All Roads Lead To Me
Well, well, what do we have here? Someone has just wandered into my corner of the universe. How'd you even find this place? Nevermind, I don't want to know. Well, seeing as how you're already here, you midaswell sit down, take your coat off, and maybe stay awhile. Because, man, do I have lots of shit to talk about. Are you ready to have your mind bamboozledly blown? Good. 'Cause that's exactly what I'm gonna do. Regardless of whether or not you agree with what I say, whether or not you think I'm just whacked out of my gourd, I'm going to be spouting my speech from time to time and you'll listen. Not because you want to but because you have to. Because, on some cosmic level, you can't resist reading these words. Now, hold onto your fillings 'cause its gonna get fucking hairy.
Glory be, Glory be, Prop 8 Is Repealed
It's a small victory, when the Grand Scheme is taken into consideration, but it is a victory nonetheless. The Mormon Middle Finger known as Prop 8 has been stricken down by Judge Vaughn Walker in California this week and oh my is everyone buzzing. It really is a huge step for our country and one that I hope we don't back-peddle on. It's not as huge as, say, giving African Americans freedom or women the right to vote, but it's momentous in its own right.
The sad thing is that this should have happened ages ago, but bigotry, as it always does, holds back tolerance. What's funny is, and it seems like I'm the only one whose realized the irony of this, is that religion is the only thing standing in the way of same-sex marriages and, of course, homophobia. The former of those two is easily cast aside with Jefferson's famous (and, in some 'cases', infamous) separation of church and state notion; however, the latter is one not so easily bred out of humanity - especially in the American culture.
I have a few friends that claim to hold no hate for homosexuals so long as they aren't within fifty feet of one. God forbid, one should accidentally hit on them. If that should happen, they'll 'get scrocked in the face'. A gigantic catastrophe is taking place in our culture and it's one having everything to do with genders. Some men, like my retarded friends, feel they must express their masculinity at each turn or they will appear 'womanly' or 'gay. Others, like some of my retarded friends, feel that expressing masculinity at all is in and of itself 'gay' or 'silly'. I am, and always will be, a fan of the middle ground. I labor to look masculine and dress masculine or whatever you'd like to call it, but I have extremely liberal (or 'gay' in this instance) opinions regarding social issues and education and other assorted life matters.
What it all really boils down to, as always, is nurture. Society, in some cases, nurtures hatred or apathy for what nature breeds (like homosexuality). Once we remove this huge roadblock of a societal standpoint, we can then move this form of tolerance of difference in California up to a national level (with the assistance, of course), but until then I suppose we will have to savor our small victory in our westernmost state of California.
A Why Not? Post
This is a Letter to the Editor I wrote to four different newspapers for Organizing for America over at BarackObama.com (something I strongly suggest you should get invovled in) and I figured I'd throw it up here since I haven't posted anything in a while. It's not my best work, I'm not very proud of it, but hey, why not?
Wall Street Reform: Protecting You
Yes, you. You that comprise the 99% of the American population that has no real, accountable, or reliable representation in Washington. You that have been consistently manipulated by those whose sole purpose is to provide and protect you from harm and hard times. Right now, you have no shield against the array of schemes that have been put against you by corporations like Anthem and AIG or investment firms like Goldman Sachs. America is in its third century: isn’t it time there was one?
Earlier this year, 10% of you were unemployed or dangerously close to being so. Either unemployed or about to be so, you were forced to watch, day in and day out, as executives received more bonus money, emphasis on the word bonus, than you would see in your lifetime and spent it frivolously on expensive company retreats and other luxuries. You watched as homes foreclosed and banks shut down. Lives destroyed because so many laws were flaunted by greedy men who have never known the comfort of a worthy cause.
But this does not have to be, this must not be. This doesn't have to continue and it must not continue. In the 2008 elections, grassroots organizations comprised of average, everyday Americans just like yourself rose up and put in presidential power their chosen champion. Your vote does count, the five dollars you could contribute to any local campaign or movement matters, your support speaks more volumes than you will ever know. It is this support that constructs shields in Washington, that reinforces the classical belief that every man is equal, regardless of whether or not he was born into inheritance or managed to swindle their way to the top.
