New Year, New Hope?

Well, they say hope does spring eternal.

After my last post I read a few things that made me feel better, although not much. The best was Paul Krugman's Tidings of Comfort, about the health care bill:

And for all its flaws and limitations, it’s a great achievement. It will provide real, concrete help to tens of millions of Americans and greater security to everyone. And it establishes the principle — even if it falls somewhat short in practice — that all Americans are entitled to essential health care.

But the economy... ugh.

Disillusionment

The Honeymoon is over, people.

I haven't posted on here for some time, because I've been taking a "wait and see" attitude, wanting to give the new administration a chance to fix the sins of the previous administration, to accomplish something on their own. Anything.

What we've seen is Wall Street bailouts, and rampant spending with no plan on how to pay for it, the health care reform so badly needed gutted to something that has all of the costs and few of the benefits we hoped for, a plan for a surge in troops to Afghanistan with no real end in sight to Iraq, little progress in other areas where we'd hoped for change... Ugh. All my favorite comedy commentators on politics have seemingly turned on Obama - Jon Stewart, as usual, has been spot on. SNL has lampooned the lack of actual accomplishments. Colbert, Bill Maher... And my favorite bloggers and writers have also "turned" - Krugman, even Rolling Stone and the Huffington Post! (see bookmarks in the sidebar -->)

Yet I've hesitated to write anything because, you know, if you can't say anything nice...

And we can't blame it ALL on "the other side"...

Although, the lunatic fringe is still out there being crazy - Palin and her supporters, still provides fodder for comedians - love the SNL 2012 parody. But it also scares the HELL out of me, with the state of things currently - there is so much discontent from left, right and center she might just win, which would really be an apocalypse, as far as I'm concerned. The Birthers are still crazy, the jerkwad conservatives who are only out to stop ANYTHING from being accomplished, at the cost of the American public still at it. The fillibustering and dysfunctionality of our government at an all--time high. The stupidity of people...

Sometimes I feel like the internet, while a great source of information and learning for those with the critical thinking skills to sort out the nuggets of truth from the hogwash, has become a Pandora's box for the illiterate and stupid sheep who forward any dire warning to everyone on their email contacts - these same morons are the true believers that Obama is Kenyan, that "Death Panels" were ever a part of the health care bill, that Obama is a Socialist/Communist/Terrorist whatever. These people believe anything the Fox News and other conservative nutjobs like Glen Beck, Laura Ingraham, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Ann Coulter tell them to believe. And they are a pack of liars. And inciters of violence and hatred and fear. I wish them all to just disappear from the face of the earth. But honestly? I don't like Olbermann much better. I hate the snide, sneering attitudes and name-calling that has become the norm for TV politics "reporting" - it's horrible and is hurting our country. Rachel Maddow is slightly better since she seems to focus a bit more on news, but her little smirks when she reports negative things about conservative just annoy me at this point and only serve to keep people in their respective corners. This is one of the reasons I love Jon Stewart. Yeah, he's a comedian, but sometimes his reporting on the issues is far superior than real news stations! AND he makes us laugh. When we laugh, we can gain perspective, on ourselves, and on each other, which helps us get past our differences and move FORWARD.

I want people to start thinking for themselves. I want people to stop hating other points of view. I want people to start actually listening to each other. I want politicians to focus on getting things done for America and Americans, NOT on political games.

I WANT MY DAMN COUNTRY BACK!!

We've got problems, people! We need to WORK TOGETHER to fix them!!! Pretty speeches alone won't do the trick. Sorry Obama. I agree with Bill Maher when he said you need to "stand up for the 70% of Americans who aren't crazy." I like to think I'm one of them.

Shatner Does Palin

This is truly wonderful!



I think that this part of her speech is one of the only parts that really made sense, and it makes even more sense as a poem - an ode to Alaska. Hat tip to Robert Service.

John Hodgman: Nerds vs. Jocks and Obama

 

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Word Cloud of Inauguration Speech

Beautiful, Inspiring, and challenging words.

Inauguration Live Coverage

Good Climate Change Video

How It All Ends
Be sure to check out the "expansion pack" of support/detail videos to go with this - see the sidebar (More Info) on YouTube.

I'd say the risks associated with "column A" are much less, since it looks like they are already happening, and not related to any policy changes about climate change. In fact, those policy changes may be some of what SAVES our economy - investing in the future through alternative energy, reducing dependence on oil, especially imported oil, etc.

Me? Solar panels on the roof, "Victory Garden" in the backyard, increased efficiency, decreased consumption, focus on sustainability, and spreading the word. Oh, and we buy Terra Passes, too.

Thanks to Loren for this video - Science teachers rule!

