A couple people have asked, “Whence the shaved cat?” To which I belatedly reply: Something Awful.


I don’t often mention politics in this forum because:

  1. I’m not passionate about the subject, and
  2. Nobody is likely to agree with my political positions, anyhow.

(Dana says that I’m a small-l libertarian. I say I’m a small-i independent. I’m really a social liberal and a fiscal conservative.)

Still, to take a page from Jeremy‘s book, I thought I’d stir the pot a little. Just for fun. (Also for fun, I’m going to start linking to Jeremy‘s non-existent web page until he posts something.)

National politics, in particular, don’t excite me. I’m more passionate about local issues — the new megamart built on good farm land to the north of town, the Canby city budget, local land annexation ballot measures, etc. — than I am about national affairs.

Presidential politics leave me cold.

Reagan? He was okay, I guess. Bush the First? Okay, too, but a bit daft. Clinton? Smart fellow, but lacking personal discretion. Seemed to do a good job.

Ask me about our current President, though, and I’ll tell you that I think he’s as dumb as a post. Jeremy‘s brother-in-law is a native Texan who assures me that Bush the Second is a Good Guy. He may be a Good Guy, but this doesn’t make him a Good President.

Before the attacks on 11 September 2001, Bush had essentially done nothing. The economy had begun to collapse, but that’s about it. After the attacks, the President found his footing, went into war-monger mode, and his job approval rating shot through the roof.

It’s a year later, and Bush’s job approval rating has fallen substantially (it’s down to 58%) because he’s squandered his “mandate” in a series of clumsy missteps. The economy is in tatters, the country is on the brink of war (on multiple fronts), and the White House has mounted a campaign against personal liberties that is, to my mind, truly frightening.

Bush blames the Clinton administration for many of the problems he faces now. For example, the Bush administration maintains that the Clinton years produced the escalating North Korea crisis, yet the Clintion staff admonished that good relations with North Korea needed to be maintained. Doesn’t it seem possible, even probable, that North Korea is riled because our current President labeled the country “evil”, signaling an end to the movement toward reconciliation? Bush doesn’t seem to know how to play nice; he’s most comofortable when engaging in confrontational diplomacy.

The administration’s belief that the best way to fight terrorism is to promote democracy is evidence that they just grasp the global socio-political climate. It is this relentless advocacy of our way of life that fosters global Anti-Americanism. Promoting democracy isn’t likely to quell terrorism; it’s likely to promote it.

Really, which country poses the greatest danger to world peace in 2003?

The Department of Homeland Security scares me. Marvin Minsky simply thinks its impractical, an example of poor arithmetic.

I’m not one to espouse conspiracy theories, but I do find the White House’s penchant for secrecy disturbing. The Bush Administration has decided that the Freedom of Information Act doesn’t suit its purposes and, so, has chosen to ignore it. I guess we don’t need a government that is accountable to its constituents — accountability just clouds the process of governement, right? The White House has even started killing reports it doesn’t like.

Orwell is more relevant every day.

The 06 January White House press briefing was interesting:

Bush is using his political capital to renew the abortion debate (more detail) and to promote a top-heavy economic-stimulus package (a package, incidentally, to which I am not actually opposed). I only hope that his support dwindles soon enough that he cannot do more damage than he already has.

Comments


On 13 January 2003 (01:19 PM),
said:

Hello, Cthulhu is old hat, I’m afraid. But yes, I did enjoy it 🙂

I find this troubling, too, for different reasons.

And, of course, there’s this:



On 13 January 2003 (01:20 PM),
Dana said:

JD,
you need to fix the ‘preview’ page — it’s style isn’t matching the rest of the site, and it’s losing at least the ‘Name’ field.



On 13 January 2003 (01:38 PM),
joelah said:

Yeah, I thought “Hello Cthulu” was pretty funny. It would’ve been a funnier and more extreme juxtaposition, however, if the fads of pubescent girls weren’t as strange and otherworldly to me as they are.



On 13 January 2003 (01:48 PM),
J.D. said:

Hm.

I see what you mean about the preview page, Dana, although I’m not sure how it’s losing the name. It lost Tammy’s name the other day, too.

I didn’t even know there was a template for the preview page; I’ll have to rummage around til I find it…



On 13 January 2003 (01:49 PM),
J.D. said:

I have an hypothesis.

I’ll bet the preview page loses the name only if you refresh the preview (for example, after correcting a typo).

Hm. Nope. Still there.



On 13 January 2003 (02:50 PM),
Dana said:

Hurm. This is not what I saw earlier (when I went to the preview page, after hitting post, I noticed the field was cleared), but it’s another data point:

1) Do not have personal information saved.
2) Put in name only
3) Type a post.
4) Hit preview.
5) From preview screen, hit back button.
6) Post is intact, Name field is cleared.



On 13 January 2003 (02:54 PM),
Dana said:

Oh, I’m using a build of Phoenix, a Mozilla-based browser, from Windows 2000.

Shrug.



On 13 January 2003 (03:07 PM),
Jeremy said:

It just so happens that I like the look of my web page 🙂 !!

Found the multiple links to my web page (in all it’s naked glory) very humorous.

-jeremy

3 Replies to “Something Awful”

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