Category: Politics
My view and opinion on US Politics.
The real class warfare
If anyone hasn’t watched TV and seen the faces and heard the stories of people who have been effected by Hurricane Katrina, you’re fortunate.
If you’ve blamed them for staying in New Orleans or where they are — all the while being happy with how the Government has cut your taxes or happy that Corporations are racking up huge profits… you’re part of the problem…
You might have caught Kanye West tonight on NBC’s concert special to raise relief money for victim’s of Hurricane Katrina. If you missed it, Kanye said on air (before a hasty cut by NBC to Chris Tucker) “George W. Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
Though I can grasp Kanye’s sentiment and where he’s coming from, he’s shooting with the wrong gun by making this statement. The race card doesn’t have to come out as-so-much a more observant look at what is gone wrong with this country.
The weak / slow response to Hurricane Katrina (to put it simply) represents how the separation the President and most of the government from the people (both parties are guilty of this at current). There is the aristocratic class of businessmen and politicos, donors and blind supporters that get top-of-the-line treatment with focus on issues that are concerns of theirs (wedge issues that do not effect day to day life – Abortion, gay marriage, FCC decency standards, etc) while the issues that effect the general populous (being of any race, creed or color) get ignored. Infrastructure is falling apart in the US, schools are in atrocious conditions, health care and insurance are domineered by for-profit corporate interests that keeps people from protection and medical care they need. Poverty is on the rise (and has been the last 4 years) yet you are told a rosie economic picture from the government or talking head economists because the only thing that matters is the statistics or the investor class… Not the people working, not the pay rates of the blue collar class. Not the fact minimum wage has not been raised for 8 years. Just profit margins.
I don’t think it’s a black-and-white thing that Kanye said (and other African Americans are going to agree with) as-so-much a rich-vs-poor thing. Aristocrats-vs-commoners thing. Many of us commoners can’t even begin to comprehend how bad poverty is… You can hear it anyplace they talk about the tragedy that is New Orleans: “They should have gotten out! They should have gotten to Superdome, they should have… they should have…” We can assign blame but we can’t understand the logic. We can assign blame but we can’t grasp their lives. We can assign blame but many of us would take the same route in our suburban homes that these people did in their urban apartments and houses.
We truly don’t understand shit with regards to poverty and the plight of the working class if we’re going to keep allowing corporate interests and special interests to control the country with their interests at heart, not the interests of the citizens of the United States. I don’t believe Bush can grasp what the common person suffers. I could never believe John Kerry (or Hillary Clinton) would be able to comprehend it either, or Al Gore… It’s the same-old aristocrat class that is so out of touch with America that we suffer at their ineptitude.
In fact we’re dying because of their out-of-touch status.
Kanye’s blast at Bush is a blast at the fact the government has turned a blind eye on these people — and they’ll continue to do so from both parties unless we wise up and vote with our heads… We need leadership in this country, and we’re not going to get it from someone who doesn’t understand what it is to live among the people.
I'm screwed
How fucked am I because of Herr President?
| Pretty fucked 11 is your Fuckedness Number! Crazy! |
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You’re pretty fucked for the next four years. Why? I don’t know, maybe it’s because you’re actually smart and have real actual morals, and not just the fake Christian kind. Maybe you’re a minority. Whatever the reason, you’ve got fairly high levels of fuckedness. Prepare yourself. It’s gonna be a rough 4 years. |
My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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| Link: The How Fucked by Bush You Are Test written by leelander on OkCupid Free Online Dating |
Thanks for proving me wrong, Mick
Flipping around the boob-tube, I’ve seen the Ameriquest commercials featuring Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones… I sigh and contemplate that there is another sell-out rock group, conforming with the Man to make money.
Well, conforming only a little bit.
When you think of politics and British rock, you think of the Beatles and there mantra of Peace and Love and all that jazz (and John and Yoko telling us the War Is Over — if you want it), or Radiohead for that matter… You don’t think of the Stones, do you?
Enter Sweet Neo Con
I haven’t heard the song yet or read all the lyrics except for the stuff in the news but I am itching to see what Mick and Keith Richards are up to in this number….I don’t get like that with most protest songs…
Rove Did It
But of course I expect conservatives / Bush supporters to point at the source and complain:
But before you dance or roll your eyes at the news, take a look at part of the story:
Explaining that he had obtained last-minute “personal consent” from his source, Cooper was able to avoid a jail sentence for contempt of court.
Rove conscented being revealed?
Oil Dependence and national drilling
So there is that contingent of closed minded individuals who think drilling nationally is going to save us from foreign oil… More local oil will lower costs long term and what not…
And yet one tropical storm comes through the Gulf of Mexcio – with another on the way — and prices skyrocket. The gulf is where they want to do more drilling in addition to doing more drilling in ANWR…. And yet if one storm reeks havok on domestic oil prices, can you imagine how bad it would be in the future if we were more dependant on gulf oil?
Of course, the solution is alternatives and alternatives escape the logic of those in power — so we remain screwed as a nation because of little minds and little logic.
PING PONG, GAME MATCH!
