ELECTION 2008: Response to the many who are questioning Barack Obama’s citizenship.

I’m hearing a lot people say, “providing a certificate of live birth should not be enough for Obama to prove he’s eligible for president.” What with, you know, the big stink being made about if he’s really an American citizen. The one thing these people are right about is that, yes: The constitution specifics you have to be a born citizen to be president. Period. There’s no exceptions, and if you think there should be, might I recommend Arnold Schwarzeneggar as our next president? Yeah. Didn’t think so.

But anyway, my whole problem with these people is the way they have shifted the burden of proof onto Obama to prove that he IS a citizen. What if his paperwork is lost?

I guess if you lose your irreplaceable paperwork in a fire or something, you lose your constitutional right to become president, since you can’t prove it?

I would say any rights you have as a citizen fall under the “innocent until proven guilty” concept. He should not have to prove his citizenship. Someone should have to prove he was a citizen/born elsewhere. I’m not disagreeing with their basic investigatory concept of wanting to know the truth here; I’m disagreeing with where they are placing the burden of proof: Onto Obama, who is essentially a defendent in this.

I lost my papers and found out myself — ther’es NO FUCKING WAY to get them back. Your state will gladly let you spend $55 on a Live Birth Certificate, but it is a useless document that WONT get you a social security card, which you need to get a driver’s license if you lack other papers. And you can’t get a driver’s license without the right id either – including social security card. If your’e missing it all, too bad for you. You’re a blank. Fortunately I had applied for a passport, so 6 weeks later that came back. Until then, there was NO recourse. I felt like Tuttle being enveloped in newspapers at the end of the movie Brazil. They wouldn’t let me drink. I couldn’t get into some clubs, despite being in my 30s. I would have had to pay lawyers to figure it out for me. If I was homeless I’d probably stay that way because I’d never be able to get the paperwork to be eligible to hold a job again.

Did I lose my first amendment rights to free speech? No.
Do I lose my constitutional rights just because I lost my papers? No.

I’m all for not letting him be president if he’s not a citizen. I’d love to see the Democratic party go down in flames for that. But the burden shouldn’t be on Obama to prove himself innocent anymore than I should hvae to prove I’m a citizen to excercise my free speech after losing my papers.

If they can prove he was born outside of the country, though — more power to him. But Obama shouldn’t have to prove anything himself. His citizenship wasn’t in question in the past. And the system currently considers him a citizen, which means he has those rights, even if he doesn’t truly deserve them. At that point, it’s innocent until proven guilty. He shouldn’t have to furnish shit. Someone else has to furnish proof that he was born elsewhere. So bring it.

 

ELECTION 2008: After thought on “Joe The Plumber”.

If “Joe The Plumber” is a plumber, that means he’s a contractor. And contractors are assholes, screwing people left and right. Like hell he shouldn’t be taxed more. He should be taxed more, with all of it going towards pro-homeowner enforcement against crooked contractors and negligent service. So there, fuckfaces!

 

POLITICS: ELECTION 2008: Congrats, America.

Congratulations, America. While you did not vote for significant real change, at least you managed to outvote the 50% of morons who actually think John McCain would somehow, someway, inexplicably be a good idea for America. And at least you voted in the first black president, and the first president with a “terrarist name”. It’s taken a good 150 years for us to come this far.

 

POLITICS: ELECTION 2008: Why I wont be voting for Obama OR McCain.

First off, the easy part: I wont be voting for McCain because I’m not a fucking retard who ignored everything that happened the last 8 years, A vote for McCain is like saying Bush did nothing wrong, war in the middle east is good, and the relaxing of banking regulations was a good move because the market must be free. (Gee, look what happened.) Nevermind the fact that as the gay-marriage-hating party, they now literally are the party that wants to use the govenrment to repress 10% of people from having equal rights, simply because those rights are counter to their prevailing religius beliefs.

Now, the hard part: I wont be voting for Barack Obama, although I will say he is clearly, clearly, clearly the better candidate out of the two.