There is a dire need for reform in Washington and not just a slap on the wrist or harsh language. The American people, and those officials they have elected, must aid in the call for an Agency, an Agency that is not formed of suppliers or sellers or thieves, but of unbiased vanguards for the Consumer, the Everyman, You. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency would disallow the near-fraud of hidden fees and fine print perpetrated by credit card and mortgage companies. The Lender and the College Student would be placed upon an even playing field and those predatory lenders that continue to deceive their customers would be severely punished. You, the American Taxpayer, would never again be stolen from by the subscribers of banks being "too big to fail". After two hundred and some years, its time Washington became how the Framers of our Constitution envisioned it: on your side.
Reform starts with a first step, as with everything, and it is never an easy one. It will be hard because nothing right is ever easy, but if that first step is taken, if you tell your friends or your family or your spouse and they tell their friends and their families and so on and so forth, it becomes something more than just a person talking loudly and angrily, it becomes a movement, a drive for change and fairness and equality in America for our children and their children after them. Remember one thing if nothing else: our world tomorrow can be better than our world today.
An unexpected, yet delightful surprise…
Against Me! has always been good but not great. So, naturally, I hadn't been keeping tabs on them for their new releases and whatnot. Nevertheless, as I was perusing other bands and listening to an assortment of other songs, I stumbled upon their new gem of an album. Since the band's inception, they've slowly drifted away from their punk rock roots (thankfully) and come closer to what's generally considered to be the mainstream right now (along with other bands like Rise Against and Shinedown). With their last album, New Wave (2007), they had pretty much shaken off any semblance of the punk rock scene and adopted their new, more accessible sound but their was still a hint of that anarcho-punk in there. This is not the case with White Crosses (their newest album); in fact, they even have a song on there about leaving the punk rock scene. On with the show!
The album opens up with the lackluster and titular track White Crosses and it's pretty okay. The song has the appropriate amount of energy for an opener but it isn't nearly as good as those songs on the album that really shine. It's lyrics and subject matter are excellent, the delivery not so much. After that we have I Was a Teenage Anarchist. Now, this is by far the best song on the album and, dare I say, one of the best songs of the year. This is the track I described above and it details how closely he (Tom Gabel, the lead singer) identified with the anarchist scene as a kid but has since grown out of it and realized it's pointlessness (and rightly so). The next four songs after that (Because of the Shame, Suffocation, We're Breaking Up, and High Pressure Low) are deliver an equal amount of kick. Usually, or so I've noticed, around the middle albums tend to dry up and wait until the end to kick up. Fortunately, Against Me! was able to hold my attention thoroughly through the middle and to the end with these four tracks (which are all excellent but don't quite measure up to IWATA).
The next song, Ache With Me, is an alright song I suppose but it didn't serve to keep me listening to it. The track is very slow and doesn't fit with the fast-paced album. This doesn't last long though. The album closes with another three great tracks (Spanish Moss, Rapid Decompression, Bamboo Bones) and they do not serve to disappoint. Each of them has compartive greatness to Suffocation and High Pressure low and Bamboo Bones closes the album strongly while serving to round it out. Alas, when it ends, you wish it hadn't.
In this great, daunting musical morass that exists today, where the likes of Lil Wayne and Kesha reign supreme, you can still find these diamonds in the rough - which is an encouraging thought. For those like Against Me! storm the gates of the mainstream without fear of failure with this uncommon, hybridized style that sounds like something from the 80's had a child with modern times. Keep it coming, Against Me!, keep on truckin'.
Socialized Health Care And Some Other Stuff
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Sometimes, only pictures can describe how we feel...
