Sun, 07 Sep 08
Sat, 06 Sep 08
Sat, 06 Sep 08
Oh, my, flip-flopping politicians, whatever is the world coming to?
Thu, 04 Sep 08
I haven't said much about the U.S. presidential race. I've certainly been watching, though. People who have been reading my blog for a long time will know which candidate I don't support. Let's just say I think I'll put my support behind the candidate who is not recommended by the worst president in U.S. history (okay, maybe Dubya's not the worst, but he's certainly the worst in living memory and a good contender for worst in history).
Anyway, I don't like Sarah Palin (McCain's running mate) at all. She appears to be a politically inexperienced soccer mom with a right wing agenda. Okay, she's pretty, I'll give her that. She's got a real MILF thing going on, yeah. But she gave her kids bizarre names (who the hell names their son Track, I ask you), one of them is a knocked up high school dropout, and, well, she's against things that I think are just pure common sense. I do have to wonder what McCain was smoking when he chose her. Surely there were other far more qualified and less annoying people from which to choose? Did he really think all the Hillary supporters would just go, "Oh, look! McCain has a female running mate! Let's vote for him!" I can tell you, it didn't work for Michael Dukakis and it won't work for McCain. Women don't vote for someone on the basis of having similar biological reproductive organs. (Ohhh, she has ovaries! So do I! McCain gets my vote!)
ANYway. Enough of that. I'm not even particularly a Democrat. I was always a registered independent (yes, really) and I even voted for Ronald Reagan once. (Once.) I think I voted for George Bush (the elder, definitely not Dubya!), too, so no nasty comments about how I'm so liberal and blah blah blah. I'm a political moderate, and I always have been, and I vote independently of party loyalty. I just happen to think Dubya is a loser (along with the majority of Americans, it would seem) and I think Sarah Palin is irritating, and I think John McCain could have chosen a better running mate. Maybe he was looking for a trophy vice-president, though, who knows.
And now, I leave you with a visual joke, one which I found highly, highly amusing (click for a bigger image):
Sun, 17 Aug 08
Wed, 25 Jun 08
John McCain's answer to worldwide recession and severe economic hardship and poverty? Why, sell stuff on eBay!
Wed, 11 Jun 08
This article made me smirk and shake my head and sigh a bit. Gee, whiz, George Bush is suddenly concerned that the world thinks he's a warmonger! Oh, gosh!
Mr Bush voiced regret at divisions in the international community created by the war in Iraq, adding: "I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric".Gee, George, ya think? *smirk* *shakes head* *sighs a bit*He admitted that his use of phrases such as "bring them on" and "dead or alive" had "indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace".
Wed, 16 Jan 08
(I'm nearly speechless. I cannot believe that someone running for president in the United States is actually saying things like that. Separation of church and state? Nah, we need to make everyone conform to Mike Huckabee's idea of what God wants! Unbelievable. Thomas Jefferson is spinning in his grave.)
Thu, 08 Nov 07
Sun, 09 Sep 07
Tue, 05 Jun 07
Fri, 25 May 07
Tue, 08 May 07
Thu, 22 Feb 07
(This sort of thing makes my blood run cold. Constitutional? What? The Bush Administration doesn't have to abide by the Constitution! And what makes me even more angry is that so many Americans seem perfectly happy to just stand back and let Bush & Co. run roughshod over their rights as Americans. Disgusting.)
Fri, 16 Feb 07
You can read the article yourself (probably you should), but in a nutshell, Mr Howard decided to say nasty things about a potential candidate for the U.S. Presidency.
That he won't back down doesn't surprise me. John Howard never, never, ever, ever, EVER backs down on ANYTHING and he never, ever, ever apologises, NO MATTER WHAT. To quote a very funny British comedy, "He wouldn't apologise if he shot God in the foot."
Totally apart from John Howard being immovably stubborn to the point of cutting off other people's noses to spite their faces, I'm wonder what the hell he's doing.
Since when it is the place of the Prime Minister of Australia to make comments on the elections of other nations? I mean, we know John is best mates with George W. Bush, so maybe George put him up to it (hey, you never know; George might have made it into some sort of dare and told John that Tony Blair would be his best-best friend if John didn't do it, and John was so scared that George would stop being his bestest mate that he did it).
