Disenfranchised Hippies

A few updates on Factor items. I already blogged on Ward Churchill, so you know what I think about that. He waved his speaking fee at Hamilton College. Better than nothing. And Villanova College has removed the plaque commemorating Mine Ener. Good thinking.

The thing I really felt like commenting on is Sam Smith, Progressive Review editor. He wrote a book about reforming government and one example he gave for what's in the book was that he wants an election system where you vote for multiple candidates, like you could vote "Bush 1, Kerry 2, Nader 3, etc..." So if there's no clear winner, you go to the third party voters and look at their second choice. Maybe you'll see this the way I'm seeing it, but it seems to me that this guy wants the Independent, Green and Libertarian vote-wasters to get to vote twice. Basically, he's thinking that all the Nader voters in Florida in 2000 who would have voted for Gore should have had their votes count for Gore. Yeah, but does he think Perot's votes should have counted for Bush Sr. in 1992? I'm just asking, because double-standards are bayd. You shouldn't have a double-standard, m'kay?

I'm all for an a third party. A fourth and fifth party. How about 111 choices, like in Iraq? Of course, if we have three or more official parties, we'll always be electing people by pluralities. Say we have a republican, a democrat, and a libertarian candidate, and an election goes 34%, 36% and 30%, respectively. The democrat wins, but 64% of the electorate voted against that candidate.

I just had a brainstorm as I was typing (yes, it hurt). We could have a national primary where we decide the two parties that are going to get to run in the final election. Then, after 41 weeks of campaigning between the candidates of those two parties, we go out to vote between those two parties. I'm sure it wouldn't work. Or maybe it could work, but I doubt it would change.

Now something that might be of interest to the Clinton followers, who thought his impeachment was a witch hunt. This Smith guy was investigating the corruption in the Clinton administration before the so-called right-wing conspiracy. Good for him.

Psycho Ward

First thing on the show, the topic was a professor named Ward Churchill who said the 9/11 victims got what they deserved, and Bill was shocked to see that this guy is going to speak at Hamilton College in upstate New York. I don't really care where he's speaking; Ward Churchill is not worthy of sucking Noam Chomsky's butt. At the very least, Chomsky has said that "nothing can justify the terrorist attacks of September 11," and though it pains me to link to Chomsky's website, I have to cite the source as proof that even a goofball like Noam Chomsky concedes that there is absolutely no justification for those attacks. But this Churchill asshat is saying the victims got what they deserved. I believe in free speech. I believe he has the right to say what he thinks. So here's my nickle's worth of free speech: Ward Churchill is a dick.

The other thing that caught my attention was about CBC airing some story about how Fox News is da devil. Boo friggin' hoo. Sorry that Fox is encroaching on your monopoly. The funniest part about the story is seeing Al Franken cry. I laughed out loud. He's pretending to love America so hard that fluid is leaking from his eyeballs. Franken does the USO Tour?? What the hell do you tell the troops? Things like: you shouldn't be here; everything you're working for is bullshit; you're all going to die because it's all dangerous in war and stuff; what were you thinking when you volunteered for service, you fools? Or do you just ridicule the people that called on them for the duties they promised to perform? I'm sure they all love to hear your whining over there in Iraq and Afghanistan. On a sidenote, one of the guests Bill had on was a conservative columnist from Canada named Rachel Marsden. Hottie. Canadian Ann Coulter? Boioioioing.

Ted Dubya Kennedy

Today was a bad day. I had to go to all five stops on my route and I didn't get to start until 6:30. I listened to the first and third hours of Sean Hannity with a lot of static. The second hour I had no reception for, and I wasn't about to listen to Airhead America. And because it was such an annoyingly bad day, I just didn't watch O'Reilly tonight. I may or may not watch the final airing at 3 AM. I don't know. The only thing that I thought of commenting on regarding Hannity's program tonight is the replaying of soundbites of Ted Kennedy's speaking mishaps. The left loves the fact that George Bush misspeaks occasionally, because that unquestionably means he's a complete idiot. Now that Ted Kennedy has given Sean Hannity a handful of these soundbites, this is what I call a sticky situation.

The left deserve some of their own medicine, but at the same time I really think the right could be above that kind of behaviour. Among my friends, I've always been outspoken against comments about Bush's intellect based solely on occasional slip-ups in speech, so I'm also against calling Kennedy an idiot for the same reason. However, I have no sympathy for lefties who complain about Hannity's antics when most of them think Bush screwing up a colloquialism is irrefutable evidence of incompetence.

