If ever you meander around the web like I do, it has to have struck you by now. Who has time for all this crap? Seriously, think about it. The Internet today is polluted with tons of pure crap. Crap that someone has to take the time to think up and take the time and effort to publish. Then, someone, some woeful someone, has to come by and look at it. If no one looked at it, it wouldn't exist. If no one cared that someone's dog does naughty things to the mailman, or perhaps visa versa, then no one would bother putting this crap online. In the end, that is our legacy isn't it. Not the Internet, but what's on it just as the legacy of a chef isn't the meal they prepare but how good it tastes. Believe me, the Internet is a sour pill today, which leaves me with just one question: Who has time?
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Democracy and the "Party Vote"
On this occasion I would like to focus on the happenings of the Democratic Party at this point in the election cycle. Here, we have a conflict of interests. Yes of course, the Obama v. Clinton conflict is strong and well, though bad for the party and yet good as well, but I speak of another conflict, between old guard and next generation democracy. You may think automatically that I'm still talking about the candidates, and indirectly I am, but I'm really talking about the process by which we nominate candidates for the general election.
Our nomination process runs off the old model of democracy "with limits". Candidates must get some number of delegates (2024) and they win the nomination. What we must understand is that in the present format, party elections are not democratic at all. In fact, the only democratic part about the nomination process, the public vote, doesn't even have to be followed. In addition, so-called "super delegates" (in name alone implying a greater quality than regular delegates) don't have to vote for the person that the popular vote goes to in any quantity, majority/minority percentage or winner takes all. And, why do delegates exist at all? Why not have the popular vote count? Isn't that what promises an election in November, the most votes? Some will say that it alienates the smaller states, and while it doesn't do that (as they still vote), it does punch down the overly inflated airbag they call their vote, back into the democratic, one person one equal vote, mold.
This system is old guard, like the Electoral College, like Senators being voted in by committee (akin to the super delegates) and not by the people at all. These "protections" were put in place subvert democracy. The idea that the party's success is more important than the public's will is anti-democratic, regardless of whatever way it impacts the general election. The idea that the public can subvert popular democracy is not only false, but impossible. The public will IS the result of whatever popular democracy births. But, we live in a nation of protected democracy, where the old values of protectionist politics still remains, where the establishment chooses it's successor in a process akin to the elections the Russian Federation and not the democratic country that we claim to be. In this "great democracy" the people's votes are circumvented at every turn to make the process "easier" and "safer" when in fact, while such notions are debatable, the realization that regardless of that the process is still undemocratic remains paramount in the fight of the old guard, the conservatives by definition, to maintain a hold on the party and on power.
Those in power choose who is to replace them. They are built in their image. And Hillary Clinton is clearly the choice of the super delegates so far, of the old guard and the old way of democracy. Change comes in leaps and bounds my friends, and we cannot be afraid to take that leap of faith when the time is right. We have a chance to push a candidate through the system this election cycle, one who, if the system had any control over, it would have defeated them long ago.
This said, I give you my choice for President of the United States: Vote Barack Obama, 2008. Change should never be ridiculed for without it we would all be Republicans.
Our nomination process runs off the old model of democracy "with limits". Candidates must get some number of delegates (2024) and they win the nomination. What we must understand is that in the present format, party elections are not democratic at all. In fact, the only democratic part about the nomination process, the public vote, doesn't even have to be followed. In addition, so-called "super delegates" (in name alone implying a greater quality than regular delegates) don't have to vote for the person that the popular vote goes to in any quantity, majority/minority percentage or winner takes all. And, why do delegates exist at all? Why not have the popular vote count? Isn't that what promises an election in November, the most votes? Some will say that it alienates the smaller states, and while it doesn't do that (as they still vote), it does punch down the overly inflated airbag they call their vote, back into the democratic, one person one equal vote, mold.
This system is old guard, like the Electoral College, like Senators being voted in by committee (akin to the super delegates) and not by the people at all. These "protections" were put in place subvert democracy. The idea that the party's success is more important than the public's will is anti-democratic, regardless of whatever way it impacts the general election. The idea that the public can subvert popular democracy is not only false, but impossible. The public will IS the result of whatever popular democracy births. But, we live in a nation of protected democracy, where the old values of protectionist politics still remains, where the establishment chooses it's successor in a process akin to the elections the Russian Federation and not the democratic country that we claim to be. In this "great democracy" the people's votes are circumvented at every turn to make the process "easier" and "safer" when in fact, while such notions are debatable, the realization that regardless of that the process is still undemocratic remains paramount in the fight of the old guard, the conservatives by definition, to maintain a hold on the party and on power.
