I’m only going to be 37 next week, and I’ve already lost count of all the supposed ‘End Days’ that I’ve lived through. So please… can we stop looking for an excuse to not try and fix our planet, already?

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is comparing funding to teach political science to…wait for it… water-boarding. Sure, it’s been rather painful for me at times when I began to comprehend how politics really worked in our country… but come on.  Are you truly that dense, Mr. Coburn, or are you that determined to keep others from going to school and learning how their government works?

As President Obama’s new Justice Department gears up to fight gay discrimination in this country, we find that Rep. John “Bonehead” Boehner (OH-R) seems to be a bit confused about the word “choice.” He is apparently of the belief that sexual orientation is a choice… but religion isn’t. So all you people out there born into a Catholic family who didn’t like all the guilt and found a much more peaceful and harmonious way of worship? Tough luck, you were born a Catholic, so you don’t have a choice! All you boys and girls who’ve felt alienated and out of place all your lives, you’ve just got to choose not to be!

(excuse me while I go throw up now)

Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ), realizing he’s joined the party a bit too late when it comes to demeaning those who suffered the worst horrors imaginable during World War II by comparing their pain to President Obama trying to give everyone affordable health care, has reached his hand into the bowl full of “names of evil dictators to compare to President Obama” and come out with… Stalin! Because we all know, getting affordable health care is comparable to being held in a Russian gulag.  (rolls eyes)

For the first time in more than 35 years, the U.S. military has met all of its annual recruiting goals. Yeah… might have something to do with the skyrocketing unemployment rate and lack of affordable health care. Sure, you might get sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, and if you’re lucky you’ll actually make it back to see your family again with all your body parts and your mind intact before they call you for a mandatory repeat tour of duty, but at least you’ll have a steady paycheck and health insurance for your family.

What’s this? We’re talking about Afghanistan? Time to interrupt the broadcast with breaking news from CNN about Rush Limbaugh.

When politicians try to paint a rosy picture about mortgage modifications finally happening, don’t be fooled… because one company is responsible for nearly half of them.

Gods love Jon Stewart… the world would be a much darker place without him. He blasted Fox News the other day for totally ignoring the National Equality March in Washington after they covered even the smallest teabagger gathering with the excuse that they don’t “pick and choose these rallies and protests,” and blasted other stations for not covering the teabaggers enough.

“You didn’t even send your own camera crew?” exclaimed Stewart. “You have a Washington bureau! Tell them to go to the window and point the camera down!”

He also pointed out how Fox was happy to send a reporter to the scene to cover an empty sidewalk where apparently, earlier in the day, there were a bunch of angry people threatening little children because they had the gall to sing about President Obama.

Kudos also go out to the farmers who were arrested for planting hemp on the lawn of DEA Headquarters, and the tiger who mauled a man for being a total f**king idiot who thought it would be cool to scale a zoo fence in the middle of the night.

And finally… with regret we announce the passing of wrestling icon and rubber band fashion pioneer, ‘Captain ‘Lou Albano at the age of 76. Thanks for being so over-the-top for so long… you made the 80′s quite memorable for me, sir.

]]> http://syreene.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/i-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means/feed/ 0 syreene http://syreene.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/too-cool/ http://syreene.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/too-cool/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:23:04 +0000 syreene http://syreene.wordpress.com/?p=274 ]]> Not only has Germany developed a green industry of LEGO-style homes that adults can build themselves (core structure), but Dyson, the makers of those excellent vacuum cleaners, have come up with a new fan that just deserves mention… because it doesn’t have any blades.

Funky, huh?

Apparently it operates in the same vein as jet engines, with the motor in the base sucking in a small amount of air to get it started spinning within the circle before being pushed out in a continuous stream that’s 15 times more powerful than what it started with.

As much as this is a great idea, though… the $300 price has just got to come down. Here’s hoping it will someday and not get lost as just another “rich person” gadget.

This is great… there’s now a national map online where everyone can announce just where, when and how they just had sex. Did you do it doggie-style in the parking lot of Disneyworld? How about missionary style in Georgia? Place a bunny on the map and tell the world that you’re not a prude… in fact, you love being alive and are proud of it!

William Kamkwamba and his Windmill

First off, we have William Kamkwamba, a Malawian high school student and inventor who helped his people and his entire village by building them a working windmill from pictures in a book. Kudos to the Daily Show for having this brilliant and dedicated kid on their show to talk about it.

(sigh)

Now if only the rest of us could overcome our apathy and perverted sense of entitlement in order to help our own communities… think of what we could accomplish if we truly cared.

