Saturday, October 25, 2008

Right wing wackiness

So we all know that 2012 is going to be the end of the world. This is based on some weird mathematics using the Mayan calendar, which predicts that the intersection of the long year and the short year will occur in 2012, and therefore that will end the world. Sure, and 2000 was the end of the world before, we certainly love to discuss the apocalypse*.

We love it so much in fact, that there have been numerous movies about it, plus some horribly written books, and even a non-religious award winning essay on what's going to happen leading up to that fateful year. It's amazing to me how easily a number can infatuate us.

Now the Christians, those who believe in "suffer not a witch to live," are buying into the Mayan calendar (hurray for hypocrisy), and tying it to the ascension of the anti-Christ. Oh wait, sorry, I mean Barack Obama. Some of these associations are subtle, while some are a bit more direct. Read this blog for a pretty coherent collection of incoherent things being said about Obama. (It took me a few minutes to realize that it was actually non-partisan, there's so much creepy stuff posted to it about Obama) The most recent incarnation of this fear can be seen in the new "Letter from a Christian in 2012" (opens a pdf file) detailing the collapse of the country just four years after Obama's election - doing all the things which the anti-Christ is going to do.

Now, as post-apocalyptic literature goes, this letter ranks somewhere below The Turner Diaries, that classic of postmodern fiction (sarcasm). The two works do share a certain worldview however, the irony of which is lost, I'm sure, on the people who would pay attention to either one. The attempts of any of these works, Turner Diaries, military coups, or stacking the Supreme Court, to create a destruction of American civilization in a few short years is really ludicrous. Now, I don't believe that it can't happen, and I look around me at the venom and hate spewed by both sides, especially when one side invents hate-spewing and self-mutilates in an attempt to blame it on the other side, and I see it happening slowly, but at least Heinlein had the sense to set his civilization's collapse in the far future.


* Apocalypse actually means revelation. Hooray for the stoopids who have managed to convert the meaning.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Spurious Talk Radio Arguments

So, conservative nut #23 was on the radio today ranting about ACORN, which is "under investigation in THIRTEEN states" regarding possible voter fraud. Okay sure. However, let us not forget that investigation is not the same as indictment, especially under our current administration's political games.

So then, conservative nut #23 plays a tape of a college student in Ohio being interviewed about being approached by ACORN representatives to register.

So, she tells the interviewer, "yeah sure, I'll fill out more than one ballot" because "it's hard work getting people to sign petitions, I feel bad for them." Conservative nut #23 explodes at this, because this girl is apparently contradicting everything democracy and the United States stands for by filling out a form more than once. Then, and this is the clincher, he goes on his rant about voter fraud. Now - I want to point out, at no point did this woman say she had registered under different names or addresses, and even stated at one point that she had not been asked to do so by the ACORN representatives. But he keeps going on, equating the multiple signatures on the ACORN forms to planned voter fraud. And this is how they get you, not by comparing apples to oranges, because everyone (hopefully, these are talk show listeners) will catch that, but by comparing oranges and tangerines.

As reported by Slate, ACORN, although it has had its share of problems, has never been found to have anything near the amount of illegal activities that the conservative nuts (#'s 1 through 105) want you to think. They'll throw words like suspected, investigation, and allegations at you, but I've never heard a single one actually mention a specific incident.

For instance, check out this article. According to it, "She is among the more than 4,000 people whose names are listed both on Harris County’s voter rolls and also in a federal database of death records, a Texas Watchdog analysis has found." Okay, voter fraud bad. Then they follow a little later with this little treasure: "The findings come as the group ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has faced scrutiny in multiple states for allegedly improper voter registrations," and complete the picture for the reader with "That’s as officials in at least six states may have improperly removed tens of thousands of voters from the rolls or prevented them from registering, the New York Times reported Wednesday." So, it would seem that ACORN was involved in Harris County, Nevada, and Six Other States! Except they weren't. The only actual fact about ACORN in the article is that their offices were raided in Las Vegas. Everything else is just conflation. Liberal biased media my ass.

Sometimes my country scares me.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Fashion Update

Okay, so for the college student:

the eighties are back. Headbands are go, as are ripped jeans and tights. Floofy shirts seem to be making a comeback, although based on my observations it still seems to the drama set which migrates there. Hair is slowly becoming feathered, I predict that by the end of the school year, we will see the Margaret Cho making an appearance.

Hand holding is right out, by the way. During four days on campus I saw one couple holding hands while walking around. I'm not certain of the significance of this at the moment, but I'll think about it and come up with a theory.

For the men, popped collars are still a must, although I have no clue why.

For the adults:

Baby dolls are back in in a big way. Black is, as always, in fashion, but we seem to be moving to a shinier fabric, fake leather appears to be quite popular. The word for heels seems to be the taller the better, podiatrists rejoice, with the oncoming recession it would seem that your skills will still be needed.

Adult males seem to have outgrown the popped collar, although I have seen some men who are old enough to know better still doing it. I assume they never stopped doing it, they are just happy to look young again, despite the belly and the receding hairline.

For the military:

EBO is out. This worries me, as much of my job is based on it, but hopefully we can move to more direct advisories, which will keep my job potential safe for the foreseeable future. I can't really get a feel on what the new thing will be, although I'm getting a Gentile sense (as in Gian Gentile, not my lack of foreskin) that "kill em all" might be back in vogue.

More later.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

WTF!?!?!?!?!?!

So, I'm having a conversation with a friend of mine tonight. And he talks about Tim Kaine's restoring 1500-some felons' right to vote in Virginia. I hadn't heard about it, so I look it up Hopefully, the Google results will be the same for you as they were or me. Because for me, the top five results were one blog, one Post article, and one Times article. Not bad. However, note that that is only three of five. The other two including the first hit are blatant Aryan Nation websites. And by blatant, I mean BLATANT, complete with burning cross and Nazi flag avatars...

I don't know what to make of this. All I know is that it freaks me out.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Disingenuous Post of the Week

From an article about Obama and McCain possibly not having enough votes for either one to become President:

"Each state, along with the District of Columbia, is allotted a number of votes in the Electoral College that correspond to the number of representatives it has in Congress."

Although technically correct, DC is indeed allotted a number of votes equal to its representatives in Congress, that representation is in fact ZERO. It is only a Constitutional Amendment which allows them to vote for President, independent of their actual representation in Congress.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

WOO-HOO!!!

All chapters written.

Well, drafted anyway. I have another few months of edits to go, but it's all downhill from here.