Well hello there. It's been a while. How have you been? All 300 hundred of you that read this? Good, I hope. I've been just swell but I digress. What's important here is that us lefty, socialist wackos passed health care reform. If there was ever a time and place for a guy like me to say 'yay' like an excited schoolgirl...now would by that time and here would be that place. But I'm quite positive that if you're here, reading this, then you must be very interested in the subject to have sifted through the hundreds of other, more popular websites that are reporting on this topic; thus, I will not bother or bore you with unremitting details or denominations. What is important (and what I am gearing up to discuss) is tomorrow. No, not literally tomorrow. That will likely be a simple Sunday consisting of lounging and preparing for class on Monday. No, I refer to the future, the battles we face ahead.
Bill Mahr said it best on his show some nights ago: that we (Democrats) should not stop at the Republicans being down and out, we should not offer them a helping hand to recovery. No, we should stomp their faces into the dirt until there is nothing left and spit in their eyes. What he said was far more involved and violent than that, I assure you. I would have quoted it word-for-word and perhaps expounded upon the rage present but, alas, I have precious, little time. He is right, however. We should ensure that conservatives, and everyone else who looks like them, can never again say the words 'well, what about me?'. Because that's what this is about, isn't it? Their fierce, racist, and homophobic opposition to the HCB (Health Care Bill) has everything to do with personal greed and racism and nothing at all to do with logic or reason or generosity; a fact that is disturbingly ironic due to the intense religious fervor commonly found in the right, a religious fervor that stems from a faith based around generosity and helping your fellow man. What am I doing? I'm forgetting a core tenant of my most hated political rivals the Republicans - hypocrisy.
Now that we have the HCB passed and the conservatives looking like a congregation of retarded gorillas, we should march straight through their feebly constructed blockade of bigotry and shove all our lefty, socialist wacko bills down their throats. Yes, I speak of education reform, of environmental reform, of reform, reform, reform. Throw out Don't Ask Don't Tell and implement 'I, employed by my country and driven by patriotism whether it be false or not, fight in a swealteringly hot desert filled with people who want to kill me at all times so don't discriminate against me'. Perhaps we should throw on some Same Sex Marriage legalization while we're at it. After all, waiting years for reform is something we're excellent at and I think homosexuals are due for some aid. We have a long road ahead, but I hope it is one littered with shattered barriers and defeated conservatives.
And there we go. Your daily dose of your favorite 8-foot tall super fascist (I being the only one) has been doled out. Good day to you, sirs.
Obamacare…
I had a conversation today with the wife of one of my friends. It was over Facebook sadly enough and I won't delve into the particulars of what spawned the argument. In short, it involved the hotly debated Health Care bill or more commonly known as Obamacare to the simpleminded. My customary fuming rage was expounded today due to my lack of sleep (spring break screwed everything up) so as I was gazing over the friendly jest between one liberal friend to a conservative one I came across his wife's point of view. It really just boiled down to Obama is a Nazi and he loves him some illegal immigrants. She posed the question of would I rather be treated by a nurse who graduated medical school just because of their ethnicity (Affirmative Action...which doesn't extend to education) or a white, Anglo-Saxon medical student who is just so pleasant and not brown. I answered in a less than civil but still witty, biting response; one that I will elaborate on here.
First of all, don't fucking call it Obamacare. If I so much as hear the words Obamacare one more time I'm going to blow a gasket. Obama can stamp yes or no on a bill that comes across his desk and that is all he can do. It should be called Congresscare because they dictate the terms of a bill. There's this thing called the Constitution, Conservative House Wife, fucking read it some time. You midaswell just call it Idon'tlikeblackpeopleinmyWhiteHousecare; maybe that'd be more honest for you.
But back to business, her main point was this clause I guess is in the Health Care Bill her husband downloaded (a likely edited version by whomever put it up): that $20,000 dollars would be paid to minorities. That was all it said. I'm not sure why they would be paid 20 grand or why that would be included in a Health Care Bill. Possibly to offer money to the underprivileged who wouldn't be able to go to medical school any other way? If that is the reason, then how is that bad? You're giving someone a chance to rise up out of poverty. Furthermore, 20 grand is peanuts to the amount of money we spend...even if it is to hundreds of minorities.
