Rage, Rage, Rage, Rage

I have written before on this blog about Fred Phelps the head of the Westebrough baptist church(do I look like I care if that I spelled it wrong?) and his frequent picketing of funerals. He has done soldiers, murdered teenagers, and dead mothers so what was his first reaction to the tragic shooting in Arizona? He is going to go and picket one of the victim's funeral. But in case that doesn't get you angry enough wait till you here whose funeral it is going to be.

The Victim of Mr. Phelp's hate and intolerance is Ms. Christina Green who is nine years old. Yes, Mr Phelps is picketing the funeral of a 9 Year Old. There are literally no words, there are no words.

Mr Phelps, no, I won't even call him that Mister is a term of respect and he deserves none and has earned none, Phelps said on his website(godhatesfags) about her ""God hates Catholics, God calls your religion 'vain,' as it's empty of His truth; you worship idols!" because Ms. Green was a Catholic, you see.

I thought about how to respond to this story, I could rant, I could be bitingly sarcastic, I could swear and call Phelps names. But no, I will just describe Ms. Green's short life for you briefly.

She was born on September 11th, 2001. She had just been elected to her Elementary School Student Council and had dreams of serving in higher office. A neighbour had taken her to see their Representive this Saturday for that reason. She will never serve in higher office, she will never go on a date, she will never get married, she will never have a child, she will never have a grandchild, she will never go to high school, she will never go to college, she will never be a teenager, she will never read another book, she will never listen to another piece of music, she will never see another film, she had an entire life in front of her and it was all wiped out like that. And as if that wasn't tragedy enough some so called "Religious Leader" is going to picket her funeral.

To quote Mr. Joseph Welch, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

No God that I believe in or want to believe in is behind you Phelps. You are a father for God's Sake! And you are picketing a nine year old's funeral! "At long last have you left no sense of Decency"

My mother often says that the only hell is one that you make for yourself, and I don't know if I believe that, but Phelps is certainly supporting her case. He has made his hell and now he wants to make the world Hell for the rest of us. When you die, Phelps, you will leave behind nothing but hate and fear.

A nine year old girl.

Rage like you have never seen it before

Ok quick background on this quote. In recent weeks four gay teenagers have killed themselves primarily due to Homophobia. So a gay rights group tried to get everyone to wear purple to show that acceptance. So the VP of an Arkansas School district took to facebook and posted a rant about how he was only going to wear purple if every gay person died. He then went on to say in his comments section.

"I like that fags can't procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other AIDS and die."

and

"Being a fag doesn't give you the right to ruin the rest of our lives. If you get easily offended by being called a fag then don't tell anyone you are a fag. Keep that **** to yourself."

He also said that he would disown any child of his who was gay. But none of them would because he had a good Christian lifestyle or something.

Ok, Now I am strongly resisting the urge to scream and rant, because I think that his comments speak for themselves but.....My God. This man talks about living a Christian lifestyle then he says things like that? What was it that Jesus said.....oh that's right "Love your Neighbor as yourself."

For those of you who are regular readers of the blog you will remember I wrote and posted a song a few weeks back called For Fred Phelps in which I referenced the Elvis Costello song Tramp the Dirt Down. If you go back in the LR archives and read it while mentally making it about this guy you have my feelings.

This man is not only a bigot and a fool but he is also dangerous. We have an epidemic of Gay suicides especially among teenagers. When a 13 year old hangs himself after years of bullying we've got a problem. When another teen shots himself in the head we've got a problem. When a Gay college student is forced out of the closet and jumps off a bridge we've got a problem. And Mr. Vice President of the School Board I am terribly sorry if their homosexuality puts you out but I think that it puts them out more. And honestly sir I think that you are a sad excuse for a human being and you should not be allowed to join the PTA yet alone the school board. Children are dying and you sit high and mighty passing judgment saying how you will only wear purple if all gay people kill themselves. Elvis Costello was right I want to live long enough to tramp the dirt down.

Oh no you dinit

I am outraged. And before I begin to tell you what's so outrageous I must thank Elfarmy for showing me what to be outraged about and it worked because now I'm outraged.