Why? Becuase he sure as hell doesn’t represent “change”. If by “Change” he means, “Not Bush”, I would expect that from any sensible candidate. (Note that this does not include John McCain.) But he barely represents change.

Let’s see…

Barack Obama voted for immunity for the telecom corporations that illegally spied on Americans after claming to be against THAT as well! I 2007, he said: “To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.” Yet in 2008, he failed to do just what he said, and helped grant immunity to the telcos, who helped commit what is quite likely the greatest illegal mass surveillance of a company’s own customers in American history.

Barack Obama said he was against the Patriot Act, yet, just like with the telecom immunity, helped vote to re-authorize it anyway. “This is just good leadership” people will claim, probably citing that it was the leseser of two evils versus not passing it. Of course, that’s just how they want you to think… That our politicians have no other choice but to do the things they are. In which case, if they are so helpless, why do we bother to vote? (Oh wait. Americans vote far less than most democracies. 2008 will hopefully turn out to be a big exception to that!)

I have to ask — is it really “Change” when he doesn’t live up to his own word and changes nothing?

Barack Obama supports the failed drug war and does not believe in the legalization of marijuana. Of course, this drug war is something that has cost more American lives and dollars than 911, Afghanistan, and Iraq put together. He has also called for stepped-up enforcement. Considering that the drug war disproportionately jails racial minorities, we have black people basically voting for a black man that would cause them to continue to be jailed. Real smart. (But again, he’s better than McCain in this aspect.) Of course, if you truly believe the drug war is a problem, you should never vote for a candidate who supports it. The Libertarians have not once run a candidate who supports the failed drug war — other than in 2008. Bob Bar is a scumbag who directly blocked the D.C. Medical Marijuana referendum as a Georgian congressman. Just because he had a change of heart and now supports the Libertarian platform doesn’t mean he’s not an enemy to democracy. The Libertarians fucked up big this time. Of course, Ralph Nader does not support the drug war at all. At least Obama (and McCain too, I hear) both want to end the federal government’s involvement in raiding marijuana dispenseries that operate within state laws. Go federalism!

Barack Obama supports military action against Iran (“The U.S. should take no option, including military action, off the table.”) It’s off the table with Nader. And regardless of what the consensus is, it would be a BAD, BAD, BAD idea (the Pentagon agrees). Nevermind the fact that we never won the war in Afghanistan, despite what conservatives may claim. Joe Biden has stressed that Obama is strongly pro-Israel. I’m not. I don’t think they should be getting the amount of money we get when they are already the per-capita leader in military expenditures (america is #2, and #1 for total expenditures, not even counting what we fund Israel). And I think Israel is largely behaving like a bully — much like America, actually. We shouldn’t protect their peace when they refuse to make any with the Palestinians. And I say this as someone of Jewish decent. (Grandma in Nazi camp, Grandad liberated her, yada yada.) That of course means that if anything happens between Israel and Iran, we’ll somehow be “required” to step in. Just great, considering Israel has been trying to clear the way for an invasion of Iran for some time now.

Barack Obama also supports military strikes inside of Pakistan. Ironically, McCain doesn’t appear to support this. (!!!!) Nevermind that Pakistan actually has nukes, UNLIKE Afghanistan. Nevermind that we have not once, but twice now caused Pakistan troops to fire on American troops. Nevermind that we have now dropped bombs inside of Pakistan, killing civilians. It’s not possible for us to simultaneously fight every nation of our choosing on the planet. Nader simliarly does not support any action against Pakistan at all. It’s off the table.