Basically, Howard has made it crystal clear that his alliance is not with the United States as he's always claimed, it's with George W. Bush. What's going to happen if someone John Howard doesn't personally approve of gets into office? All bets are off on alliances and trade deals?
I dunno, it just really kinda pisses me off. I've never liked John Howard, never voted for him, intend to vote against him in the next election, etc., but he seems to have gone right off the rails on this one. It'll be interesting to see what other forays into American politics he feels the right to make.
NOT that I think Americans give a flying farthingale what John Howard thinks. Most of them don't even have a clue who John Howard even IS...
From the article: "Dr Michael McKinley, an international relations expert from the Australian National University, described the Prime Minister's comments as stupid [...]"
Yeah. I think I'd pretty much agree with that. And it seems that most people on both sides of the Pacific do, as well.
Mon, 20 Nov 06
Sun, 05 Nov 06
Sat, 28 Oct 06
(Fascinating look at linguistics in politics, a subject I've had some interest in for a while now. Thank you to whomever it was who sent me the link to the article; I'm afraid I don't recognize your email address, but it's a great link!)
Mon, 16 Oct 06
Tue, 10 Oct 06
So, now the United States is really pissed off with North Korea (and well they should be, of course). So why doesn't the United States just invade them and force a regime change and establish democracy there?
Oh, that's right. They only invade countries that don't have any weapons of mass destruction....
Mon, 25 Sep 06
Wed, 23 Aug 06
Sun, 16 Jul 06
Sat, 27 May 06
(Gee, Dubya, ya think so?)
Mon, 10 Apr 06
Sat, 08 Apr 06
Tue, 28 Mar 06
(My comment: Gee. What a surprise. *roll eyes*)
Sat, 11 Feb 06
(Let's see, the guy worked for the Vice President, that would make his superiors the Vice President and President...)
Wed, 28 Dec 05
The New York Observer is talking about the possible impeachment of George W. Bush.
So is Editor and Publisher. The Washington Post is also talking about it, and MSNBC is, as well. I haven't been talking about it much, but I'm certainly of the opinion that Bush's actions and blatant disregard of the law and Constituion is at least as impeachable as a sexual escapade in the Oval Office and lying about it after the fact.
Because the question remains:
"The Bush administration simply cannot answer this one question - if time was of the essence, why didn't they conduct the searches and get the warrants after the fact, something that is allowed under the FISA law? They conducted the searches alright, but they never once sought the retroactive warrants."
(And I need and want to give a big nod to the blog from which I got the above links and The Question.)
Fri, 23 Dec 05
Mon, 21 Nov 05
When President George W. Bush addressed the Republican National Convention last year, he was introduced by a biographical film.
[...]
It "is the illegal coordination that occurred between the Bush campaign and PFA that I will document and show you for the first time," Devlin said.
The PFA is Progress for America, a nonprofit group that spent $16.5 million running the Ashley ad in the late stages of the campaign.
Sat, 29 Oct 05
Wed, 21 Sep 05
Tue, 13 Sep 05
Go to Google, type the word failure in the search field, and then hit the "I feel lucky" button.
Tue, 06 Sep 05
Sat, 03 Sep 05
Tue, 16 Aug 05
Thu, 11 Aug 05
By the time I got done reading the collection of quote on The American Taliban page, I felt pretty sick. Granted, some of those people are extremists or members of fringe groups, but some are actually members of government, saying incredibly ignorant, downright bigoted things.
Wed, 20 Jul 05
Fri, 08 Jul 05
Thu, 26 May 05
Sun, 01 May 05
Wed, 23 Mar 05
Fri, 25 Feb 05
Tue, 22 Feb 05
Tue, 15 Feb 05
Thu, 13 Jan 05
Thu, 13 Jan 05
Mon, 10 Jan 05
Thu, 16 Dec 04
Fri, 10 Dec 04
Wed, 08 Dec 04
Mon, 22 Nov 04
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
Fri, 19 Nov 04
Marine commander says insurgency is 'broken' (For the sake of the world and especially the people of Iraq, I hope that this is true.)
