Category: Livejournal

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Democrats (incorrectly) attack GOP incumbents for voting against funding troops.

(from FactCheck.org)

Summary

Well over a dozen Democratic ads claim incumbent GOP lawmakers voted against benefits and funding for the nation’s military.The Republicans are accused variously of opposing a $1,500 bonus, expanded health care, trauma care, and job assistance for troops. Some of the ads are false. The rest are true, but don’t tell the whole story.

The ads stop short of telling voters that National Guard and Reservists already get the same healthcare coverage as active-duty troops while they are on active duty and for a considerable time before and afterward. They also fail to mention that the maximum death benefit for troops had already been doubled the previous year, that the increase proposed in trauma care would have been only a small boost to an already significant funding amount, and that job assistance for troops already exists.

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Status Report

I am still sick.

My immune system has always been pretty buff. The 24-hour variety of flu usually lasts less than that, but as I get older, I discover that my immune system is getting older with me. The standard length of time I should be sick is one week. I’m hoping for 4 days, but suspect I’ll have this little bug until the end of the week.

I had a busy schedule planned. I made almost none of my scheduled stops. I missed Annie’s reception, Jess’s Requiem LARP, Cowboy Ron’s March of History. I got no writing done. Just me, in the bed, wrapped up like a viral burrito, trying to stay as warm as possible, watching all my worn-out DVDs.

I’ll be headed back to the bedroom in a moment, but I needed to check WD orders (which have picked up for some reason) and do a few things around the complex. Still sick, coughing up the gunk in my lungs, but someone has to empty the trash and sweep out the elevator.

And when I return to bed, I’ll have a limited choice of movies to watch. I’ve seen them all before, a hundred times each. Maybe I’ll splurge and head down to Best Buy to pick up something I can watch over and over and over again for the first time…

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Fair and Balanced

Here is Fox News anchor John Gibson talking to two members of our government. The first is a Democrat and the second is a Republican. Watch both, compare them. Compare how many times Gibson interrupts and attacks the Democrat and then watch how many softball questions he tosses to the Republican.

Compare the questions. Compre the tone. Compare the interruptions.

And when you are done, tell me that Fox “NEWS” is Fair and Balanced.

Democrat:

Republican:

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You  know that flu thing that’s going around?

Well, it finally got around to me.

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Two Days Ago…

Two days ago, it was illegal for our government to arrest you without a warrant.
Two days ago, it was illegal for our government to beat you “within serious physical and mental injury.”
Two days ago, it was illegal for our government to use testamony gained from those beatings against you in a court of law.
Two days ago, you had the right to an attorney to speak for you in court.

Two days ago.

Today, the government can arrest you without a warrant.
Today, the government can torture you “within serious physical and mental injury.”
Today, the government can use whatever you say from those torture sessions against you in a “military tribunal” with no jury and no attorney.

Welcome to the new America.

PS: Mr. Bush, please consider me an enemy combatant as defined by your own Patriot Act. Because now, civil disobedience, according to the Patriot Act and your own Attorney General, can be classified as “terrorism.”

In other words, voting against the ruling party–the Republicans–can be interpreted as “terrorism.”

I will indeed not be voting Republican this time around, Mr. President. You know where I am. Come and get me.

___

Another post script. A friend of mine sent this to me. I’m glad I’m not alone in my outrage.

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Both sides strain facts about California’s most expensive ballot measure in history.

Summary
(from Fact Check)

Former President Bill Clinton says California’s Proposition 87 will help “save the planet” and Al Gore says it’s the one thing the state can do to “free us from foreign oil.” One ad urging a “yes” vote says it will bring “cheaper fuels for our cars, trucks and SUVs.”

On the other side, a campaign financed mostly by oil companies says it would mean more foreign oil, higher gasoline prices, and fewer tax dollars going to pay for firemen and other public safety officials.

Both sides are overselling. Stripping out the hype and hooey, we find the measure would impose an additional $4 billion in taxes on the state’s oil producers over an uncertain number of years, with uncertain results. The measure would set aside the money for research and development of alternative energy and for consumer subsidies. The results, however, can’t be guaranteed, or even foreseen with any certainty.

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Tom Waits Mix Tape

Australian JJJ radio has compiled a Tom Waits Mix Tape broadcast with several well-known songs and two live recordings: Tom Traubert’s Blues from the 1979 State Theatre show in Sydney and The Hokey Pokey. (FUCK YEAH!)

And trust me, you’ve never heard the hokey pokey until you’ve heard Tom Waits do the hokey pokey. 😉


Oh, how we danced with the Rose of Tralee!

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Democrats accuse Rep. Clay Shaw of profiting from his Medicare vote, but evidence is flimsy.

(from Fact Check)

Summary

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has launched an ad claiming Florida Republican Clay Shaw took part in a “drug deal” when he voted for the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, more commonly referred to as Medicare Part D. We find the DCCC’s evidence of this flimsy at best.

The ad claims that Shaw bought drug company stock before the legislation passed, sold it after, and put “profits in his own pocket.” That’s true, but the shares the ad refers to were in a company that could not have profited from the legislation. Its anti-cancer drugs were covered by Medicare even before the legislation was passed, and the company even told shareholders there was a risk that the legislation might hurt sales.

The DCCC might have had a better case if it had referred to the one other drug-company stock that Shaw owned, and which the ad doesn’t mention. That company’s sales may indeed have been helped by the legislation. Shaw’s paper profit on that stock, however, is no more than $4,268.15 and perhaps considerably less. Furthermore, Shaw’s Florida land holdings already make him one of the wealthiest members of the House.

We leave it to readers to examine the facts and judge for themselves whether Shaw’s vote to expand Medicare was part of a “drug deal” motivated by personal profit, as the DCCC ad implies.


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C’est La Vie

Growing up, I listened to a lot of music. I had my parents’ record collection, of course, filled with Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, and Buddy Holly. That’s the first music I remember listening to. Listening to each song, unaware of how instruments even worked, let alone song structure, lyric-writing, or anything else. But I listened.

I loved voices. Cash’s honesty was embedded in his gruff voice. The Big O and his operatic big weepers. And Buddy Holly’s southern twang.

As I grew older, I began finding my own music–much to the chagrin of my parents. And, again, voice was important. Geddy Lee’s voice is distinct and immediate. Ronnie James Dio had a voice that sounded like it came right out of a mythology book. And then there was this guy. This guy down below here.

All during high school, all I wanted was to sound like him. I practiced and practiced and practiced. It’s the voice I always wanted. Learning that I’d never have it, I eventually turned to playing drums, my frustration shoving me all the way to the back of the stage.

I sing once in a while. It’s not a great voice, but it’s a good one. I sound better when I warm up and when I practice. But I’ll never sound like this guy. Not ever.

Dammit.