Political BS.
Whacked.
I am sure that I am not the only American citizen that thinks our government is completely out of control and out of touch with the reality with what is going on in our country. Now my use of “the government” is a broad generalisation of a whole lot of people, and I truly believe there are some good people working for the people, but for the most part I am finding government agencies to be completely nuts.
Consider the following.
1. Driving home from Albany yesterday on Interstate 90 was a bit of a challenge. The Capital District had quite a bit of snow falling and blowing due to the Nor’easter wannabe that was blowing up the coast. Traffic was moving slowly as I progressed west. The roadway was clogged up with a combination of slush and snow. Just beyond the first Schenectady interchange was an accident. No one appeared hurt but there was no emergency response to the incident. The drivers of the vehicles had enough time to get out of their cars and appeared to be exchanging credentials. About 3 km later there was a state policeman sitting in one of the median crossovers. Was he responding to the accident? He was not. He was sitting in his cop car with the radar gun aimed at the eastbound traffic.
Traffic was moving at around 35-40 MPH. The roads were clogged with cars, accidents, snow and slush. The posted speed limit is 65. I really don’t think we need to be looking for speeders in this type of weather, unless they are looking to grab someone that is moving too fast in this type of weather. But no one was doing that. I’m sure there were more accidents in progress that needed tending to.
2. I believe it was last Thursday afternoon that it was raining. The grass et. al. is still snow covered for the most part. There are no hints of leaves making an appearance yet. Why is it that the city feels it is necessary to have their parks department crew sit in their trucks and water the trees in the median along a prominent boulevard? There they were, with a tank of water in the back of a pickup truck, watering trees on the snow covered ground. Come on. I don’t know why I’m surprised, I have seen them do the same thing in the middle of a thunderstorm.
3. The local city government (of which we are not represented by, thank god) is considering raising the sales tax to 9% to cover increasing governmental costs. Such costs include raises for elected officials. There are many, many people losing their jobs or at the very least not receiving cost of living raises this year. I think these elected officials should suck it up like the rest of us and learn to cut back a little bit.
4. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has mandatory health insurance. All citizens of the commonwealth are required to have health insurance of some sort else they pay a yearly $900 fine. I have a big problem with this. Whilst I think that it is important that everyone that needs health care has access to health care, I don’t believe that forcing a person to have health insurance is the answer to the equation. Now, I will admit that I am not well versed on this law, but from what I heard this morning on NPR, this requirement sounds a little crazy to me. I guess it’s been around since 2007.
I think the founding fathers had a grand idea when it came to forming these United States. Unfortunately, I believe that over time their good intentions have been perverted and slowly destroyed in the name of greed and power.
Money.
The more I read about these government bailouts and stimulus packages and such the angrier I get. I am no economics whiz by any stretch of the imagination, and the universe knows I like to spend money, but it seems like the U.S. government is throwing billions and billions of dollars out like some weird, demented lawn sprinkler. The automakers need more, more, more; banks need more, more, more, big businesses that have apparently made bad business decisions needs more, more, more. All of this is the from the fear that if one large bank or auto manufacturer or other large company closes down then the whole big stack of Jenga blocks are going to come crashing down with them.
Perhaps we shouldn’t have built our economy using big Jenga blocks. Sometimes little Lego blocks stick together better.
Now I don’t want to see the U.S. go into a depression. I don’t want people losing their homes, their jobs or everything their life savings as they try to weather out this economic mess. But this money that the government is flinging out all over the place is going to the very people the created the mess in the first place. And where is it coming from? I have always suggested that we just print more money when things got bad, because I obviously have no handle on economics, but when I say that I’m told that you can’t do that because you’re flooding the economy with too much money.
Isn’t that what we are doing with these stimulus packages?
I know we are a big modern society now that thrives on big business and conglomerates and a Wal*Mart (Always White Trash, Always) on every corner. And I know that as a gay man I wouldn’t have the relative freedoms I have to be an outspoken gay man if I didn’t live here and now, but sometimes I really think that the small businesses from yesterday: the mom and pop stores, the small car lot in the village, the neighborhood bank, was a safer investment in our future.
