Helplessly Awaiting Karma
Happy Friday, folks. I’m feeling unusually well rested today. Several nights in a row of early AM bedtimes finally caught up with me, so last night, I conked out by 10:30.
I’ve come to discover that I’m quite impressionable during my pre-work shower-and-NPR-time. Whatever topic happens to be on the airwaves during these crucial ten minutes tends to resonate strongly with me throughout the day, hence, Wednesday’s birthday shout-out to Iris Dement.
This morning it was the reporting of yesterday’s formal challenge to the electoral certification that took place in Congress yesterday. I’ll spare you a rehash of the details (go here for background), but I gots ta vent about this!
First, big ups to Barbara Boxer for having the metaphorical balls to stand up “to cast the light of truth on a flawed system which must be fixed now,” in her own words.
What strikes me most about this was the utterly shameful reaction by most Senate Republicans. Go figure. They treated the whole thing as a farce, misrepresenting the nature of the protest and completely distorting the Dems’ intentions. No one was trying to overturn the election results and install Sen. Kerry in the Oval Office. After all, that Communist Frenchman stabbed our troops, not to mention he throws like a girl.
In fact, the protest was not about the sour grapes of 2004 as much as it is and continues to be about 2008 and beyond. Just because the significant voting problems of last November, of which there were many, did not ultimately change the outcome of the election does not mean that those problems should be ignored. Is it right that some folks (mostly poor, mostly black, mostly Democratic) had to wait three, four, or more hours in line to vote? Do we really want to endure an electoral Groundhog Day every four years? Why can’t we learn from our mistakes? Isn’t this what our kids are ostensibly dying for in Iraq?
Now contrast this reaction with that of the GOP in Washington state, where a second and final recount put a Democrat in the governor’s office. The horror! It seems the losers of a close election will always cry foul while the winners try to change the subject, no matter what side of the proverbial fence you’re on. Such will never change until we come up with a better system.
Instead, our priorities are fucked and we get shafted by politicians drunk on their own power while what little remains of our nation’s prestige slowly shrivels away in a wasteland of One Party Rule.
Standard fare. It’s gonna be a long x number of years in the wilderness.
Now playing:
Cul de Sac – Death of the Sun
We the People – Mirror of our Minds
The Dears – End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story
I’ve come to discover that I’m quite impressionable during my pre-work shower-and-NPR-time. Whatever topic happens to be on the airwaves during these crucial ten minutes tends to resonate strongly with me throughout the day, hence, Wednesday’s birthday shout-out to Iris Dement.
This morning it was the reporting of yesterday’s formal challenge to the electoral certification that took place in Congress yesterday. I’ll spare you a rehash of the details (go here for background), but I gots ta vent about this!
First, big ups to Barbara Boxer for having the metaphorical balls to stand up “to cast the light of truth on a flawed system which must be fixed now,” in her own words.
What strikes me most about this was the utterly shameful reaction by most Senate Republicans. Go figure. They treated the whole thing as a farce, misrepresenting the nature of the protest and completely distorting the Dems’ intentions. No one was trying to overturn the election results and install Sen. Kerry in the Oval Office. After all, that Communist Frenchman stabbed our troops, not to mention he throws like a girl.
In fact, the protest was not about the sour grapes of 2004 as much as it is and continues to be about 2008 and beyond. Just because the significant voting problems of last November, of which there were many, did not ultimately change the outcome of the election does not mean that those problems should be ignored. Is it right that some folks (mostly poor, mostly black, mostly Democratic) had to wait three, four, or more hours in line to vote? Do we really want to endure an electoral Groundhog Day every four years? Why can’t we learn from our mistakes? Isn’t this what our kids are ostensibly dying for in Iraq?
Now contrast this reaction with that of the GOP in Washington state, where a second and final recount put a Democrat in the governor’s office. The horror! It seems the losers of a close election will always cry foul while the winners try to change the subject, no matter what side of the proverbial fence you’re on. Such will never change until we come up with a better system.
Instead, our priorities are fucked and we get shafted by politicians drunk on their own power while what little remains of our nation’s prestige slowly shrivels away in a wasteland of One Party Rule.
Standard fare. It’s gonna be a long x number of years in the wilderness.
Now playing:
Cul de Sac – Death of the Sun
We the People – Mirror of our Minds
The Dears – End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story
posted by Jonathan Wright at 2:12 PM EMAIL POST
