My mom’s side of the family were all Irish-American working class type folk.
My grandfather was a precinct worker for a guy named James Michael Curley, a legendary figure in Boston political history. Curley had a rather broad political career that included serving in Congress, as mayor of Boston (where he is best known in political history), and as Governor of Massachusetts. Curley holds the distinction of having served time while at the beginning of his political career (elected to the Boston Board of Aldermen while in prison) and in his last term as mayor doing five months in the Federal pen for mail fraud. Nevertheless, the working and poor folks loved Curley and he won several elections with their help. My grandfather, by the way, had a pretty decent little job in Boston's public works system thanks to his support of Curley. Ah, good old fashioned patronage.
Which is why I’m not pondering whether or not Kevin Johnson will succumb to the Bradley Effect as much as wondering if he will succeed due to the Curley Effect. No, I’m not comparing Johnson’s various allegations to Curley in magnitude, but the fact remains that despite Johnson’s image problems, a certain element of Sacramento’s populace seems willing to give him a free pass. However, in stark contrast to Curley, Johnson seems to be attracting the upper crust crowd of this city, or at least those who want to be perceived as such.
And that’s a big reason why I’m voting for Heather Fargo.
Frankly, I think that too many people who support Johnson are assholes. They are wealth worshipping, narrow minded, shallow elitist pigs who have some bizarre fantasy of turning Sacramento into Beverly Hills, North Annex with all the fellas driving around their silicone bosomed dates to tacky overpriced establishments designed to make everybody who patronizes them forget about how utterly meaningless their cash chasing material hoarding lives are.
Oh, and a new arena too. Yuh great.
Heather Fargo may not be the flashiest politician in the world, but at least she has enough experience not to fuck up the city the way that someone with all talk and no real ideas would do it, i.e. Johnson. A relevant hypothetical question could be: In the event of a levee break, whom would you rather see under that type of emergency as mayor?
It’s a shame that Steve Cohn, my local City Council member, is still bitter about losing his bid for the primary election that resulted in Fargo’s first term. He has personally embarrassed himself and the people of the district in which I live (and vote) by endorsing Johnson, who has basically installed himself as a sort of Brahmin of my neighborhood, having bought a penthouse on L Street.
It’s pathetic to see someone run for mayor simply because they have a grudge with the city government over their property issues. What’s even sadder is how Johnson’s run was originally spurned on by a guy named Bob Thomas, the former City Manager as well as Angelo Tsakopoulos, a guy who owns a lot of currently unused plot space in the north part of Sacramento. Both of these guys have major grudges against Fargo because she doesn’t share their lust for reckless development for maximum profit, among other particulars.
It just seems that a small handful of major league scumbags have manipulated so many voters in this town into possibly doing a very stupid thing come November 4th. I don’t plan on being one of those dupes. My conscience, as well as my common sense, will remain intact after this election regardless of who ends up winning. Will yours?
P.S. Michael Bloomberg, Charles Barkley, Warren Buffet et al - I have the vote here, not you. Don't try to tell me how to choose if you don't even live here.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
HEY MCCAIN CAMPAIGN: IT IS SO TIME TO SHUT YER PIEHOLES ABOUT OBAMA AND ACORN
Hey, uh, next time you hear these idiots backing McCain start to yammer on about Obama and ACORN's registration fakes, enlighten them to the following article which I have linked for you, and then cordially invite them to go fuck themselves. Click Here, Pilgrim
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES, FINAL EDITION: SOMEWHERE OUT THERE, JOE THE PLUMBER'S EARS ARE BURNING
Joe the Plumber may well have lost the election for John McCain after the third and final Presidential debate.
By the time that McCain had mentioned whom he had painted (with a big fat brush) as poor widdle potentially over taxed (if Obama gets elected) small business owner Joe for what seemed like the fourteenth time (and only about ten minutes or less into the debate) it seemed to this viewer that Obama had already won the evening. McCain came off as only representing small business owners who made the most money, with no real recognition of the people who work for said businessmen, or even most small business owners, for that matter.
Obama did well at letting McCain stew in his own juices and look like a politician with no real answers to the economic concerns of those who work to help the company owners and corporate czars make fat profits and performance bonuses, while labor receives less and less reward and security for their toil.
And what sealed the deal for Obama was when he managed to give his take on the McCain campaign's ad nauseum accusations against him in regards to his association with William Ayers and the ACORN voter registration fraud. Obama was able to give detailed and rational statements stifling the subjects of both Ayers and ACORN and made McCain look like a rambling online discussion board troll until Bob Schieffer moved on to the next question.
