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Posts Tagged ‘Wacknuttery’

RSS Roundup 5-28-08

Wow, it feels good to be back. I took full advantage of the holiday weekend and totally unplugged from news. I really needed it and I have a clearer head now. It’s something I totally recommend everyone doing. Of course I missed some stuff but nothing that I can’t live without knowing. It is good to be back writing again though so here is the RSS Roundup for everything important that happened in the blogosphere yesterday.

Novak Attacks Gov. Sibelius For Supporting Womens Rights

The other day douchebag of liberty Robert Novak wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post praising Kansas Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius for her strong support for women’s rights and reproductive freedom. I wanted to thank Robert Novak as I don’t think that the nation is aware of the many progressive values and accomplishments of our wonderful Governor. Being from Kansas, Sibelius has been branded a moderate Democrat and I think this article was exactly what she needed to help bolster her progressive image. Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks so either.

The Rest of The News

Video Photo Montage of the Day

Michelle Malkin, who is famous for having a fat ass and a … sorry, thats someone else … has surpassed her previous record for stupidity by making the insane connection between celebrities wearing scarves and supporting terrorists. So as a public service I feel the need to expose the other hidden terrorists lovers hiding in Hollywood.

Thats after just 5 minutes on Google. I shudder to think how many terrorists loving scarf wearers are lurking out there. I’m going to have to subscribe to Malkins RSS Feed so that she can keep me safe.

Photo Credits

I do not think it means what you think it means

One of the words that the Bush Administration likes to throw around when talking about their failing policies is the word PROGRESS. No matter the topic; whether it’s the Iraq War, the economy, jobs, gas prices, you name it and were making “progress” on it. Like any sane and intelligent American I have long wondered what crazy metric they were using to measure this success. Well I have had an epiphany on this and I wanted to share it with you all.

When I first started hearing this I was under the assumption that “progress” was just another insecure platitude to quiet the angry masses. You know, just another way to string out the Iraq war until it becomes the Democrats problem. Now I realize that the conservatives belief that we are making progress is sincere and honest and is exactly the reason why they are unfit for government.

As a liberal and as a fan of facts and reality I tend to define the word progress, in the context used by Republicans, as meaning “the act of moving forward toward a goal”. I naturally measure this progress by how far from the goal we are and by whether or not were getting closer to that goal. I think that this way of looking at the world is not only natural and logical, but its essential for any kind of real success.

As I’m sure you can relate to this definition of progress left me confused and angry whenever conservatives used it. It’s much like accepting the offer of an apple, which you assume to be a red tasty fruit, only to receive a punch in the nose. Now imagine that happening for 7 years. Eventually you figure out that what they call an “apple” isn’t an apple at all and the last thing you want is more of their “apples”.

Understanding the conservative view of progress had me baffled until I realized one thing. For liberals success is dependent on the quantifiable achievement of a set goal. Conservatives seem to accept that success is guaranteed and that all they have to do is wait for it. This assurance of success makes things like timetables, goals, strategy, planning all irrelevant. For America to be successful we simply need to wait.

So when you start with the faith that success is inevitable the definition of progress changes. As their is no goal other than to wait for success the liberal definition of progress makes no sense. The conservative definition of progress is nothing more than the “progress through time”. When conservatives say we are making progress they don’t mean that goals are being achieved or that a sound strategy is being successfully carried out. They simply mean that time is still passing and therefore we are that much closer to our inevitable glorious success.

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With that in mind watch this short clip taken from Keith Olberman’s 5/1/2007 episode. You will see that if you think of the word progress as a rational acceptance that time has not stopped the words of George Bush make sense. See that piece in context here.

This method of government that the conservatives are offering has clearly not worked. I would be interested in hearing a single thing that the Bush Administration has actually made better. If we allow another conservative like John McCain to be elected we can expect 4 more years of Republican “progress”.

RSS Roundup 5-20-08

Wow, lots to get to today so I won’t waste your time. I did have this dream about a new design and layout for my blog so don’t be surprised if you see something new very soon. Summer would say that I should make the design and use it for one of the many projects I have waiting to be finished. Sounds rational but the dream was about this website. I don’t know how I’ll use it but I do know that it will be one of the first things I work on this week.

Obama Rally draws 70,000+ in Portland

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Alright, I know that there are more important things going on in the world than just another campaign rally. It feels like the primary has been going on for years and the last thing people want to read about is some random rally in Portland. Just kidding! 70,000 PEOPLE! Seriously have we ever had such an amazing and exciting time to be a Democrat. Wow. (h/t Crooks and Liars)

McCain has a Serious Lobbyist Issue

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After running on his “record” as being “anti-lobbyist” and promising to “clean up” Washington John McCain is developing a real lobbyist problem. A problem in that his campaign is run, staffed, and financed almost entirely by lobbyists. Worse than that several high ranking lobbyists in his campaign have been linked to horrible causes. For more read this from The Carpetbagger Report.

