This Video Makes Me Sick!
This video was taken at Tea Party rally in Ohio. I generally don't advocate violence, but I truly believe that these people should be hung by their necks in public, just like in ancient times. These people are the definition of scum. I'm not saying that everyone who is against reforming the health care system is bad, but you never see these types of people at a rally that is in favor of health care reform. The left has its share of crazies as well, but not anywhere near the extent to which the right does.
Thanks a Latte Founding Fathers
The gun nuts are out in force again. The latest story comes to us courtesy of a man named Dale Welch, who decided to go into a Starbucks coffee shop in Virginia with a handgun strapped to his waist in order to exercise his right to bear arms. There was a recent article in the New York Times about a grass roots effort among some gun rights advocates exercising their right to carry unconcealed weapons in states that have open-carry laws. I am well aware of the second amendment. Citizens of the United States of America have the right to keep and bear arms, that doesn’t mean that Americans should have the right to carry any type of weapon anywhere they want. The Virginia Tech and Columbine shootings should serve as a reminder to everyone that limiting access to firearms is not always a bad thing. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech. This doesn’t mean that we can’t enact laws prohibiting certain types of speech, the old screaming fire in a crowded movie theatre analogy. The United States Bill of Rights guarantees the right to own a firearm. This doesn’t mean that those of us non-crazy Americans can’t pressure Congress to protect our right to be safe from idiots carrying guns.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The Second Amendment sucks. I wonder if the founding fathers knew that they would cause so much controversy and violence with this text. Just in the last 12 months, we have seen new laws enacted that allow guns to be carried on college campuses and in bars. Does anyone else think that this is ridiculous? In 2004, firearms were used to murder 11,344 people in the United States, compared with 184 in Canada and 73 in England. Why are murders from firearms so much lower in Canada and England? I know, there are more people in the U.S. than in England and Canada, but the per capita gun related murders are significantly higher in America as well. Could it be that restrictions on firearms are much stricter in these countries? There are somewhere between 193 million and 250 million guns in the United States. Since September 11th, 2001, nearly 120,000 Americans have been killed, most of these murders were committed with guns. That is nearly 25 times the number of Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. From 1999 through 2005, an average of over 100 children and teenagers took their own lives with guns. How many of these young people used firearms that were readily accessible in their home? Eight kids are shot to death every day in the United States. The presence of a gun in the home triples the risk of homicide in the home. At what point do we say enough is enough? How many Americans need to die before we consider restricting access to firearms?
Weekend in New York
Check out this video from the party I attended last Friday in New York City.
Racism Everywhere
I got back from New York City late last evening, and let me just say that my first experience with Jet Blue was terrible. I generally fly on Delta, but I found a very cheap flight on Jet Blue, so I decided to give them a try. My flight to New York was delayed for an hour and a half. On my flight back home, there was a four and a half hour delay. In both instances, Jet Blue claimed that the delay was due to weather. Let me point out that there was no rain or snow during either one of these delays. I wanted to get the Jet Blue bashing out of the way, now on to my point.
As I sat in the airport, waiting for my plane to finally board, I met a nice woman in the terminal waiting area. I was reading a New York Times article about the health care debate, when this seemingly intelligent woman decided to strike up a conversation with me. She mentioned that she lived in upstate New York, and was in Florida visiting her elderly mother (it seems that every New Yorker has a mother or grandmother living in South Florida). In our brief conversation, she mentioned that she watched Fox News, and was especially fond of Bill O’Reilly. I told her that I was a liberal and preferred MSNBC, but that I thought all the “news” pundits from both networks were biased and not real journalists. We proceeded to chat about health care, taxes, President Obama, and immigration. When I brought up the topic of immigration and how to handle illegal immigrants, I sensed a bit of mild racism towards Hispanics, but nothing to get alarmed about.
