Keith Olbermann And The Meaning Of The Second Amendment

Has Keith Olbermann lost it? Maybe a little. By losing his job at MSNBC for donations made to Democratic Party candidates after appearances on his show (Countdown), he has taken a turn for the more opinionated, sometimes stepping over the line in terms of fact-reporting to get his political point across. At times, that has meant he sounds as nutty as Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannitty (albeit with a totally different worldview and civil perspective), despite looking poised.

On the other hand, there were too few dissident voices in the news during George W. Bush's turn in the White House - with the consequences that we have seen (the largest foreign attack on U.S. soil, two wars, at least one of them fully unwarranted). The media had been way too lax and the entire planet suffered. I see how he would feel he needs to teach Americans the Right Way and, failing that, wanting to knock some sense into them.

All told, I think we're better off with him having some sort of wide and official platform.

Nowadays, Olbermann has a webseries called The Resistance (formerly The Closer, it was changed following Donald Trump's victory), hosted by GQ Magazine. Today's video brings home a point many scholars try to teach about but that people are too thick to open their eyes to regarding the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:

Joe Biden's Butt Buddy

You know, Joe Biden's one complicated fellow, in that he's both a simpleton and a man with good ideas. He's like a Bizarro George W. Bush, in that he'll ALWAYS say the wrong thing in public as well, except instead of starting useless wars based on lies for his puppeteer buddies to profiteer on, he'd probably institute a country-wide public transit system.

But the delivery system for those good ideas inevitably always snags, as if there was a disconnect or distortion on the way from his brain to his mouth, like here:



There are words, expressions, and just things you don't say in front of crowds and rolling cameras. But Biden has no clue; he'd probably be the President who'd actually provide Reparations to Black folks, but in his speech to do it would refer to them as Colored, not because he's racist, but because his mind would escape to Boardwalk Empire mid-speech and in it, even Michael Kenneth Williams (Chalky White) talks about his peers in it that way, not meaning any harm, just totally wrong.

Another Bizarro Bush thing is how under Bush, the True President Dick Cheney was always hidden ''for security purposes'', whereas Barack Obama keeps Biden from appearing too often because it's one guaranteed huge gaffe per outing, and he wants to minimize those.

Why Registering With One Party Makes No Sense To Me

In the United States, elections are pretty much a two-party system in which electors usually side with either Party, for better or worse, for most of their lives. As such, they are offered to register which party affiliation they favour, and lists are made available to those who may need it. In some cases, an opponent will use unfair tactics to suppress his opponents' voters, such as this instance where Arizona Republican candidate Jeff Flake (yep, he was that flaky, can't make that shit up) used robocalls to send Democrat voters in the wrong voting place.

In Canada - and particularly in Québec - we have a multiple-party system, which enables most citizens to actually vote for the candidate they feel will best represent them; the party with the most winners is in power, and usually the balance of power is held by more than one opposition party, resulting in the country not veering too far from the center, and where compromise and negotiations usually prevail over dictatorial tactics.

Except, of course, with Stephen Harper, who merged first two, then three parties to form a bigger one who would stand a chance to grab power if they took electoral positions away from the main cities (Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver) and added more in rural regions in the West. Which they did. And it worked. And now he's muting all opposition parties and even his own Parliament to become, all told, a King.

But Kings die and/or get their heads chopped off, so while he's redefining Canada as a war-waging country in the service of England, lowering our tolerance level for gays and women, and reducing the percentage of French-speaking neighbourhoods through targeted immigration in effect hiding what could become ethnic cleansing, his time will be limited by Nature, and his wrongs will be reverted. Over decades, sure, as Americans are learning (there is no way a Barack Obama can repair the damage a George W. Bush has inflicted in the same amount of time; it takes a second to destroy a house by launching a missile in it, hours to do it by fire, yet weeks or months to rebuild a new one).

Anyhow, the point is this: your opinions may change over time, or maybe they won't. But those of your elected officials can, too: just look at how many times John Kerry changed his mind, John McCain too, and that's saying nothing of Mitt Romney doing so in the same fucking day, let alone throughout the years.

