With yet another election upon us, I wanted to take a second to talk about negative campaigning.
In the 2008 presidential election, my mom said that one of the reasons that she didn't like either McCain or Obama was because they both used negative campaigning against their opponents. I was never clear on what she meant, and she was never able to articulate it beyond a “feeling” that Obama was going negative.
I think, in reviewing campaign ads and such, that I've figured out what she's interpreting as negative.
Obama did run ads saying that John McCain wanted to keep us in Iraq for a hundred years. He also ran ads saying that McCain was endorsed by Bush and voted with Bush 80% of the time.
These are not negative, although someone who dislikes Bush like my mom does would probably view them as such. These are simply making McCain run on his record.
When McCain called Obama a socialist, or questioned his birth in Hawaii... THIS is negative advertising.
Personally, I like an ad that's being run locally by one of our democratic senators seeking reelection. She's using a largely unedited piece from Faux News of all places, to show that her opponent takes money from lobbyists and was called (I think it was) the “Bail-out king” during the Bush bail-outs. Again, not negative advertising, just using his own honest record against him.
I'm also hearing a lot of noise from the right about how the media is “smearing” Christine O'Donnell, making her look stupid. You know how they're doing this? BY USING HER OWN WORDS. If you said it on the record then yes, it's going to come back to haunt you. If you say that masturbation equals adultery, but admit to “dabbling” in Satanism, then yes, that can be held against you. If you are campaigning for high office in a country that already has a SERIOUS science deficit, and are on the record saying that if evolution is true, you can't figure out why MONKEYS AREN'T STILL EVOLVING INTO HUMANS, that can be held against you.
(For the record... monkeys NEVER evolved “into” humans. Humans and monkeys share common ancestors. Also, you cannot observe this type of evolution. It takes at least thousands of years. We can observe the evolution of certain types of plants, viruses and animals because they have a much shorter life span than human beings, so we can see generations of these things. Including, but not limited to, the repeated evolution of the flu virus so that it can continue kicking our asses.)
Also, I just finished watching last week's episode of Bill Maher. Usually, he tries to have one liberal, one conservative, and one moderate. For some reason, last week he had one liberal and two conservatives. They repeatedly attacked the health care initiative and several other things, and he just sat there and took it like a bullied little girl, except for the occasional “that must be bullshit”. All that I can figure is that he must be sick or something because he's usually a fighter. So, for the record, let me fight back on his behalf.
To begin with, several weeks ago, he agreed to stop using the term “tea-baggers” and started using the more respectful “members of the tea party movement” or “tea partiers”. And yet, he just sat there while the conservatives referred to the health care initiative as “Obamacare”, without demanding the same respect.
Also, one of the conservatives brought up the case of one town hall meeting where a right-winger was physically assaulted. You know what? There are bad apples in every group. What about the video that shows a guy with MS in a wheelchair who supported the health care bill getting the shit kicked out of him by a bunch of right-wingers?
They also kept talking about supporters of the health care bill “shutting down” debate about the health care initiative. What about the right-wingers who CONSISTANTLY shut down town hall meetings by insisting on talking about non-existent “death panels”? Or by accusing Barney Frank and Obama of supporting “nazi” policies? I'm not going to say that it DIDN'T happen, only that this is a little like the pot calling the kettle a pot.
They also fell back on Faux news polls that show that seventy percent of “Americans” oppose health care. Funny how, when they were confronted with polls that showed that seventy percent of “Americans” opposed the mess in Iraq, their comment was that “polls don't matter”. Isn't it funny that when there's a republican president polls don't matter, but when there's a democratic president they suddenly do?
Peace.
Rev. Randal
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Capitalism - Problems and Praise
I think that anyone who thinks that unfettered capitalism is a good thing has a very short memory and/or knowledge of history.
NO unfettered financial system works. We saw Russia fall to unfettered communism fifteen years ago, and now we're seeing America fall to unfettered capitalism.
You see, up until about 1980, capitalism was good for both American business and the American people. It worked well. The American dream was alive and well, people could make a living, even if one of them decided to be a house-spouse, and people got rich. Of course, at the time, “millionaire” was still something to brag about.
And yes... we had regulation.
Up until the first twenty years of this century, we tried our first experiment with unfettered capitalism, and it failed miserably for everyone but a few. We had child labor, sweatshops and unsafe working conditions. A few people got very, very rich and everyone else was plunged into a depression.
Over the years between the twenties and the mid seventies, we started seeing the government regulate business. Child labor laws, health and safety regulations, reasonable working hours and overtime laws. Under President Nixon, we saw anti-pollution laws enacted to protect the environment from corporate robber-barons. Under Ford and Carter, we saw a slew of anti-monopoly laws that broke up, among many others, A T & T, who we called “ma bell”. It was the only phone service available, so they could basically charge anything that they wanted.