After about 15 minutes of casual conversation, our plane was finally ready to begin boarding. We both stood up and got in line. As we were waiting, this woman asked me if there was anyone on Fox News that I liked, I mentioned to her that I thought Shepard Smith wasn’t so bad. I in turn asked her if there was anyone on MSNBC that she could tolerate, she couldn’t think of anyone. I then brought up Rachel Maddow, thinking that perhaps this woman would be supportive of a successful, intelligent woman like herself. What came out of this woman’s mouth next shocked me. Keep in mind that this woman has only known me for about 20 minutes, and also knows that I swing left. In reference to Rachel Maddow, she said, “I really can’t stand that ugly smug dyke bitch. I wish they would throw her off the air already.” I was speechless for about a minute. I then mentioned to her that Rachel Maddow has one of the highest rated programs on MSNBC. This woman said that she didn’t care about Ms. Maddow’s success, and that it was terrible that they allow a dyke on television. To avoid an argument, I told this racist woman that I needed to use the restroom and walked away.
I really was appalled at what this woman had said. I would expect a comment like that from some uneducated idiot, but this woman seemed completely normal. She was well dressed, well spoken, well educated, and successful. This just goes to show the extent of the bigotry and racism that runs rampant in this country. This woman, who barely knew anything about me, showed me her true colors in less than 30 minutes of casual conversation. I have come to the realization that we have underestimated the extent of racism and bigotry in America.
Going on Vacation
This weekend I will be enjoying a much anticipated vacation to New York City. Because I will be on vacation, and will have limited access to the internet, I will not be able to put forth the time and effort involved in coming up with daily posts to this blog. I will be back on Tuesday, at which time I will continue to post as often as I possibly can. Thank you to the people who visit this blog, I look forward to posting again regularly next week.
RocketHub
This weekend I will be travelling to New York City (where I used to live) to visit some friends, and to support a new web based business started by some former colleagues of mine. While in New York, I had the pleasure of working at a real estate company with some great people who became good friends. Two of these friends, Brian Meece and Jed Cohen, have recently started an internet company called RocketHub.com. RocketHub is a website that allows individuals to help “fuel” various creative projects, here is an excerpt from the site:
RocketHub is the brainchild of Brian, Jed, Vlad and a small team of compatriots. This merry band of creatives met while working in Manhattan. Realizing that business alone was not enough to capture their collective imagination, the group decided to build a web-based community for Creatives by Creatives, with the goal of liberating creativity and driving the new creative economy
RocketHub is the premier site for crowdfunding creative projects. We provide the credibilityand infrastructure necessary to successfully leverage the financial power of your communityand launch creative projects and endeavors.
If any of you are as interested in the arts as I am and would like to help “fuel” some of the great creative projects on the site, then please take just a few minutes to check-out RocketHub.com and see some of the great projects available. This is a great opportunity to fund cool projects and get awesome stuff in return such as free tickets to shows, wardrobe consultations, songwriting clinics, surfing lessons, etc. Trust me when I tell you that Brian & Jed are ambitious, creative, and all around great guys!
Please check out RocketHub and give some support if you can.
Israel Slaps Biden Across the Face
Once again, the right wing in Israel doesn’t know what is best for them, and the United States allows them to get away with everything. Vice President Joe Biden visited with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to reinforce America’s unwavering support for Israel. Recently, the United States has urged Mr. Netanyahu to stop Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. Israel considers East Jerusalem part of its capital, a position which the international community rejects, and announced plans to build 1,600 new housing units in occupied territory, just hours after Vice President Biden arrived in Israel. This announcement by Israel undermines the entire purpose of Mr. Biden’s trip. The whole purpose of the Vice President’s trip was to restart peace talks with Palestine and to assure Israel of America’s support for their security in a volatile region. How does Israel ever expect to gain peace in the region if they continue to build these settlements? Is it possible that Israel is not looking to have peace in the region?
On the same day that Israel’s interior ministry announced plans to build 1,600 new apartment units in East Jerusalem, they also announced plans to develop civilian nuclear plants for energy. This would be fine, except for the fact that Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates also would like to build civilian nuclear energy facilities, which Israel has condemned. Look, I understand Israel’s concern. Israel does not want any of these Arab countries to develop any kind of nuclear energy for fear of them developing a bomb. But at the same time, it is extremely hypocritical and counterproductive to peace when you condemn all of your neighbors for the exact same thing that you are doing. It’s just like the United States condemning everyone who tries to develop nuclear weapons, while at the same time stockpiling nuclear warheads. I’m not suggesting we get rid of our nuclear weapons, and allow countries with questionable motives to develop them, but we need to cease stockpiling weapons and maybe cut down on our supply before we tell others what they can and can’t do. Just recently, the United States pointed the finger at Brazil for doing business with Iran. There are plenty of countries in the United States that currently do business with Iran, including the former Vice President Dick Cheney’s company Halliburton. Can you see why the United States is losing its leverage against these countries?