Speaking of caring… Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) cares for her constituents more than the political machine. When foreclosures went up 94% in Toledo and she learned that J.P. Morgan Chase was Bad Guy #1, she jumped at the chance to go to a “dinner” with Chase (i.e. them lobbying for easy politicians) and confronted them about their practices, hounding them until they finally starting working with people regarding their mortgages.

Not only that… but she proclaimed on national television that people being screwed by these foreclosures should become squatters in their own houses, because half the time the companies trying to kick you out can’t even find the paperwork to prove they have a right to do it (and thus can’t make you leave).

And finally, yes, we have President Barak Obama with his Nobel Peace Prize win. At first, yes, I was surprised too… because as one who watches the news it seems a lot of his hope-filled agenda is…well… still in the ‘hope’ stage.  But let’s look at the bigger picture, shall we?

“I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but a recognition of the role of American leadership in the world. To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who won in the past.

“I will accept this award as a call to action, a call to all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st Century.”

For the past eight years, I could never imagine something so eloquent or humble coming from our President, and neither could the rest of the world. We are still slowly crawling our way out of a slippery cesspool of hate, darkness, ignorance and greed…and if you think about what the world had been subjected to for the past eight years… perhaps… perhaps having a President who stands up against the lies,  who visits New Orleans to see what help is needed, and who goes to Egypt to extend a peaceful hand to the nation of Islam instead of to create another war over oil is enough.

“It is easier to blame others than to look inward, to see what is different about someone, than to find the things we share.”

All jokes aside… perhaps President Obama really did win it because he wasn’t George W. Bush. It’s for the rest of us to remember the dark times and realize what that really means.

Women, according to the GOP, should:

• stay at home and not pursue careers.
• not have their mammograms paid by insurance
• or their maternity care, since men don’t need it.
• have no rights when raped by defense contractors.
• be put in their place by a man.
• be treated like a sex offender if they get an abortion in Oklahoma.

Surprisingly, there are actually women in the GOP party… so what do they have to say about this archaic behavior?

Apparently… nothing at all.

Perhaps too many of them have been “put in their place” by the rest of the GOP?

I recommend that we all email the female GOP members we might have in our state and send them a link to this public safety handbook about how to deal with abuse.

And in the latest example of GOP hatred against homosexuals, apparently they hate gays more than they love giving away money to the military.

Meleanie Hain with her loaded gun at her daughter's soccer game

Here is a perfect example of irony, as well as an example of what I find wrong with the people who believe in demonstrating their 2nd Amendment rights in inappropriate ways.

Why is it ironic?

Because Meleanie Hain was shot and killed by a gun owned by her husband in an apparent murder-suicide.

Let’s face it, people… we as a race are inherently violent, emotional, and rash, and in today’s culture of irresponsibility, encouraged violence and untraceable gun sales, the last thing we freaking need right now as we all descend in our slow spiral of self-destruction is a loaded weapon in our hands to do it faster.

Remember the bill Franken passed to help prevent further female abuse by military contractors? Meet the Senators who voted against it.

Or maybe you’d like to hear how the Chamber of Commerce’s repeated denials of and funding against any attempts to stop Global Warming are just a “21st century approach to climate change.”

We’ve also got the banks who made a killing on overdraft fees, the administration that stripped homeowners of any legal help, the Democrats who want to allow states who are buddy-buddy with insurance companies to opt out of the Public Option, and the same insurance companies who want severe penalties for people who don’t buy their unregulated and overpriced coverage that won’t cover anything more than it ever did before.

Not to be outdone, however, we’ve still got the “conservative” religious right painting Christ with the Constitution and Darwin with the Devil while they edit the Bible to make sure there isn’t any “liberal bias.” (I s**t you not.)

“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” — Thomas Paine

And lest we forget… we’ve still got the dredges of humanity out there:  the ones buying guns without background checks from gun shows.

A tip of the hat to our new FDIC chief and our TARP Watchdog who has finally come out and said that this “Too Big to Fail” bullshit must end and that the Treasury misled the public on the bailouts. These banks that are “too big to fail” are the same ones that are sucking us dry (*cough* Goldman Sachs *cough*) while they continue to do the same damn things that got them into this situation in the first place.

A tip of the hat to our new Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor who has asked more questions in an hour than Judge Thomas has in years. It’s nice to know somebody is involved in their work instead of sitting in useless silence.

A tip of the hat to Keith Olbermann, who spent his entire show dedicated to a Special Comment about health care reform, delving into his own personal experiences as he struggled to help his ailing father.

A tip of the hat to Senator Al Franken, who won bipartisan support for legislation to prevent contractors like KBR from ever doing the horrible things they did to Jamie Leigh Jones to another woman.