Furthermore, she drew another parallel that I might be treated by an illegal immigrant from Mexico corresponding to that $20,000. Now that....makes no sense. You cannot get federal grant money or financial aid from universities without drawing out a lot of documents and applying for it. There are many channels you need to go through and they will ask for proof of citizenship in order to receive that 20 grand. So that was an entirely pointless statement wasn't it?
More importantly, this Health Care thing is far bigger than immigrants or mewling conservatives. It has to do with the well being of a nation. Not just medically but financially as well. There is this misconception floating around in the cloud of news and opinions that your taxes will go up to pay for illegal immigrants and you will be paying out the ass for coverage and blah blah blah. The funny thing is...it's all false...and you can easily discern that if you just researched things for a minute instead of just adopting an opinion because you heard it somewhere. I've tried arduously to sway people with this mindset into the correct one but I fail horribly each and every time. Their hatred for Obama stems from something deep within themselves; a poison that threatens to dissolve what the human race has worked so very hard for - freedom.
Should We Really Respect Our Elders?
I would give a lot of things to strangle the life out of every old man who thinks he is entitled to spout out falsities based around the economic rules of the 1950's from his gigantic megaphone. But, alas, these things are what we like to call illegal; so I am forced to shout at them from my tiny soapbox.
That little old man from CNN, with his snide goatee and bald head, I am referring to is Mr. Ed Rollins and like every other "expert" usually gracing the pages of CNN's website...is a complete moron. The funny thing is, Ed, is that you spent however long you did writing that article, researching the figures, making sure they all cohabitated and reinforced your point, when it doesn't mean a thing. Your numbers are right, hell, your reasoning is even right. But where you are wrong is that these ephemeral citizens you keep referring to, those that would be supposedly being screwed by the government, would be paying more, not less, more for health insurance if it was presided over by an insurance company. Since the dawning of the god-damn word corporation, these collected men with lots of money will do everything in their power to get more money.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Whatever-the-fuck, raised premiums 39% for no apparent reason. Even if there was an apparent reason, they wouldn't explain it to you because why should you know? You're just the dude who gives them cash, aren't you? Just the working man who devotes some of his paycheck to paying their bills. See, the sad thing is: most working class Americans are against this health care thing because they think it is going to make things harder for them. Why, you might ask. Well, it's because horrible, horrible men with little toupes and elephant pins on their lapels are telling them that 24/7. If there is one thing Republicans and just...people who watch Fox News in general...are excellent at, it's creating an aura of fear and dread that will manipulate people because of closeted racism and greed.
I don't live in a penthouse, I'm not a Senator, I am not an Anchor for a news channel. I live in a dirt-poor part of the United States who frequently interacts with my fellow Americans. I get a healthy dose of neoconservatism everyday. I have no ulterior motives in telling you these things I know. I don't get paid for it; I do it because I have a desire to make sure people know the truth. Because "there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor political, nor popular, but he must do it because his conscience tells him it is right".
Nothing…
...at all has been happening in the News for the past week. Of course, I do not speak literally. Things have been happening, as they always do, but nothing of great import. I am sure some back alley in Bosnia has a dead man in it or another couple hundred lie dead in the Congo or a truck full of soldiers was blown up in Afghanistan but we don't report on these things, do we? No, what graces the pages of CNN.com today is more of the same; natural disasters, vapid reports on discussed-to-death stories, and extremely insignificant garbage. What I linked just there was the front page story on CNN earlier. The front...god...damn...page. I'm having just a little bit of trouble wrapping my mind around that.
I find myself wondering what it takes to get on the front page these days. Is all we venture to care about consumed with Reality TV, Oprah, and disaster-porn? Clearly, we have forgotten the age-old value of reading; or, hell, thinking in general. There was a time when reading was a coveted ability; writing even more so. I shudder to think how one who lived hundreds of years ago would receive the information that we are taught these things at a paltry price and flaunt the gift. The idea that the Bible or Lil Wayne has replaced the Iliad and...let's say...Bruce Springsteen sickens me.