Later, when the subject was energy issues, McCain put me into a fit of near uncontrollable laughter when he suggested that one idea to fight dependence on foreign oil was to build 45 nuclear plants. Forty. Five. This is unequivocal proof that McCain is completely out of his fuckin’ mind. Hey, can we store all of the spent rods in Arizona? Or even better, put ‘em all in Wasilla, Alaska? I might just go for a policy like that!
And later, when the topic turned to health care, here we go with Joe the Fuckin’ Plumber again! There are millions of us out there who are one layoff or company closure away from losing our health care benefits, if we ever even had them to begin with. Under McCain’s health care proposal, Joe could take away everybody’s health plan, but whoopee! You could write off five thousand bucks on your tax return if you even find, much less can afford your own plan! Oh please.
There are more people out there in America than “Joe the Plumber”, and most of us are doing the actual work. And after tonight, it sure as Hell sounds like I wouldn’t want to be working for him. McCain makes Joe sound like a really selfish un-American asshole. Anybody who, while running a successful business, would shitcan employees simply because his tax bill went up is a real prick in my book.
If anyone who isn’t a millionaire and, having viewed this debate, is still going out and voting for the McCain/Palin ticket, that person is either seriously mentally ill or a complete and blathering idiot. But whom am I kidding? None of the goons who show up at the racetrack rallies and yell “Obama been lyin’!” “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” are incapable of being too drunk to pay attention by that late in the evening anyway.
That’s why it’s important for those of us who know better to show up for the game and get those ballots turned in. It is crucial not to let the Old Man and the Sleaze, at the bidding of their racist, sexist, homophobic mob of ignorant followers, take control of the nation’s highest office.
By the time that McCain had mentioned whom he had painted (with a big fat brush) as poor widdle potentially over taxed (if Obama gets elected) small business owner Joe for what seemed like the fourteenth time (and only about ten minutes or less into the debate) it seemed to this viewer that Obama had already won the evening. McCain came off as only representing small business owners who made the most money, with no real recognition of the people who work for said businessmen, or even most small business owners, for that matter.
Obama did well at letting McCain stew in his own juices and look like a politician with no real answers to the economic concerns of those who work to help the company owners and corporate czars make fat profits and performance bonuses, while labor receives less and less reward and security for their toil.
And what sealed the deal for Obama was when he managed to give his take on the McCain campaign's ad nauseum accusations against him in regards to his association with William Ayers and the ACORN voter registration fraud. Obama was able to give detailed and rational statements stifling the subjects of both Ayers and ACORN and made McCain look like a rambling online discussion board troll until Bob Schieffer moved on to the next question.
Later, when the subject was energy issues, McCain put me into a fit of near uncontrollable laughter when he suggested that one idea to fight dependence on foreign oil was to build 45 nuclear plants. Forty. Five. This is unequivocal proof that McCain is completely out of his fuckin’ mind. Hey, can we store all of the spent rods in Arizona? Or even better, put ‘em all in Wasilla, Alaska? I might just go for a policy like that!
And later, when the topic turned to health care, here we go with Joe the Fuckin’ Plumber again! There are millions of us out there who are one layoff or company closure away from losing our health care benefits, if we ever even had them to begin with. Under McCain’s health care proposal, Joe could take away everybody’s health plan, but whoopee! You could write off five thousand bucks on your tax return if you even find, much less can afford your own plan! Oh please.
There are more people out there in America than “Joe the Plumber”, and most of us are doing the actual work. And after tonight, it sure as Hell sounds like I wouldn’t want to be working for him. McCain makes Joe sound like a really selfish un-American asshole. Anybody who, while running a successful business, would shitcan employees simply because his tax bill went up is a real prick in my book.
If anyone who isn’t a millionaire and, having viewed this debate, is still going out and voting for the McCain/Palin ticket, that person is either seriously mentally ill or a complete and blathering idiot. But whom am I kidding? None of the goons who show up at the racetrack rallies and yell “Obama been lyin’!” “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” are incapable of being too drunk to pay attention by that late in the evening anyway.
That’s why it’s important for those of us who know better to show up for the game and get those ballots turned in. It is crucial not to let the Old Man and the Sleaze, at the bidding of their racist, sexist, homophobic mob of ignorant followers, take control of the nation’s highest office.
Monday, October 13, 2008
TONIGHT, I'M GONNA PARTY LIKE IT'S 1929!
Oh, sure, the market's back. Look at that record uptick that happened! Nine-bloody-hundred plus points! Everything's gonna be just peachy now, right? See? The bailout really was the right thing to do, right?
Excuse me I need a moment to control my snickering...
Okay, thanks. Yeah, sure, what a comeback eh? America's back in business, baby!
