Patrick tells it like it is on Teabaggers

1) The term "teabagger" was coined by teabaggers themselves. Here are some pictures demonstrating that:
http://brendancalling.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/teabag13.jpg
http://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/theoriginoftheteabag.jpg
http://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/teabagging4jeebus.jpg
http://www.sodblog.com/wp-content/uploads/philly.jpg

It was only when somebody tipped them off as to what the term meant that they suddenly declared the term to be a mocking epithet.

2) If the biggest racist you know of is Al Sharpton, then I recommend you go to some of these tea parties which you are defending so ardently. Pictures of Obama as a witch doctor, Obama as a chimpanzee, signs decrying his being a Muslim (which of course is false) who should go back to Kenya (where he wasn't born). Or maybe take a trip to Arizona after you hit a tanning salon and see how friendly they are to you.

3) The tea party movement is based around two notions, the first being that Americans are now taxed too much, most of it due to Obama. This is a lie. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly called the stimulus, included $275 billion, billion with a B, in tax cuts. These cuts lowered taxes for over 90 percent of Americans.

4) The second notion is that the tea party movement wants smaller government. This is a lie so outrageous and so patently false that it still defies belief every time a teabagger (yes, that's what I'll call them) tries to tell it with a straight face. The teabaggers said nothing when Bush wiped out the Clinton surplus without cutting spending. The teabaggers said nothing when Bush pushed through Medicare Part D and No Child Left Behind, both huge and expensive expansions of the federal government (and ineffective, but that's another conversation). The teabaggers made not a peep over indefinite detentions without trial in Guantanamo, American citizens like Jose Padilla held in jail FOR YEARS, WITHOUT OUTSIDE CONTACT, WITHOUT BEING CHARGED!!! Didn't bother them. (Well Padilla was the wrong shade, really.) The teabaggers didn't give a damn about the TOTALLY ILLEGAL Terrorist Surveillance Program wherein Bush had the NSA spy on phone calls, email, and text messages of American citizens, without warrants of any kind. Not a peep. When BushCo proposed Operation TIPS (Terrorist Information and Prevention System), to get Americans to inform on one another like something out of East fucking Germany, when BushCo supported the massively intrusive project of social engineering known as the Federal Marriage Amendment, and when it passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban to interfere with doctors and their patients, and when it decided to funnel taxpayer money to churches through the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, when BushCo was found to be WATERBOARDING PEOPLE, a crime for which we HANGED German and Japanese officers after WWII...
The teabaggers. Said. Nothing.
NOTHING!
But.
But...
When a Democratic President acts to provide government health care, something that is accepted by the governments and peoples of every other industrialized nation on Earth as a responsibility for every society to provide, something that is part and parcel of any just and humane civilization, the teabaggers, who thought that George W. Bush was just the bee's knees for the first 7.5 years of his administration (if not his whole term), suddenly, suddenly, for the first time ever, and based solely on the intellectual merits of their arguments, and not at all on Barack Obama's presence inside their White House, suddenly decided that they were for small government. Well, keep in Medicare and Social Security and everything they like. But still: small government! Small enough to keep the "wrong sort of people" out in the cold.
They have no coherent intellectual argument other than an appeal to resentment and rage. The tea party movement is nothing more than pure and undiluted sore loserism. That's it. That's the beginning and end of their agenda: We lost. Not fair. Do over. I'm telling Mom.
Fuck the fucking teabaggers.

- Patrick
___________________________________

We here at Elysian Visions respectfully agree with every single syllable.
(Also we wish he would write more often.) 

Everything is OK Montage

Patrick's Letter to the White House Re: Health Care

Dear Mr. President,

I have no idea whether or not this email will reach you, or whether it will (almost certainly) be read one of your staff instead. But I feel compelled to try and reach you anyway. I've just finished reading a distressing article in the Wall Street Journal and I certainly hope it's conclusions are unfounded. It states that you are willing to give up any demand for a public option for health care as a part of the reform package your administration is currently writing. I cannot overstate how angry and disappointed such a move will make me. Me, and millions of others who voted for you too.

Last year, I donated hundreds of dollars - money that I really could not afford to throw around on a whim - to your campaign, and voted for you proudly. Thousands and thousands of your supporters did the same. We did not give up time and money so that the HMOs could be appeased with a huge giveaway for them. Health care reform without a public option is not reform of any kind. It's a sham disguising itself as reform. If you sign a health care reform bill into law that lacks a public option in the name of compromise, then I am sorry, but you have lost my vote, my money and my time, and you won't get it back.