James Stockdale — Ross Perot’s running mate in the 1992 election — has passed away.
My title reference pertains to a Saturday Night Live skit with Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman playing Perot and Stockdale respectively. That’s basically most of what I know about Stockdale which seems a travesty. Me and the neighborhood kids would do parodies of Phil Hartman’s parody all the time…
PING PONG, GAME MATCH! OUT OF AMMO! ARE WE THERE YET?!
Rove-ings
I really don’t know what’s more depressing about the fact that (finally) it seems Karl Rove has been found to be the leak-source in the Valerie Plame case…. Not that many who are farmiliar with Rove’s dirty handed politics are surprised.
I say “Depressing” because there are a couple of things that are negative when I look at the situation:
- * Some people don’t get what the big deal is outting a CIA operative
- * Some chicken hawk patriots were quick to name those who opposed the US invasion of Iraq as traitors, and yet no one from that group is going to think that Rove as a traitor (doing what he did out of political vengence)
- * Despite all mounting evidence of corruption in the White House, those loyal to Conservative ideologies remain oblivious as to the direction the United States is heading under such corruption.
- * If Rove is indeed the guilty party, the President will quickly and simply sign a Presidential Pardon and send Karl on his way to the private sector
That last item… That’s the one that hurts the most because that’s what I expect from Bush and I expect a ho-hum response from America, unfortunately. They ho-hummed Richard Pearle. They ho-hummed Paul O’Neil… I can see them ho-humming this….
Is it possible for them to say anything else? Such as “enough is enough?”
High Treason
There’s a report out saying Karl Rove is the leak in the Valerie Plume case… This makes Rove guilty of High Treason for revealing a CIA Operative’s identify.
Who wants to bet George W. Bush signs a Presidential Pardon soon after and then Rove goes off into the private sector?
Give'em Hell, Howard!
For all of the willy-nilly Democrats who see Dean being vocal as a bad thing – just how many times have you thought along the same lines as what Dean is saying? He’s saying NOTHING that the base of the Democratic party hasn’t thought or believed – and if you think that politicians distancing themselves from Dean is because what he is saying is bad, it’s more along the lines that Dean is saying things that are Liberal beliefs that aren’t embraced at all by Democrats elected to congress or elsewhere.
The challenges of exposing corruption
Published in the St. Pete Times on June 11th — written by moi.
Listening to the right-leaning talking heads who were part of the Watergate scandal, speaking about how W. Mark Felt is a “traitor” and a “toady” and a villain and not a hero for what he did reminds me of the story of Frank Serpico.
Serpico was a New York plain clothes officer who outed vast corruption in the New York City Police Department through the press, after having previous attempts to out corruption swept under the rug by the powers that be. The reaction by the force was death threats and then ultimately a gunshot wound to the face.
Why do I compare W. Mark Felt with Frank Serpico? Because they both aired dirty laundry of certain institutions and both were vilified unjustly for their actions. Would someone claim that Serpico was a traitor to the police department for spilling the beans on wrongdoing on the police force?
Corruption is corruption, and those who out it aren’t the villains.
"Where have all the good men gone and where are all the Gods?"
So Deep Throat has been revealed. An enigma of Americana politics has been answered.
The reason I am writing about this at all is some anger I have from the likes of the media and their interview candidates after Mark Felt admitted to being Deep Throat. Unethical twits G. Gordon Liddy and Robert Novak, along with serial-asshole Pat Buchanan, were the guys interviewed on air with regards to what they thought of Felt being Deep Throat.
Liddy has no credibility to state what he thinks of Felt – and by his answers on CNN and on MSNBC, you can see he would have prefered everything kept “in house.” Liddy complains that the evidence should have been taken to a federal grand jury – and in the age of conspiracies and cover ups, everything would have discretely been swept under the rug and Liddy never would have served time for his lawbreaking.
Novak has no credibility to make claims that Felt was a traitor or unethical for what he did. Novak himself is a criminal that has not been arrested as of yet for revealing the identity of a CIA agent. If you compared Felt to Novak specifically – these two operated on opposite ends of the political spectrum in what they did. While Novak was used as a tool of the political powers-that-be to get back at their enemies (Joseph Wilson), Felt was protecting the government from itself (and the powers-that-be) by revealing any information at all to Bob Woodward and letting it become public. One man is the epitome of public corruption and the other is the epitome of public service. That’s not trying to make a saint out of Mark Felt and everything he has ever done for the FBI or the government, I don’t know the man enough to make that assessment, but that is heralding him for blowing a whistle on dirty shenanigans that were ongoing in the government and letting the public know.
And Buchanan? Ok, well — Pat is Pat and Pat has always been an asshole of grandoise proportions in one way or another.
Tampa Rail — off the deep end
I used to frequent Tampa Rail on the norm to read about someoen lobbying for mass transit in Tampa and in Florida in general….
But as I cited in another blog post a few weeks ago, Dave Pinero – the site owner, has been weak in trying to press his issue during a hellacious time in Tampa where traffic deaths are up and gas prices have skyrocketed.
He really went off the deep end, however, comparing Tampa’s urban planners to Nazis.
