A Pain in the Neck

Note the pendant hanging from her neck.

It is not sufficient for this human vomit, this putrid excrescence of evil, to come to New York, eat the wrong pizza, say stupid things about Paul Revere and be so stupefyingly insane as to stand by her historical errors concerning him, who she insists on turning into an NRA icon.
She also gets to wear a Star of David? This is the last straw.
Apparently, she wore the star in New York on celebration of Jerusalem Day, which commemorates Israel's conquest of the Old City of Jerusalem during the Six Day War. On other days, with other audiences, she conveniently wears other religious symbols, the harlot:

Is this her own personal mishegoss? She thinks that Jews (in New York, of all places) are suddenly going to like her if she wears a Mogen Dovid? Does she think we already forgot that in 2008 she attended a service in her church where the director of Jews for Jesus (another plague from hell) said that the Jews who were victims of terrorist attacks in Israel died as punishment for not accepting Christianity?
People accuse Jews of having too long a memory. Well, we better not lose it now.
Or did some enterprising, benighted, wrongheaded Jew dream up this public relations coup?
How many times do I have to scream it to the winds?
Jews, hear me out:
This offensive simulacrum of a person 1) is not a Jew 2) is not a friend of the Jews.
As I have said a zillion times before, evangelicals that support Israel do so not because they love Bibi and they love Jews. They do it for one reason only. Israel is where Jesus is supposed to show up when he finally deigns to come back. Only the saved will be allowed into the Rapture and Whatever Happens Next will not happen until EVERYBODY is a Christian because only the Christians can be saved. Hence, the Jews, who have paid dearly through the centuries for refusing to believe in Jesus, are first on the list of conversion.
So listen, idiot Jews: no matter how you slice it, it's not gonna be good. If it doesn't happen, we may be accused of scaring him away. If it happens, we are going to be standing in the way unless we decide to convert. To judge from past history, this is not going to happen voluntarily, and we all know how carried away the faithful can get when it comes to the conversion of the infidels (the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, anyone?).
Do not come crying to me wondering what happened to all that evangelical love.
This woman is a dangerous idiot and so are you if you think she's good for the Jews, or for anybody else, for that matter.
As for you, pestilent, opportunistic cockroach, take that thing off your neck.
How dare you?

In Other News...

Here's a digest of stuff currently running through my brain.

• Crisis? What Crisis?
Last week I somehow ended up in Times Square 3 times. I saw two Broadway shows (both meh) and took visiting friends to a Jazz gig at Iridium. To judge from the stampedes of tourists, most of them evidently American, running around Times Square like the bulls in Pamplona, I can announce to you that the economy, both national and foreign, has recovered. Otherwise, how do we explain the hordes of tourists that have descended upon our fair megalopolis? I've been living in this city for almost 20 years and I have never seen so many tourists. And so many American tourists. They are going to Broadway shows in droves, which ain't cheap, even if they're buying tickets in bulk. They are staying in overpriced hotels and they are being happily ripped off at  tourist traps. New York is expensive.
So stop the economic whining, Red Staters, cause I'm on to you. You are not so bad off, and you secretly love New York and wish with all your might you could be so cool as to live here. Alas, you are not.
I am an unapologetic New York snob, (and with good reason: I live here!) but do not misunderstand me. I do not dislike tourists. I love helping them find their way. And telling them what to order at Joe's Shanghai. And steering them away from eating in Little Italy. And trying not to strangle them when they walk 5 deep in slow motion on the street.

• Bendygate!
Don't get me wrong, but Sarah Palin reminds me of Hitler. Wait! Let me explain why. Because I'm deathly afraid of her, that's why. Because I cannot fathom how there could possibly be people who don't see her for what she is: a dangerous, ignorant arriviste, resentful, mean-spirited, provincial, petty, arrogant and hungry for power.  That there are people out there who are still drinking her Kool-Aid (with bendy straws!) is very worrisome to me. This latest fracas is a gift for those of us people of sense who can tell a psycho-hypocrite-demagogue when we see one. Turns out that her "public speaking" demands (as if what comes out of her mouth is speech) outstrip any entertainment diva's.  Suffer the little people. It is not in her interest that the "folks" who so adore her find out how craven and two-faced she is. So people have to fish out the details of her speaking contracts from the garbage, which, if you think about it, is where they rightfully belong.

