Teabagging Election Madness

With mid-term elections coming up & all kinds of political freak-shows going on, the Tea Party factions have added another layer of crazy to the traditional electoral madness.

As an Independent voter, I have no problem with an alternative political party- even what I may personally consider a misguided "conservative" one! However it's disturbing to see the irrationality & childish hysteria many of these Teabagger candidates display toward anything concerning The Government... or history's most notorious marxist black panther muslim terrorist sympathizer -Chairman Barack Hussein Mao-bama.

Socialism!

I also came across an excellent list of general Teabagger priorites to reduce Big Bad Government. Of course, reducing our ridiculously bloated Defense budget would be unthinkable. We all know that Jesus loved unrestrained military spending!

TPM:
"Top Six Established Laws That
Tea Partiers Claim Are Unconstitutional"

Despite their tirades against the federal government, these so-called "conservatives" don't openly provide an accurate portrayal of their alternative solution - unregulated corporate power over society. This is the ultimate consequence of their policies, despite the fact that Wall Street & big business clearly abuse their power when not countered by a strong government. It's bizarre that there's even a possibility that the most extreme right-wing ideologues could gain some power back after nearly sinking this country with unfunded mandates, financial de-regulation, and ungodly expensive wars. Reckless conservative policies had 8 loooong years to dismantle the country, and moderates & progressives are supposed to clean it all up in less than 2 yrs! It's so absurd.

Although the perception is that it's a grassroots movement, the big money and organization behind the Tea Party movement have come from ultra-wealthy right-wing corporatists & organizations.

While lesser known influences like Koch Industries are pouring money into this election cycle, Fox News is the most visible cheerleader for the Teabagger's cause. Like all right-wing agendas, their main objective is to make money. Rupert Murdoch & Roger Ailes are purposely marketing polarizing perspectives to their viewers primarily to enhance their brand... and therefore their profits. Being an avid news consumer, I realize all the news networks do this to some extent, but Fox News is political advocacy on steroids. Even a former Fox personality acknowledged the company is cynically polarizing the American public to financially benefit themselves.

Major Garrett slams Fox:
"They Want to Keep the 'Polarization'
in American Media"

The Tea Party financial ties are illustrated in this chart featured on Crooks & Liars, which is more interesting & accurate than Glenn Beck's incoherent chalkboard scribbles:

The endless stream of bullsh*t flowing through politics & the media who are covering the process is one reason people like me are attending The Rally to Restore Sanity this weekend. It is an expression of the recognition that we are living in an insane world, with the public dialogue being controlled by insane people.

Tea Party Madness

The big primary night news this week was college-hussy-turned-Puritan Christine O'Donnell beating long-time incumbent Mike Castle in the Delaware Republican primary. The Republican Party seems it's being split by the Tea Party ideologues which may or may not cost them in the general elections.

It's pretty bad when George W.'s boys like Karl Rove & former speechwriter David Frum are talking smack on these know-nothing, reactionary Teabagger candidates. The far-right wingers have no truly practical policy positions, only that the government is bad & they have to "take our country back!".... back to the Dark Ages I presume (or at least the 18th century).

Mr. Frum, a Bush Republican, laments:

"Republicans have done insufficient serious policy work over the past half dozen years. The legacy of this inactivity is a party on the brink of power, lacking an intellectual framework for the use of that power."

Why would he say that- about his own party? Because a few of these Teabagger candidates say & believe pure craziness bordering on complete ignorance.

For instance:

CHRISTINE O'DONNELL: "Well, creationism, in essence, is believing that the world began as the Bible in Genesis says, that God created the Earth in six days, six 24-hour periods. And there is just as much, if not more, evidence supporting that."

I try to respect people's heartfelt religious beliefs, & find alot of wisdom in the Bible. However, this kind of thinking about the Universe is Sarah Palin-level retarded.

How can you say 24 hour periods exist- before the Sun & Earth were formed!?!?!

The arbitrary measurement of the 'hour' was created by man based on the periodic solar orbit of the Earth. The idea that God delineated Creation into "24-hour days" is so damn stupid it's scary. Yet, Delaware Republicans voted for her over an experienced, moderate 9-term Congressmen....