With his piece-of-shit “Battle blog” software, it’s impossible to link directly to the article in question where David decides to try sensationalism in an attempt to win supporters for his cause… Adding the Swastika to the rant in order to underline his point.
You don’t help your cause by goign fringe in yoru argument, David. You alienate yoru base and you turn off those you want to bring into your cause. Nazi comparisons? That’s just plain weak on your part, and a reason this blogger no longer supports Tampa Rail’s efforts — because sensationalism isn’t an effort, it’s a distraction to the real issues.
Harboring Ideas
I want to know what it would take to run a passenger ferry between Downtown Tampa and some Eastern Pinellas property.
I started thinking about the ferry idea after focusing on the Memorial Causeway Bridge snafu on Tuesday — the fact Clearwater Beach has no ferry service between the mainland and the beach, which only promotes more driving and does not give an alternative when the Bridge goes out (as it has from time to time for a very long time)
I started thinking how Clearwater is not only wasting it’s great asset — the water — but it’s also not providing an alternative to those trying to get to the beach. You either have to cross the bridge by foot or by car. That creates a big problem when the Memorial used to get stuck in place — messing with the traffic pattern of all of downtown. Yes the new bridge wille alleviate that problem, but that’s still not solving the problem of only one means of getting to Clearwater beach.
And then I thought about the traffic pattern to the rest of the Bay area and that we depend on the bridges to get everywhere between counties, and that there is no real great bus systems on either side of the bay (HARTline sucks, PSTA sucks — all with thanks to the Bay area’s suburban layout).
What do you have to do to get Ferry Service in Tampa Bay? Forget just between the mainland and Beach destinations — how about between Pinellas and Downtown Tampa? How many people could actually RELAX on their commute instead of having to get stressed out because of traffic?
Rail is still something I am very keen on but Ferry service should be simple and easy…. Something not too tough to promote, and an asset to the community.
Contiunuing low visibility
It peeves me to look at the situation the United States and the Tampa Bay area are in right now and to see at least two groups that I have been involved with in the past no where in sight to take the opportunity to reach more people with their beliefs.
Lets take the Green Party for instance. The third-party on the left side of the spectrum with it’s conservation, alternative methods, environmentally friendly (on top of other stances on things), etc…. WIth the Democrats weak and everyone smarting from higher gas prices and doomsday scenerios with regards to world resources, the Greens seem missing-in-action. There are no news headlines, and the local party seems oblivious to speaking out on these touchy issues… Or set their sights too far left and stay off the touchy subjects that are dominating the media.
Another issue that coincides the higher fuel costs are mass transit options. Tampa Bay has increasingly bad roads and reports nationally are that our intersections routinely have a grade of D-. In Tampa Bay, there is no push for Mass Transit coming from David Piniero and Tampa Rail much bigger than the one that already exists with his site If anything he seems more oblivious to the broader need for rail and a stronger Mass Transit systme in Tampa Bay (and points his transit talk to Tampa and Tampa alone) and oblivious to trying to preach his cause and the cause of ocal commuters through the blogsphere and mass-media (why not post on Tampa Bay Blogs that talk about transit issues? Why not email the local newspapers with letters and such talking about the merrits of rail?)
Of course, in either case, the ass-backwards politics of America still reign supreme…. But with certain issues that the Left has dibs on, being priorities… Wouldn’t you think that groups such as Mass-Transit advocates and Progressive Envvironmentalists would speak out and try to gain support?
“Err on the side of Life” — The Vegetative State
America — the land of opportunity and the realm of being kept alive by artificial means…
ANother one
Damnit, it just won’t fucking end, will it?
Another student was hit by a car while trying to get to the bus stop… Another person hit by a car for god sake! This happened at a location I have been at a lot lately – Curlew Road and County Road 1 where there has been a plethora of construction going on. Yet this is another example of all that’s going wrong in the area. Not just bad bus stop designation but also the chief underlying issue — we’re too indebted to the car and too thoughtless about the pedestrian.
When will it end? I mean, they are goign to have a field day with regards to bus stop location again and bus stop designation but the bigger issue is pedestrian saftey in my mind.
Strength in Ignorance
Well, I’m reading 1984 and evidence of that can be found on Boltsmag….
The Ministry of Truth now reigns supreme – I wish the site was still up and running. Alas, it’s just a cafe press store now.
Just another reason to be Cynical
Tarpon Springs — at 6:55 this morning, about 12 hours after proceedings started — approved Wal-Mart along the Anclote River.
8 people lobbied for Wal Mart at this meeting. 400+ were in attendance to voice displeasure about Wal Mart. Wal-Mart had paid employees — being paid for there time at the meeting — in attendance as well.
Fine day for Democracy and Capitalism, don’t you think? A day where the majority is ignored for the almighty dollar and sound logic is ignored for the sake of the city tax base.
A pox on you, Tarpon Springs City Counsel.
Go ahead and Email the city and give them a warm, gracious congratulations — or spout off at them as I did.
Give a little
MSNBC presents a list of charities and organizations helping with efforts in Sumatra, Sri Lanka, India and the rest of the world that have been effected by this most shocking display of mother nature’s fury.