Perhaps if we had stayed within that mindset, we wouldn’t be rewarding the greedy by bailing them out of their own mess.
Now excuse me while I go sock away more money in my mattress.
Candid Camera.
As I continue to revel in full out geek mode this week, I take great delight in getting a webcam working on my Linux computer for the first time in my computer history. Naturally I made a goofy face for such an occasion.
The addition of this webcam will certainly make it easier for the warrantless wiretappers to keep track of my conversations online. Perhaps I’ll moon the new camera repeatedly to make it interesting for them. I hear my ass is quite identifiable.
I joke about the bill that was passed by the Senate today but in truth I am saddened by it all. I feel like our great democracy is crumbling before our very eyes. Most think that 9/11 was the greatest crime against the United States; I believe the greatest crime is her citizens willingly giving up their freedoms, all in the name of freedom. It’s interesting to note that last October Obama said he would filibuster this bill, today he voted for it. (Kudos to Clinton and Schumer for their ‘nay’s.)
My choices in November are increasingly feeling like “the lesser of two evils”, once again.
Involvement.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I thought the U.S. was headed down a “slippery slope” in a number of ways, one of them being that I felt the Federal Government was becoming too involved in the personal lives of Americans. I have noticed that this trend is continuing at an alarm pace as I pay closer attention to what is going around me.
One of the earliest technologies of the Internet was Usenet, a collection of “newsgroups” that anyone could read and contribute to. Usenet has been around for a really long time (in technology years). Newsgroups pre-date web-based message boards, AOL communities and all of the graphical (point-and-click) technology. Participation in the group can be fairly anonymous. I have been an active Usenet user since 1988 or so; a proper search in Google will turn up posts I wrote in 1989.
Over the past several years, spammers and the like have discovered Usenet and have used the technology to further their dubious causes. There are over 100,000 newsgroups which cover a wide selection of topics; I could usually be found on the roadgeek group: misc.transport.road. As Usenet technology evolved through the 90s, some newsgroups devoted themselves to exchanging binary files: illegal copies of software, porn, font files and the like. Unfortunately, a very small number of groups started trading child pornography. We are talking less than 80 groups out of more than 100,000.
I am a broad minded individual (to say the least). I have met folks with wildly varied sexual tastes. Some I get, some I don’t, but I never judge. Hey, if it turns your crank and doesn’t harm another person then do what you need to do to find your nirvana. If everyone was the same the world would be wicked boring. HOWEVER, child pornography is a whole different story. That’s one subject that will evoke the same response from me every time: “That’s just sick.” And while I find anything related to child pornography to be intolerable, I do NOT believe in the government shutting down technology that may (or may not!) have been used for that purpose. It’s too close to censorship. And that’s exactly what has happened: The NYS Attorney General is leaning on Internet Service Providers to ban the Usenet newsgroups used to traffic child pornography. ISPs are opting to take the easier route: they’re just shutting down Usenet access for their users all together.
This is unacceptable. ISPs are shutting down open communication between American citizens. We are talking about 80 newsgroups out of over 100,000. That’s like throwing the entire population of Cambridge, Massachusetts in jail because there are 80 criminals on the street.
Does that make sense?
Another disturbing turn of events is that the Department of Justice is going to be involved with the development of Microsoft’s latest version of Windows, Windows 7. It’s slated to come out in 2010. Let’s think about this. I am no Microsoft fan by any stretch (they’re stuff works but it doesn’t blow my skirt up or anything), however, why should the Federal Government be involved with the development of their product? That’s like asking Uncle Sam to stir the recipe with Ben and Jerry! Do we trust the DoJ to not put a “backdoor” into Windows 7 so that they can spy on the American public in the name of “Homeland Security”? I certainly don’t.
I think I need to add a layer of tin foil to my hat.
Political Burnout.
