I'm gonna preface everything by saying that going door-knocking one time by no means makes me any sort of expert on the subject of campaigning, even though I'll be writing as if I know everything about it. It's just the way I am. For the sake of disclosure though, I wasn't even that good at it.
I'm not even sure if I was really doing what I truly believe in. When it comes to politics I believe in the same basic principles as I do regarding any other subject. I believe that people are due the facts and owed the responsibility of making their own decisions. It's one of the reasons I try to cite everything that I write on this blog in one way or another. It's an impossible task especially when I'm not setting aside as much time as I'd like to for this to begin with, but I think it's important that people have the facts and know the difference when they're hearing opinion. I don't think it's my right to tell anyone what to think about anything.
However when your out trying to hit as many houses as you can, trying to drum up support, you don't have time to give people all of the facts, and most of the time they're not really interested in what YOU think is important. You have to convince them that it's vitally important that your guy win, and you have to convince them that you believe that to your core. They seem to respond to sincerity and to empathy. You have to tell them why your guy will be better for the issues that they care about than anybody else that they're running against. And you have to do it in the span of 20 seconds before they zone out and think about the TV show they walked away from to come talk to you. So I may have said some things that day that I didn't believe myself. I may have said some things that I have always thought were ridiculous talking points and couldn't believe worked on the minds of sensible people. I may have caught myself saying the kinds of things that I always picture consultants telling candidates that the voters really want to hear more than the issues. But I didn't have an hour to spend talking with everyone, and they sure as hell didn't want to spend an hour with me. So I came away from the experience much like I knew I would. I wish people knew more, I wish they cared more. Hell Iowa is incredibly important in the primaries, you could argue that it's the biggest determining factor in nominating the democratic candidate, the person very likely to be the leader of the free world in 2009, and last time only about 120,000 people made that decision! Still so many people said they had better things to do that day. But I also felt that I helped, and I sincerely hope I helped make a difference, and feel guilty I can't do more to help. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Polite Conversation
I had a very interesting discussion recently about religion. I won't get into the details because that's not the point I want to relate. It struck me that the only reason I felt free to talk candidly about the subject was because it was with people that I don't see on a regular basis, and am not that close with. (Not that they're not lovely people, I just don't see them that often. Hi kev :) ) Now it's not like this is a very weird thing, it's a sensitive subject to some people, and it's something that people are very respective of others differences about, so it's not exactly something people are comfortable debating. In fact, one of my favorite parts of my last trip to Ireland was when my brother, trying to engage a random guy in conversation, asked him what he thought about George Bush. When the guy answered that he didn't much care, my brother said something along the lines of 'Why don't you care? It's pretty important, he's an asshole.' At that point the bartender came over and shouted at my brother "Hey! No politics and no religion!" Now it's certainly understandable that in a country like Ireland people will be wary of debates along those lines occurring in bars, or anywhere for that matter (see "the troubles"). Still, I really liked that line, and it happens to be a rule that I live by for casual conversation and casual relationships. In fact most everybody does. The problem is that I'm never able to broach the subject with people that I even suspect I have a disagreement with, even if I feel I'm pretty close to the person.
I have a close friend that is the complete opposite. He's told me about several occasions where he's argued with people very close to him about religion. And not because it was forced into conversation but just because he generally feels that these other people could be helped by what he has to tell them. It's weird, I always feel that kind of conversation would create a divide between people that I would never want to deal with, but it doesn't seem to for him. Either way, I'm almost positive that he's got the right idea.
I have a close friend that is the complete opposite. He's told me about several occasions where he's argued with people very close to him about religion. And not because it was forced into conversation but just because he generally feels that these other people could be helped by what he has to tell them. It's weird, I always feel that kind of conversation would create a divide between people that I would never want to deal with, but it doesn't seem to for him. Either way, I'm almost positive that he's got the right idea.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Irate
One more important post for the night, and then I'll either lapse into another week of inactivity or finish the WWIII series tomorrow. This just had to be written now because it's topical, it's fresh, and it will contain lots of cursing.
"Coalition forces have seized IEDs and components that were clearly produced in Iran... Such actions, along with Iran's support for terrorism and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, are increasingly isolating Iran, and America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats."
"So I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table."
"It's a time of sorrow and sadness when we lose a loss of life"
-Collected GW quotes
Of course, recently there's been some HUGE revelations in the news.