The World Map has been changed by this earthquake, the globe has “wobbled” in it’s rotation because of it and 60 thousand are feared dead — many of them children. This time of year is supposed to be the time of hope and of giving – these people need it more than ever….
Selfish Nation and International Disaster
I know it is a day after a national holiday and people are not focusing at all right now on the news but…
I’m disenchanted — outrightly disgusted — with the lack of news regarding a major earthquake iand tidal wave has devestated parts of Asia and Africa. this wasn’t just a minor rumbler that ended up destroying the third world — this was an 8.9 magnitude earthquake with aftershocks tipping the scale at 7.3.
And what news can you find on national television in the States as Asia and Africa awake to continue dealing with the devestation?
Nada. Zip. Zero.
The national news channels that pride themselves in being 24 hour news services are airing their regularly scheduled documentary-like programs. One of the worst international disasters of our time and “CNN Presents” is more important? 11,000 people are confirmed dead by this catastrophe — and that is just the begining. And documentary programming on news services takes precedence over reporting the issue? Keeping people informed? Displaying where to send financial aid?
9-11 was a man made attrocity that was helped by taking place in the media capital of the world… Yet when the third world gets rocked out of nowhere, when more people die form more countries in the hardest hit areas than almost any Natural Disaster we have ever seen, America and the American Media are allowed to turn a blind eye because it isn’t ratings? It isn’t news unless it’s got an American tie?
It’s cynical to say “Yup” but that seems to be the case — and I am not going to let my anger go on this. This is where you are supposed to jump to help someone. This is when youa re supposed to keep the public informed. This isn’t one town, one city, one country effected. This is millions across Asia and Africa (and the world with the number of tourists involved in this)….
And no one in the US would care to find out more about it or to try to find out how to help 🙄
🙁
Take a walk
Tommy over at Sticks of Fire brings up an issue that is a hot topic in the Bay area right now and of course is an issue that is dear to my heart —
Tampa Bay happens to be one of the worst places in the country for pedestrians.
A five year old was hit by a car while she and her family were cross the street. Tourists… This was a hit and run and the coward couldn’t even come forwardand admit what they had done. Not yet at least. Rebecca McKinney was killed, I felt I had failed… but things get worse and worse and I just feel rage.
I wrote it, they read it…
Heh, I go on a Wal-Mart Triste and lo and behold – another letter published….
Someone speaketh the truth..
Gotta go over to Pacific Views to read this one… but just WHO hates us for our freedoms? Find out by clicking here.
Looky what we got here…
Well, dag-nabit, looks like we’ze got ourselves a little planned protest on our hands.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!
Tarpon Springs and the Suburban-blight of WalMart Supercenters
Wal-Mart is trying to add the 44th (or is it more?) store to the Tampa Bay Metro Area by sticking one of their Supercenters on the bank of the Anaclote river in Tarpon Springs.
While Mary Jo Malone wrote an incredible piece on the subject a some time back on the fact Tampa Bay has too many Wal-Marts as is, I had to send Tarpon Springs my own piece on why Wal-Mart is not a good thing for the city.
I am very upset at the shortsightedness of those in power with the City of Tarpon Springs with their collective reasoning behind blessing Wal-Mart. Though the city has not approved of the new Super Wal-Mart being built on the banks of the Anclote river, it seems just a formality even with the public outcry against it.
One of the “major” issues that the Mayor and others have had with Wal-Mart is the sale of natural sponges at the proposed location – which seems to be an attempt to save downtown Tarpon Springs and the tourist trade. It also seems foolhardy seeing that you can go to most any Wal Mart location and see they do not sell natural sponges.
What Wal-Mart also sells is the death of small businesses. What this Wal-Mart will also sell is the slow death of Downtown Tarpon Springs. Has the city of Tarpon Springs paid absolutely no attention to the history of this area? Look at Clearwater alone – they struggle greatly because they have sold off land on US 19 to as many retail giants as possible, and now they are hit with a lackluster downtown area and are desperate to draw the people back. There is money for investment, sure, but the key component to downtown Clearwater is Scientology now, not residents..
Tarpon Springs, by the logic shown, is greatly concerned that the tourist trade will be unharmed by this addition to the city limits. What about the rest of Downtown? What about the small business owners who can’t compete with the monopoly-like tactics of Wal-Mart, which tends to profit even when losing money on sales? Is expanding the cities tax structure for one store so important that it kills off the rest of the cities tax structure by forcing the smaller competition to close their stores?
This isn’t even getting into the negative environmental impact of the store on the banks of the river, the ecological damage that this store will undoubtedly do and the increase of sprawl that we don’t need in North Pinellas / Southern Pasco county.
If the city of Tarpon Springs needs additional tax revenue — raise taxes. If the city of Tarpon Springs wants to be for Corporations and By Corporations like the rest of America under the current State government and Federal Government, by all means — vote in Wal Mart and watch the central district of Tarpon Springs fall away with time. The Sponge Docks will remain but everything else will pass.
Not the best… But still, it tries to convey a point.
