1.13.2007

The President who cried wolf



Via

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annamaria at 10:37 AM

1 spoke

11.13.2006

My fantasy boyfriend president won't make an honest woman out of me

Dreamy


I know, I know, there is no way in hell that Russ Feingold would ever be elected president. He's all liberal and thrice-married and, well, a Jew. Doesn't play well in the Bible Belt. But, damn, a girl can dream right?

U.S. Sen. Russell Feingold said he has decided not to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, saying his party's victories in the midterm elections have energized him to continue working in Congress.

Feingold, 53, is an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war, the USA Patriot Act and other Bush administration policies. He said Sunday that although he had explored the possibility of running, he has ruled it out.

 "I never got to the point where I felt strongly I wanted to run," Feingold said. "Then I saw the result Tuesday and thought what a great opportunity to do my work in the Senate."

Feingold (D-Wis.) said he would keep an open mind if he were asked to join the ticket as the vice presidential candidate.

"If some nominee called me up and said, `You're the guy, I need you,' I would have to take that very seriously," he said.

Is it bad that I'm looking at the Democrats and wondering whose foot is nearest the grave?

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annamaria at 1:05 PM

0 spoke

11.08.2006

And the hits just keep on coming...

Damn, I almost feel sorry for the GOP. Almost.


It's official: Jim Webb wins in Virginia, and now the Dems control both the House and Senate. Of course, having Democrats in power doesn't necessarily guarantee progressive policies. After all, Clinton was responsible for Don't Ask, Don't Tell, The Defense of Marriage Act and draconian welfare reform. If the midterm elections are a referendum on the current administration, then we are looking at a nation that is frustrated with corruption and scandals, a stagnant economy and a poorly managed war in Iraq (and Afghanistan--has everyone forgotten about Afghanistan?); none of this issues are likely to parlay into any real discussions about progressive social values. I hate to be a sore winner, because I really am happy that the Dems are back in power, but I can't help but notice how much (on some issues) the new boss resembles the old boss.

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annamaria at 9:35 PM

3 spoke

Oh Happy Day, Part 2!

The Decemberists were incredible, but that joy will only last for one night. Democrats winning the House, and perhaps the Senate, that's years of happiness, baby! Better folks than I have weighed in on what the election means (including Amanda at Pandagon who lovingly dedicated Le Tigre's TKO to the Republicans), so I'm just going to do a quick rundown of the good and bad in my humble opinion.

Huzzah!


Boo! Hiss!

Ho-Hum

Feel free to leave your post-election day cheers and jeers in the comments.

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annamaria at 12:46 PM

4 spoke

10.20.2006

Who needs lunch when I have anger to feed me

If I didn't skip lunch, I'd be having lentil soup. Yum!


Kurt asks if my absence from blogging is due to Tiger Fever; unfortunately, not being a baseball fan, I’m unable to use such a great excuse. Then Kerri emailed me to tell me that she hates my job, because it’s preventing me from blogging. You and me both, babe.

So I looked at the blog the other day, and realized it’s been over a month since I’ve written anything. Probably explains all the pent up anger I’ve been feeling lately, since I haven’t had an outlet for it in weeks. Here is a summary of what I’ve been thinking lately on topics of major (and minor) interest:

The Amish School Shooting: Will someone please tell me why the MSM refuses to characterize this as a hate crime? If an unhinged racist walked into a school in Detroit, ordered all the little white kids out of the building, carried with him 600 rounds of ammunition and a lynching rope, and proceeded to murder five little black children, I think the racist motivation for the crime would be fairly obvious. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be giving interviews left and right decrying the overt and violent racism of American society which allows men like our hypothetical killer to exist. And they would be right. So why is it that when a man separates the girls from the boys, brings tubes of lube and restraints, and shoots five little girls in the back of the head, execution-style, only one MSM figure notices that our sexist and misogynistic society allows for men like Charles Roberts to exist?

The Torture Bill. Fuck you, Debbie Stabenow. I know that you’re up for re-election, but as of October 9th, you’ve got a 17% lead over Republican challenger Mike Bouchard. And with 79% of Michigan voters citing the economy as their chief concern this election year, your stance on securing worker’s pensions seems like a winner. Not to mention that Governor Granholm is currently kicking Dick DeVos’s ass on the economy issue, as well. So why the need to suddenly overthrow any progressive credibility you might have by granting a corrupt president the power to ignore the Geneva Convention? Granted, he’s been ignoring it for years, but your vote has just given him, and future presidents, both the legal and moral authority to continue to do so for years to come. Congratulations. For the first time in my life I’ve actually considered voting for a Republican (don’t worry, it was a fleeting thought); instead, I’m just not voting for Senator at all. You might win, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that the true Michigan progressives support you.

