vote.
SIX: LOWER THE VOTING AGE TO 16
Voting should be taught at the high school level. It should be taught with ethics (bipartisan). Sixteen year olds are affected by policy; paying for college is two years away.
SEVEN: MAJOR PARTY PRIMARIES END EARLIER
We hate elections because we hate the marketing and smear campaigns. Take out the marketing (1), and give the candidates more time to campaign from the stump and communicate their actual policies. Increase the number of debates, make them focused, and spread them out.
EIGHT: POST COMPREHENSIVE POLICY PROPOSALS ONLINE
Transparency is key and it allows the American public to get more involved in the political process.
NINE: DISCOURAGE NEWSPAPER ENDORSEMENTS
It shouldn't be the media's job to tell Americans what candidate to vote for. It is the media's job to present each candidate and their agenda without bias and let American's decide. Don't regulate the media, but discourage this practice.
TEN: MINIMIZE SPIN
Spin does a major disservice to the American public. Debates are almost irrelevant to the spin doctoring which in effect tells Ameicans what the candidates said, whether or not it is truly what the candidates said.
ONE: MARKETING HAS NO PLACE IN POLITICS
Eliminate negative television advertising. Negative television advertising is defined as any advertising that mentions the other candidate. The net effect of this campaign reform would revolutionize the selection of the selection of our leader by would to refocussing candidates message to the electorate on their agenda and what they bring to the table. And it would go far in eliminating over-the-top speculation on what the other candidate will [not] do.
Marketing is great for consumer products. If the product doesn't quite live up to the marketing, you're not stuck with it for the next four years. I don't care how pretty my President is, I just want him to occasionally remind me why I love this country so much!
TWO: HAPPY ELECTION DAY
Make election day a national holiday. This will give everyone time to get to the polls. Plus, its a great opportunity to stimulate the economy. Election day sales. A jumpstart on holiday shopping. But more than anything.
THREE: REAL TIME VOTING
Digital real time voting with uniform rules across all states. It goes like this: Voter scans their ID, scans their thumb, signs their name, votes on touch screen, prints their receipt. Upon completion their votes are sent to a central state hub and onto a national hub instantaneously. Done. Eliminate human error.
FOUR: ELIMINATE THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
It was probably necessary back in the day. But today we have the ability to create technology to let the popular vote count. If the majority of Americans vote for one candidate, but Florida narrowly goes the other way...there's something wrong.
FIVE: REQUIRE THAT ALL CITIZENS VOTE
Make it a civic duty that all voters vote.
SIX: LOWER THE VOTING AGE TO 16
Voting should be taught at the high school level. It should be taught with ethics (bipartisan). Sixteen year olds are affected by policy; paying for college is two years away.
SEVEN: MAJOR PARTY PRIMARIES END EARLIER
We hate elections because we hate the marketing and smear campaigns. Take out the marketing (1), and give the candidates more time to campaign from the stump and communicate their actual policies. Increase the number of debates, make them focused, and spread them out.
EIGHT: POST COMPREHENSIVE POLICY PROPOSALS ONLINE
Transparency is key and it allows the American public to get more involved in the political process.
NINE: DISCOURAGE NEWSPAPER ENDORSEMENTS
It shouldn't be the media's job to tell Americans what candidate to vote for. It is the media's job to present each candidate and their agenda without bias and let American's decide. Don't regulate the media, but discourage this practice.
TEN: MINIMIZE SPIN
Spin does a major disservice to the American public. Debates are almost irrelevant to the spin doctoring which in effect tells Ameicans what the candidates said, whether or not it is truly what the candidates said.
21 October 2008
Reaganomics & Generation Y
I remember the 80's. Even I get caught off guard by one of the super cheesy VH1 specials from which, after multiple idle hours, I emerge from far more self-aware than I was before.
It's easy for my generation to discount the 80's. We were elementry school kids who came of age in the 90's as the X generation emerged in a contrast so direct it bordered on ridicule of the hyper perky over-the-topness of the 80's.
