Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The gentle taste of a graceful lady

This is when I'm really sorry I quit American. You can't find Kasugai gummy candies with muscat juice here! Hey Rocco, if you read this while you're there, get some. But the ones that say they have "the gentle taste of a graceful lady" on the bag. I love the way the Japanese use English idioms, heh.

Why we should fear a McCain presidency... or English bloke thinks McCain is Bad News so how come Jon Stewart doesn't?

Why we should fear a McCain presidency

McC has the potential to be a worse president than Bush.

I can't believe I just wrote that, but at least that's what this British bloke over at the financial times wrote yesterday. I quote:

The problem that Mr McCain poses stems from his ideology, his policies and above all his personality. His ideology, like that of his chief advisers, is neo-conservative. In the past, Mr McCain was considered to be an old-style conservative realist. Today, the role of the realists on his team is merely decorative.

Anatol Lieven is a British journalist and policy analist. He studies U.S. global strategy and the war on terrorism (war on terror is incorrect!) at the New America Foundation in Washington.

His writing reads moderate, he calls forth valid examples. Being inmersed in American MSM, we may think he's got a Cassandra complex, but then again, Cassandra's prophecies were true, were they not?

Lieven has studied so called American patriotism and he wrote a book about it, America Right or Wrong. He calls it an optimistic "civic creed" rooted in respect for America's institutions, individual freedoms and constitutional law. The American way, the American thesis.

But every thesis has an antithesis, a soft, dirty white underbelly. In this case it's "a jingoistic, militaristic, Jacksonian nationalism that sees America as the bearer of a messianic mission to lead a Manichean struggle against the savages."
"I’d institute a policy that I call ‘rogue state rollback’. I would arm, train, equip, both from without and from within, forces that would eventually overthrow the governments and install free and democratically elected governments"

So said by McC in 2000. Walmart meets the CIA. Wasn't this precisely what they did in the the seventies and eighties with guys like Bin Laden? Gave them weapons and carte blanche to make war on nations the U.S. didn't feel like sharing their toys with, for example Russia?

So despite his Senatorial efforts in campaign finance, environmental law, budgetary overspending, the Abu Ghraib scandal, McCain has a potentially very dark side. He may not start wars for Chevron / Blackwater / Halliburton, but he can retaliate against a perceived slight.

And these Manifest Destiny types are dangerous anytime, anywhere, but I think there couldn't be a worse time for this type of Commander in Chief.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive ... That tension will not go away.

-Stewart Brand

This (Mamet word)-er could be on to something

David Mamet turns over to the dark side, and what it could mean for the Democrats come November.

David Mamet: Why I am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'

Basically, Mamet picked up some economics texts and realized the liberals' weakest link is, (drum roll here) ....the economy. Stop the presses.

No one listened, maybe because a) No one reads the Village Voice anymore, b) this came out the same week as Spitzergate or c) We're still wrapped up in Obama vs. Hillary and Obama's race speech. Take your pick, or maybe all three.

Some liberal media outlets/personalities dismissed it, but it didn't really cause headlines. Nine days later, someone over at the WSJ connects the dots, and writes about Mamet, Tom Stoppard and liberal autonomy.

David Mamet's Revision

Daniel Henninger, the author, does not Repubicanly dis the Democrats as touchy feely, granola hippies or anything like that. He does remind us that the Dems still have that early twentieth century distrust of big business and love of big government. And I find myself agreeing with him. With a Wall Street Journal editorial.

This is a case where the party has not evolved with the times, and it's ended up losing because of it. I do too distrust big business, but you don't accomplish much by shunning them. And that's kinda what they do, shoving their fingers in their (blue) ears and going nyah-nyah-nyah. You welcome Big Business, you work with them, you police them. You don't have to be their doormat.

And if more Americans realize that in the current economic climate, well, let's just say this is good news for John McCain. Especially if he can capitalize on the Republican business sense reputation while distancing himself from Bush overtones of cronyism. You think it can't be done? I for one wouldn't underestimate Karl Rove.

