SavageDem

"I don't belong to an organized political party – I'm a Democrat." – Will Rogers

Month: April 2005

  • I didn’t expect a sort of German Inquisition…

    As if things weren’t bad enough already… Now, I’m no expert in Revelations or Nostradamus or any future-teller you might bring up, but I’ve just got to believe that Ratzinger getting elected Pope is one of the signs of the Apocalypse. Could they pick a more divisive, conservative, non-unifying person? Well, probably, but most of those folks are already in the Bush administration, and are not Cardinals to boot.

    I thought I’d just put together a little comparison of our little dictator and the new Catholic dictator. Let’s see how they stack up:

    Bush Ratzinger
    AWOL National Guard AWOL German soldier
    Ultra conservative Ultra conservative
    Thinks he is God Thinks he’s conduit to God
    Wants 280 million people to worship him Has 1 billion worshipping him
    Trying to start his own inquisition Leader of the Inquisition
    Trying to reinstitute anachronistic, repressive regime that suppresses women’s rights, minority rights, and civil liberties Rules anachronistic, repressive regime that suppresses women’s rights and civil liberties
    Bad for the World Bad for the World

    I’m still waiting for some good news…

  • Never get involved in a land war in Asia!

    …but only slightly less well known is this: Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!

    Sorry. Total chain-of-consciousness stuff. I was thinking that we’re involved in a two-front war right now, and that led to thinking about land wars in Asia, which led to the entire quote from The Princess Bride – a great movie (and book, obviously. Quick aside: the movie is pretty darn faithful to the book for the most part. Some literary license is taken (notably Shrieking Eels instead of sharks), and detail is left out for the sake of not being a two-part movie, but otherwise…pretty good).

    Anyway…I was just reflecting on the fact that besides the obvious war being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re also fighting a war here in the U.S.: a war against tyranny and for continued freedom of speech, thought, and action. Obviously everyone doesn’t view it that way; the right-wing crowd thinks that they’re just trying to implement the “correct” policies for everyone. What they fail to consider is that their beliefs are not universal truths. Christianity is not right for everyone, nor should everyone be forced to adopt it. Homosexuality does not impinge on the rights of anyone, and should not be legislated against. Racism and ethnic prejudice should not be a part of any free society. Liberty doesn’t include laws taking control of a woman’s own body away from her.

    Dictatorships and societal oppression have historically been implemented by rulers who “know what’s best” for the people. They really just know what’s best for themselves – power.

  • Death to Liberal Professors!!!

    Great article on how the radical right wants to eliminate all that pesky free-thinking by weeding out so-called “liberal” professors. Maybe there is a such a preponderance of liberals in academia just because they’re….smart?

  • Still think we don’t live in a police state?

    Check this article out when you’ve got some time. Incredibly detailed (and depressing) account of the Bush — “Sieg Heil!” — policy of “extraordinary rendition”, which is just a euphemism for state-sponsored kidnapping, torture, and elimination of legal process.

    You may have heard some about it before, but this account is extremely well researched and documented.

  • It’s better than accidentally switching on Faux News…

    Can we just grow up? Instead of whining to the FCC, why don’t you complain about the world-wide glut of mourning over John Paul? I don’t wish the man ill, but he’s just one person. Where’s the outrage, grief, and empathy for the plight of the 300,000+ killed in Darfur, the thousands and thousands killed in Iraq, etc.? Maybe if folks had 1/100 the concern about their other fellow men (people) we’d have a much better world…

    Associated Press
    April 2, 2005

    POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — George Morton got a surprise when he came home from mass on Palm Sunday and turned on public access television. rton saw a tape of a striptease contest — a far cry from the usual public access programming of local meetings and talk shows.

    “I thought, this is terrible,” Morton said. “I don’t get HBO or anything like that.”

    Cablevision said Thursday that a “program switching error” had occurred.

    “When it was detected, the programming was removed immediately,” Cablevision spokesman Bill Powers told The Poughkeepsie Journal. “We have taken appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again.”

    Morton said he planned to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. The mistake affected customers in four counties.