I am outraged because NPR, which I now dub Nazi Plutocrat Radio, has committed an unspeakable atrocity. They had persecuted a innocent man and stripped him of his god given 1st amendment rights simply because they didn't like his political beliefs.

I am speaking of Juan Williams(who like the great martyr Rachel Corrie was driven over by a bulldozer, the bulldozer of the liberal biased media) who simply stated his balanced logical and reasonable view and Narcissist Paranoid Radio was scared that he would challenge their secret agenda and so they fired him.

But no, we will not stand for it. Already a public backlash has started against Name-calling Poor-loving Radio. Sarah Palin has called for the cutting off of all government funding for NPR and musicians are beginning to record protest songs sticking up for Mr. Williams. Roger Ailes has been public about his support for Mr. Williams 1st Amendment rights.

How about we look at what he said.

"I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

How about I flip the sarcasm switch to off right now and address Juan Williams personally.

Mr. Williams you are the former host of one of my favorite NPR programs and I am sure you are an intelligent man but I feel that your comments, setting aside the prejudicial nature of it, don't make any sense.

What exactly do you mean by Muslim garb? Are you referring to the burkahs worn by the women? If not what else are you referring to? Also how does wearing religious paraphernalia mean that they identify themselves first and foremost as Muslims? If I am Jewish and I wear a a kippah does that mean that I am defining myself first and foremost as a Jew? If I am a Sikh and I wear a turban does that mean that I am defining myself first and foremost as a Sikh? If I am Christian and I wear a cross necklace does that mean that I am defining myself first and foremost as a Christian?

(I shall now address my readers again)

The reason that NPR fired him is because "News analysts may not take personal public positions on controversial issues; doing so undermines their credibility as analysts..." They have a perfect right to fire a analyst if they think that he is no longer credible. It is their right. It is his right to say what he wants and it is their right to not like it and fire him accordingly.

If he was working in an office where his political beliefs had nothing to do with his work it would be different but the fact that his political beliefs or lack there of are the cornerstone of his job it is appropriate for his employer to fire him for his statement.

And Sarah Palin saying that we need to cut funding to NPR because they fired a correspondent really really bothers me. She is proposing crippling an institution that has been providing the public with information for 40 years just to score some political points. She truly appears to have no morals at all.

2010 Midterm Democratic Fight Song

About 40 days away from the midterms, the Tea Party winning primaries right and left, Republicans poised to make gains, you know what it's time for?

That's right the 2010 Midterm Democratic Fight Song

2010 Midterm Democratic Fight Song
Tea Party keeps marching forward
with their insane economic agenda
and their candidates seem to get more fringe every day
and it seems like all hope for the dems has just gone away

Hey Hey
Let's Go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats

Liberalism is still around
We're ready to rise when we see the point
We are the progressive coalition
we love FDR and are real fans of Freedom of Religion

Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats

Republicans held the country
hostage to their filibuster
they shook their fists no, no to the military, no to health care
no to their own ideas no to making the economy a little more fair

Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats

rap bridge

I get that they didn't get much done
but the democratic party we shouldn't shun
if the moderation of Congress makes frown
imagine what things will be like when the Tea Party comes to town

I agree that the best way to prevent a conservative takeover
is to give the Democrats a makeover
to make 'em liberal again
maybe we'll get some movement then

but right now we gotta be happy with what we got
so vote for the Democrat even if you don't like him a whole lot

end rap bridge

Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats

vote against palin
and her divisive rhetoric
and her total lack of substance
and the far right idea she's trying to sell us

Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats

vote for the freedom
that we we guaranteed
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
and let's not tax the rich any less

Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the Democrats

vote against the talk show hosts
who yell and scream
when a Muslim wants to pray
or when a soldier who's fighting for us happens to be gay

Hey Hey
Let's go vote now
Hey Hey
Vote for the democrats

So I'm not an american

As I'm sure many of you know, Glenn Beck held a little shin-dig in Washington DC this weekend. At this Conservative Prat Party(get it frat--prat, yep I do puns now) Sarah Palin(who as you all know is one of favorite people in politics) made a speech(I like using parentheses to provide humorous asides, can you tell?) in which she said to the crowd: "Look around you; you are not alone. You are Americans!"