To our Health!

I've been watching the passing of the health care bill from the sidelines because I'm exhausted from the topic. I'm glad (and rather suprised) they passed it, it's not what we deserved or demanded, but it will have to do. It's better than nothing.
I hope that Obama takes this opportunity to hold on to his cojones and continue enacting sweeping reversals to the Republican policies that have harmed this country for so many years. It is obvious that bipartisanship is a fantasy, so let's drop the pretense and get things done without it.
After reading the comment section on this interesting article in the NYT that says that the health care bill amounts to a redistribution of wealth, I realized that sane people in high income cities like New York are going to end up paying for the health insurance of the trailer trash idiots that think this bill is marxist and that spit on Black Civil Rights leaders and hurl insults at gay congressmen.
As Obama said in his pep talk to Democrats before the vote, we are doing this for the very people who don't want it. If it was up to me, let them fester with incurable illnesses and no insurance until they cry uncle. They deserve every rotted tooth, every spotted liver, all the diabetes and obesity and heart disease and inner putrefaction that calamity can visit on them. If possible within the the next 4 years, before the bill actually starts working.
And then Sarah Palin's "Don't retreat - reload" comment, what the hell is that? Hankering for a lynch mob, perhaps? Someone muzzle that Nazi bitch already.
All this mass tea bag hysteria is nothing but white racists in a panic. They can complain about taxes, and socialism and their America and whatever you like, but the actual subtext is "the uppity Black man is coming to get us. It's his payback time and we are scared. Plus, we just can't suffer the idea that he is in charge". It is a serious mass delusion with very disturbing roots and it is about time we stop treating it as  ridicule. It needs to be condemned and rejected, not just laughed at. 
It is up to the rest of us, which I'd like to believe constitute the majority of decent, sane, lucid and sensible people in this country, including moderate Republicans who should be dying of shame and anguish, to repel and repulse, ostracize and shrink these lunatics and their media cheerleaders to an irrelevant, inconsequential sideshow.
The Republican Party, I insist, has made a gross miscalculation, and has allowed the criminal, lunatic fringe to rule the roost. The loonies have taken over the asylum. The Republican leadership thinks this will win them votes at the polls. Perhaps on those moronic red states. I believe that their abandonment of moderation, sensibility, responsibility and reason will continue to cost them dearly. They should be ashamed of themselves.

And no, it's not refreshing if you can't speak English while in office, or while running away from it.

I've had it with the people who think that inarticulateness in politics is charming and refreshing.
Go read a fucking book!
And I am always amazed that the people who champion this ignoramus are the same people who get all bent out of shape when immigrants don't speak the King's English. For crying out loud. At least they are immigrants. They already speak one language. And they are not the governor of anything.
Having said this, the edited version of Palin's resignation speech is very much fun and a good grammar lesson to boot.
Thanks to Ethan for posting in FB!

P.S.: And yes, the "liberal" media laughs at you, because you are laughable. You fully deserve the excoriation.

Bill Kristol is a Putz

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Bill Kristol
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

When even a Republican who can purportedly edit a magazine insists on aligning himself with the fringe, that means truly that all of the Republican party now officially belongs in a sideshow. They are as vulgar and as disturbing as a freakshow, but with all due respect to actual freaks, unfortunately not as innocuous. Their appetite for self-destruction is matched by their appetite for the destruction of the social and moral fabric of this country.
Kristol insists, against all evidence (the latest being the inscrutable farewell "poem" to Alaska), that Sarah Palin is just great. That she is fit for office. Both of them should be institutionalized and the key thrown away.



