Singing, Dancing, Waste, Racism, & Censorship

Happy Hump Day!

Today begins season 11 of American Idol, the flagship of those reality shows that crush the dreams of millions across the country.  I hoped that American Idol would fade mercifully into the sunset after the its creator left to start a copycat reality show; alas, it refuses to die and we are stuck with yet another singing and/or dancing show polluting the airwaves during prime time television.  Now I'm starting to wonder where the saturation point is.  We have American Idol, X Factor, Dancing With The Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Got Talent, etc. etc. etc.

I suppose, however, that reality shows such as these are good for demonstrating to young people that, in real life, everybody doesn't get a trophy just for participating.  On the other hand, I fail to understand the twisted allure of watching adult role models open fire on the esteem of naive, idealistic young people...or the fanatical worshiping of these shows by their fans.  If only they demonstrated the same passion and interest toward what's going on around them in America, our country might be in better shape.

Meanwhile, from the Department of Federal Waste and Imprudence, it seems that the federal government deemed it worthy to spend $1.6 million in taxpayer dollars from a transportation fund in order to restore hundreds of Chicano "murals" from the 1970's that were painted onto freeway underpasses in California.  These murals began as simple graffiti borne of "rage" from Hispanics that believe half of the United States should be taken by force and made a part of Aztlan, a fictitious nation that is to be inhabited exclusively by Mexicans.  Some of this graffiti that our tax dollars are being used to restore include glorifying murderous and oppressive asshats like Che' Guevara and Fidel Castro.

Evidently, the funds earmarked for this restoration project were approved in 2002; however, the focus on Aztlan - one pillar of the Mexican supremacy doctrine - was a concern for our government.  But the Obama administration, cozy with the overtly racist group La Raza (The Race) and willfully ignorant of the fact racism  actually IS perpetuated by people that aren't white, released the funds and work has begun to restore these murals.

I marvel at how racism is allowed - and encouraged - to flourish among minority groups, while Caucasians are taught to be ashamed and guilty in perpetuity because of our ancestors' actions.  In order to be politically correct, it seems one must acknowledge that racism is just a white thang...and it warms my heart knowing my tax dollars are paying to spread the word.

Moving on...there have been two bills introduced in Congress recently, informally known as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act).  The idea behind the legislation is fighting piracy of songs, videos, and other artistic works that one would normally need to pay for before downloading.  These bills were poorly written to say the least, and if they became law they would effectively become legal justification for subjective censorship.  Websites with even a crumb of questionable content would get shut down immediately, and questions would be asked later.  Guilty until proven innocent.  

As a result of these bills, many internet content providers have chosen to black out their websites today as a form of protest against the proposed legislation.  If you were to try using Wikipedia today, for instance, you'd be out of luck.  Other sites, such as Craigslist, have added front pages drawing attention to the issue and asking surfers to take action by writing or calling their congressional representatives urging them to vote "no" on these bills.  I'm glad that they're using their prominent position in society to protest this idiocy, because we must be extremely careful proposing anything that could come anywhere close to censorship.  We have already lost freedoms and liberties in the name of security with the Patriot Act and similar legislation, and the same encroachment and oppression simply cannot reoccur when it comes to our free speech rights.

As a side note, these artists and owners of the material in question have been pushing for something like this because they don't get paid when their works are copied and shared freely (and illegally).  I find it ironic and slightly hilarious that many of these artists are leftists, and they would just as soon wipe their asses with exact same capitalist system they are trying to exploit.

As another side note, I'm pretty disgusted by the embarrassingly poor job that our legislators are doing in writing bills over the past few years.  There's little doubt in my mind that some of it is by design, but when reading the SOPA and PIPA bills, they reek of their authors' incompetence.  Could it be that the special interests (RIAA, MPAA, etc.) wrote the bills on behalf of the legislators?  The concept is not so far fetched; I'm certain that it's happened before...but the politicians that put their names on this stuff really need to do a better job editing the bills before they're published for everyone to see.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Politics and Post-Racial Racism

Racism is alive and well in the United States of America.

While some in the media breathlessly declared in 2008 that a post-racial utopia was ushered in with the election of Barack Obama, such declarations were hardly based on reality.  Voter turnout rates of young blacks increased 8.7% over 2004 - the largest jump ever - to 58.2% in 2008, and a full 95% - 95%! - of all blacks voted for Obama.  It's clear that race was a major factor - if not the only factor - in how blacks voted.

That, my friends, is racism.  Racism practiced by some who were once its victims.

