Fish in Space

Digby brings to my attention the words of the venerable conservative icon Rush Limbaugh: With gasoline prices now under two bucks in most places and dropping, and the price of oil (I checked it right before the program) below $50 now ($49 a barrel it was earlier today.) So with the gas price under two bucks and oil plummeting, what would you say, Pelosi and Reid, if the car companies could become profitable by selling SUVs or go broke by turning out the green cars that you're going to demand they make? Ah, the hypocrisy of the Right Wing mindset. This is what I like to refer to as "conservative blinders." You're focused exclusively on short-term interests because things are precisely the way you want them. Nevermind that they're going to change, and nevermind that you're not going to like the change. Things are the way they are right now and thus there's no need to change anything. Gasoline is under two bucks in most place right now but we had a tast...

http://www.mayerdan.com/2008/11/an_open_letter_to_the_supporte.php You have given your time, your money and your energy to a cause that has attempted to create a second-class citizenry in the United States of America. You have given your time, your money, and your energy to the cause of corrupting the Constitution of California with the first mention of discrimination against its own people. You have given your time, your money, and your energy to the cause of destroying thousands of loving unions between two people. And, congratulations, you succeeded. So, now the question that you should ask yourself: Are you happy now? We certainly are not. In fact, we are furious. The problem is, you see us as gays and lesbians, but we see ourselves as Americans. You would do yourself a huge favor to look back through the history of this great country and see that in the war of oppression against Americans, your side has always lost. Not only have you lost, but your failures are seen as epic and pa...

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In our inimical way, we like to boil down complex issues to simple generalizations. We're all guilty of this; each and every one of us. Some people blame it on our over-reliance on the three-second soundbite, but I think as a people we like having a foundation of understanding to build on. A concept to start from before we start getting into the details. So when Conservatives/Republicans start accusing Liberals/Democrats of wanting to live under a "nanny state," they're generalizing. However, I concede there is truth to this, and I intend to explore that concept while offering a generalization of my own. Liberals like myself (progressives, if you want the re-branded name -- which I don't) are in favor of a government system that looks after the welfare of its least fortunate citizens as well as its most fortunate. We demand socialized medicine, equality for everyone and representation for all voices. While we generally don't favor the idea of enabling p...

Someone in reddit did a nice job of compiling some quotations from our nation's Founding Fathers regarding the roles of Church and State. It's the most diverse list of quotations I've come across in a while, so I bookmarked it and thought I'd share it here. 1797 Treaty of Tripoli (Article 11) - The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion. Benjamin Franklin - Lighthouses are more helpful than churches. Benjamin Franklin - The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason. George Washington - Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. James Madison - During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution. James Madison...

I'm not asking you to vote for anyone in particular. I'm not going to tell you how I think you should vote on the issues. I'm just asking you to vote. That's all. You'll know how you're going to vote when you get there. Vote for Change.

I have no problem with the government buying bad debt. There are things that the government can and should do that the market cannot, particularly when it comes to the well being of citizens. The government is placed in the position of authority, given oversight into the affairs of its people. Markets are well-suited to carrying out the specifics of what has to be done, but they are not good overseers of the public welfare. Businesses generally have one goal: to make money. Serving the public is the way they're supposed to make money. If you give them leeway they'll screw over the public in order to make more money. They do it every single time. So my idea of a good bailout bill for the government? Buy out the loans to the banks so people are allowed to stay in their homes without allowing the banks to collect on the exorbitant interest rates that are forcing people out of their homes in the first place. There's no reason to reward the banking industry for its pr...

I followed a link entitled Is Linux the greatest threat to Windows Vista? The author makes some interesting comments, but falls into the typical trap of assuming that since the Linux architecture is superior to Windows that Linux must automatically succeed. Sadly, nothing could be farther than the truth. While I want to agree with the author here, honesty compels me to disagree. Too many people are propagating FUD about Linux, particularly about it not being ready for prime time. Whenever a user has to open a terminal session in order to fix something, they cry out that Linux Just Isn't Ready. Whenever anything doesn't "just work" the way they demand, they cry out that Linux Just Isn't Ready. Whenever their favorite software package isn't offered for Linux, they cry out that Linux Just Isn't Ready. Microsoft has done an excellent job of seeding the community with FUD, and the Linux community has a lot of work ahead of it in order to counter that. You a...

