Every capitalist loves communist China

I was beginning to think nobody in mainstream media would ever pick up on this… Everybody seems content, if not downright happy, to overlook how much time we are spending on our knees for China, complaining mildly about things like pet food that’s lethal to our pets, or lead in children’s toys, and completely letting crimes against humanity slide (so long as that humanity is on foreign soil). Barely a murmur about unsafe working conditions that have cost so many miners their lives this year alone. No, when corporate America talks about Chine, they do so with dollar signs in their eyes, and lust in their hearts.

Condoleeza Rice condemns Iraq war?

“This is not 2001, and the invasion of Iraq, where Russia can
invade its neighbor, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get
away with it”

Okay, that’s not the actual quote from Ms. Rice. She used the year 1968 and the country name of Czechoslovakia. All the other words are actually hers, though.

Now I don’t really know what’s going on between Russia and Georgia right now. I probably should be paying attention, but I haven’t. I’m pretty sure their reasons for invading are different than our reasons for invading. Not saying they’re better or worse reasons (like I said, I have no clue). The fact is, we’re condemning Russia for invading another country, while we are still occupying the country we somewhat-recently invaded. We are telling them they can’t overthrow a foreign government and get away with it, when that is exactly what we did. In short, we’re being fucking hypocrites. I don’t like that.

Breathtaking hypocrisy

“If Barack Obama wants to question John McCain’s service to his country, he should have the guts to do it himself and not hide behind his campaign surrogates,” said McCain’s campaign surrogate Leighton “Snuffy” Smith.

I mean, seriously… Can’t you do better than attack the idea that a candidate’s adviser has the nerve to say something in public? Particularly when you are not a candidate yourself? They’re saying, “Barack Obama has a responsibility to condemn these attacks,” while simultaneously attacking Obama. It’s pathetic, and a bit humorous, and it’s what we can look forward to seeing a lot of between now and November.

What’s the point?

A Polish couple is getting a divorce. This is newsworthy why? Because the event that precipitated the divorce was the man going to a brothel. Again, this is newsworthy why? Because one of the working girls at the brothel turned out to be his wife, who was supposedly working “at a store in a nearby town”. OK, instant headline.

This divorce is just stupid. The article doesn’t say which one of the couple initiated the divorce, but the way I see it, neither one of them has any grounds to ask for one. They were both going out and having sex on the side. Only difference is, one was paying for it, the other was getting paid for it. Maybe the man wanted a divorce because he was jealous that his wife could make money having sex? Maybe the woman wanted a divorce because the husband wouldn’t pay her? Seems to me that they’d both be happier if they could get over this pettiness and keep doing what they’re doing. Maybe he could get an employee discount there since his wife works….

Hypocrisy

Ah, yes, beautiful 2008. The year we get rid of the Bush regime, assuming he doesn’t proclaim a national emergency and institute martial law before November. Despite my general happiness at being in the home stretch of what has been an awful 8 years, it will surely be a year of annoyance as well, since I generally am loathe to hear what comes out of any politician’s mouth.
McCain said:

“We are going to prove that you can’t buy an election in the state of New Hampshire — and we are also going to prove that negative attack ads don’t work either.”

Because, you know, accusing your opponent of trying to buy the election isn’t a “negative attack” at all…

Bill Richardson refers to Bill Richardson in the third-person:

“With Bill Richardson, you get change and you get experience. You have to have experience to change things. I have a record.”

People want change, and this genius thinks “having a record” is a good thing. Sorry. If you “have a record”, you are part of what we want to change away from.

Ron Paul stretches his credibility:

“The big trouble that we have over the last year was you know, getting our message out. And now, the money is flowing in, the money comes in faster than we can spend it. Because when people hear this message, they get so excited about it.”

Money is coming in faster than a politician can spend it? Inconceivable!
Also, I’m not sure about “big trouble getting our message out” considering all the reports I’ve heard of Ron Paul spam…

What is the United States going to do about Myanmar?

Depending on which version of the reason for invading Iraq you choose to believe in, you have to think we ought to be storming into Myanmar right now. I mean, one of the largely held reasons by those who support the war in Iraq is “we’re bringing democracy to the people of Iraq.” The problem being, the people of Iraq don’t really seem to want democracy. I certainly never heard any stories of Iraqis protesting or rioting for it. Myanmar, on the other hand, clearly wants democratic rule.

groups of several hundred men and women yelled in English “F— you,
army. We only want democracy”, provoking charges by small bands of
soldiers.

