Muffin HQ

Yes.  I know.  I should be studying law.  But, government is kinda a related topic.  I took time out to watch about 2 hours of the DNC to see what McBama was going to say.  It is really sad when it seemed like Al Gore (who I still get confused with John Kerry) was totally phony and couldn’t say anything years ago, but McBama is even worse.  At least Al Gore invented the Internet.  I digress…

In some ways I have a sneaking suspicion part of what is spectacular is not so much McBama’s words or his delivery, but just the fact that he is black and has made it this far.  I think a lot of black candidates in the past have tried to appeal to black voters, but I don’t think McBama really does that.  I think he appeals to white voters.  I see black people with Obama T-shirts and so forth, so I know they are out there.  But, in any case, another digression.

The whole televised thing with music and fancy camera shots and fireworks and all that just leaves you feeling like you just watched a movie.  Truly, at the end they played what can only be called an “end theme”.  It had marching drum elements and “epic elements”  (spacey/roomy passages) and etc.  I was seriously waiting for the credits to roll.  But, they didn’t.

I have watched a fair share of these things on TV through my life (now on the internet, of course).  But, this was the first time I have really tuned in visually (I heard some of the RNC in 2004) in many years.  WOW!  This is truly the society of spectacle.  Government, an already abstracted concept, is becoming more abstracted by the minute.  I wonder if we will end up with a “American Idol” type reality show that decides who will be the next president where online voting eliminates one by one a large group of candidates leaving just one……  wait, that’s exactly what we do need… many candidates and the opportunity to vote for each one multiple times.   Don’t tell me reality TV is going to the basis of our voting system!!!!  ”American President”…. or “Who wants to be the President?”…. it actually just might work.  People do want to participate, just more directly.  Maybe a MicroSoft / NewsCorp merger could buy the government outright and get this show together?

I guess the DNC event was less like a movie and more like a bad TV show. …. wait, it was a bad TV show.  I’m a bit confused… is the government TV  or is TV the government?

Over here there is an article about the next article from the Oregonian newspaper, with associated full-page picture and headline, which says something like “Driver Chases Cyclist”. This comes day after the headline and full-page picture, “Biker CLUBS driver with his bike.” Thirdly, tonight, they are posting a “There is no war between cyclists and car drivers” type article. This is an obvious attempt to get away from any liability/risk they have from inciting car drivers to antagonize cyclists.  Long story short, the Oregonian stepped in it, but managed to sell papers.

The election results are in: 50% McBama, 50% OCain, 100% can’t tell the fucking difference.

I generated these names for the candidates at the Oregon Country Fair this weekend. The Oregon Country Fair is a Democratic Party stronghold…. still stuck in the past. We were forced to shout “Change for a hopeful America different!”, the McBama campaign slogan at the midnight show this year. I think the OCain slogan should be: “Just the same, vote OCain!”… or “Just as much pain, vote OCain!”

Here is an article from over at salaud.net about a headline that I found ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS: “Cyclist Clubs Driver with his Bike” The Oregonian newspaper is famous for being conservative and trying to turn back the clock to era where Portland was JUST a stump-town. In a way it is funny to see them jump on this story this way and, of course, to accept all the facts from the Portland Police Department which also wants to turn back the clock.

Here is an article that I wrote about the amendments to the FISA probably allowing immunity for NSA wire-tapping for telecom and a bunch of other nastiness like wholesale monitoring of all electronic communications.  It is being voted on very soon (in the next day or so) and it is probably going to pass and …. Surprise!  Obama supports the bill.  ;)