#6: Letter to Senator Levin

Honorable Senator Levin,

Thank you for your email regarding the current state of legislation to bailout the automobile manufacturing industry. However, I note that you make reference to the claim that automakers need capital in the form of credit in order to continue operating and that you propose to provide emergency loans to them to bridge this credit gap with no real assurances that said loans will ever be paid back. This, sir, is silly.

You are, in effect, recommending that my taxpayer money be given to corporations that needed credit to even operate in the first place while providing absolutely no relief for me or my peers. Although I also note that Ford Motor Co, General Motors, and Cerberus Capital Management* have been among your top 5 campaign contributors for the past 5 years, I nonetheless feel that I must emphatically remind you that we, the voters who pay the taxes that you impose, remain your primary constituents to whom you should be beholden above the corporate interests you are currently seeking to protect.

The source of my rage regarding this issue stems from the simple fact that an individual who pays their living expenses through credit is deemed a fool and unworthy of government aid while a corporation that depends on credit to operate its factories is deemed as needing taxpayer monies and aid. This, sir, is also silly.
I find that you are endorsing failed “trickle-down” economic rhetoric and I am deeply disappointed by this. At no time in the past 25 years that trickle-down theories have been if vogue have tax breaks to millionaires or corporations truly benefited the working and middle classes. In fact, over this same period of time the real purchasing parity of working and middle class wages has stagnated. And yet, the working and middle classes are now expected to foot the bill for a colossal bailout of an economy in which they have little to no stake? This, sir, is not only silly but is also ridiculous.

If you as a Senator wish to truly address this economic crisis, then you must advocate for the average taxpayer and voter. The economy will never heal if those who drive it are suffering; this is called gangrene. Restoring the economy, and the automakers, is dependent upon true relief for the working and middle classes. If you could move to reduce our taxes and lift our burdens of consumer, mortgage, and student debts, then you would also create a new ability for us to spend and purchase and thereby rescue failing companies that make good American products. Real wealth and economic growth trickle upwards. That, sir, is dead serious.

Sincerely,
Toaster


*For those who don't know: Cerberus Capital Management bought Daimler-Chrysler a while back.

#5: Cartoon #1: Deathephant

I drew this cartoon with a quill.

This was drawn back in September when Obama wasn't doing so well in the polls and I figured we were in for 4 more years of Republican death-mongering.




Deathephant by Toaster Sunshine is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

#4: Mandate

Some asshat named Robert Novak has recently claimed that Obama's 365-Electoral-Vote-WIN does not mean that he has a mandate to enact his agenda. This is a most blantant act of asshattery from Mr. Novak.

asshattery (noun): a very stupid notion or claim, particularly one steeped in hypocrisy, ignorance, and a total disregard for factual information; usually penned or created by total douchebags or douchebagguettes (my apologies if you actually enjoyed the crusty [no pun intended] French rolls).

Why is this an act of asshattery? Because just 4 years ago, though I may have been younger and naiver, I clearly remember Bush "winning re-election" (scare quotes sponsored by Ohio) by just 286 Electoral Votes, and then going on to claim that he now had a "mandate" to enact his legislative agenda and "political capital" to spend. Let us examine these numbers and do some basic mathematics:

1) Bush percentage of electoral votes: (286/538)*100=53.16%.

2) Obama percentage of electoral votes: (365/538)*100=67.84%

3) Difference in percentage of electoral votes: 67.84% - 53.16% = 14.68% more Electoral Votes to Obama