So I can interpret that two ways. 1) I'm not American because I was neither there nor agree with her politics or 2) The crowd was a little confused as to what to chant. One person started chanting "Canada! Canada! Canada!" another yelled "Go Wales!" but the largest group was chanting "Luxembourg! Luxembourg! Luxembourg!". So Mrs. Palin had to go up there and remind them that they were Americans after all. Or maybe it's 3) She was saying something generic and clichéd to whip up a crowd without actually thinking about what the heck it was supposed to mean. Personally I'm going with the 2nd.

I am now going to talk about Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck who basically every liberal worth his or her salt has trashed. Glenn Beck who says thing like Look forward. Look West. Look to the heavens. Look to God and make your choice, Do we no longer believe in the power of the individual? Do we no longer believe in dreams?".

Here is what I want to say about Glenn Beck, He's satirizing the Conservative Media. Seriously, Glenn Beck has basically become Stephen Colbert. What he says is so crazy, so out there, and is performed in such an over-the-top way that he's gotta be joking. Or nuts. Or just in it for the money. Personally(as someone who used to occasionally watch clips of Glenn's CNN show) I'll go for the first one. He used to have a sense of humor and some rational thought. And now he's jumping around, tearing up in a really, really obviously fake way, writing crazy things on a chalk board. It's either money or humor. And I want to go with the humor because Glenn Beck used to strike me as a nice enough guy. He did say some pretty conservative things but he was rational and slightly rational about it. On CNN he did once compare having to choose between Obama, Clinton, or McCain as having to choose between being shot, stabbed, or poisoned, but he was still a little logical. Now he just isn't, but he is very entertaining. And I'm not sure that when I'm laughing at Glenn Beck, he isn't laughing along with me.

How To Fix Congress

Congress, poor congress sometimes you just have to feel sorry for them. I mean of the three branches they really do the most work, get very little credit, and take most of the blame. Currently they have a 22% approval rating so I thought that now would be a good time to talk about How To Fix Congress(I bet you guessed I was going to say that).

So here is how I would reform Congress, keep the Senate the way it is(Two Senators per state) and get rid of the House of Representatives and replace it with the new and improved House of Representatives(the House of Representatives Beta is you will). What will happen every two years is that people go and vote for their senator(if one is up for reelection) and for which party they like the best.

Then the total votes for each party is tallied and they assign the seats in this way: Let's say that the Republicans got 45%, The Democrats got 52%, The Libertarians got 2%, and the Green Party got 1% then the Republicans get 180 seats that they can fill with whoever won their primaries, The Democrats get 208 seats that they can fill with whoever won their primaries, the Libertarians get 8 seats which they can fill with....... you guessed it! whoever won their primaries, and the Green Party get 4 seats which they can fill with whoever won their primaries.

There would be about 400 seats in The House of Representatives and they would be assigned proportionally. The only problem that I can see is what would happen to those who got less than 1% of the vote, I think that there would probably have to be a law that says that if you get less than .25% of the vote you don't get a seat.

This new system would both give third parties a chance and give those running against incumbents a fair chance. Also coalitions would need to form enhancing bipartisanship.

The political system is obviously broken, and I know that because I lost

So Charlie Christ decided to run as a traitor, whoops sorry I mean independent this week because the political system of Florida is broken. How does Mr. Christ know this? Because he fell behind in the polls.

I would actually like to introduce a new feature on this blog, called the Liberal Rocker Endorses. So in the Florida Senate Race, The Liberal Rocker Endorses, drumroll please, Charlie Christ! Yes Charlie Christ of the backstabbing liar party. Why? Because I think that the Republicans need their own Joe Lieberman, an independent who sort of agrees with them but totally disagrees with them on other issues and votes with the other party.

Veto Racial Profiling? Why Would I Do That?

