The Evil Eyebrow

Category: Politics

  • Best Quote Since the Last One

    John Scalzi has hammered it deep:

    I’m feeling a little bit sorry for Hillary Clinton recently, because her campaign is caught up in an event it truly can’t control: the messianic fervor surrounding Obama. Clinton’s been trying to go negative on the guy, and it’s not working, because people literally just do not want to hear about it. At this particular moment in time Clinton could unearth a video of Barack Obama eating live kittens while wearing a nothing but an oiled thong at an S&M party hosted by Larry Craig, and she couldn’t do anything with it because if she did people would wonder why she was being so mean to Obama, and her polling would suffer.

    I love that man’s blog.

  • Georgia is Off its Rocker

    I must sincerely apologize to the rest of the nation. I live in a state that has just selected, as the republican candidate, a repeat of the last administration. We are one of three states so far that deigns to give Mike Huckabee a shot at screwing up our nation even more. The other contenders? West Virginia and Alabama.

    I’m embarrased.

    In our defence, I will point out that it was relatively close. Huckabee won with 34% with McCain at 32% and Romney at 30%. It was not a landslide by any means. But still. Come on people. Look at him. He’s a bible-thumping god-whalloper. Haven’t we shown what bible-thumping god-whallopers can do in the modern era? Jimmy Carter! George Bush! Two of our worst presidents ever.

    Georgia has a long time to think about this. Hopefully, come November, we’ll vote with a bit more intelligence.

  • One Step Closer to Success

    Republican Fred Thompson has dropped out of the race for the presidential nomination.

    Thank you, elvis!

    Oh, wait. He’s not one of the candidates who has seen a ufo.

    Nevertheless, it’s a good thing he’s gone. He represents the third least desirable president in the current mix (Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee being 2 and 1, respectively).

    So, the most hawkish candidate, with the second lowest respect for personal determination of morals is gone. Yay.

  • I [Hate] Huckabee

    South Carolina’s Republican primary was yesterday and I’m ecstatic that Huckabee lost. I’m less ecstatic that he came in second. Of all the viable Republican candidates, he’s the one I want to see nominated the least.

    Of all the front running candidates, I don’t really care who gets put up by the Democrats, and I can live with Romney or McCain from the Republicans, but we don’t need another term by a bible-thumping god-whalloper. Remember, this guy wants to change the constitution to make it more like the bible. His interpretation of the bible, that is. He said:

    I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what we need to do, is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.

    Later on he clarified that this was having to do specifically with reproductive rights (abortion) and a ban-gay-marriage position (which puts the statemet right in line with the christian conservatie wing of the Republicans) but it’s the underlying assumption that deep-sixes him as a candidate in my mind. It is possible that I could vote for someone who is anti-gay-marriage and anti-reproductive-rights. Not likely, mind you, but possible, but that candidate would have to be coming at the issues from a direction other than, “’cause the bible tells us so.” I’m a skeptic, and a thinker, and I have significant problems with political people who demonstrate that they aren’t at least the second of those two.

    My opinions regarding the race as of today: Nominate either Obama or Clinton from the dems and either Romney or McCain from the repubs and I’ll vote for any of them. If the race were running today with all the top candidates on the ballot, I’d probaby vote for McCain.

  • "Don't Think, We'll Do it For You"

    Plucked from the Bad Astronomer (who got it from somebody else) comes a video about how happiness can be found through not thinking.

    No, I never feel this way when I have conversations with people.

  • I am Politiqual

    This is why I’m always getting into trouble when I discuss politics. I can piss off everyone and anyone in the room, no matter who they support, or what policy they envision.

    71% Bill Richardson
    64% Mitt Romney
    63% John McCain
    61% Rudy Giuliani
    58% Hillary Clinton
    57% Mike Huckabee
    56% Chris Dodd
    55% Barack Obama
    55% Fred Thompson
    54% John Edwards
    52% Tom Tancredo
    45% Joe Biden
    44% Mike Gravel
    39% Dennis Kucinich
    39% Ron Paul

    2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

  • Bush Hates Reality

    I’m ever so shocked to see this report by Henry Waxman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In brief:

    the Bush Administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of global warming

    Yeah. No big surprise. Now if only somebody in the Congress would do something instead of hanging around like a bunch of neutered puppies. America goes through all the effort and trouble to give the Democrats the Congress and then they sit around with their thumbs up their butts.

  • Energy Policy

    I think that one of the most significant problems we (humanity) will face in the next 200 years is that of energy production, distribution, and consumption. I have a multitude of opinions, even the odd posting coming soon, but this particular post is about Iraq.

    Go to this link to compare the cost of Iraq with governement expenditures on alternative energy (“alternative” meaning non-oil). It’s a fascinating graph.

    I don’t see how the world is going to get out of the mess it’s in without significant investment in nuclear energy. More on that to follow at a later date, but feel free to tell me I’m wrong.

  • Atlanta City Council wants to Ban Saggy Pants

    According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the city council is contemplating an amendment of the city code which is targeted to ban saggy pants (reg. required).

    To summarize: Someone on the council considers the style of droopy drawers with boxer shorts showing to be indecent and inappropriate. Therefore, an ordinace with fines attached. The ACLU is stepping up to combat this stereotypically stupid measure by demonstrating that it could not be enforced in a non-discriminatory way. Despite its wording, which would eliminate jog bras, bra straps, thong straps, and running shorts from public view, it is intended to be a blow against a primarily african-american clothing style.

    Usually, I’m happy to live in the Atlanta Metro area. It’s a cosmopolitan place, with very little “deep south” vibe, excepting some blue laws and the traditional southern hospitality and friendliness. This sort of thing, though, makes me wonder what goes on at council meetings. I can just hear some old geezer during the meeting shouting, “Dang whipper snappers! Don’t they know how to dress!”

    Very very silly.

  • Abstinence Only Eductation

    A study published this month concludes that abstinence only sex education is not effective in changing the behaviors of teens. A silver lining, if you can call it that, is that there was no measurable difference between the study group and the control group. So, the abstinence only education did not negatively affect the rates at which these teens were sexing each other up, nor did it affect the rates that they contracted sexually transmitted disease. A Bush appointee says “This study isn’t rigorous enough to show whether or not [abstinence only] education works,” but we know that the Bush administration has a long established policy of only accepting scientific evidence if it supports their preconceived notions.

    However, the people who are doomcrying the abstinence only education and the ones who are retrenching to defend it are missing an important shade to the study conclusion. There was no significant difference in the two groups, therefore education that included contraception was just as (in)effective as abstinence-only!

    That does not bode well for our current educational strategies. Or maybe it establishes that education has no power over teenage hormones.