Assorted Articles

It’s been about a month since I’ve posted anything the AHT, and since I bragged about it over the weekend, I thought I’d better get to writing so I don’t look like a bigger idiot than normal.

 

So, what to write about?  It isn’t like there has been a shortage of stupidity to comment on lately.  Just because Obama was reelected doesn’t mean that that everyone came to their senses.  The problem seems to be that when I see something stupid, my source is usually online, and frankly, writing about it is just reinventing the wheel.  I mean, why bother writing up some snarky essay when something is already online?

 

This morning though, I had an idea.  How about instead of writing an article on just one story I post several links with associated brief comments from me?  It’s a new approach for me, so if you’re one of the people that reads this, let me know what you think.

 

Here’s the first article.  The ranking member on the State of Washington’s House Transportation Committee, Mr. Ed Orcutt (R – Go figure) sent an email (where he screwed up the possessive form of “cyclist’s” by the way) to a constituent where he actually argued that because humans breathe out CO2, we are more polluting than automobiles (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/03/washington-republican-riding-bicycles-causes-more-pollution-than-cars/ ).  I think Mr. Orcutt took the Disney movie Cars too literally.

 

I’m somewhat disheartened at how little we (by which I mean both my circles of friends and the country in general) are talking about the sequester and the massive funding cuts that took affect on March 1.  This isn’t something that happened by accident or snuck up on us.  Both Democrats and Republicans INTENTIONALY BUILT THE SEQUESTER INTO THE SYSTEM IN 2011!!!!  Maybe we aren’t talking about it, or raising arms up to fight it, because it’s just so big that it’s difficult to get your head around.  Here’s a handy explanation (http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/03/the-sequester-explained ).  Again, even though 100 Senators and 435 House members, as well as 1 President, knew damn well that these funding cuts, $109 billion per YEAR, were going to happen for almost two years, they came and went.  Fuck you all, Washington.

 

I have only recently discovered Right Wing Watch (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/).  Take a look at it.  It’s sort of an online clearing house of mental deficiency and I could write a book of snarky comments just on what’s on their home page, but I’ll restrain myself here and only note that Pat Robertson thinks that demons can be brought into your home via new clothing (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/robertson-worth-praying-over-clothes-rebuke-demons ).  Now, seriously, Dear Reader, how can you expect me to comment any further?  What can I possibly say about Pat Robertson to make him seem MORE crazy?  Obvious crazy is obvious.

 

One piece of happy news though.  The U.S. House of Representatives flipped their position and reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, including provisions for the LGBT community, nonprotected immigrants, and Native Americans (http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/02/gop-violence-against-women-act-passes )!  Of course, the majority of the bigots from the Republican party voted against it, but it wasn’t enough as some of their own members broke ranks and joined the Democrats.  Credit where it’s due, it’s great that it passed, but should it have taken a year and a half?  Probably not, but it’s there now.  Of course, Obama still needs to sign it . . .

 

That’s good for now.  Again, let me know what you think.  Frankly, I wish there was more feedback from people.  I wouldn’t mind getting into a dialogue over some of the stuff I put out.  Also, early on, I wrote that there would be an associated podcast.  Is there any interest in that?  I’m thinking of something were the topic changes from week to week and I talk to different people from different communities.  Let me know.

 

If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, things you’d like to see me comment on, or something you would like to discuss, you can contact me at angryhappytruth@gmail.com.