Those in power choose who is to replace them. They are built in their image. And Hillary Clinton is clearly the choice of the super delegates so far, of the old guard and the old way of democracy. Change comes in leaps and bounds my friends, and we cannot be afraid to take that leap of faith when the time is right. We have a chance to push a candidate through the system this election cycle, one who, if the system had any control over, it would have defeated them long ago.
This said, I give you my choice for President of the United States: Vote Barack Obama, 2008. Change should never be ridiculed for without it we would all be Republicans.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Rantings of a Mad Man Part XIX: The I'm Angry Edition
There are a bunch of things that I want to say, but it's gonna take a little while longer for me to organize exactly what that is. I know I haven't been paying much attention to this here lately, and that it's becoming more common that I don't, but a lot of shit has been going on in my life lately that has pushed it into a backseat, in my opinion justifiably so.
Other than that I've got a few points to make here and now...
I am who I am and you are who you are. I do not ask that anyone follows my path or my example, but that they leave me well enough alone to follow that path and make that example. I don't care if you believe that I'm evil or wrong or sinful or uncaring or petty or any of an infinite number of words to convey a finite number of feelings of dislike towards me. I don't care. So long as you don't interfere. So long as you don't try to prevent me from saying or doing something that I want to say or do. Then we'd have a problem.
I'm not a bad person. I'm a loving and caring person. But I know that the world is a harsh place. I know that most of what we value is worthless. I am both a pessimist and an optimist. I am a hard ass and a likable guy. I am what I am and I don't care if you don't like it. If you don't like it then leave. I've always said that. If you think that what I say or do is so over the top, so disrespectful, so evil or frightening, then leave me alone.
Better yet. Piss off. You're not worth my time. And get over yourself for fuck's sake! What makes you so special? Your morals? Your beliefs? You've got to be kidding me. You are better because your morals make you better because you have morals because your better because your morals make you better because your morals make you better... Its cyclical logic and it doesn't make sense. You're not better because you're better. Besides that's a really lame excuse for an excuse. Hey look at me, I'm better because I am! Yeah! Please, give me a break. You really suck at life don't you. Don't question anything, just blindly accept life and you'll magically get a better one AFTER YOU FUCKING DIE?!? OH PLEASE PISS OFF, YOU'RE OUT OF YOU FUCKING MIND! Here's a quaint idea... let's all leave each other the fuck alone and get on living our happy lives ignoring that each other exists. Believe me, the world would be a better place.
Other than that I've got a few points to make here and now...
I am who I am and you are who you are. I do not ask that anyone follows my path or my example, but that they leave me well enough alone to follow that path and make that example. I don't care if you believe that I'm evil or wrong or sinful or uncaring or petty or any of an infinite number of words to convey a finite number of feelings of dislike towards me. I don't care. So long as you don't interfere. So long as you don't try to prevent me from saying or doing something that I want to say or do. Then we'd have a problem.
I'm not a bad person. I'm a loving and caring person. But I know that the world is a harsh place. I know that most of what we value is worthless. I am both a pessimist and an optimist. I am a hard ass and a likable guy. I am what I am and I don't care if you don't like it. If you don't like it then leave. I've always said that. If you think that what I say or do is so over the top, so disrespectful, so evil or frightening, then leave me alone.
Better yet. Piss off. You're not worth my time. And get over yourself for fuck's sake! What makes you so special? Your morals? Your beliefs? You've got to be kidding me. You are better because your morals make you better because you have morals because your better because your morals make you better because your morals make you better... Its cyclical logic and it doesn't make sense. You're not better because you're better. Besides that's a really lame excuse for an excuse. Hey look at me, I'm better because I am! Yeah! Please, give me a break. You really suck at life don't you. Don't question anything, just blindly accept life and you'll magically get a better one AFTER YOU FUCKING DIE?!? OH PLEASE PISS OFF, YOU'RE OUT OF YOU FUCKING MIND! Here's a quaint idea... let's all leave each other the fuck alone and get on living our happy lives ignoring that each other exists. Believe me, the world would be a better place.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
The Balance of Power
There is no reason for hate. There is no reason for pain, or suffering, or evil, or greed. They are evolutionarily harmful. They do not benefit the species, that one percent of the population could have 98 percent of the power and wealth. This is not helpful. They use the rest of us as stepping stones, as rungs on the latter to immortality. Nothing more and nothing less. And what's worse is that we continue to let them do this. We continue to remain satisfied with the tablescraps we are fed, with the oozing cesspool they call water that trickles down from on high to satisfy our thirst just enough to keep us subservient, just enough to keep us complacent.