Registering with a Party paints you in a corner, and opens you up to the malfeasance of bad people, which there seems to be a shitload more of every day. Not only are you better off keeping some cards up your sleeve and keeping your hand secret (I've started playing poker again, yes), but it's also best to keep an open mind and see if there isn't a better option out there.

Video Of The Week: Tom Waits

Tom Waits is a singular songwriter. One of the best poets and lyricists in pop/rock, he's also the king of exploring beats, as this song demonstrates. After recording most of his albums with guest-star drummers, his recent opus, Bad As Me, mostly features his son Casey Waits manning the beat machine, and doing a great job at it.

Hell Broke Luce has a military-esque beat pattern and tells the tale of a soldier who is tired of his President's bullshit (''give 'em all a beautiful parade instead'', a direct jab at George W. Bush), doesn't understand why he's at war, and being homesick.

The video itself, directed by Matt Mahurin (Alice In Chains' Angry Chair, Cowboy Junkies' Sweet Jane, Hole's Gold Dust Woman), utilizes imagery worthy of 1920s-1930s experimental films (those of René Clair and Luis Bunuel in particular) and is worthy of being called a short film.

After being my favourite song off Waits' most recent album, this video is almost sure to make it in my end-of-the-year top-5.

Is John McCain Becoming Human Again?

John McCain used to the the Right's Conscience, the guy who embodied cautious responsibility in management, preferred smaller government, and fought for ''freedom'' and ''individual liberties''. With a military background (and former POW star-status), he was pretty much what Republicans are trying to make us believe Ronald Reagan was.

Then he lost the GOP nomination to George W. Bush, whose cronies destroyed his public personae as a means to show him ''how to play the game''. In the 8 years of the Bush Administration, the U.S. (and Republicans, mostly) became a caricature of its former self, with talking points turning to extremes more and more every day - and baseless insults to put down the opposition became the norm.

That's when a Democrat comes up with an idea - even if it was proposed by a Republican first - it'll inevitably be taxed as ''communist/socialist'' and irresponsible. The only things politicians should advocate is lower taxes, tax cuts for the rich, war and other types of death (no to killing future babies, yes to killing as many adults as we can), less laws (but, ironically, stronger penalties to those who commit crimes).

And, above all, ''less - smaller - government''. Yet no Tea Party-related cronies are willing to sacrifice their own healthcare-provided jobs to make a point and/or get the ball rolling. No, in Congress and the House - strength is in numbers. Duh.

In any event, McCain has not only been a shadow of his former self, he's also gone against just about everything he's ever stood for (''no wall to separate us from Mexico'' / ''build the damn fence''), a position most thought would end with the ''Sarah Palin as running mate'' debacle, but he continued in his Senate race two years later. Jon Stewart had a great bit about that, look it up.

But now, he's standing up Palin 2.0 - Michele Bachmann - on the Senate floor. Now, we're still a far cry from the reasonable guy of yore, the score's still 45-3 and he has a long way to go before making amends for his temporary fit of being delusional, but he hasn't given up quite yet. Let's see where this goes.

The Dangers Of Being Teachers

A teacher who survived a shoot-out a week ago was stabbed in her home.

Her husband, who teaches at the same school, found her body.

After the recent strings of zombie-attacks (at last count, 9 in the last month), we're down to same-victim violence attacks.

All things odds should be working against. So either buy a lottery ticket, or this impending Apocalypse shit that worried George W. Bush so much is on its way.

Half-Funny Will Ferrrell Skit

Out of the Osama Bin Laden's Death parodies, though, it definitely ranks in the top-whatever so far, though.

President Bush Reacts to Osama Bin Laden's Death with Will Ferrell from Will Ferrell

Everybody is A Fucking Nazi

It has existed as far back as I can remember: the late 70s, the 80s, the 90s...

Every single time someone who is prone to exaggeration disagrees with someone, it's what they resort to. 'That Person' is Hitler; his supporters (or staff) are Nazis.

In 2003, in his Quest For World Domination, I mean the War On Terror, George W. Bush invaded his second country in 18 months - a country of impure, coloured, backwards, retarded, living-in-caves-and-having-sex-with-animals people, according to his press releases.