It turns out, the US intelligence community knows that Iran doesn't have an active nuclear program and is many years away from possibly acquiring a bomb:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-iran.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
And what's worse, GW knew about it
http://www.trueblueliberal.com/2007/12/04/bush-dni-told-me-%E2%80%98we-have-some-new-information-he-didn%E2%80%99t-tell-me-what-the-information-was%E2%80%99/
http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2007/12/5/111740/472/tytvideoclips/President-Bush-Reveals-How-He-was-Briefed-on-Iran-s-Nukes-
Even the faithful are in doubt, but they'll still dutifully spin it.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315742,00.html
Strange, it seems that the rest of the world tried blowing the whistle on this long ago:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4178804.stm
But it's not the time for apologies, for reason, or for backing down:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071204/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush
And insult to injury, it makes our country look fucking STUPID:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/05/iran.nuclear/index.html
It turns out that you can't keep the truth down for too long. Iran doesn't actually have that active nuclear weapons program that the president and his puppet master have been warning us about. Now that doesn't mean that they don't want one, and it doesn't mean that there aren't nuclear threats out there. Hell, Israel more than likely bombed a site in Syria that contained nuclear-related materials less than three months ago. But the recent revelation (to the American public at least) is that Iran does not currently have an active nuclear weapons program. There is good news to be gained from this revelation, but we'll save the cheery bit for the end.
Ever since Bush came into office he's been hyping threats. His three favorites were the axis of evil, and, fuck us all, he's managed to check two of them off of his list. Iraq: It sure doesn't look like a success story right now, but GW claims that history will vindicate him. Even if it does it will still probably recognize that he was an asshole, or at least that we all thought he was an asshole. North Korea: Amazing how little that pompadoured little napoleon complex of a dictator makes world news anymore. Unbelievably the administration seems to have brokered a deal to cool their nuclear ambitions. I believe this is the sole reason that Condolezza Rice is the only member of the administration that won't burn forever in eternal hellfire. (For the less politically intune, she's the secretary of state and mostly responsible for the deal. At least that's what I believe, it's debatable.) So that leaves us with the last item on Bush's list. The last of the axis of ill intent. Iran. And damn did they ever fear-monger that one. Iran, the nuclear-powered, jew-hating, irrational, crimson-eyed Persian threat. If you aren't familiar with the war hype, then Google "Iran". I'm pretty sure 50 of the first 100 results contain the word "threat" in the headline.
I've already "blogged" about the threat of war with Iran. Every single American knows how much this administration wanted to handle the Iran "situation" based on how they have talked about Iran. I won't get into the reasons for why they would want conflict with Iran (see "megalomania", "senility", and "GW has a tiny prick") What I will say though is that you have to admire the fucking cajones of these people. The truth is they lied us into Iraq. They knew people would die, they knew people would suffer, and while it's true that they didn't know how many that would be, it's equally true that they didn't FUCKING care. They weighed American life and Iraqi life against what they thought they could gain, and they decided it was worth it. And now, even when Iraq has turned into the shitstorm it has become, they have the fucking gall, the fucking self-deluded sense of righteousness to justify wanting war with Iran! That's not just stupid, that's not just evil, that's fucking inhuman. Once again, they knew they were lying, they knew the consequences of what they wrought, they had seen the effects of their incompetence, and they were willing to do it again. I can't think of anything more damning to say on the subject. The impression I want to leave with you though is this. These people, just like any other ruler, any other person in power, have their own ends. They will say and do whatever it takes to get to those ends, they will lie to you while staring you right in the eyes. But they are not like your boss who promised you that promotion the last three times only to give it to some other kiss-ass. They are not like your boyfriend who swears he will never cheat on you again. These people are willing to see you and four thousand of your countrymen DIE for that lie. They are willing to sacrifice the lives of countless of foreigners for that lie. And these people think you are so FUCKING STUPID that you will let them do it again.
"There's an old saying in Tennessee... I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee... that says, fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again."
You sure fucking can't get fooled again.
Well fuck me, I almost forgot about the cheery bit. Well it seems with the recent revelations that the forces of good may well have triumphed. Despite efforts to keep the NIE report under lock and key it has gotten out, and it has been revealed that the American intelligence community actually agrees with the rest of the world. The implications are that it is exceedingly unlikely that there will be any military conflict with Iran during shithead's term in office, and that there are still rational people in the US government. This doesn't mean the end of tensions with Iran. Ahmadinejad is still a very, very bad man. But hopefully now we can get back to spreading peace and democracy in what should be the American way. With hollywood movies and McDonalds.
"Coalition forces have seized IEDs and components that were clearly produced in Iran... Such actions, along with Iran's support for terrorism and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, are increasingly isolating Iran, and America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats."
"So I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table."
