If anyone seriously thinks Governor Palin is qualified to be a heart-beat away from the Presidency of the United States in this precarious time, please watch the Couric interviews with Bide and Palin below. If you want to skip to the good stuff, it starts at 3:16. Enjoy!
Was she vetted sufficiently? Did the McCain team actually do any due diligence before allowing her to be a serious contender? Sure doesn’t look like it.
Context and complexity are the antithesis of our politics. Candidates do far better by offering less complex promises in media nibbles than they do attempting to offer an explanation that requires a bit more consideration. Its no Philadelphia race speech, but it helps!
Such an amazing time for us MSTies (ie. followers of the classic B-movie riffing show Mystery Science Theater 3000), with the recent release of the third viable mind child from the creators of MST3K - Cinematic Titanic. Check out the promo below.
Before this most recent release, several of the other MST3K writers/actors were releasing similar projects as The Film Crew and audio-only commentary tracks as Rifftrax. All that I’ve seen/heard so far have been fantastic, and I’m just thrilled after several years of silence to see some of my favorite comediennes back in the saddle. Hi-keeba!
Truly, these men are a threat to our very way of life. They hate freedom! Just look at the way they flaunt their extremist hairstyles in the face of an unquestioning, lazy, and over-reactionary media. It was with that very extremist mindset that they brazenly planted those bombs-disguised-as-Lite-Brites in the very heart of union - Boston, Massachusetts. Now watch, and check yo’self before you wreck yo’self.
Our President is currently demanding legislation that would prevent individuals accused of terror-related crimes from seeing classified evidence against them and would allow the US to “specify” its understanding of the definitions of torture as found by the globally accepted Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Three leading Republican Senators, former Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell, and former Regan Secretary of State George Schultz, among others, are standing up to these demands. Watch our petulant Commander-in-Chief responding to these Republicans below.
“It is unacceptable to think…,” he said. Should any leader of the United States ever utter such words that seem to question someone’s very right to have or express thoughts with which they disagree? Do we really think that we have the moral high-ground to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions for the rest of the world without a reratification of those conventions? After the horrors of Abu Graib and some of the alleged abuses at Guantanamo Bay, can we really be trusted to change our laws related to torture to potentially forgive some of the torturers that our leaders have authorized and payed for?
Torture is immoral. Torture has been shown not to produce reliable intelligence. Jack Bauer might make it look heroic, but remember that he is only a fictional character. Torture should not be made legal, acceptable, or laudable in our world. President Bush must be stopped, and I can only be thankful that John McCain is one of those Senate Republicans brave enough to risk political peril to take a stand.
I first happened upon Steve Irwin back in 2000. He was a curious fellow with the utmost respect for the natural world. His intense curiosity inspired us to learn more about the animal world around us, and thus fear it less. Our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time. Steve may be gone, but his legend will burn on longer than most of our’s. Crikey, and good’day, mate!
Anyone who thinks Robert Wexler is foolish for his now immortal interview on the Colbert Report is absolutely clueless and tragically unhip. Any politician willing to be put in such an uncertain and potentially damaging situation as that should be given props for the bravery alone, nevermind those that go that extra step to help Colbert deliver the funny. I’m proud that the Congressman represents my district of birth, and I wish him all the best in representing the constituents in South Florida.
While I’m on a somewhat angry roll, I’d also like to make this observation - no one can force you to change your mind without resorting to brainwashing or perhaps blackmail. At the end of the day, only you can decide what you believe. Whether or not you defer your decisions to religious leaders, politicans, pundits, authors, whoever, or just plain figure out things for yourself, is your choice alone. In particular, people who go on the show 30 Days are not forced to believe anything different after their experiences. This might be bleedingly obvious to most of you, but there was actually some debate about this over lunch today. Some coworkers of mine were actually critical that the show “forces people to change their minds” about such issues as whether or not “all Muslims are terrorists.” Seriously.
Oh yeah, and this whole “we should just nuke the Middle-East” bit is getting really tired, not that it was ever anything more than a horribly glib, hopefully sardonic remark. The region has problems, to be sure, but lest we forget just how contentious the America’s, Europe, Africa, and Asia have all been throughout world history. The vast majority of the people in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, etc. etc. are all people just like you and I. They’re part of families, have their own dreams and art, and ultimately just want to live their lives in peace. The extremists, whether they be Jewish, Muslim, Christian, whatever, are in the minority. They just unfortunately have gotten into positions of power through the abuse of their religions and vacuums of secular leadership. While taking out Hizbollah is important, the innocent life that is lost must also be considered!
Closer to home, there’s one more issue about which I must write. Recently, the Orlando City Commission passed an ordinance restricting the organized feeding of the homeless on public land in downtown Orlando. While I do not know too much about the issues involved, I do respect Spider’s take on it as reported here. Should groups that want to combat hunger be forced to work under highway overpasses, or should be be able to serve food more than twice a year on public land? Take a read and see what you think.
