Wednesday, September 24, 2008

No Bailout

Hey look! A Congresscritter who is right about the bailout!

And Boing Boing directs people to a Subprime Mortgage Primer so you can understand what is happening.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Various Rants

Alaskan Women reject Palin.

Sarah Palin's political opinions.

If idiot conservatives can make fun of Al Gore inventing the internet, then we can certainly make fun of John McCain inventing the Blackberry. Al Gore did a LOT more to help the invention of the 'net than McCain did to help the invention of any tech at all.

Which party is better for the economy? Slate looks at the numbers.

Political viewpoints linked to fear. "...subjects who were more fearful were more likely to have right wing views..."

McCain on Spain fails mainly in the brain.

So true, it's not really funny.

The group that "hacked" Palin's e-mail are already notorious.

For the election: Voter Suppression Wiki covering incidents of voters being forced off voting rolls or intimidated into not voting.

All charges dropped against journalist arrested at RNC, apparently for the crime of being a journalist. Check out the video at the bottom of the post showing peaceful park-goers being arrested for no apparent reason. During political conventions, it's illegal to exist in the same city as the convention.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Phone Poll

I don't usually answer phone polls, but I got a call just now and decided to play along and see what happened. It was a quick poll... the pollster did NOT identify who they were working for until the end of the call.

I was halfway expecting a push poll of some kind, but the questions were simple and straightforward.

She first asked if I planned to vote in November. I said yes.

She then asked which candidate I preferred, and listed both candidates, McCain first then Obama, with their party affiliations. I told her. She then wanted a range of how likely I was to vote for my preferred candidate. I told her.

Then she asked which of the candidates for Washington State Governor I preferred, listing Rossi first then Gregoire, with party affiliations. I told her. She then asked for a range of how likely I was to vote for my preferred candidate. I told her.

At the end of the call she told me the poll was being run on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and was not affiliated with any candidates. I said, "OK" and she thanked me and ended the call. Huh.

Normally I hate getting any unsolicited calls, but this one was interesting to me at this point in my life. I would've been more interested if it had been the Republicans calling, but you can't have everything. I do wonder about the poll... how many people, where they got my name and number, where I can see the results. But it was something. I don't normally go out of my way to participate in elections beyond the odd blog ranting and, of course, voting. But hey, it was just a poll.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Monday, September 01, 2008

Political Rant

If you make less that $161,000 a year, you don't count.

Snohomish County Republicans should be ashamed. It was strange, I was at the Fair, and I walked by both the Republican and the Democratic booths a couple of times. The Democratic booth was busy, with lots of people and interested volunteers. The Republican booth had two older folks behind the table, and one woman in a scooter talking with them about how disgraceful the Democratic booth was. And all along, they had these disgusting anti-Obama things? And the Democrats are disgraceful? The Republicans need a mirror, and they need to really spend some time looking in it.

TPM on Palin, the single most unqualified candidate ever for Vice President, who hails from the incredibly politically corrupt state of Alaska (home of Ted "remodel my house for free and I'll do you political favors" Stevens).

This questionaire proves that Palin is an idiot. Look at question #11:
Are you offended by the phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

SP: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I'll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.
Point the first: the pledge of allegiance wasn't written until the late 1800s, and not adopted until 1942. Point the second: The phrase "Under God" wasn't added until the anti-communist craze in 1954. The Founding Fathers likely would have been disgusted by a loyalty oath like the pledge. Palin is a moron who doesn't even know her own country's history, and she wants to be the Vice President? Please tell me she's just a nightmare that will go away soon.

Lemons to Lemonade. The community responds after anti-Obama grafitti is etched on a car.

A federal court has blocked a beef producer from testing all their stock for Mad Cow disease, arguing that it would be unfair competition for larger producers. In other words, people would love to have safe beef, but larger companies don't want to have to test meat. "The Bush administration says the low level of testing reflects the rareness of the disease." Ok, so terrorists are pretty darn rare. That means we should only screen 1% of people who get on planes? The Bush Administration: dedicated to making you less safe!

2843 barrels of petroleum were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Katrina. Idiots who claim there weren't any spills are either ignorant, or lying to you.

The Yankees will kick you out of the ballpark if you try to use the restroom during "God Bless America"? That's another reason to never root for the Yankees.

Asterism sums up Iraq. If you ignore my other links, at least check this one out.