Gen. Clark is Right

General Wesley Clark was right when he said “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.” I’m glad that someone finally had the balls to say it on national TV. But now all the neocon trash and their sympathizers are acting as if General Clark belittled or insulted McCain’s service, which is absolute bullshit. What he said is the simple truth; being a war veteran or a POW does not mean that you know how to run a country. McCain sympathizers should be happy about this fact, for if it did qualify one to be president, John Kerry would have been elected in 2004.

Republican Strategy

Caught this one over at the Huffington Post. It’s brilliant; what if McCain doesn’t accept the nomination? He is only a presumptive nominee after all. Everyone knows that McCain doesn’t have a very good chance of winning the election, and switching candidates would throw a hell of a monkey wrench into the Democratic machine. Just imagine if someone like Colin Powell (a long shot, I know) swoops in and takes over. Considering his public disagreement with the Bush on the Iraq war, he could be just what the Republican party needs to keep the Whitehouse.

Now I’m pretty fucking far from a Republican sympathizer; I believe in all my heart that they have been the worst thing for the United States during the past eight years. But I like Colin Powell. I think he’s a good man. Still, my big fear is that no matter who the Republican nominee ends up being, the neocon dogshit (still doesn’t sound harsh enough) won’t be ousted from the party. Unless those (dare I call them) people (read: Karl Rove and his ilk) are rounded up and shot, we as citizens of the world, not just the United States, could be in real trouble if the Republicans win the election.

Hello From Last Month

I had completely forgotten that the Nevada primary was held in January when I started watching a few clips of Super Tuesday coverage. The results weren’t too shocking, but that didn’t keep me from almost choking on my dinner. I’m beginning to think that maybe Nevada is a good place for the storage for nuclear waste; in the homes of everyone who voted for Mitt Romney. What the fuck were you thinking, Nevada Republicans? You managed to pick the worst possible candidate still in the race. I hope you don’t mind losing your first-amendment rights along with whatever privacy you have left. And say goodbye to your pensions and savings if that piece of shit becomes president, cause he’s going to fuck the economy up worse than Bush. You must really hate freedom. Why not move to Iran if that’s the kind of government you want? Why screw all the reasonable Americans out of a decent future. Oh, and fuck you too, Nevada Democrats. You retards picked the most polarizing candidate in the race. If Hilary wins the nomination, people will vote for the republican candidate just because he’s not Hilary. Good job everyone! Now, let’s see… where did I put that documentation on becoming a Japanese citizen…

In other news, the smaller local grocery store near Ontakesan Stn. has peanut butter!

Social Security Tax

Over the past few weeks I’ve heard sound bites from Barak Obama’s presidential campaign on various new programs. The subject of Social Security reform has come up a few times, and Obama floated the idea of raising the Social Security tax cap. Tax cap!? This was news to me so I decided to do a little research.

Your average person pays 6.2% of their gross income to Social Security. This amount is matched by your employer. By this logic a person making $20,000 should pay $1,240 and someone making $20,000,000 should pay $1,240,000. But no, that person making 20 million dollars pays only $90,000 (or 0.45%) of their gross income. Basically, any annual income over ~$1,453,000 is taxed exactly the same: $90,000. I know what you’re thinking: what the fuck is that bullshit!?

Conservative groups will have you believe that raising or removing the tax cap would hurt the middle class by increasing their taxes (obviously, this is a lie; who said anything about changing percentages?) and hurt the economy by keeping spendable wealth from the super rich. Oh boo-fucking-hoo. This isn’t a tax hike, this is keeping things fair. If all men are created equal, why shouldn’t we be taxed equally? Why should the middle class be shouldered with the majority of the tax burdon, while the top 1% take the smallest hit possible? I understand people want to keep their money, but $1,000 hurts a lot when you don’t make much money while $90,000 is pocket change to the super rich.

Republican hypocrisy

Another Senator (Larry Craig of Idaho) has been arrested for soliciting lewd homosexual conduct in a public restroom. And just guess what party he’s from. That makes, what, three or four at least in the last two years? All Republicans, all engaged in (or soliciting) homosexual conduct.

What is it with these guys? One moment they’re standing on the hill, talking about gay marriage and the evils of homosexuality, and then the next they’re sucking cock and taking it in the ass or fondling little boys. I swear, they’re as bad as Catholic priests. The right cries about the decline in morality and values in America, yet they’re the ones to blame. We need to stand up and let them know we will no longer tolerate this disgusting behavior. Our politicians need to learn that morality starts with telling the truth.

College Republicans

Across the street from Arlington National Cemetery’s Section 60 — where soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried — is the Sheraton National Hotel where the 2007 College Republication (CRNC) National Convention was held. Writer Max Blumenthal of The National Institute and videographer Thomas Shomaker descended upon the convention to conduct brief interviews and film the speakers.

When questioned about the situation in Iraq, the attendees told of their support for the war on terror, their reasoning being “if we don’t fight them over there, we’ll have to fight them here.” This line — quite reminiscent of Lyndon B. Johnson’s “If we quit Vietnam, tomorrow we’ll be fighting in Hawaii, and next week we’ll have to fight in San Francisco” — often heard from the Bush camp and Republicans far and wide is just another made up excuse to scare the American people into supporting controversial decisions made by the administration. Yeah, people hate us and want to kill us, but they’re not going to “follow us home.” They’re already here.

If they support the war so fervently, why don’t they offer their services to the cause and enlist? When confronted with this thought, they couldn’t make excuses quick enough. “Medical reasons” being the most common, some said they didn’t have a “strong urge” or needed “something bigger” to happen before they would consider enlisting. Others said they had considered enlisting (“it’s not for me”) or that the idea was still on the table, but they were too busy with college. At least one conceded to being too “career oriented.” Oops. Looks like they’ll have to change that “we” (“…we’ll have to fight them here”) to a “they.”

The film goes on to show Tom Delay making a disgusting claim (shock!) linking abortion to illegal immigration, followed by some attendees’ views on homosexuality and the campus as political battlefield. Soon after, the interviewer and his cameraman are identified as members of the “liberal press” and are asked to stop filming and leave the premises. At this point, Mr. Blumenthal decides he’ll pull out some fancy martial arts moves (claiming “interpretive dance”) and is physically removed, all the while asking if this (violence) is how Republicans solve their problems. You know, you had me until the end. I guess that’s one way to leave a lasting impression…

But the icing on the cake has to be the bumper sticker at the end. Brilliant. You can watch the carnage here.