Hmm...reading an article from a local newspaper in McCain's constituency, I'm finding a lot of interesting tidbits. Those who survive will be the sociopaths who can tell a lie with the most sincere, straight face. You are especially adept at this. A man of integrity. No one forgets that Glenn was the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. You won't let anyone forget that you were a prisoner of war. But you have played that tune too long. By now your constant reminders about your war record make you seem like a modern version of Arthur Miller's tragic failure Willy Loman. But he doesn't like to talk about his days as a POW.  He doesn't try to use it for political capital. Just keep telling everyone that it was your wife's money invested in that shopping center with Keating and that you knew nothing about it. A man of change.  Lots of change.  Change for a five, a ten, even a hundred. Maybe the voters will understand you took those tiring trips to Charli...

So, the lease is almost up on this rathole of an apartment, and I am once again tasked with the dubious pleasure of finding a new place to live. I have a hefty list of things I do not want to see in my next home: I do not want to see any more "surprise" fees. "Oh, by the way, you pay a portion of the water and heat for the building. It varies." "Oh, by the way, we have pet rent ." Rental management has become the new way to scam people out of their money, and I'm more than a little fed up with it. I mean, come on! "Pet rent?" Please tell me how is this not a scam? Don't even try to tell me this is a result of government interference in the market. Right now Colorado laws are virtually silent on tenant rights. About the only thing we can get government support for is if the management is maintaining a slum and have the city condemn the building. Otherwise, we effectively have no rights when we rent. Pest infestation? Too ...

I don't always sign online petitions. Their intended recipients rarely seem to pay attention, and I don't see this one being any different. But its message is so compelling to me that I have to spread the meme. A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives . To: Conservatives and Republicans I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you: 1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us. 2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift. 3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you. 4. When we soon bring ...

The following is an open letter to the men and women who allegedly represent us regarding the War on Terror. Mr. Mukasey is now demanding a new declaration of war enabling Mr. Bush, through his office, to abduct and torture any person on the planet in the name of our ephemeral war on terror. Simply put: don't you dare. The war on terror has been a sham pretty much from the beginning. We accomplished one goal: driving the Taliban out of power in Afghanistan because they protected Osama bin Laden. Then we proceeded to throw it all out the window so Mr. Bush could start a separate war with Iraq. Now the Taliban are regaining their power in Afghanistan, bin Laden's whereabouts remain largely unknown and our citizens have been reduced to a state of constant fear -- less of terrorists and more of our own government. I've previously demanded that the Bush administration be thoroughly investigated for war crimes and crimes against the American people. Those demands, along wi...

I will now propose some campaign slogans for John McCain that I think would make a significant impact on the 2008 popularity contest mistakenly known as the Presidential Election. So, without further ado, on with the list. John McCain for President: Because eight years of Bush just wasn't enough! Because the Neocon agenda isn't finished, yet. Because the religious right deserve a chance at establishing their theocracy. We still have civil rights we haven't abolished. We haven't finished our transition into a proper police state. Democrats make lousy dictators. At least he's not even a little bit black! Living the high life you always wanted, and sneering at you from above. Getting shot down five times wasn't enough; let's go for six! If the Catholics can vote in a supreme leader with one foot in the grave, so can we! Because a lifetime of incompetence should be rewarded with the highest office in the land. Anybody have any suggestions for more? I think t...

So, rumor has it that Obama's starting to suffer from backlash on his FISA vote. You see, a less invasive version of the FISA amendment was up for vote back in January, and Obama firmly opposed it at the time. The latest amendment grants the President far more sweeping powers of surveillance over American citizens, effectively gutting the Fourth Amendment, and Obama voted in favor of it. His excuse? "...can we get to the bottom of what's taking place, and do we have safeguards?" Compare that to six months prior when he said, "The FISA court works. The separation of power works. We can trace, track down and take out terrorists while ensuring that our actions are subject to vigorous oversight, and do not undermine the very laws and freedom that we are fighting to defend." So, how else am I supposed to take this except a betrayal, a reversal on an issue I feel very strongly about? Even aside from telecom immunity ("just following orders" did...

Hugo Schwyzer writes an anecdotal piece about monogamy and relationships in his piece, Of "everlasting novelty", male weakness, and the ecstatic satisfaction of virtue . In it, he writes, I learned, over time, what it took to be faithful. The answer is not "meeting the right person"; no relationship alone is enough to guarantee fidelity. Infidelity is always about the person who chooses to cheat, and rarely about the person being cheated upon. My wife is beautiful, strong, and I love her with all my heart. Her looks and my devotion to her are not the foundation upon which my commitment to monogamy is built. I don't cheat on my wife because of a commitment I've made to myself. In the end, if I'm unfaithful to my spouse, she might not find out. But I will know that I am a cheater; I will have betrayed not only my wife, my family, and the community that trusts me but also the man I have worked so hard to become. Polonius is a fool, but his most famous lin...

