Well it has been well over a month since my last post, my apologies to enthusiastic readers though I presume there are few.
The US Supreme Court recently raped over 100 years of precedent, opening the floodgate to the putrid fluids oligarchy. If my readers are not so informed, the decision was Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission which overturned the longstanding law limiting federal campaign financing for big businesses.
My response is: HA! If you thought this country was on the track to descend into oligarchy in a century, try a DECADE now. Or less.
Or maybe I'm wrong and the sedated morass that was the American voter has been replaced by the bright shiny young liberals of my generation....were it so easy *sigh*.
Although let me get back to that contention on oligarchy. Perhaps it is a bit overboard to assume that this decision is so devastating. My more realistic analysis is that there will be enough lag-time between the decision and elections for voter outrage to take hold. Because OI! the 2010 Senate elections are just around the corner, voters are PISSED at Congress for not getting shit done, and despite the potential increase in moneyed influence, I think we will see a Democrat super-majority restored. Point being:
TED KENNEDY OR NO TED KENNEDY, WATCH THE FUCK OUT, CONSERVATIVES, AMERICA JUST WOKE UP AND SHE'S ANGRY AT YOU!
You think Scott Brown is your Teabagging savior? WRONG! He's another idiot who smeared his way into office using the influence of powerful private interests that do not represent America.
Last I checked, 72% of Americans want health-care reform. Conservatives want to spread the lie that the opposite is the case. This must be recognized for no more than what it is: a blatant lie to the American people.
The Democrats though have been equally pretentious, expecting Republicans to transcend party lines to "come together for America". All that has done is foster their obstructive behavior and literally BUY more time for the insurance and financial lobbies to shovel more money into our political system.
New issue: fatasses.
There are 59 million of these lardbags within the borders of America. Let's not pretend that this problem just went away amidst all the socio-political brouhaha.
They are a burden on our already unmanageable health-care system. Obesity doesn't just mean disgusting appearance, it means weaker immune systems (tell me with a straight face that wouldn't increase medicine costs), increased risk of blood and heart diseases including type 2 diabetes. Most horrifically, increased risk of certain kinds of cancer, an affliction that takes more and more lives each year.
But the problem I believe really lies in the repulsive image it casts of the United States to the rest of the world. Personal liberty? I'd say if you're tubby enough to require a scooter to get around, your 'liberty' ended at the fast-food restaurant counter. If you're opulent enough to afford something as selfish as liposuction surgery, you cast an even darker image of America; the America where the ends ALWAYS justify the means, the America that gives accomplishment a cash price. Ironic, corpulence has traditionally been the mark of proud aristocracy.
"Change we can believe in" starts with you and I. readers. Spread the word on healthier food and excercise. Another step forward would be to start boycotts on fast-food resaurants and unhealthy food.
If we do not lead ourselves, if we do not teach ourselves and learn from our mistakes, the Obama years will be just like the Clinton years; private interests shitting on the will of the American public, smearing progressive policy as "communism" and vomiting more insidious racist propaganda into the midst. America may not be "king of the world" anymore, but we certainly will not stand idly by and become mendicants to tomorrow's geopolitical economic lions.
Write to your congresspeople. Tell them what is wrong. Write them once a week.
Prove to Wall Street that this is still a fucking democracy!
Assertive, aggressive, LOCAL (as in city/state/county) action is what the country needs. Make America better by making YOUR America better. It's not an old model: if you can't get the Federal government to take action on an important issue, take the damned thing by the balls! Moves for women's sufferages failed horribly as a national effort but when addressed at the state level, nearly all states allowed women to vote. By this time, it had convinced those in the national legislature that America had spoken, and the Constitution was amended.
AND THAT WAS 1919! Surely, we can pull of something like that if not BETTER!
Well that's all for now, my vast army of fans. Post your enamorance/hate below, or help spread my evil through the magic of social-networking sites.
Peace,
~Michael "Cow" Mullinax
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
My hopes for 2010
Well happy fucking new year! Really happy you and I made it through the first decade of the 21st century, because so many didn't.
I'd like to believe the idiocracy of the 2000s could be left behind but I know that won't happen just because the year changed.
So, as a child of the 21st century, I'd like to leave my readers with some impressions I have had of the world and America and life.
When I was a wee li'o second grader I witnessed angry religious kooks fly airplanes into civilian buildings and kill massive amounts of people. Then I saw one religious kook who was not chosen by our supposed democracy, bomb the living shit out of and then continually occupy a third-world nation which did not attack us.
When I was a wee li'o sixth grader, I was convinced that I was doing a better job educating myself than my public school was, and that angry religious kooks needed to be removed from office. I went door to door and campaigned for Kerry-Edwards, sometimes having doors slammed in my face with absurd comments like "fuckin' commies" and that sort of blather.
Now, at the venerable age of 17, I see religious kooks holding signs that say "bring down Obamacare" and "impeach the Kenyan".
And as an American, what do I know about the rest of the world? Well, honestly, not much. Although I know this not to be true, America could just as well be the only country in the world, because nothing I'm taught in school or at home suggests otherwise, other than the occasional reports of federal tax dollars being spent on bombing the living blubber out of countries that could just as well be figments of our imagination. However I know this not to be true.
What have I learned about America?
I've learned you can work hard to pursue your passions which you are presumeably free to choose and usually earn a descent living; I've also learned that you can do this every day you live and then have everything you knew dashed to pieces before your eyes because of someone else, and see them reap the rewards.
I've learned you're free to do what you want, unless it's naughty. You're free to ponzi thousands of people out of billions of dollars worth of wealth one way or another but can you snort an innocent little line of coke? NO! BAD!