Who amongst this one percent goes without food? Who amongst them goes without shelter? Or healthcare? Or education? Or legal representation? Who amongst them does not get today all that the forefathers of this nation promised over 200 years ago?
And then there are the rest. 99 percent of the population is controlled by the whims and desires of the 1 percent holding power and wealth in this nation. They decide for us what we're going to wear, what we're going to see on television, what we're going to eat, and how much we're going to pay for services. They decide if we are going to get healthcare. They decide if we're going to get a decent education. They decide how we live.
In this, we have war. We have hunger. We have sickness. And we have pain. We don't what they get. We get only what they need to give us so that we will continue to keep them head and shoulders above us all. We are the drowning foundation of an empire allowed only periodic breaths of air because an hour in fresh air and freedom equates to a desire for more and that leads to not wanting to decend back beneath the murky waters to continue to hold them up for no true benefit of our own.
Why do pain and suffering exist? Why does greed exist? Does evolution seriously suggest survival not only of the fittest, but survival of the most self-centered? Some would look at the world and say yes, but I look at what we've become during these years of corporate control and Big Business lobbying, of Constitutional jurymandering and rendition, and I see a world in revolt. Like an immune system trying to purge the body of an infection, the puss swells around the Bush Administration and others who have so served themselves from public coffers and in time it will be rooted out entirely.
Nature tends towards homeostais, towards balance, and the scales have been tipped in one direction for a very long time. Not too far into the future, the balance will tip back again, and WE THE PEOPLE will mean something again, not as subserviant captives of a self-serving select few, but of the ideas of every human for each other and peace for all. See us not for our differences but for our sames as human beings and bring forth from our toils benefits for all of society, and not just tablescraps and trickling waters. I want a seat at the table. And I want the thirsts of humankind to be quenched. As the seesaw tilts back our way, justice will be had and evolution will thank us.
Who amongst this one percent goes without food? Who amongst them goes without shelter? Or healthcare? Or education? Or legal representation? Who amongst them does not get today all that the forefathers of this nation promised over 200 years ago?
And then there are the rest. 99 percent of the population is controlled by the whims and desires of the 1 percent holding power and wealth in this nation. They decide for us what we're going to wear, what we're going to see on television, what we're going to eat, and how much we're going to pay for services. They decide if we are going to get healthcare. They decide if we're going to get a decent education. They decide how we live.
In this, we have war. We have hunger. We have sickness. And we have pain. We don't what they get. We get only what they need to give us so that we will continue to keep them head and shoulders above us all. We are the drowning foundation of an empire allowed only periodic breaths of air because an hour in fresh air and freedom equates to a desire for more and that leads to not wanting to decend back beneath the murky waters to continue to hold them up for no true benefit of our own.
Why do pain and suffering exist? Why does greed exist? Does evolution seriously suggest survival not only of the fittest, but survival of the most self-centered? Some would look at the world and say yes, but I look at what we've become during these years of corporate control and Big Business lobbying, of Constitutional jurymandering and rendition, and I see a world in revolt. Like an immune system trying to purge the body of an infection, the puss swells around the Bush Administration and others who have so served themselves from public coffers and in time it will be rooted out entirely.
Nature tends towards homeostais, towards balance, and the scales have been tipped in one direction for a very long time. Not too far into the future, the balance will tip back again, and WE THE PEOPLE will mean something again, not as subserviant captives of a self-serving select few, but of the ideas of every human for each other and peace for all. See us not for our differences but for our sames as human beings and bring forth from our toils benefits for all of society, and not just tablescraps and trickling waters. I want a seat at the table. And I want the thirsts of humankind to be quenched. As the seesaw tilts back our way, justice will be had and evolution will thank us.
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