Meanwhile here in Texas, The 2010 census showed a significant increase in Texas' population, meaning that Texas is due four additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.  The Texas legislature drew up new congressional districts but Democrats and their race-hustler allies immediately began screeching that the new districts didn't properly represent Latinos, who made up the lion's share of Texas' population growth. The issue is currently before the Supreme Court.

More racism and bigotry.  Only racists and bigots care more about the color of their representative's skin than what that representative might actually do.

With blacks eager to see a brotha elected to the highest office in the land for the first time, coupled with leftist fraud machines like ACORN working hard to get the Democrat candidate elected, it's not hard to imagine the intense effort that was expended to get out the Latino vote ahead of the 2008 elections.  Minorities generally vote Democrat for some reason and everybody knows it.  Sure enough, some 67% of Latinos voted for Obama in the general election.

Yep, more blind focus on race.

While Obama never made much of an effort to hide his racism while proudly recounting his time as a parishioner at a church with a hate-filled racist pastor for 20 years, and  immediately jumping to the conclusion that a white police officer "acted stupidly" when arresting a suspected home invader who was black and turned out to be a college professor, it's unacceptable that he use the proverbial soapbox belonging to the president of the United States to spread his racist ignorance like he did at a fundraising dinner last night:

Everything we fought for during the last election is at stake in this election. The very core of what this country stands for is on the line — the basic promise that no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, this is a place where you could make it if you try.  The notion that we’re all in this together, that we look out for one another — that’s at stake in this election.  Don’t take my word for it.  Watch some of these debates that have been going on up in New Hampshire.

He is inferring that if a Republican wins the White House, the new president will act to minimize opportunities for minorities.  That is intellectually dishonest and frankly, it's appalling to see our president - the leader of the greatest country in the world - stoop so low.  Utterly despicable.  But then again, that's what racists do...they play the race card when have run out of compelling arguments on the actual subject at hand, like Obama has.  He has been in office for nearly four years, and has amassed an impressive, steaming pile of failures to show for it.  Desperate, one of the last weapons he has in his arsenal of failure is racism, hoping that it will somehow help him win re-election.

There's a fair chance it will work.  If it does, we will have post-racial racism to thank for a post-American America.

Fundamental transformation?  Check.

Meet the New Year, Same as the Old Year

Happy New Year!  I hope this post finds you in good spirits and ready to tackle all of the challenges that 2012 is sure to bring, not the least of which is getting back to normal life after a couple of holiday weeks and time off.

A quick check of the headlines this morning seems to indicate that 2012 isn't going to be much different than 2011.  Stupidity, brain damage, bad policy, and general incompetence continues to be prevalent throughout our society.

In the aftermath of a park ranger being shot by a mental defective, a whiny story laments the passing of a law two years ago that allows people to carry guns in national parks.

So, who thinks this guy would have left his guns at home had he not been allowed to have them at the park?  Let me get a show of hands.  Anyone?  Anyone at all?

Yeah, I didn't think so.  I struggle to understand how people of this mindset are even able to dress themselves in the mornings, given their symptoms of extensive brain damage.

Iran has offered to resume negotiations over its nuclear program, while simultaneously threatening its neighbors with war exercises in the Persian Gulf, and directly threatening the United States Navy.

Boy, talk about brain damage.  Do these idiots really believe they have any chance whatsoever against our navy?  Do they really believe the world will allow them to possess nuclear weapons?  The sad thing is that we engage Iran as if they are a responsible and respectable member of the world community, while they've made no secret of their desire to see an entire country and all of its people wiped off the map.

There is yet another story of a responsible, law-abiding citizen (a Marine, actually) falling victim to unconstitutional gun laws in New York. With the rampant moronism on display in New York state government, I'm left wondering why New York hasn't banned jet planes yet.  Apples to apples; think about it.

And, from the Department of Public Stupidity, we have a story of a local library that sent police to the home of a 5 year old girl to collect two overdue books.

Seriously?  Did the library ever consider picking up the phone and giving the family a call first?  Do cops in Boston have nothing better to do than run around and collect overdue library books?  Unbelievable.

One of my favorites from the last few days is Verizon's announcement that it will charge customers for paying their bill.  This, after several major outages affected its highly-touted mobile data network recently.

Was there a government takeover of Verizon when we weren't looking?  Did they hire the Netflix CEO and put him in charge?  Can you hear me now?  Apparently they did, because they backed off that harebrained idea post haste.

Here's hoping everyone has a great 2012!  And remember, if you're an Obama fan, American Idol comes back on soon, so you'd better go get ready.  The rest of you - study up on the candidates and VOTE (for Mitt Romney) in your state caucuses, primaries, and in the November general election!!