He insists, if I remember this correctly, because he is one of the people who convinced her to run with McCain. If people could be sued for dangerous irresponsibility, we'd be calling a class action suit against him. But he laughs it off. He thinks it's provocative. Probably he will soon be shilling one book or another. It's the height of cynicism and of condescension. He should stop pretending he is an intellectual and be Rush Limbaugh's sidekick. That's where he actually belongs.
So I don't know why it astounds people when Kristol spews incongruous views on healthcare on The Daily Show, views almost even more stupid than his unfathomable support for Palin. Like saying that the American people do not deserve the same level of healthcare than our soldiers get from the VA, which apparently is the best public health service in the country. (Which led him to admit that the government is indeed capable of furnishing us taxpayers with excellent healthcare).
Or like saying that the VA healthcare is expensive and then quickly correcting himself, because what could be more evil and more callous than counting beans when it comes to the health of the veterans? But counting beans on the health over the rest of the country is fine. We have been deemed undeserving and need to be punished for it by none other than insurance companies.
The man is entitled to his opinion on healthcare, which apparently to these people is like shopping for underwear. But I think his support for Sarah Palin is more dangerous.
In the end, if there is a silver lining, is that they keep running themselves into the ground.

Be a patriot: scorn Sarah Palin.

It is the patriotic duty of every American citizen to heap unlimited amounts of scorn and vitriol on the topic of Sarah Palin's resignation and her future political hopes. The mere fact of her political existence is already surreal, pathetic and ridiculous, as is the entire Republican party, which is having a decadence as grotesque and revolting as Nero's Rome. However, it is our duty to remind her in no uncertain terms that she and her party demean and diminish the great civic achievement of our last Presidential election. In this historical moment, the citizens singlehandedly delivered this country from the clutches of indecency, and saved and helped restore the last shred of dignity of our political system.
Nobody knows why she is doing what she is doing. She is either having a meltdown or planning to run for president. Let us pray it's the former and not the latter, because she is unfit for public life. I think we should all be tired of the grotesque humiliations we endured for eight years and should countenance no more from the likes of her.
One thing is clear: She recently signed a lucrative contract to "write" a book.
The sheer absurdity of it all.

The joyful aftermath

Now that I have been able to collect my thoughts, scattered as they were by more powerful emotions such as joy and relief and pride and amazement, here they are:

McCain's concession speech was the greatest moment of his campaign. Had he sounded and acted like last night throughout, he may not have been trounced the way he was. Call me paranoid, but I thought that making it about African-Americans at the very beggining of the speech still had a whiff of scaremongering amongst his base. It was over 100 million people who voted, it was about more than African Americans. Thus, I didn't find the speech as gracious at the very beginning, but maybe it's just that there is a certain tone-deafness in McCain's camp in general. Then McCain corrected course. When alluding to the mistakes he made, I could not help but parse this as the major blunder of choosing Palin for a running mate (against his wishes, according to a New Yorker article). About her, there is no need to expound. She showed who she was, or rather who she wasn't from the very beginning and it just kept getting worse. The way she was manipulated by the campaign and used to unleash ugliness was not only cynical and disgusting but a terrible setback for women and for everybody in America. There were many other mistakes that showed McCain was out of touch with the reality of most people. The condescension towards Obama, the racial baiting, the patronizing tone towards the American people (Joe the Plumber?) but most damaging was the ideological tunnel vision of his campaign strategy. Their base, to which they pandered and because of which they floundered, is irrelevant today. Most American people have more common sense and more authentic decency and, as the results show, more pressing problems, than those fringe lunatics that Steve Schmidt and Karl Rove think can win them an election. Republicans showed that they live in a dangerous ideological bubble of their own making that has now felicitously (for us) and disastrously (for them) exploded. The fact that they pretended that G.W. Bush, the biggest elephant in the room in the history of the world, wasn't there, didn't help any. The entire McCain campaign symbolizes neatly and beautifully everything that is wrong with the Republican party. Now they have four years to regroup and fix it, and perhaps they can become a viable party again for those tax-obsessed people who believe in total self-reliance, not for evangelical loonies and intolerant bigots and ultra-rightist extremists.