Yes, I could go on and continue calculated to normalize the percentage difference in Electoral Votes won to proportion of popular vote won, but this is rather pointless because the popular vote doesn't really matter anyway. The point is this, Chimp-in-Chief Bush barely "wins" re-election and suddenly has a mandate (although I guess, with the contrast to the stolen 2000 election, 2004 did have a larger margin of win) to do what he wants to do. So then Barack Obama wins 14.68% more Electoral Votes, and he doesn't have any kind of mandate whatsoever? This is asshattery, cut, dried, and direct from the mouths of the douchiest douches in the whole douche world who have a vested interest in continuing to be crusty old douches because they have monetary interest in maintaining the status quo and are too lazy to actually extract their head from Rush Limbaugh's (aka: King Douche Oxycontin III) flabby ass and think for themselves. To hold such a double standard to politics is illogical, inept, and at worst downright pathological. This is the kind of drivel I would expect to see in high school newspapers. I even hold college newspapers (disclosure: I worked for a mediocre one) to a higher standard. The Chicago-Sun Times has taken the idea of "fair and balanced" and run too far with it. It is one thing to present a well-reasoned, well-researched, and fair counter-point to any given editorial. But in seeking to balance centrist positions (which are somehow demeaned as being radically liberal* by all), the Chicago-Sun Times has drawn in dingbattery and asshattery from douches. Simply put, Robert Novak is full of shit. And his disparagement of unions as being far-left radicals is also shit.

Obama has won a mandate to enact his campaign platform. And that he has done so while being a brown man is remarkable, for if Obama had been a white man running on his positions and with his charisma and attitude against Bush the 3rd (also known as McCain), the race would have been over even before the conventions and McCain might have still carried Alaska, Wyoming, and Idaho. So let change come to America!

I mean, it's only fair that the asshatters be given the same option as any liberal who dared voice dissent over the past eight years: if you don't like here, just move somewhere else. The authoritarian regime in Myanmar may be more to their liking. I just hope they remember to take some DEET with them.


Bonus joke:
Q: What did Cheney say when he heard that Obama has a mandate?
A: If he can do it, why can't my daughter?



*Concerning the definition of the concept of Liberalism. Conservative commentators in American society appear to define Liberalism as being any world-view that does not agree with their own and is more inclusive or diverse in any measurements. However, I consider Liberalism to be a set of progressive values based in respect for personal autonomy, humanitarian values, peace, and a broad social support structure that includes all individuals. I consider Radical Liberalism to be those not just Disestablishmentarian, but also Anti-Civilization. I consider Radical Conservatism to be Theocracy and/or Anarchist Libertarianism. These terms are defined here for you because this is how they will be used for the rest of this blog as long as I remember them.

Hello, My Name Is.... Wait, I Know This One.

Hello Brand New World!

I have been, as of 10pm central time November 4th, more than half-retarded and unable to author a single sentence. The world is changed, my friends, and now we must put aside our differences and help those left behind. For example, I am working for a cause. We must put aside our political differences and help our fellow man, specifically these poor people I am about to tell you about.

America, we must rehabilitate and domesticate our left-behind Obamamaniacs. Please watch this educational video.


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

#3: Public Service Announcement 1

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!1!:

Dear Republicans, Libertarians, Fundamentalists, and Other Assorted Conservative Fucktards,

Barack Obama, a liberal Illinois senator who is also only half-white, has won the Presidency of the United States of America. You may now convince bitching, whining, moaning, and rending of hair, clothes, and vocal cords.

Enjoy.

Sincerely,
Smug Liberal Bastards

#2: Ignorance

Albeit for what coppers my sense is worth (I like to think $0.09 < x <$97.63), I am unable to understand why ignorance is so in vogue at the moment in the Great American Oatmeal Puke Mindfuck Political Discourse. This ignorance and hatred of anything that even faintly smells of an outgroup is surprising and rabid, especially since it seems to emanate most violently from the American demographic I had previously written off as most sedentary and mentally dull. Although perhaps this is why they are able to demonstrate such irrational hatred even in the face of contradicting factual evidence: dull-mindedness is what distinguishes the herd animal from the wolf. It is relatively straightforward to herd a herd of cattle or flock of sheep, but it is exponentially more difficult to herd cats or squirrels. Perhaps it is that McCain/Palin continue to drop racial code words into their speech designed to stir up fear of otherness in their supporters. Examples:

"Obama pals around with terrorists!"

Translation: "Obama is a scary dude who is friends with other scary dudes who are probably brown and/or angry!"

"Obama is a Muslim!"

Translation: "Obama is a scary brown person who thinks!"

"Obama is an elite!"

Translation: "Obama is educated and therefore thinks you are stupid!"

