Comments (0)

By Mark D, July 12, 2012 1:22 am

I was thinking about this the other day, how much Obama has gotten done despite the Republicans in Congress. It sort of amazes me the difference between the Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives, especially when you look at the last 5-10 years. Even when the Dems took control of the House, they still mostly passed W’s agenda. Sure they would put up a bit of a fight, but eventually the conservative leaning Democrats would jump ship and vote with the Republicans.

Then you have one of the major reasons the Democrats took control of the House way back when, the never ending War in Iraq.  Despite the war being hugely unpopular and Bush’s approval rating dropping through the floor, what did the Dems do? They only passed Non-Binding Resolutions, which W could feel free (and did) to ignore. Then they wonder why people were upset with them a few years later, when even with Bush out of office they still couldn’t just end the war.  For that matter the “War” in Afghanistan is still an ongoing issue.

But when the Republicans got control of the House? Forget about it. Especially following the “tea party” astroturf movement for the 2010 elections. Obama could try passing a bill that would stop kittens from being fed to sharks, and the GOP would squash it and claim that he was a socialist trying to upset the natural order of life. Sharks eat Kittens and that’s just how it is, so don’t change anything. The amazing thing is that the more the Republicans align themselves with corporate interests and against the little man, the more the little man cheers for them.

Despite this, Obama has obviously helped the economy somewhat, and given the country a type of universal health care. Sure it might not be the best health care plan, but at least it’s something. In the long run it’s going to save everyone money because people won’t be paying for the uninsured who currently have to use the emergency room for everything.

Even more amazing to me is that the platform the Republicans stand on is basically a repeat of the W years. We need to give big tax breaks to the people at the top because wealth trickles down. Really? I guess that’s why as the amount of wealth held by the 1% has absolutely exploded, cause they love sharing their wealth so much. I guess that’s why Reagan and Bush both caused Recessions, and Clinton’s years were actually a boom.

That and it also helped that Clinton actually cut the insane amount of military spending. Why do we need to spend 700+ Billion dollars on the military when China is only spending 100ish Billion and they are our closest competition? Maybe if we stop giving money hand over fist to Lockheed Martin we could spend money on social programs. Especially since if you give more money to more people, they tend to actually spend it on regular everyday things. Instead of gold plated tiger cages.

It sort of amazes me that somehow Romney has pulled to a dead heat with Obama in the polls. But I guess it shouldn’t be surprising given the amount of money that has been pouring into the Romney campaign. In comparison to Obama who raised a lot of funds across a very wide swath of people, Romney is getting consistent large donations from a small circle of the ultra rich. They already helped change the Wisconsin recall election (the first time someone retained their position in a statewide recall) by pouring out of state money into the campaign. In the end the move to recall Scott was outspent 7 to 1.

Right now there are hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on anti-healthcare propaganda. It’s no wonder that people are up in arms against it. That’s without considering how much the put gets hammered home by talking heads on the TV.

The amazing thing is to me, despite all this, Obama has gotten a good number of his campaign promises done.  Going by the Politifact Obama-Meter he has kept his promise on 188 items (for 37%) and compromised on another 65 meaning nearly 250 pieces of legislation. But I guess he’s a lazy good for nothing who is scheming with islamo-facist-socialists on the best way to destroy the country.

(Note, I wrote this while mostly sleep deprived over the course of a few days. I might be a bit scatterbrained. Also I might have wrote this same article once before, I can’t remember.

Comments (0)

By Mark D, December 28, 2011 6:29 am

The speech had been proceeding for perhaps twenty minutes when a messenger hurried on to the platform and a scrap of paper was slipped into the speaker’s hand. He unrolled and read it without pausing in his speech. Nothing altered in his voice or manner, or in the content of what he was saying, but suddenly the names were different. Without words said, a wave of understanding rippled through the crowd. Oceania was at war with Eastasia! The next moment there was a tremendous commotion. The banners and posters with which the square was decorated were all wrong! Quite half of them had the wrong faces on them. It was sabotage! The agents of Goldstein had been at work! There was a riotous interlude while posters were ripped from the walls, banners torn to shreds and trampled underfoot. The Spies performed prodigies of activity in clambering over the rooftops and cutting the streamers that fluttered from the chimneys. But within two or three minutes it was all over. The orator, still gripping the neck of the microphone, his shoulders hunched forward, his free hand clawing at the air, had gone straight on with his speech. One minute more, and the feral roars of rage were again bursting from the crowd. The Hate continued exactly as before, except that the target had been changed.