Today the Governor of Arizona signed into law a bill which aims to help police deal with illegal immigration. So far so good right? Everything's good, just another day in Arizona. So why am I writing about it? Because when you actually read the bill there are some very scary things in it, and I don't mean that the bill quotes Stephen King, the scariness of this bill is a much more George Orwell type of scariness.

The bill states that "FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE WHERE REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES, A REASONABLE ATTEMPT SHALL BE MADE,
WHEN PRACTICABLE, TO DETERMINE THE IMMIGRATION STATUS OF THE PERSON. THE PERSON'S IMMIGRATION STATUS SHALL BE VERIFIED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PURSUANT TO 8 UNITED STATES CODE SECTION 1373(c)."

Yeah. And that's not even the best bit. That comes later in the bill when it says "A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, WITHOUT A WARRANT, MAY ARREST A PERSON IF THE OFFICER HAS PROBABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE THAT THE PERSON HAS COMMITTED ANY PUBLIC OFFENSE THAT MAKES THE PERSON REMOVABLE FROM THE UNITED STATES."

What I love is that the Governor of Arizona signed the bill and then issued an executive order saying that police officers should have training on how to enforce this law without using racial profiling. Did she miss the memo or something? "REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES"? How can that not be racial profiling? How do they expect to have "reasonable suspicion"? If the person has an accent?

This law is slippery slope, and I certainly don't like where the slope leads.

And that's the way it is.
(I really need my own catchphrase to say at the end of rants like this, any suggestions?)

quote of the day

"I never considered myself a maverick."----John McCain

Yeah he never considered himself a maverick except in campaign ads(one was actually called "the Original mavericks"), speeches, town halls, debates, and the subtitle of one of his memoirs. For years John McCain's thing is that he's a maverick and that he wasn't elected "Miss Congeniality", now apparently he never said that. John, what's going on in that mind of yours?

A question

Okay so this is a question I have for Alex who represents the conservatives here at LR(see I have a cool abbreviation). Do you think that the government should help those who can't help themselves? And if so, how should they help people who can't afford health care for their children and themselves? How should they help people who have lost their jobs or their houses?

If not, then why shouldn't they? If the government shouldn't help people then what should they do?

A few news flashes

John Boehner said last night in a speech on the House Floor "Can you go home and tell your senior citizens that these cuts in Medicare will not limit their access to doctors and further weaken the program instead of strengthening it?"

He said like many others have that we have to resist Government Medicine and strengthen medicare. Now I say this with as much respect possible to those who say this, but ARE YOU ALL IDIOTS?!!!!

Medicare is in fact, gasp, Government Medicine. It is run by the God Blessed Government! It is Socialized Medicine in every way! As is Medicaid and the health care that the army has(that incidentally has been called by conservatives the best health care in the world).

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I am not a huge fan of hypocrisy. And arguing against government health care by saying how great Medicare is is, wait for it, Hypocrisy!

John Boehner also said that the Republicans weren't involved enough in the process. I will simply put what I yelled at my computer screen while I watched him say it "We put you on national freaking TV! What more do you want?! You refused to negotiate!"

a few words on sampling and the census along with some ideas for the 2020 census

Census are being mailed out and filled out this week so I decided to give you, surprise, a few words on sampling and the census along with some ideas for the 2020 census. So here we go.

While there are undeniable flaws in the Census system we have now, I don't think that sampling is a fair solution. I do not say that for political reasons, on the contrary my political party would be helped by sampling, I just have this crazy idea that when you count you should start at one, go to two, and then to three, and so on. I believe that no matter the expense we should make sure that everyone is counted. The government needs to reach out to leaders in the minority communities to help with getting minorities counted.


When you think about it there is really no reason why the census should cost 2.6 Billion Dollars. I mean basically you're(yes I know I'm talking directly to the government while before I wasn't, deal with it) mailing a ton of letters. I mean, come on, you guys own the post office can't you say to your employees “ don't charge us for these. We pay your salary after all.”? The government paying for postage is like a restaurant owner having to pay for dinner. It's crazy.