For the men that valued money above all else, these was apparently the last straws.
Some believe that the election of Ronald Reagan was engineered by big business. I won't say one way or the other, because I don't know. But I will say that big business profited from the Reagan years while almost no one else did. They started overturning the anti-monopoly laws and the environmental laws. Because Joe Lunchbox had little real knowledge of these things, and couldn't see an immediate effect on THEM, there was no uproar. When they tried to change the labor laws that DID effect these people directly, there WAS an uproar, and the labor laws were barely scratched. So instead, behind our backs, laws were passed that made it profitable for companies to outsource jobs more than they ever had before.
Since then, we have seen one corporate-sponsored president after another trample our economy like Godzilla did Tokyo. In less than thirty years, we watched the results of this capitalism Godzilla completely destroy everything that we had built over the previous fifty.
Don't get me wrong on any of this. I'm not a communist and don't have more than a little leaning toward socialism. Again, just like capitalism, it really only works if it is tightly regulated and allows people to make money.
I like money. I have two books that I'm shopping around to agents right now and I hope that they sell and sell well, so that I can quit my day job and still live comfortably. Part of what I want to do with that money is buy apartment complexes and start some manufacturing businesses that will employ Americans fairly, so that they have THEIR shot at resurrecting the American dream. And yes, I will want a fair profit from these.
But that's part of the problem in modern-day America... a fair profit is no longer enough. Millionaire or even billionaires are no longer considered REALLY rich... we now heap our praise only on trillionaires. We oooh and aah over someone with a solid gold toilet or a ski-slope in their Arizona home, while many of us struggle to make it from week to week. We consider a politician with ten homes and God only knows how many cars a “regular joe” while we deride a college teacher and community organizer who made his first million two years before he was elected president as a snobbish elitist. And these mega-rich people have no compunction about putting a couple of million dollars into political campaigns to convince us that it's bad for America if we do anything that might reduce their annual income from eight billion dollars a year to (God forbid) five or even four billion. We're still struggling with health care reform which largely benefits the poor in our society. We're now, for some insane reason, debating whether or not we should extend Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, or allow them to go back to a maximum cap of 39%. (For the record... during the period that many conservatives consider our “golden era”, the 1950's, the maximum tax rate was 91%.)
Brothers and sisters, we have to stop this. Stop buying items that are made in China unless it's something that you really need. Learn to live with less, unless you're willing to spend more to get these luxuries made in America and supporting our economy. This Christmas, for instance, live with the Christmas decorations that you have or buy only American-made decorations. You can find some every year at madeinusaforever.com.
After all, what would Jesus do? (He IS the reason for the season, remember.) I kind of think that I know what he WOULDN'T. He wouldn't support the mass enslavement of a culture in order to fulfill our own fetish for the gaudy.
Peace.
D69
NO unfettered financial system works. We saw Russia fall to unfettered communism fifteen years ago, and now we're seeing America fall to unfettered capitalism.
You see, up until about 1980, capitalism was good for both American business and the American people. It worked well. The American dream was alive and well, people could make a living, even if one of them decided to be a house-spouse, and people got rich. Of course, at the time, “millionaire” was still something to brag about.
And yes... we had regulation.
Up until the first twenty years of this century, we tried our first experiment with unfettered capitalism, and it failed miserably for everyone but a few. We had child labor, sweatshops and unsafe working conditions. A few people got very, very rich and everyone else was plunged into a depression.
Over the years between the twenties and the mid seventies, we started seeing the government regulate business. Child labor laws, health and safety regulations, reasonable working hours and overtime laws. Under President Nixon, we saw anti-pollution laws enacted to protect the environment from corporate robber-barons. Under Ford and Carter, we saw a slew of anti-monopoly laws that broke up, among many others, A T & T, who we called “ma bell”. It was the only phone service available, so they could basically charge anything that they wanted.
For the men that valued money above all else, these was apparently the last straws.
Some believe that the election of Ronald Reagan was engineered by big business. I won't say one way or the other, because I don't know. But I will say that big business profited from the Reagan years while almost no one else did. They started overturning the anti-monopoly laws and the environmental laws. Because Joe Lunchbox had little real knowledge of these things, and couldn't see an immediate effect on THEM, there was no uproar. When they tried to change the labor laws that DID effect these people directly, there WAS an uproar, and the labor laws were barely scratched. So instead, behind our backs, laws were passed that made it profitable for companies to outsource jobs more than they ever had before.
Since then, we have seen one corporate-sponsored president after another trample our economy like Godzilla did Tokyo. In less than thirty years, we watched the results of this capitalism Godzilla completely destroy everything that we had built over the previous fifty.
Don't get me wrong on any of this. I'm not a communist and don't have more than a little leaning toward socialism. Again, just like capitalism, it really only works if it is tightly regulated and allows people to make money.