I was struck by the cold indifference of McCain's body language as he patted Palin in the back and as he almost forgot that his Barbie wife was standing beside him (who must have been the most relieved American of all). He barely acknowledged her, and not for the first time. Compare that to what goes on with the Obamas and I'm just thrilled we have a power couple finally who seems to be having an actual, living, breathing intimate relationship. They are a real couple. I'm thankful just for that. I believe it is more important than it seems (think the Nixons, the Fords, the Clintons, the Bushes and the Bushies. I rest my case). I also love Biden's wife. She seems authentic.

And then we have our winner, who is not only intensely charismatic and capable and intelligent and a magnetic orator (and super duper handsome), but who ran, as he himself said, the best political campaign ever. If he runs this country with the intelligence and strategic acuity and steadfastness and nimbleness with which he ran his campaign, we may have a formidable president. For a spine-chilling comparison in leadership styles just think back to Hillary Clinton's debacle and/or the McCain campaign. Both seem rudderless and opportunistic and willing to shift and pander at any cost for the big prize. Meanwhile, "That One", breezes through on message, on point and without psychodrama. That's who we need at the helm.

I found it interesting that the victory music playing was no Motown or Stevie Wonder. It was a bombastic film score from John Williams for The Patriot. As an inside joke it works real well. But it is also a cunning choice because, like Obama's victory speech, it is about America, not about our different particularities. The Clintons used Fleetwood Mac (Don't Stop). It would have been a joyous get down and boogie had the Obamas used any of the magnificent music that is the African American legacy to this country, but it was politically right to use something generic, because this presidency, as Obama mentioned time and time again in the speech, needs to be about everybody, not about him being a Black man. Still, in the speech, he did not disappoint in this respect. Nobody can accuse this man of being an Oreo. The speech was perfectly nuanced between inclusiveness and the acknowledgment of his historical reality and its astounding implications for America and the world. When he mentioned what that 106 year old Black lady who got out and voted had been through to get to this day, through Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma (and I will add Katrina), he brought it all home.

But images can speak louder than words even as magnificent and adroit as our new President-Elect's. The faces in Grant Park, a veritable mosaic of color; the booing faces in Arizona, a sea of white. Guys, I have news for you: that is not America anymore. Hasn't been for a while now. America is more like Obama, an amalgam of races and nations and colors and creeds. Sasha and Malia beaming, their parents looking and acting like parents and like a couple. And I was surprised by Obama's gravitas, no doubt influenced by the sad loss of his grandmother, but also I'm sure by what he correctly deemed appropriate for the moment. He looks like a statesman, talks like a statesman and acts like a statesman. I'm in love.

I'm also in love with Michelle Obama. I can't wait for her to be the first lady. She rocks.

I have been reading the comments in the NY Times (the schmaltziness gets boring pretty fast). Apparently, Australians are uncommonly happy about the results. But I have not seen comments from Israel. Israel should be rejoicing just like the rest of the world. This man is committed to a foreign policy that will restore America's standing in the world and I'm sure this will include plans for a lasting peace in the Middle East (which means more peace for all the planet). Jews need to understand that he and Biden, not the macho bluster and evangelical craziness of Bush and the Satanic self-interest of Cheney, will be in the best interests of Israel and of the Palestinians.

Lastly, I heard the message that outgoing POTUS sent Obama. It sounded like a frat boy talking to a buddy. Awesome dude! I must agree, but it is so below the standards the occasion requires. Luckily, we can look forward to the winds of change from now on. Oh, happy day.

What's with the second Holocaust?