It is a sad fact I must embrace that the generations to come will only degrade, as they have been doing, until civilization crumbles or a grim, happy few take charge and put a stop to the nonsense that plagues this concept of a Modern America.
I Never Would Have Guessed…
Courtesy of CNN.com
I discovered another gem on CNN's (Conservative News Network) website this afternoon. An article detailing the backlash and praise Senator Scott Brown's (the newly elected Republican who filled Ted Kennedy's seat) decision to back a $15 billion dollar Democrat-backed bill to inject money into the jobs market. I never would of guessed that this Senator would come rip-roaring out of MASSACHUSETTS and vote independently of his wacky, right-wing party. Not at all. If you can't tell by now: these words are dripping with venomous sarcasm.
Of course he would! The state of Massachusetts has voted for Ted Kennedy for decades; why would they switch up their voting trends just because he died? They wouldn't. Obviously Mr. Brown expressed elements of independent thinking and bipartisanship during his campaign; people like that. Who knows? Maybe he isn't even really Republican. He might be only running as one because third party candidates have a snowball's chance in hell of winning.
But this Jobs Bill isn't really what I want to to discuss. One of the main selling points of this Senator's campaign in Mass. was to combat Obamacare, or Demcare, or whatever the hell Republicans are calling it these days. A couple months ago we were hearing about death panels and Nazi-Care; they change their terms on me on purpose, I swear. I digress. Why are we applying these terms to BETTER HEALTHCARE? I have no clue. Maybe we should call it 'Disadvantaged Children Get Glasses So They Can See'. Maybe if I marched to a Tea Party rally or right into Congress and spelled it out on a blackboard with basic math examples, or perhaps even a connect-the-dots diagram, they would understand it more clearly.
But, as I pointed out in one of my earliest articles, this isn't about money or taxes or anything having to do with tangible concerns. It has to do with partisanship, black people, and greed. Republicans do not like losing; they're like a high school basketball coach. Conservative, rich white folks do not like having a black president. There again, conservative, rich white folks do not like losing their money (even if it's just by a smidgen) or having it be used to help someone else out or, well, anything that has anything to do with their $$$ being reduced.
I'll just show you a few concerns Facebook fans of Scott Brown have:
(Courtesy of CNN.com)
Rafael Diaz-Yoserev wrote: "Get a spine, Scott Brown. We need to stop spending and cutting payroll taxes so that THE PEOPLE, small business owners, begin to be able to create jobs."
Jane Farnsworth Collins called on his page for Brown to resign, saying "Shame on you. Betrayal is a serious sin. Surely this will be your last term as a Republican senator -- you will never get the party endorsement in 2012."
Rafael...this Jobs Bill that the Democrats engineered...it helps THE FUCKING PEOPLE and small business owners. This Jobs Bill is based around creating jobs by spending money. People cannot start businesses without money; which is what the Bill gives them. Do we understand now? Or do you need the connect-the-dots diagram as well?
Jane...betrayal is a serious sin? First of all, sin? I'm sorry but the America I grew up in doesn't know the meaning of that word as far as government is concerned. Seperation of Church and State, lady. And what did he betray? A bunch of old, partisan golf buddies that wouldn't know a good idea if it grew arms and punched them right in the face? He didn't even do that despite how true that parallel is. He did exactly what he promised he would do during his campaign; which was be an independent thinker in congress.
Lastly, our currency became Monopoly money a long time ago. We have no gold standard, our dollar-dollar-bills-y'all has whatever value we decide to apply to it. We can print more and more money like mad men because it does not matter. There is not a thing that enforces its value even if we weren't printing more and more every day. So this stimulus money? And this health care money? Not only does it barely even compare to the amount of cash we have spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but also it has no effect on our economy other than a beneficial one. Why? Because when you give people money, they spend it, and when they spend it, the economy does better.
I hope this helped. Tune in tomorrow; same time, same channel.
Do You Really Want To Have This Conversation?