I like money. I have two books that I'm shopping around to agents right now and I hope that they sell and sell well, so that I can quit my day job and still live comfortably. Part of what I want to do with that money is buy apartment complexes and start some manufacturing businesses that will employ Americans fairly, so that they have THEIR shot at resurrecting the American dream. And yes, I will want a fair profit from these.
But that's part of the problem in modern-day America... a fair profit is no longer enough. Millionaire or even billionaires are no longer considered REALLY rich... we now heap our praise only on trillionaires. We oooh and aah over someone with a solid gold toilet or a ski-slope in their Arizona home, while many of us struggle to make it from week to week. We consider a politician with ten homes and God only knows how many cars a “regular joe” while we deride a college teacher and community organizer who made his first million two years before he was elected president as a snobbish elitist. And these mega-rich people have no compunction about putting a couple of million dollars into political campaigns to convince us that it's bad for America if we do anything that might reduce their annual income from eight billion dollars a year to (God forbid) five or even four billion. We're still struggling with health care reform which largely benefits the poor in our society. We're now, for some insane reason, debating whether or not we should extend Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, or allow them to go back to a maximum cap of 39%. (For the record... during the period that many conservatives consider our “golden era”, the 1950's, the maximum tax rate was 91%.)
Brothers and sisters, we have to stop this. Stop buying items that are made in China unless it's something that you really need. Learn to live with less, unless you're willing to spend more to get these luxuries made in America and supporting our economy. This Christmas, for instance, live with the Christmas decorations that you have or buy only American-made decorations. You can find some every year at madeinusaforever.com.
After all, what would Jesus do? (He IS the reason for the season, remember.) I kind of think that I know what he WOULDN'T. He wouldn't support the mass enslavement of a culture in order to fulfill our own fetish for the gaudy.
Peace.
D69
Saturday, September 25, 2010
TV Review: Bored to Death
Bored to Death is a self-indulgent and occasionally humorous comedy show on HBO. Jonathan Schwartzman plays Jonathan Ames (named after the show's creator, producer and co-writer), who's girlfriend dumps him prior to the show's beginning. So he does what every guy does in this situation: he takes out an ad on Craigslist... offering his services as a private eye. Theoretical hilarity ensues. I say “self-indulgent” because Ames is obviously the fantasy version of the show's creator. For instance, every woman he meets wants to sleep with him (despite being kind of a nebisshy, irritating little New Yorker.
THE GOOD: When the show is funny, it is very funny. It's exactly the kind of wry, dry humor that Schwartzman does so well. Zack Galifanakis as his unhappy, whiny cartoonist friend and Ted Danson as his perpetually stoned, up for anything boss also shine.
The real stand-out here, though is Olivia Thirlby as Ames' ex-girlfriend, Suzanne. She is beautiful and believable, and you really feel for her wanting to get back with Ames, who perpetually fucks it up.
THE BAD: Monologuing by Ames. When he's talking to someone, he comes up with these almost random monologues that have little or nothing to do with the plot at hand. This got much better toward the end of the first season, but I fear its recurrence. Imagine a detective novel written by Woody Allen on an off-day.
There are also plot elements that come in to play and then simply disappear with never another mention. For instance, in the first episode, a detective acquainted with Ames warns him that he'd better not hear of Ames doing this detective stuff anymore, and then simply vanishes, despite Ames being arrested in a later episode. Also, the next-to-the-last episode of the season concerns him trying to track down two lesbians who took his friend's sperm under the pretense of having a baby, and then selling the sperm to other lesbian couples. The episode ends with a "to be continued", but the story ISN'T continued. Instead, the final episode focuses on a fight between the magazine that he works for and representatives of the magazine GQ.
THE UGLY: Utterly unbelievable plots. Ames constantly gets himself in ridiculous situations that he wouldn't survive in real life. Yes, I know that it's “just” a TV show, but for my money, the believability of a TV show isn't based on how the plot would work in real life, but rather how the plot works within the context of the show. And the context of this show is apparently New York City in our world. And in that context, the plots on this show simply don't work.
Compared to most of the rest of the fare of pay-cable series, this is definitely near the bottom of the barrell. If Dexter or True Blood or The United States of Tara are Seinfeld, then Bored to Death is 1000 Ways to Die. Not bad, occasionally amusing, but not something that you really miss if you don't see an episode.
The second season of Bored To Death premiers on Sunday the 26th of September on HBO.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
THE GOOD: When the show is funny, it is very funny. It's exactly the kind of wry, dry humor that Schwartzman does so well. Zack Galifanakis as his unhappy, whiny cartoonist friend and Ted Danson as his perpetually stoned, up for anything boss also shine.
The real stand-out here, though is Olivia Thirlby as Ames' ex-girlfriend, Suzanne. She is beautiful and believable, and you really feel for her wanting to get back with Ames, who perpetually fucks it up.