But we should not discount the tangible fondness for this bygone Reagan-era. Many recall it as an era of good. Economies boomed. Communism fell. Diplomacy pushed it. The kids just said no.
Reagonomics and free enterprise is considered by many the crux of these grand times. Keep the scandalous government out of the market, because they don't understand it. Leave it up to the businessmen to execute business. Let the Treasury set rates that respond to the free market flow of business. Its Capitalism at its best. But its ideology.
Ideology is perfection. Execution of ideology must account for human error. And the form of ideological capitalism enacted by the Bush regime reflects human error, albeit you can argue, premeditated human error.
The difference between Ronald Reagan, and George Bush Jr/Sr is that Ronald Reagan led a country, whereas the Bushes have acted more like agents of Big Oil (among other wealthy establishments of Old White Men). They're annoyed by government and governing.
The tax reform act of 1986 was a bipartisan attempt to broaden the tax base and eliminate tax favoratism spearheaded by Reagan. It has proven to be a failure because the trickle down never trickled down. But it is evidence that Reagan was a President who governed, not one bucked the government, to say nothing of the Constitation.
Ethics has become a hippie notion in the Bush regime. It makes sense that the lack of ethics extends to business, where execution is do what you want but make sure hit the bottom line.
It's the bottom line, stupid.
But the bottomline is usually spun or inflated or both so that the market thinks it's good. And in the short run it works and companies successfully trick the market. And they reward themselves with parties, business trips for pleasure, and agregious executive compensation. And to keep up with the Lehman's, other companies follow suit. Keep executives happy. Keep shareholders happy. And fuck stakeholders.
The market always calls the bluff in the long run. And that's when companies like Lehman's fail.
People want to know why Lehman's failed. But they want specifics. Faulty accounting? Bad lending practices? There are countless factors. But the fundamental problem is unethical leadership.
Lehman's is a failure. And it's failed CEO, Richard S. Fuld, Jr., will live with the pain of that failure for the rest of his life. But I'm sure the $45 million he earned in 2007 will ease the pain of failure. It's his low level employees that will actually suffer the real effects.
How's this affect Gen Y? Well, quite simply: GEN Y is a generation with unlimited potential and little opportunity. And that opportunity becomes less with every new fiscal regulation removed, and every unethical business practic practiced.
The ideals of Reagonomics have failed under two Bushes. There was a trickle down effect alright. But it wasn't money. It was failure. And it trickled down from the Bush regime into big business.
And now my generation won't just be the first generation to move back home after college. We'll be the first generation to face moving home after 30.
At least Big Oil still making money. For now. Bush made sure of that.
For your consideration:
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/live-blogging-questions-for-richard-s-fuld-jr/ Fuld admits that lack of government regulation was a factor.
Quit blaming poor wittle George Bush for everything. There are plenty assholes in his family to blame, like: His second cousin.
Lehman Brothers Investment Management Director George Herbert Walker IV, second cousin to U. S. President George Walker Bush, dismissed the proposal, going so far as to actually apologize to other members of the Lehman Brothers executive committee for the idea of bonus reduction having been suggested. He wrote, "Sorry team. I am not sure what's in the water at Neuberger Berman. I'm embarrassed and I apologize."
It's easy for my generation to discount the 80's. We were elementry school kids who came of age in the 90's as the X generation emerged in a contrast so direct it bordered on ridicule of the hyper perky over-the-topness of the 80's.
But we should not discount the tangible fondness for this bygone Reagan-era. Many recall it as an era of good. Economies boomed. Communism fell. Diplomacy pushed it. The kids just said no.
Reagonomics and free enterprise is considered by many the crux of these grand times. Keep the scandalous government out of the market, because they don't understand it. Leave it up to the businessmen to execute business. Let the Treasury set rates that respond to the free market flow of business. Its Capitalism at its best. But its ideology.