I, for one, have had it with the Republicans', cynical, ridiculous implication that the crap that comes from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's mouth guarantees a "second Holocaust". What are they talking about?
I find it offensive that they make such a spurious claim. All of a sudden they seem to have trademarked the phrase "never again" for use in a context that is completely unsuitable. The vulgarity and the temerity of implying that only they can defend Israel, or that Israel could not defend itself from a country like Iran is appalling. Worse, the outright falsity of Iran being such a threat right now is unacceptable. Apart from Ahmadinejad's public relations campaigns, which is all his antisemitic, anti-Israel talk is, there is no evidence that Iran is on a mission to destroy Israel. It's Iran and not Israel who should be trembling. After all Israel does have nuclear weapons now. Iran does not yet. And I'm pretty sure that Israel will ensure it never gets them, long before there can even be a speck of a shade of a second Holocaust. AS IF!
How dare the Republicans even imagine that Iran could inflict total annihilation on the scale of the Holocaust on Israel? It's giving Iran too much credit, which is exactly what those words are meant to provoke. By making these parallels, the stupid McCain campaign has just fallen into Ahmadinejad's trap. It is pathetic, irresponsible and absurd.
This is fear mongering at its most abject and if you are a self-respecting Jew you should reject this deeply offensive nonsense. It is vile and disgusting.
Israel, my friends, can defend itself. McCain and Palin act as if Iran was the Third Reich. It's not. They act as if Iran was poised to push the button on Israel any minute now. It is most certainly not. They don't have a nuclear pot to piss on yet. The moment they do, Israel will do anything in its power to prevent them from using it, as it did with the nuclear factory in Iraq once upon a time.
This talk is as false and misleading and damaging and dangerous as lap dog Sarah Palin's nauseating implications that Obama consorts with terrorists. She has been unleashed, like a rabid pit bull indeed, by the McCain campaign to do the dirty, racist work for the old troll. She is so pathetic in her blind compliance, she hasn't thought of the harm and hatred she is sowing, and hasn't noticed that she is been used in the cheapest, most cynical way. She is a disgrace to women.
America, these people are poison. This "second Holocaust" absurdity is double speak. Jews, some of these people are secretly hoping for Israel's destruction so that they can finally have their Armaggedon. This talk of a "second Holocaust" must be bringing paroxysms of joy to the most lunatic evangelical Christians, who can't wait until that happens, no matter how friendly they seem to Israel right now. Don't make the mistake of thinking for a second that they have the best interests of Israel at heart.
Obama is talking about real politics, real diplomacy, real engagement with the international community to bring Iran to its knees, with the complexity and the seriousness the situation requires, not with childish, appalling fantasies of apocalyptic destruction.

Biden v Palin: It was Nucular!

