Wednesday, July 07, 2010

In the immortal words of Jean Paul Sartre, 'Au revoir, gopher'.

I left the democratic party today and registered in the Oregon Progessive Party.  I encourage anyone in the state to also join the OPP.  They need to get only about 600 more members by August to maintain their minor party status to appear on ballots.

It probably isn't a surprise to anyone that my frustration with Obama and the democrats have reached this level but what REALLY pushed me over the top is the plethora of douchebags telling the liberals in the democratic party to sit down, shut up and quit our bitching.

After 8 years of having to listen to that crap while the republicans were in charge when we rightly complained about everything from the loss of civil liberties to the economy to the war in Iraq I have ZERO patience to hear that same bullshit coming from my "friends."

Progressives/ liberals have been right time after time and yet we're still expected to sit quietly at the back of the bus.  Not gonna happen anymore.

The only thing I'm looking forward to these next few years in terms of politics will be listening to these democratic moderates wail as the republicans they claim we should be working with to forge some sort of grand compromise for the country fabricate a reason to impeach president Obama and move on same.

Namaste.

Dean

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I must be crazy to be in a loony bin like this.

Even the Great Orange Satan of the Daily Kos has pretty much made it a standard to piss on liberals because we have the audicity to insist that health care reform actually include HEALTH CARE REFORM. 

The problem with this country right now is that the establishment - Democrats, Republicans and the media - will only allow right-wing solutions to problems which in large part stem from ight-wing policy to begin with.

A bird that tries to fly with one injured wing will fly in circles at best.  At worst it will hit the ground.  Hard.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Rome is the mob.



We picked up cable when we dropped DSL because my wife works at home and DSL was simply not fast enough for her nees. One of the things that came with our hundreds of new channels was a few months free of the Starz movie channels.

I'm REALLY digging their new series "Spartacus: Blood and Sand." It's a mix of golden era sword and sandal pictures, NC 17 cable shows like "Deadwood," cheesy guilty pleasure broadcast shows such as "Hercules" or "Xena"and modern movies like "300" with it's comic book vibe.

It's cheesy, over the top and sometimes really, really stupid. But the actors all look like they're having a good time, the action scenes are crackerjack and it's got a light vibe to it despite all the sex, violence and melodrama.

Two Wormer thumbs up!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

What's the matter with you? I think your brain is going soft with all that comedy you are playing with that young girl.

I made the mistake of tuning in to the news just long enough last night to hear that the Massachusetts results are the result of Obama coddling his base and "overreaching."

The narrative from the DLC/ Blue Dog wing of the party is that because liberals refused to compromise the democrats lost their 60 supermajority. A supermajority, I might add, that was clear to anyone paying attention months ago that we didn't really have.

Judging by the comments of "progressive" bloggers like Josh Marshall and Ezra Klein much of Brown's election falls squarely on the shoulders of liberals who continue to make "the perfect the enemy of the good.

I don't pretend to speak for all liberals, but here's how I see the breakdown on some of the major issues confronting the country and why it becomes clear that many, many of us have become completely disillusioned with the democratic party.

HEALTH CARE
OPTIMUM POSITION: Single payer health insurance provided to all legal citizens financed through higher taxes on the wealthy, drug importation allowed.
COMPROMISE POSITION: Government provided national public option coupled with insurance company regulation that would broaden coverage and drive down prices to those in private insurance plans.
LOW-BAR: Medicare expansion coupled with new insurance company regulation.

IRAQ
OPTIMUM POSITION: Immediate withdrawal of all but a handful of token troops, close most permanent bases.
COMPROMISE POSITION: Lengthy (several years) withdrawal of all but a handful of token troops, close most permanent bases.
LOW-BAR: Token withdrawal of troops leaving tens of thousands of soldiers in Iraq and no base closures.

BANKING/ FINANCE
OPTIMUM POSITION: Glass Steagall reinstituted, Banking and Lending institutions separated again, assets of major financial institutions seized and nationalized, executives and decision makes shown the door or prosecuted.
COMPROMISE POSITION: Some re-regulation of finance including controls on executive compensation.
LOW-BAR: Executives called before congress to have their hands slapped every few months but pretty much get to continue on unabated with ruining the economy.

GAY RIGHTS
OPTIMUM POSITION: Repeal of DOMA and DADT. Major speech towards gay rights and push to nationalize gay marriage.
COMPROMISE POSITION: Repeal of DADT.
LOW-BAR: Lip service to gay rights issues.

ECONOMY
OPTIMUM POSITION: Major federalized jobs program with investment in future industry such as green jobs and rebuilding infrastructure. Major and immediate credit card regulation. Mortgage and bankruptcy relief.
COMPROMISE POSITION: Stimulus package build around appeasing concerns of faux deficit hawks rather that what's needed. Token credit card regulation.
LOW-BAR: Weak stimulus package and focus on re-inflating housing bubble rather than addressing core problems with economy.

On almost every issue Obama and the democrats have been weak, spineless corporate suck-ups that weren't even to meet the compromised low-bar for most of the members of the democratic party. As absurd as that is when you put it in the context of 30+ years of proven failure of conservative economic policies, coupled with a clear electoral mandate then Obama's failure to make progress on much of anything important is almost surreal in it's breadth.

