Ok, so tomorrow the Americans are going to elect a new President. In the interest of being fair, I will wish good luck in any case. However, in the interest of sanity I hope that moderates prevail, in which case I'm personally throwing my moral support behind Barack Obama. I don't have that much of a beef with John McCain, other than him coming off as a bit of a flip-flopper, but Sarah Palin scares the living hell out of me -- especially considering that if McCain wins, she will likely take over for him in a few years time.
As far as I can tell, McCain is a relatively moderate man, so for the most part I'm fine with him. Palin, on the other hand, has always come off as divisive, self-absorbed, fundamentalist and incredibly regressive. Honestly, picking her as the running mate was just plain stupid; Americans all across the political spectrum want a change from George W. Bush's fear mongering power trips, yet Palin comes off as a slightly dumber version of him, if that's even possible. When a high-ranking level of the government has little to no clue on foreign issues, doesn't even know what a Vice-President's job actually is, and either does not understand what "Freedom of the Press" means or chooses to ignore it, then he or she is totally unqualified to be in that office. Period.
Thankfully, it seems that most Americans are feeling the same way, and even a lot of Republicans think that Palin is hurting them badly. So the thing I can't understand is why some of her supporters come from the walks of life that they do. Palin claims to be an average, struggling hockey mom, but considering that she splurges at least hundreds of thousands of dollars on her wardrobe, and has a huge staff to juggle her family... well, saying that she's even remotely like the average American is kind of like saying that I have something in common with Jay-Z. Finally, I believe it's been said that there's a special place in Hell for a woman who refuses to help another woman -- so where does that put Sarah Palin, someone who regards rape victims with total contempt? She not only forces women in Alaska to pay out of pocket for rape kits that would convict their attackers, but rather than allow women to abort pregnancies from those assaults, she would rather "counsel" them. I can't picture that sitting too well with a 13 year-old girl who'd been raped by her dad, can you?
Before I go, I'd like to address one thing that I do disagree with McCain personally on, namely his low-blows against Barack Obama and his rather McCarthyist tactics. The last time I checked, guilt by association is unconstitutional in America, and slander is against the law. So frankly, calling the guy a Marxist and possible terrorist sympathizer, particularly with very little proof, only panders to the sort of people that McCain has traditionally sided against -- namely, neo-cons and bigots. So it's pretty rich that McCain will accuse Obama of saying anything to try to get elected. And by the way, why is it that a lot of the people who attack Obama for being left-wing, call themselves Christians? By all accounts, Jesus was a socialist.
I've got to be careful how I close this, because after all I tried like hell to get Stephen Harper booted in our own election last month, and it didn't work. So I'll keep this simple: I hope that after this election, America can finally clean up its act, and restore its reputation for being a free, united, and proud country, as opposed to polarized, oppressive, arrogant, and embarrassing. Enough said.
Showing posts with label john mccain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label john mccain. Show all posts
Monday, November 3, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Bullshit 2008 (Elections)
Well, it's official, Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is going to pull the plug on his own government and force us into a totally unnecessary election. Not only is this technically illegal, as it violates his own fixed-election date law, but it is completely stupid.
Every single poll that has been conducted since Harper threatened to dissolve Parliament has shown that this election will make little to no difference. Harper himself has admitted to that, yet he insists on doing this, basically because the opposition parties are OPPOSING HIM! Imagine that, the leader of a major country picking a $600 million pissing match, because people are doing exactly what they're supposed to do!
Incidentally, for those who don't know, Harper's claims that the other parties are obstructing Parliament and turning it into a partisan circus are total bullshit. His Conservative cronies are notorious for blocking any and all oversight of the government, blocking access by the press, gutting social programs for totally ideological reasons, telling cities to go fuck themselves, suing the opposition for pointing out that Harper tried to bribe a dying MP, and this tyrant has the nerve to blame the people who stand up to him?
Not surprisingly, we're seeing this kind of shit from The States, too. John McCain calls Barack Obama an inexperienced celebrity every chance he can get, but who does he pick as his running mate? Someone with even less experience, and a much bigger knack for attracting attention. Sarah Palin's resume consists of less than two years as Alaska's governor, where she flip-flopped on useless programs, hoarded money, and apparently fired someone she had no valid reason to push around. Prior to that, she spent an even shorter time as the mayor of a town with less people living it in than most colleges have students.