Hey, can I show you something for a moment? Here's the latest one year graph of the Dow Jones through today's miraculous comeback, or bargain run, whatever the Hell it was...
Now let's take a gander at the days of old, or to be specific, the same approximate period of Octobers between 1928 and 1929...
Granted, there is a difference in the general flow, as in, back in '29 there was a vigorous rise and crash, whereas in 2007-08, things are just consistently suckin' more and more from a majestic peak, but note that the perky lil' "comeback" peak kicks in at the end of the period around the same time.
Everything goes in cycles, Pilgrim. I feel that it can be safely assumed that the upcoming 2009 trend will begin to parallel the period going into 1930, but I wouldn't recommend looking at that part unless you feel like getting your early Halloween spook on. Of course, if you're like me and don't really put any money into the stock market, it's merely entertaining. But admittedly, the past couple of weeks will be hard to beat in terms of cheap yuks.
Excuse me I need a moment to control my snickering...
Okay, thanks. Yeah, sure, what a comeback eh? America's back in business, baby!
Hey, can I show you something for a moment? Here's the latest one year graph of the Dow Jones through today's miraculous comeback, or bargain run, whatever the Hell it was...
Now let's take a gander at the days of old, or to be specific, the same approximate period of Octobers between 1928 and 1929...
Granted, there is a difference in the general flow, as in, back in '29 there was a vigorous rise and crash, whereas in 2007-08, things are just consistently suckin' more and more from a majestic peak, but note that the perky lil' "comeback" peak kicks in at the end of the period around the same time.
Everything goes in cycles, Pilgrim. I feel that it can be safely assumed that the upcoming 2009 trend will begin to parallel the period going into 1930, but I wouldn't recommend looking at that part unless you feel like getting your early Halloween spook on. Of course, if you're like me and don't really put any money into the stock market, it's merely entertaining. But admittedly, the past couple of weeks will be hard to beat in terms of cheap yuks.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
THAT WACKY WALL STREET! HAVEN'T WE SEEN THIS SITCOM BEFORE?
Here's the story of a fucked up market
That's been going through a very ugly crash
The investors thought that they were in the money
Then banks ran out of cash
So they tried to blackmail Congress for a bailout
Said we're doomed, and headed for a credit crunch
But real soon, things went from bad to worsened
So now we hear whining from the Kudlow Bunch
The Kudlow Bunch
The Kudlow Bunch
They're so lame, it's insane
The Kudlow Bunch
That's been going through a very ugly crash
The investors thought that they were in the money
Then banks ran out of cash
So they tried to blackmail Congress for a bailout
Said we're doomed, and headed for a credit crunch
But real soon, things went from bad to worsened
So now we hear whining from the Kudlow Bunch
The Kudlow Bunch
The Kudlow Bunch
They're so lame, it's insane
The Kudlow Bunch
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
2008 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, PART DEUX: HEY, MCCAIN, WHO THE FUCK IS “THAT ONE”?
Well, this debate was certainly different than the first one in at least a few ways.
From the gate, in the way that both candidates seemed to enter and greet each other, this viewer really got the impression that they both wanted to fuckin’ kill each other, but in a civilized, pre-chess match sort of way.
McCain finally got the much coveted “town hall” style forum that he was constantly whining about Obama having never agreed to in the early stages of the campaign. The format can be sort of interesting, that is, if your bag is watching ninety minutes of a couple of guys taking turns at going for their best Phil Donahue impersonation. McCain apparently feels that this is a folksier environment in order to try and fool Joe Sixpack into thinking that the Senator from Arizona and his political party even remotely give a shit about the working class.
The debate had occasional signs of possibly changing its format from Donahue into Dr. Phil with occasional mild verbal jabs between the two candidates. McCain insinuated that Obama was going to turn us all into the terrorists’ bitches, while Obama at another point accused McCain of picking up sick little kids and punting them out of hospitals like Shane Lechler on 4th and 20 at the Raiders’ three yard line.
In the first debate, Obama kept trying to cut in with “That’s not true” to certain parts of McCain’s statements and this time, he kept trying to ask for response times in a format in which both candidates agreed not to go over too much time, much less give responses. This is obviously not the wisest strategy, as the Senator from Illinois should realize that those of us watching the debate at home are smart enough to realize when McCain is full of shit without any outside help. Trust me, Senator Obama, we know that certain battleground states may be gullible enough to take your opponents statements at face value, but sometimes it’s best to just let him malinger from the reality and then we can talk about it at the water cooler or the bar or wherever.
