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The Vidiot's weekly blog: What pissed me off this week? 11/8/2004 (updated every Monday at some point during the day) Red States Suck. ...'cause I'm angry and my friends are sick of listening to me... Mirror (in case geocities is wacky or, in case of trouble in New York, check it for messages): http://129.79.148.33/vidiotcontact/ I don't even know where to begin. The depression is gone. Now, I'm pissed off as hell. Are those people in the red states really telling those of us who live in the blue states that GW will protect us from terrorism? Even though those of us in the blue states (with the higher IQs, I might add) know full well he's the cause of our lack of safety AND besides, we're the ones with the big bull's eye on our backs!? (Like Podunk, Wyoming would ever be the home of a major terrorist attack. Gimme' a freakin' break.) I feel like I've really gone off the deep end, politically. I can't seem to wrap my head around it. And there's a large part of me that refuses to accept it. And I'm not so sure that my refusal to accept it has so much to do with how hard I worked trying to get Kerry elected, but rather, from me not willing to believe that there are really that many dumb people living in this country because that would be just too depressing. I can't sit there and point a finger at Kerry and his campaign and say well, they sucked, he was a flawed candidate, they ran a crappy a campaign. Because I just don't think it's true. The same could be said for Bush and his team: Bush is a HIGHLY flawed candidate, they ran a ridiculous campaign (C'mon. Wolves??), Bush TOTALLY sucks. So, I don't think that it's Kerry's fault. Was it our GOTV work? Were our models wrong and their's right? Well, in a lot of the swing states, it worked. We swung New Hampshire, we swung Pennsylvania, we swung Colorado. So, it couldn't have been all that flawed. (And who are these African American voters voting for Bush? Are they freakin' high? Is that article just pre-election propaganda to get us to believe it's possible?) Or was it Rove's evil genius plan of getting the gay thing on so many ballots and driving the religious people to the polls? Perhaps. Maybe we should come up with our own thing, something that drives liberals to the polls. But what do liberals fervently believe in and what do religious people not really care about? That's a tough one. And don't even start me on that "we're liberal elites all out of touch with the red states" crap 'cause that's bullshit. I know several people, not so educated, living in the boonies of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio who know -- WITHOUT the benefit of the "internets" -- that Bush is a liar, that the war in Iraq is wrong, that he's taking away our civil liberties and a plethora of other things. Explain that! (And just as an aside, why are we out of touch them? Why aren't they out of touch with us? For heaven's sake, we're on the side of the entire rest of the PLANET!) And if one more person says "There's so much red on the map" I will scream! Bloody scream I tell you! Look people. Maps are geography. GEOGRAPHY! Land! Acreage! Hectares! No relation whatsoever, on God's green Earth, to POPULATION!! Jeesh. No. I don't think it was any of those things. I hate to say it. I hate to sound like a conspiracy nut, because lord knows, the minute you start talking about what I'm about to talk about, they'll label you a devout member of the tin-hat club to marginalize anything you say. I don't care. I think it all came down to voter disenfranchisement and voter fraud. Period. Why is it that the exit polls in the states that relied more upon traditional machines more closely reflected the end tally, whereas the exit polls from states with heavy e-voting machine usage was out of whack? Why isn't the media talking about the owner of Diebold's pledge to "win Ohio for Bush"? Why is it the fringe elements of the internet that's even bringing this up? (And don't say Greg Palast is no longer considered fringe, 'cause he is. He shouldn't be, but he is.) (ABC is reporting it, but they're calling it Electronic Voting Machine Woes. Woes?? WTF?!) Was it really "The Ultimate Felony Against Democracy" as Thom Hartman thinks it is? There are just to many issues for it all to be a coincidence:
(And in case I missed any, go here, here, and here). It feels like the nation has been stolen and a full investigation is required. (And don't let them distract you with "oooo. Gay Marriage!" thing.) Now. I know that some might say "Oh, that's just a bunch of liberal sour grapes" or "you're just being a sore loser" and to them I say "Kiss my lilly white ass!" It is NOT a bunch of sour grapes! I pay attention. I see what's going on. Open your eyes and you will too. All these under-the-radar little things that happen? My obsessive self catches them and they're now on MY radar. For instance, did you know that just 2 days after the election, the selective service began matching names in their system with the names in the department of education's database? What does that tell you? What are they preparing us for? Why do you think we closed our embassy in Syria? What? You didn't hear about that either? Really? I'm shocked. What do you think King George is up to with this "mandate" of his? Why do you think he desperately needed a mandate this time around? I'll tell you why. It's the neocon agenda of war, war, and more war. That's why. I hope I'm wrong. I really hope these are the rantings of an insane, loser lefty. I really do. Maybe we're not headed for a fascist police state. Maybe they won't raid the home of a member of a group called "Hugs for Puppies" in the middle of the night, wielding guns and threats, just because that member challenged corporate interests. Maybe they won't tackle, beat and handcuff a journalist for taking pictures of a public gathering, even though he's fully allowed to do so under the first amendment. Or maybe they won't introduce a bill that acknowledges "God as the sovereign source of law, liberty [and] government" Nope. I could be all wrong about this. But what if I'm not? I'm so angry right now at so much. I'm angry at the idiots who actually DID vote for Bush. (I figure they fall into two groups; Group 1 is the expected bunch of religiocrazies. You know, the kind that try to convert lions to Jesus or shoot someone because they said they didn't believe in God, and Group 2 is more interested in taking care of themselves and their money than being a part of any community.) I'm angry at the politicians who are so tied to the monied interests in this country that they no longer represent us, the people. I'm really angry at our media, those slithering sycophantic sociopaths who do nothing but parrot the GOP talking points. (Squawk! "He has a mandate! He