The Republicans don't want a public option. WE DON'T CARE WHAT THE REPUBLICANS WANT. And neither, frankly, should you. There is a reason that they have been annihilated in the last two elections - their ideas are terrible and have all but wrecked the country, and we have soundly rejected them as a party. The country is NOT yearning for bipartisanship. The country does NOT want to see the Democrats reach out and give up 40 percent of any legislation they pass to GOP far-right-wing nonsense. We want what Canada, and the UK, and France, and every other industrialized Western nation has enjoyed for decades: health care for ALL citizens, and real health care, not an illusory coverage that disintegrates the moment one of us becomes seriously ill. A health insurer that only wants to cover me when I'm not sick is like something out of Franz Kafka. We need an option that views providing health care to its patients as the primary reason for its existence, not something to be given up grudgingly only after all dodges and excuses have been exhausted.

The HMOs have complained loudly that a government-run health care system will run them out of business. Well, WE DON'T CARE IF THAT HAPPENS. The sole purpose for health care providers' existence is to help sick people get well. It is not to increase the value of executives' stock options and it is not to serve as a bold declaration of the vibrancy and efficacy of the free market and the capitalist system. Health care is a RIGHT. It's not a privilege, and it's not an opportunity. If HMOs are more concerned about maximizing profit than maximizing lives saved, then they deserve to be driven out of business.

Not everything in this world should be about making a buck.

This is really too important. By even suggesting that your administration is not willing to go all the way on this, you are gambling with people's lives. You are giving the enemies of health care reform the ammunition they need to whittle away support in Congress. Please let us know that this article misstated the case. Please don't tell us you're going to walk away from another fight in order to minimize conflict. There's a time to reach out and there's a time to push back. And you can't reach out to a party that offers you nothing but a closed fist.

I know you've often said that we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

But, Mr. President, sometimes the good is just not good enough.

Please fight for real health care, with a public option for all. I sincerely thank whoever in the White House reads this letter for your time.

______________________

#IranElection

As an outsider I have watched in horror as the outrages of the fascist, theocratic, dictatorship in Iran have escalated. I am always resistant to advocate the use of force in political matters. I have tried to favor peaceful change through passive resistance. If, however, even a small part of the reports now coming out of that country are accurate; I don’t think that peaceful protest is still a viable option. The brutality of this corrupt regime has become unspeakable. It shows, more clearly than even their most zealous and verbose detractors could ever hope to, the depths of depravity the former leaders of that country have sunk to. I say “former leaders” because no matter what happens from here they no longer represent the people of Iran. These are your own people you are attacking!
Needless to say this is no longer merely about an election, or votes, or anything of the sort. By resorting to this kind of viciousness the situation has escalated into a full scale revolt. By letting their fear drive them, the former leaders have done what their enemies could not and turned the people of their own country against them. Like men, no country is an island. These crimes will long weigh on the minds of your neighbors and indeed the rest of the planet.
This is not the first time this has happened nor, I fear, will it be the last. What is also important here is the speed with which it all happened. The technology that facilitated this rapid change is more ubiquitous everyday. Imagine if North Korea allowed unrestricted internet access and Twittering.
Even as President Obama has maintained a hands-off approach from the US government (a decision I support by the way) the people of the US and the rest of the world have reached out and embraced the protesting Iranians. Their peaceful and reasonable demonstrations and cries for Democracy and Freedom reach us and we are with them. Not merely months or years after the fact, but in the moment. We hear their voices and we raise ours in support of them.
This will be even more and more the case as we move forward and these technologies expand and are refined. As more and more people around the world attain the ability to speak to each other directly the age of repressive dictatorships is gradually ending. As I watch the continuing events in Iran, I say, good riddance.

Brigid Fitch Strikes Back!

As my long time readers will know I have been saying for a while now that the Republican Party is dead. Just last night in fact I heard Chris Matthews of "Hardball" compare them to the Whigs. I must say got a chuckle out of that. Over the past few months I have tried to stay away from the political rants and focus more on futurism and personal stuff. However, occasionally one of my readers will submit something that I think bears posting, as is the case today.
The rest of this post is the opinion of one Brigid Fitch.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Elysian Visions, Inc. or it's subsidiaries.

