therelevantrhino

I’ve been blogging here for about a month. I like to think that I make you think. At least, those of you that do think. The last thing I want to do is be another parrot, spouting talking points and agreeing with myself. I was asked today why I support Barack Obama. Bear in mind that this is my opinion, and you are certainly entitled to yours. My reasons are very personal, and may not relate to your situation. If any of you would like broader examples, feel free to ask for some, and I’ll be glad to share those as well.

I’m voting for Barack Obama because his message resonates with me. This is 2008, and we need a President who is capable of dealing with modern day problems. I feel very strongly about the direction this country has gone in eight short years, and would like to elect someone who feels like we’re on the wrong track, and need to take massive leaps to gain our global credibility back. I believe in evolution(in all senses, but most importantly in the social sense). I believe in progress. And I believe that is a shared ideal with Barack Obama.

I’m voting for Barack Obama because I oppose the war in Iraq. Surge be damned, we’re there for the wrong reasons. I agree with General Petraus when he says that victory is impossible in an occupation. Were it not for the Anbar Awakening, excessive bribery, and brilliantly executed covert operations by US Special Forces, the surge would have failed, and more of our soldiers would have lost their lives. I agree with Barack Obama when he says that Afghanistan is the central front in the war on terror, and that action should be taken in that theater, be it in Waziristan, Afghanistan, or Pakistan. Support the troops is more than a bumper sticker.

I’m voting for Barack Obama because I’m a parent. I want what every parent wants for their child: a better life than the one I had. And I had a pretty damn fine life. I was able to go to college due to scholarships and loans, which I am still paying for today. Barack Obama has a plan to make college more affordable to all families. You can read the bullet points here . Without proper education, and a chance for anyone to go to an institution of higher learning, we will not be able to compete in the global market.

I’m voting for Barack Obama because I believe in Women’s Rights. I believe that women should receive equal pay for equal work. I believe that women should be given reproductive rights. While I feel that it should ultimately be a state by state issue, I would rather it be Federally protected than not. I believe that if assaulted, women should be given every consideration for their privacy, and every opportunity to prosecute their assailants. This is a fundamental disagreement I have with John McCain, who has voted against equal pay, and advocated making abortion a Federal crime.

I’m voting for Barack Obama because I want to pay less in taxes. For the intellectually impaired, here’s a simple chart of the Obama tax plan.

I’m voting for Barack Obama because I’m self-employed. Under John McCain’s healthcare plan , families would get a $5,000 tax credit, individuals would get a $2,500 tax credit, and employer based health care would be eliminated. Why am I against McCain’s plan if I’m self-employed, you ask? Because health care would be placed on the open market. The average cost of a health care plan is around $12,000 a year, leaving $7,000 by McCain’s standards for those with care. If you don’t have healtcare, you’re screwed. Barack Obama’s healthcare plan can be found here.

In short, I’m voting for Barack Obama because he is the best candidate for me. I have serious issues with John McCain, his policies, and his judgment. I will post a blog specifically about those, and his blatant, glaring hypocrisy at a later date.

Cheers

Dear supporters of the GOP,

Why do you hate America? Your President, you know, the one you all voted for twice, has asked for your help, and you have refused. You have turned your back on your party, on your President, and on your country. If we don’t fix this problem, the terrorists win. Are you, like John McCain, now on the side of the terrorists, preferring instead to call them (chiefly Osama bin Laden) Freedom Fighters? Is that why McCain is so afraid to talk about Pakistan ? We all know that’s where the terrorists are, but McCain doesn’t want to go there. Obviously, you support your candidate. By proxy, you obviously support his decision to let Islamo-Fascists run wild here and abroad. Have you heard about any terrorists being caught recently? No? It’s because John McCain loves terrorists. Why else would they be able to bomb the American Embassy in Yemen? Or attack the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad? Or the recent surge of violence in Iraq? And India? Again, sirs/madams: Why do you hate America?

Or, why does John McCain hate America? He chose as his running mate someone so wholly unqualified, so unilaterally ignorant of the outside world that at 43 she got her first passport. Who has to be babysat and kept hidden from mean, nasty reporters and voters lest they (gasp) ask her a question! Even the pundits and pols  in the tank for you are clearly displeased with Mooseolini:

“If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.”-Kathleen Parker, in the National Review

“She doesn’t have any foreign policy credentials,”"I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, ‘I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,’” he said. “That kind of thing is insulting to the American people.”- Senator Chuck Hagel ,(R), Nebraska

George Will, Newt Gingrich, David Brooks, Charles Krauthammer, Peggy Noonan, Mike Murphy, Phil Klein, Walt Shapiro, just to name a few have all gone on record as questioning McCain’s judgment regarding Caribou Barbie, and rightfully so.

