n a t b s

“Whoever can see through all fear
will always be safe.”

You know, religious folk like to talk about faith a lot.  They have faith in God, yadda yadda bs.  Here’s the thing; I don’t think these people have any faith at all.  I think that faith is a tool to use against fear.  So, when something scary is happening you can have faith that you’ll get through it.  But these same faithers also want to control everything.  They want to go to war because they have no faith in other forms of coercion.  They want to legislate morality because they have no faith in people to be good.  When faced with a fear, they always choose the most direct coercive action, they never let things play out.  Sometimes, if you overreact to something you make things worse.  Sometimes your overreaction blinds you to the fact that what you’re afraid of really isn’t as threatening as it first seemed.  So you start walking these paths of fear, and once you do that you have lost control of your own life because anyone can get you to do anything just by eliciting frightening consequences for not listening.  Eg. “We have to invade Iraq or we’re all gonna die”  or “We have to let the govt buy up shitloads of bad debt, or we’re all gonna die.”  And when they put it like that, we always listen. We need to stop being so easy to manipulate.  We need to have faith that we don’t always need to control everything.  Because we can’t control everything.  And taking the scarier rout is what we call a leap of faith.

On a day where we take one step closer to the world of 1984 with the re-branding of TSA headquarters as “the Freedom Center,” no, really, I feel the need to remind the world (or the 20 people who might read this) that the essential freedom America is about, the one we fought that big ‘ol war over, is freedom from tyranny.  I’m sure most of you know what that word means, but, just for the record, tyranny means “A government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power.”  Hmmmm, so it’s not freedom from being blown up by terrorists?  No, not really.  That’s pretty hard to guarantee.  But a government in which a single ruler has absolute power…sound like any government you know?  I mean, sure, George Bush can declare anyone a terrorist for no particular reason and lock them up indefinitely without due cause, but that’s not absolute power right?  Sure he ignores the laws he doesn’t like, and makes up new ones without consulting congress, but that’s not absolute power.  I mean, he still derives his “just powers from the consent of the governed” right?  It’s not like he stole the last two elections.  Nah, tyranny is not even close to being a problem in these United States.  I mean, how could it be with fine institutions like the Freedom Center and the department of Homeland Security guaranteeing our freedom?  Nope, no one in history has ever used the guise of national securty to unjustly seize power, so one must be crazy to think that’s happening now.  I say we all just sit back and relax, I mean, we have a really humble and qualified civil servant running the show.  George Bush loves us, just like God loves George Bush.  And I’m just loving these motherfuckin’ freedom fries!

What is it about Sara Palin that scares the shit out of me, and frankly, let’s admit it, all democrats?  It’s plainly obvious that everyone is scared shitless by this woman, so let’s just end the denials and the false confidence.  First we have to admit it, then we can try to figure out why we’re scared so we can beat her.

The problem is, I don’t really know why.  It’s a feeling, there’s something about her and how she’s being received that makes me feel like we could be in trouble.  She’s like a new product, and she makes the old one appear obsolete.  It’s like when when a newer model iPod comes out, suddenly that old one just not as good.  She’s got the sheen of newness about her. People love new products, and Obama’s been around for 9 months already.  Bo-ring.  Hope?  …Did you hear Bristol is pregnant? For better or worse, well…for worse, she just dominates the mind.  She’s just a huge, good-looking, distraction.  And the primary person she’s distracting us from is John McCain.  That guy still running? His daughter is hot.  What, that’s his running mate?

Maybe because the Democrats are all dorks, and she seems like that stupid popular girl at your high school.  Or those 8 stupid popular girls.  And the scary part is people vote for that girl.

I’m not really sure how you beat the hot new product, the popular girl.  I’m not sure Obama knows how to do that either.  Is 57 days enough for people to get sick of her?  Something else needs to happen.  McCain needs to explode with anger on television, or maybe the debates will change things if there’s some moment that resonates.  I don’t know, and I don’t think the Obama campaign planned for this contingency.  Who could have expected them to?  Can they figure her out in time?  Can we?  There’s not much time left.  But first we have to admit we’re scared.

MICHELLE BERNARD, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST:  This is—I think the most important thing I can say is that I‘m so glad that I‘m alive and old enough in a point in history to fully absorb what was happening.  I actually went away and sat in the green room by myself so that I could just absorb it and actually weep alone.

This is the most amazing evening of my entire life.  I kept looking at Barack Obama the entire evening and I kept thinking that one day that could be my son or my daughter.  Barack Obama, I think, in being elected as the Democratic Party‘s nominee has demonstrated to the entire world that in America anything is possible.

Joe Biden said it last night and you kept hearing Barack Obama say it again tonight, America‘s promise, America‘s promise, America‘s promise.  And you can‘t help but look at him and say America has finally realized its promise.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MATTHEWS:  F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that—others have said it before that we‘re not an ethnic group, America.  Britain is an island and the French are a people.  He once said that we‘re harder to utter, something harder to utter, a willingness of the heart.  Is this nomination of Barack Obama a willingness of the heart, of the mind?  Is this a real change?  Is this a hope?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Yes, it is!

MATTHEWS:  A prospect or a reality, where are we?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BERNARD:  It is all of the above, as they are telling us.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BERNARD:  We are looking tonight behind us at a sea of beautiful black, white, Asian faces.  It tells me that the era of identity politics in the United States is over.  I will be very happy on election night if we can get to a point where we don‘t have to talk about how women are voting, how African-Americans are voting, how people in Appalachia are voting.

Iowa did it first.  Iowa demonstrated that in this country white people will vote for a black man.  It‘s the greatest day in our nation‘s history.

…

America is a fundamentally different country today.  It will be even more different if he wins this election.  But regardless of the outcome of the election, our country will never be the same again.

wow

I can’t take this anymore.  Not that we didn’t see it coming, but today Karl Rove straight up ignored a congressional subpoena.  Fine, we were all expecting it.  The question is, what is congress going to do about it?  Because if Karl Rove isn’t in handcuffs real soon, I think I’m going to explode.  It’s just too much.  How long can we keep putting up with this bullshit?  A group of citizens should kidnap him and deliver him to congress if congress wont take take of this itself.  Or at least we should beat the shit out of him.  I mean, I don’t know why now but I’m really incensed over this.  That piece of shit ruins our country and breaks the law with impunity!  And what do we do, elect Obama?  That’s great but jesus christ if you break the law you need to be punished for it!  That’s the way it works.  Maybe I’ll just start robbing convenience stores right?  Because the rule of law clearly means nothing in this sad, hypocritical country.  Oh, unless you’re poor. Then the law applies with a vengeance.  Bush & co have been shitting on us for 8 years and we’ve just been eating it up.  Despicable.  We should all be ashamed.  I’m just, so angry right now.