McCain really bugged the shit out of me when, at one point, when making one more braggadocio about some vague piece of legislation that he wasn't supporting, he referred to Obama as “that one” who did support it.
By the way, my friends, I know you grow a little weary with this back-and-forth. It was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney.
You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one. You know who voted against it? Me. I have fought time after time against these pork barrel -- these bills that come to the floor and they have all kinds of goodies and all kinds of things in them for everybody and they buy off the votes.
I was so taken back by the terminology that I forgot what the Hell McCain was talking about. Not “this Senator”, not “this man”, not even “this person”, but “that one”. Uh huh, referring to your opponent as a thing, suggesting separation from yourself, with the inconvenient coincidence “that one” happens to be African-American. Yeah. Great form there. Ought to really galvanize the minority vote. For Obama. Oh yeah, I forgot. With the exception of maybe Don King and Marilyn Manson.
INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: If you think that my observation of McCain calling Obama "that one" could be dismissed as left-wing blogosphere overreaction, consider that Keith Olbermann made the same observation right after the debate, literally minutes after I finished writing this post.
From the gate, in the way that both candidates seemed to enter and greet each other, this viewer really got the impression that they both wanted to fuckin’ kill each other, but in a civilized, pre-chess match sort of way.
McCain finally got the much coveted “town hall” style forum that he was constantly whining about Obama having never agreed to in the early stages of the campaign. The format can be sort of interesting, that is, if your bag is watching ninety minutes of a couple of guys taking turns at going for their best Phil Donahue impersonation. McCain apparently feels that this is a folksier environment in order to try and fool Joe Sixpack into thinking that the Senator from Arizona and his political party even remotely give a shit about the working class.
The debate had occasional signs of possibly changing its format from Donahue into Dr. Phil with occasional mild verbal jabs between the two candidates. McCain insinuated that Obama was going to turn us all into the terrorists’ bitches, while Obama at another point accused McCain of picking up sick little kids and punting them out of hospitals like Shane Lechler on 4th and 20 at the Raiders’ three yard line.
In the first debate, Obama kept trying to cut in with “That’s not true” to certain parts of McCain’s statements and this time, he kept trying to ask for response times in a format in which both candidates agreed not to go over too much time, much less give responses. This is obviously not the wisest strategy, as the Senator from Illinois should realize that those of us watching the debate at home are smart enough to realize when McCain is full of shit without any outside help. Trust me, Senator Obama, we know that certain battleground states may be gullible enough to take your opponents statements at face value, but sometimes it’s best to just let him malinger from the reality and then we can talk about it at the water cooler or the bar or wherever.
McCain really bugged the shit out of me when, at one point, when making one more braggadocio about some vague piece of legislation that he wasn't supporting, he referred to Obama as “that one” who did support it.
By the way, my friends, I know you grow a little weary with this back-and-forth. It was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney.
You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one. You know who voted against it? Me. I have fought time after time against these pork barrel -- these bills that come to the floor and they have all kinds of goodies and all kinds of things in them for everybody and they buy off the votes.
I was so taken back by the terminology that I forgot what the Hell McCain was talking about. Not “this Senator”, not “this man”, not even “this person”, but “that one”. Uh huh, referring to your opponent as a thing, suggesting separation from yourself, with the inconvenient coincidence “that one” happens to be African-American. Yeah. Great form there. Ought to really galvanize the minority vote. For Obama. Oh yeah, I forgot. With the exception of maybe Don King and Marilyn Manson.
INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: If you think that my observation of McCain calling Obama "that one" could be dismissed as left-wing blogosphere overreaction, consider that Keith Olbermann made the same observation right after the debate, literally minutes after I finished writing this post.
Friday, October 03, 2008
CONGRESS PASSES BAILOUT, GETS ON SHORT BUS TO GO HOME
Okay, you got your bailout.
You bunch of fuckin' crybabies.
Daily, it seems that we, the constituents of our elected representatives, increasingly bear witness to the profound level of political retardation demonstrated by both houses of Congress. After the lower house rejected a completely useless waste of legislation on Monday, the Senate produced a much more bloated piece of shit bill with more more pork inside it than all of the past years' Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-offs combined.
How does this historic act benefit the working people of America? Let me count the ways.
Yeah, that much.
Oh well, at least we can enjoy the relative peace and quiet from the Chicken Little alarmists finally shutting the fuck up and taking a nap or whatever they ended up suddenly running off to do. It's sort of eerie how, almost immediately after Dubya finished scribbling his signature, most of the doomsayers seemed to leave town immediately, possibly to enjoy what they felt was a well earned early weekend to unwind from all of the arm twirling and table pounding that they've been doing for five straight days.
