THE Wedge Issue
posted by snarko on Friday, July 21 2006
...that will drive a stake through the heart of the Republican Party is the TRANS TEXAS CORRIDOR!
Read me but see the experts for facts to stomp them with: http://texastollparty.com
DRIVE THE NAIL INTO THE COFFIN!
THE QUICKIE (especially since I was surprised Wednesday night how many people didn't respond to the TTC issue when Hank Gilbert first brought it up; I've known it more than a year I thought it common knowledge):
They're building a toll road system across the whole state. On taxpayer dollar. No, we didn't get to vote on this. Some smug Congressman who said, "Toll roads are coming; get used to them" is about to get FIRED.
REAL PURPOSE: to gain more money from all the crap we're importing from Mexico. I'd heard about, but hadn't seen until driving to convention, the hundreds of trucks in a row on the freeway. It blew me away. That's border control for you. And the money they want.
Add to that the fact they're displacing MILLIONS of Texans from their homes for this. And RUINING farmland, a MAJOR export for us (after oil).
And screwing farmers by not only making part of their farm now not grow anything (lost land=lost money), but making them cross the damn thing to get to the other half of their ranch (lost time and money).
And screwing everyone in rural counties from fire and ambulance services being nearly as fast.
And I know in my own city, they're gonna use it to further the east side divide (we east siders tend not to be white; all roads are set up to make it take longer for us to get anywhere--I thought it my imagination until a cab driver filled me in on the history of it--it's deliberate).
Which is funny since they're also trying to gentrify us with that Saltillo Flats crap. Mark my words--those ridiculous lofts with CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP construction that are outrageously overpriced will be our ghetto prize in less than five years. Not one condo will re-sell. You're an IDIOT to buy one. They're gonna be ours anyway.
And though I'm vegan, kudos to the BBQ on the corner that wouldn't sell. What a beautiful eyesore. And that "cajon soul food" place with white tablecloths the bought-out newspaper praised? It sucks, okay. No, it does. Men devour my food--this stuff is three times overpriced for what it is, which is just over fast food, and NOT soul food, nor cajun.
If you jones this deep-fried junk, go to Casino El Camino. It's better, cheaper, and has way cooler employees (thanks to the fact the owner is GOOD to them).
Oops I digress.
Okay, so everything about the Corridor is something we all can agree on, probably. It's bad.
I learned a very long time ago that the Texas Toll Party (think "Tea Party"--they're anti-Corridor) is mostly REPUBLICANS. Oh, yes it is. Ask Terri yourself. THEY HATE IT AS MUCH AS WE DO.
Well, not their elected officials who're profitting from deals for this--but their voters are PISSED.
Oh! On profit note:
What I DIDN'T know until I heard Hank Gilbert Wednesday night--the tolls are gonna be collected by a private firm in SPAIN. Not Texas. Not even American.
YOUR TAX DOLLAR AND TOLL DOLLAR IS FOR A SPANISH CORPORATION'S PROFIT. Spain trying to screw Mexico again, and we get the bill.
Republican voters GET that.
Hank and David are both kicking butt right now on Republican radio, Republican blogs, and outta Republican voter's mouths because they're STAUNCHLY, LOUDLY, anti-Corridor.
HONESTLY, you want example of REAL bi-partisanship? This is it. Farmers that have voted Republican 30 years or more are SWITCHING OVER on this issue--it's that home-hitting.
They've already started the bulldozers in San Antonio. Get to work!
We want to Steal your Identity and Rape your Children
posted by snarko on Thursday, July 13 2006
The infamous story, archived here, that got the blog "Salt" banned
LAST TIME I CHECKED, MY SPACE IS NOT A PORN SITE
I swear it's no conspiracy theory. The Republicans that are currently hanging onto their power by their own strings (shouldda bought hemp rope instead of that Chinese nylon, hmm?) are attempting to shut down their opposition's #1 source of news.
Well, not shut it down entirely. Just either privatize it, else scare you to death of it so you won't read it. They got that fear thing down.
At first I thought I was paranoid. Every time a Texas Republican politician used the word "internet" (or similiar), it was within six words of some heinous crime bloggers would roll their eyes at but lonely housewives would verbally slam, whilst clicking while no one's looking.
But as Rev. Vegan Stephen once said, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean Bush ain't tapping your phoneline."
"Internet... child porn offender." "Internet... cyber crime unit." "Internet... identity theft." "Internet... network neutrality."