"It's a time of sorrow and sadness when we lose a loss of life"
-Collected GW quotes
Of course, recently there's been some HUGE revelations in the news.
It turns out, the US intelligence community knows that Iran doesn't have an active nuclear program and is many years away from possibly acquiring a bomb:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-iran.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
And what's worse, GW knew about it
http://www.trueblueliberal.com/2007/12/04/bush-dni-told-me-%E2%80%98we-have-some-new-information-he-didn%E2%80%99t-tell-me-what-the-information-was%E2%80%99/
http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2007/12/5/111740/472/tytvideoclips/President-Bush-Reveals-How-He-was-Briefed-on-Iran-s-Nukes-
Even the faithful are in doubt, but they'll still dutifully spin it.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315742,00.html
Strange, it seems that the rest of the world tried blowing the whistle on this long ago:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4178804.stm
But it's not the time for apologies, for reason, or for backing down:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071204/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush
And insult to injury, it makes our country look fucking STUPID:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/05/iran.nuclear/index.html
It turns out that you can't keep the truth down for too long. Iran doesn't actually have that active nuclear weapons program that the president and his puppet master have been warning us about. Now that doesn't mean that they don't want one, and it doesn't mean that there aren't nuclear threats out there. Hell, Israel more than likely bombed a site in Syria that contained nuclear-related materials less than three months ago. But the recent revelation (to the American public at least) is that Iran does not currently have an active nuclear weapons program. There is good news to be gained from this revelation, but we'll save the cheery bit for the end.
Ever since Bush came into office he's been hyping threats. His three favorites were the axis of evil, and, fuck us all, he's managed to check two of them off of his list. Iraq: It sure doesn't look like a success story right now, but GW claims that history will vindicate him. Even if it does it will still probably recognize that he was an asshole, or at least that we all thought he was an asshole. North Korea: Amazing how little that pompadoured little napoleon complex of a dictator makes world news anymore. Unbelievably the administration seems to have brokered a deal to cool their nuclear ambitions. I believe this is the sole reason that Condolezza Rice is the only member of the administration that won't burn forever in eternal hellfire. (For the less politically intune, she's the secretary of state and mostly responsible for the deal. At least that's what I believe, it's debatable.) So that leaves us with the last item on Bush's list. The last of the axis of ill intent. Iran. And damn did they ever fear-monger that one. Iran, the nuclear-powered, jew-hating, irrational, crimson-eyed Persian threat. If you aren't familiar with the war hype, then Google "Iran". I'm pretty sure 50 of the first 100 results contain the word "threat" in the headline.
I've already "blogged" about the threat of war with Iran. Every single American knows how much this administration wanted to handle the Iran "situation" based on how they have talked about Iran. I won't get into the reasons for why they would want conflict with Iran (see "megalomania", "senility", and "GW has a tiny prick") What I will say though is that you have to admire the fucking cajones of these people. The truth is they lied us into Iraq. They knew people would die, they knew people would suffer, and while it's true that they didn't know how many that would be, it's equally true that they didn't FUCKING care. They weighed American life and Iraqi life against what they thought they could gain, and they decided it was worth it. And now, even when Iraq has turned into the shitstorm it has become, they have the fucking gall, the fucking self-deluded sense of righteousness to justify wanting war with Iran! That's not just stupid, that's not just evil, that's fucking inhuman. Once again, they knew they were lying, they knew the consequences of what they wrought, they had seen the effects of their incompetence, and they were willing to do it again. I can't think of anything more damning to say on the subject. The impression I want to leave with you though is this. These people, just like any other ruler, any other person in power, have their own ends. They will say and do whatever it takes to get to those ends, they will lie to you while staring you right in the eyes. But they are not like your boss who promised you that promotion the last three times only to give it to some other kiss-ass. They are not like your boyfriend who swears he will never cheat on you again. These people are willing to see you and four thousand of your countrymen DIE for that lie. They are willing to sacrifice the lives of countless of foreigners for that lie. And these people think you are so FUCKING STUPID that you will let them do it again.
"There's an old saying in Tennessee... I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee... that says, fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again."
You sure fucking can't get fooled again.
Well fuck me, I almost forgot about the cheery bit. Well it seems with the recent revelations that the forces of good may well have triumphed. Despite efforts to keep the NIE report under lock and key it has gotten out, and it has been revealed that the American intelligence community actually agrees with the rest of the world. The implications are that it is exceedingly unlikely that there will be any military conflict with Iran during shithead's term in office, and that there are still rational people in the US government. This doesn't mean the end of tensions with Iran. Ahmadinejad is still a very, very bad man. But hopefully now we can get back to spreading peace and democracy in what should be the American way. With hollywood movies and McDonalds.