So she didn't spontaneously self-combust. So, as everybody says with surprised admiration, as if it was an achievement of the highest order, "she held her own". Truth is, the bar was set so incredibly low, the expectations were so dismal, that a monkey could have passed the test with flying colors. It is deeply frightening that we are considering someone for the vicepresidency of this country and we are relieved by this performance. To me, there was nothing in her performance that did not confirm that she is still way out of her depth. It was a decent performance by high school debating standards, not by the standards of seeking the second highest office in the land.
In my estimation, Biden started rather cold and stiff and gained heat, clarity and momentum as the night wore on; she, on the contrary, started out pretty well and towards the end she sounded increasingly fake, shrill, desperate, incoherent and inarticulate. It's as if all the info she crammed in started to get all jumbled in her brain there (as she would put it). She reminded me a little of Hal the computer in 2001.
I give it to her, she applied herself and did her homework and memorized a bunch of facts and still had time to overuse to death that "aw, shucks" shtick that may work wonders in Alaska but is totally inappropriate for a Vice-head of state. At the sound of each grating, smug, small town inflected bullshit I was ready to put my fist through the TV set. Remember Bill Clinton? He knew how to wield that stuff. A smart man, he used down home speech naturally and smartly. With her, it's totally fake. Plus, she makes George Bush, with whom she shares the incapability of pronouncing the word "nuclear", sound like a scholar. This, contrary to what a lot of people think, is not a good thing in a vicepresident.
Do you expect your doctor, the teacher of your children, the architect that built your house, the engineer who builds roads and bridges to somewhere, surgeons, scientists, politicians, to be as dumb and ignorant and incurious as you are? I don't. I expect my leaders to be better prepared, more well read, well traveled and more intelligent than the rest of us. I've had it with this glorification of insularity and ignorance. As if being well educated all of a sudden has become a liability.
But let's talk about Joe Biden, 'cause he was freaking great.
1. He smartly did not stoop down to her level. He is a statesman, and he showed it. He did not have to belabor his experience or his qualifications. A couple of mentions here and there and it was plain for all to see.
2. He debated against John McCain and his party and not against her and her shortcomings. Classy.
3. While she was trying to do the cute bitch shtick with him, he was passionate, articulate, SPECIFIC and extraordinarily dignified.
He was vice-presidential. Hell, he was presidential. She was a hick.
4. He stuck to the strategy and he nailed it. And many of his answers were the real breath of fresh air:
• When asked about supporting equal civil rights for same sex couples, he did not hum and haw, and without hesitation he said: "Absolutely". And he explained why. By the way, I disagree with the Democrats' stance on civil gay marriage -- Biden saying that gays can marry through their faith is ridiculous -- but apparently this country is not evolved yet and these people have an election to win. Meanwhile, this petty, mean-spirited woman seemed a little thrown off by the whole deal. She assured us that she is very tolerant, as if homosexuals are a pest that needs to be tolerated. I found her response deeply offensive.
• At one point, when asked about what she'd do as vicepresident she said something like expanding the powers of the vicepresidency. AS IF!!! Biden really sank her on that one. He read her the riot act. He said that Dick Cheney was the most dangerous vicepresident that America ever had (prompting me to smooch him in the kisser), he explained the actual nature of the office, for her benefit, I'm sure, and said there was no reason to expand the powers of such office. He rocked.
• After Palin repeated her hockey mom cred like a parrot, as if that alone was sufficient to help run a country, Biden took the opportunity to remind her that he had been a single dad, that he had only one house, and that he too came from where everybody else comes from, he too has a son deploying to Iraq, and he reminded the American public (apparently, through the repeated use of the word "Scranton") that he was solidly in the camp of the working class (what the Democrats, afraid that they may be confused with communists, now call the middle class).
She tried to spin the disaster of the last 8 years into a looking back at the past, but I don't think that demagoguery convinces anyone. As Biden said, past is prologue, and the policies of the last 8 disastrous years are just coming back to haunt us NOW. Biden did well to not let people forget that. He also demonstrated impatience with the "maverick" fallacy.
In all, he creamed her. That she did not totally embarrass herself should not detract from the fact that he won this debate by a mile. It wasn't even a contest.

Cram, Sarah, Cram

With luck and pluck and maybe an earpiece with that despicable mini Karl Rove whispering answers into your ear, you may manage not to look totally unfit for the job tomorrow. I imagine they have you cooped up in a room and are teaching you the names of the world capitals as we speak.
And as for you, Joe Biden, why do I have the feeling you could screw it all up?
I saw on CNN today that you are going to be very respectful of your contender, which is a good strategy. Don't talk down to her and patronize her, like McCain does when confronted with Obama. But don't let her off easy either. Let these morons dig their own grave, they're already halfway there.

The Palin implosion continues

The Katie Couric interview was a disaster. Couric was fierce, Palin was terrible.
Katie for Vicepresident!
Judith Warner says she now feels sorry for Palin, because she is obviously unprepared and egregiously manipulated by the McCain campaign. But as someone said, she could have said "thanks, but no thanks." She could have said, "thank you for the honor but I could not possibly fill in those shoes. I may be ready four years from now, after a lot more cramming, but I can't wing it like this. It would be irresponsible and a disservice to my country". But she didn't. So I don't feel sorry for her either.
However, it is clear that she is being handled, like an unruly pet or a difficult and embarrassing relative. It is painful to watch.
Here is an interesting point of view on Palin from Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic. While you are on that page, you can enjoy Chris Rock on Larry King. The link is at the top of the page.
Tonight, we are missing the debate to go to opening night of the New York Film Festival. One knows things are loopy when one goes to the movies searching for a better sense of reality. But we are hoping that McCain will remind us of the infamous Nixon TV appearance when he lost to Kennedy.
As for Obama, he would really have to royally fuck it up, but he should not come to the debate feeling like his winning the debate is a fait accompli. I understand the honorable Jim Lehrer is the moderator (praise the Lord for that. We desperately need some dignity). Obama needs to connect to that elusive, infuriating, unfathomable construct also known as the American people.
Go Obama!