McCain is a contortionist when it comes to the issues. Or, he’s produced more flip-flops than a Taiwanese sandal factory. Torture, immigration, energy, deregulation, Afghanistan, the ECONOMY! My God, every hour there’s a new press release from the McCain camp on his newest stance. By the by, if your surrogates are on TV all morning, your ads are up and running, you can still donate, and you give stump speeches while spending two thirds of the day in front of cameras, you didn’t suspend your campaign. The latest accusation is that “Senator Obama phoned it in. That’s not how you lead.”

John McCain is staying in Washington this weekend to keep working on the bailout legislation. He will not be visiting Capital Hill, however, preferring to work out of his campaign office.

“He can effectively do what he needs to do by phone,” said senior adviser Mark Salter

Oops. So, McCain was phoning it in, while accusing his opponent of doing the same thing, eh? Wow. Hypocrisy really does smell like flop sweat.

So again, I ask my conservative friends, why do you hate America? You put in front of this country a candidate who lies so often, he can’t keep track of his own lies, so he lies about his lies. His running mate contradicts his position every time she opens her mouth, when she’s not busy repeating lies. They don’t have the interest of the nation at heart, they only have their own legacy and power grabs. They’ll stoop to new lows everyday, knowing full well that they’re looking the country in the face and lying to them, as they say “look! Look what Senator Obama did! Sure, we were doing the exact same thing, but don’t pay attention to that! Blame everyone but us!”

Why do you hate America?

Yeah! Victorie vox populi! Two thirds of the GOP voted ‘Nay’, and this is Nancy Pelosi’s fault. Or, John McCain couldn’t wrangle the votes like he promised, and this is Nancy Pelosi’s fault.  Either way, Eric Cantor makes my skin crawl, and Barney Frank is the Don Rickles of the House.

Today offered a unique chance for a few things to happen. Here’s the superficial reason:

133 Republicans and 94 Democrats are more concerned about their cushy seats and perks in Washington than they are about doing what may not be right, but what is necessary.  Conversely, 142 Democrats and 65 Republicans don’t give a damn about you, which is why they sacrificed their cushy seats and perks in Washington to do what is necessary.

The not so superficial view is that now, since I doubt they’ll be able to wrangle the votes to pass this again on Thursday(BIIIIG shout out to Rep. John Boehner for blaming the Jews as the reason they can’t meet for a few days), is that we now have two clear options as to what can happen with this bill.

1) The ideologically splintered GOP can meet somewhere in the middle, come up with a version of the bill that they can grudginly agree on within their own party, present that bill to the Democrats, and they can then find a middle ground from that point and move forward. Anyone want to hold their breath?

2) The Democratic majority in the House of Representatives sits down with Senator Bernie Sanders and looks at his proposal. This proposal advocates a soft nationalism of industries worth more than $2 billion dollars, takes buying bad debt off the table, eliminates golden parachutes for executives of failed companies, and imposes a 10% surtax over a five year period on families making over a million dollars a year, which would generate some $300 billion in that time. The Democratic majority passes a bill they agree on, and it moves to the senate via strongarm.

Discuss.

But I just get sick of the propaganda and endless campaign of lies, and as Al Franken put it, the lying liars that tell them. Now, I hate to single anyone out, so I’ll just make this general. There’s a story circulating around the blogosphere about the bracelet stories from the debate the other night. If I have to explain this, I’ve already lost you. I’m not going to say much about the story other than it’s an outright pile of steaming, festering, maggot-laden shit, and anyone who reports it as fact has sunk to a level of indecency I didn’t imagine was possible.

The original story can be found here, but as the site seems to be strictly a Probama one, I looked around a bit more and found this story , from the newspaper The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. I know I shouldn’t let this crap bother me- that it’s just a distraction technique by a paranoid base who feels the election slipping away from thier grasp, and that I should probably feel sorry for anyone so easily taken in by this shameless, twisted lie. But this is the mother of a dead soldier we’re talking about. And I refuse to stand idly by and let some fear and panic crazed zealots marginalize the life of a patriot, his family, and their wishes.

Ya know, it’s really about time someone came out and said just who is responsible for this mess on Wall Street. We rarely find folks on TV who are willing to lay it all out and put the blame where it lies. Sure, Pat Buchanan tries from time to time, but he usually ends up choking on his own spittle and sounding like almost as big a wingnut as Caribou Barbie. But the other night, Bill Maher took the deck out, and drew the race card.

This will probably fly over the heads of some people who don’t believe that science has any place in our society, but I’m not here for you. I’m here for intelligent people that enjoy a decent conversation about serious topics. Last night, some 65 million homes were tuned into the first of (presumably) three Presidential debates. Regardless of how this is spun on either side, one thing people do pay attention to is body language. One of the most honorable things one can do is look someone in the eye. It’s a sign of confidence, cognizance, and capability. Indeed, it is also a sign of respect, and more importantly, a sign that you are not afraid of the person in front of you.