His opponents compared him to Hitler. Of course.

Then Hurricane Katrina happened, and people hated him so much that, for some inexplicable reason, he went from the worst human of all time to, just, racist - or, as Kanye West put it, he doesn't like black people.

Speaking of black people, one of them was elected to bring grace and intelligence back to the White House. He came in with the worst deficit of all time, the worst economy, two wars that were quickly going nowhere... and while some people complain he hasn't made enough changes, his opponents seem to rather want to be in yet more wars, have less freedoms, more Patriot Act-like laws, have the rich pay no taxes at all and the poor no services at all. And when they're not adding Hitler moustaches to his pictures, they're taking a happy waive out of context to make him Nazi-ish:

Oh, and Hitlerizing figures isn't only for American politicians - in this column, Texan douchebag/idiot (but not Nazi) Gil Lebreton, who probably doesn't even realize he has French roots and likely thinks the French would still support the Nazis if they were invaded today, says the display at the Olympics reminded him of Berlin, circa 1936, although he is obviously too young to have actually covered those games - he's likely only seen images out of context. Anyhow, he says the Canadian Patriotism - clearly, unlike American Patriotism - is close to Nazi-ism. This despite the fact that our cars don't have Canadian Flags as bumper stickers, convenience stores don't sell flags nor have any on their rooftop or property, that half our stores don't allude to our country...

And, by the way, I'm not one myself - I'm actually quite the opposite, I don't really consider ''Canada'' to be my country. I'm a Montrealer first and foremost, and if I had to choose a country and set its limits, just about where borders are at the moment, I'd be a Quebecer - just not with the leaders we have at the moment. But that's beside the point. And so is the fact that Lebreton is a complete moron.

The point is that no one is fuckin' Adolf Hitler. Hitler went to war with a whole continent, killed millions of humans including a few million Jews, specifically, and he instilled terror among even his own people. Joseph Stalin killed an estimated 60 million of his own people. And no one's a fuckin' Stalin either.

At best, Bush is a fucking retard who was manipulated into being Richard Nixon. At worst, he is George H.W. Bush's son, heir, and the Worst President Of All Time. At worst, Obama is going to fail at being Martin Luther King, and at best he will be Nelson Mandela.

Notice how neither is Hitler.

Same goes for the Vancouver Games: they were a celebration of the things foreigners have come to expect from Canada - beavers, mounties, aboriginals (despite the inability to actually see any on their trips), more than the diversity of the inhabitants, the richness of the natural resources, the fact that they promote discussion rather than conflict in almost every sentence they utter.

Just like if Americans hosted the Olympics showing blatant racism, fat people, terrible beer with little to no alcohol content, celebrated five-patty hamburgers, wars for oil, shopping malls, pollutions and waste of water and food, instead of the ideals that (once) made the U.S. of A. a great country. And even that wouldn't be Nazi-riffic.

Leave Hitler alone. By speaking his name, you're lessening the plight and deaths of millions and soiling their memories.

No one is Hitler. Except Gary Bettman - that short fucking dictator has to be brought down, for the good of All.

The Pope Calls For A New World Order

For years now, most governments have ignored what The Pope has been saying because it usually deals with issues in a regressive manner (AIDS, condoms). This time, however, Pope Benedict may have hit the nail on the head for certain conservative members of the G8 (Italy, Canada, the U.S., France).

While many conspiracy theorists have been warning of impending doom and gloom via a New World Order - a World Government of sorts - and guessing it would come from the U.S. side, it seems the Catholic leader has taken the lead on making this happen, blaming the current economic crisis in the process, and saying the economy should be regulated by a ''world political authority'' with the noble goal of helping the less fortunate and redistribute wealth more equally.

Yeah, right.

It was obvious this idea would start making the rounds in the media brought on by the political/religious right, and it was obvious they'd try to mask it as a leftist 'helping others' scam that will end up being a lie of sorts, either benefiting rich Americans or rich Europeans.

The 'amero' idea already started making the rounds, a 'unique dollar for all of North America' modeled on the euro, as has the Bush-supported idea of a 'super highway' linking Canada, the U.S. and Mexico - all viewed as the first steps in tools of integration to lead to a unique world currency and economy and, eventually, One World Government.

