Political Blog—March 2009

March 8—This is why I don't post on message boards to say only "Stop talking about x."

Lindsay Graham just had to bring up Rush Limbaugh and say people need to stop talking about him. I agree, but wouldn't it work better just not to talk about him? Oh well.

Newt Gingrich, to my (pleasant) surprise, said that FDR was the greatest political leader of the twentieth century. He also said that nobody should want Obama to fail or else we all would fail. So neener neener, GOP.

March 9—We are finally progressing like the rest of the world.

Today Obama lifted restrictions on funding for stem cell research. Since the only opposition to stem cell research comes in the form of lunatic fringe arguments along the lines of how these "stolen" cells should be birthed and adopted, this wasn't exactly shocking news. Really, those arguments don't even make sense. It's been said, and rightly so, that stem cell research is ultimately pro-life since the research leads to life instead of merely generating medical waste. Of course, some say that skin cell research alone could accomplish the same thing, but I believe both are necessary.

There was also an awesome Newsweek cover story in which David Frum described He Who Must Not Be Named as harsh, divisive, and bombastic. Right as he was, I think it's better to follow my own advice. I shall now impose a moratorium in this political blog on mentioning You Know Who. No, not Voldemort; Rush Limbaugh. There, I said it. And I shan't say anymore (at least not for a good month or two) because let's face it, there's only so much one CAN say about him. Ariana Huffington said the GOP was being led by him, Joe the Plumber, and Sarah Palin—"a drug addict, an accidental celebrity, and a woman who can see Russia from her house." That's hilarious, but she made an excellent point, which was more or less what I was trying to say earlier about how un-worth being talked about any of those people is, mostly the former two.

Anyway, on to real news, that being EFCA. EFCA! Hell yes on EFCA, and it better pass. Obama promised he was committed to passing it. The GOP of course describes it as an affront to the American people, an argument which only works by distorting its purpose and definition. It's called FREE CHOICE, not NO CHOICE; it makes it easier to form unions. It's the employers, not the employees, who cause problems. After all, if the latter were the case, nobody would have invented unions, now would they? Granted, I'm a little biased since I'm a stagehand and work through a union, but it's completely true. Unions, along with various laws, exist to protect workers' rights, which would be totally trampled by capitalist pigs otherwise. Most of the theatres in which I work display stickers that say "Unions: The people who brought you weekends." I recently got into a spat with an acquaintance who made one anti-union remark, which unhinged a twenty-minute lecture from me on the benefits of unions. I think I actually succeeded in changing his mind, incidentally. He was somehow under the impression that unions were all On the Waterfront and shit, and I was like no, unions give us reasonable hours, breaks, and wages; and oh by the way all that crap you heard about overpaid workers in the auto industry was just that, crap, because it wasn't true. It was all grossly exaggerated or just plain made up. Typical GOP.

March 10—Four legs good, two legs . . . or . . . something.

In today's bipartisan spat, the Democrats said Obama was good because he made and saved jobs, and the Republicans said he was bad because he taxed small businesses and taxed/spent/borrowed too much. As usual, the Republicans' only stale argument was not even based in truth. Actually their only argument is the single word "no."

Meanwhile, the battle over EFCA rages on. As I said yesterday, EFCA makes it easier to form unions and imposes harsher punishments on employers who try to use various intimidation techniques to prevent the formation of unions. Personally, I think the business side of the business versus labor argument is rather ridiculous since labor is what makes business, duh. I.e., unions ftw.

Oh, and "Snarlin' Arlen" Specter said we were on the brink of another Depression. Real ray of sunshine, that guy.

March 11—Videotape never dies, idiot.

Ari Fleischer today tried to defend Bush by saying he prevented Saddam Hussein from attacking us again. Except he never attacked us in the first place. He also claimed that the Bush administration never said anything about nuclear threats, and then Chris Matthews rolled the tape of Bush uttering the famous line about "the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud" (the politics of fear, as usual). Fleischer tried to say that a mushroom cloud didn't necessarily mean nuclear. Brilliant.

Speaking of "brilliant" people who need to learn that videotape never dies, Sarah Palin seems to be trying to gear up to be party leader in 2012. Oh NO. Her plan seems to be to keep a low profile, get reelected as governor (hmm), and then build herself back up again. In other words, wait till everyone forgets about her and then try again. Let's hope that train wreck Katie Couric interview resurfaces swiftly should she try it.

In further Republican hypocrisy, many Republicans voiced opposition to the stimulus package because of its earmarks. Twenty-eight of the thirty-five opponents had earmarks of their own in place, and twenty-five of those twenty-eight were Republicans. Nice. Way to cut off your nose to spite your face, or something like that.