I have a proposal for the United States of America. Let’s just let the media pick whom they want for President, o.k.? They’re pretty much swinging the way the U.S. population thinks these days so why don’t we just go all George Orwell and just let them decide. Besides, a good percentage of the citizens of the U.S. are afraid to ask questions or make decisions so let’s not bother them with that. Remember, doing research, weighing issues and casting a responsible vote is hard work! It’s easier to dial 1-866-IDOLS03 than to figure out how that newfangled electronic voting machine works.
I thought I reached a political burnout point a couple of months ago. It turns out I was dead wrong. My distaste for the whole affair reached new heights yesterday when one media source said that Obama was definitely the Democratic candidate and that Clinton would be dropping out last night whilst another media source said that Hillary said that she was “absolutely not” dropping out of the race last night and it was up in the air. Why wait for the story when you can make your own declarations, trounce them out as truths and then have the sheeple believe you?
I have some rather unpopular beliefs about this upcoming Presidential election. I believe there’s a good share of “Billy Bob Beanstalks” (no offense to anyone out there with that actual name) that will never elect an African-American President. Personally I think that sucks that in this day and age people still have that sort of prejudice but it can not be denied that it exists. Throw the whole “sand-N” sounding name (not my choice of words, I overheard it at a restaurant recently during a political ‘debate’) and I don’t think that Obama has quite enough of a chance to win the Presidency (it’s going to be very close if we don’t have people getting cutsey with the voting system). I really, really, really, really hope I’m wrong. Is he my first choice? No, his words ring hollow and he just doesn’t sit well with my gut instinct. I wish I could articulate that gut instinct part better but I can’t and I realise that my ‘gut instinct’ reason smacks contrary to my belief in making an informed decision. But I just can’t shake the feeling.
Then we have Hillary. There’s a really strong “we just hate her” vibe running through many people throughout the country (especially Upstate New York). When questioned why, there’s hardly ever a good answer. Lately I’ve heard the argument “she’s old style politics, so if she’s on the ballot, I’ll vote for McCain instead”.
Em, yeah. That’s a great school of thought you’ve got going there.
Listen, here’s the thing. I’ll vote for the Democratic nominee no matter who’s on the ticket. Obama/Clinton, Clinton/Obama, hell I’d vote for Mondale/Barbara Bush if I had to. I wish I could make my choice tomorrow so we didn’t have to endure another five months of the process. I’m sick of it! And frankly I’d rather vote for the Libertarian candidate but I can’t help but feel like that’s a waste of time in this fucked up two party system we so gleefully embrace. There’s forty-five different scents of Downy vying for space on the supermarket shelf but by God you can only have two major candidates for President.
So here I am, trying to escape the noise of the 2008 elections and it’s all I’m talking about today. Let’s try a change of subject. Hey, did you see the scarf Rachel Ray was wearing in the Dunkin’ Donuts commercial? It was cute!
Just Shut Up.
As an American gay man I should care about the upcoming Presidential election. I believe that the direction of the United States is wavering in all sorts of hideous directions, as well as probably backtracking a bit these days and we need a good solid leader in the starring role to get things back on track. I don’t know if you’ve heard or not, but there are two nominees left vying for the chance from the Democratic side of the stage. Their names are Hillary and Barack. Perhaps you’ve heard of them.
I’m trying really, really hard to maintain interest in this upcoming election. I want to be informed, I want to know the issues and I want to cast an intelligent vote when that right comes up in November. I’m trying desperately to listen to all sides of all arguments so that I can form my own point of view.
What concerns me is this bickering back and forth between Hillary and Barack. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Barack’s words ring hollow to me though I can’t put my finger on why. There’s something about him that does not sit well with my intuition. I don’t really care for him and I could never put in words why I feel this way. Perhaps I haven’t done enough research. I know his speeches sound promising but I don’t hear HOW he’s going to accomplish his vision. I just know that he has a vision and that he’s going to do it. I’d like to know how.