You could also probably find High School or College kids to volunteer or work minimum wage ringing doorbells or reading the letters or whatever it is census workers do. Then you get a paper company to donate paper for you, they can put in their commercials “Official paper of the U.S. Senate.” and find an ink company to donate the ink. So basically you're not paying for postage, paper, ink, or help. So it won't have to cost 2.6 Billion anymore. While we're on the subject, how the heck did you manage to spend 2.6 Billion Dollars. That is, and I worked it out on a calculator, $118.308,879,863 for every person in the united states. Surely paper and ink and postage couldn't have cost that much. Now that you don't have to spend 118 bucks per person you can put more money into making sure that minorities are counted and that people aren't counted twice. Now that I've brought it up I just wanted to ask how did you manage to count people twice. I mean it's kind of hard to do it accidentally.

The Supreme Court ruled that sampling was unconstitutional and I don't see any need to stir up trouble, resentment and anger over something that will become unnecessary if we are able to make the current system cost effective and able to count everyone.

Scott Brown Wins Mass. Senate Seat!

GOP nominee Scott Brown has won the hotly contested Massachusetts senate seat. With a final tally of Scott Brown 52% and the Democrat, Martha Coakley, 47%. This is a monumental upset because 2 months ago saying a republican could win in the fortress of Liberalism was unthinkable. Yet very soon Scott Brown, a conservative republican, is going to be sworn in as Massachusetts's senator. This race captured national attention for another reason, Scott Brown repeatedly promised to be the 41 vote against the health care reform bill. That would brake the 60 vote super majority, allowing a republican filibuster. Many have said that this is the end of health care reform. The independent candidate Joe Kennedy received 1% of the vote. Joe Kennedy had no relation to the previous seat holder.

John Edwards, hypocrite of the year

We all know John Edwards as an estranged Democrat womanizing jerk. I was watching a CNN round-table discussion of Mr. Edwards lunacy, I feel a special connection to him as he both was a Senator from my state and the first politician I ever heard speak, and they showed a picture of him speaking with a podium under him that said "Father of the Year".

So, I Googled it, and yes, John " I made a serious error in judgment" Edwards was named Father of the Year for 2007, a full year after he started his liaison with Miss Reille "You're so hot" Hunter, and I don't care if I spelled her name wrong.

How great of father is John Edwards being while he continues to wreck his youngest child's life by denying that he is the father? The "Father of the Year" is continually denying that he is a father with some responsibilities. The "Father of the Year" wants to marry another woman after his wife dies. The "Father of the Year" wants the Dave Mathews Band to play at his rooftop wedding.

I wonder if he still has the plaque up in his house. If he does, I say we go take it. John "Narcissism" Edwards does not deserve any award for parenting.

In an unconnected story, Gov. Mark Sanford was award the "Husband of the Year Award" last night.

And that's the way it is.

A message to Ex-President Carter

Jimmy Carter made headlines last week when he said that most of the criticism directed at President is fueled by racism. I am one-hundred percent certain that you have already heard that statement, and the fact that Obama disagrees with President Carter.

I have a great deal of respect for James Carter, I think he is a great elder-statesman, but shut the heck up, okay? I mean seriously, the President wants to push Health Care not have an absurd discussion about whether every critic of Obama is a racist.

Mr. Carter is causing trouble for no earthly reason, I mean "Most" of the criticism is racist. According to Maureen Dowd, Joe Wilson did not yell "You Lie" or "Lie" but "You Lie, Boy". Ms. Dowd, author of the totally un-offensive book "Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide."(I have not read it and don't plan too, but I don't know if it's as offensive as it sounds so don't get all angry at me for victimizing Ms. Dowd), made that up.

I am sorry to say it, but she did. There is no way she could make out the word "Boy" in that statement. I couldn't even make out the word "You". Ms. Dowd made that statement up, she made it up to market her column. And the country suffered for it.

Barack Obama probably wants to pull a Dick Cheney on these guys. The poor man has hit the television circuit to push health care and all anyone wants to talk about is "Racism".

We must get a health care bill through, and I for one don't want to force people to vote for it because if they don't I'll call them racist. That makes us no better than the Republicans. Stop, Shut Up, and then pass the bill. And let the President talk about Health Care.