Thursday, March 23, 2006

Bush on Global Warming

I wish Bush were as coherent on environmentalism as his satirists.

It's sad when the caricature is more appealing than the real thing.

George Bush Speaks on Global Warming

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Big Love

Charles Krauthammer, though Jewish, loves to pontificate. Friday, he is ranting about how we can't accept gay marriage because it opens the door for polygamy. Conservatives love to hold back societal progress by claiming "it's a slippery slope". Pandora's Box

First of all, Charles Krauthammer is an anti-gay bigot. Like George Will, he may couch his bigotry in more sophisticated arguments than Falwell or Dobson, but the bottom line is: my religious beliefs (in this case, Conservative Judaism) prevent me from seeing homosexuality as anything but evil.

Second, he apparently has not seen the show he is condemning. This is typical of people. I'm guilty of it, as I refused to see "The Passion" because I'm not into sado-masochism. "Big Love" is anything but an infomercial for polygamy. Bill Paxton is a sympathetic character, as are most of his family members (I hate that Nikki bitch, though). However, none of them seem happy in their lot in life, even Bill himself. The heterosexual fantasy harem seems more of a burden to him than a joy to the big guy. Even the older children seem unhappy with their family role.

Paxton's family is ideal compared to the real polygamists they show. He and his first wife, Barb (Jean Tripplehorn), have rejected the repressive environment where between 50,000-100,000 people live in Utah, Idaho and Arizona in real life. Barb seems disgusted with the 14 year old brides marrying their much older male relatives. Bill, himself, was thrown onto the streets of Salt Lake City when he was 14 to prevent competition. His dad justifies this by saying, "You know the old men all get the pretty young girls." The show is only 2 weeks old and already the Fundamentalists seem more like a Mormon version of the Sopranos.

Third, Krauthammer et al. throw the polygamy in our face as if giving us rights someone will lead to the destruction of society. They leap forward to polygamy or marrying goats to mock us. Instead, we can step back and see how those arguments were used to defeat ERA in the 1970s, as it would lead to gay marriage. Today, they wouldn't dare openly say that women don't deserve equal rights. Step back another decade and you see the fight against interracial marriage as another destruction of society.

Krauthammer's religious beliefs prevent him from accepting what most gay people will tell you: it's not a choice. I never chose to be gay. Being Mormon, however, is obviously a choice. Mormons send out thousands of missionaries every year to do that. Imagine if gays tried to pull that stunt!

Polygamy is clearly a choice. Bill chose to have 3 wives, and his wives voluntarily married him. The young girls in the compound don't really have a choice, but that's because the State of Utah refuses to prosecute these old bastards for statutory rape. I could never be happy in a heterosexual marriage, but no one is hard wired for polyandry. You can't tell me I can legally marry a woman, like eHarmony told me when I protested their heterosexist policies. It won't work for me, and why should some poor women be saddled with a gay man for her romantic partner. I can tell you that polygamy is certainly a choice, and Big Love seems to imply that Bill might have been happier if he had just stuck with one woman instead of fulfilling Brigham Young's Eternal Order.

Finally, maybe polygamy should be legally. It's not illegal now to have more than one sexual partner. There certainly is a strong civil liberties argument for it, and Bill's family appears to be harming no one. In exchange, I would demand that those old bastards who are abusing young girls be arrested and tried for rape, kidnapping and welfare fraud.

Utah needs to stop being embarrassed about its polygamist past and route out these barbaric societies where young women are chattel and young men are surpluses to be dumped on the streets of Salt Lake City. Many of these boys are kicked out at age 14 to fend for themselves, becoming wards of the state or prostitutes. These are human rights violations going on in the hills surrounding Happy Valley and Zion.

Perhaps Krauthammer needs to watch a little more TV and spend a little less time pontificating about things he knows nothing about. Then again, what good conservative doesn't know what's right, and what's right for everyone else?

The Case for Video Games

Maybe they are not the obesity-inducing, sloth creators that people think they are.

Will Wright Interview

Thursday, March 02, 2006

More Election Fraud

Bush loves to talk about spreading "democracy". His interpretation of the word, however, does not mean "rule by the people". It means "pro-American". A dictator like Musharraf in Pakistan is more "democratic" than the duly elected Palestinian Authority under Hamas.

Of course, "pro-American" means George W. Bush's vision of America. Instead of encouraging democracy in America by giving DC voters representation in Congress or ensuring that Black voters are given full access to the ballot box, Bush's cabal is making sure that the elections in America are rigged to his benefit.

Here is more evidence that the Bush campaign used their partisan ties in state governments like Ohio and Florida to literally steal the 2004 election. The 2000 debacle in Florida, headed by Bush's own brother, was repeated there in 2004 and in Ohio. This article, Ohio Denies Voters' Rights, shows that the Ohio GOP met with Bush himself on Election Day to make sure that Bush won despite the exit polls that gave Kerry a healthy 4% victory.

You can call this sour grapes, but until people get angry and demand reform, "Democracy" in America is going to be defined by George W. Bush and not by American voters.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

More Proof of Voting Fraud

Someday, we are going to recognize why the 2004 election results were such a surprise. Hopefully, it will be before the Republicans have completely eliminated our democracy.

Here's more evidence that the 2004 Presidential in Florida was rigged.

Sequoia Election Returns

Hopefully, this will be corrected before it's too late, but don't be surprised are more GOP "surprise" victories this fall.

More Global Warming

George "34%" Bush still has not acknowledged that global warming is about to devastate our world. He seems to think that short-term economic gain is more important than the survival of mankind.

Here's yet another example of how warmer winters are altering our environment. The great Canadian forests are being destroyed by beetles who were once held in check by bitter winter freezes. Warmer winters may sound more pleasant, but when 80% of our forests are destroyed, it's not so nice. Ironically, the loss of trees on accelerates the global warming process as less CO2 is converted back to oxygen.

While Bush calls for more studies on whether global warming exists, scientists are now beginning to wonder if it isn't already too late. It's been 5 years since Bush unilaterally pulled out of Kyoto and promised studies. Do we have to wait for 80 degree Christmases in Washington before his studies reach the obvious conclusions?

The Canadian Forest Plague