What's that? The world's gone mad?
I plan to do a post a day, at least, just summarizing the variety of weird political news and outrages, as well as major topics, that are currently floating around the ether and the blagosphere. I know a lot of people who don't have the time or energy to sift through all the stuff I do for fun, but would generally like a bit more information on the particular route the world is taking to hell, so I provide this noble public service, like the altruist I am.
White House Lies (part 1 of an endless series)
Scott McClellan, former mouthpiece/Press Secretary for El Presidente, is writing a book. Surprisingly enough, he seems to be willing to rat out his former boss, to some degree. The publisher has leaked a short passage indicating that Scotty boy says he now knows he was lying to the public about the leaks that destroyed the professional life of spy Valerie Plame (as a way to get back at her husband, Iraq War I hero Joe Wilson), and endangered our nuclear counter-proliferation operations overseas. He says that the President, VP, Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove were all 'involved' in these lies.
Should be an interesting read.
Source: Editor and Publisher
Senator Dodd, meanwhile, having realized that if nobody else will take the high road you can probably speed, has jumped on this bandwagon as well, calling for a Senate investigation. Whatever his motivations, if there's a cause that everyone else running for President is too chicken to stand up for, Dodd's your man. It's either incredibly principled or incredibly crass.
Source: Raw Story
From the Department of the Painfully Obvious:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says that our own El Presidente belongs in an asylum for stating that Iran getting a nuke could lead to World War III. I could not agree more, and there's even a handy amendment to the constitution that says crazy people shouldn't be President. Maybe Dodd can get on this one.
Sources: Reuters
U.S. Constitution, Twenty-Fifth Amendment
Health Care for Nobody:
Clinton, Obama and Edwards are all bickering over the best way to provide more money to insurance companies instead of helping people not be sick all the damn time. Clinton and Edwards want to require you to get health insurance, the same way you have to get auto insurance. They have token plans to help poor people buy it if they could not already. Yeah, that'll solve the problem of our private insurance system, where we spend far more and get far less than anyone else in the industrialized world. Pour MORE money into that hole; see if you can fill it.
Obama, meanwhile, just doesn't care if everyone has insurance at all. Nice guy.
Source: Raw Story
Pencils Still Down:
Finally, the writer's strike is taking an interesting turn, as the CBS news writers' union will seemingly go on strike before the last Democratic debate, to be aired on CBS, which would effectively cancel it. Thank you again, WGA! No, seriously. Eight thousand debates is more than sufficient.
Source: Raw Story
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Political News of the Day
Here Comes Tomorrow Rebirth Neo-Kai
After a long hiatus due to personal issues, the shining glory that is the future's greatest resource, Here Comes Tomorrow is back online!
To make a long story very short, when I started this blog my life was going in a very different direction. I was still recovering from a long illness but it seemed like I had things back under control, and was going to be admitted to graduate school at my old university, continue work there for a couple of years, and basically maintain the status quo. Then two things happened.
First, I got rejected for graduate school because I foolishly admitted that I had plans after academia. This is the cardinal sin in the ivory tower world of Political Science, it seems. Secondly, my illness got worse again, and so I lapsed in doing, well, much of anything.
But you can't hang around sick forever, or you probably die, and there are far too many of my enemies left to outlast me, so I'm back on my feet. I'm on track to move out of this backwater state, go on to law school directly, and ignore any requests for alumni donations from here until Ragnarok.
Which brings me to another point. I've decided to drop the pseudonym, which I adopted primarily because I was in the process of applying to the (supposedly) austere and intellectual world of Graduate School, rather than the vicious circle of sharks that is Law School, and I did not want 'teh Google' to impact this process negatively. Apparently I had nothing to worry about in this regard; ambition, other than the kind that leads to your name in obscure academic journals, is the true kryptonite of post-grad work.
So I'll dispense with the Ellis Kage persona, which really never had time to develop at any rate.
My name is John J. Sears. The J is for 'Joseph', as if anyone cares. I'm 25 years old and hold a B.A. in Political Science/Criminal Justice from Indiana University. I live here in glorious Bloomington, Indiana, which is mercifully populated with a large collection of oddballs, freaks and wisdom seekers, along with the idiots who pile into the stadium on sports days, or the alcohol addicted frat rats who make the bars look like Gallipoli every Friday night.
Politcally, I'm a left-wing sort of guy. A socialist really, though that term has been pretty successfully demonized in the good old U.S. of A. Just so you know where I stand, here are my standard issue biases and positions, laid out in a handy list format, to make it easier to hate me.
Abortion: Pro-Choice (Extremely; I'm in favor of the government paying for any and all birth
control, abortion and sterilization procedures as social policy)
Health Care: Pro-Universal Health Care (I personally like the German model, but all the
Western Industrialized nations do it better than we do)
Civil Rights/Surveillance: Civil Libertarian (think ACLU; I like my Bill of Rights, the Separation
of Church and State, etc)
Religious Status: Atheist (if God wants to prove his/her existence, I'm listed in the phone book)
Political Affiliation: Democrat (until something better comes along; please, please do)
Unions: Pro-Union (go WGA!)
Immigration: Extremely Pro-Immigration. (What, it's better to keep up the population with
screaming worm babies than skilled adults who want to come here and contribute?
Please. Also, American food is almost entirely inedible. The more ethnic groups, the
better our restaurants.)
Science: Pro-Science (sad, but it needs to be stated in this day and age. I like my light bulbs and
interblags, genetic engineering and even the killer robots that will one day rise up and
overthrow human civilization.)
Ok, so most people won't be with me on the robots thing. Too bad. They're adorable when they charge the death rays and start chanting in badly synthesized voices.
This blog's focus will be on politics, entertainment, technology, and the intersection thereof, primarily. I like to see how the world we live in is shaped by the world we want it to be, and vice versa; I'm also, by training and nature, very cynical and suspicious of the ebb and flow of power, and like to keep an eye on what our Esteemed Leaders are up to.
Plus it's just cool how so few can control so many using the brain-rot trifecta of Church, State and Television.
Well, that's about it. This is longer and less amusing than anything I intend to post in the future, I assure you. You, who will someday be reading it. Perhaps.
Later.
JJS