But all is not lost for the Dems, at least not yet. Obama has close ties with the University of Chicago, those heathen F.A. Hayek worshippers. And his policy people are rumored to be academic yet pragmatic economists who prefer to tinker with an existing system rather than make dramatic sweeping statements à la Big Idea loving Clintons.

The Audacity of Data: Barack Obama's surprisingly non-ideological policy shop. The New Republic

If somehow they can doll up their ideas enough to get the voters to pay attention for a bit, maybe have Jessica Alba present them, they may just win.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

A Dear Ben letter

Read this! ----> Dear Ben: Seriously, Next Time, F*** Wall Street

What the average American probably thinks about Ben Bernanke, Bear Stearns, and Wall Street.

I think she gets some important facts wrong, but the sentiment is valid. Why should the Fed (which she equates with U.S. tax payers) have to bail out a bank that dug its own grave? When the buying power of the minimum wage employee is at a 51-year low? Really? You want to help Gordon Gekko?

Well, it's good to take a step back sometimes and ponder the alternatives to chasing our own tail all day. Life will go on, even if banks default.

And who really agrees with Ayn Rand anyway? the woman went on for about 50 pages on the evils of communism in Atlas Shrugged! For that alone, she irritated the hell out of me. Yes, freedom is paramount!! We get it, you don't need 50 pages of vitriol, we're not morons.

And for the record, just to annoy my Republican friends, Cuban schoolchildren are waaay more literate than Americans. And they have better healthcare. Also, it's important to note what George Carlin once said, that American's have sold a bunch of their freedoms for the illusion of safety, since 9/11. But that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Everybody wants to be the Underdog.

Pues ya están doblando las campanas y diciendo que Hilaria va a ganar, que va a barrer en Pennsylvania y en la convención le va a quitar la paleta a Obama.

Peroooo.... no tenemos acceso a números reales! No confío en Mainstream Media gringo. Están peor que el Nyse que se dejan llevar como borregos y están desconectados de Joe & Jane Sixpack.

Razones por las que Clinton no barrerá en las Pennsylvannias

4.2% de la población de Pennsylvania es latina, un grupo que tradicionalmente apoya a Clinton.

10.7% de la población del estado es negra**. Philadelphia es "The City of Brotherly Love". A poco van a dejar morir a su hermano Obama?

Ahora, hablemos del voto duro de Hilary, las mujeres y los blancos. O más bien, las mujeres blancas.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42000.html

De acuerdo al último censo,

51.4% de la población de Pennsylvania son mujeres.
85.7% son blancos
77.5% son mayores de 18 años.

Puedo deducir entonces que 34% de la población de Pennsylvania son mujeres blancas mayores de 18 años. Deduciendo solamente, con estos tres datos. No va a ser exacto pero por ahí andamos, antes de que empiezen a gritar que no estoy controlando para otras variables, etc.

De este 34%, no todas van a votar, a pesar de que la primaria de este estado es abierta y no tienes que estar registrado con ningún partido para participar, solamente ser ciudadano y estar en el padrón electoral.

Aparte, yo descontaría a las mujeres de 18 a 3o o hasta 35 años, porque ellas no son voto duro de Hillary. Hasta pueden ser simpatizantes de Obama. Con qué nos quedamos? un 28-30%? De una población de 12 millones 440 mil 621 personas... entonces estamos hablando de unas 3 millones y medio de mujeres? Y cuántas van a votar? La mitad? menos?

Uno de los problemas que tienen los demócratas es la falta de disciplina, la falta del "voto duro" que los republicanos sí tienen. Como el PAN, jajaja. Pero Obama ha salido adelante porque ha construido buenas bases, trae una estructura firme que es lo que les ha faltado al partido de los burros en los últimos años.

Ya se que estas son unas proyecciones muy, pero muy burdas, y que estos porcentajes no garantizan nada, y que realmente pocos votan, pero bueno, son indicadores.

Recuerden que a Hilaria no le va muy bien cuando se proyecta tan oronda y segura de si misma. Cuando parece que va a morir y se pone a chillar, es cuando viene de atrás y gana. De alguna manera se le olvida y vuelve a perder.