The Political Spectrum

Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy discussing politics, among other topics.

Although I try to maintain an objective & logical perspective on the world, merely by discussing anything you open yourself up to subjective interpretation. Especially in politics, it is often a game of words that try to model perceptions around an agenda.

Despite the dangers of generalizing with labels, like 'conservative', 'liberal', 'fascist', 'progressive', 'Marxist', 'Teabagger', etc. etc. it's difficult not to discuss human issues without relying on timeless human conventions, like mockery & name-calling.

Labels may be misleading, but I believe there seems to definitely be a "Political Spectrum" in which you can plot various figures in world culture along a plane of philosophical & ideological tendencies.

I had this idea in my head to create a chart showing this ideological spectrum, so I took a couple nights and put it together. It's been finished for a few weeks but I decided to wait until 4th of July Weekend to truly celebrate America's Independence Day- with the most profound & accurate political infographic ever created! (Strictly for parody purposes, of course)

click to enlarge
"The Political Spectrum"

I did this for fun & it turned out exactly as I envisioned it. I'm sure some people may disagree with it, find offense, or whatever. This spectrum is 100% accurate and scientifically irrefutable, so such arguments are in vain.

Since I am in a rush to start my holiday weekend w/ crabs, beer, & horseshoes I'll give a quick rundown on some of my thoughts making this picture:

• Obviously, the spectrum goes from blue/left/liberal to red/right/conservative. I tend to gravitate toward the liberal end of the spectrum. Surprise!

• Can anyone argue that Scrooge McDuck, Rush Limbaugh, Rich Uncle Pennybags, & Dick Cheney are not of a similar nature? Can't the same be said for Willie Nelson, Yoda, the Dalai Lama, and John Lennon? It seems undeniable.

• I put "Mooselini" Sarah Palin next to the other fascist Mussolini, Benito "Il Duce".

• I also had to put The Dalai Lama next to his derivative personality, Yoda.

• On one extreme, you have bald & bespectacled Ghandi. On the other extreme, his shadow opposite- bald & bespectacled Dick Cheney.

• Once again, I've linked Dick Cheney to his fictional counterpart, Emperor Palpatine.

• This whole "Political Spectrum" conspiracy is making Glenn Beck cry like a little girl, as usual. Maybe it's Vader breathing down his neck.

• I couldn't resist giving that socialist tyrant President Obama devil horns out of the star points, just for giggles... (or is he actually the Star Messiah?) I actually think he's doing a good job, considering the circumstances. It baffles me how can anyone think he's The Anti-christ or evil after 8 years of Bush/Cheney.

• Obama has his ear to the conservative side... will he be sucked into their vortex of regressive politics?!?

• Adolf Hitler is staring longingly at his perfect Aryan princess, Ann Coulter.

• Hitler-worshipper Eric Cartman is breaking out of the bottom right corner: "Screw you guys, I'm goin' home!" He shows the tendency for right-wingers, who espouse authoritarianism, to break rules when they feel it suits them personally.

• I inserted myself in the mix, as The Monkey Buddha avatar.

Fun with Glenn Beck

I try to expose myself to pundits & commentators who I don't generally agree with. It's good to expose yourself to arguments from those whose viewpoint differs from yours. I'm not a Fox News fan, but I 'll watch it once in awhile to get the full spectrum of opinion out there.

However, politi-tainment maestro Glenn Beck is as tough for me to stomach as that bonehead Sean Hannity. I'm as interested in conspiracy theories & hidden history as anyone else, but Beck's trips down the rabbit hole become (for me) either goofy from his over-dramatization or absurd from their incoherence.

I think it's good to scratch the surface & try to understand the connections behind social power structures, but GB is such a pompous ass that the kernels of truth he's trying to sow get lost in a manure heap. It's why on the other end of the spectrum Keith Olbermann turns off so many who might otherwise agree with his views, an inflated ego & a noxious air of self-righteousness.

Anyway, the Top Teabagger, The Mad Hatter himself, was getting it from all sides as Jon Stewart & SNL had fun with his "special" brand of commentary.

State of the Union 2011: WIN THE FUTURE!!!

Last night I watched President Obama's speech & can say I at least generally agree with his rhetoric.