___________________________________________________________________________

Just think—150 years ago, the Republican Party was anti-slavery and for high taxes in order to help the poor. We are now witnessing a dramatic shift in ideology of that same party. I’m oversimplifying here, but basically the Democrats & Republicans flipped ideals during the Lincoln years and solidified their stance in the Truman administration. If you require evidence of this fact, just look at any Blue Dog Democrat right now. Those so-called Democrats are the remnants of days gone by—fiscally & socially conservative, traits now attached to the current GOP. So here we are in the 21st century, watching history repeat itself.

Welcome to 2009, where we can witness the implosion of the so-called Republican Party. A Party that is embracing social conservatism at an unprecedented rate. They literally have no clue as to why they lost the 2008 elections. They’re so entrenched in their ideology that they believe a more conservative bent is the way to win over the American people. In the face of a 55% mandate, they maintain that their way—that of “Real America” (whatever that is)--is best. They sideline conservatives like Specter (who has already decided to switch parties), Collins, and Snowe. They advocate the “Tea Parties” as a way to show their dissatisfaction when they fail to do the same in Congress. They have become the Party of “No” simply because they can’t understand why they lost on Nov 4th.

My friends, I invite you to witness the death of the Republican Party as we know it. I voted Republican in 1988. At that time, Reagan stood for something that I felt our country was lacking. However, when I looked at the broader scope of things (WTF—you’re cutting the education budget WHY??), I learned my lesson. 20+ years later, you’re experiencing the fall-out of that era. The GOP is nothing like it was 30 or even 25 years ago. Back then, it represented American strength against opposition in any form. Reagan made plenty of missteps during his administration, but I’ll give credit where it’s due: He knew when diplomacy was the better course of action. The USSR became a thing of the past (See his letters to Gorbachev as citations).

But again I invite you to look at the GOP as it is today: A political party so myopic in its vision that its main focus is anti-gay marriage legislation, Hell-bent on being the party of “No”, and so ridiculously hypocritical as to be laughable. This is not the GOP that our fathers knew. No, this is a GOP that is kowtowing to a Fundie base, working towards a socially conservative lifestyle. One that embraces Big Oil, denounces any study that uses the term “carbon footprint”, and espouses the way of the Bible in the face of anything even remotely related to equal rights for gays.

My point is that they’re so out of touch, it’s only a matter of time before the GOP becomes irrelevant.

- Brigid Fitch

Teabagging Idiot Republicans (Take 2)

Last time. I promise. Probably.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I just want to say I totally agree with Janeane Garofalo here.
Thanks to Patrick for sending this over.

Conservative Tea Bagging

Sit down. Put aside any food or drinks.
Place your tray in the upright position.
Take a deep breath. 

NOW, check this out. 

 

This guy deserves an award for getting through this with a straight face.

I'm not talking to or about my right leaning friends (Yes, I still have some) who favor smaller Government, lower taxes, a strong military and Capitalism.
I talking to the ignorant racist morons who think this is a good idea.  
WE'RE LAUGHING AT YOU!!! 
The entire universe is LAUGHING AT YOU!!

That is all.

About Joe

from Brigid:

GOP Congressional staffers have invited Joe the Plumber to this morning's weekly strategy meeting. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Wow--it's like the Republican Party has become a parody of itself at this point.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/02/joe-the-plumber.html

I'm trying to get away from political post, but Dammmmn!
This is just calling out for a SNL Weekend Update "Really?" segment.

Also this from Patrick:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Velvet-Painting-of-Joe-The-Plumber-On-Black-Velvet_W0QQitemZ350122422672QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0
Do not be drinking or eating anything while clicking.

Watching from Home

Watching history unfold from the house. Champagne at the ready! On Facebook, Twitter and Blog! Bye George, you will not be missed!

Finally!!!

Bad Day and some Notes

Rough day here at work today. Don't ask just do us both a favor and take my word for it.
Meanwhile though I wanted to talk about next Tuesday. I will not be going down to the inauguration, I will be staying home. I took the day off and will quietly celebrate with some champagne as I watch the whole process from afar. I generally like to avoid any events that involve huge crowds, armed security and cold weather. I really did want to go, but so does about half of the rest of the planet apparently, and I just don't see a way to make it work for myself.
On another topic I'm really looking forward to seeing some fresh BSG tonight. I need it after the day I've had. As I write this it's only 12:35 and I am already ready to go the hell home. Don't get me wrong I love my job and the people I work with are great, it's just been a really brutal day.