Can't wait for the Biden/Palin debate.

A better Sara

I had not heard of Sara Benincasa until today. And now I love her.
I suggest you see her vlogs in order. She is very funny.

Media Circus

I have never been one to accuse the media of being in a conspiracy of anything except making sure people are kept dumb. But looking (barely, because I do not have the stomach for it) at the way this election is being covered, I am starting to unravel.
Of course every side accuses the media of being in favor of the other side. But I think that what happens is both simpler and more sinister. The news are reported as if they were intended for 5 year-old retards, with the sole purpose of instilling the most fear in the most people from either side of the divide. It is fear that stokes the media business. And they are having a field day.
When a poll by PBS shows that 51% of people think that Sarah Palin is fit to be VP, this means terror on a mass scale. Apparently, one can vote as many times in this poll as one wants, which is absurd. Today I got an email saying that Karl Rove (The Evil One himself) is asking people to jam the poll in favor of Palin, so now the democrats are doing the same. To which I say: PBS, you need to kill that freaking poll off already. It is misleading and meaningless.
I think polls should be banned. There was a poll in which they asked people who would they rather watch the Superbowl with. Obama won, and with reason. You want to watch sports with someone who can still do them. But it is insulting.
I also think campaign ads should be banned. They debase the debate and they are too expensive.
If people want to know what the candidates think, they should get this from their public appearances, interviews and from debates. Not from misleading, manipulative ads from both sides.
So in short, this is a circus maximus, the kind Nero used to enjoy. Disgusting, vile, and repulsive.

You must vote. Or else.

I have come across several people, liberals like moi, all males so far, that have informed me that they are not planning to vote come Nov. 4. They are going to be in London, there's no point voting in NY, they don't believe in the system, blah, blah, blah.
I'm imploring you, beseeching you, begging you, asking you, do whatever you have to do to make sure you vote in this election. It is mindboggling to me that anybody would plan to sit this one out, regardless of their political leanings*. But even worse, I consider it abject treachery if you are a liberal and you don't register to vote and vote for Obama. The fate of this country is in your hands and I will hold you personally responsible if disaster strikes. You should be banished to Alaska or to Florida, never to be allowed to set foot in a blue state again.
Basically, this may be the most important election in the history of this increasingly nutjob country and it is not only the right, but it should be the moral obligation of every citizen to record their choice for whoever is going to rule this debased land.
This election has got to have the most participation ever, regardless of who you vote for. Washington needs to see a mass mobilization by the American people to understand that we are not all lobotomized idiots who don't give a crap except for reality shows. We need to make ourselves heard and count.
Of course, if you vote for Obama/Biden and the Democratic party, your country will be forever grateful that you helped stop the precipitous decline of this once great nation.
If you vote for the senile crank and his lipstick with pit bull sidekick, you will get what you deserve and don't you start whining when the rug is pulled from under your sorry reg'lar ass.
Now get out there and register to vote.

*However, I cannot say I do not strongly encourage those people who find the old man and the bitch attractive to stay home that day and pay the election no mind. Be my guests.

Depressing Digest

Darlings:
I've been scouring the interwebs since early this morning, trying to find a topic to entertain you with, and nothing sticks. Perhaps I should remember what I always forget when I go out at night: that beer after white wine is evil in the morning.