Despite the lunatics who think someone like Sarah Palin would be a better President, most Americans see that Obama is doing a good job. He hasn't approach everything in a way that I would consider optimal, but it's easy for any one of us plebeians to complain.

Any reasonable person should appreciate sane leadership after watching the two response speeches. The official GOP response was a snoozer from Paul Ryan, a Ayn Rand acolyte who wants to spearhead the Republican effort to sacrifice Medicare & Social Security to the insatiable beasts inhabiting Wall Street.

NYT:
Paul Ryan "The FlimFlam Man "

A second, even more far-out Right-Wing response was the predictably bizarre & misleading 'State of Teabagger Land' speech by ol' crazy eyes herself, Michele Bachmann. 5 years ago, nobody would have imagined the disciplined GOP machine fracturing like this, but they've turned into a madhouse.

The recurring theme of Obama's speech, "Win the Future" was really funny to me. It's a kind of absurd phrase, exactly like Dubya's idiotic "War on Terror"- except with obviously a more positive tone.
Like the 'Terror', the Future never actually ends... so how the hell can you declare 'war' against something or 'win' something that has no possible point of completion.

I think they make these irrational phrases up just to scramble people's minds- like a propagandist Zen koan.

Anyway, the President's repeated phrase "Win the Future" inspired me. I immediately thought of making a graphic of 'Future-Obama' emerging from a mind-bending time warp.

Last night, right after the speech I had to start it & got it mostly done. I finished it tonight so I could post it... before The Future arrives!

(click to enlarge)

SOTU Outlook

President Obama's giving the State of the Union speech. People inevitable say such speeches are a lot of hot air, but in reality they can help define a sense of national purpose.

HNN:
"Important State of the Union Addresses in History"

I thought this was an interesting look at the recent politics of the Obama White House, behind the scenes:

NYT:
"Obama's Jobs Search"

Beyond simple-minded nationalism, it's important for a country to come together as a productive, creative community. The President is one person, but in these kind of speeches he can communicate common goals and policy ideas to the nation-at-large.

The obvious focus of his priorities should be increasing jobs, research, investment, and development of a fair economic playing field, both domestically & internationally.

Usually, the SOTU address is an uninterrupted platform for the President. Of course, there are exceptions, like knuckle-dragging Congressman Joe Wilson who will always be remembered for yelling like a moron during the 2009 SOTU.

This year the only sideshow entertainment we know of so far is the special post-speech performance from GOP/Teabagger Co-Queen Michelle Bachmann. The Congresswoman is well known for her regular supremely ignorant or cynically misleading statements. Tonight she will shine, though, hopefully laying out her 'State of the Bizarro World' speech with an unmistakable kookiness that only she can provide.

Fox News:
'Unusual' Bachmann Rebuttal
Could Scramble GOP Message
on Obama Address

Please, God, let my 2 favorite right-wing ladies run against Obama in 2012!!!

What a freakshow that would be...

"yakyakyakyak screeeech! yak yakyak
yakyakyak screeeeech! yakyakyak yakyakyakyakyak screeeech!"

US vs. BP

Like the rest of the country, I've watched the oil spill catastrophe unfold in the Gulf of Mexico for the last 2 months.

It's one of those nightmarish situations that defies description.

Boston.com:
Disaster Unfolds Slowly
in the Gulf of Mexico

With the intellectual & physical resources available in this country, it's definitely shocking that the leak has just continued to spew into the Gulf for this long. Mankind is ultimately no match for Nature, but this is a localized engineering problem that has to be solved. Science, industry, & government should all be engaging at full force to contain the leak and clean the damage. It seems like Kevin Costner's centrifuge separation technology has been approved & purchased by BP for the cleanup efforts. This is just one of many technological avenues that need to be pursued to mitigate the effect of this spill.

Most of the public's outrage has been directed at BP, aka British Petroleum. Although I find the whole idea of using fossil fuels & combustion engines archaic, at least BP had a cool "green" logo that's actually derivative of a rotated & repeated Flower of Life geometric pattern. This along with the whole "Beyond Petroleum" corporate branding was very effective. Now, that is all literally blown to hell, of course.