Nice Guys. Amanda is tackling the "Nice Guy" issue again, and I’m left shaking my head wondering why this is still an issue. Nice Guys, for people who aren’t me and don’t spend hours reading feminist blogs, are those assholes who incessantly whinge about how women are only attracted to men who treat them like shit, and look at me, I’m so great, I don’t rape or beat women, and why can’t these dumb bitches realize that I’m the perfect boyfriend because I only fantasize about how to get one over on women, rather than actively doing it. Amanda’s take is, of course, spot on: Nice Guys are misogynists in sheep’s clothing who cling so desperately to their privilege that they fail to recognize that the Asshole vs. Nice Guy debate makes about as much sense as the belaboring the oh-so-important question of potato vs. potahto.

Last March, on International Women’s Day, I was in Ann Arbor for a Ted Leo & The Pharmacists concert. For those of you who haven’t spent much time around A2, allow me to overly generalize yet fairly characterize the student population: rich, mostly white kids who read Foucault once and think they understand oppression; such knowledge is then usually presented to members of an oppressed class as a statement of the rich kid’s understanding and, of course, moral superiority: "See, I’m better than those other rich kids, because I recognize racism, which means I’m not racist, which means that you, oppressed person, cannot accuse me of using my position of class and race privilege as a bludgeon. What’s that you say? I benefit from an oppressive system even if I don’t personally engage in acts of oppression? Fuck you, Darky, can’t you see I’m better than those other assholes?" Ann Arbor is full of Nice Guys. At the TL/Rx show, there was a guy walking around with a T-shirt that said "I don’t oppress women." The first time I saw it, I kind of chuckled. The second time the kid walked passed me, I wanted to rip his arms off and beat him bloody with his own desiccated limbs. I finally decided that the next time I saw him, I was going to ask if his "I don’t kick puppies" t-shirt was in the wash. Luckily for both of us, he managed to avoid me for the rest of the night.

Michigan Proposal 2*. Speaking of Ann Arbor, the rightie-tighties in the Mitten are apparently not content with the Supreme Court decision in Gratz v. Bollinger which gutted U of M’s undergraduate affirmative action program; proposal 2 would amend the Michigan State Constitution to ban all affirmative action policies in school admission and employment. I was driving with my sister-in-law the other day, and we noticed signs all over the neighborhood (the very wealthy, very white neighborhood) which read "Fairness, Equality, Yes on 2." At the time, I was so overwhelmed with work and whatnot, I didn’t even know what the proposal was. But I turned to my SIL and said "How much do you want to bet proposal 2 reinstates slavery or something?" Nice to know that in our crazy, post-ironic world, I was kinda right.

Vanished What does television have against the pretty, pretty Gale Harold?


Pretty


First Queer As Folk takes my beloved Brian to the brink of spiritual healing, only to push him headlong back into the life of an overgrown club boy. Then I watch that crappy Vanished show for the sole purpose of spending an hour a week with a very hot man, only to watch in horror as he gets pumped full of lead and left to die in a pool of his own blood. It almost makes me want to start watching shows for their plot and not their hot actors.

The Crane Wife. Not to totally change gears or anything, but I’m burned out on being angry right now. Does everyone have this yet?** If you don’t have it, might I suggest that you get yourself to the nearest independent music retailer and purchase this sublime work of musical genius?

And speaking of The Decemberists, Ann at Feministing as an interview with Colin Meloy wherein he riffs on the violence of pregnancy and why his kid is doomed to be a Republican.

Okay, that’s it for now, since my lunch hour is up. I hope you are all happy that I forwent sustenance in favor of writing (arguably) witty and pointless things for you all. You can make it up to me later.

------------
* I've decided that the number "2" is the new mark of the beast--the last Michigan proposal 2 amended to state constitution to ban gay marriage and civil unions.
**Well, everyone but Rich since the album won’t be released in Europe until January 27th (haha!).

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annamaria at 2:49 PM

4 spoke

4.30.2006

Speaking truthiness to power*

Alright, I'm not sure exactly when I turned this into a video blog, but sometimes you just find things that are too good not to share. Like Stephen Colbert speaking at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. I enjoy Colbert, he's not as consistently funny as Jon Stewart, but he fakes wingnut better than anyone else...even the wingnuts.



part 2
part 3


A big thank you to Rich for pointing out that the video was already up on YouTube...apparently I was too busy watching more Derren Brown episodes to notice.

