Tag Archives: Jon Stewart

Real geniuses…

Well…don’t the geniuses running the repub party understand that screwing with sick veterans is not a winning issue for them? I guess they thought they could get away with not funding their healthcare like they’ve gotten away with screwing the country over for decades, but something has changed and I think it’s Jon Stewart. Jon has been out there lambasting them on every news show that there is since they voted against the bill last week…and he was pulling no punches just like he did when he fought for healthcare for the first responders in NYC who put their lives on the line on 9/11….and this time all of lies that the repubs were spouting about 400 billion dollars of pork in the bill didn’t work and now they are backpedaling so fast that their shoes are smoking….and Chuck Schumer has promised that the bill will come up for a vote again this week, putting the repubs on the record…again, if they vote against it…the difference this time is that the media has a spotlight on the bill and if they do vote against it, they are going to have to explain those votes…and jsut a few minutes ago, turtle mcconnell has said the bill is going to pass this week the pressure has been so high on him and his fellow traitors…so, thank you Jon for all your had work to take care of our sick veterans…pretty damn good for a “minor celebrity” to quote Pat Toomey….

Those 16 dollar muffins…

Well…while I’m waiting for it to get a little warmer before I go out on the bike, I thought I’d comment on the $16 dollar muffins that the right is so hot about…if you haven’t heard, there was a conference a while back for some judges and other people that was paid for by the federal government whose billing appeared to contain muffins that cost $16 dollars apiece….and the right has taken this up as being a huge example of the wasteful spending that is rampant in Washington., But, it doesn’t matter to the right that it isn’t true…it is a quirk in how the billing was presented by the hotel where the conference was held. The reality is that the $16 dollars was for the entire days food for each of the attendees….and if you’ve ever been to any big city like DC, a cup of coffee goes for 5 bucks and a continental breakfast like the one that cost the taxpayers $16 at the conference can cost upwards of twenty bucks. But, does that matter to the right? Nope….this lie has been chosen to support the draconian cuts that the repubs are pushing and you even had the liar Bill O’Reilly on Jon Stewart’s show this week going on and on about it and I was surprised that Jon didn’t do his homework and cut ole Bill off at the knees….but I guess that falls to me today and I’m happy to do it to that blowhard….geez…..

Okay…going to throw out a second lyric for the day: “I can see you on the hill….comatose but walking still…”

What’s next Jon?

Well…after the rally to restore sanity on the Washington mall a few weeks ago, one of the questions that keep recurring to me is what’s next? How do we take the idea of reasonableness and apply it to the problems we face in the US? Especially when all of the successful politicians over the past few years (mostly on the right) have espoused the winner take all philosophy that Boehner and McConnell have refined to an art form. I understand that there are real policy differences between the right and left, but I think we’ve lost sight of the fact that this hyper-partisanship is gradually painting us into a corner where the compromises necessary to make democracy work are no longer thinkable. Is this patriotism? How did we lose the vision of America as the place where things are possible? Reasonable politicians are roadkill for the well oiled machine of the right…and the rights only definition of compromise is that they hold out until they get everything they want even though they are hurting the country when they do so.

Again, I fault the American people for allowing this to happen…..to listen to the lies and accept them as truth…to buy into the “death panels” and the 200 million dollar a day cost of Obama’s trip to southeast Asia…one that was pushed by Michelle Bachmann as the absolute truth when the entire story was debunked by Anderson Cooper of CNN. I think the window for preserving what is great with America is quickly closing and the heavy hand of the moneyed interests are leaning on it to close it faster. We need to couch this fight in the idea of patriotism; that continuing to think in the short-sighted way our politicians do is not what is best for our country….but to expect this to change may just be wishful thinking…hope not…

Let’s start thinking about the next steps that come from the idea of reasonableness in government…and what we reasonables see as the path forward…I welcome any comments to try to build a new consensus…and aren’t there things that we can agree on already? For example…a balanced budget is a good thing when we are not digging out of a recession? That government intrusion into our lives should be the smallest it can be and still have a functioning society? That from those that much is given, much is expected? That there is a prohibition of the establishment of religion contained in the first amendment? What are some others that you think about?

Now Jon Stewart is stealing my stuff…

Well…if you’ve read any of these of the past few months..you’ve seen that I have proposed a new political party that is based on reasonableness; that I feel that one of the problems in our political life is the lack of reason and civil discourse in what passes for political discussion. If you’ve seen “The Daily Show” over the past week or so, Jon Stewart has taken up the banner of reasonableness going so far as to schedule a rally on the national mall for the 30th of October to bring together the reasonable people that are left in this country…however few they are. Now, I don’t mind that there are others that feel the need to restore reasonableness to America, but dammit..I want credit for my ideas!

I wonder if I should sue? Not really…I just find it funny that I have been ahead of the curve twice now and having my ideas stolen by famous people is kind of flattering. But I’m putting you guys on notice, that means you, Olbermann, that I’m not doing this for free….oh, I guess I am…damn…

Thank you Jon Stewart….

This is just a placeholder so I’ll remember that I want to touch on the disappointment I have with Obama when it comes to his promises to restore the rule of law…broken promises…he is quickly losing me and many other supporters with unprincipled continuation of the Bushies worst abuses….and I’m going to have drinks this aft so I need help remembering….told you I have flaws…