Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Those lying AP bastards

Sorry for no new posting until now but I was catching up on life in general.

After more futile email exchanges with members of the illusioned radical right I realize that although I am enjoying replying to them, I think it only entrenches them in their positions. Email is the worst way to debate anyway. My points are backed up like a college research paper using AP reports and "Sciencemag" journal entries etc. only to be derided as lies in the response because after all, AP reporters are lying bastards and scientists are all liberals anyway so they can't be trusted either.

Actually I almost feel sorry for these people because they can not trust just about every source that could be used to backup a doctoral thesis. But then again that would be in the academic world which I'm sure is also not to be trusted because those people are all un-American liberal eggheads with an atitude. So they turn to a narrower set of people that say what they want to hear and close-off everyone else, then accuse the rest of the world of being close-minded and brainwashed.

I do believe that this is a self-defeating phenomenon where these people are eventually outnumbered by the more reasonable people in the world (actually weren't they always?). I began to see the end of the right-wing's grip on power this summer and the turning point I think was Cindy Sheehan's protest. Katrina just pushed it over the top. However, as the powerful begin to lose their grip on power they will become more desperate so watch out for more smears and mis-information in the next few months.

For those who didn't see it (like me), here's where you can see the replay of Donnahue vs O'Lielly: http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002412.html. I'm sure Bill is proud of his performance but I think Phil clearly bested him.

This site also has a number of other videos to watch in Quicktime, including Maher's "new rules" segments which offer a humerous look at the twisted "values" or the radical right. I can usually see nothing humorous about these people but Maher and John Stewart find it somehow.

Final note: Georia schoolchildren will generously give up two days of education in order to provide 250,000 gallons of fuel to NASCAR racing fans, Escalade and Hummer owners.

Hobbes

Monday, September 26, 2005

Frodo rules the day

Zane didn't come with us due to a tired ankle, and just as well since we covered many miles both by car, the DC Metro and especially by foot.

We parked in Greenbelt MD Metro station at around 1130 am and found that we were in good company. The station at the end of the "Green" line was packed with people going to the rally. We just missed getting on one train and when the next one arrived, it was quickly packed with protestors getting on with us.

We arrived in DC and joined the march which wound around downtown and went past the White House. We did see a group of Pro-Bush people, probably about 50 or so, in front of the FBI building, behind baricades and a line of police protection. Of course their signs indicated that they naively thought we were all promoting terrorism. I suspect many were paid RNC members there to get press. At this point I had lost John and Dave so I stood there for about 15 minutes waiting for them to catch up.

I wore my "BUCK FUSH" t-shirt and held up two signs:
"Frodo Failed: Bush has the ring" backed with "Asses of Evil: Bush, Cheney and Rove" as well as "Mission Accomplished: Now bring'em home" backed with "BUCK FUSH". Many people wanted a picture of the Frodo sign and it definitely got the most comments. Unfortunately the point of it was completely lost on the Bushies who seemed too full of hate to think rationally.

The march ended up at the mall where Camp Casey had been set up at the entrance. We met Ira there who had travelled down also.

Later we stood on the mall where people were coming and going, holding our signs and took turns holding the popular Frodo sign and posing for pictures. We stayed until about 7 pm and left hungry, tired but also inspired.

Hobbes.

Friday, September 23, 2005

Mission Accomplished: Now Bring'em Home!

Hope to see you all Saturday 24 Sep. in Wash. DC. Dave, John, Zane and I will be driving down early Sat a.m. and hopefully make it in time for the 11 a.m. rally at the Ellipse.

OK so they won't listen to us and they won't change their policy but that's not the real point of this weekend. The real measure of success is to heighten awareness in the rest of the public. It's to get more people to wake up and smell the rot that has taken power. Any small amount of change in the right direction is an accomplishment.

Hobbes.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Mis-Leader

I recently got into an email battle with a conservative (friend of my wife's conservative cousin) who berated me for criticizing the Bushies. I used references to published accounts like AP's reporting of the FBI investigation of Halliburton for example. His reply was that Halliburton was a great company and you can't trust those lying AP reporters.

I have noticed a bit more desperation in the conservative side about lashing out at those who are critical of their guy. Those that are left behind to defend him are of course his staunchest supporters and are getting desperate as they see their conservative movement failing to keep growing as they see the numbers who approve of Bush drop weekly.

Some conservatives are disdainful of the faction of Democrats (and anyone else) who are very critical of the Bush administration. But shouldn't we be critical? Should we instead only be putting forth own own policy ideas without pointing out the ineptitude of the current mis-leadership?

The conservatives would like to believe that Bush is virtually infallible and that any criticism of their guy is just frustrated emotional venting, but I wonder if they have considered that much of the criticism is actually justified and that it is the opposition's responsibility and patriotic duty to point out where Bush and Co. have lead this country astray.