Task force meetings and Oil News
I just wanted to throw this link out there, it's in a response I wrote to one of Kevin's comments to the last WWIII post, but I wanted everyone to see it and thought it might not get attention where it was.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/iraqi-oil-maps.shtml
This was what was discussed in Cheney's energy task force meetings, which occured several months before Sept. 11th. Conspiracy theorists, take from this what you will. I for one will never believe that the US government had ANYTHING to do with that day other than extreme incompetence. However, the truth is always complicated.
What this DOES show though is that regime change in Iraq was a definite goal of the administration, and that 9/11 was just an excuse to justify a middle east policy that they would have enacted anyways. I personally believe that it was because the neocons wanted to be in control of middle east oil in fear of the peak oil theory. You can read all kinds of tin-foil hat stuff about peak oil here:
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
Keep in mind though, that it is an entirely plausible scenario, and I definitely don't disbelieve it. I just happen to think that investing in alternate energy is an incredibly wiser strategy than starting a 2 trillion dollar war in the middle east. Of course, if you originally thought that you could win the war for 50 billion dollars, maybe it didn't seem like such a bad idea. Of course, in that scenario you would have to assume that you wouldn't take the loss of human life into account.
Still, it seems that a third option may have presented itself. It's equal parts good news and bad news, possibly leading to declining oil prices, the breakdown of some oil cartels, less american involvement in the middle east, and at the same time not a damned thing being done about global warming thanks to all the cheap-ass oil we just found.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/world/americas/19braziloil.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14678206/
There seem to be vast undiscovered reserves near Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, and Japan. Add those to the reserves in the arctic that Russia is making a mad dash to claim (see Russia post), and there seems like there will be enough oil to go around for at least another 30ish years*. With the possible consequences and benefits of this news, it's hard to decide if this is a good or a bad thing.
*-estimates based not on any kind of science, but on gut feelings of author based on current rate of industrial and population growth, and the nice round-soundingness of the number 30.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/iraqi-oil-maps.shtml
This was what was discussed in Cheney's energy task force meetings, which occured several months before Sept. 11th. Conspiracy theorists, take from this what you will. I for one will never believe that the US government had ANYTHING to do with that day other than extreme incompetence. However, the truth is always complicated.
What this DOES show though is that regime change in Iraq was a definite goal of the administration, and that 9/11 was just an excuse to justify a middle east policy that they would have enacted anyways. I personally believe that it was because the neocons wanted to be in control of middle east oil in fear of the peak oil theory. You can read all kinds of tin-foil hat stuff about peak oil here:
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
Keep in mind though, that it is an entirely plausible scenario, and I definitely don't disbelieve it. I just happen to think that investing in alternate energy is an incredibly wiser strategy than starting a 2 trillion dollar war in the middle east. Of course, if you originally thought that you could win the war for 50 billion dollars, maybe it didn't seem like such a bad idea. Of course, in that scenario you would have to assume that you wouldn't take the loss of human life into account.
Still, it seems that a third option may have presented itself. It's equal parts good news and bad news, possibly leading to declining oil prices, the breakdown of some oil cartels, less american involvement in the middle east, and at the same time not a damned thing being done about global warming thanks to all the cheap-ass oil we just found.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/world/americas/19braziloil.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14678206/
There seem to be vast undiscovered reserves near Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, and Japan. Add those to the reserves in the arctic that Russia is making a mad dash to claim (see Russia post), and there seems like there will be enough oil to go around for at least another 30ish years*. With the possible consequences and benefits of this news, it's hard to decide if this is a good or a bad thing.
*-estimates based not on any kind of science, but on gut feelings of author based on current rate of industrial and population growth, and the nice round-soundingness of the number 30.
2008
Rumblings around the office lately suggest that we may be throwing a new years party. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it but with the things that have been discussed I'm absolutely sure that some questionable stuff will go down. Don't get me wrong, it will be a blast for the most part. The breakdown will probably be about 75% - one of the best parties of the year, and 25% - alternatingly akward, sticky, and violent.
Here's to a happy new year!
Here's to a happy new year!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
TV Generation
The reason I don't blog more:
I was watching TV earlier tonight and had to go downstairs to take care of a few things, only took a few minutes. I took my iPod with me so I wouldn't get bored.
I was watching TV earlier tonight and had to go downstairs to take care of a few things, only took a few minutes. I took my iPod with me so I wouldn't get bored.
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