• Mini-hangover notwithstanding, I am relieved that the stock market went up, but tomorrow may be a different story. I find it ironic that for all the Republicans' hysterical obsession against big government's interference in free markets and the unbridled rapacity of our particular form of capitalism, the Bush administration has now been compelled to nationalize mortgage lenders and insurance companies. Are we turning socialist? Is America trembling at the prospect of a little regulation to curb our greediest impulses? Is the American can screw spirit in peril? I certainly hope so.
As I'm fond of saying, I became a Marxist the minute I moved to this country. (I'm being hyperbolic, ok?)

• It looks like the Treasury and the Fed are being the deciders in this crisis, which is reassuring, since our president has been missing in action. What a pathetic loser. I'm almost starting to feel sorry for him. Almost.

• The BBC reports that Chuck Hagel, a big Republican macher, told the esteemed Omaha World-Herald that Sarah Palin is unfit for office. Great, except that I looked to see if the New York Times covered this momentous piece of news, and I couldn't find it. I hope this Hagel shoutout is covered by similar local newspapers across the red states.

• By the way, the Times has an electoral map of the US and a look at it is enough to make one suicidal and deeply fearful of the electoral college. It makes one pine for New York's secession.

• I'm going to say something horrible. (I'm starting to hit my stride, y'all):
Several friends sent me the pictures of the largest rally ever in Alaska, which happened to be an anti-Palin rally (yay). I was a bit disappointed by the size of the crowd. Apparently, the largest mass rally in Alaska means like 15 people and their closest friends. The signs were too clever by half and some of the people looked like classic clueless liberals, the kind the evil people on the other side like to make fun of. I know I sound like a traitor to the cause, but it would be great if these worthy demonstrators were dressed like those crazy polygamists from Texas (those with a penchant for wearing pastel draperies from Wal-Mart). Instead, they look like pinkos from Vermont. I have the nagging feeling that these pics don't help. Also, what is the point of preaching to the choir? I don't think I have a single Republican friend, so what is the point of me sending this to all the other Obamanians? I know we elitist blue people are despairing and anything that gives us hope is welcome, but I was not as cheered up by those pictures as I should have been.

Days of Woe

Oh, where to begin.
I could tell you about watching my meager savings steadily pulverize thanks to the unchecked greed of Wall Street and a Republican presidency that is criminally incompetent.
I could tell you about how seriously scary for us voting Democrat is the realization that we seem to be living in a parallel universe when it comes to hockey moms and Presidential candidates. We are trapped in a nightmare devised by people who have contempt for intelligence and we can't get out.
Let me remind you of the kinds of tyrants who seized power by having contempt for intelligence: the Nazis, Stalin, Mao, etc. Populism is fascism and that's the hell that awaits us if the American people don't think straight this time around. It seems that many Americans are so fucking dumb that they want to have presidents that are just as dumb as they are, just because they can connect.
I sure hope they all rot in the hell of foreclosure, insurance woes and poverty of mind and money and the final collapse of the American empire that will befall them for their stupid choices.
If after 8 years of the worst presidency in the history of this country, this country chooses to elect the same party, then they have what they deserve.
I insist, let's split up between the Elite country and the Reg'lar Folks country. I will stay with the elites. The rest can live happily ever after in their white trash talibanic dreamland for all I care. I can't bear this anymore.
The good news is I'm seeing Randy Newman tomorrow at Carnegie Hall. He will restore my faith in my lack of faith in humanity.

Palin Implosion

No matter how hard the Republicans try to spin and shield the American public from the truth with ludicrous charges of sexism (I bet the people who hate her most are women), it looks that the more Palin is in the spotlight, the worse a candidate she seems.
Her performance at the convention was plucky and convincing. Yet by the time her interview with Charles Gibson came along, she looked like one of those Caribou she loves to kill, caught in the headlights. She seemed scared out of her wits and trying to hold on for dear life.
Unless the American people are truly a bunch of unredeemable retards (which given recent opinion polls is not inconceivable), my first gut instinct about Palin imploding in the public eye as election season plods on may hopefully be true. She was a brash, idiotic, cynical, and dangerously irresponsible choice and it shows.