THE BAD: Monologuing by Ames. When he's talking to someone, he comes up with these almost random monologues that have little or nothing to do with the plot at hand. This got much better toward the end of the first season, but I fear its recurrence. Imagine a detective novel written by Woody Allen on an off-day.
There are also plot elements that come in to play and then simply disappear with never another mention. For instance, in the first episode, a detective acquainted with Ames warns him that he'd better not hear of Ames doing this detective stuff anymore, and then simply vanishes, despite Ames being arrested in a later episode. Also, the next-to-the-last episode of the season concerns him trying to track down two lesbians who took his friend's sperm under the pretense of having a baby, and then selling the sperm to other lesbian couples. The episode ends with a "to be continued", but the story ISN'T continued. Instead, the final episode focuses on a fight between the magazine that he works for and representatives of the magazine GQ.
THE UGLY: Utterly unbelievable plots. Ames constantly gets himself in ridiculous situations that he wouldn't survive in real life. Yes, I know that it's “just” a TV show, but for my money, the believability of a TV show isn't based on how the plot would work in real life, but rather how the plot works within the context of the show. And the context of this show is apparently New York City in our world. And in that context, the plots on this show simply don't work.
Compared to most of the rest of the fare of pay-cable series, this is definitely near the bottom of the barrell. If Dexter or True Blood or The United States of Tara are Seinfeld, then Bored to Death is 1000 Ways to Die. Not bad, occasionally amusing, but not something that you really miss if you don't see an episode.
The second season of Bored To Death premiers on Sunday the 26th of September on HBO.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
Friday, September 24, 2010
Video Game Add-on Review: Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmare
For those unfamiliar, the first Resident Evil game came out in 1996 for the Playstation, and created a phenomenon among gamers, both for it's complex (if occasionally incomprehensible) story line and its graphic violence. It was followed by what I consider to be the best game of the series, Resident Evil 2. Then came Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil: Survivor (adapted from a Japenese Arcade game), Resident Evil: Dead Aim, and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. In 2002, the series went to the GameCube, with a prequel called Resident Evil 0 and a graphically-intensive remake of the original game.
For my money, that was the end of the series. At that point, it pretty much jumped from survival horror to action/adventure with Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5, followed by the Wii rail-shooters Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles.
There have also been a series of (so far) four movies, with the first one being okay, the second being excellent, the third being pretty good and the fourth sucking rocks.
The basic plot of both the games and the movies is the battle of a handful of freedom fighters opposing the multi-national conglomerate The Umbrella Corporation. Gotta love that name for a conglomerate. While doing experiments in bio-weaponry for the US government, the corporation discovered the T virus which, among other things, turns people into flesh-craving zombies.
Lost In Nightmare is add-on content for Resident Evil 5. It can be downloaded from Xbox live for $4 or the Playstation 3 for $4.99. Because Playstation uses Blu-ray as its disc format, which has a storage capacity of 60 gigs, the “Gold” edition of Resident Evil 5 includes this add-on, as well as one other on the disc. Since Xbox uses standard DVD, with a storage capacity of less than 10 gigs, they can't do that.
It takes the original pair from Resident Evil, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, and puts them in a spooky mansion inhabited by monsters and filled with puzzles.
THE GOOD: For fans of survival horror, this is a breath of fresh air, returning the series to its survival horror roots. It is scary, and filled with spooky locations and situations.
THE BAD: A severe monster drought. There are a handful of zombies, several new monsters called “Guardians” from the main Resident Evil 5, who made it into the fourth Resident Evil movie for about five minutes, and the consistent villain from both the games and the movies, Albert Wesker.
Also, the game is SHORT. I played through it in about 50 minutes, with a total of about two and a half hours of play time, including dying and restarting from checkpoints.
THE UGLY: No saves. Although if you die, you restart from a checkpoint, of which there are many in the game, you cannot save and come back later. Once you start the game, you are committed to finishing it, unless you want to restart the game from the beginning. Trust me, after I had been killed for the third or forth time by the same monster in the same place, I started to really think that this sucked.
All in all, well worth the four or five dollars that it costs, especially for fans of the survival horror genre.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
For my money, that was the end of the series. At that point, it pretty much jumped from survival horror to action/adventure with Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5, followed by the Wii rail-shooters Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles.
There have also been a series of (so far) four movies, with the first one being okay, the second being excellent, the third being pretty good and the fourth sucking rocks.
The basic plot of both the games and the movies is the battle of a handful of freedom fighters opposing the multi-national conglomerate The Umbrella Corporation. Gotta love that name for a conglomerate. While doing experiments in bio-weaponry for the US government, the corporation discovered the T virus which, among other things, turns people into flesh-craving zombies.