So, on to the monkey science. Primatologists, a fancy word for people that study monkey behavior for those of you who went to religious schools, have marked several similarities between human behavior and primate behavior. Given what we saw last night, we can make some conclusive observations regarding the body language of the two candidates.

Posture: Barack Obama stood up straight, which shows confidence. John McCain was hunched over his podium, frequently gripping the sides, which shows intimidation.

Eye contact/movement: this is one primatologist’s opinion on the debate last night:

“McCain was afraid of Obama. It was really clear–look at how much McCain blinked in the first half hour. I study monkey behavior–low ranking monkeys don’t look at high ranking monkeys. In a physical, instinctive sense, Obama owned McCain tonight and I think the instant polling reflects that.
So McCain may have given away his status as a low-ranking monkey. I’d never even considered monkey rank.”

If we think of this in terms of a socio-psychological perspective, lack of eye contact shows either contempt(which translates to fear), or a failure to recognize the legitimacy of the other person. To do so reveals an arrogance so profound, a conciet so far removed from reality, that we must immeaditely question the judgment and character of the man giving those signs.

“As a psychotherapist and someone who treats people with anger management problems, we typically try to educate people that anger is often an emotion that masks other emotions. I think it’s significant that McCain didn’t make much, if any, eye contact because it suggests one of two things to me; he doesn’t want to make eye contact because he is prone to losing control of his emotions if he deals directly with the other person, or, his anger masks fear and the eye contact may increase or substantiate the fear.”

And, of course, it wouldn’t one of my posts if I didn’t throw in a jab or two of my own. So, I watched the same debate as everyone else, and here’s what I saw. I saw a bitter, angry, callous man hunched troll-like over a podium (memories of Cheney came to mind) who was so afraid of losing his shit, he refused to acknowlege his opponent. His behavior was trite, cowardly, offensive, and rude, and he reminded me simultaneously of a school-yard bully and a crotchety old man.  He didn’t look like a president, he looked like George Bush.  Conpicuously missing from post-debate spin was Vice Presidential nominee Caribou Barbie, who was explicitly told by the campaign to refuse questions and make no statements.  Conversely, Joe Biden was on every major network with the exception of ABC,  who refused to give him face time in lieu of fairness to Mooseolini’s absence.

But when you trotted out Caribou Barbie and told us simply to fall in love with her narrative and accept your word as gospel, you made a grave mistake. We’ve seen this movie before, and the ending sucked. Hell, everything about the movie sucked. This is shaping up to be the worst sequel since Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, with Princess Palin as Keanu Reeves (no offense to Keanu Reeves).

Before I get going, let me just say that when the National Review calls you on your shit, well, your shit stinks.  Kathleen Parker was on a tear of her own this morning, rightfully so, and about feckin’ time. In case my right wing friends were too busy over at RedState or FAUX News to catch Ms. Parker’s article, I have graciously posted the link above, and will highlight some of the happier moments.

“No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there. Here’s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity: “Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.”

Some of you probably watched what’s her name slaughter the English language in front of Katie Couric last night, and others have had the opportunity to see the clips on Youtube or at my brother-in-arms’ page, The Godless, Baby-Killing Sodomite, so I won’t post them here. However, in case some of you missed this:

Couric: You met yesterday with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who is for direct diplomacy with both Iran and Syria. Do you believe the U.S. should negotiate with leaders like President Assad and Ahmadinejad?

Palin: I think, with Ahmadinejad, personally, he is not one to negotiate with. You can’t just sit down with him with no preconditions being met. Barack Obama is so off-base in his proclamation that he would meet with some of these leaders around our world who would seek to destroy America and that, and without preconditions being met. That’s beyond naïve. And it’s beyond bad judgment.

Couric: Are you saying Henry Kissinger …

Palin: It’s dangerous.

Couric: … is naïve for supporting that?

Palin: I’ve never heard Henry Kissinger say, “Yeah, I’ll meet with these leaders without preconditions being met.”

So, she just called Henry fucking Kissinger naïve.  Only there’s a problem with her words. Much like everything that’s been launched out of her mouth via her ill-informed Bushbrain, it was complete bullshit. That was Kissinger ’s position, as well as Colin Powell’s and James Baker’s.

Politicians lie. We know that. But when they’re presented as a “political outsider”, and “average hockey mom” with “small town values” who will “shake up Washington”, then we find out that she’s even more full of shit and demagoguery than Bush or Cheney, with the average intelligence of your garden-variety lawn gnome (not the smart one from Travelocity), well, you have to question the judgment of G.I. John.

