Category — Politics

The Rude Pundit

I like the inference that the Republicans in power are a bunch of spoiled babies, throwing tantrums, and Harry Reid is the Disciplinarian.

America, If We’re Not Careful, Democracy Might Break Out and 

Live Vodka-Shot Blogging the President’s War Funding Hissy Fit: are both really good, if old posts (I think the LJ syndication went wonky and popped up some older material) I found on my LJ flist today.

From my Netvibes page:

Making Light has several really good articles: Dealing With Guns (I linked this yesterday)  plus I Don’t Feel Two Years Healthier, and the Moderation Certificate. (here, and an gender-neutral version)

Original Signal: Transmitting Politics, is a great place to see what some major blogs on both sides are saying about issues of the day.  The rest of the Original Signal offerings are a time saver as well!  I can scan headlines and click on interesting things all in one place.

Link to Halliburton will move HQ to Dubai – Yahoo! News

Saw this Sunday evening but due to technical difficulties couldn’t comment till now.  Keyboard went kaput yesterday, so forgiv any typos as I get used to reconfigured keys.

Anyways, I’m sure 120 degree summer temperatures will feel positively arctic to the Halliburton execs when their time comes. 

My point being, they should’nt have the contract anymore, as they won’t be an American company once they move their HQ.

I’m sure there has been many, many comments made around the blogospere, so I’ll just say my piece: There are some rather incestous dealings going on in Washington amongst Bush 43′s cronies.

The Must-Do List – New York Times

I will admit I am a sucker for to-do lists, but I think that this is a very important list to do, for things will only get messier and more expensive as time goes on and nothing is fixed.

I’ve said before, something has to change or there will be a revolution.

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I’ve been noticing lately, what with reading various bits and links whenever I get a chance to surf that something is very wrong with America.

Now before you think I’m being facetious or guileless, let me re-phrase.  I’m seeing a general undercurrent of toeing the party line, with no room for alterate views/opinions, be it Windows/Mac or the war in Iraq or anything else that is controversial.

Forget the ‘drama’ of Britney shaving her head or Anna Nicole Smith’s body being fought over by the relatives/lovers/friends (very tacky I think), which is pablum for the masses (my SIL, bless her heart, watches the circus) perhaps distracting Americans from the real mess our elected officials dragged us into.

Speaking of elected officials causing a mess, let’s speak of the Knox County Commissioners of Knoxville, TN.  Back room deals, cronyism, nepotism, and blocking a special election all to keep some high paying jobs (the sheriff gets over 100K a year).  My thoughts are that they should have had the election invalidated and a new one called right quick, instead of allowing the outgoing commission to select their replacements.  The start of this mess?  A 1994 law voted on by the voters of the county and city to have term limits.  The charter was approved last year by the State Supreme Court, but after the elections were already held, with the majority of the people who were now term-limited being elected.

N ow onto another subject: Windows versus Macs.  I will admit I’m considering saving up for a Mac laptop, but only because I’m curious to see what the fuss is about.  If I do get one, I’ll get Boot Camp to dual boot OS X and Vista.  Either one works so long as I don’t spend more time trying to get things working (I’m meaning a basic setup where I can browse the net, do documents and play music and videos) that y’know actually working.  I shan’t go into tweaking things, making things prettier, faster, what have you.

Same thing goes for a PS3/360/Wii.  As long as it has games I want to play, I’m not picky about the console.  I plan on buying all three plus a second PSP and a DS-Lite (pink just to drive the hubby crazy), since all the consoles have games I want to play.  The second PSP is so I can play since the first PSP is the hubby’s.  Ow the pocketbook!

Link to Michelle Malkin: Insurgents found with Google Earth maps

*snort* I had a nice chuckle out of this. Last I checked, the Internet was freely available and Google is not responsible for who uses the information they’ve collected.

Link to Crooks and Liars » Olbermann: A Look Backward at the Commander’s Credibility

Excellent summary of the mistakes that were made in the Iraq mess.

Link to slacktivist: Before the speech

No Commentary, just read.

Link to A wish list for the new Congress | TPMCafe

I would add to the list: a sane mass-transit plan that would work in rural areas as well as helping people obtain affordable housing.

1. Restore habeas corpus, emphatically endorse the Geneva Conventions, ban secret detention and extraordinary rendition, and shut down Guantanamo and all secret torture sites.

2. Launch immediate hearings on every aspect of the Iraq war, and come up with an intelligent withdrawal plan.

3. Repeal tax cuts for the superwealthy, and close loopholes that allow businesses and wealthy individuals to pretend they are based in the Seychelles, et al.

4. Tie regular increases in the minimum wage to Congress’s salary increases.

5. Investigate, expose, and correct the under-funding and under-enforcement of laws in key agencies responsible for Americans’ safety when eating, at work, in the air, when using prescription meds, when banking, and so on.

6. Launch hearings for mandatory national public preschools, beginning at age three, and for intelligent school schedules. Our post-industrial economy is insanely hobbled by the fact that children are still sent home in time to milk the cows—forcing hundreds of thousands of workers to make rickety arrangements for their care.

7. Start hearings on a national energy independence initiative—a Manhattan or Apollo project for our time—that would look into alternative energy sources and into cleaning up our environment.

Of course, far more is needed, but maybe someone else can ask Santa for an end to the deficit, replenishment of the Social Security fund, ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (and other international human rights treaties and instruments, like CEDAW), an end to the military’s ban on lesbians and gay men serving openly, the beginning of a national slavery museum, passage of the Nadler/Leahy Uniting American Families Act that would let lesbians and gay men sponsor foreign-born partners for immigration, an end to the global gag rule, mandatory “greening” of all federal buildings, improved policing of executive pay, an overhaul of the current tangle of equal employment opportunity law (both statutory and case law), and other important stocking stuffers.

Link to Conservatives lose their minds (via Whatever in comments)

Well then put out a code gray (but I thought they already lost it )

Listening to: I Got One for Ya’ by Kid Rock on Devil Without a Cause

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