Chill Bill vol. 1

On the Factor tonight, the first thing that I thought worth commenting on was when Bill was talking to a Fox News analyst, Ellis Henican. They got in a little bit of a shouting match when Henican said that Condoleezza Rice needs to be able to take this stuff, and be able handle herself. She did. She schooled Barbara Boxer by essentially telling her not to call her a liar. Henican said that "the rhetoric was overheated" but everyone just needed to chill out about it. I agree. Everyone needs to just chill the fudge out. I won't get into a long tirade about it, but if you really think about it, anything in politics, left and right, Republicans and Democrats, would be so much better if someone in the Senate or the House just stood up when things started getting out of control and yelled, "EVERY-BODY NEEDS TO COOOOOL OUT!!" I think I'm going to run for office with that as my platform.

O'Reilly also made mention of the United Nations' commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on this day in 1945 (well, yesterday, but I'm blogging late). Apparently, the representatives from many Arab nations didn't show up for it. Why in the world is the far-left defending these people? I'm talking about the leaders, not the citizens. It's the leaders that are manipulating and brainwashing their citizens. Maybe you've heard the term Islamofascism. This is what that is. Now... as I was typing I decided to look up Islamofascism in the Wikipedia, and the term was supposedly coined by far-right wacko, Mike Savage. We won't hold that against the word. I mean, I'll continue to use it, regardless of who coined it... but... whew... Savage actually criticizes Rush Limbaugh. Crazy people. But I digress...

The last thing that I thought worth mentioning is related to what I blogged on last night, and that is that Bill did in fact call Barbara Boxer a nut on his radio show. Bill fessed up to it on the Radio Factor and the O'Reilly Factor, designating himself as the "Most Ridiculous Item of the Day." I guess Al Franken was right, Bill O'Reilly is a liar. And by 'liar,' I mean a human being who makes mistakes and apologizes for them.

AM Radio Woes

Occasionally, I'll get horrible reception with AM radio. Well, usually I get horrible reception. But what's odd about AM radio is that sometimes, when I can't get anything but garbled static from AM 1340 in Rochester or AM 1500 in Saint Paul, I can actually receive stations that are several states away. One night I listened to a station in Omaha. Tonight was one of those nights without any clear reception, and I couldn't hear Sean Hannity's program on my route. Skimming through different stations, I found a station broadcasting from Ohio. The station I subjected myself to was playing none other than "Air America."

Fortunately, at the time I hadn't eaten any food yet, because I probably would have thrown it up. I could not listen to this garbage. Randi Rhodes was babbling on about how the Republicans are sheep because not one of them voted against Condoleezza Rice. Sure, I guess that means they're all sheep. Or it could mean they all thought she was qualified for the job. Obviously 30 or so of the Democrats agreed, right? Must be sheep. This is why I'm fiercely independent. This is complete crap. I don't agree with Hannity in everything he says. I don't listen to his show and drool all over myself because I'm nodding constantly. I don't agree with O'Reilly in everything he says either, though he considers himself an independent. Hell, he mentions occasionally that his whole family, including himself, used to be Democrats, but aren't anymore because of the secular, progressive, if-it-feels-good-do-it liberals on the far left. I don't like the crazies on either side, and that's why I'm a card-carrying member of the radical middle.

But back to this Randi Rhodes loon, barking about Republicans being sheep. I'm going to post a question here. I've asked this question before, but I've never gotten an answer to it and don't think I ever will. Here goes. If Republicans and Bush-supporters are sheep, what does one call followers of the "Anyone But Bush" mantra that almost got John Kerry elected? What was John Kerry's campaign platform? Can anyone tell me? "I have a plan. I have a plan. You have to elect me to hear it, but rest assured, I have a plan." That was all I got out of his campaign. Rhodes called for unity. What will satisfy you? You sound like you'd be down for unity as long as it's over there on the left somewhere. Unity implies you're coming together, and you have to meet halfway, stupid.

Rhodes also went off for a bit about how the US has never attacked a country in the way we did in Iraq. We've never attacked a country that wasn't an immediate threat or had attacked us. Hmm... where have I read about a war with a country that wasn't an immediate threat or had attacked us... no Japan attacked us in World War II... oh yeah, Korea. Oh wait... Vietnam, too. Oh, and Desert Storm. I'm suprised you didn't at least think of that one. Unprovoked war is only ok when a Democrat was president, but Desert Storm was under a Republican. Oh, alright. Those were examples of a country invading another country and we decided to step in and help the invaded country. But now... let's think back to Clinton's decision to drop bombs on Baghdad because of Saddam's *gasp* weapons of mass destruction! Barbara Boxer (one of Condi's nay-votes) supported Clinton when he did that. Why don't you guys go huddle for a few years? Come back when you have some real answers for the world, instead of "peace, love and understanding." It would be great to live in peace, love is a beautiful thing, and I already try to be as understanding as I can. Screaming the phrase directly into politicians' ears with no plan whatsoever of how to bring it about does nothing but piss them off and keep their now-deaf ear turned squarely at your shouting.