Also, I don't think Michael Steele will be long in his job. Or rather, since it's probably too much trouble to oust him, he'll likely soon be keeping a suspiciously low profile, leaving the GOP with no leader, no message, and no direction. Actually, that's already true; never mind.

March 12—God I hope that's a rumor.

So today I heard something about a Bush-Cheney assassination ring. While not shocking, please for the love of God let that not be true. Can we at least keep the atrocities we have committed to a level that doesn't belong in the movies?

March 13—I wish I lived farther from the border.

I'm glad the news about the drug wars in Mexico are finally making it to the news here. I've been concerned about that for some time. There's talk about Obama sending troops to protect the border since we are neighbors of a failing narcotic state.

In other news, Michael Steele is still making a fool of himself, claiming that everything he does is on purpose, including what look like mistakes (read: "I meant to do that.") and that he's trying to appeal to moderates . . . by backpedaling? Oh well.

March 16—Bonuses for Boneheads

Also known as bailoutrage. It's all very well to say "we should have made sure the bailout money wouldn't be used for bonuses" after the fact, but what do we do now? Sue for a violation of the fiduciary relationship, of course.

Speaking of outrage, former Vice President Cheney won't shut the fuck up. He said Bush made us more safe and Obama is undoing that. Um . . . but Abu Grabe made us less safe and made us more enemies. How can even begin to justify that? It's feeble self defense, really. Deep down he's crying that he doesn't want to go to jail. He probably won't, but he will go to hell. If not for that, than for saying that Scooter Libby was unjustly dismissed. Good God.

Oh, and Bush might have to awkwardly cancel a speech he was going to make in Canada because of his war crimes. He would either not be allowed in, or else he'd be extradited to a country that would prosecute him. Man I'd like to see that.

March 18—Obama's Town Hall

Like we already knew, Obama talked about how he wanted to invest in education and green jobs. That's hardly surprising since this country will head down the toilet for sure otherwise. He skated around the question of reelection, though that seems certain.

And then I heard that Bush is writing a book with an "authoritarian" tone. Freudian, or just stupid? Either way, I'm not reading it.

Somebody said that AIG really stood for "Arrogance, Incompetence, and Greed." I like it.

March 19—AIG Day

Today protesters stormed the lobby of AIG like the Bastille. Awesome, but I doubt they accomplished anything. The main thing with AIG is now the question of taxing 90% of their bonuses away. On the one hand, it's this year's tax law, so they totally can. On the other hand, it's ex post facto. I hate to admit it, but I'm on the side of the ex post facto naysayers here. Only because if I don't take that side, we'll all be taxed ex post facto eventually.

March 20—Obama on Leno

Tonight Obama was on Leno, explaining the economic crisis to a common audience instead of those of us snobs who watch Meet the Press. I thought he did a good job, but then again, I've heard it a dozen times before.

Palin refused some of the stimulus money. At first she refused all, then some; soon she'll be accepting the whole thing. Good to know she's not bipartisan or hypocritical or anything . . .

By the way, if anyone reading this is one of those idiots trying to blame the economy on the Democrats, I suggest you research the Gramm Leach Bliley Act. There was a nice little tidbit about that on the news tonight, plus a mention of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. Haven't heard of it? Heard of Enron? Now you have.

Now, for piece of legislation that doesn't suck: EFCA. Not much in the news about that, just that the right wing nuts still won't admit that their only campaign against it is to lie about it.

Also, today Michael Steele revealed that he thought the first amendment was about ex post facto and bill of attainder. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. That is in Article I, section 9. The first amendment is about free fucking speech, which Michael Steele is making look like worse and worse idea every day.

March 22—I hate to like this guy.

AIG has $165 million in bonuses. WTF. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger is appalled. He was on Meet the Press today, talking about how our infrastructure is falling behind, and we need to rebuild it to remain competitive and maintain our quality of life or else, duh, the whole system would crumble and we'd fall behind. He talked about the public private partnership and used words like equity. I'm not entirely sure that guy is a Republican. He's at the very least tempered by his wife.

There was also a lot of talk about people being upset with the government, the financial system, and the media; because nobody is being held accountable and put in jail for all this nonsense. We'll see what happens with the fiduciary relationship.

Oh, and David Gregory asked Schwarzenegger about his unpopularity, to which Schwarzenegger replied "I love that you're such a positive guy." Heh. Oh, and when asked about Obama's Special Olympic joke, Schwarzenegger, contrary to what I might have expected, said that his heart was in the right place, that it was just a slip, and that he just needed awareness. That sounds like a cushy way of saying "It was an insensitive fuck up." Let's face it, it was, but you don't go on national television and say that, even if what the other guy said was worse. I'm really somewhat annoyed by Schwarzenegger's seeming sensitivity. I'm reminded from a line from a Terry Pratchett book, something about "the slightly miffed air of one who has run their finger across a daughter-in-law's top shelf and found against all expectation that it is sparkling clean."