Did he know, well, anything? And would it have mattered? Clearly, he cares more about stealing the narrative and news cycle by making the kind of decisions that would get anyone else fired. He, and his running mate, have done more to ruin the electoral process in 30 days than Bush/Rove did in eight years.

That happened, right? Because McCain said he wouldn’t show up if the bill hadn’t been finished. Then he said he wouldn’t show up unless there was an agreement. Then he said he’d only show up if there was progress. Then he said he’d show up only if the debate was held tonight in Oxford, Mississippi and Jim Lehrer was the moderator.

Victory! Way to go, Johnny! You showed ‘em all!

It’s 11:30 in the buckle of the Bible Belt, and the Senate just announced that they will continue working on an agreement, which, as of now, they have yet to reach. All reports, barring FAUX News, have called McDramas presence a distraction. He wasn’t able to parachute into Washington and save the day. He’s had to go back on his word so many times, I’m wondering if he was actually made in a workshop by Jeppeto.

**Palin rant coming soon, I just wanted to get this out

Wow. What a day. What a week. You’d think that the “Evildoers” were at the gates. Guess what, kids…they are, and they’re wearing loafers. In the time it would take for G.I. John to gas up his 13 cars, America has responded to this bailout with a resounding “Fuck Straight Off!” to Wall Street and President Corky. Two points if you got the “Life Goes On” reference. If you didn’t (I’m looking at you Ms. Conservative Politics Today), I just called our President a Down’s baby. Not that I have anything against Down Syndrome kids, my little cousin Adam is one and I love him dearly, but he’s not running the country (although he is opposed to the bailout).

Rhino’s Continued Rules of the Road:

6. If a decision is so important it will effect everyone, everywhere, for an undetermined amount of time, stop and fucking think about it. This administration has set a precedent for rushing legislation that has bitten more asses than Marv Albert, and I’m tired of it. We don’t need a decision by the end of business today. If G.I. John can’t handle walking and chewing gum at the same time, he needs to drop out of the race, not make a pathetic spectacle out of himself for political reasons. “Campaign First” has got to go.

7. Don’t Fuck with the New York Times: This is simple, people. The Times has been poking a hole in the McChickenshit campaign in regards to Rick Davis, campaign manager. If you challenge the Times, and dare them to go on a fact-finding mission, they will. And you will hate them for it, becasue your campaign is corrupt to the point that the Alaska State Legislature is bringing it up on Witness Tampering charges.

8. If you’re as pissed about this bailout as I am, go do something about it. I know, I know, it’s easier to sit in front of a computer and copy the talking points from FOX News and the Weekly Standard and pass it off as your own opinion (CPT), but some of us aren’t satisfied with that. Which is why myself and my lil’ Rhino are going to attend a protest of the Wall St. bailout in about an hour. I’ll be using this as an opportunity to do a photojournal of the protest and give a clear impression of just who is willing to say something about this, not just sit back and blame Barack Obama.

9. Quit blaming Barack Obama. Ya spent months screaming to anyone who would listen that he hadn’t spent any time in Washington, and was too new and unexperienced to do anything but help poor, laid off steel workers in Chicago, and that he even managed to fuck that up. Suddenly, this whole financial meltdown belongs to him. If we were claiming this about your guy, you’d laugh us out of the blogosphere. And rightfully so.

10. Listen to Todd Snider. Seriously, the guy rocks.

Let the Market fail. I sincerely mean that, let it zero out. Or at least close it until Jan. 29th. That way, either the competent economic genius that Barack Obama picks or Phil Gramm will be Treasury Secy., not King Henry. After September 11th, we closed the Market for a week or so, and last time I checked, we’re all still here. Why can’t we hold off for a while? Why do we have to pay the crooks that robbed us?

Rhino’s Rules of the Road:

1. Whatever President Bush says, do the fuckin’ opposite.  Ths moron doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to anything outside of making a bigger mess out of bad situations.

2. Don’t be afraid; be angry. A citizenry that fears it’s government is living under a totalitarian regime. A government that fears it’s citizens is a government that works for it’s citizens.

3. Whenever John McCain says something,  don’t believe it. This lying sack of shit has had more position changes than the Kama Sutra in the last ten days. Even my dad, a lifelong Republican and former McCain supporter(til yesterday) realizes that his stunt was, “the cheapest political move in modern history” (his words, folks). This doesn’t mean that my pops is voting Obama, but he’s not voting McCain anymore. I think he’s going to write in Bob Barr.

4. You don’t call time out 40 days away from an election. If you’re completely incapable of doing more than one thing at a time, you are unfit to lead this country. When you bulid your campaign around the myth that you’re a Washington outsider, then drop everything becasue you and you alone can fix a financial crisis 30 years in the making, it makes people (rightfully) question your authenticy.

5. When you piss off David Letterman, you’ve lost the swing vote. Anyone else see Dave last night?