*Title shamelessly stolen from Editor & Publisher

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annamaria at 8:45 PM

4 spoke

10.27.2005

Goodbye, Ms. Fucked-Up-Face



Under withering attack from conservatives, President Bush ended his push to put loyalist Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court Thursday and promised a quick replacement. Democrats accused him of bowing to the "radical right wing of the Republican Party."

The White House said Miers had withdrawn her name because of a bipartisan effort in Congress to gain access to internal documents related to her role as counsel to the president. But politics played a larger role: Bush's conservative backers had doubts about her ideological purity, and Democrats had little incentive to help the nominee or the embattled GOP president.


Well, that was fairly anti-climactic, wasn't it? Just when I was starting to warm to Miers and her face. Well, honestly, any amity I held toward Miers was due entirely to the vehement opposition she was getting from the ultra-conservatives. After all, if the fundies hate her that much, she must be doing something right.

Here's the official White House Press Release, if you're interested.

UPDATE: I knew there was something about this woman that I couldn't completely hate--the Concerned Women for Patriarchy America can't stand her! Seriously, check out this link. And they call Feminists shrill and histrionic!

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annamaria at 10:40 AM

0 spoke

2.21.2005

Happy Presidents' Day!



Hip-hop-hooray! I have the day off today, so chances are I won't be posting too much -- I also have a paper due this evening, so that's another contributing factor. Sometimes school is cool. Sometimes it is not so cool.

BUT do not dispair! I have an activity for you today, special just for Presidents' Day. Enjoy! Feel free to add on the requsite devil horns and what have you.



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Anonymous at 12:48 PM

0 spoke

2.07.2005

No more Dicks in the White House -- well, at least not this one

Not really shocking news, but makes me feel better, nonetheless.

At the same time, though, it's kind of depressing that this announcement had to be made. Are the Democrats so pathetic now that we could lose to a 68-year-old heart attack case? He never would have been nominated by the party, but imagine that debate -- Kerry vs. Cheney. Which robot would beat the other? Could we configure our candidates with special gadgets, like those robot attack shows on television?

Awesome. I'm looking forward to 2008 already.

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Anonymous at 2:49 PM

0 spoke

1.26.2005

John Kerry -- leave me the hell alone.

I've shed far too many tears over you. I do not need your long-winded, once-weekly emails about policy and blah, blah, blah. All of the people who lost their jobs because they believed in you, working endless hours in phone banks and on the campaign trail, probably don't want to receive your emails either.

So, I have unsubscribed from your mailing list, John Kerry. I can't handle the pain any longer.

You have been....DELETED.




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Anonymous at 2:37 PM

1 spoke

1.20.2005

What tsunami? Oh. And screw you, D.C.

Check out the full list of inauguration *cough* coronation *cough* overspending here, but this is a taste of the financial breakdown that the the Center for American Progress put together:


$40 million: Cost of Bush inaugural ball festivities, not counting security costs.

$2,000: Amount FDR spent on the inaugural in 1945 -- about $20,000 in today's dollars.

400: Pounds of lobster provided for "inaugural feeding frenzy" at the exclusive Mandarin Oriental hotel.

3,000: Number of "Laura Bush Cowboy cookies" provided for "inaugural feeding frenzy" at the Mandarin hotel.

$15,000: The down payment to rent a fur coat paid by one gala attendee who didn't want the hassle of schlepping her own through the airport.

$1: Amount per guest President Carter spent on snacks for guests at his inaugural parties. To stick to a tight budget, he served pretzels, peanuts, crackers and cheese and had cash bars.

200: Number of Humvees outfitted with top-of-the-line armor for troops in Iraq that could have been purchased with the amount of money blown on the inauguration.

22 million: Number of children in regions devastated by the tsunami who could have received vaccinations and preventive health care with the amount of money spent on the inauguration.

1,160,000: Number of girls who could be sent to school for a year in Afghanistan with the amount of money lavished on the inauguration.

26,000: Number of Kevlar vests for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan that could be purchased for $40 million.

66: Percentage of Americans who think this over-the-top inauguration should have been scaled back.

Worst part of all, though? That the administration is forcing broke-as-a-joke District of Columbia to foot the bill for security. To be precise, that total is $17 mil.

Payback perhaps? Seeing as how only 9% of D.C. voters cast their ballots for Bush in 2004. I doubt it. I couldn't imagine this administration being that petty....

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Anonymous at 2:22 PM

0 spoke

blood on my teeth


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