March 23—God I wish Cheney would shut the fuck up.

Today Obama said that Cheney said we can't reconcile our Constitution with our national security, which has hurt our position and image internationally. Cheney said that shutting down Gitmo and ending torture weakened the U.S., and he said that Obama was failing to keep us safe. Indeed. Dubya and Cheney did a bang-up job of keeping us safe on September 11th. Either way, Cheney is drawing the wrong lessons from history that collapse from any angle.

In other news, AIG has renamed itself AIU. Very big deal. IOU would have been better. They need constructive ideas, and rebranding is not one of them. Also, the GOP is trying to call this recession the Pelosi recession and somehow saying that the stimulus bill is causing the economic crisis (!). Good fucking luck.

Oh, and Bill Richardson banned the death penalty in his state, citing that life in prison was actually worse. I'm not opposed to the death penalty, but I have to agree that bad cells and dire conditions are probably worse. I do think that him saying he went to Mass and searched his soul was a cop out, though. It was better just to say that he didn't want us to liken ourselves to oppressive regimes (even further) by using the death penalty.

March 24—A rose by any other name . . .

Tonight Obama had a press conference. He went straight to the economy, seeing as how that's on everybody's mind. He said that thus far his administration has saved teaching and police jobs and created construction jobs, helped stabilize housing, and restarted credit for homes and businesses (all obvious pluses). He said that we should not return to the bubble and bust cycle (no shit) because that illusion of prosperity was just that, an illusion. He said we should invest in renewable energy, education, and health care (always the same three things—this is going to be my kids' history tests someday). Obama cited AIG as a symptom of our culture, but we shouldn't demonize profit seeking.

Hearkening back to yesterday's complaint about rebranding, today the Obama administration referred to the former "war on terror(ism)" as the "overseas contingency operation." Gawd. It's still the same thing; useless death.

March 25—God I wish I could attribute this quote.

So today Bobby Jindal said, more or less, that he wants the president to fail and that is how America will succeed. I don't know. I'm reminded of a clip from Red Green, where he said, "You have nothing to say. Stop talking."

Speaking of Republicans not shutting up, Cheney is continuing to be an embarrassment to the party. An unnamed Republican actually said, "I could never understand him anyway." I like it. The quote, I mean, not its terrifying implications.

Oh, and of actual importance: Hillary Clinton today went to Mexico to discuss the drug war. She admitted that the U.S. was partly to blame and said that we should assist Calderón. Impressive. True, but I never expected an admission of that fact.

March 26—Maybe the numbers were written in invisible ink.

Obama held a virtual town hall this evening, sparking criticism that he was avoiding the mainstream media. I'm not sure how that works since everyone uses the Internet. Whatever.

I heard that Baghdad is getting a wall around it. I wonder how that will keep the missiles out.

Also, the Republicans today released their suggested budget, which contained no numbers. None. They said they'd come up with details at a later date. I'm not kidding.

Speaking of ludicrous, epic failures from the GOP, Michael Steele said that he might consider running for President in a few years "if that's where God wants me to be." Bwahahaha. Man I hope he runs. It won't happen, but it would be hilarious to watch.

March 30—No news is good news. Kind of.

Cheney still won't shut up, but that's not news. In other non-news about the GOP, McCain won't admit he wouldn't support Palin if she were to run for President; somebody referred to Palin, Jindal, and Steele as the Three Stooges of the Republican party (ahahahahahaha—please, somebody Photoshop this); and—oh lawd—Michael Steele said Obama had a "thing" about him (no, not like a man crush—though, knowing Steele, there's no telling what the implication was). When someone asked Steele if his ridiculous notion just might be professional jealousy, he asked, "What would I be jealous of?" The answer, of course, came that Obama's the mother fucking president. Steele said, "Yeah? I'm chairman of the RNC, bitch." Well, actually, he said, "I'm chairman of the RNC; what's your point?" (He may as well have said the former.) He said each does his own thing. Sadly, nobody had the tactlessness to point out that only one of them did his thing well.

In more sobering news, Spain is pursuing six U.S. officials for torture. That's depressing (that we did it) yet uplifting (that somebody's doing something about it).

March 31—There's a little bit of good news in the middle.

Again with Cheney not shutting up and just going away, today it was on the news that he had left some people behind him to keep tabs on Obama. WTF? What good would that do anyway?

For something that could do some good, Iran just pledged to help the U.S. fight the drug trafficking in Afghanistan. For something that would not do any good, the Taliban is threatening to launch an attack on DC that will amaze the rest of the world, but I'm hoping that's bluster.