Lost In Nightmare is add-on content for Resident Evil 5. It can be downloaded from Xbox live for $4 or the Playstation 3 for $4.99. Because Playstation uses Blu-ray as its disc format, which has a storage capacity of 60 gigs, the “Gold” edition of Resident Evil 5 includes this add-on, as well as one other on the disc. Since Xbox uses standard DVD, with a storage capacity of less than 10 gigs, they can't do that.
It takes the original pair from Resident Evil, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, and puts them in a spooky mansion inhabited by monsters and filled with puzzles.
THE GOOD: For fans of survival horror, this is a breath of fresh air, returning the series to its survival horror roots. It is scary, and filled with spooky locations and situations.
THE BAD: A severe monster drought. There are a handful of zombies, several new monsters called “Guardians” from the main Resident Evil 5, who made it into the fourth Resident Evil movie for about five minutes, and the consistent villain from both the games and the movies, Albert Wesker.
Also, the game is SHORT. I played through it in about 50 minutes, with a total of about two and a half hours of play time, including dying and restarting from checkpoints.
THE UGLY: No saves. Although if you die, you restart from a checkpoint, of which there are many in the game, you cannot save and come back later. Once you start the game, you are committed to finishing it, unless you want to restart the game from the beginning. Trust me, after I had been killed for the third or forth time by the same monster in the same place, I started to really think that this sucked.
All in all, well worth the four or five dollars that it costs, especially for fans of the survival horror genre.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Taking the Wheel
Democrats are worried. Republicans are worried? Why? Because the new American TEA PARTY is coming for you. GRRRRRRRR!
Frankly, I'm not worried. You know why? Because we have worked so hard over the last thirty years to fuck up our political system that I have absolutely no doubt that, if we DO put these people into office, they will be every bit as much a waste of expensive office furniture as the people that they're replacing.
Who are the most important cogs in our political machine? The president and vice president? The Congress? The Senate? Nope. It's WE THE PEOPLE, people. We drive this car. If it goes into the ditch (as it clearly did in 2008), it's our stewardship that did it. Or lack thereof.
So I, as a centrist, would like to address some things here for my fellow frustrated centrists, and to the people who are finally waking up to the fact that our political process is broken and are trying to act on that new knowledge by running right out and joining their neighborhood tea party.
First off, I want to call bullshit on some statements that I've heard over the years.
“I don't vote because it doesn't matter WHO I vote for.” Bullshit. I've said it before, I feel doomed to say it again... in the 2000 presidential fiasco, only 52% of eligible Americans voted in the presidential race, and that vote split pretty evenly between Bush and Gore (Gore actually got about half a million more votes than Bush did in the end). If the other 48% of Americans... or hell, even 60% of that number had gone to the polls and voted for Ralph Nader, he would have beaten the other two guys to a pulp in the polls.
“I don't have the time to follow politics.” Bullshit. If you have ANY leisure time at all (and most Americans have at least SOME leisure time now), then dedicate an hour a day... hell, an hour every OTHER day to keeping up with what's happening in our government. An easy way to do this (for me anyway, being a liberal) is to watch Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher. I'm not saying that I accept what these guys say at face value... I tend not to accept anything that ANYONE says at face value... but it does entertain me and keep me abreast of what's going on politically. Of course it helps that I recognize that these men are biased, and am able to take that into account when I go out and research this stuff.
“I don't follow politics because it's too depressing.” Bullshit. How depressing would it be if your doctor told you that you had terminal cancer with less than a year to live? Pretty depressing, huh? Would you rather your doctor NOT tell you that if it's true? Sometimes the truth isn't simply a hard pill to swallow... sometimes it's a three-inch horse pill lined with salt-covered spikes. But even then, sometimes we have to swallow it. It sucks. It hurts. But we have to do it.
“I don't follow politics because it's boring.” Bullshit. And so what? I mean, it's not that politics ISN'T boring... a lot of times it is... the excuse is bullshit. Politics, like the news and the stuff that you have to learn to do your job, and sometimes actually LISTENING when someone else is talking instead of just waiting for your turn while you tune them out isn't MEANT to be entertaining. It's meant to be informative. And many times, trying to add entertainment value serves no purpose except to dilute the message. If the president gave the state of the union address while riding a unicycle and juggling chainsaws, it would be more entertaining, but the information in the message would be lost.
I hear a lot of bitching right now, especially from people on the right, about how our government is bankrupting us. You know what? That's absolutely, positively correct. My problem with it? This didn't start with the Obama administration, and it won't end by replacing the democrats with tea partiers. This problem started a long, long time ago. In my opinion, it really started in the mid-fifties when the government started “borrowing” (read as “stealing” from social security for other programs. There was a surplus there because there's SUPPOSED to be a surplus there, and they swiped it for their pet programs.
This organized bankrupting of our country REALLY started with a vengeance in the 1980's, the so-called “greed” decade. Almost everything bad that's happening to our country now can be traced to the Reagan administration.