Oh, I forgot. The Republicans ain't reporting much on that last one, which is a crime in that the Feds voted AGAINST it. Thanks a lot. May every one of you Congresspeoples get stuck with AOL, and wonder why you can't send out your own campaign newsletters.
My personal favorite headline, which has little to do with this rant:
"Abbott Defends Catholic Priests Against Nigerian Internet Scams"
Like, why do Catholic priests need special protection? Are they stupider than the rest of us? Does celebacy make you unaware of a huge scam that's so many years old, no one talks about it anymore?
But same website; this one does pertain to my ranting:
"Abbott: Bar Social Web Sites in Schools, Libraries"
Basically pushing all public access locations to block My Space and similar friendster-style websites, labelled a "child predator playground".
Now, I personally think My Space's a bunch of trash, but no more so than 17 magazine, which I also don't read at age 35. But this shit is going too far. And not even hardly everything on My Space is trash. It's trash-per-entry quota is hardly different than the internet at large.
But I'm also "too old" to get that baggy pants worn somewhere just above the ankles so you have to walk funny getting onto a bus thing. And most definitely, the conversation's no different than the one on the cellphone you gave your "child".
Blaming My Space for the actions of a pervert is like blaming the US Postal Service if he should be some little darling's "pen pal" instead. You gonna shut down and block the federal postal service over a child predator?
Didn't think so.
My Space hardly allows this type of activity in their service agreement. And they pull it the second they find out about it, like everyone else does. A criminal is a criminal no matter their medium; you cannot blame the manufacturer of the sheet of paper they wrote the friggin' ransom note on.
The internet doesn't even make it "easier". Once upon a time, in a world far, far away, I did a research report on "Internet Addiction", most of the "scientists" findings based on internet dating practices.
Well, I did my own research: nope, no addicts, and no "predators" or "broken marriages" or "liars" or "affairs" that wouldn't have happened OFFLINE AS WELL.
Like ladies: how many times have you been to a bar, and he says he's single (he left the wedding ring at home), a CEO (he's the janitor), and drives a Porsche (you followed--it's a Pinto)? Yep, same guy's a liar online. How about that!
I'm realizing I'm haven't stated my point. The one that would explain the title. I said I was ranting. Oops. Okay quick.
This kind of crap action and press release is being ECHOED at all levels of government, from city council to DC, by the Third Reich everywhere. I think it a CONCERTED EFFORT to use the same fear feces they've been slinging to get the masses to do things as dishonest as support their war.
Except this time, it's the First Amendment at stake. Or at least, the masses' trust in it.
Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Paper Trail?
posted by snarko on Thursday, July 13 2006
I guess before I rant, please see Greg Palast. He's the authority on this. I'm not. But it's kinda a no-brainer, IMHO.
Last month in Travis County, the Civil Rights Project, on behalf of the NAACP, Texas attorney general candidate David Van Os, and Travis County resident and voter Sonia Santana (and I love her--she's the "choir" shouting "amen" in every political video I shoot), sued Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir and Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams over electronic voting machines without a way to recount.
The verdict is still to come. But OH! The nonsense responses from those that hold the encryption keys to the election!
My favorite (this quote is everywhere including AP):
"I am not a lawyer but I kind of doubt that there is much of an argument," said DeBeauvoir, whose office runs elections in Travis County. "I believe that the system is accurate and secure the way it is."
* All of the most commonly purchased electronic voting systems have significant security and reliability vulnerabilities. All three systems are equally vulnerable to an attack involving the insertion of corrupt software or other software attack programs designed to take over a voting machine.
* Automatic audits, done randomly and transparently, are necessary if paper records are to enhance security. The report called into question basic assumptions of many election officials by finding that the systems in 14 states using voter-verified paper records but doing so without requiring automatic audits are of “questionable security value.”
* Wireless components on voting machines are particularly vulnerable to attack. The report finds that machines with wireless components could be attacked by “virtually any member of the public with some knowledge of software and a simple device with wireless capabilities, such as a PDA.”
* The vast majority of states have not implemented election procedures or countermeasures to detect a software attack even though the most troubling vulnerabilities of each system can be substantially remedied.
County Judge Bill Stoudt said the machines have the capability to add the equipment at a later date.
"We have not had one call complaining about those machines. All we've ever heard is that ... it was fine with the voters," the judge said.
Today, with my strong support, the House passed H.R. 9, the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 without amendment.
