Death to the Sound Bite
"The number of serious international terrorist incidents more than tripled last year, according to U.S. government figures, a sharp upswing in deadly attacks that the State Department has decided not to make public in its annual report on terrorism due to Congress this week." - The Washington Post, April 2005
Because it's not like the number of terrorist incidents has any place in a terrorism report.
The day before the terrorist attacks on London, Fox News anchor John Gibson said, according to News Hounds, that "he wished Paris would have gotten the 2012 Olympics because it would have been a treat to watch them deal with terrorist threats." The day after the attacks, he said: "If they had picked France instead of London to hold the Olympics, it would have been the one time we could look forward to where we didn't worry about terrorism. They'd blow up Paris, and who cares?"
Wow. Just wow.
I paste these quotes here from another site, one that posts 10 of the most idiotic conservatives every week. I post them because they piss me off, but I recognize that I'm posting them out of context and after listening to someone else give me their own biased opinion. I can't help feeling that I'm just as bad as some of these extreme conservatives: I hear what I want to hear, rant and rave about it, then do nothing but vote Democrat. I am so upset about where I see this country going that my blood pressure rises at the thought of Supreme Court nominations, federal judge nominations, more conservative control of Congress, pro-life sentiment, so-called "family values", the end of secular gov't, and tobacco lobbyists.
My knee-jerk reaction to anything perceived as conservative, right-wing, or "red" makes me no better than the foaming-at-the-mouth conservatives that I loathe. Loathe? I've never loathed anyone in my life, and here I am loathing someone based on a sound-bite possibly misinterpreted by someone pandering to my prejudices.
A never-ending filibuster is not a way to conduct Congress.
There is a reason that the Conservatives are in control of the federal government right now. They have ideas and implement those ideas upon entering office. Democrats... we have few ideas. The ideas we have are too weak, go unsupported by party-members, or never get put into practice. Yelling and screaming will only make us seem childish and no one will take us seriously later on. (Our shenanigans with the filibuster during federal judge nominations will cost us in the Supreme Court.) Name-calling and out-of-context sound-bites may make us feel superior and self-righteous, but we'll call them "dirty tricks" when Republicans do the same.
I love the Daily Show as much as the next twenty-something (as much as Mom, too), but what we need is serious, non-biased, clear-cut and COMPLETE (no sound-bites, cutting someone off mid-hypen) news coverage. I want to make decisions and judgements based on my own interpretation of whole events. I do not want to be spoon-fed my party's views on every event. I want Democrats to focus our energy on creating alternatives, formulating regulations, proposing legislation, conferring with experts. In 2004 I wanted fossil fuel alternatives, I did not want to go to War, I wanted frank discussion about Social Security, and I want benefits for life-partners (someday civil unions, someday lawful marriage). John Kerry had no ideas for any of that. All campaign I was bombarded with "he's better than Bush", but Kerry was not against the invasion of Iraq, only the method with which it was carried out. Kerry always struck me as wishy-washy, and I seriously suspect that if he had won the election, we would have gotten another Republican, very likely someone SMARTER than Bush, and JUST as conservative-minded in 2008.
You may disagree with my views about that last part, but you should not disagree with my view that we need more ideas and less petty bickering.
Because it's not like the number of terrorist incidents has any place in a terrorism report.
The day before the terrorist attacks on London, Fox News anchor John Gibson said, according to News Hounds, that "he wished Paris would have gotten the 2012 Olympics because it would have been a treat to watch them deal with terrorist threats." The day after the attacks, he said: "If they had picked France instead of London to hold the Olympics, it would have been the one time we could look forward to where we didn't worry about terrorism. They'd blow up Paris, and who cares?"
Wow. Just wow.
I paste these quotes here from another site, one that posts 10 of the most idiotic conservatives every week. I post them because they piss me off, but I recognize that I'm posting them out of context and after listening to someone else give me their own biased opinion. I can't help feeling that I'm just as bad as some of these extreme conservatives: I hear what I want to hear, rant and rave about it, then do nothing but vote Democrat. I am so upset about where I see this country going that my blood pressure rises at the thought of Supreme Court nominations, federal judge nominations, more conservative control of Congress, pro-life sentiment, so-called "family values", the end of secular gov't, and tobacco lobbyists.
My knee-jerk reaction to anything perceived as conservative, right-wing, or "red" makes me no better than the foaming-at-the-mouth conservatives that I loathe. Loathe? I've never loathed anyone in my life, and here I am loathing someone based on a sound-bite possibly misinterpreted by someone pandering to my prejudices.
A never-ending filibuster is not a way to conduct Congress.
There is a reason that the Conservatives are in control of the federal government right now. They have ideas and implement those ideas upon entering office. Democrats... we have few ideas. The ideas we have are too weak, go unsupported by party-members, or never get put into practice. Yelling and screaming will only make us seem childish and no one will take us seriously later on. (Our shenanigans with the filibuster during federal judge nominations will cost us in the Supreme Court.) Name-calling and out-of-context sound-bites may make us feel superior and self-righteous, but we'll call them "dirty tricks" when Republicans do the same.
I love the Daily Show as much as the next twenty-something (as much as Mom, too), but what we need is serious, non-biased, clear-cut and COMPLETE (no sound-bites, cutting someone off mid-hypen) news coverage. I want to make decisions and judgements based on my own interpretation of whole events. I do not want to be spoon-fed my party's views on every event. I want Democrats to focus our energy on creating alternatives, formulating regulations, proposing legislation, conferring with experts. In 2004 I wanted fossil fuel alternatives, I did not want to go to War, I wanted frank discussion about Social Security, and I want benefits for life-partners (someday civil unions, someday lawful marriage). John Kerry had no ideas for any of that. All campaign I was bombarded with "he's better than Bush", but Kerry was not against the invasion of Iraq, only the method with which it was carried out. Kerry always struck me as wishy-washy, and I seriously suspect that if he had won the election, we would have gotten another Republican, very likely someone SMARTER than Bush, and JUST as conservative-minded in 2008.
You may disagree with my views about that last part, but you should not disagree with my view that we need more ideas and less petty bickering.