You got no fear of the underdog, that's why you will not survive - Spoon, the Underdog


** (no les choca eso de "African-American"? Tan PC que ya ni es verdad y a mi punto de vista hasta llega a insultar. Como si negro fuera algo malo)

Monday, March 10, 2008

Who dares to say my elixir is piss? who says dis? .. .Microsoft senior VPs do

They criticized Vista. And they should know

Ooohhh, BURN!

Mike Nash, a Microsoft vice president who oversees Windows product management.

Jon A. Shirley, a Microsoft board member and former president and chief operating officer.

Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's senior vice president responsible for Windows.

They all upgraded to Vista and then had issues with their software. Nash bought a laptop with a "Windows Vista capable" logo, which turned out to be false. He can't run applications like Microsoft Movie Maker (who uses that shit anyway?) or the full Vista either.

“I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine,” he says.

There is a class action lawsuit going on by people who bought "Windows Capable" machines, which is marketing bullshit. So internal Microsoft emails where requisitioned.

So, we come to our Sweeney Todd moment of the week...

Bill Gates: "Who dares to say my elixir is piss? who says dis?"

Bill's VPs: We do. We have opened a bottle of Vista's Elixer and we say to you, it is nothing but an arrant fraud, concocted from piss and ink.

Even the Mac vs. PC ads aren't this funny.

Desde cuando eres tan sabio kux?

Mi hermano tiene casi 20. Le llevo seis años. Me saca como veinte centímetros. Todos saben que nos llevamos muy, pero muy bien. Pero es mi hermano menor. Por lo tanto lo puedo mangonear, pendejear y pedirle favores y cubiertas ya que él hace lo mismo conmigo (menos la mangoneada y pendejeada). Para eso estamos las hermanas, y los hermanos, mayores.

Desde cuándo eres tan sabio kuku? Siempre he sabido que eres muy inteligente, incluso brillante. Sagaz, burlón, tímido, noble, egoísta, honesto, no confiable, leal, arrastrado, amigo y muchas otras cosas. Pero ahora podemos agregar... SABIO.



Kuku says:
aver a lo que yo he aprendido en esta hermosa vida es que existen dos tipos de amigos
1. con los que sales, te la pasas con madre pero les viene valiendo 582094582 kilos de verga si se te cae un brazo por descomposicion espontanea (muy usual en los paises sureños de africa)
2. los que estan contigo cuando te da por chillar como jirafa en celo LO CUAL SIGNIFICA que tu tmb tienes que ayudarlos en sus problemas de weba que usualmente oscilan entre "mi crush no me pela" y "mi mama no me comprende"

Kuku says:
hermana mia a estas alturas deberias saber que lo unico que se le puede decir es "----, te estas lastimando al posponerlo y deberias decirselo a ------ de una vez u olvidarte de el" <--- no te pelara pero cuando ella sola se desapendeje (snaps out of it citando a mi amiga de la infancia cher) ---- volteara y dira "xochitl fuiste tan buena conmigo te quiero y te debo la vida"

Kuku says:
aveces traes ganas de hechar a andar el cerebro y darles un consejo filosofal de como salir adelante en esta vida y lograr el nirvana al mismo tiempo ...

tambien podras admirar como te tiran al leon ya que su dolor de muela es mas improtante que tu tesis acerca de la cura a la desnutricion en niños africanos de 10- años ... oooooooooooooo... aveces no.

Y despues de varias practicas puestas a prueba y error me di cuenta que... lo unico que quieren es HABLAR y se sienten mejor hablando contigo que con la pared porque es menos patetico -.- y porque tu puedes decir "si" cada 5 mins y basicamente con eso podrias satisfacer sus necesidades basicas de gemir por su descontento con la vida

Friday, March 07, 2008

Liberal Manifesto

This was too good to pass up.

I agree with the text, but my hipsteur sensibilites recoil from such earnestness. I was like that when I was 17, thank you very much. I got beaten up for it. I got Paxil and Zoloft and all those wonderful drugs for it.