Barack Obama voted against a federal gay marriage, yet he is against it personally, and thinks that laws about marriage should be left to the states. Can you imagine if we had said the choice to discriminate against black people best be left to the states? People would justfiably go ape-shit at such a statement! Either you consider the choice of being able to marry who you love a basic civil right, or you don’t. If it is a basic civil right, it should exist it the federal level and apply to all Americans, and a President should support making this happen. We don’t have “Freedom of speech, except in Texas”; we have freedom of speech for all. There’s really no room for compromise in this. Nader thinks the government should “get out of the marriage business”, which is what I’m all about. I may be splitting hairs, but I’m simply trying to make the point that Obama is not the best candidate. Like Obama, McCain also masked his tolerance for intolerance as being pro-states’ rights as well. Neither of these guys is going to make a difference for the right to marry at a federal level, but McCain is of course more intolerant — he thinks gays should be out of the military completely.

Barack Obama supports the criminal bailout of failed corporations, as does John McCain. It’s no coincidence that the two corporate business-loving parties love the idea of socializing losses (but keeping profits private; Exxon broke it’s record AGAIN this quarter). Of course, every other major 3rd party candidate (Bob Barr, Nader, McKinney, Baldwin) sensibly opposses this measure, which was bullied on the american public like a mafioso visiting a Mom-and-Pop convenience shop, big stick in hand, threatning softly: “You wouldn’t want anything to happen to the economy, would you? Accidents happen. People get hurt. Better pay up your protection money.”

Barack Obama supports lawsuits against gun manufacturers for murders. That’s like suing McDonalds for making you get fat. Or suing a detergent manufacturer if someone poisons your spouse with detergent. Anyone who thinks it automatically makes sense to sue someone who manufactured something that killed someone is obviously forming their opinion from the emotional area of “I don’t like guns, therefore I support any action taken against guns”. If you don’t care about the constitutional right to own a gun, or the freedom for people to do things that YOU DON’T LIKE, then please move on over to the “suppressionist” side; you are not a freedom lover, you just love actions that you agree with. Freedom means allowing people to do things they don’t want, and last I checked: Owning a gun was a constitutional right. Like free speech. Exactly like free speech. This has been reaffirmed by the Supreme Court for the first time in 70 years just last year.

Barack Obama supports towns having stricter gun laws than what is federally allowed. Gee, last time I checked it was a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Imagine if a candidate said, “I support towns having stricter freedom of speech laws than what is federally allowed.” It would be a death knell to any campaign to broadcast a basic disdain for the constitution, especially since the first thing a President does is take an oath to uphold the constitution. Yet, because bleeding-heart liberals hate guns, the constitution somehow becomes something that can be disregarded. These are the same people who are mad that they are arrested at protests, and made to protest in “free speech zones”. They are mad that their first amendment is violated, yet they are quite willing to stand behind someone willing to violate the second amendment. That’s hypocritical, and not true respect for freedom. Barack supported the D.C. gun ban as well, until it was determined to be unconstitutional — at which point he had no choice but to flip-flop.

Barack Obama does not believe in concealed carry licenses, despite the fact that not knowing which people around you might be carrying a gun is indeed a deterrent to crime. If it wasn’t, then why do we have secret air marshalls on the planes? They’re not just there to enforce the rules, but to deter as well. I have had friends who have been seriously attacked and hurt by ex-spouses/lovers, and have had to resort to such measures to protect their own lives; I support anyone’s basic right to life, and the right to protect their own life is even more basic to me than the right to free speech or food.

(Even more so since the police get to excercise this right in spades, being able to legally kill anybody they even falsely perceive as a threat; even a robber with a plastic gun inside a bay window at a Halloween party on Halloween, which I use as an unfortunate-but-true example.)

Barack Obama wants to expand the H1-B visa program. No surprise. Democrats love profit too. Ralph Nader wants to stop the H1-B “brain drain” visa, which definitely harms american workers. A lot of the liberal tech community (readers of Slashdot, for example) believes this as well, and it’s no surprise: We want to protect our own asses. I’ve worked with H1-B Visa holders. If they lose their job, they go back to China. Of course they’re willing to work for cheaper when faced with that, and of course that distorts the market by supplying cheap labor. It hurts the wages of every citizen and helps the corporations. I don’t see eye to eye with Barack here at all.