Look; if this was a corporation and we were shareholders we could sue the leadership of the democratic party for malpractice. They'

Friday, January 08, 2010

I thought maybe you and I could go dancing or something.

Happy birthday to Elvis Presley. Every time I put a bullet in my television or head off to DC to convince the president to make me a DEA Agent I think of you.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Reason? There's no TIME to be reasonable!


Happy New Year y'all and good riddance to the awful decade that's passing.

I hope everybody has a prosperous 2010. Except Buckeyes fans. They're going to start the year off in a foul (fowl) mood.

Dean

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Now you go home and write "I am very sorry for what I did to Frosty" a hundred zillion times.

One reason I haven't blogged much (besides work) is that I mostly blog about politics and the state of politics right now makes my heart hurt too damned much.

I didn't expect to get everything I wanted with the new administration, but on the other hand I didn't expect that there would be absolutely no consequences to the last election. None.

I've volunteered on campaigns and held elective office in the democratic party since I turned 18. I have never felt like my time spent was worthless, even after some spectacular defeats for the candidates I've supported. That is; until now.

The pattern is clear. Republicans take power every few years and fuck everything up. Democrats then take power a few years later and simply slow Republican screw ups, rather than work to correct them. I'm tired of having Democratic rule be nothing more than a Time Out for GOP disasters.

In supporting Lieberman over me the president and the D.C. establishment have turned their back on me. There will come a time when that establishment comes back to us and expects our support or our vote.

In response I respectively say they can kiss our ass. You turned your back on us.

My blogging will be restricted to movies, games, pop culture and Lady Gaga in the future. Politics are worthless.

UPDATE: Lockwood comes to much the same conclusion.

UPDATE 2: I forgot to add to this post that this decision didn't come without considering the consequences to the Democratic party or President Obama of people like me checking out. With the retirement of more and more Blue Dog Dems, the push to pass a crappy healthcare bill that will actually HURT voters, Obama's center-right approach to governing and weak cowtailing to assholes like Sustak, Nelson and Lieberman it's increasingly likely Dems could even lose the House next year.

In such case with the batshit crazy GOP we have now President Obama will be impeached. The reason for impeachment, as in the case of Clinton, will be immaterial. The Right is truly radicalized to the point that any tools to exercise power that they control will be exercised. They can't help themselves.

In such case President Obama will be turning to his base for support just as Clinton did when the GOP went after him. I don't expect we'll be there for Obama in the same way this time around. He'll have no one to blame but himself for this. He turned his back on us first.

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

The clean, cool chill of the holiday air... an asshole in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my sewer...

I took this with my camera phone last night while shopping. I have no idea how that book got there. :-)

Monday, December 07, 2009

Well, if I can't have any fun I might as well leave.

I started this post several times in commemoration of World AIDS Day last week. At times it's gotten pretty long so I'm going to just pare it down to it's essence.

Somebody that my wife and I knew personally, loved and lost to AIDS was Father Peter Davis. Peter was a wonderful man, bigger than life and the pastor at the Catholic church my wife and I met at.

Part of what's made it so hard to finish this post is that it's difficult to find the words to describe just how great a man Peter was. He was down to earth, charismatic and had a great sense of humor. Most importantly; Peter advocated a Christianity based on caring for the weak in our society and centered around forgiveness. He was as much a true Christian as I've ever met.

So I was thinking about Peter on World AIDS Day and decided to do the Google thingy and see if I could find a biography or maybe his obituary to share. To my chagrin the only thing I could find was a mention on the Women for Faith and Family website on what amounts to their Priestly Hall of Shame. No doubt because of the cause of his death, but also it seems because he ministered in a flamboyant manner.

This excerpt from Peter's obituary (not available online, alas) is supposed to be taken as ironic. I read it and it made me glad I knew the man. Go figure.


From auctioning a suckling pig dinner while dressed as Miss Piggy to lighting Easter fire from a trail of gunpowder, Father Peter Davis lived and ministered with passion, humor and drama. On Dec. 28, he died at a Portland, Ore., hospice of AIDS. He was 43. He loved being a Jesuit and a priest. "I absolutely love it," he told a radio talk show host. "I do it easily. I do it naturally." [obituary by Brad Reynolds, S.J., in the National Jesuit News, April 1990]


So for no other reason that it breaks my heart that the only mention of Father Peter Davis anywhere on the world wide interwebs is by an organization run by a bunch of intemperate evil shrews, I simply want to give testament here on my little corner of the digital world that Father Peter Davis was a great man. He was the kind of man who...

...would willingly volunteer to take part in all sorts of goofy, outrageous youth group activities that may have been beneath the dignity of his position but endeared him to teens in the parish...

...would light up every time he saw a baby...

...put the ministry of the poor first and foremost as the parish goal...

...would go out of his way to tell you the worst joke you'd ever heard...

...made Christianity real and not a series of hollow rituals and motions...

...when he was diagnosed with AIDS went against the wishes of the Portland Archdiocese and, trusting his parishioners, publicly announced what he was sick with and how he had contracted it...

...meant so much to Mrs. Wormer and me that even though we were no longer Catholics, nor believers for that matter, we named our son after him.

I am lucky to have known him.

Friday, December 04, 2009

When you gonna drop Magnum on us, buddy?

This gallery of movie stars posing in shots that call back their iconic roles years later is chock full of WIN. Probably my favorite out of the bunch...