All the News you Need to Know

Video of the Day

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h/t Eschaton

Have a wonderful day
William ~ WWJV4.com

Monday Morning Funnies

WWJV4’s Weekly Cectic Comic
copyright © 2007-2008, Rudis Muiznieks

I hope everyone had a good Mothers Day weekend. It went really well at our house except pretty much everyone was sick at some point. There seems to be some little bug going around that lasts a couple days. At least I’m hoping thats all the longer it lasts because the weather is getting nicer and I want to stop being sick til next winter.

Well it’s Monday morning so here is some light news and humor to start your week out right.

The Republican’s started off Mother’s Day weekend by voting against Mothers Day. This isn’t really funny, its just sick. And you all thought that Republicans were the family values party. lol (final vote results here)

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This is really cool and not as geeky as it sounds initially. There is a new game Fold It that makes protein folding competitive and fun. As you work through the levels you are taught the basics just like any other problem solving game. The game requires no science knowledge as it relies on intuitive thinking and problem solving skills. What makes this really cool is that as you advance you have the potential to make actual scientific discoveries as you work on unsolved proteins. (h/t Richard Dawkins)

A group known as “The Resistance“, which is an incestuous crossbreed of conspiracy theorists and Christian fundamentalism, has launched a boycott of Starbucks over its new Logo which shows a topless mermaid. The Resistance also supports Ron Paul. I know thats obvious from the description of the group but I wanted to point that out anyhow.

God Tube Video Of the Week

Every week we will be featuring our favorite crazy video from God Tube. If you haven’t checked it out that place is a virtual gold mine of crazy. I just started watching video’s from there last week and it is simply AMAZING. If you have a favorite clip from God Tube let me know and if its funny and crazy enough I’ll post it so we can all point and laugh.

Music Video of the Week

This weeks music video was first posted at Loganotron so stop by and say thanks. You probably know this one so go ahead and sing along. Get your co-workers in on the fun too. This version is Corky and the Juice pigs who do a very good rendition of “I’m The Only Gay Eskimo”.

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There you all go, have a great Monday and as always consider this an open thread. I would like to hear if anyone did anything great this weekend for your mothers, sisters, wives … etc.

Thanks
William ~ WWJV4.com

RSS Roundup 5-6-08

Yesterday was a busy day in the blogosphere and as usual I didn’t get a chance to write about most of it. Someday I’ll be independently wealthy and can afford to lie about all day sipping margaritas and blogging. Until then I’ll be posting RSS Roundups of the most important stories of the day before. This way you all get to see what I think is important and I don’t feel bad for missing things. It’s really a win win don’t you think?

McCain still hates farmers. Nothing to say here really. Maybe if they were rich businessmen with hot lobbyists they could get something out of the old man.

Post-War Veteran Suicides May Exceed War Casualties: Because of a lack of mental health care for returning war veterans it is very likely that psychiatric illness may claim more lives than combat. Remember last month when the VA was caught concealing suicide numbers, how likely do you think it is that this administration is going to be honest about this epidemic?

New Jersey has approved paid family leave for same sex couples as well as married couples. This is a big step forward. Now to get the rest of the states to accept that in America everyone is equal.

Eleanor Badger over at RH Reality Check has a good writeup of a practice that the anti-choicers are using to shut down abortion providers known as TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers).

230 top economists have signed a letter condemning Clinton’s idea to offset the cost by adding a windfall tax to the oil companies. Oddly little attention has been paid to McCain’s even worse gas tax plan. See Obama’s response here.

In ultra conservative Florida a substitute teacher lost his job after being accused of wizardry. yeah, wizardry. This boggles my mind and I live in Kansas so I have developed a pretty high tolerance for this fundamentalist crap.

Pat Tillmans mother was on 60 minutes reminding America of the deception that surrounded her sons death. Watch it at Think Progress.

Women in Malaysia may need a letter giving them permission to leave the country. This move to control women is being sold as a measure to protect them from being tricked into carrying drugs. You know, because women are too dumb to take care of themselves apparently.

Apparently in a move to increase the number of abortions anti-choicers are planning to protest against contraception. You know, that stuff that prevents unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions. If you want to see the kind of woman who could promote such craziness here is Pam Stenzel. Pam wants to teach your kids that birth control can kill them and that abortions make girls anorexic, depressed and suicidal. (h/t Feministing)

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And finally I wanted to point out this post by Melissa McEwen at Shakesville. Its about a young girl who had the courage to fight back against her assaulter and the horrible consequences that followed. This story deserves a post of its own but I don’t have the time. Besides I doubt I could do it justice after Melissa’s post. This is my response to anyone who has ever wondered why women don’t fight back.

That is pretty much my roundup of the news from yesterday. If you have any comments please feel free to post them. Also if I missed anything please post that as well.

William ~ WWJV4