President Obama has visited the Gulf several times already, which is helpful to the efforts down there. Local leaders have said that his presence makes things start to happen, which makes sense. Unfortunately the magnitude of the disaster has people obviously looking to throw blame Obama's way, too. He's going to give a speech from the Oval Office in an hour, but that alone is not going to cut it. Unless he says he's taking some kind of drastic measures that can be visibly implemented immediately, this is going to continue to be a drag on his many agendas. Clinton's former Labor Secretary Robert Reich's opinion about Obama's potential responses seems right to me:

When Everything Seems Out of Control,
the President Must Take Charge

It's funny in a sadly predictable way how the ever-reactionary 'Teabagger' faction thinks government should get out of everything... until a disaster strikes & then they agree President suddenly isn't doing enough and needs to take control. They are socialists, but don't even know it. How insidious!

Even though Obama has said he's looking for "whose ass to kick", most of America probably thinks he should also take Stephen Colbert's advice... & literally kick the ass of unbelievably arrogant asshole CEO Tony Hayward.

Colbert Report:
Oil's Well That Ends Well

People have suggested there's a conspiracy or sabotage of some sort, but I wasn't down there in a sub so I won't even pretend to have a clue. If it were some kind of sabotage by a foreign entity or even a rival oil company trying to bankrupt BP, I'm not sure that would even make strategic sense. The most likely culprit is the source of so much other human calamity, good ol' fashion Greed. That, combined with hazardous materials in extreme environments has proven to be a volatile combination.

I'm trying to find a silver lining here, so hopefully there are a couple good things that may come out of this:
• The government will be forced to better handle it's important function of regulating this kind of mega-industry.
• This will compel everyone to dedicate R&D, capital, and effort to implementing alternative sources of renewable energy.
• We as a people will also have to to address the complex interaction between multi-national corporate interests & our supposedly democratic government that should be defending the public's interests.

• On a more spiteful note- Sarah Palin has been forced to laughably defend her now ultra-retarded mantra "Drill, Baby, Drill!" She is such an unbelievable dope. If I believed in a Heavenly Father, I'd say he's trying to specifically tell her to shut off her gushing stream of nonsense for once. It wouldn't save the Gulf Coast, but it would save many of America's brain cells.

Sarah, Queen of the Teabaggers

I'm a political Independent & would never join a particular party.
Anyone who knows my views would probably lump me into the 'Liberal' category. I prefer the word 'Progressive' (even though infamous albino Glenn Beck is trying to make that a dirty word). Regardless, I think such broad labels usually have a tendency to distract the debate on any given issue.

Politics is - ideally - problem solving for the benefit of society. In our crazy human world of myriad personalities & clashing ideologies, politics is actually a much more grotesque creature that is anything but pragmatic. Despite the obstructionism of Republicans & incompetence of Democrats in DC, the government isn't completely dysfunctional. There are still good Congresspeople trying to get things done.

People claiming that our government is falling to Marxists & Communist Liberals under Obama are pretty much hysterical. These are the same buffoons that gave Bush the benefit of the doubt while his neo-con cabal was bankrupting the nation morally & fiscally with unpaid wars and tax cuts, creating unprecedented federal bureaucracies, and undermining the institutional foundations of the country. Now one year of trying to clean up after the nearly decade-long catastrophic failure of Neo-conservatism, the Obama administration is suddenly guilty of The Fall of the Republic.

Now that my attempt at civil discourse is over & I've started indiscriminate name-calling, let me get to the reason I wrote this post. I'm about to prove this asswipe correct & just be plain condescending. It seems that a fringe of the 'conservative' political spectrum have recently been graced by the presence their Populi$t™ Queen- the insufferable Sarah Palin, whose $100,000 speaking fee screams out, "I'm you're average Joe Six-Pack!"

Although she spoke at the Teabagger convention, the general Tea Party movement is fairly widespread & diverse in their particular views. However, that fringe subset of American culture who adore Sarah Palin have a specific overall identity: Idiots, with a capital 'I'- as in "'I' am an idiot for thinking Sarah Palin can answer America's problems in any meaningful way."

Sarah, aka. "Moosilini", gave the national political scene plenty of material to work with this week. First of all, her beligerent speech was full of absolutely ridiculous political redmeat for her gathering of like-minded cretins. I wonder how Sarah would react to someone making that speech about a conservative President "during a time of war". Since she's the biggest partisan hypocrite in politics, she obviously would say something totally different in that case.

