Category: Politics

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Politics

Vice President Cheney says “So?”

Not sure if you’ve seen this video or not yet, but in an interview with ABC News our Vice President Dick Cheney was confronted with poll data that says “two thirds of Americans say [the war in Iraq is] not worth fighting”, Cheney says “So?”. He goes on to explain how “you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in public opinion polls” and how there has been “fundamental change and improvement for the better” there.

Without ranting too much, I’m disgusted with his complete lack of empathy for the people who essentially put him in power, and for the people who he’s supposed to be representing. He is supposed to be working for us, the people. And while I will concede that you can probably find (buy?) poll data that shows anything, there has been a consistent downturn in both the approval rating of President Bush and the the war in Iraq. To face that and say with such utter disregard for We, the people, “So?”, is a slap in the face, and it adds to my increasing disenchantment of the entire system, and my disgust at the current administration. Shame on you Mr. Cheney, to so callously disregard the will of the people in such a flippant manner.

Categories
News Politics

Idiots

idiot gansta wannabe Apparently there was a gang-related shooting a few blocks away from my house at around 4am. Kelly and I were sound asleep, I don’t remember waking up to anything anyway. This isn’t the first thing to happen in our ‘hood’ since we’ve lived here, but this particular even is far less worrying to me. Some idiots were presumably partying in a warehouse on NE 42nd Avenue, and then around 4am a gun was pulled and fired into the warehouse injuring 5 people before continuing east where more shots were fired.

Gang ‘culture’ (you know, the one glorified by hip-hop songs about gunz, bitchez, and bling) is self-destructive and very, very stupid.

According to this article by local news channel KATU, neither witnesses or victims are cooperating with the police. I presume this is for fear of being known as a snitch, this is anyone who talks to police about, well, anything… even if it means protecting some shithead who shot you. What? WHAT?!? I’m sorry, that’s insane. What good is all that respect from those around you when you could wind up dead tomorrow because you kept quiet?

I’ve added some videos from a CNN piece on this snitchin idiocy.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Categories
Entertainment News Politics

Bill Moyers at NCMR 2007

I was listening that old school form of media, something called radio, just now, NPR, and they started playing a slightly truncated version of the journalist Bill Moyers' speech at the National Conference on Media Reform. Found them on YouTube, you should watch / listen. It's very interesting.

Part 1 and Part 2 

Categories
News Politics Technology

Lunchtime links

During lunch, while eating a delicious chicken sandwich and scanning my usual lunchtime news sites (Digg and Slashdot) I found the following tidbits that I thought I'd share.

Web developers, just say no to Internet Explorer
An interesting little read from a frustrated developer (presumably, doesn't say what he does for a living, just what kind of company he works for), a site dedicated to trying to make 2007 and 'IE-free year', given it's poor standards-compliance. I know first-hand the pain that IE causes. Anyway, Read it! (www.nomoreiehacks.org)

Pentagon: War on terror in Iraq, caused more harm than good
From an article of the Sunday Herald on December 26th, 2006, the Pentagon has been attributed as admitting that the war on terror in Iraq has done more harm than good in terms of the objective, to win the hearts and minds of the people, removing the power from terror goups. Read It! (findarticles.com)

Categories
Beer Entertainment General Movies Politics

Borat, Burgers, and Beer

What a busy week, so much so that I've neglected my blog… again. This past week, the company I work for treated the team I'm working with to two special days, back-to-back. On Monday we were taken to a mid-day showing of the new film Borat (which was both hilarious and disturbing), and then on Tuesday took us out to Stanich's, a local landmark of sorts, known for their artery-clogging "World's Greatest Hamburger" … a burger stacked with fried egg, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, relish, etc. It was absolutely delicious, though it made me feel dirty inside and out. 🙂

Tuesday night my friend Jenn and I went to the Mash Tun to catch up, and got sucked into watching the CNN coverage of the midterm election results. At about 9pm PST it seems clear the Democrats had won the House of Representatives, though I was not optimistic that they'd take the Senate as well. However as things turned out, they did. And well, let's say I'm pleasantly surprised.

On Thursday I met Snooks at the Horse Brass Pub for dinner and beers. While there I tried something new, a special beer (presumably for the place) by the New Old Lompoc Brewery, called the Horse Brass Bitter. It was quite tasty, slightly hoppy but not like an IPA, and was light in color.

Like I said, what a busy week.