You had changes in the trade and labor laws that allowed American companies to start outsourcing our jobs wholesale, basically devastating the midwest and the south.
You have subsidies started, like those to the corn and oil industries, costing us millions of tax dollars per year.
You have a wrong-headed tax revolt begun to keep rich people rich and prevent the rest of us from ever getting rich, except by a fluke.
And you have the real birth of political apathy among the American people.
So how do we fix it? It's hard, guys. For starters, stop voting AGAINST and start voting FOR. The tea partiers are happy to point out the problems in our system without suggesting anything REAL that we might do to fix these problems. Start researching candidates... ALL of the candidates, not just the Dems and Repubs... instead of voting for whomever had enough money to buy the most compelling or the prettiest campaign ads.
It's our car, folks and it's time for us to take the wheel, instead of letting someone else drive and then bitching about what a lousy job they're doing.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
Frankly, I'm not worried. You know why? Because we have worked so hard over the last thirty years to fuck up our political system that I have absolutely no doubt that, if we DO put these people into office, they will be every bit as much a waste of expensive office furniture as the people that they're replacing.
Who are the most important cogs in our political machine? The president and vice president? The Congress? The Senate? Nope. It's WE THE PEOPLE, people. We drive this car. If it goes into the ditch (as it clearly did in 2008), it's our stewardship that did it. Or lack thereof.
So I, as a centrist, would like to address some things here for my fellow frustrated centrists, and to the people who are finally waking up to the fact that our political process is broken and are trying to act on that new knowledge by running right out and joining their neighborhood tea party.
First off, I want to call bullshit on some statements that I've heard over the years.
“I don't vote because it doesn't matter WHO I vote for.” Bullshit. I've said it before, I feel doomed to say it again... in the 2000 presidential fiasco, only 52% of eligible Americans voted in the presidential race, and that vote split pretty evenly between Bush and Gore (Gore actually got about half a million more votes than Bush did in the end). If the other 48% of Americans... or hell, even 60% of that number had gone to the polls and voted for Ralph Nader, he would have beaten the other two guys to a pulp in the polls.
“I don't have the time to follow politics.” Bullshit. If you have ANY leisure time at all (and most Americans have at least SOME leisure time now), then dedicate an hour a day... hell, an hour every OTHER day to keeping up with what's happening in our government. An easy way to do this (for me anyway, being a liberal) is to watch Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher. I'm not saying that I accept what these guys say at face value... I tend not to accept anything that ANYONE says at face value... but it does entertain me and keep me abreast of what's going on politically. Of course it helps that I recognize that these men are biased, and am able to take that into account when I go out and research this stuff.
“I don't follow politics because it's too depressing.” Bullshit. How depressing would it be if your doctor told you that you had terminal cancer with less than a year to live? Pretty depressing, huh? Would you rather your doctor NOT tell you that if it's true? Sometimes the truth isn't simply a hard pill to swallow... sometimes it's a three-inch horse pill lined with salt-covered spikes. But even then, sometimes we have to swallow it. It sucks. It hurts. But we have to do it.
“I don't follow politics because it's boring.” Bullshit. And so what? I mean, it's not that politics ISN'T boring... a lot of times it is... the excuse is bullshit. Politics, like the news and the stuff that you have to learn to do your job, and sometimes actually LISTENING when someone else is talking instead of just waiting for your turn while you tune them out isn't MEANT to be entertaining. It's meant to be informative. And many times, trying to add entertainment value serves no purpose except to dilute the message. If the president gave the state of the union address while riding a unicycle and juggling chainsaws, it would be more entertaining, but the information in the message would be lost.
I hear a lot of bitching right now, especially from people on the right, about how our government is bankrupting us. You know what? That's absolutely, positively correct. My problem with it? This didn't start with the Obama administration, and it won't end by replacing the democrats with tea partiers. This problem started a long, long time ago. In my opinion, it really started in the mid-fifties when the government started “borrowing” (read as “stealing” from social security for other programs. There was a surplus there because there's SUPPOSED to be a surplus there, and they swiped it for their pet programs.
This organized bankrupting of our country REALLY started with a vengeance in the 1980's, the so-called “greed” decade. Almost everything bad that's happening to our country now can be traced to the Reagan administration.
You had changes in the trade and labor laws that allowed American companies to start outsourcing our jobs wholesale, basically devastating the midwest and the south.
You have subsidies started, like those to the corn and oil industries, costing us millions of tax dollars per year.
You have a wrong-headed tax revolt begun to keep rich people rich and prevent the rest of us from ever getting rich, except by a fluke.
And you have the real birth of political apathy among the American people.
So how do we fix it? It's hard, guys. For starters, stop voting AGAINST and start voting FOR. The tea partiers are happy to point out the problems in our system without suggesting anything REAL that we might do to fix these problems. Start researching candidates... ALL of the candidates, not just the Dems and Repubs... instead of voting for whomever had enough money to buy the most compelling or the prettiest campaign ads.