Barack Obama, health-wise, will be bad. A many people have pointed out, BOTH PRESIDENTS would result in fewer people getting medical coverage! Between 1 and 50 million, depending on what you read. Nobody anywhere is saying either candidate will result in more people being covered! How many young liberals who don’t have proper medical plans are going to get bankrupted by medical bills (the leading cause of bankruptcy) themselves over the next 4-8 years? And out of those, how many will have voted for Obama? Ralph Nader (and Cynthia McKinney) supports a single-payer health care system and full Medicare for everyone. EVERYONE. You can still have your fancy expensive private doctors if you are a rich (and you can afford extra taxes too! Don’t be greedy, rich!). But the 40M, soon-to-be 41M, 60M or 90M (depending on who’s numbers you trust) Americans without insurance would be able to have care too. And 95% of them are going to vote against their own care, by not supporting a candidate who supports this! Just stab yourself; it’ll be the lesser of two evils! Even Libertarian candidate Bob Barr wants to cut costs by reducing controls and regulations.

Ralph Nader has said he is specifically against corporate welfare. I wish Obama would say something like that. Maybe he has?

Barack Obama wont pull troops out of Iraq as fast as Ralph Nader, but at least he says he will eventually do that.

Joe Biden supports the 21 drinking age, something that I’m pretty sure 100% of people would be against. Yet how many people who complained when they were 18, 19, and 20, now support him and vote for him? How many people who got in trouble for drinking underage are going to turn around and vote for someone who supported it?

I also read Joe Biden helped create the mandatory minimum system, but don’t know if that is the case. If so, then he’s helped take away more unnecessary liberty from American citizens than almost anyone I know — even Bush.

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Suffice to say that, while in the middle of writing this posting, I went out and voted for Ralph Nader. The Democratic party is certainly a lot closer to what I would call “sanity” than the current withered Republican party, and if this were truly a 2-party election, they would get my vote. But it isn’t, and they are way too centrist for me, and not nearly pro-freedom enough. They’re not even socially liberal enough!

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Also, be prepared for me to say “this is what you Obama voters caused” at every bad thing prepetrated by this administration’s platform for the next 4-8 years.

When we attack another country in a bullshit war, when we break the annual record for marijuana arrests yet again (which happened under Clinton, too, even though he smoked it!), when the next bad thing happens, and there’s no one else to blame it on — I’ll be telling you: “Don’t blame me; *I* didn’t vote for him!”

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Still, I have a sense that there will be less to complain about than during the Bush administration. And for that, I will be thankful for the extra free time I get when NOT having to bitch about something online. :)

 

POLITICS: ELECTION 2008: The Tyranny Of A 2-Party System.

Seriously, every 4 years I get pretty disgusted at people for allowing themselves to be manipulated into voting as if we have a 2-party system. I am reminded of the episode of The Simpsons where the evil aliens Kang and Kodos take over the 2 presidential candidates. Humans all realize this, and one human shouts — “We’ll just vote for a 3rd party then.” Kang then shouts out: “Go ahead. Throw away your vote!” Later, Kang has won, but Homer says, “Don’t blame me; I voted for Kodos” — as if that absolves him of any responsibility whatsoever for voting like an idiot.

Take this to heart. The “evil aliens” would have you believe that by voting incorrectly, you are somehow “throwing away” your vote. What does “throwing away” mean exactly?

Is your vote not counted? No, it’s still counted.

Do you lose a mulitplier bonus for voting for the winner? No, this isn’t a video game. You don’t get bonus points, and you don’t lose bonus points. Your vote is always just that: One vote.

Is the election going to be decided by one vote? No. And if it was: Your vote is STILL no more important than every other vote in your state. ANY person could have decided the vote by changing it, and this could be true no matter how you vote.
BUT IN REALITY, an election that close is going to be decided by arbitrary factors such as hanging chads, voting machines, and obscure court rulings. (The Florida recount was stopped; Kerry would have won.) Oh, and of course the electoral college can ignore your vote completely, and vote for McCain even if the majority of the state votes for Obama. While not a common practice, it’s happened in America before. Funny, that.