Anyway, when the press called Governor Palin out on this, as well as her morally questionable views on abortion and abstinence-only sex ed, Senator McCain's response was to cancel interviews of his own! Who the fuck does this guy think he is, the Premier of China?
But if it's one thing that I've learned about the political landscape in North America, it's that it's mostly pointless to complain. Regardless of where a so-called leader claims to be on the ethical scale, they'll just do what they want. Not only is Liberal leader Stephane Dion a gutless wimp who needs to be howled at by the public before he can take a hint that he's screwed things up, but based on what we've seen in Ontario, the only difference between a Conservative and so-called Liberal is that the Libs are after money at all costs, while the Conservatives are after power at all costs. Hopefully there's some chance for change in the States, but up in Canada we're in really big trouble. Enough said.
Every single poll that has been conducted since Harper threatened to dissolve Parliament has shown that this election will make little to no difference. Harper himself has admitted to that, yet he insists on doing this, basically because the opposition parties are OPPOSING HIM! Imagine that, the leader of a major country picking a $600 million pissing match, because people are doing exactly what they're supposed to do!
Incidentally, for those who don't know, Harper's claims that the other parties are obstructing Parliament and turning it into a partisan circus are total bullshit. His Conservative cronies are notorious for blocking any and all oversight of the government, blocking access by the press, gutting social programs for totally ideological reasons, telling cities to go fuck themselves, suing the opposition for pointing out that Harper tried to bribe a dying MP, and this tyrant has the nerve to blame the people who stand up to him?
Not surprisingly, we're seeing this kind of shit from The States, too. John McCain calls Barack Obama an inexperienced celebrity every chance he can get, but who does he pick as his running mate? Someone with even less experience, and a much bigger knack for attracting attention. Sarah Palin's resume consists of less than two years as Alaska's governor, where she flip-flopped on useless programs, hoarded money, and apparently fired someone she had no valid reason to push around. Prior to that, she spent an even shorter time as the mayor of a town with less people living it in than most colleges have students.
Anyway, when the press called Governor Palin out on this, as well as her morally questionable views on abortion and abstinence-only sex ed, Senator McCain's response was to cancel interviews of his own! Who the fuck does this guy think he is, the Premier of China?
But if it's one thing that I've learned about the political landscape in North America, it's that it's mostly pointless to complain. Regardless of where a so-called leader claims to be on the ethical scale, they'll just do what they want. Not only is Liberal leader Stephane Dion a gutless wimp who needs to be howled at by the public before he can take a hint that he's screwed things up, but based on what we've seen in Ontario, the only difference between a Conservative and so-called Liberal is that the Libs are after money at all costs, while the Conservatives are after power at all costs. Hopefully there's some chance for change in the States, but up in Canada we're in really big trouble. Enough said.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Election Bullshit
By now, not only is the American presidential election pretty much in high gear, but the Canadian government is making noises about wanting to pull the plug on itself and call an impromptu election (the excuse -- I mean, reason -- being that supposedly the opposition has made Parliament dysfunctional; in actuality, it's the government that's been doing that by muzzling and threatening the opposition every chance it could get).
I realize that elections are a key part of democracy, and that there's only so much that can be done to stop leaders from overriding their own laws, or to stop the kind of stupid infighting that we're seeing in the states (ie. McCain having a rather patronizing view of Barack Obama, especially considering that his newly minted V.P. nominee is a young and inexperienced governor... hmmm, sound familiar?).
In my view, governments who break election laws, block any judicial investigations, make a mockery of free elections... in general, have contempt for civil process, should automatically forfeit their stake in the election. In other words, Stephen Harper should be tossed on his ass immediately, and McCain should give up the Republican nomination to another person. But then again, that's because I have a low tolerance for stupid bullshit. That's because I was raised to have a mind of my own, and to behave like a mature adult in public.
I realize that elections are a key part of democracy, and that there's only so much that can be done to stop leaders from overriding their own laws, or to stop the kind of stupid infighting that we're seeing in the states (ie. McCain having a rather patronizing view of Barack Obama, especially considering that his newly minted V.P. nominee is a young and inexperienced governor... hmmm, sound familiar?).
In my view, governments who break election laws, block any judicial investigations, make a mockery of free elections... in general, have contempt for civil process, should automatically forfeit their stake in the election. In other words, Stephen Harper should be tossed on his ass immediately, and McCain should give up the Republican nomination to another person. But then again, that's because I have a low tolerance for stupid bullshit. That's because I was raised to have a mind of my own, and to behave like a mature adult in public.
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