Anyone who wants to speak out for or against Wal-Mart being built in Tarpon Springs shoueld email the city clerk and good luck conveying your point.
A little "faith" for the progressives
Last time I talked about anything that had to do with faith, the chips were down for me and people / things continued to screw the pooch for me…
Well, thank you America, you have done a mighty job filling me with doubt and ridding me of my faith and hope for the future.
My older borther Michael sent me a quote from Terry Goodkind’s Faith of the Fallen which seesm rather fitting at this point.
“The only sovereign I can allow to rule me is reason. The first law of reason is this: what exists exists; what is, is. From this irreducible, bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. This is the foundation from which life is embraced.
“Reason is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they a means to discovering them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality – it’s our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see.
“If I fail to use reason in this struggle, if I close my eyes to the reality of what is, in favor of what I would wish, then we will both die in this, and for nothing. We will be but two more among uncounted millions of nameless corpses beneath the gray, gloomy decay of mankind. In the darkness that will follow, our bones will be meaningless dust.
“Eventually, perhaps a thousand years from now, perhaps more, the light of liberty will again be raised up to shine over a free people, but between now and then, millions upon millions of people will be born into hopeless misery and have no choice but to bear the weight of the Order’s yoke. We, by ignoring reason, will have purchased those mountains of broken bodies, the wreckage of lives endured but never lived.â€
Just what does it take?
I can get pissed at the election but what good does that do?
I’d like to move but what good does that do changing things? Improving things…
What does it take to actually run for political office? US House of Reps for example… I don’t think The Distinguished Gentlemen is that great of a point in trying to get a gauge of this.
Time for the final sprint….
Polls closing in various places on the East Coast….
Plenty of time left elsewhere in America….
There will be rain if God wills it… Rain, baby, rain….
Der Vote
I voted — have you?!
Hour long wait in der suburbs here in Palm Harbor…. This comes after 2 weeks of 3 hour long waits at early voting centers throughout the county….
Get out and vote, America…
Just to cover the dis-satisfied…
Matt at Defective Yeti has continued his worthwhile marketing for voters with a pair of gems…
OHMIGOD and also PLEASE DEAR GOD, NO!
Oh my God, the Boston Red Sox have become the first MLB Team to ever overcome a 3-0 defeceit to win a series and have beaten the New York Yankees to capture the American League crown! It’s wondrous! It’s amazing!
It’s a God Damned disaster in the making.
You think you’ve got enough political bullshit going on right now from Herr Dubya and John Kerry? Well, just think about this people — The Boston Red Sox versus the Houston Astros… Get Geographical…
Boston vs. Houston… Massachusettes vs. Texas…
And it barely gets any better if St. Louis wins. It’s still Boston vs. Busch 😛
It’ll be a good game for the National League tomorrow but I hope to high hell that the Astros don’t win for the sake of the media spin being absent over the next week….
I've failed you, Rebecca McKinney
There’s been a story that has been runnng pretty strongly through the Tampa Bay Area for the last week… It’s something that I take a personal interest in… No, that’s not correct. Or it just feels wrong and short stepping for me to say I take a personal interest in it.
Let me start by telling you the situation: A sixteen year old girl by the name of Rebecca McKinney was hit and killed on McMullen Booth road in Pinellas County, Florida last week. She was crossing 6 lanes of highway after the school bus dropped her off.
I tell you that I take what happened personally not because I am related to Rebecca McKinney – I never knew her. I never met her. I take personal interest in this because I feel like I have failed Rebecca McKinney and thousands of pedestrians and motorists around Pinellas County and in the Tampa Bay Area.
I’ve been vocal in the past 6 years about various transit conditions in Pinellas County. You can point out absurdities left and right, which I did, but what it comes down to is change. And from an advocates point of view, I changed absolutely shit.
And for that I apologize to Rebecca McKinney’s friends and family.
I’m not a government official – I just badgered them time and again and didn’t accomplish anything. I’m not a Department of Transportation worker. I’m just a citizen who wanted those assclowns to stop mis-designing roads and thoroughfares and making other bad decisions based on money and not wanting to spend.
The reason I feel I failed her, that I indirectly caused Rebecca’s death, is that I’ve grown tired of the rhetoric. I wasn’t vigilent… I couldn’t have changed things myself alone but I could have kept trying. I should have kept trying. I should have kept writing, I should have stopped being pissed off at the fact certain St. Petersburg Times editors weren’t thinking my letters newsworthy… Or my letters to Pinellas County Commissioners were turned into mush because of political bullshit being spewed from those very County COmmissioners who are out of touch with conditions out there. Heck, I should have started to badger Pinellas County Sherrif’s for their lack of policing the roads. There own cruisers tend to speed instead of doing traffic duty.
And what’s going to come of Rebecca’s death? That also makes me angry – there will be talk, denials, there will be scapegoats made out to appease those upset by what happened. There will be planning, workshops, there will be community forums…
And yet nothing will change. There won’t be vast improvements made for pedestrians. There won’t be driving alternatives for daily commuters who were witness to this accident. There won’t be help for law-enforcement officials to make sure drivers obey the laws of the road. The simplest plan will be adopted, the one that costs the county the least amount of money. Commissioners will applaud it and say it’s a step in the right direction…
And then nothing…
…until the next tradgedy.