And so most American troops leave Iraq. But the lesson is already forgotten by the American public. Iraq joins a long list of wars in which we took part on false pretenses. The Spanish American War (USS Maine) and as a offshot the occupation of the Philippines, the Vietnam War and First Iraq War were all started because of lies. But the war drums started beating and everyone fell into line. No one asked questions, no one backed off the ledge despite one of the biggest anti-war demonstrations around the world at the time.

The time will come again that we will invade and occupy some country, and no one will bat an eye. The drums will beat, the talking heads will talk, and before we know it we’ll be in a war. When someone asks even the simplest questions like how it will be paid for? or just how a weapon of mass destruction could reach the mainland of the United States? The answer will be why aren’t you patriotic?

Even the “opposition” will fall into line and rally behind the flag. The questions will be unanswered, and no one will dare to look behind the curtain. It wouldn’t be supporting the troops if you dared to ask those questions. Forget the fact that some of them will die, some of them will never be able to live the life they had hoped. Forget the fact that thousands of human beings will end up dead. Nope, if you question anything the simple response will just be that your not supporting the troops.

The girl I was dating at the start of the 2nd Iraq War thought I was insane when I was against the war. She thought people were going to try to lynch me for what I was saying. A few years later she admitted all this to me, and admitted she couldn’t believe that I was actually right about so much of it. She thought at the time that Saddam Hussein was moments away from destroying the United States at anytime he wanted. Now she actually listens to me when I start rambling about politics.

It’s almost enough to make me wonder what is being taught in schools. I mean are kids learning that the explosion of the USS Maine was an accident, or just that it was suspicious. Are they told about the yellow journalism of the time and how Hearst wanted to start a war to increase paper circulation? Does it mention the long occupation of the Philippines which lead to the creation of the Anti-Imperalist league and had such highly regarded figures as Mark Twain, Grover Cleveland and Andrew Carnegie among others.

What does it say about the Vietnam War and the Gulf Of Tonkin incident now? With hindsight (and papers which were classified for 30 years) we now know that no incident took place that night. For that matter we know that the American ship in the area a few days before had opened fire on the North Vietnamese torpedo boats. And yet we not only have the loss of life of 50K Americans for no good cause, but a high estimate of nearly 4 million dead all told. For what?

So we look towards Iraq and wonder what the legacy will be. Will people find a way to say that American troops in Iraq somehow helped the Arab Spring? Despite the fact of the matter being that America had propped up most of the dictatorships which were taken down. The debate about the legacy will in the end most likely mask the reality of the situation for those who lived it. No one wants to admit when everything is over and done that their sacrifice was for nothing.

We the people are no better then the Proles in 1984. We will turn on a dime, our friends today will be our enemies tomorrow. Those who point out what is going on behind the curtain will be shouted down and beaten down by the drums. The lies that were used to get us into the war will no longer work. But it doesn’t matter after we’re already there, and the reasons change after the matter. So no longer was it to stop Hussein from having WMDs, but the spread of democracy.

The lies just get bigger and bigger and more blatant every time. If you have not stood up in the past, then when will you take a stand about what’s wrong? Now is the time for people to demand changes within the government. We shouldn’t have to wait 30 years or more for documents to become declassified. We the people are the base of power for the government, it answers to us.

But if we allow our representatives to do whatever they want without consequence, in the end we lose. In the end it is the boot stomping our own faces for eternity. The best part is that it will be the people we continually choose to Represent us. All the facades of democracy will still exist, but it won’t matter as both sides work together. Now is the time, between wars, to work on a lasting and true peace. To let the government know that it won’t get away with lieing to us again.