The renewal of the Voting Rights Act is an issue for all Americans who care about preserving our democracy. As a deep believer in "one person, one vote," I delivered the speech below on the House floor in support of H.R. 9 and the need to fully protect voting rights. You can hear and view my speech online at:
http://www.house.gov/doggett/speeches/votingrightsact.wmv
The right to vote is fundamental and that is why we must ensure that minority voters, including language minority voters, in covered jurisdictions with a history of discrimination have an equal opportunity to participate in the electoral process. While we recognize the importance of this legislation, it will lack full meaning as long as we must rely on the current Administration to enforce it. Rest assured I will look for opportunities through my work in Congress to protect the rights of every American voter.
Independence Day Musings from Thus Born on Day of Non-Conformist
posted by snarko on Tuesday, July 4 2006
and other such rantings
Aw shit.
Now I fucked up. Didn't mean to be. It went from a cigarette break to a peep at the pool to downhill from there.
Which did, in fact, coast me into a fairly good parking space. Don't doubt the coast. It'll get you there, so long as you don't doubt it.
I just blew a $50 winning lottery ticket. No, it's not that big a win. So I bought up, but bought pony.
Oh, yeah, like an old favorite pair of jeans.
I just gave another great haircut. Oh yes. I love it they love it: here's how to do it:
1. Okay, ask them what they want. Listen. Listen hard. Don't listen to how to cut it; listen to WHY they want it.
2. At the same time, stare at them. Look at them good. Look at the shape of their skull. Look at their face hard. Kinda ignore them while they're talking here--what would make them look good? What's the feature they shouldn't hide? The eyes, the lips (you can make the tips point to it if it's not long enough to touch them), the way their ear curls back, the nape of their neck?
Nail it while they're talking. I guarantee every person who's hair I cut they get laid in a week, or their money back.
3. Balance the two. What you thunk/what they said. Don't give 'em a mohawk if they didn't ask for it; do ignore requests for "just a little" around the ears if they got god ones. Good ones. Same difference.
whatever.
That's it. Give 'em want they want but get 'em laid. OH! Almost forgot: Golden Rule…
If it doesn't look right while naked, it's the wrong haircut. I mean that. Just think about your overly-hairsprayed newscaster naked a second.
It looks like a naked Ken doll, and yes, still without a dick. Am I wrong here? ("No you're not wrong. You're just an asshole." I know who that's coming from in a second.)
;)
Like really. If it looks wrong naked it IS wrong. GOLDEN RULE.
And that's for the folks who think snarko!s some girly-girl. Cuz I hate your emails you're "shocked" I'm into politics.
Have you been paying any attention?!
FYI: If a chick's got balls about being a chick to begin with, she's probably involved in politics!
Now, politics is loose here, but only for the second. (I'm still looking for the crude joke, but missing it. So I'll digress to say) when I say "politics" I mean "anything that has an effect on more than yourself" for the moment.
Because every time you engage a second person, you are, in some way, involved in "politics", by this definition.
And in every single article I have ever written, this version of "politics" is there.
Now,
Some missed my Nader campaign I'm still not ashamed of.
Some missed my Ammiano campaign I'm still not ashamed of.
Some missed every "political" move I did within Imagine Media, for sake of the readers. Working within a corporation is often more political than working in politics.
I digress.
Janet won. I hope to hell Ms. Moon does too. "Moon for Justice".
It'll be the first biker swear-in in Texas, and I'm motherfucking gonna be there for it.
Janet's a biker too she just won County Chair and I wore her red-white-blue braids around proudly, though I couldn't vote for her.
I digress.
SO I heard for the most part it was going Maxey, even before getting to Fort Worth. Getting there was full of metaphor; oh the Ossy-mobile broke down but started again, we were hungry but we were fed, but fuck it this is what we came for.
This was the shit, man. Like, get the right guy to Chair, or sit through this for even longer time, when we ain't got time.
Oh, I mean that.
I really, really mean that.
When I was ten, I draemed it. The visual is too disturbing to describe. I can't. To attempt to do so, I'll put myself into that space.
And I don't ever, EVER, want to be there again.
If you still don't think global warming is happening, WAKE UP!
Currently Congress is barely talking about a measure to START REVERSAL in 2010.
This is TOO LATE.
It's EXPONENTIAL at this point, and well beyond "2x2=4". It's like "16x16=256" at the moment. By 2010, it's 256x256.
You do the math.
THERE IS NO TIME.
NO MATTER WHAT YOU'RE WORKING FOR, KNOW THIS.
IT DOES NOT EXIST.
YOU FIGHT NOW, OR NEVER.
I digress.