has a mandate!" Squawk! "Kerry's a flip-flopper! Kerry's a flip-flopper!" Squawk!) And finally, I'm mad at all these liberals trying to get out of this country. Sure. I'm embarrassed for the U.S. I'm ashamed right now. But the solution is not to high-tail it and run. The solution is to work harder. Get better. Fight the power. Challenge them at every turn. Don't make it easy for them. Make George work for it, baby. Get to know you representatives. ALL of your representatives (You will be quizzed.) Call the media when they screw something up. Don't email. CALL or VISIT. Call the DNC. Demand that they replace McAuliffe with Howard Dean. (Toll Free: 1-877-336-7200) Vote with your money. Buy locally. Stop wanting what you don't need. Support companies like Costco who pay their employees a living wage and avoid the Walmarts out there. Don't buy McDonalds, or any other fast food for that matter because they're killing the environment and poisoning our bodies. And these are just stupid things we should be doing all the time to begin with. I'm not calling for a violent revolution, because frankly, that would just get me a knock on the front door from the department of homeland security. But I am calling for a violent revolution in thought. We must start to face the truth about this election, and this country. We must stop looking at this as a red/blue or left/right or liberal/conservative thing. It's disingenuous to even couch it in those terms. As my brilliant cousin so aptly put it, it really all boils down to self-interest vs. social interest. And that's it. Those on the side of self interest see taxes as the way to take their money away from THEM. They see religion as THEIR solemn duty to impress upon us. They see the world as THEIR right to control. THEY know better about everything. Those on the side of social interest see taxes as a way to support schools, roads and communities. They don't like paying them, but they know it's necessary. (If the government would stop wasting so much of it, they'd mind paying it even less.) They see religion as choice. They see the world as it is, a mish-mosh of various lifestyles and cultures that can't -- nor shouldn't -- be controlled by anyone other than their own citizens. They know that what's right for them may not be right for someone else. They understand what "live large, leave a small footprint" means. I don't know what the answers are. Frankly, I feel like we tried playing it their way, now it's time to play it ours. The system is broken. Too broken to repair. Withdraw? Secede? I dunno. What I do know is that there are a lot of angry people out there (Did you see Bill Maher's show last week? Yikes.) And the funny thing about angry people is that they're not apathetic. GW just handed the political equivalent of crystal meth to a whole bunch of already ornery people. Should be interesting. Hold on Gracie, it's going to be a bumpy ride. Site of the Week: (only recommended for those who face a draft) Marry an American That is my only link of the week. I'm not feeling very funny. Repercussions of Incompetence So, NOT guarding those ammo places means the case against Saddam has been weakened.
Chickenshits vs. Chickenhawks The military is afraid to tell Bush and Cheney any bad news. No wonder Iraq is FUBAR.
Bad news like, Bush and Cheney aren't protecting our troops.
No wonder we lost. They didn't learn from their Daschle mistake. So they're trying it again: The new minority speaker hails from a state where he doesn't have much of a mandate.
With decisions like these, we deserve to lose. The starting lineup for the opposing team... Players for the other team in WWIII will be Russia, China and Iran.
{sigh} Maybe we can handle another 4 years of GW, but can Mother Earth?
Never to be reported. This is outrageous. I can't even fathom this.
More secret dealings with the Carlyle Group.
News of the Weird. Cave dwellings on Mars? I can't see them, maybe you can.
What do we do about all of this crap? I have no idea. Part of me wants to start teach-ins at my local pub. Just go to the bar, rant and rave and inform the idiots who still think Dan Rather is telling them the truth. Another part of me wants to organize a voter observation program to insure that this moron isn't in the White House all the way to 2008. I sincerely believe that if we protected the voting rights of the underprivileged that any Democrat could SWEEP any election. And we'd have to start with the Florida Election for Governor THIS FALL (like these guys!.) I don't think Democrats are the answer. But they are at least a start. At the very least, point your CNN-loving friends to my links page. Just getting started in reading alternate news sites gets people thinking. I have one friend who was very happy-go-lucky, thinking ol' Greta was telling the whole truth until I opened up his eyes a bit. Now, he's all depressed. He'll get over it. You gotta' get depressed before you get angry and you gotta' get angry before you can accomplish anything. We're all in mourning. We have to move through the steps. But we gotta' hurry it up. Read. Inform. Spread the word. Even if it means your friends avoid you for awhile. If they really love you, they'll start to listen.
"POSSE COMITATUS ACT" (18 USC 1385): A Reconstruction Era criminal law proscribing use of Army (later, Air Force) to "execute the laws" except where expressly authorized by Constitution or Congress. Limit on use of military for civilian law enforcement also applies to Navy by regulation. Dec '81 additional laws were enacted (codified 10 USC 371-78) clarifying permissible military assistance to civilian law enforcement agencies--including the Coast Guard--especially in combating drug smuggling into the United States. Posse Comitatus clarifications emphasize supportive and technical assistance (e.g., use of facilities, vessels, aircraft, intelligence, tech aid, surveillance, etc.) while generally prohibiting direct participation of DoD personnel in law enforcement (e.g., search, seizure, and arrests). For example, Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETS) serve aboard Navy vessels and perform the actual boardings of interdicted suspect drug smuggling vessels and, if needed, arrest their crews). Positive results have been realized especially from Navy ship/aircraft involvement. (Tom Ridge has practically said he'd do away with this act.)
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These sites are good at culling stories from a multitude of media sites: buzzflash.com
Bartcop
Ilia
Dreams Blog These blogs will be covering the primaries and elections: Salon.com's
War Room media-bias exposed:
onlinejournal.com
whatreallyhappened.com
HIGHLY entertaining:
and
for godsakes, stay away if you must succumb to reading a newspaper:
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