Back to Israel, in my opinion, there are only two conclusions to draw from Israel’s recent actions. The first, that Israel has no desire to achieve peace. They are set on doing only that which is best for them, regardless of the consequences to anyone else, including their allies. The second possibility, is that they know that the United States has no balls and will support Israel no matter what the consequences. Like Vice President Joe Biden so wrongly put it, “Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel.” Israel believes that because they have unwavering support from the Unites States, they can continue to stir up the hornets’ nest without worry. This policy is bad for the United States and for Israel.
I fully support Israel, I have members of my family who are Jewish, and I understand the Jewish peoples’ struggle throughout history. That being said, the United States, as a friend, needs to take a harder line against Israel’s counterproductive and destructive actions. The United States cannot afford another deadly conflict in the Middle East. A war with Iran will have unpredictable consequences. Israel continues to undermine the United States in its peace talks with Palestine, and in negotiations with Iran. Keep in mind, there are many people in Israel who feel the same way, but the hard right wing in Israel is driving the country in the wrong direction. In my opinion, the United States needs to convince Israel to back down, and let them know that the U.S. cannot support Israel if they continue down this destructive path.
Isn’t It Ironic, Don’t Cha Think?
Sarah Palin brought her “folksy” message on the road to Canada this weekend, speaking in Calgary on Saturday to a sold out audience of 1,200 people. Her speech involved all the typical Republican talking points: limited government is good, Barack Obama is bad, and she even called global warming, “pie-in-the-sky, snake oil ideas.” One thing that she said did strike me as unusual and incredibly hypocritical though. She talked about growing up in Alaska, and how her family would occasionally go to Canada for health care, “We used to hustle over the border for health care.” Excuse me! Sarah Palin used to go to Canada to receive that socialist, government run health care, which is the root of everything that is evil. Could anything be more hypocritical?
Sarah Palin and the rest of her Republican cohorts scream and yell all day long on Fox News about how Obama is a socialist because he wants to provide health care to an additional 30 million Americans, and she admits to going to Canada to receive health care. How can anyone take anything she says seriously? As a matter of fact Sarah, it is ironic, because you argue against Canada’s single payer health care system constantly. She says that Canada’s health care system is socialist, terrible, and doesn’t work, but it works well enough for her and her family to use it. Sarah Palin has the intelligence to see that this is ironic, but not the intelligence to realize the hypocrisy of it. What would Sarah Palin say if a Canadian, or god forbid a Mexican, “hustled over the border” to get health care in the United States. I’m sure she would think that people from other countries coming here for health care is okay, right?
As if the statement about her coming to Canada for health care wasn’t bad enough, Mrs. Palin showed even more hypocrisy on her visit to Calgary. A Canadian newspaper, the National Post, pointed out her hypocrisy perfectly, “She complained about the ‘establishment,’ this woman who once ran to be second-in-command of the largest establishment in the world; she mocked the press, speaking as a correspondent to America's biggest news network; she chastised critics who dwelt on her children's lives, after introducing to the audience her daughter, Piper, who spent the duration of the speech fidgeting near the stage. And the politician who championed the average working man and woman spent an hour before her appearance locked away in a private VIP reception posing for photos with guests who had paid hundreds of dollars for the privilege; after her speech, she was hustled by handlers out a back door. If these were contradictions, they were forgiven readily. As is surely the case with so many of her audiences, Ms. Palin's unpretentiousness and charm, and her deeply held conservatism, counted far more.”
How can any sane person possibly support this woman?