A tip of the hat to Michael Moore, not because of his new movie (because if you’ve been paying attention for the last eight years, you’d know all of that already), but because he went on Sean Hannity’s show and stood up to the slimy bastard.

A tip of the hat to Fox News broadcaster, Shep Smith. Yes, I never thought I’d say it either… but Shep Smith continues to be the only voice of sanity and reason trapped in a media horror show.

SMITH: Over the last ten years health care costs in America have skyrocketed. Regular folks cannot afford it. So, they tax the system by not getting preventative medicine. They go to the emergency room in the last case and we all wind up paying for it. As the costs have gone up, the insurance industry’s profits, on average, have gone up more than 350%. And it is the insurance companies which have paid, and who have contributed to Senators and Congressmen on both sides of the aisle to the point where now we cannot get what all concerned on Capitol Hill seem to believe and more 60% of Americans say they would support, which is a public option. This has been an enormous win for the health-care industry, that is an unquestioned fact. But I wonder, what happens to the American people when we come out with legislation now which requires everyone to have health care insurance — or many more people — but does not give a public option? Therefore millions more people will have to buy insurance from the very corporations that are overcharging us, and whose profits have gone up 350 percent in the last ten years. It seems like we the people are the ones getting the shaft here.

A tip of the hat to California, because despite all the other totally moronic and idiotic things you’ve done to ruin yourself, the pot legalization is actually gaining momentum. I would just love to see California legalize pot and turn their economy around… it would be about time and serve the rest of the country right for being such close-minded prudes.

And finally, because I feel like it… a tip of the hat to Kate Beckinsale for being so damn sexy.

Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers

Not quite a clash of Titans, but 21.8 million viewers tuned in to watch a damn good game and set a cable TV ratings record when Brett Farve took the team that used to be his long time rivals and defeated his protege’ Rogers and the Packers. It’s hard to believe that guy is going to turn 40 soon… because he still throws that football like a laser-guided bullet.

Rush Limbaugh to buy the St. Louis Rams?

Oh, poor St. Louis… as if the Rams didn’t suck enough right now.

Braylon Edwards drops the ball again...

Looks like Braylon Edwards needs to stop drinking those energy drinks and punching friends of LeBron James… because Cleveland has said “Enough!” and traded him to the Jets. First Brady Quinn and now Braylon Edwards… Cleveland just isn’t having much luck with their investments lately.

In the meantime…

Cincinnati Bengals v. Baltimore Ravens

We’re playing for the lead in our Division this Sunday, baby! Go Bengals! ^_^

Hats off to Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson (FL) for being a politician who managed to retain his balls and some form of a conscience enough to tell it like it is on national television.

Enough with the bipartisan attempts! The Republicans, as Grayson has claimed, are acting like “knuckle-dragging Neanderthals” with no health care plan other than for people to “not get sick, and if you do, hope you die quickly.”

When the Republicans asked him to apologize (but later changed their mind), do you know what he did? He went in front of Congress and apologized, all right… he apologized to the dead who have passed because of a lack of health insurance.

Citing a statistic that 44,789 Americans die each year because they don’t have health insurance, Grayson said, “That is more than 10 times the number of Americans who died in the war in Iraq and more than 10 times the number of Americans who died on 9/11… yet it happens every year.”

He also added, “We should care about people even after they are born.”

ZING!

“I don’t think the Democrats need to be on defense,” Grayson told reporters. “I think we should be on the offense and not the defense, and that’s where I plan to stay.”

When he went on CNN’s The Situation Room, he stood his ground and said, “I’m not the one who should apologize; they should apologize to America. Democrats have to have guts, and now we have to have the guts to take the majority that the American people gave us and do something with it. And what we have to do is solve people’s problems.”

In other positive moves in Congress, we also have nods to Senators Dodd, Feingold, Leahy and Merkley who plan to introduce the Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act this week. Senator Dodd (D-CT) is also pressing his case for the creation of a single, powerful regulator to oversee banks.

We also have Senators Boxer (D-CA) and Kerry (D-MA) who will unveil their global warming legislation that would require a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2010. The bill would go even further than the House legislation passed in June, which required 17%.

In the military world we have the Joint Force Quarterly, an official military journal that now argues rather forcefully for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). The article, which was reviewed by the Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen states, “after a careful examination, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly.”

And finally, more on the home front, hats off to the heroic bus driver who saved those girls from the exploding bus. Working within the education system can be a thankless and poor paying job… it’s the people who truly are there to help the kids who deserve our thanks every day.

I applaud you all… here’s to reaffirming a belief in humanity for one more day.