Friday, February 5, 2010

Too long without writing

It's been too long since I've written anything here. A full month without a blog post and the new year is well under way. I decided to forgo the long and rambling one that no one would give a damn about because seriously, I know no one enjoys reading the reminiscing of a loon. But finally things have come to a head and more needs to be said than has been. This will probably ramble, and might not be coherent, but here it goes.

Last week the Supreme court overturned over a hundred years of precedent and ruled that corporations could donate without limits to political campaigns. They justified this by arguing that it was an unjust limit on free speech to force limits on donations. This is possibly the worst decision the high court has handed down since Bowers-v-Hardwick. I am against limits on the first amendment more than anyone I know, however this is a foolish argument to make. It places political office up to the highest bidder and means that politicians will jockey even more for big corporate donations. We might as well just give up democracy right now. The argument however is incomplete. If corporations have that much of a right to free speech, then how are the limits on language and nudity on network television justified? Can corporations now make false claims about their products because of their freedom of speech? A lie is a lie and corruption is corruption.

The court has always ruled that certain limits on free speech must be placed for the order of a well run society. Making terroristic threats, shouting fire in a crowded building, inciting a riot...all of these have been deemed reasonable limits on freedom of speech. Allowing unlimited corporate donations is more dangerous to the stability of the country than any of those other 'reasonable' limits.

In other news, the man who sold dowsing rods to the army and Iraqi government as bomb detectors has an arrest warrant out for him. Yup, it isn't a story that has gotten that much publicity here, but it is one that needs to be told. A guy sold 84 million dollars worth of bomb detecting wires to the army and was going to get away with it. He still has the backing of the Iraqi government, even though there is no proof that the dowsing rods work. And there is evidence of bombs going off in areas that have been 'swept' by the detectors. If you believe in dowsing, you're an idiot. The fact that the government has spent that much money and lost so many lives on a load of horseshit should piss people off more than anything. But instead the news would rather cover Sarah Palin's keynote speech at the tea party convention, or American Idol. Way to go news people. You know what's important.

Also recently, a lot has been made about Ted Kennedy's former senate seat going to a Republican. Many were surprised at this and others have been making a big deal about the backlash of the people against the raving liberal policies of the Obama administration and the Democrat controlled congress. Once again these people are making a mountain out of a molehill. The fact is simple: the woman that was the Democratic candidate in the special election was a bitch. She rubbed people the wrong way, pissed people off, and came off as generally a snob in a part of the country known for snobbery. Her track record was one filled with foolish mistakes and idiotic tendencies. I mean, the woman wouldn't even shake hands at her own rally and gave off the air that it was foolish for her to think about standing out in the cold to shake hands with the little people. It was simply a case of the wrong person being nominated and no one willing to stand up and say that. She was a fool and people are stupid for not seeing that.

Alright, not sure how much of that actually held together, but there it is. Feels good to put something out there again. Can feel my mind atrophy when I go so long without. Perhaps the bug will hit again soon. My fingers are crossed for such at least.

2 comments:

  1. As a relatively liberal person as well as a female, I can say that I'm turned off by most of the female politicians (in office or running). When a woman is that power hungry, it's hard to get around being a bitch. Being a nice Mary Tyler Moore type just wouldn't get ya much respect as a politician. But, men are much more able to pull off the power+charisma combination. I don't know why exactly, but it works. Even someone as personable as H. Clinton often comes off as rather bitchy, despite being a very intelligent, capable politician.
    I hadn't heard about the bomb detector fraud, but that's insane!
    And it sounds like some of the Justices have just gone nuts.

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  2. I'm generally very forgiving of female politicians because it is such a hard balance to pull off. And you have to be a bitch to want to do it, like guys have to be assholes. Hillary is the perfect example. First impression is complete bitch, but then you realize how capable and good she actually is at her job. The woman running in Mass. never gave off that same impression of competance. Her biggest move before was actually procescuting a day care center during the satanic cult craze of the 80's.

    Yeah, the bomb detector fraud is huge, but CBS is the only one to do anything on it. They did a 3 minute mention one night last week.

    And yeah, crazy is the nice way of putting things.

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