Liz Cheney is Un-American
Last week Liz Cheney, the dopey daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and her non-profit group Keep America Safe, released a ridiculous political ad which suggests that the lawyers of Al Qaeda terror suspects somehow share the same values as the suspects they represent. The ad depicts the lawyers in the background with the words, “whose values do they share” on the screen, as we see a picture of a terrorist pass by. The ad gives the viewer the impression that these Justice Department lawyers should be, at the very least, suspected of sympathizing with the terrorists. Shortly after the ad began to run, Liz Cheney made an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor. Bill O’Reilly asked Mrs. Cheney about the ad, she said, “These people represented terrorists, American people have a right to know, what are they doing now?” Mrs. Cheney also said that President Barack Obama’s, “approach to the war on terror is damaging to the country,” referring to the idea of trying terror suspects in civilian courts versus military tribunals. Mrs. Cheney went on to criticize President Obama for having lawyers who advocated for the release of terrorists working in the Justice Department.
The entire idea behind the Keep America Safe ad is utterly ridiculous. At first, I was inclined to think the ad was a joke. A lawyer has a fiduciary responsibility to defend his client to the best of his ability, in no way does this mean that a lawyer has to share or endorse his client’s beliefs. Would Liz Cheney dare to imply that lawyers who represent murderers, thieves, and rapists, somehow are endorsing their client’s crimes by representing them in a court of law? Mrs. Cheney is most likely not an idiot, she is a lawyer herself. What this tells me, is that she is well aware of the fact that this ad is complete bullshit. Mrs. Cheney knows that a large part of the Republican base, are southern bible thumping, gun toting morons, who believe that Acorn stole the 2008 election and Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Barack Obama (see my earlier post on Republican retards). In my opinion, this makes the ad even worse. Liz Cheney knows that what she is doing is wrong. She is simply playing towards people’s fear of terrorism. Mrs. Cheney has taken a page straight from her father’s playbook.
Mrs. Cheney went on Bill O’Reilly’s program shortly after the ad ran, and proceeded to criticize President Obama’s handling of the war on terror, calling Obama’s approach to the war "damaging to the country." Someone should remind Mrs. Cheney that more Al Qaeda leaders and operatives have been captured or killed in one year of the Obama administration than in eight years under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Mrs. Cheney also criticized President Obama’s decision to try terror suspects in civilian courts versus military tribunals. Congress never officially declared a “war” on terror. The war on terror is simply a phrase that George W. Bush and the media use to describe the fight to take down Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and any other extremist organizations that wish to do us harm. Military tribunals are used to handle the prosecution of enemy combatants, civilian trials are used to prosecute those who commit criminal acts in the United States.
I believe that the 9/11 hijackers should be tried in the same manner in which we have tried every other suspect that has been caught committing terrorist acts in the United States. I don’t see any difference between the 9/11 hijackers and the terrorists behind the first World Trade Center bombing, Timothy McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski (Unabomber), Richard Reid (Shoe Bomber), Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (Underwear Bomber), and Major Nidal Malik Hasan (the Fort Hood shooter). The United States court system has been successful in trying all of these terrorists in civilian courts, why should the 9/11 hijackers be any different. We don’t try drug offenders in military tribunals, the war on drugs is no more an actual war then the war on terror. Soldiers from Saddam Hussein’s army, The Republican Guard, who are caught on the battlefield in Iraq, are supposed to be tried in military tribunals because they are enemy combatants. Someone who hijacks a plane and flies it into a building on American soil should be tried in civilian courts.
I’m sure that Mrs. Cheney would simply rather, “shoot them in the head” as Glenn Beck said, and flush the entire American judicial system in the toilet.
Jon Stewart Destroys Bill O’Reilly
There is a great video that I recently found on Crooksandliars.com. Most of you are probably familiar with Jon Stewart’s recent interview with Bill O’Reilly on Fox News, the interview was edited down for time, and the part of the interview that was left out was great. In the interview, Jon Stewart absolutely eviscerates Bill O’Reilly on topics like Obama’s handling of the Afghan war and the Fox News Channel as a news outlet. I haven’t seen this part of the interview circling around in too many places, so I decided to post it here for you to see…enjoy.
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Recent Posts
- RocketHub Brings Crowdfunding To Canada
- Hiding From Reality
- Hypocrisy, Lies, Nuclear Arms, and National Security
- Reality Justice – A Short Film
- COVERT OPERATIONS – The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama
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- Hoping Against Hope
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