Tue, 09 Nov 04
Fri, 05 Nov 04
Freedom President Jacques Chirac (who's country "France" was officially renamed "Freedom" in response to Bush's recent win), a strong opponent of the US-led war in Iraq, expressed hope that Bush's second term "will provide an opportunity to reinforce Freedom-American friendship" and the transatlantic partnership.
"On behalf of Freedom, and on my personal behalf, I would like to express to you my most sincere congratulations for your re-election to the presidency of the United States of America," Chirac wrote in a letter to Bush. "I hope that your second term will provide an opportunity to reinforce the Freedom-American friendship. And rest assured, exportations of Freedom Fries, Freedom Toast, Freedom Kissing, Freedom Onion Soup, and Freedom's Golden Mustard will continue on, without interruption."
Thu, 04 Nov 04
If I say very much on the topic of the U.S. election, I'll break my promise to myself to try to avoid unnecessary negativity. Therefore, I'll just note that what's done is done, and let's hope it won't be as bad as some people fear it might be.
Wed, 03 Nov 04
I am, just for the record, watching the election results closely. Very closely. Just in case you wondered.
Tue, 02 Nov 04
Mon, 01 Nov 04
Mon, 01 Nov 04
Fri, 29 Oct 04
(You need Flash to) play Slap the Candidate, but it's strangely stress-reducing and if you score a 10, well, let's just say I found it gratifying (which probably says something about me, right there). Take your pick of Bush, Kerry, or both! Oh, and clicking the 'extras' in the Flash scenes take you to interesting sites, as well, Try it and see!
Fri, 29 Oct 04
Annie writes in her LiveJournal:
Thu, 28 Oct 04
Tue, 26 Oct 04
This just works for me on so many levels...
The leader of the free world has some firm words with the Almighty. By Terry Jones.
Sun, 24 Oct 04
Tue, 19 Oct 04
Fri, 15 Oct 04
Wed, 13 Oct 04
Tue, 12 Oct 04
My goodness. An entire weblog devoted to discussing whether or not George W. Bush had an electronic "voice in his ear" to prompt his answers when he debated John Kerry.
Thu, 07 Oct 04
Thu, 07 Oct 04
Fri, 01 Oct 04
Thu, 30 Sep 04
Mon, 20 Sep 04
Thu, 02 Sep 04
Tue, 31 Aug 04
One month ago: “We have a clear vision of how to win the war on terror and bring peace to the world,” Mr Bush said.
Now: Bush suggests
war on terrorism cannot be won
Granted, these two statements/headlines/quotes are somewhat misleading, but it's a damned interesting contrast, I think, and well worth reading both articles.
Thu, 26 Aug 04
Fri, 20 Aug 04
I found the article in the Independent News (UK) really interesting. Exerpt:
As obscenity goes, a flash of female breast is hardly worth bothering with. Magazines from Vogue to Heat show them all the time. Barely veiled bosoms are on view on young women in cities the world over.But this is the story of one exposed nipple that shook the world. It has been impossible to ponder the issue of public morality in America these past few months without wondering whether we aren't living in weird parallel universes. In the first, 2004 has been the year in which the United States was caught torturing prisoners in Iraq, was accused of lying about weapons of mass destruction, and was deemed to be violating the US constitution and international law by holding so-called "enemy combatants" indefinitely without trial.
In the second universe, none of these matters one jot: not as moral issues, anyway. In this universe - the province of cable television, talk radio and the strangely hermetic corridors of power in Washington - there has been only one noteworthy moral outrage in 2004, one thing to offend the consciences of decent citizens and make them despair of the nation's moral fibre.
Fri, 06 Aug 04
Wed, 04 Aug 04
Mon, 02 Aug 04
First Ron Regan, Jr speaks at the Democratic National Convention, and now it seems that “Mrs. Reagan does not support President Bush’s re-election and neither to most members of the President’s family,” says a spokesman for the former First Lady.
[EDIT]
Turns out that may have been incorrectly reported. According to another credible source, Former first lady Nancy Reagan, who opposes President Bush's policy on limiting embryonic stem cell research, is backing the Republican's re-election bid.