700 Gazillion dollars later. . .

They passed the thing. I'm pretty sure we're living through the end times. The combination of this bill and Sarah Palin has pushed me over the edge--from caring desperately to WTF. Seriously.

The debate was crazy, Palin recited talking points and was folksy and blah, blah, blah. I couldn't stand her. (By the way Republicans, get that woman a vocal coach pronto)

For them to pass this bill now, after they already voted it down is crazy. The only way they could pass a hugely controversial and high cost bill is to add more controversial and expensive tax earmarks.

If the Republicans win this year, I don't know if I can deal with that. People everywhere will have to form support groups to deal with it. Coffee and lemon bars and tears and support; that's what it will take if I have to live through another four years of Republican mistakes.

On the bright side, McCain stopped campaigning in Michigan; apparently he lost all hope for winning that state. Not just stopped some campaigning, the man stopped everything. That is a good sign.

Outrage or Depression?

Which is the more appropriate response to current events? We've got suspended campaigns, a vice presidential candidate that is giving women a bad name, a huge financial crisis, and the president has ok'd the first deployment of American troops on American soil since the reconstruction. Everything is so fucked up right now, it may be hard to pay attention to all of the travesties happening at once. One has to wonder how we got here. I'm sure the explanation includes "George W. Bush," "power-hungry," and "fucking idiot."

Firstly, we have McCain suspending his campaign due to the financial crisis, blah blah blah. There's a clip out there on the interwebs of David Letterman getting pissed because McCain cancelled on him to go save the country, yet he was on a CBS news show (same network mind you) at the same scheduled time slot. Not incredibly scandalous, but incredibly tacky.

With Video Pwnage

Sarah Palin has now made a fool of herself on two network news shows. She looked foolish on Charles Gibson's program a couple of weeks ago, then I believe it was Katie Couric pwned her just a couple of days ago, both highlighting the fact that she doesn't know shit about national government and policy.

Also With Video Pwnage

Everyone is talking about the financial crisis. People are starting to throw out phrases like "another Great Depression." I think we can all agree that we don't want to be there. It's getting frightening, but I think most everyone agrees that giving a whole bunch of money the government has to a bunch of big businesses is not a plan the common people can get behind. We've been getting screwed by these businesses for years. Their interests always come first. I understand that the market is in a lot of trouble right now, but I feel that other options should be explored, and they should have started at the first hint of trouble, as opposed to rushing an idea through Congress at the last minute, to look like they've got the situation under control. That's the way that chimp President gets what he wants. There is even talk of this fix giving even more power to the executive branch. This is not a good thing, and if it works out like they're speculating, will change the face of capitalism.

The Voice of Reason

I, for one, Welcome Our New Executive Branch Overlords

Finally, we have a deployment of troops within the United States. Their mission, according to an article in an Army publication, has a whole lot to do with riot and crowd control. With the way things have been going, this makes me incredibly nervous. Ok, paranoid. I want to know what is going to happen that we don't know about yet that is going to cause a mass riot in the US. Even a few years ago, that would have seemed impossible. Now, I'm not so sure.

Read the Scary Stuff Here

I'm going to go curl up with some pop culture, and hope it all goes away. (Isn't that how we all deal with this?)

Pigs do Wear Lipstick

Ok, Obama didn’t say it, so I’ll say it: Sarah Palin is a Natzi Pig in lipstick. We’ve already established that she is a woman who doesn’t believe that women are actually people who deserve equal rights as citizens of America. Now we know she is a big fat liar; an opportunist. Well thanks McCain for giving her a big fat opportunity to spread her lies and deceit (and pig manure) all over this country. Her “thanks but no thanks” to the bridge to nowhere – a big fat lie. She never actually said that. She did say “oh yes please, we’d LOVE that bridge to nowhere” in her campaign for governor of Alaska. But then Congress, not Natzi Pig Palin canceled the bridge. Just so we get our big fat facts straight.

Selling McCain

Ok, on to part two. Didn't want to lay it all on you at once. It's about the POW thing. John McCain is a POW. We are all aware of this fact. He provided a great service to his country, and in the performance of his duty, was captured and was in a POW camp for five years. This is something that I admire him for living through and continuing to live with as a part of his life history.

What I don't like about it is the fact that everyone that gets up to talk at the Republican Convention throws it around. I feel that it is hugely disrespectful for Guliani to use it as a marketing tool, Palin to sell a man based on a horrible experience, and a Republican crowd to cheer when a man’s long, horrible experience is trotted out as a talking point. They even had a country singer sing a song he wrote, wherein an entire verse was dedicated to the candidate's torture.

This was a real experience, it must have had a huge impact on his life. To treat it as political experience that qualifies him to be president seems, to me, to belittle the man's experiences. I’m all for him using this experience to promote himself; it was his experience, and he can do with it what he likes. But to hear every Republican in America to celebrate the capture and torture of a soldier seems really sick and twisted.

Hottest new political accessory

I was anxiously awaiting McCain's announcement for VP pick. I came into the breakroom, on CNN they had a headline about him picking Palin. In my geeky way, I thought that Michael Palin would be a very funny choice--they could recreate the fish-slapping dance on the White House lawn. But seriously, I thought he had picked a generic white male to complement his generic white maleness.

Then they said Sarah, and showed a picture of an attractive brunette striding with purpose across a field somewhere. A woman? Like, with a vagina and everything? Really? Do they know she has a vagina?

Guess what ladies? We're the hottest new political accessory. Soon no presidential campaign will not be complete without the token woman trailing behind the president. It is a clever tactic. One designed to sway legions of women that wanted to vote for Hilary, women who want to see a woman hold the highest office in the land.

Here's a hint for you fellas: we're not that stupid. You can't throw a woman whose only experience has been two years as governor in a distant state, put her in position that can potentially have little or no influence and expect us to rush to you side. Also, he's risking alienating all those devout conservatives who don't want the frat party to end. I hope McCain enjoys his token vagina, because he's going to be losing with her.