But how would a World Government not be a totalitarian regime? Americans, in all their democratic splendor, had George W. Bush in charge for 8 years. Worse still, Canadians have now twice elected as a minority leader Stephen Harper who acts like he was elected with a 90% majority eventhough he's riding the coattails of less than a quarter of the population's votes.

If we can't trust those who are in charge when they're in charge of mere countries, why should we trust them to be in charge of all the world's money and resources?

We're at an age when heads should roll, not take control.

What This Picture Looks Like To Me

Mr Cowboy, meet Mr Classy.
One of them looks Presidential.
Guess Who's Coming To Fix My Fuck-Ups?



Bush: You know, Mr. Bama, or can I call you B.O.B., or Barack O, or just O? Hey, what does that 'O' in your middle name stand for, anyway? I thought your middle name was Hussein, or did my team just make that up?

Obama: Actually, Sir, my last name is ''Obama'', it's just one word.

Bush: Huh... Really? Go figure. Hey, are you going to mind that most of this room is all white, or will you have it redecorated? 'Cause my wife tells me it needs to stay Presidential, whatever that means.

Obama: Sir, really, I haven't thought of how the room should look, more about how to use what it represents to get my point accross when I'm sitting in it.

Bush: You'll see, it's an easy job. Heck, I did it for 8 years and barely remember the names of 5, maybe 6 people I've met from other countries. Did you know that most of our imports come from other countries? Those guys kept reminding me, some of them are pretty good negotiators...

Obama: Yes, sir, I've met a few of them on my recent tour of Europe.

Bush: Europers, those are crazy fuckers. You never know who's in charge, they change Presidents every year and add new states to its members all the time; it can get pretty confusing.

Obama: Uh, yes. I'll take note of that.

Bush: Heh heh. Hey, this is where Bill did the thing with the cigar. And here's where we hide them, just in case you wanna, you know?

Obama: Uh, no, thank you.

Bush: And over there's the only spot in the room that's shielded from cameras, it's where I go to pretend I'm reading the newspaper.

Obama: Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Hey, do you mind if I try the chair out for a second?

Bush: Boy, you best not start being too presumptuous now... You're lucky I stole elections myself, or I'd have you locked up for messing up the promise I made John McCain when I kicked his ass in 2000.

Election Fever?

First it was a federal election which proved useless because the conservatives remained a minority. So we spent $300M (yes, three hundred million dollars) to end up just about exactly where we were, which is at a stalemate, with much more interest in the American federal election.

So the American federal election happens next week. We'll know just how fucked our neighbours to the South are, and whether they intend on fixing themselves up or want to wait until they get even worse.

So the fashionable word these days is election. Since our provincial government can't make their own minds up and would rather follow trends rather than set them, they want in on the fun. Those bastards know how fed up we are with the whole process, they know that chances they will remain a minority government, they know it'll be wasted money in harsh economic times, and they know how sick we are of seeing signs and billboards all over the fucking place.

But they don't care. And not in a George W. Bush ''my balls are bigger than my brain'' way, either, no, in a ''I don't give a shit, I have a budget I'm allowed to waste and I'M fucking wasting it'' kind of way that reeks of self-importance and seems to be the complete opposite of what public service actually means.

But that was expected, right? I mean, we're talking about a leader who has crossed party lines just to win and sit on an easy throne, who tried to sell a fucking mountain (is anything any MORE public domain than a fucking mountain???) to his condo-building friends; a party whose ranks just grew with other party-line-crossers (crosseurs?); a party that tries to privatize everything public and that does its best to work illegally...

A party that'll stay in power because people are unsure about the PQ's new program of not holding a referendum in the near future but that still brought, historically, equal pay for women in the workplace, affordable babysitting programs, facilitated unionizing, increased minimum wages and is vowing to keep post-secondary education fees as low as they can. Who the fuck do these commies think they are, Barack Obama?

Anyway. Elections. Yay.

I hear the Canadian Army is working on super-smart environmentally-friendly bombs that kill all humans but leave trees standing. Can't they work on one that eliminates politicians and corruption instead?