A 16 year old girl was robbed of her life, of her future. If the Pinellas County School Board, the Pinellas County Commission, the Pinellas Sheriffs office and the Department of Transportation want to dismiss this like I believe they will ultimately do – it’s blood on their hands. If these bastards don’t think changes are in order – no matter what the cost, for the sake of lives young and old – then let them be escorted out of office post haste.
This is the 21st Century in Tampa Bay and the market is one of – if not the – worst for pedestrians and for motorsts alike. I’m sick and tired of the thrift-shopping solutions for transit woes from government officials.
Rebecca McKinney probably wouldn’t have died if changes had come to how we do things around here.
And for that, I’m sorry. My vigelence may be renewed, but at too high a cost.
Jon Stewart 0wnz j00
Anywhere you go on the Blogosphere in the next few hours are going to be talking about this… So I will just point out my favorite moment in Jon Stewart’s assault on CNN/Crossfire:
STEWART: It’s not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it.
CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you’re accusing us of partisan hackery?
STEWART: Absolutely.
CARLSON: You’ve got to be kidding me. He comes on and you…
STEWART: You’re on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: What is wrong with you?
That basically sums it up with Jon Stewart and the Daily Show. It’s not news. It’s pointing out the absurdities from those in power and making a joke about them. If and when Stewart has guests, it’s not to make an ass of them (of course, unless the guests set themselves up for it) but for Entertainment sake.
On Crossfire — you’re supposed to be newsworthy. Not entertaining but Newsworthy. THat has escaped the media the last few years – where’s the reporting? Where’s the accountability? Where is askign politicians tough quesitons and making them answer instead of tap dancing around the issue?
This isn’t a partisan game as Tucker Carlson insinuates at one point during Crossfire this afternoon. It’s doing America a service by reporting news and makign sure that the “news” isn’t bullshit spin.
Comedy Central is just that – Comedy. And it’s a sad, SAD state of affairs in America when their program is directly compared to programming on CNN or FOX News.
The Pigskin and the Pigheads running for President
From Snopes.com:
Did you know….??
The Washington Redskins have proved to be a time-tested election predictor. In the previous 15 elections, if the Washington Redskins have lost their last home game prior to the election, the incumbent party has lost the White House. When they have won, the incumbent has stayed in power.
This election year, that deciding game takes place on Sunday, October 31 … vs. Green Bay.
Go Pack!!!
Debate Bushism's
First, there was a country….
Then there was a singular turned into a plural…
George W. Bush — single handedly keeping Drinking-Games alive with the slip of the tongue…
Gruden and Bush – uncanny similarities
You know, I could talk up and down about he Presidential Debate last night (“You forgot Poland!” ) but I digress. That’s what all the other political blogs are for…. Soemone came off like a politician and someone came off hapless… That’s all I am saying.
However with Los Buccaneeros de Tampa Bay falling assunder — looking at going 0-4 for the first time since 1996 — I couldn’t help but start thinkign about Gruden and Bush last night. I mean, the debate put El Presidente on my mind and of course any Tampa Bay resident is going to put the Bucs on their mind at one point or another.
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Bush came into power and was blessed with the state of the economy and state of the federal budget which the previous administration helped along. He was handed a world that wasn’t embroidered with peace but if he acted decisively and quickly – he could have dealt with a lingering foreign problem… September 11th happened (which was tragic) and people started to blindly follow him through the days that followed.
Jon Gruden came into power with The Buccaneers blessed with the Buccaneer roster anda shrewdly managed salary cap that the previous head coach helped along greatly during his tenure. He was handed a team that was dominant but couldn’t win the whole she bang, but if he acted decisively and quickly – he could turn the team into not just a one time Super Bowl champion but a dynasty. The Bucs were coming off a first round loss to the Philadelphia Eagles (again) which featured an inept offense (which was tragic) and people started to blindly follow Gruden (after he was hired) because he seemed to be the answer to things.
- Bush went to War with terror. Patriotism went through the roof and the man could seemingly do no wrong.
Gruden brought the Bucs to the Super Bowl and won. Team frevor went through the roof and Gruden could seemingly do no wrong.
- Bush went off on a tangent and wanted to attack Iraq, and verbally sparred with his allies when they wouldn’t agree with his plans.
Gruden went off on a tangent and started to attack his free agency carelessly, and verbally sparred with his General Manager when he (Rich McKay) wouldn’t agree with hsi plans.
- Bush continued to do as he pleased and sold Iraq on false pretenses…
Gruden continued to do as he pleased and cut John Lynch on porrous pretenses
- Bush surrounds himself with sychophants in his administration in order to continue with his carekess plans without opposition
Gruden surrounded himself with a sychophant (Bruce Allen) in the organization to continue with his careless plans without opposition.