I especially love the What Would Jesus Do bit, since I'm more of the What Would Tyler Durden Do persuasion. I know I signed a social contract with moi to let myself believe but I still guffaw every now and then. Cynical Me says, "Dontcha just love self appointed liberals? And all those people willing to die for their beliefs? They think they can still beat the right!" Sorry!

I'm fatalist/pragmatist/realist. Then I repent and realize that at the end of the day, being cynical is the easy way out, and only hope can carry us through. It would help if words like hope hadn't been hijacked by Oprah and her crew.

I'll be good tomorrow, I promise.

Liberals believe in clean air, diplomacy, stem cells, living wages, body armor for our troops, government accountability, and that exercising the right to dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

Liberals believe in reading actual books, going to war as a last resort, separating church and hate, and doing what Jesus would actually do, instead of lobbying for upper-class tax cuts and fantasizing about the apocalypse.

Liberals believe in civil rights, the right to privacy, and that evolution and global warming aren’t just theories but incontrovertible scientific facts.

Liberals believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment that (1) prohibits another Bush from ever occupying the White House, and (2) prevents George W. Bush from ever becoming baseball commissioner before he does to our national pastime what he did for America.

Liberals believe in rescuing people from flooded streets and rooftops, even if they’re too poor to vote Republican.

Liberals believe that supporting our troops means treating our wounded vets like the heroes they are, and not leaving them to languish in rat-infested military hospitals under the outsourced management of incompetent cronies who think they’re running a Taco Bell franchise.


Liberals believe in pheromones, sex ed, solar panels, voting paper trails, the common good, and that, no matter how fascinating a story it may be, a president should never sit around in a state of total paralysis reading "My Pet Goat" while America is under attack.

And above all, liberals believe that it’s time to come together as a country and put a collective boot in the ass of shameless conservative fearmongers, hate merchants, and scapegoaters who are sucking the freedom out of all our souls.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

You are the music while the music lasts.

-T.S. Eliot

It's strange that words are so inadequate. Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath, so the lover must struggle for words.

-T.S. Eliot

Just

Gender Wars


Ufffff, como diría Rusty.


¿Cómo será la persona privada de Hillary?


¿Será una sumisa de closet?


¿Se sentirá liberada al ceder control a alguien más, después de muchísima lucha interna?


Esto es o muy misógino y anti-progres, o al contrario, es demasiado progres.


En todo caso es muy privado para discutirlo aquí.


Dijo la chica que escribió y dirigió un corto sobre juegos sexuales y de sumisión.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Estúpida, estúpida Hillary.

Estúpido, estúpido Ohio. Lo mismo Texas.

Ahora de aquí al 22 de abril para las primarias de Pennsylvania.

Ahora Billary anda diciendo que esta competencia puede terminar en un "shared ticket". En el Early show de CBS, dijo, “Well, that may be where this is headed, but of course we have to decide who is on the top of the ticket.”

Y luevo dijo que como ella ganó en Ohio ella debe ser la candidata presidencial. Ajá, sip. Obama tiene más delegados que tú, logró 11 victorias al hilo, pero como tú ganaste un mísero estado, debes ser la candidata presidencial, y Obama el vicepresidencial. Ya basta con su idea de que alguien le debe la presidencia. Bill le debe una disculpa, no la Casa Blanca.


Cambiando de tema, llevo dos días con una canción de Footloose en mi radio mental... Let's Hear it for the Boy!

Hmmmm, ¿qué significará?

Soy Woody Allen, neurótica en exceso.

Estoy en ese exquisito punto justo antes de dar el salto al vacío... Ya he tomado la decisión, falta la ejecución. Tengo mariposas. ¿Y si la respuesta es no? Pues no es el fin del mundo. ¿Y si no capto la respuesta? Pues tampoco puedo pasar del suelo, ¿o sí?

Quisiera una señal, un sí inequívoco... pero luego no sería interesante el asunto (dizque)....yo puedo vivir con eso.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Will someone pleeaase friggin comment? The suspense is killing me.