It's our car, folks and it's time for us to take the wheel, instead of letting someone else drive and then bitching about what a lousy job they're doing.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Movie Review: Batman: Under the Red Hood
First off, get this cast: Bruce Greenwood (Capt. Pike in the new Star Trek film) as the voice of Batman; Jensen Ackles (Smallville) as Red Hood; John DiMaggio (Futurama) as the Joker; Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter films) as Ra's Al Ghul; and Neil Patrick Harris (the voice of Spiderman in the newest animated series and video games.... oh, who am I kidding? It's Doogie Houser) as Nightwing.
The movie opens with the brutal murder of Jason Todd, the second Robin, at the hands of the Joker.
In reality, it was the readers of the Batman comics who determined that Jason Todd must die in 1988, via 50 cent per call 900 numbers. Out of ten thousand votes cast, less than a hundred more cast votes for his death than for his continued survival.
It then picks up five years later when a violent new vigilante, calling himself The Red Hood (the name used by the Joker before his chemical bath) appears on the scene, and Batman must solve the mystery of who is “Under the Red Hood”.
Normally, I try to list the good, the bad and the ugly in a film, but I'm abandoning that for this review because this was a genuinely excellent film.
For years, DC devotees like myself have watched as Marvel rolled out one excellent direct-to-DVD animated features, while DC wallowed in crap like Superman: Doomsday. This changed with the outstanding Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and Batman: Gotham Knight. Now ALL of the DC Universe animated films are outstanding.
The animation here is probably the best that I've ever seen on a direct-to-DVD release. The story and the voice acting are outstanding.
On the Blu-ray release, which is the one that I watched, there are a TON of special features, including two 25 minute long documentaries dedicated to the histories of the first and second Robins, a sneak peek of the new animated film Batman/Superman: Apocolypse, and four episodes of Batman animated TV series.
If you're a fan of excellent animation, or of Batman, watch this film. You won't regret it.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
The movie opens with the brutal murder of Jason Todd, the second Robin, at the hands of the Joker.
In reality, it was the readers of the Batman comics who determined that Jason Todd must die in 1988, via 50 cent per call 900 numbers. Out of ten thousand votes cast, less than a hundred more cast votes for his death than for his continued survival.
It then picks up five years later when a violent new vigilante, calling himself The Red Hood (the name used by the Joker before his chemical bath) appears on the scene, and Batman must solve the mystery of who is “Under the Red Hood”.
Normally, I try to list the good, the bad and the ugly in a film, but I'm abandoning that for this review because this was a genuinely excellent film.
For years, DC devotees like myself have watched as Marvel rolled out one excellent direct-to-DVD animated features, while DC wallowed in crap like Superman: Doomsday. This changed with the outstanding Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and Batman: Gotham Knight. Now ALL of the DC Universe animated films are outstanding.
The animation here is probably the best that I've ever seen on a direct-to-DVD release. The story and the voice acting are outstanding.
On the Blu-ray release, which is the one that I watched, there are a TON of special features, including two 25 minute long documentaries dedicated to the histories of the first and second Robins, a sneak peek of the new animated film Batman/Superman: Apocolypse, and four episodes of Batman animated TV series.
If you're a fan of excellent animation, or of Batman, watch this film. You won't regret it.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Self Check
I don't usually talk about where I work at my day job on this blog, at least not by name, because the views that I express here are MY views and do not, as far as I know, represent them.
Today I'm naming names.
For the last nineteen years I have worked in various capacities for Costco. Why do I work for Costco? Because they're the good guys. They treat us well, they are as environmentally friendly as such a big-footprint company can be, and they value their customers.
So... why am I naming names today? Here's why...
In the last couple of years (and about five years behind other retailers,) Costco introduced the self-check out lane. The reason, I think, that it took so long is that Mr. Sinegal (our CEO, for those not in the know) wanted to make sure that they could come up with a way to do this without negatively impacting either his employees or his customers.
So what's my beef? Well, when I talk to our customers about using self-check, I hear one thing above all others. “I don't want to take away anyone's job.” Thanks for looking out for me. But I've been with the company for nineteen years. IF THIS THREATENED MY JOB, DO YOU THINK THAT I'D BE PROMOTING IT? Do you people think that I have NO sense of self-preservation at all?
So let's look at the varying level of error here.
First off, anyone familiar with how Costco does business will know that Mr. Sinegal is not your typical CEO. Last year, for instance, we had to close stores that we called “Costco Home”. These were high-end furniture stores that simply weren't profitable anymore after the economic crash of 2008. To most CEO's, this would be an opportunity to close the stores, “down-size” the payroll, and put more money in his pocket. Mr. Sinegal's mandate? Find a spot for every one of those people at area stores. NO jobs were lost in the closing of those stores. Mr. Sinegal is the same as other CEO's in the same way that a kangaroo rat is the same as an African elephant. They have certain things in common... but not much.