Hillary, whom I supported early on in the political season, is starting to grate on my nerves. I think she knows her stuff and I think she’d make a great leader. She has spit to go along with her polish. But many aren’t buying it. Much of it is not her fault. (People: give up the whole Monica Lewinsky thing, it was a blow job for God’s sake, he didn’t pre-empt the Second Coming or anything.) However, I can’t help but pick out an affectation in her voice that makes her sound less than cuddly. I don’t like the way she sounds in her speeches these days. She’s not talking to me: the American citizen; she’s talking to the country as a whole and it sounds that way. I want a candidate that speaks to me. He or she may be speaking to a group of people, but I want to feel engaged in the conversation. I don’t want to be talked AT, I want to feel like I’m listening on a conversation. To me she’s sounding a little desperate.
I don’t believe that Hillary should drop out of the race at this stage of the game. That wouldn’t be fair to those of us that are still up for a primary election in the coming weeks. But if anyone is going to be a member of a “new-generation of political leaders”, then the two candidates need to suck it up, calm down and start talking with the American people about what THEY are going to do, not what the other should do or won’t do.
I’m hoping that regardless of the outcome of the Democratic convention that we’ll have a ticket that’s either Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama. Unfortunately I fear that egos will prevent that from happening.
Still Dumb.
A while back I refrained from commenting on the apparent stupidity of Sherri Shepherd on “The View”. I read somewhere that she had never voted before so I decided to see if there was a clip on YouTube stating this.
Of course there was.
If you pay close attention you’ll notice that she quickly says she’s never voted before because she didn’t know the voting dates.
Um, hello? I think it’s in third grade social studies that we have our first mock election on the first Tuesday (following the first Monday) in November. Some of us even got to dress up as a president or something.
If you watch a little further, you’ll note that her reason for voting is because she’s on “The View”. Forget any sense of patriotic duty that that side of the aisle is always preaching, Sherri is more concerned about looking good.
Oy.
Dirty.
So another member of the Republican party has pleaded guilty to having gay sex in public places. This time it’s Senator Larry Craig of Idaho.
Color me shocked.
Before I delve into the whole hypocritical thing I have to stop for a moment and say that I don’t understand the attraction of having sex in a public bathroom. I have met and known many men whose crank is yanked by doing it in public but it’s something I just don’t get. First of all, there’s the whole sign/signal/woo-woo thing you have to do to let the person in the next stall know that you’re interested. Secondly, I treasure my parts very much and I’m not about the thrust him through a hole in a stall wall in hopes of finding Nirvana. God forbid Nirvana has teeth. Third, once you get the signs/signals/woo-woos worked out and everyone is on the same page and in the same place, there’s the whole logistics thing going on of straddling the toilet, not cutting your bare ass on the toilet paper ripper teeth and when all is said and done, doing a dismount that would make Cathy Rigby proud. I know some like the thrill of perhaps being caught and others do it in public so as not to ruin the rhythm of their bible beatings of others back with the church group but this whole public thing is not for me. Out in the wild in a private space with Mother Nature and a few friends: certainly. In an establishment that caters to that sort of thing: hey, if that makes you happy and everyone is on the same page, then go to town. In a public airport bathroom to the tune of muzak and flight delay announcements: absolutely not.
Now, how many of these politicians are going to be caught with their pants down before the American people wise up and say “Hey! These people are hypocrites.”? Perhaps one of the reasons these politicians fighting against gay marriage by proclaiming, among other things, that it’ll ruin their heterosexual marriage is because they think they’ll lose their stiffy if the gay becomes too accepted. The thrill is gone. On the other hand, and more likely the case, these guys are somewhat screwed up in the head after denying their true feelings for a number of decades.
I understand that things have changed dramatically over the last several years regarding coming out and all that is associated with it. The older generation had a different set of rules to play by and now, later in their lives, the rules are changing. Some choose to remain closeted so that they may maintain a well-established family, and you know what, that’s fine. I get that. But with all the different avenues out there for hook-ups (i.e. the internet, campgrounds, gay bars, etc.), I really don’t get the need to stop by the airport and look for some sex in a bathroom stall.
