The Vet that Did Not Vet

Kind of liked this Youtube Video. It makes much of this election so simple anyone can understand it.



M

We'd Do Better With A Simple Political Lottery

New York Times columnist Frank Rich comments on what's going wrong lately with the Obana candidacy:

"Whether he’s reaffirming his long-held belief in faith-based programs or
fudging his core convictions about government snooping, he is drifting away from the leadership he promised and into the focus-group-tested calculation patented by Mark Penn in his disastrous campaign for Hillary Clinton."

How disappointing it must be for all those young idealistic supporters of Obama to now see him morphing into just another run-of-the-mill major party political hack. Many of us who experienced this same sort of phenomenon with Bill Clinton back in the 1990s are not surprised to see what Obama is becoming now. Our corrupt political system does this to everyone who runs for high office, apparently, or at least it does it to those who have a real chance to be elected. Only the fringe candidates with no chance of wining like Dennis Kuchinich and Ron Paul can remain true to their ideals. What kind of a screwed up political system do we have that operates like this? We'd do better with a simple lottery. Let all the candidates state how they REALLY, HONESTLY feel about the issues, then put all their names in a hat and have someone draw out the winner. At least then we'd get the real McCoy, and not some political Frankenstein.

Jim

PHOTO: Canna Lily

Super Tuesday? More Bread And Circuses!

That's what I think of our political system, the primaries, the general election, etc.: it's all bread and circuses. The United States is not a democracy. How can you have a democracy when there are such inequalities of wealth and power in evidence? Corporations own the mass media and manipulate what the public sees and hears. No real reform politican could ever get to first base because the powerful monied interests would prevent it. Finally, the Amercian populace is purposely kept in an uneducated stupor while being fed popular culture junk food day in and day out. To this we've come.

See Oligarchy USA for more information on what we really are living under in this country.

Jim

Boxing Day

The day after Christmas falls this year on a Wednesday, which leaves plenty of time this week for the presidential campaigns to get back into gear. I missed the entertainment during the Christmas break. After all, the cast of characters is just so "interesting." We had a quiet holiday here, with our actual exchange of gifts delayed until today because Dan wasn't feeling well yesterday. He's much improved today. As for gifts, I got lots of goodies including new shoes and a light jacket, and a Harry Potter train set, which I'll promptly take downstairs later and get it going on my layout. Only a few days are left in 2007. It'll be time for Auld Lang Syne soon.

PHOTO: Rudolph at Macy's

To Vote Or Not to Vote

Today is election day. I looked over the endorsements of the Philadelphia Gay News and I was impressed with the pro-gay credentials of many of the candidates who are running for mayor, council and judgeships. I felt like going out and voting or some of them today, but I probably won't.

I used to never miss voting on election day. I used to feel that voting was an important civic duty. However, as I have aged and observed the corrupt nature of politics in this country, I have become discouraged about voting. For many years, when faced, as I often felt I was, with no real choice at the ballot box, I used to vote for third party candidates that had principled positions on the issues that I agreed with. But, some of my friends would tell me that I was throwing my vote away. Actually, they were right, but not for the reason they think. My vote was worthless anyway, so why not throw it away. If this sounds too negative and defeatist, that's because it's the way I feel when it comes to politics in this country.

PHOTO: Boat House Row, Philadelphia, PA

Jim

Just Say NO! To An Imus Return

The IMUS show replacement disc jockeys on New York's WFAN 660 AM dropped the hint this morning that maybe the I-Man will return to the station in two weeks. I doubt that this will happen.

No, I think Imus is gone, and that's a good thing. His "humor," done largely at the expense of others who are not in a position to hit back or defend themselves, is not funny. That type of humor takes little talent to present. Imus, I've seen and heard real comedy and you're not talented enough to do it. Instead, you relied upon your clearly bigoted on air cronies to feed you sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic hard balls that you were usually smart enough not to repeat, but for the times you slipped up, like with the Rutger's women's team. You're not fooling most of us. We know what's in your heart, because it came out of your mouth.

Some of the members of your all white circle of political media cronies have defended you with lame references to you being "an equal opportunity offender," but that doesn't wash. I don't have any friends or associates who use the epithets or say the kinds of things I heard on your show, and I don't want any that do. So why would I want to hear you and your on air thugs use such language? Oh yes, and there is the defense that you do a lot of charity work. Too bad that good work cannot offset or negate the massive amounts of offense and hurt you've caused over the years to so many people including myself. Well, now you'll have more time to devote to your causes.

Oh, the hypocrisy of it all! - that's the defense of Imus coming from supporters like Frank Rich, who should know better. But he's a straight, white man, and didn't present much of a target for Imus' bigot squad. Others in Imus' former circle of cronies have seen the light, like John Meecham at Newsweek. Still others remain in hiding, such as Harold Ford and Tim Russert. It was wonderful to watch Gwen Ifil criticize Russert on "Meet The Press" for his tacit complicity in all of this as a repeat Imus guest. Yes, there are hypocrites out there, but how does that in any way excuse what happened?

Finally, there's the attack on PC that is used as a defense of Imus, as if being civil and respectful of diversity is bad. The right wing has managed to so demonize calls for civility using the pejorative tag "political correctness" that people run from it, just like they've demonized "liberals" to the point where no one wants to be called one. However, the Imus story has shown that we must return to a culture of civil discourse in the media and elsewhere, one that respects our sexual, social, ethnic and cultural diversity. What we need is an end to the uncivil antics of the rest of the bigoted shock jocks and pundits. They're on notice now. I can't wait for the next firing.

Jim