And don’t give me the “Nader handed Florida to Bush!” argument. Bush won by 537 votes, but only because the recount was stopped. Oh, and the fact that 12 percent of Democrats in Florida in 2000 voted for George W. Bush! That’s 200,000. If just ONE percent of these traitor democrats had decided not to do that, Kerry would have been president.

The irony of all this was that they probably voted Republican because they hated Kerry, not because they thought a Republican leader would be the best leader! They were probably choosing the perceived “lesser of 2 evils” themselves — and look where it got us. To me, A 2-party system is actually the cause of the problem, and then proponents of the system say that those who voted 3rd party were the ones who caused Bush to be elected. BULLSHIT! You can place the blame on any 537 people randomly selected out of non-Kerry voters — and this blame squarely falls on the people who voted for the lesser-of-two-evils using “2-party thinking”.

In the end, you can vote for change, or you can vote for the same old party simply because it claims “change”.

This country is at rock bottom. “Change” is the least I would expect from any president. It’s really not promising that much.

Don’t read this as an endorsement of McCain.

You really have to be morally broken in several different ways to think there’s anything acceptible whatsoever in voting for McCain. You have to be so fucking retarded as to ignore the last 8 years; to ignore the fact that the bank collapse was due to Republicans voting for relaxed baking rules; to ignore the fact that BIN LADEN WON, and Bush played right into his hands by taking away our rights with the Patriot Act; to ignore the culture of fear perpetrated by the republicans (and supported by the democrats), the wholesale violation of the rights of Americans as well as non-Americans; the suspension of due process and the creation of a war with no known end or terms for victory.

If you vote for McCain, you pretty much deserve to have your teeth knocked out.

But at the same time — If you think the Democrats are here to save the day, you’re just voting like a scared child put in a corner. You’ve been whipped by the Republican party for 8 years, and you’re so scared of this continuing that you’ll side with the first stooge who comes up to you and offers protection. This is vastly different from electing someone who shares your actual beliefs.

I wonder how many people who think the war on drugs is a failure are still going to vote for the 2 parties that have perpetrated it? The War On Drugs is a big issue, completely ignored in the political race. Yet, it has wasted more American money than the War On Terror; it has directly taken away the rights of more Americans than the War On Terror; it has led to military interventions abroad, but in public and in secret, just like the War On Terror, and it has led the laws which effectively take away even more rights (asset forfeiture, anyone?) (What about No-knock raids? Raids where the cops are justified in shooting you to death, even if you don’t have drugs and are legally defending your family from masked intruders breaking in in the middle of the night? Last I checked, it shouldn’t be legal to kill someone for excercising their constitutional rights.)

There are lots of problems in America, and they are getting worse.

But hey — spank some voters with the shittiest president of our lives for 8 years, and they’ll willingly vote for a party that has done all kinds of damage to our nation. The lesser of two evils is just that: Still an evil.

Read on for part two.

 

ELECTION 2008: A consideration.

 

COMEDY: You choose, You lose.

 

ELECTION 2008: Fairfax County college students beware!

Fairfax County college students are being forced to wait in line for hours to vote, or pollworkers are requiring voters to present photo ID even though your state’s laws allow non-photo ID, like utility bills.
[Source: CREDO]

If anyone has friends or family going to school in Fairfax — for example GMU — please get this message to them.

 

POLITICS: ELECTION 2008 vs The War On Drugs

DRCnet posted a good article at StopTheDrugWar.com about our two candidates, and how they differ on the war on drugs. It’s informative, and merits a read by voters — especially those on the fence. It also talks about the motivation for voting for a 3rd party, which I plan to do.