Ideology is perfection. Execution of ideology must account for human error. And the form of ideological capitalism enacted by the Bush regime reflects human error, albeit you can argue, premeditated human error.
The difference between Ronald Reagan, and George Bush Jr/Sr is that Ronald Reagan led a country, whereas the Bushes have acted more like agents of Big Oil (among other wealthy establishments of Old White Men). They're annoyed by government and governing.
The tax reform act of 1986 was a bipartisan attempt to broaden the tax base and eliminate tax favoratism spearheaded by Reagan. It has proven to be a failure because the trickle down never trickled down. But it is evidence that Reagan was a President who governed, not one bucked the government, to say nothing of the Constitation.
Ethics has become a hippie notion in the Bush regime. It makes sense that the lack of ethics extends to business, where execution is do what you want but make sure hit the bottom line.
It's the bottom line, stupid.
But the bottomline is usually spun or inflated or both so that the market thinks it's good. And in the short run it works and companies successfully trick the market. And they reward themselves with parties, business trips for pleasure, and agregious executive compensation. And to keep up with the Lehman's, other companies follow suit. Keep executives happy. Keep shareholders happy. And fuck stakeholders.
The market always calls the bluff in the long run. And that's when companies like Lehman's fail.
People want to know why Lehman's failed. But they want specifics. Faulty accounting? Bad lending practices? There are countless factors. But the fundamental problem is unethical leadership.
Lehman's is a failure. And it's failed CEO, Richard S. Fuld, Jr., will live with the pain of that failure for the rest of his life. But I'm sure the $45 million he earned in 2007 will ease the pain of failure. It's his low level employees that will actually suffer the real effects.
How's this affect Gen Y? Well, quite simply: GEN Y is a generation with unlimited potential and little opportunity. And that opportunity becomes less with every new fiscal regulation removed, and every unethical business practic practiced.
The ideals of Reagonomics have failed under two Bushes. There was a trickle down effect alright. But it wasn't money. It was failure. And it trickled down from the Bush regime into big business.
And now my generation won't just be the first generation to move back home after college. We'll be the first generation to face moving home after 30.
At least Big Oil still making money. For now. Bush made sure of that.
For your consideration:
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/live-blogging-questions-for-richard-s-fuld-jr/ Fuld admits that lack of government regulation was a factor.
Quit blaming poor wittle George Bush for everything. There are plenty assholes in his family to blame, like: His second cousin.
Lehman Brothers Investment Management Director George Herbert Walker IV, second cousin to U. S. President George Walker Bush, dismissed the proposal, going so far as to actually apologize to other members of the Lehman Brothers executive committee for the idea of bonus reduction having been suggested. He wrote, "Sorry team. I am not sure what's in the water at Neuberger Berman. I'm embarrassed and I apologize."
Rent Controls, Socialism of the Elite
Santa Monica sure was pleasant tonight. I gave a friend a lift to his friends place. They live in a very nice townhouse on a quaint, quiet street near the beach. Another townhouse at a diagnol across the street was up for rent. I made a snide crack about neighborhood watches and screening. But I guess one person's joke is another's reality. On this Marc O'Cherrian street, the subject of suitable neighbors is alive and well.
I remain uncertain how the subject turned to rent controls, but it seems like logical-ish progression. And the conversation itself was brief and thin. It's what was left unsaid that speaks measures.
One of the deliberately spoken roommates, a purchaser for a computer retail outlet, hates the idea of rent controls. Keep it expensive. Price the trash out. But he didn't say much after that. His computer wasn't communicating with the printer, and he had something he needed to print.
The other favored rent controls. He thought that the elimination of rent controls would disenfranchise poor black folk.
I sided with the computer illiterate computer purchaser. Living at the beach is a priviledge. And housing prices are something that should be market based, because in a responsibly run economy housing prices steadily and significantly appreciate over time. It's the nest you put all your eggs in. It's your nest egg.
But lets take this even further: When was the last time the "poor black folk" had the opportunity to find one of these beach front rent controlled apartments?