Another thing to realize that is Costco doesn't have express lanes. We tried it, didn't work, as far as I know we'll never do it again. There simply aren't enough people that come to Costco for a handful of items. But we still get the question quite frequently.... “Why don't you have express lanes?” So this was Mr. Sinegal's answer. If you're coming in to the store for a few items and you're paying with debit or Amex, here's your express lane. Rock it.
The other thing that these people need to realize is that EVERY innovation will ultimately result in a job loss somewhere, from the invention of the hammer on. Everything. Whether that's the intention or not. It happens. It has happened. It will continue happening.
Here's probably the most important thing. If you're really concerned about Americans losing their jobs, THEN STOP BUYING CHINESE SHIT THAT YOU DON'T NEED! I joke with people that I am absolutely the worst person to be in retail during the holidays? Why? Because I don't understand rampant consumerism. It makes me angry. It makes me sick. But do yourself a favor this holiday season, if you're really concerned about American jobs. DON'T BUY ANYTHING MADE IN CHINA THAT YOU DON'T NEED. No lights. No artificial tree. No tons of Chinese-made toys that your kids are probably just going to lose interest in in a week anyway. No Ipods, please God, no Ipods. If you really want an insight into the working and living conditions of these people who make our Ipods, go to Google and search Ipod Foxconn Suicide. Foxconn, the company that manufactures Apple products in China had 11 suicides in the first four months of this year. If we had a company in America where two employees per month were killing themselves, what kind of outrage do you think that there'd be? But because it's in China, we don't even hear about it.
That's the kind of thing that makes me sick.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
Today I'm naming names.
For the last nineteen years I have worked in various capacities for Costco. Why do I work for Costco? Because they're the good guys. They treat us well, they are as environmentally friendly as such a big-footprint company can be, and they value their customers.
So... why am I naming names today? Here's why...
In the last couple of years (and about five years behind other retailers,) Costco introduced the self-check out lane. The reason, I think, that it took so long is that Mr. Sinegal (our CEO, for those not in the know) wanted to make sure that they could come up with a way to do this without negatively impacting either his employees or his customers.
So what's my beef? Well, when I talk to our customers about using self-check, I hear one thing above all others. “I don't want to take away anyone's job.” Thanks for looking out for me. But I've been with the company for nineteen years. IF THIS THREATENED MY JOB, DO YOU THINK THAT I'D BE PROMOTING IT? Do you people think that I have NO sense of self-preservation at all?
So let's look at the varying level of error here.
First off, anyone familiar with how Costco does business will know that Mr. Sinegal is not your typical CEO. Last year, for instance, we had to close stores that we called “Costco Home”. These were high-end furniture stores that simply weren't profitable anymore after the economic crash of 2008. To most CEO's, this would be an opportunity to close the stores, “down-size” the payroll, and put more money in his pocket. Mr. Sinegal's mandate? Find a spot for every one of those people at area stores. NO jobs were lost in the closing of those stores. Mr. Sinegal is the same as other CEO's in the same way that a kangaroo rat is the same as an African elephant. They have certain things in common... but not much.
Another thing to realize that is Costco doesn't have express lanes. We tried it, didn't work, as far as I know we'll never do it again. There simply aren't enough people that come to Costco for a handful of items. But we still get the question quite frequently.... “Why don't you have express lanes?” So this was Mr. Sinegal's answer. If you're coming in to the store for a few items and you're paying with debit or Amex, here's your express lane. Rock it.
The other thing that these people need to realize is that EVERY innovation will ultimately result in a job loss somewhere, from the invention of the hammer on. Everything. Whether that's the intention or not. It happens. It has happened. It will continue happening.
Here's probably the most important thing. If you're really concerned about Americans losing their jobs, THEN STOP BUYING CHINESE SHIT THAT YOU DON'T NEED! I joke with people that I am absolutely the worst person to be in retail during the holidays? Why? Because I don't understand rampant consumerism. It makes me angry. It makes me sick. But do yourself a favor this holiday season, if you're really concerned about American jobs. DON'T BUY ANYTHING MADE IN CHINA THAT YOU DON'T NEED. No lights. No artificial tree. No tons of Chinese-made toys that your kids are probably just going to lose interest in in a week anyway. No Ipods, please God, no Ipods. If you really want an insight into the working and living conditions of these people who make our Ipods, go to Google and search Ipod Foxconn Suicide. Foxconn, the company that manufactures Apple products in China had 11 suicides in the first four months of this year. If we had a company in America where two employees per month were killing themselves, what kind of outrage do you think that there'd be? But because it's in China, we don't even hear about it.
That's the kind of thing that makes me sick.
Peace.
Rev. Randal
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