- Bush’s cronnies made bad tactical decisions (Fallujah, Hallburton, etc)
Gruden’s cronny has made bad tactical decisions (signing Darrell Russell, Signing Charlie Garner, etc)
- Bush doesn’t think of the Future with the national debt, tax cuts and costly defict spending.
Gruden diesn’t think of the Future with his shunning of rookies, trading draft picks and costly/careless signings.
- Bush will not fess up to his mistakes
Gruden will not fess up to his mistakes
Maybe it’s just me, but this is how I see it. The similarities stop at the fact Bush can be kicked out of office in November and Gruden is contractually signed for a long time to come….
"Dead or Alive" as to "Contained"?
How can the President, knowing that Osama Bin Laden has worked with limited resources in the third world and orchestrated the most heinious attacks on the United States of America, tell the American people that Osama Bin Laden was “contained” as he did last night during the debates? Osama runs free along the Afghan and Pakistan border and his Al Qaeda network is alive and well around the world and yet the word “contained” is being used to describe this grease fire?
This is an insult to anyone who lost a loved one on September 11th, 2001. You cannot simply say Osama Bin Laden is “contained” and that American’s should sit back and accept a political description of the situation when, just 3 years ago, Bush was rallying the country with the slogan “Dead or Alive.”
To all those who say John Kerry flip-flops on issues — if you do not see the President flip-flopping on this issue, you have blinders on. If you can accept “containment” over closure, you’ve turned a blind eye to those who have suffered and lost because of Osama Bin Laden.
Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator and politically – he was “contained.” He had no allies to hide with, he was out in the open and the world had imposed strict sanctions against him. Osama Bin Laden is a rogue and he and his terrorist network are anything but contained.
Is this an election or a dating service?
ABCNEWS.com : Bush Accuses Kerry of ‘Mixed Signals’
What’s next? “Bush team accuses Kerry of being prick teasers?”
“Kerry: ‘Bush won’t put out in the end!’ ”
OK, maybe I shoudl be blaming ABC’s editing for highlighting this line but…. Jeez, what a mess we are in with this election.
Cut out the middle man, you fear mongers!
I read the following off Skyscraper Page — take it as you will:
Q: Why would Al-Qaeda want Kerry, an unknown quantity, as president, when they already have Bush, who so blissfully plays into their hands at every turn?
A: Because Al Qaeda never said this. The Republicans are the only ones saying it. They always preface such statements with “It’s my opinion that…”, or “I believe that…”. Net result: the general public hears “Al Qaeda wants Kerry to win”, and God forbid we should do anything to appease Al Qaeda! Then the terr-rists win!
I think they should just cut out the middle man and start saying they believe if elected, Kerry himself will fly a plane into the Capitol.
In fact, that could be a great new angle: he’s one of those crazy Vietnam vets. They’re always having nervous breakdowns and flashbacks. Can we really trust him? He’s already delusional and believes that he was a hero who won some medals. Bush never went through that trauma, so he’s fresh and stable!
C’mon, Rove: are you reading this?
Sweet Jesus!
Why do I have a feeling this would not be far from the truth?
Actually it would be very far from the truth – because I am certain that Karl Rove and Bush’s re-election team would make a scandal about Mary Magdalene and also start slanderous rumors about Lazrus and the apostles…
The International Vote, take two
Yahoo! News – Global survey shows 30 of 35 countries want Kerry in White House
“Only one in five want to see Bush reelected,” said Steven Kull, the university’s program on international policy attitudes. “Though he is not as well known, Kerry would win handily if the people of the world were to elect the US president.”
But remember, George, you’ve got Tonga in yoru pocket. That’s more important than anything! :rolleyes :biggrin
Don't worry, George, you have Tonga in your pocket
I came across a site that posses the question, “What if the world could cast their vote for US President”…
The only countries in the world that are clearly in George W. Bush’s favor are Afghanistan (52 percent to 48), the Faroe Islands (where?) with a 40 point lead on Kerry, and Tonga (4 votes to two :tongue)…
Try Try Again
Toe is at it again.
The great sage and creative webmaster, known for such web sites as GWBush04.com, RedTideNews.com and the now defunct KilltheWeb.com satire sites, has a new political blog up and running…
For all of you who couldn’t guess where Toe falls on the political map, just check the site name and take a guess: The Blue Donkey…
Moral Cowardice
One of the strongest pieces I have seen that outlines the key weakness of a certain political figure was posted by Josh Micah Marshall the other day, having to do with the president’s moral cowardice….
The stubborn refusal ever to change course, which the president tries to pass off as a sign of leadership or devotion to principle, is actually an example of his cowardice.
For the same reasons, he runs from soldiers’ funerals like they were burying victims of the plague — because it’s the easy way out. If there’s a problem, he denies it or finds someone else to take the fall for him.
Everyone has these tendencies in their measure. No one is perfect. But they define George W. Bush.
The same sort of moral cowardice that led him to support the Vietnam war but decide it wasn’t for him, run companies into the ground and let others pay the bill, play gutter politics but run for the hills when someone asks him to say it to their face, those are the same qualities that led the president to lie the country into war, fail to prepare for the aftermath and then refuse to take responsibility for any of it when the bill started to come due.