Fragile

As I watch the implosion of civilization around me, I am struck by how fragile everything suddenly seems to be, regardless of the scale. Things once thought to be reliable are suddenly tenuous and uncertain. Governments, corporations and collectives at every level seem to be extremely frail. The common wisdom no longer holds true. We see the pillars of our existence, long taken for granted, suddenly standing on foundations of sand or thin, cracking ice. American automotive manufacturing, Newspapers, Wall Street titans and everything else are called into question as change continues to accelerate and new forms of transparency continue to show the Emperor's robes for the lies they have always been.
Meanwhile, even on a personal and professional level, I have an increasing sense of helplessness. I feel increasingly isolated and swept up in events beyond my ability to control or even influence. More than this, problems I once addressed and moved quickly past, seem suddenly inscrutable and insurmountable. It feels like there is a failure in my ability to communicate, as if I am suddenly speaking some foreign, long dead language.
On the other hand, I recently had the opportunity to upgrade my phone to a new Blackberry Storm. I find myself constantly amazed at how far these devices have come in such a short time. I continue to find new and subtle uses for this device to improve the overall quality of my life. For instance, I bought and installed the automotive mount and it's as if my entire car has been upgraded. It's all very ST:TNG! I know this throws everything I just said into stark contrast. I feel like I am more productive than ever, but I also feel like no matter how much I do, it will never be enough. I am a swimmer, who is at the very peak of his strength and form. I have never swum as fast or as fluidly as I do right now. However, I am swimming against the tide, on the crest of a swelling tidal wave.

Define: Highway Robbery -

Pete asked me to pass this along.
I got this and I laughed . . until I cried.

I . . . just can't help myself . . .

President Elect Obama promises new era of scientific innovation

Just can't get enough!!!

Welcome to the twenty first century.

That was really something. We watched until just after 1:00 AM and then I called it a night and went to bed and slept the sleep of the just.
Thanks to everyone who came over and made the night special. Years from now we will remember last night and where we were and who we were with. From the tears in Patrick's eyes when President Elect Barack Obama officially won, to the tears in mine during his victory speech, we were all moved.
McCain's speech was very gracious, but many of us will not easily forget nor forgive the tactics that he and his supporters employed throughout his campaign. The same goes for Hillary.
I hope that those who, out of ignorance, fear and hate are nay saying this historic victory and overwhelming mandate from the people, will take a moment to reassess their fundamental assumptions. You are wrong and you always have been.
To those of you who are saying smugly "He won't live to see the end of his first term . . ." "Not that I hope that anything happens, but . . ."
You are despicable cowards. You have already lost. Nothing that happens after this will change that. Your fear and anger make you weak and will not save you. Your compassion might. To the most hardcore among you, who are looking to forward to Palin in 2012, heh, that's a really good idea, I think you should go with that!

I hope that the overwhelming national losses among Republicans will spell another chapter towards the end of the entire socially conservative movement as a national force and relegate it to fractured, powerless, regional aberration and eventual, ultimate death.
Welcome to the twenty first century, we can no longer afford to indulge your obfuscation, intolerance, superstition and ignorance.
If this sounds a little harsh, good, it is meant to be.
The future is here, now! From here we will see more change on more fronts, coming faster and faster, the likes of which most of you literally cannot imagine.
Buy a helmet and buckle up!

Finally in light of all of this I hope that, now that this battle has been won, I can post fewer political items and more about the rapid advance of change that is my primary interest here on my blog.

Here we go!

Okay, for the next 24 to 48 hours everything will be under this post, so refresh early and refresh often.

Earlier I posted that the Obama sign in my yard had been stolen. Well, yesterday it happened again. Luckily I was prepared and had a spare sign ready to go. So to the person who keeps stealing my yard sign - YOU ARE AN UN-AMERICAN COWARD!!!

I am live on Twitter and will try to stay there as much as I can for the next few hours.

6:52 AM Up Early and headed out to VOTE!!! "YES, WE CAN!!!"

7:15 AM The deed is done!!! Small lines and no trouble this morning. Gina went with me and this was her first time voting.