Are we really going to have this conversation about the mentally challenged again?
No, we aren't; because I don't really have the energy for it right now. I'm only on my first cup of coffee for God's sake! Plus, it really doesn't concern me what Captain Palin over at CNN thinks about 'insulting' the mentally challenged.What does concern me is his claim that I, well not me personally but you get the picture, am 'afraid' of Sarah Palin. Right...we on the left totally fear the Palinator. She is so intimidating with her mavricky winks and her whacky death panels and her tea parties and, most recently, notes on her hand. Aw, man, I just don't know what I would do if she challenged me to a public debate...probably just shrivel up and resort to using vapid phrases.
You're right, Ruben, I am just shaking in my little, liberal booties over just the thought of Palin.
As a side note: Ruben, Family Guy is satire. Conversely to your own opinion, the gag was extremely funny and I do not really care if it was unkind or unnecessary - comedy generally is supposed to be. Furthermore, if there was a joke about Clinton or even Obama having a heart attack (as you explained) I, again, wouldn't really care. Would I dismiss it as another disparaging, resentful, and ultimately idiotic statement made by the Far Right? You're god damn right I would; because there lies the difference. Palin deserves to be made fun of. She is hopelessly silly; like the dumb kid everyone laughs at because of his idiocy but let him think he is legitimately funny. Clinton and Obama, on the other hand, have done more good for their country than most Republican Presidents could ever hope to (Obama far more so than Clinton).
Point being: Seth McFarlane is legitimately funny. His show is oftentimes legitimately funny; especially his Down Syndrome episode. As far as your statement goes about Palin's daughter (more like a surreptitious Palin) updating her mom's Facebook page goes, well, the girl (who really does have Down Syndrome) that voiced the character in Family Guy's episode wrote a letter in defense of McFarlane's show. Let us not forget that Palin often uses her son (who has Down Syndrome) as a defense mechanism and attention whoring device. So put that in your pipe and smoke it. Or don't. I don't really care what you do.
As a side note: who the fuck names their Down Syndrome-afflicted son Trig? Is he exceptionally good at higher levels of math?
The Gods Of Rock Have Answered
In my honest opinion, the 90's, and to some extent the early 2000's, was the golden age of music. The best Metallica albums were released during this period, Alice In Chains came about, and Smashing Pumpkins was born into the world of music. Several of these ama-za-zing bands have either reformed or simply returned to the music stage after an extensive hiatus in recent years and now I will be able to add another to my list. Within the past couple years, Stone Temple Pilots has reunited and is touring again but they have just announced that they plan to release their still untitled album in May.
Scott Weiland, front man for STP, said as much in his recent, and very short, interview with reporter Nicole Brown. "We've just finished mastering our new album...", the singer says, "...and Fans are going to get a great STP record". He goes on to elaborate about putting himself in the shoes of the listener and gauging what a fan of STP would want out of a new album, which I am glad to hear. It will be hard to follow up Core (1992) and Purple (1994), two of their best albums and arguably best of the 90's Hard Rock scene, but I am confident that Weiland and the band will deliver.
I am not putting a strikeout through every era of music save for the 90's, really I'm not. The only era I would like to obliterate is the 70's for certain reasons (God-damn Disco). But, on the whole, the 90's sort of changed music in the sense that it diverted largely from the 'Havin' A Good Time' style of the 80's to a more mature, emotional tone. It was much more thematic and relate-able as opposed to being on a highway to hell or being shook all night long. Again, I adore AC/DC but god damn does STP, AIC, or even Creed blow them out of the water. Yes, I am that lone music aficionado who loves Creed; I will even go so far as to say that they are one of the most talented bands to come about in the past two decades.
Alas, I digress. More to the point: with the absolutely atrocious, untalented bands popping into existence these days (Screamo bands; 3OH!3; growly-growl, hyper-masculine fag rock) it puts a big old beaming smile on my face to hear that these veteran musicians are dusting off their instruments and getting back to business. Pump out some records, STP, and do not disappoint me.