Anyway, as expected: the prevailing two parties have nothing new to offer, basically meeting the “trying the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results” definition of insanity. But, as usual, the Repugnantcans are still more insane than the Democraps:

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/555/obama_mccain_barr_mckinney_nader_drug_policy_reform_2008_election

 

COMEDY: POLITICS: Giuliani is such a dick.

see Sarah Palin pictures

 

POLITICS: VIDEO: Sarah Palin’s hilarious backpedling on her “task from God” comment

OK… I get it now.. When Republicans say “sending them on a task from god”, according to her backpedaling, what they are really saying is “let’s hope we are on the same side as God”. Freakin’ hilarious spin. And an obvious lie. Who says something is “a task from god” if you’re just hoping that you happen to be on the same side as him? You know what? I’m going to murder a baby puppy — it’s a task from God. At least, I’m hoping that I’m on the same side as god when I do it.

 

POLITICS: VIDEO: Olbermann on 911, and the Republican convention

Whoa, Keith. Relax and take a deep breath. Tell us how you really feel. Sad thing is, I pretty much agree with him. It’s funny how seriously he took/pretended to take what McCain said. “If you know, tell us! Tell us!”

 

OVERLY-HARSH PUNISHMENTS: Democratic National Convention protestors abused (of course)

It’s good to see that our police are helping serve and protect our country’s interest in preserving free spech! (That’s sarcasm.)

Alicia Forrest was arrested outside Civic Center Park after confronting officers and asking them questions about another arrest they were making, said Sally Newman, legal liaison and spokeswoman for the group.

 

links for 2008-08-15

Nader Says Free the Dopers, Jail the Corporate Crooks. FIVE YEARS for North Dakota Man Who Bought $32 Worth of Salvia Divinorum.

 

LINKS: Douchebag officer Matthew Parco arrests grandmother for not pulling forward at a McDonald’s (democracy fails in Horry County), abuses of authority, taser lawsuits, torture

And of course, an insane tale if I’ve ever heard one — Grandmother arrested at McDonald’s for not pulling forward. Can anyone please identify the arresting officer? [UPDATE: Officer Matthew Parco] And put that piggy on a diet? Pretty much everyone is failing to see how this is a proper course of action–including the mayor and the people who ran the jail (who wouldn’t put her in a cell or a jumpsuit–checks and balances, baby). Voting machines fail, causing many people to not be able to vote. Torture. Taser lawsuit victory. Cops shackle stabbing victim to wheelchair, then Officer William J. Cozzi beats him – video included. This guy was a stabbing victim, and they charged him for not cooperating… Just how cooperative are you supposed to be after getting stabbed — while drunk? It’s not necessarily you’re fault that you’re now drunk and stabbed in a hospital. I’d like to know more but what was done was uncalled for no matter what. At least he didn’t beat a handcuffed suspect until his NECK BROKE … that officer got … drumroll … a ten-hour suspension for breaking a neck! And who said cops aren’t above the law???

 

POLITICS: Ron Paul doesn’t believe in evolution (and also wants to overturn Roe V. Wade as soon as possible)

Being the sanest candidate in certain areas doesn’t mean you’ll get my vote if you are insane in other areas. Obama wants to step up the drug war despite having done cocaine/drugs himself (just like Bush!, just like Clinton!) . Ron Paul wants to stop all abortion and force a bunch of unwanted babies on society. (Did you know crime dropped significantly exactly 18 years after Roe V. Wade?) Meh. I’ll vote, as I always do, but it’s doubtful it will be one of the major candidates. They’re always fucked.

And no, voting for the winner doesn’t garner you a prize, and your vote isn’t worth more if you vote for the winner. Your vote is always one vote, no matter how you vote. The people who “Waste” their votes are the ones who knowingly vote for douchebags because they think that to vote for a loser somehow costs you. It doesn’t. One vote is always one vote. The value of the number “1” does not change based on who won.

 

LINKS: Ron Paul is NOT the answer, Kenneth Foster to die

26 karaoke bars sued by ASCAP – ZOMB KARAOKE IS PIRATING! Yes, people can catch HIV though oral sex. Ron Paul is not the answer. Texas Prepares to Execute Man for Driving a Car Near Scene of Murder.