I've also learned something about retribution. If someone robs a bank, are they forced to truely repent by perhaps not being paid to clean their lavatories for a few years? No, they sit in a small cramped tax-dollar provided space where they consume taxpayer resources and give nothing whatsoever back to society.
Ah, America!
Also, I've learned that kooks, of any political leaning, will NOT listen to the voice of reason. So therefore, I'm free to say,
RUSH LIMBAUGH, IF YOU LOVE THEOCRATIC TOTALITARIAN BRUTALITY SO FUCKING MUCH, GO LIVE IN THE ISLAMIC FUCKING REPUBLIC OF I-FUCKIN'-RAN!
See? Even to the untrained brain, that CLEARLY was no voice of reason, and as you, my loyal readers/assailants have probably pieced together, I am no voice of reason.
WHAT ASSHOLES? I'M SEVENTEEN! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT?
Well as my readers know, I tend to have a miserable dystopic rant followed by something a bit more positive to lighten the mood and leave you at least slightly more uplifted than you were whilst reading through the preceding paragraphs, so here goes:
In 2011, I'll be able to vote, and you damn well know I will. I encourage my fellow youth to vote regardless of your political sway, because democracy is a participatory sport, it only really works if everyone raises their hand at some point, whether it be for one side or the other.
I enourage anyone and everyone who is willing and able to get involved with community service projects such as Oregon Food Bank and Free Geek (look them up on Google or a comprable search engine, I don't want to bother with links at the moment). Whether you lean left, right, or just don't give a shit, it's important to see where we ALL matter, in our communities.
Well one thing I've learned about our American society is what it's missing: love. Real love, not the shit you see on TV. Love your friends, they need you. Assuming the situation is reasonable, give a random person a nice hug. "Accidentally" drop a dollar or ten in a public place. Smile at people you don't know. Give someone a random compliment.
Well, I hope you've all enjoyed my various ranting, bitching and dreaming, I know it's been a while (aww, did you miss me?). As per usual, post your enamorance/hate below, or send me a message or comment on MySpace or Facebook.
Peace,
~Michael "Cow" Mullinax
I'd like to believe the idiocracy of the 2000s could be left behind but I know that won't happen just because the year changed.
So, as a child of the 21st century, I'd like to leave my readers with some impressions I have had of the world and America and life.
When I was a wee li'o second grader I witnessed angry religious kooks fly airplanes into civilian buildings and kill massive amounts of people. Then I saw one religious kook who was not chosen by our supposed democracy, bomb the living shit out of and then continually occupy a third-world nation which did not attack us.
When I was a wee li'o sixth grader, I was convinced that I was doing a better job educating myself than my public school was, and that angry religious kooks needed to be removed from office. I went door to door and campaigned for Kerry-Edwards, sometimes having doors slammed in my face with absurd comments like "fuckin' commies" and that sort of blather.
Now, at the venerable age of 17, I see religious kooks holding signs that say "bring down Obamacare" and "impeach the Kenyan".
And as an American, what do I know about the rest of the world? Well, honestly, not much. Although I know this not to be true, America could just as well be the only country in the world, because nothing I'm taught in school or at home suggests otherwise, other than the occasional reports of federal tax dollars being spent on bombing the living blubber out of countries that could just as well be figments of our imagination. However I know this not to be true.
What have I learned about America?
I've learned you can work hard to pursue your passions which you are presumeably free to choose and usually earn a descent living; I've also learned that you can do this every day you live and then have everything you knew dashed to pieces before your eyes because of someone else, and see them reap the rewards.
I've learned you're free to do what you want, unless it's naughty. You're free to ponzi thousands of people out of billions of dollars worth of wealth one way or another but can you snort an innocent little line of coke? NO! BAD!
I've also learned something about retribution. If someone robs a bank, are they forced to truely repent by perhaps not being paid to clean their lavatories for a few years? No, they sit in a small cramped tax-dollar provided space where they consume taxpayer resources and give nothing whatsoever back to society.
Ah, America!
Also, I've learned that kooks, of any political leaning, will NOT listen to the voice of reason. So therefore, I'm free to say,
RUSH LIMBAUGH, IF YOU LOVE THEOCRATIC TOTALITARIAN BRUTALITY SO FUCKING MUCH, GO LIVE IN THE ISLAMIC FUCKING REPUBLIC OF I-FUCKIN'-RAN!
See? Even to the untrained brain, that CLEARLY was no voice of reason, and as you, my loyal readers/assailants have probably pieced together, I am no voice of reason.
WHAT ASSHOLES? I'M SEVENTEEN! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT?
Well as my readers know, I tend to have a miserable dystopic rant followed by something a bit more positive to lighten the mood and leave you at least slightly more uplifted than you were whilst reading through the preceding paragraphs, so here goes:
In 2011, I'll be able to vote, and you damn well know I will. I encourage my fellow youth to vote regardless of your political sway, because democracy is a participatory sport, it only really works if everyone raises their hand at some point, whether it be for one side or the other.
I enourage anyone and everyone who is willing and able to get involved with community service projects such as Oregon Food Bank and Free Geek (look them up on Google or a comprable search engine, I don't want to bother with links at the moment). Whether you lean left, right, or just don't give a shit, it's important to see where we ALL matter, in our communities.
Well one thing I've learned about our American society is what it's missing: love. Real love, not the shit you see on TV. Love your friends, they need you. Assuming the situation is reasonable, give a random person a nice hug. "Accidentally" drop a dollar or ten in a public place. Smile at people you don't know. Give someone a random compliment.
Well, I hope you've all enjoyed my various ranting, bitching and dreaming, I know it's been a while (aww, did you miss me?). As per usual, post your enamorance/hate below, or send me a message or comment on MySpace or Facebook.
Peace,
~Michael "Cow" Mullinax
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