Mini-Blog in the Sidebar

In case you hadn't noticed, I've got a mini-blog of sorts going in the sidebar. My decrease in posting frequency doesn't mean I stopped paying attention - I have links to pertinent articles that have come my way with my commentary added in the bookmarks sidebar. I use Diigo to do this - it's a great social bookmarking tool that allows you to bookmark sites online, add notes, comments, highlights, etc. Very useful for research! You can also post your comments directly to a blog, or do what I did and link to the RSS feed for a particular topic. Enjoy!

More Retrospection

2008 Reviewed in Song:




Uncle Jay Explains: 2008 in Review!

 

 

Looking Back...

2020

 

 

More Economic Woes Predicted

Economists Warn Anti-Bush Merchandise Market Close To Collapse

Somehow I think no one will be too sad to see this market collapse, though...

Prop 8 - The Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

I've been collecting lots of links and thoughts about California's Proposition 8's passage... it was a dark shadow on"Obama Day" joy for me, and much worse for so many of my friends who are in the GLTB Community. I've been thinking about what to write, what to say about this... then I saw "Prop 8 - The Musical"! Ha! Say it with humor - that's the ticket!

What it comes down to, for me, are a few key points:

• It's an issue of equality, not sexuality - equal rights under the law for all people


• Most of the opposition to gay marriage comes from religion, and we have a separation of church and state in this country


• Even if you feel it is wrong, based on your religion, you do NOT have the right to legislate your religion, to enforce YOUR religious beliefs on those who don't share them (or even on those who do)

Here is a collection of serious articles which emphasize these points, some of which I've shared before, but which bear sharing again:

• Why churches fear gay marriage | Salon News

  Richard Rodriguez' thought-provoking article -
  
  "While conservative churches are busy trying to whip up another round of culture wars over same-sex marriage, Rodriguez says the real reason for their panic lies elsewhere: the breakdown of the traditional heterosexual family and the shifting role of women in society and the church itself. As the American family fractures and the majority of women choose to live without men, churches are losing their grip on power and scapegoating gays and lesbians for their failures."
  

  tags: politics, religion

• FiveThirtyEight.com: Electoral Projections Done Right: Prop 8 Myths

  This is interesting - I trust Nate Silver's take on statistics, and it looks like prop 8's passage may be more generational than race/religion-related. I mean, of COURSE it's religion-related, but within same race/religion groups, voters over 65 voted more for and younger voters voted more against. That makes more sense to me. And is, in a way (as stated in the article), more hopeful for the future of equality.

  tags: politics, religion, race

• YouTube - The West Wing - bible

  President Bartlet totally PWNS the "Dr. Laura" character, Jenna Jacobs, on Old Testament Biblical Law. Awesome. Homosexuality is an abomination, and also... death is the punishment for working on the sabbath, selling your children into slavery is condoned, the punishment for planting two different crops side by side is stoning, mixing two types of thread into one fabric is punishable by burning, etc, etc - just awesome.
  

  tags: religion, thought, ideas, politics

• Utah Legislators Call Mormon Leadership’s Bluff on LGBT Rights

  This will be interesting. But even if they DO support "equal" rights in these areas - haven't we learned? Separate is NOT equal.

  tags: politics, religion

• Gay marriage is a question of love - Countdown with Keith Olbermann- msnbc.com

  This is powerful, and I have to say that I like ~reading~ Olbermann much more than watching him. There is a link to a video, too, if you like watching/listening better. It's all about honoring LOVE. Honoring commitment. HONORING marriage for what it ~should~ be.

  tags: politics, religion

• Why Gay Marriage Was Defeated in California - TIME - Annotated

  In this case, fear, unfounded fears fanned by propaganda of religion-based beliefs, won out over hope and fairness. So sad, and so ironic that African Americans, who voted in record numbers for a candidate that gave them hope, also voted against equal rights for another group, crushing ~their~ hope.

  tags: politics, religion

  • a remarkable story about Rick and Pam Patterson, a Mormon couple of modest means — he drives a 10-year-old Honda Civic, she raises their five boys — who had withdrawn $50,000 from their savings account and given it to the pro-8 campaign. "It was a decision we made very prayerfully," Pam Patterson, 48, told the Bee's Jennifer Garza. "Was it an easy decision? No. But it was a clear decision, one that had so much potential to benefit our children and their children."
    • It is my fervent hope that at least one of their children, who they think they are benefiting by taking away the rights of others, IS gay, and someday wants to marry their same-sex soul mate. Only then might people like this see the error of their ways through the blinding veil of their dogma. - post by naturegeek
  • African Americans voted against marriage equality by a wide margin, 69% to 31%
    • So, African Americans, who finally have realized a dream with this election, vote for others to have their dreams deferred. This is painful. - post by naturegeek
    • The irony. Ugh. - post by naturegeek
  • David Paterson, is one of the nation's most eloquent pro-marriage-equality representatives. He is also, by the way, African American. Perhaps he can help bridge the gap between gays and blacks that widened on Nov. 4
    • Let's hope so! - post by naturegeek

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.