A personal observation: the angry masses aren't doing much to offer evidence to the contrary of the suspicion that they're stupid. If they weren't stupid, they would know better than to regurgitate chain mail lies as Sacred Dogma and would also know better than to continue to vote against their best economic and social interests because Obama "kills babies" and "doesn't think gays are perverted sinners". It's silly! And ignorant...

I mean, do we, as a country, really want people as ignorant as ourselves to be running the show? I want the smartest progressiviest leaders possible, not some Limbaugh-clone dolt who thinks that the 1950s America that never even really existed is a magical Utopia (scary intrusive thought: what are these angry masses going to do if Obama does when tomorrow [knocking on wood]? Will they go home back to reality TV or will they be bitter and cling to their guns and religion, as their wont has often been?).

So what is it? Why are people still so ignorant? Sure, college is expensive, but a high school diploma is free in this country. While it is true that the public school system's teaching methods by and large are tailored to produce worker drones and not critical thinkers, I expect better from a populance that believes itself to be the freest, smartest, and most bestest in the entire world.

I am truly at a loss here. How is it that the country that put golf balls on the Moon, Tetris on your computer and bad food and worse movies in the sky has come to venerate the uneducated simpleton as being the essence of what America is and stands for? I am baffled.

However, I guess I'm not terribly surprised given that this culture pays professional athletes millions of dollars and pays teachers and policepeople diddlysquat. Thoughts, comments, prognostications?

I've appended some moving picture evidence of my claims of ignorance above below.




Also, it should be noted that I qualified my pasty appearance as a disclaimer for when I talk about race issues, for I naively believe in upfront honesty. Furthermore, I may also occasionally post cartoons of my own drawing.

MissInformation Speaks

Hello, Marhaba, Bienvenue, and Hola. As Toaster previously stated, this blog is the brainchild of the two of us after many years and long, strange conversations on the nature of the universe, the political process, religious ideology, and etc. I do not think a physical description is altogether necessary, however I do wish to point out the stark contrast between myself and Toaster. I am not a computer nerd, although I am unquestionably attuned to the knowledge that such people posess. I spend most of my time away from the computer, wear fashion-forward apparel, own two of the most popular fish on my college campus, and read uncommonly fast. I do not major in science, but rather the Arabic Language & Culture. Just as a forewarning, if I cannot formulate my thoughts into understandable english, I will attempt Arabic instead (if not Arabic, any other language I am trained in which does include Spanish and French). I will translate as best as possible at a later date if translation is needed. The theories, arguments, and beliefs will not be presented in a way that can be misinterpreted, nor will they be read like a textbook. Well, mine won't. I cannot speak for Toaster. :-)

#1: Introducing Toaster

Good evening, fickle masses.

How are you?

You may have noticed that this is a newish blog. It has been birthed from a series of profoundish conversations between myself and MissInformation regarding the current state of society viewed through a political, economic, and rational lens. Sometimes we talk about how what what is now got to where and what it is now from where it came from and how it got there and even maybe why. I figure that, for these first 2 posts, we ought perhaps introduce ourselves with some anonymous and vague background to better inform what readers may come about why we smell the world the way we do.

So:

I am TOASTER! I am a young scrawny/gangly/pasty man who lives in the bleak northern United States (Michigan) and labors underground doing science(!). I am not qualified to speak to you, but I will write nonetheless because I am stubborn. Although I am entirely biased (disclosure!), I will attempt to not just write about science and science's stuff and the stuff science does and makes and can see/do/smell and will instead try to focus on the issues at hand that happen outside the laboratory. In what spare time I have, I indulge in the ironic-white-hipster's favorite contrarian and lackluster past-time: making beats and music-like sounds. I like to pretend that my beats are beatier and my music is musickier than others, but that is ironic. To clarify, I am not a white man of the ironic hipster variety; instead it would me much more accurate to describe me as a white man of the nerdy geek variety (I mention this because hipster appropriation of geek dogma greatly aggravates me). To forewarn you, I am not good at grammar and synonyms so I will often make up words at short-notice. In conclusion, I have a puppy (warning: this link contains levels of high-res cuteness that are NSFW)!



Now MissInformation may introduce herself in her own words (more disclosure: we're not related!).