Thanks to Jon at Lies.com who’s post I originally found out about this from.
The most scary thing about this cowardice is that i have seen it before – though I had thought originally it was tap dancing around issues, that wasn’t the truth (though that plays a part in this) to it — it’s blindly seeing it yoru way and playing the spin so you can accept the lie as truth… It defines many Americans, sadly.
Less Defense, more Beauracracy
Beside George Tennet, I wonder how many people see the proposed breakup of the CIA as a step backwards instead of a step forward?
There are already a handful of security and intelligence agencies int eh United States and a handful of Investigative agencies as well. The 9/11 Commission cited lack of communications/cooperations between agencies as part of the reason 9-11 happened.
So why is it that breaking the CIA into three is supposed to be the way to mend the problem? You have more agencies that need to answer to other agencies and more groups that may or may not share data. It’s taking the wrong approach to finding a solution.
Just like the Department of Homeland Security is giving the Defense Department a day off from defending the United States of America so that they can go ahead and be the Offense Department and take War elsewhere, changing the CIA to three different agencies doesn’t rectify the problem – it just adds bureaucracy so that other groups can focus on other things instead of solving the real problem — the glut of agencies and the lack of coordination with them.
I’m not totally opposed to the dismantling of the CIA but then again? I want to see the FBI and ATF factored into this group. I would think one super agency with divisions for national Investigation and law enforcement as well as international intelligence is going to be more beneficial than adding more groups to an already crowded field of agencies that are only loosely connected… And of course, having one person overseeing those agencies is not going to help cooperation and coordination between them…. It’s just going to add to the mess.
And what are other politicians going to tell you? That dividing and confusing is going to make America safer? That’s hardly a way to protect America… It’s more likely a way to contribute to more trouble – both Political and Geo-political – in the future.
Someoen is pissed — and rightly so
Tom Benjamin is pissed off, and with good reason ladies and gentlemen. Here is politics at it’s worst and Pork Barrels in America also at it’s worst:
How does it work? In the United States the entire sports franchise is apparently a depreciating asset. Never mind that the franchise does not wear out like a building or a tangible asset. Never mind that history tells us franchises appreciate over time. Everybody will pretend they depreciate and if you have the money to buy an NHL hockey team in the United States, you get to write off the entire purchase price over 15 years.
Please read the full story on this…
A Reagan tells it like it is
The Case Against George W. Bush
Just like that, a country whose economy had been reduced to shambles by international sanctions, whose military was less than half the size it had been when the U. S. Army rolled over it during the first Gulf war, that had extensive no-flight zones imposed on it in the north and south as well as constant aerial and satellite surveillance, and whose lethal weapons and capacity to produce such weapons had been destroyed or seriously degraded by UN inspection teams became, in Mr. Bush’s words, “a threat of unique urgency” to the most powerful nation on earth.
I chose to quote that section of this article specifically because that is the still-infuriating case (for me) against the Iraq invasion: Iraq, being contained and under close world scrutiny, had suddenly turned into a indominable threat and we had to strike or we would be destroyed.
All of the points Ron Reagan Jr. made were ignored by just about everyone who backed the attack or backed Bush blindly.
Why did it take so long for someone to write a piece that speaks what was so painful obvious about how much we were lied into War?
Reagan’s article is a long read but a good one, citing the lies and deception of Bush as a case to get this administration out of office.
Roll Back America, Al Qaeda
So Al Qaeda has the idea to go and attack the American financial institutions to do damage to our way of life. Citicorp, Prudential, etc… Sure, major financial institutions such as these are indeed good targets but really, is Al Qaeda missing an opportunity here? Why go after these big banks when there is an even BIGGER target sitting in the country with absolutely no one paying attention to it?
Why not blow up Wal Mart’s main offices and do Americans a favor?
First off, I’m kidding when I suggest these bastards blow up anything, so if anyone takes this post seriously and thinks I am encouraging a terrorist attack, you got another thing coming.
Of course, even attacking a retailing giants main corporate center won’t destroy the organization. Wal Mart is too spread out… But the thing is — attacking Wal Mart hits every American in one way or another… Shopping, employment… Even competing wages for those employed in other retailing / supermarket institutions…
I won’t get into a rant with regards to Wal Mart and the rolling back of American pay rates… but lets just say I would have know qualms if the Wal Mart shopping institution was suddenly wiped from the map.
What good is ranting if no one hears?
Feeling sickly right now – have been for a few days. I think it’s allergies. I HOPE it’s just allergies….
At any rate, I vented about Ferry travel the other day — not just on der Stonegauge but through Bayciti.net’s comments — and suffice it to say I think that he idea is sound. And I expect no one in government to even think about the idea.
….so Im taking the idea to government.
I’ve printed out copies of a letter to the Clearwater City Council and the Mayor just to send out feelers over the idea of Ferry transit between Clearwater and Clearwater Beach. I plan on ammending the letter and then printing out copies and sending it along to HARTLine, PSTA, The Hillsborough and Pinellas MPO’s, and other government officials…. ALl because I’m tired of having ideas and having them sitting in my head or in a blog….
To be continued.