And now everybody in both the executive and legislative branches get to pat each others backs over how hard they worked to get this monstrosity into law. The House of Representatives, for example, was in session for three whole days (counting the two off for the Jewish holiday)and the Senate had met almost as long! You just know that something taking that much time and effort is going to provide a permanent and lasting solution to all of those possible economic disasters that nobody can seem to agree will happen or not, right? And besides, now lines of credit are once again safe for humanity, and Main Street can drive itself into deep debt once again in an effort to provide an illusion that their families are much more wealthy than they really are.
At this point, let's think about that thar first big ol' stock market crash back in 1929, shall we? After that doozy of a market meltdown, the fact is that credit was actually quite stable and available. In reality, failed banks, disappearing jobs and an increased lack of consumer confidence contributed much more to the economic downturn of the 1930s than a credit crunch or investment failures. But don't tell that to Uncle Sam. He's too busy exchanging champagne bottle showers with his corporate lobbyist pals right now anyway, celebrating what is probably the largest extortion of public funds by private business in world history.
Make no bones about it. 2009 is shaping up to be a pretty fucked year. Batten down the hatches and buy nothing but necessities and what you're forced to replace when absolutely needed. Anybody who thinks that this bailout scam is going to benefit anyone except corporate pimps is going to be in for a pretty rude bitchslap from Inc.berg Slim when he shakes you down for his money, honey.
You bunch of fuckin' crybabies.
Daily, it seems that we, the constituents of our elected representatives, increasingly bear witness to the profound level of political retardation demonstrated by both houses of Congress. After the lower house rejected a completely useless waste of legislation on Monday, the Senate produced a much more bloated piece of shit bill with more more pork inside it than all of the past years' Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-offs combined.
How does this historic act benefit the working people of America? Let me count the ways.
Yeah, that much.
Oh well, at least we can enjoy the relative peace and quiet from the Chicken Little alarmists finally shutting the fuck up and taking a nap or whatever they ended up suddenly running off to do. It's sort of eerie how, almost immediately after Dubya finished scribbling his signature, most of the doomsayers seemed to leave town immediately, possibly to enjoy what they felt was a well earned early weekend to unwind from all of the arm twirling and table pounding that they've been doing for five straight days.
And now everybody in both the executive and legislative branches get to pat each others backs over how hard they worked to get this monstrosity into law. The House of Representatives, for example, was in session for three whole days (counting the two off for the Jewish holiday)and the Senate had met almost as long! You just know that something taking that much time and effort is going to provide a permanent and lasting solution to all of those possible economic disasters that nobody can seem to agree will happen or not, right? And besides, now lines of credit are once again safe for humanity, and Main Street can drive itself into deep debt once again in an effort to provide an illusion that their families are much more wealthy than they really are.
At this point, let's think about that thar first big ol' stock market crash back in 1929, shall we? After that doozy of a market meltdown, the fact is that credit was actually quite stable and available. In reality, failed banks, disappearing jobs and an increased lack of consumer confidence contributed much more to the economic downturn of the 1930s than a credit crunch or investment failures. But don't tell that to Uncle Sam. He's too busy exchanging champagne bottle showers with his corporate lobbyist pals right now anyway, celebrating what is probably the largest extortion of public funds by private business in world history.
Make no bones about it. 2009 is shaping up to be a pretty fucked year. Batten down the hatches and buy nothing but necessities and what you're forced to replace when absolutely needed. Anybody who thinks that this bailout scam is going to benefit anyone except corporate pimps is going to be in for a pretty rude bitchslap from Inc.berg Slim when he shakes you down for his money, honey.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
DAMN! I MISSED REVEREND BILLY!
Yeah, I decided to stay home and watched the Vice Presidential debate. And admittedly, Sarah Palin's performance was much more bizarre than Reverend Billy, and strangely, Palin was almost as funny, though devoid of actual facts, and very tragic in comparison. And besides, although I suppose that it would have been nice to have shown my support in person, the good Reverend would have been preaching to the choir anyway. I will be sure to catch him in the future, since I have a feeling that he's just starting to catch his good sailing wind in terms of getting his message across to the public at this point.
However, Pilgrim, as penance (and to demonstrate what you have missed down on 16th and Broadway as well,) I am embedding the full length version of What Would Jesus Buy? on my humble lil' blog for you to enjoy. Watch, Pilgrim, and then go and binge spend no more.
However, Pilgrim, as penance (and to demonstrate what you have missed down on 16th and Broadway as well,) I am embedding the full length version of What Would Jesus Buy? on my humble lil' blog for you to enjoy. Watch, Pilgrim, and then go and binge spend no more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
