I must pass this one along. When I first watched this earlier today, I got the song stuck in my head because it's a catchy tune. The song is "Re: Your Brains" by Jonathan Coulton. "All we want to do is eat your brains // We're not unreasonable, I mean, no one's gonna eat your eyes." I just laughed when I heard those lyrics. I especially liked when the video started showing clips of zombie movies and videos, like Thriller, Shaun of the Dead, and 28 Days Later. Anyways, here's the video already:
I just submitted a letter to the MSU State News in response to this piece by Andrea Byl. I should stop reading Byl's columns because I feel compelled to respond every time. Here's what I submitted:
Andrea Byl's recent column, “Get ready for Clinton, McCain in '08,” was a horrible piece of right-wing, biased rhetoric. First, she disrespectfully refers to Senator Clinton at one point as, “Hill.” Would Byl refer to Senator McCain in a column as, “Johnny Boy?” The article just gets worse from there.
Ms. Byl characterizes Senator Clinton's moderation as nothing more than a political tactic. On the other hand, Senator McCain's centrist tendencies made him “perfect,” giving him “the potential to nab Democrat, Republican, and independent votes alike.” Furthermore, Senator Clinton's reputation has gone from extremist liberal to moderate centrist. The same cannot be said of Senator McCain, who has moved steadily to the right in recent years. Moderates trying to win centrist votes do not pander to the Religious Right by giving commencement addresses at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.
Ms. Byl also decries Senator Clinton's inability to launch any “great projects,” ignoring the fact that the Republicans controlled the Senate, House, White House, and Supreme Court. As a member of the ruling party, anything that Senator McCain proposed was inherently more likely to be enacted. As for his accomplishments, I find it rather disturbing that someone should be lauded for legislation that states that torture is bad. Has the Bush Administration made our expectations this low?
I also found Byl's reading of history ludicrous. Kerry lost in 2004 because he was “far-too-liberal.” Apparently, it had nothing to do with the Republican tactic of linking everything to 9/11 and terrorism, the use of dissembling proxies like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and Kerry having the charisma of a turnip.
Byl then says, “the American public has shifted,” without offering any analysis as to how or why. I would suggest she look up Jack Abramoff, Ted Haggard, Mark Foley, “macaca” Allen, “man on dog” Santorum, or “heckuva job” Brown. She also may want to take note that the number of American troops killed in Iraq is quickly approaching the number of victims killed on 9/11. The American public has shifted because they have learned that the current Republican leadership is grotesquely corrupt, and more interested in partisan politics and keeping power than in actually governing.
Ms. Byl, as you are a journalism senior, I hope that you are applying for jobs at Fox News. Your right-wing bias and inability to deal with facts will be put to good use in their “fair and balanced” reporting.
OK, I shouldn't be doing this. I should be working on my cognitive architectures assignment and trying to get a single full-night's rest. But, I am just too distracted by election results. Now that George Allen has conceded, the Dems have seized control of both houses of Congress. For the first time in six years, I'm actually thinking there may be hope for a sane future.
While surfing around for more commentary, I stumbled across this piece by the repugnant Ann Coulter. It really is an amazing work of denial. According to Ann, seizing control of both houses is a sign of the "death throes of a dying party." Wow. My favorite quote of all, though, deserves it's own blockquote:
So however you cut it, this midterm proves that the Iraq war is at least more popular than Bill Clinton was.
How do you respond to someone who takes a statement like this seriously?
I pressed the buttons and saw it on the screen. But the machine was a Diebold, so there was no paper trail. I just have to hope that there's no programming glitch.
A Fox News reporter willingly undergoes waterboarding. Notice, of course, that they let him up as soon as he starts to struggle. Somehow, I don't think the inmate at Gitmo are let off quite so easy.
Do a search for Yukio Asano, who was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for war crimes that included torturing U.S. soldiers by waterboarding during WWII. The Khmer Rouge, the Soviet Union, the Nazis. Is this the type of company that our country wants to keep?
"It's a no-brainer," says Dick Cheney, when asked if waterboarding would be acceptable if the U.S. government thought that an enemy combatant may know something of use.
What I think is the most chilling thing about that video is how calmly the reporters discuss the merits of waterboarding. The discussion includes this quote: "As far as torture [emphasis mine] goes, at least in this controlled experiment, to me this seemed like a pretty efficient mechanism." This is the reporter that underwent the demonstration. He minces no words and calls it what it is.
If the Dems fail to reclaim at least one of the two houses of Congress, I will cry. Because everything that made this country great will either be dead or, at best, comatose.
I found this thread on Slashdot, where conspiracy theories are not uncommon. But it links to several outside sources, like this one.
Here's the gist: The National Republican Congressional Committee have been placing automated calls to people who live in areas of competitive races for tomorrow's midterms. First, the automated calls to people on do-not-call lists are illegal in New Hampshire and other states. So the NRCC is blatantly ignoring state laws in their phone campaign, claiming that, as a national entity, the NRCC is not bound by state laws.
So the NRCC is harrassing people on do-not-call registries in arguably illegal ways. Here's the twist, of which only the NRCC is capable: The recordings at first give the callee the impression that they are coming from Democrats! In the New Hampshire calls, the first words are, "Hello. I'm calling with information about [Democratic candidate] Paul Hodes." If you hang up at this point, your number will be dialed again later. So it appears that Paul Hodes's campaign is harrassing potential voters. You only learn that this message is from the NRCC at the end of the recorded message!
Sneaky, vicious, immoral, and potentially illegal. The National Republican Campaign Committee at work.