I know the arguments. I know the stalling. I know people have heard it before. I don't care: impeachment proceedings should begin immediately. Not later. Now. It doesn't matter if it's late in his term. It doesn't matter if Republicans and Blue Dogs will try to stall. It doesn't matter if there aren't enough votes to impeach. What matters is that Congress remembers its duty to perform oversight and actively investigate the criminal acts of this administration. That is all that matters. As a bonus, once the facts are revealed and displayed for the public in such a way that the media can't ignore it, voting against impeachment will become political suicide. No one but the most corrupt or self-deluded can possibly assert Bush's innocence even now, when only a fraction of the details are known. The President is not above the law, no matter what Cheney wants to say. Else we can no longer claim to be a nation of laws.

Cognitive dissonance has become one of my famous phrases of late, because it very aptly describes the kind of arguments I'm getting from conservatives in defending Bush and their own conservative viewpoint. Simply put, cognitive dissonance is willful ignorance. The wiki article puts it a bit more eloquently: "In simple terms, it can be the filtering of information that conflicts with what one already believes, in an effort to ignore that information and reinforce one's beliefs." Am I calling conservatives liars? Not exactly. Conservatives honestly believe they've got it all figured out, and the fact that reality refuses to conform to their belief just means they're being sabotaged by us damned liberals. They're closing their eyes, plugging their ears and yelling "lalalalalala! I can't hear you!" so they don't have to acknowledge any facts that refute their beliefs. A classic case of cognitive dissonance involves my mother. Shortl...

This blog entry was a fascinating look at cognitive dissonance as art form. If you can't quite bring yourself to finish reading all eleven entries (the author was shooting for ten, but his math skills weren't quite up to the task), skip on down to the comments to see my take on it. Provided, of course, the author allows the comments to stay.

There was a time when talking politics was talking about the issues. More taxes or less? More regulation or less? Are we on the right track or not? Most importantly, how do we fix what we perceive as wrong? But since the Reagan Administration, and particularly since the rise of Fox News, politics has become less about the issues and more about personalities. George Bush is a man people would like to have a beer with. Gore is cold and robotic. McCain is an honorable man of the people. Obama is elitist. Edwards is obsessed with his hair. Y'know what? I don't give a damn how much Edwards pays for his haircut or how well Obama bowls. I want to know what they propose to turn this nation back into a place I'm proud to call home. Because for the past seven years, I've been ashamed to call myself American. People are starting to wake up to the fact that the media has been treating politics like a reality television show. We want to know when our troops are coming ...

Here's something I've always known, but today decided to ignore: never ever apply a critical patch from Microsoft to an established system without first backing up everything you possibly can. You see, I've heard good things about XP's Service Pack 3. It not only applies all the updates you may have missed over the past...uh... four years , but it typically boosts system performance by up to ten percent. I hadn't heard any horror stories about updating gone awry, so when I saw it was officially released today I went and grabbed it, then applied it. It turned T's laptop into a brick. I tried every trick I could think of to get the damned thing rolled back, but nothing worked. Finally I used a Kubuntu 7.04 Live CD to access the hard drive and back up T's data to the handy USB drive I keep for just such an emergency. Then it was simply a matter of wipe and reinstall XP. That's what I get for taking my brain off the hook. Of course, it's now 6 AM...

The Carpetbagger Report has a very interesting article about Fox News getting caught in a lie and refusing to correct it when called on it. The article pretty much speaks for itself, and I have nothing really to add to it. But one commenter poses a valid question that I think I can answer. ...What's the agenda here? I don't get it. How does this influence things one way or another if the report is untrue? Who benefits from these particular rumors made up whole cloth? The "Secret Muslim" rumor has an obvious target and an obvious set of beneficiaries - this one not so much. Who benefits? The Republican base has been very dissatisfied of late. The small government advocates are feeling betrayed, the religious evangelicals are feeling betrayed, and however much Fox News wants to paint Bush as the Second Coming of Ronald Reagan, even the base has woken up to the fact that he's actively driving the nation into ruin. Most of the Republican candidates are proposing ...