I for one am very glad to have been wrong in my predictions that these elections might have been suspended for some emergency. Now to make plans to attend the inauguration.

This is looking more and more like a landslide of biblical proportions. All of the evidence is anecdotal so far . . . but still.

We're seeing a lot of Voter problems and people are starting to panic.
Then I got this from Patrick:


The suspense is killing me over here!!!

5:19 PM Okay, I am home and watching the coverage. What are we doing to food around here?

Fox news (Yes I monitor Fox news too) Exit polls
New Voters-------OBAMA----McCain
Indiana-------------73%------27%
Ohio----------------69%------31%
Virginia------------63%------36%

Not sure what to think of this, it may be a tactic by the Republicans to skew the exit polls, but if true it would indicate . . . 40 STATES!!!!

7:58 PM Man, this is tighter than I hoped it would be.
Let's see what happens next.

9:24 PM They just called Ohio for Obama and Pat and Chris are exchanging high fives and saying it's over.

10:00 PM God answers Palin's prayers; "No," God says.

11:02 PM IT'S OVER!!! WE WON!!! CHAMPAGNE all around here at Chateau Elysium!
BUSH you are FIRED!!!

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, . . ."
- Declaration of Independence

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

"YES, We CAN!!!" NOW!!!

This in from Brigid Fitch:

"'The cellphone polls have Obama ahead by an average of 9.4 points; the landline-only polls, 5.1 points.'"

"I’ve been phone-canvassing for Obama for the past 3 weeks and all of my calls have been landlines.  Of the 150+ calls I’ve made, I’d say 65-70% are for Obama, if they are to be believed.  I’m still very much aware of the Bradley Effect, so remain cautiously optimistic.  Until the results start coming in on Tuesday, I’m going to keep hammering away at the phones. 

"Truth be told, I’ve NEVER been this involved in an election of any sort.  But this year, I’m so polarized that I’ve donated over $500 to various Democratic candidates—Obama, Hagan, Franken, and Tinklenberg.  I’m volunteering for Obama and have weathered such responses as being called a n*gger-lover, a terrorist, baby-killer, and socialist.  It’s incredible how far the Republican Party has sunk.  They’re left with nothing more than the right-wing fundamentalists whose only news outlet is Fox.  It’s downright scary.  I feel the moral need to thwart them any way I can; there’s no reasoning with them.  The FoxNews-ites all shout the same thing:  Joe the Plumber, socialism, terrorist, Muslim, birth certificate, ACORN, and Rev. Wright.  I point out that McCain gave Khalidi almost $450K and it falls on deaf ears.  I mention that no litigation against ACORN has yet to be put through and that McCain attended a 2006 rally and I’m branded un-American.  I tell them that Obama’s tax plan is essentially a roll-back of Bush’s policy and that they’d get the same deal they did under the Clinton years and I’m told I’m a fascist.  There’s no turning the right-wing fundie base, but it hurts no less when you come across them.

"By all realistic accounts, Obama has this election in the bag.  The only way he’ll lose is if those of us who are sick of Bush’s policies DON’T go out and vote.  Complacency is our enemy, not McCain.  If PA and VA go blue on Tuesday, Obama will be declared the next president by 8:15.  But that’s only going to happen if everyone gets out there and VOTES." 

- Brigid Fitch
___________________________________________
Meanwhile, I also went over the local call center and made some calls for Barack and the Democrats this Saturday morning. I had honestly forgotten how much I hated working phones. Anyway, I am very optimistic about how this whole thing is going to shake out.
When you're looking at the polls be sure to check the dates. A lot of those deep red state polls are over a month old!

Pro Obama - Election Night Party

Tuesday after 6:00 PM, at my house.
Basically the plan is, if Obama wins I'm getting drunk.
If McCain wins I am going to get really drunk! (Seriously, we're talking stomach pumps and probable hospitalization here.)
We're going to have snacks, drinks, TV, Internet,  more drinks, and a full night of election coverage.
Stop by (AFTER you Vote!) and watch history unfold, I'm betting Obama wins by a landslide.

35 to 40 STATES!!!

The word “Landslide”

Gets thrown around a lot these days, but after watching Barack Obama’s infomercial tonight it is my view that the Democrats should get the House, the Senate and the White House in this election cycle and that Republicans  . . . should get a 30 second head start. 

What is best in life?

"To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women. "
- Conan the Barbarian