I hear about rent controls all the time. But only from my "good family" friends. Rent controls are controlled by priviledge. You don't find rent controls on Craigslist. You find rent controls because your rich big sister finally was able to buy her house by the beach, or your roommate in grad school is backpacking in Europe. You know what I mean. There's a significant difference between rent controls and low income housing.
I guess it's not so Marc O'Cherrian after all, although I wouldn't go so far as to call it Bushian. If the projects is American socialism for the poor, you might call rent controls socialism for the elite.
I remain uncertain how the subject turned to rent controls, but it seems like logical-ish progression. And the conversation itself was brief and thin. It's what was left unsaid that speaks measures.
One of the deliberately spoken roommates, a purchaser for a computer retail outlet, hates the idea of rent controls. Keep it expensive. Price the trash out. But he didn't say much after that. His computer wasn't communicating with the printer, and he had something he needed to print.
The other favored rent controls. He thought that the elimination of rent controls would disenfranchise poor black folk.
I sided with the computer illiterate computer purchaser. Living at the beach is a priviledge. And housing prices are something that should be market based, because in a responsibly run economy housing prices steadily and significantly appreciate over time. It's the nest you put all your eggs in. It's your nest egg.
But lets take this even further: When was the last time the "poor black folk" had the opportunity to find one of these beach front rent controlled apartments?
I hear about rent controls all the time. But only from my "good family" friends. Rent controls are controlled by priviledge. You don't find rent controls on Craigslist. You find rent controls because your rich big sister finally was able to buy her house by the beach, or your roommate in grad school is backpacking in Europe. You know what I mean. There's a significant difference between rent controls and low income housing.
I guess it's not so Marc O'Cherrian after all, although I wouldn't go so far as to call it Bushian. If the projects is American socialism for the poor, you might call rent controls socialism for the elite.
15 October 2008
John McCain's Back in the Race
John McCain is a hero. I don't know who that was pretending to be John McCain. But finally, the real John McCain is back.
And I got news for ye, Sarah Palin: John McCain's the maverick. It's his running mate that's little more than a sideshow gimmick. And how dare ye tell John McCain there to put on some fighting gloves. This is a prisoner of war yer talkin too, dearie!
This John McCain we all love, the one who stands up to his advisors and stands beside his opponents when its the right thing to do. This is bipartisan. This is the Republican I might have voted for eight years ago.
When I cast my vote for Barack Obama, it will be because he is the best man for the job.
But John McCain deserves praise for reminding us why he's one of the best men in politics!
3/10/2009: Not that I reserve judgement on Sarah Palin; my opinion of her since this has shifted a bit. The campaign she became the poster child for wasn't hers. Her governing of Alaska had some maverick qualities. Now if she can just take the next few years to study economics, the lower 48 states and Hawaii, brush up on American history and government, and read up on what is going on in the rest of the world she might actually have some skills to go along with her maverick. To lead the free world, she at least has to get past Katie Couric...
And I got news for ye, Sarah Palin: John McCain's the maverick. It's his running mate that's little more than a sideshow gimmick. And how dare ye tell John McCain there to put on some fighting gloves. This is a prisoner of war yer talkin too, dearie!
This John McCain we all love, the one who stands up to his advisors and stands beside his opponents when its the right thing to do. This is bipartisan. This is the Republican I might have voted for eight years ago.
When I cast my vote for Barack Obama, it will be because he is the best man for the job.
But John McCain deserves praise for reminding us why he's one of the best men in politics!
3/10/2009: Not that I reserve judgement on Sarah Palin; my opinion of her since this has shifted a bit. The campaign she became the poster child for wasn't hers. Her governing of Alaska had some maverick qualities. Now if she can just take the next few years to study economics, the lower 48 states and Hawaii, brush up on American history and government, and read up on what is going on in the rest of the world she might actually have some skills to go along with her maverick. To lead the free world, she at least has to get past Katie Couric...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)