Over the horizon, the war drums echo their familiar beat…

Comments (0)

By Mark D, September 13, 2011 9:37 am

Last night during Monday Night Football in the fourth quarter ESPN went to a long shot of the crowd (and by crowd I mean 3 to 6 people) who while on camera proceeded to chant Tebow. While Orton had his struggles last night, blaming the loss on him is a bit much. Especially considering from all reports that Tebow looked awful in the preseason compared to both Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn. While it isn’t new for a struggling team to be chanting for the 2nd or 3rd string QB to be put in, or them to start chanting during the first game while it was still winnable is a bit new.

Tebow has been the darling of ESPN since his college days, a charismatic star with a questionable level of talent. So is it crazy to wonder if ESPN just happened to find a few drunk Broncos fans last night chanting for Tebow? It gives them something to talk about, and keeps their created monster in the news. Speaking of news, it also gives their nonstop talking heads something to gab about in between games since the Everything Sports Network is Football talk 90% of the time.

Tebow isn’t going to save the Broncos, and there’s a reason he’s not starting. There were times last night when Orton was able to get the ball away with Raiders breathing down his neck (nice O-Line Denver) when a younger QB might rush the throw or a mobile QB might hold the ball too long. Even with Orton’s fumble, there were plenty of chances for another less experienced QB to screw up.

While there will always be a vocal part of the Denver fanbase that wants Tebow in (just try bashing him on twitter) most of them realize why he isn’t a starter or even the backup QB at the moment. Leave it to ESPN to try and push the issue via their hijacking of Monday Night Football. More and more, ESPN is using it’s popularity to push their own points. Without controversy there is nothing to talk about. With 3 networks and the 24/7 ESPNews all needing something to talk about, it’s no surprise that Tebow is front page news. But in the end it’s all manufactured. Tebow is a product of ESPN as much as this controversy. The reality is that if the Broncos want to win, Tebow will be nowhere near the field.

If your sitting there chanting and arguing that Tebow should be on the field, your nothing but a tool for ESPN. Your not thinking critically at all, and your just parroting them. There’s no special magical ability that Tebow has that is going to make the defense stop the run, or magically make his WRs catch every pass. Get over it.

Comments (0)

By Mark D, May 7, 2011 5:31 pm

Tell your constituents one thing, and then vote the other way. If Media isn’t going to do their job, and people are too lazy to actually look at your voting record, then you will always get away with it. I can’t believe this video has only 1,000 views, everyone should see it:

Comments (0)

By Mark D, August 22, 2010 12:15 am

In Breaking news, America’s Army, the army’s top tool for training and tricking the youth of America into joining the Army has been updated. All of the following are new features for America’s Army

• Die on your first step of the game as you step on an IED
• Die before the game starts as your poorly armored Humvee gets blown sky high
• Lose everything from the knee down on both your legs and get to spend the next 50 years as a second class citizen.
• Lose three limbs for your country, and then have people who never came close to combat claim you are un-patriotic for your personal views.
• Survive your first step, get shot while taking your second step from a hidden sniper. The joys of urban combat!
• You die. Then on the game over screen you are informed that in 10-15 years some politician randomly picks your name and proclaims that he fought bravely side by side with you. He wants to continue your war and make sure people never forget about you, despite the fact that he sat comfortably at home the whole time.
• Spend time pretending to listen to Lady GaGa while downloading massive amounts of classified documents.
• Die while in the shower because Haliburton sub contracted out the rights to build your showers to the lowest bidder.
• Come within a mile of capturing Osama Bin-Laden, only to have the mission called off from the highest of sources. It’s your guess whose that high to have it called off.
• Accidentally shoot an NFL hero who left the game to fight the war on terror. Join with the bigwigs in an attempt to cover it up and hide the facts
• Spend hours staring at the destroyed British and Russian bases in Afghanistan and try to figure out why anyone would try conquering this shithole of a desert again.
• Announce your gay and find yourself shitkicked back to America.
• Remember how you were joining to make a better future for yourself and possibly use the GI Bill to put yourself through college. Not so much now that your a paraplegic. Enjoy your new future

Wow, I must appluad the army for the path they’ve taken with this game. It seems much more realistic now.