A Few Items From The Factor

And the Award for Best Child Murderer goes to... Mine An Ener! (No, that isn't a typo. That's her name.) Bill O'Reilly talked to a few people about this story tonight. Some Professors and students at Villanova college in Pennsylvania are dedicating a portion of a student lounge to Ener because she suffered from postpartum depression. I heard about this a few days ago on Garage Logic, but O'Reilly brought it up tonight. It's just stupid. My mother had postpartum depression after having me. Pity she didn't slash my neck. Then she'd have a student lounge named after her too.

Then there was some self-proclaimed liberal from some liberal newspaper who just came on the show to take a shot at O'Reilly. He said O'Reilly was like Jerry Springer, because Brokaw and Rather and Jennings would never call someone a nut or an idiot. Unfortunately, I think O'Reilly misspoke when he said he didn't call Barbara Boxer a nut. I think he did call her that, but I'm not sure. She is a nut, but instead of getting defensive, Bill should have said was that Brokaw's show, Rather's show and Jennings' show all report the news (supposedly) objectively. O'Reilly's show is news commentary. It's an opinion that he's allowed to give on his show. His show is up front about it. It isn't like he's calling his show a straight news show, and that his opinion is news. He doesn't hide an agenda with false objectivity, like Dan Rather.

Along comes Falwell, offering tsunami victims rice and... sermons. Dude, all they need is the rice. Evangelism annoys the piss out of me.

At the end of the show, they chatted a bit about The Passion, but I already blogged about that below.

The Snubbing of the Christ

On Hannity & Colmes tonight, they spoke about The Passion not getting nominated for an Oscar, using the word "snub" and implying that it might be religious bigotry. I don't consider myself a full-fledged Christian. At least I'm not a practicing Christian, as I only go to church on Easter and Christmas to appease the 'rents. I found the movie to be alright, if you look at it for what it is. It's a dramatization of Jesus' crucifiction. That's it. If the main character was not a deity figure to many people, would this movie be worth anyone's time to sit through and watch a guy get brutally tortured and executed? Even if you already believe that Jesus is the son of God, why would you really want to subject yourself to this movie?

Now artistically, The Passion is actually done very well, as in the cinematography is done well. The make-up was done very well too, and the music was beautiful. And guess what? It got nominated for best cinematography, for best make-up, and for best original score! It did not get snubbed. It didn't deserve a best director nomination. I'm sorry. I like Mel Gibson as an actor. Braveheart was great. But this simply was not his best work.

Fahrenheit 9/11 didn't get any nominations. It didn't deserve any at all. Moore rendered the movie ineligible for best documentary himself, but it shouldn't have been eligible in the first place. It wasn't nominated for any technical awards. George Bush wasn't nominated for best actor. Fahrfromright 9/11 wasn't nominated for anything at all; why is the loony right up in arms that the Passion got 3 technical nominations?

You know who was really snubbed in the nominations? Jim Carrey for Eternal Sunshine.

Picking a format

Alright, here's what I think I'm going to do...

Back in November, I think it was, I started working earlier shifts at Weber & Judd. I got sick of hearing the same crap over and over on 93X, so I started listening to AM radio. I heard Bill O'Reilly's radio show for the first time. He's not a bad guy, believe it or not, though I didn't buy Al Franken's and The Daily Show's whinefest about O'Reilly being a blood-sucking, right-wing, neoconservative, facist pig in the first place. After a few weeks, they gave that earlier shift to a new employee, so I didn't get to hear O'Reilly from 1-3 pm anymore. So now, I listen to Garage Logic (which is funnier, and less political) from 3 to 6, and Sean Hannity (who's farther to the right than O'Reilly, but I still agree with some things he says) from 6 to 9. I started watching the O'Reilly Factor on Fox News a short time after I started listening to the radio show, and I still watch that. There were a few times I was going to call into the O'Reilly Factor, because they talked about a few things I felt like voicing my opinion on. Had the number dialed into my cellphone once, but they were just ending the segment, so I didn't end up calling. I've thought about calling Sean Hannity too, except it's pre-taped, because Hannity is actually live from 3-6, but that's when AM 1340 plays Garage Logic, so I couldn't call into the show unless I randomly called in and pretended to have been listening to the show. So... to get around my irrational anxiety about talking on phones, here's what I'm doing with my blogs...

The old blog, stupid green squares, will stay exactly the same. Commentary about news I read about here and there, some stories of the more or less interesting events of my life that come up, and possibly notifications of updates to my personal website (if I ever update it - shut up, Jeremy). This blog will be my own analysis of the talking points that come up on the television and radio shows I follow. Does that make sense?

Well then...

It's not only easy to post to these blogs... it's easy to make blogs. I'm thinkin... I might make this my radical middle, political ranting blog, and shift my old blog to a more personal, "open diary" format. We'll see what I do with it, but for the most part, I decided to park the "Political Pornography" name.