So why are we sitting on our thumbs for this one? If spreading democracy is our national directive, we should be sitting an aircraft carrier and some troop transports in international waters just outside of Myanmar, and “politely encouraging” the government there to give the people what they demand.

It’s deja vu. Like father, like son. Bush senior did nothing about Myanmar when the government slaughtered 3,000 protesters in 1988, but he ran quickly to the aid of Kuwait. Now junior’s following in his footsteps, attacking Iraq again, and again ignoring a country whose people are very obviously oppressed and wanting democracy. I’ve always rejected the liberal claim of “blood for oil”, but it is a rather striking difference between our willingness to intervene in a region where there is oil versus a region where there is not. We love to put troops into the Middle East, but we ignore places like Africa and Myanmar where there is true unrest. Then we have the nerve to claim our actions are noble, when we are so obviously self-serving.

…I guess this ends my self-imposed moratorium on being negative?

Pot shot

I’m not sure if this shows why abstinence-only education is stupid, or if it shows that abstinence truly is the best policy… It sure does show the hypocrisy our society has when it comes to sex, though.

We ain’t nuthin’ like *THEM*

“This is not any subversive thing like trying to legalize marijuana
or whatever. This is just practical agriculture. We’re desperate for
something that can make us some money.”

That’s real nice. Legalizing hemp so a farmer can make a buck is more important than legalizing medical marijuana, which could (in addition to making a lot of money for farmers) alleviate a lot of pain and suffering? I really get sick to my stomach whenever some asshole uses the “we ain’t like them” defense in trying to get something legalized. Quit beating down your fellow man. Stand together.

But the fight over hemp is not political or philosophical, people here
say. It lacks any counterculture wink, any hint of the fear some hemp
opponents express that those trying to legalize hemp secretly hope to
open the door to the plant’s more potent cousin.

It’s not political or philosophical? Bullshit. It’s political as all hell. It’s philosophical too, really. The philosophy here is that the government shouldn’t be outlawing things that don’t really hurt people. But the good capitalists of North Dakota want to frame this solely as soulless capitalism. Just trying to turn a buck. Just trying to make a living. Just looking across the Canadian border at some successful hemp farms that ship hemp products to the USA….

“We’re not wide-eyed liberals,” Mr. Johnson said.

Heaven forbid. Nothing worse than being a goddamned liberal!

Of course, it’s not just the farmers (who I’m actually on the side of, despite their hypocrisy and good-ol’-boy-ishness) that are pissing me off. The people opposed to legalizing hemp are idiots too.

“Everyone here knows everyone,” Mr. Thoreson said, “and yet we’ve had a
huge problem here with homegrown methamphetamine labs, too.”

Well hell… what’s worse? Meth or marijuana? This isn’t a trick question, and it’s not a hard one, either. Meth is at least a thousand times worse than pot. So why are you fighting so hard against pot? Maybe if you made it easier to grow pot, your meth problem would decrease. Two birds, one stone. Help a farmer, reduce the drug problem. Exchange a truly toxic drug for one that ain’t so bad. Or are people still under the delusion that we can “win” this 20-some-year-old “war on drugs”?

The government of Chicago is extremely concerned about people’s safety money. Witness the red light camera, whose primary job in life is to save lives generate a lot of cash. These devices promote safer driving by photographing cars that run red lights. Seems to me that safer yet would be a device in everybody’s car alerting them to the impending dangerous intersection. However, the same politicians who installed the cameras “for safety” are now seeking to outlaw these in-car devices. Seems that keeping the revenue these cameras generate is more important than actually getting people to stop for red lights. If they succeed in banning these devices, I sincerely hope the next person hit by somebody running one of these red lights sues the everloving hell out of the city of Chicago. That is… if they survive.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Governor Jon Corzine

So it seems our lawmakers can’t be bothered to by law abiders. Gov. Corzine was recently critically injured in a car accident, while not wearing his seatbelt, in opposition to the law. Now while I’m personally opposed to seat belt laws, I’m also opposed to the type of hypocrisy and “I’m above the law” thinking that so often goes on in seats of political power. Bottom line is, if it’s your job to make and/or enforce the laws, you damned well better obey them. If you don’t why should we? It’s just common sense! And while I’m opposed to the law requiring seatbelt use, here’s a good commentary on why you should want to wear a seatbelt.

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