She also claimed in an interview that President Obama should start a war with Iran- because we are not doing enough to help our perpetual aid beneficiary, Israel. Both statements are obviously insane & not worthy of my time to comment.

The coup de grâce, however, was her notes that she was spotted with written on her palm. It was for her Q&A session- where she actually looked down at her hand to read items that should be embedded in that wacked-out brain of hers:

Energy
Cut -----
Tax
Lift Americas Spirits

"Palin's Tea Party Crib Notes"

Forget the predictable content of her scribblings... Who in their right mind writes notes on their hand when they're trying to be considered a serious political figure?!? This is just the latest antic that proves she's just a kook to everyone but her delusional followers.


I subject myself to reading comment boards on political websites of all viewpoints, although I almost never try to converse with the raving masses myself. Most of the discussions seem to be people calling each other Fascist Palin-drones & Socialist Obama-bots. It is particularly mind-boggling, though, how the special breed of doofuses vigorously defending Palin's honor can twist their brains to even defend this 'palm notes' silliness, even to the point of claiming that it makes her superior to Obama who "reads off a teleprompter." This kind of argument is a turd in the cesspool of political ignorance.

I imagine the backwards fools devoted to the Sarah Palin get a kick out of the negative reaction "Elitist" (intelligent) people have to her "Real American" (shitty) attitude. It's not that people like me are intimidated or threatened by her. The problem is more of the fact that she is encouraging an ignorant & regressive mindset among people whose rational faculties are barely functioning as it is. This creates a sideshow distracting from substantial policy debates. I'm more scared of the destructive effects of Teh Stupid among the voters than of Palin herself.

I'll let my hero & the genius of our generation, Stephen Colbert, have the last word on The Teabagging Queen:

Colbert Report:

Sarah Palin Uses a Hand-o-Prompter

A State of Occupation

 This weekend, the growing Occupy Wall Street protests spread to cities around the world. It seems that a large number of people have finally had enough with the crooks & buffoons that have been acting as overlords.

In my opinion, this movement is our country's progressive answer to the misplaced priorities of the Tea Party- which was fueled by fear & anger toward the government, but with a blind eye to Free Market abuses & no realistic approach to generate solutions.

Speaking of the Tea Party, this is an insane video of possibly the most empty-headed teabagger out there, actress Victoria Jackson. She's mingling with people in the Occupy Wall St. crowd & boldly displays her insufferable ignorance. I don't know how anyone can talk to her seriously. Could it possibly be performance art on her part?!? I'd recommend forwarding to about 2 min in. Her voice is hard to take, despite the excellent answers by the people she interviews.

The Tea Party has attracted (rightfully) angry Americans looking for alternatives to the 2 party system. However, that movement has mostly been a pawn of big industry, namely Koch Industries, & big media, namely Fox News. That's why the Tea Party's main stated goals are cutting government programs, lowering taxes & reducing regulations. Their desired policies mostly benefit multinational corporations, not the average person.

However, the knee-jerk reactionaries raising hell in the Tea Party were actually ahead of the curve in openly expressing general frustration with a system gone mad. These Occupy Wall Street protests are the result of everyone else in America finally reacting en masse to the many dysfunctional elements of society that have metastasized into systemic failure.

The driving vision of this recent upwelling is not to just initiate reform, but to fundamentally change in the way society operates. Everything is so screwed up, maybe this kind of organized, widespread nonviolent protest this is the only way to start the wheels turning toward real progress.

After reading through the '99% Declaration' policy points, I think these are definitely the right issues to be focusing on. These groups of people are trying to effectively address the problems at their root cause. This is actually a rational & pragmatic platform... not the stoned ramblings of bongo-playing hippies:

The 99 percent Declaration

Traditional apologists for the elitist tendencies of the status quo are having a hard time adopting the reality of this popular movement into their worldview. America's biggest knucklehead, Fox News' Sean Hannity, is the standard bearer for being wrong on every single issue.

These two U.S. Marines have the right advice for anyone like him, who is foolish enough to dismiss the growing unrest in this country: