Father of LSD takes "the big trip"

No disrespect intended. Rest in peace Dr. Hoffman.

Hoping For Change

Here's a CHANGE that I am filled with HOPE will happen: the end of the Democratic Primary. This blows.

69

This is the 69th post on Huntingdon Pike. In celebration of this momentous occasion, I have given myself a 69. And if you think that's impossible take a look at the mess that is the Democratic Primary. Any thing is possible. AH! I feel better now.

Getridofthemoderators.com

Geridofthemoderators.com – this could be a good and catchy web site that puts pressure on the moderators and exposes just how stupid they are. We could show quotes and graphs of how bad a job they do and have an honest discussion (as well as a grassroots campaign) around what it would be like to have a good old fashioned Lincoln-Douglass debate where the candidates slug it out without being spoon fed politics-lite BS from moderators who are making this country dumber with each passing second.

This would also remove the question of bias. So yeah, methinks that moderated debates should go "bye bye" and we should usher in a new era of debates based on an old era of debates.

Barack-aby Bama on the Tree Top

Now my last post aside, I've got to say: Barack Obama did a shitty job at the debate last night. Now if it were me and I was being asked repulsive questions, I would have been pretty freakin' annoyed to. I mean, those were bad questions that Obama has mostly addressed many times over.

But that said, Barack looked as if he was going to fall asleep last night in the middle of each sentence. He looked so tired. I could hardly watch. It was almost as if he was annoyed at the questions not just because they were stupid questions, but because he was really cranky. I understand that and have sympathy for it.

I almost find it funny. I told my roommate, one day when I have a child I'm going to say to him or her when they are looking sleepy: "We better put you to bed! Why you look just as tired as Barack Obama at a Pennsylvania debate!"

The Obama Partisan

Alright. So I'd say that I am a huge Obama fan and that I am pretty annoyed at this point with Hillary Clinton. While I wouldn't mind to see her as president, I would love to see Barack Obama as president. In many ways, I think this primary is a referendum on hope.

We have a choice between "hope" and a narcissistic circle that is determined to win and consolidate power at all costs. That's often how I see this race. Obama says he's running because this country needs a change. Hillary says she's running because she wants to be president. I mean, she didn't stay with her asshole husband for nothing right? She should at least get to be President of the United States.

Alright. That's mean. But I think there's a degree of truth in it. And frankly, it pisses me off.

Democrats Duh-Bate

“Is Reverend Wright as patriotic as you?” “Why can’t you wear a pin with an American flag?”

There is a line in Billy Madison where after Adam Sandler speaks for a while, the principal gives a stark reply that I think should be applied to tonight’s moderators: “Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to (you). I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

It’s become popular in the blogosphere to ridicule these debates, but with good reason. And this one especially. There was barely any thing on environment, health care, human rights in Darfur, or most issues that are or should of value to most us. I am of the view that it’s time to get rid of the moderators. It’s time for a good old fashioned “Lincoln-Douglass” debate where the candidates go head to head without being spoon fed politics-lite crap that is making everyone in this country dumber. What is, essentially in the way of this happening?

Knock Knock

Who's there?
McCain.
McCain who?
Mc-ain't-he-the-one-who-supports-actual-elitist-policies?

INSIDE JOKE: Mr. D, did I finally pull it off?

Middle America Knows How To Spot An Elitist

This is awesome.

Why Youtube was Created

For this:



And this:

Is Robert Reich Smart?

Yes. Yes he is.

Hard Rains Goin' Fall...Let's Get Building

Literally. Thanks to global warming, a hard rain will literally fall in certain areas. And completely not fall in other areas.

But actual rain is not what Dylan meant, right? He used "hard rain" in the figurative/metaphorical sense that ten thousand voices will start fighting to be heard if we choose not to hear them. And yet, while we in the West may be unnerved by car bombs and other tragic attacks, those in the poorest nations will feel the figurative "hard rain" the hardest. Because in times of great economic strife, poor people turn on the rich less often, and instead turn on each other.

And in a fascinating piece by Nick Kristoff, they turn on elderly women. Now if there is any thing disgusting in the world it's global trends that lead to the brutal executions of elderly women.

Al Gore wanted to create a lock box for Social Security to protect our elderly.

Looks like we should open up a box right now for the Social Security of elderly women across this world. In fact, we need to start preparing some sort of "Noah's Ark" plan for the coming invasion of global warming. And by "building an Ark" I do not necessarily mean a physical Ark. I mean something else. And I'm not sure what. I just know it's going to require some imagination and community building.

As Kristoff points out, there's no way to predict how human beings respond to terrible weather conditions. But if history has any thing to say, human beings do not respond well to crazy weather. They become insane. And so we need to start thinking about building an Ark. Cause Noah was the only visionary that we can point to who knew to think ahead. I mean, let's think about it. Let's create a plan on how to respond to the unpredictable, volatile, and vicious trends that global warming has in store.

I want to believe in hope (thank you Barack). But we have a progressive movement that is so (rightly) entrenched in the battle for universal health care and getting out of Iraq that I don't see many Noahs building arks for the future.

There is some serious shit looming that we could possibly have prevented in the Roaring Nineties and that we can still do something about, but far less it seems. Now we have to take into account that the worst of humanity that we are seeing in Darfur is a stone's throw away on an even wider scale.

Don't like the invention of trench war fare and all the other stuff that came out of the first half of the twentieth century? Well...we got to get moving then to prevent more "inventions" from humanity's worst nightmares.

I hate to be a doomsayer. I want to believe in hope. But in searching for my hope, I'm going to have to follow Dylan's advice and head for the Church of my choice where I might find God or Brooklyn State Hospital where I may still find Woodie Guthrie. But if I don't find either in these places, Dylan has a solution: you can find them both at the Grand Canyon at sundown. And if by the time I get there, the canyon is covered by the ocean, I hope to be with you all in an Ark that we had imagined and prepared.

Nick Kristoff is da Awesomest

It seems to me that Nick Kristoff at the NYT puts out more original substance than all the other op-ed writers for the NYT Times put together. Frank Rich is a nice read. But I can basically get the same idea from 100 liberal bloggers and MoveOn emails. Maureen Dowd is basically a DC version of "People Magazine" or "Cosmo."

Paul Krugman has substance and doesn't stand down even in the face of unpopular opinion. So mad props to him. Also, some mad props to Tom Friedman for his unique take on globalization, etc...however, Friedman is give or take. For all his unique perspectives, he's also a bit of a wild card on his facts. He's more of a "I have a hunch and I'm going to present my hunch as FACT" kind of a guy."

Kristoff writes articles that speak to issues that are ignored by just about everyone except the International Crisis Center. He's original and he seems based on facts.

So yay Kristoff!

Andrew Slack!

At last I have found him! Or is this him? Or him?

Bill Richardson

Carville compares the guy to Judas. And let me go out on a limb here and tell you that I think Carville is absolutely correct. Bill Richardson is Judas Iscariot. Now here me out! You see, as James Carville understands, Bill Clinton is the Lord. And Hillary Clinton is Bill's son who has come down to earth to heal the sick with better health care. And Hillary had twelve disciples. One of them is James. James Carville! Another is Mark. Mark Penn! And another is Bill. Bill Richardson! The only one out of these three disciples that doesn't share a name with one of Jesus' disciples, thus betraying this weird joke. Which means, since he's betrayed something that involves a Jesus metaphor, regardless how bad the metaphor may be, that Bill Richardson is Judas.

Hillary Clinton recieved oral sex

from Bill Clinton. At some point. Oh my goodness! It's craziness! Every body! It's a controversy! Of course, no one pointed out that James Carville was in the room when it happened. No one thought to. He's always around.

I Hate Politics

So Barack Obama said the truth. That people cling to religion and guns. They fucking do. This does not de-legitimize either religion or guns. It just points out that in some cases people cling to them because they're desperate. That's true. It has always been true. What's the problem? That it's true?

For example, let me provide some other true remarks: police officers are allowed to arrest people. That's true. Is that controversial? Perhaps to hard core anarchists. But it's still true. Oh, here's another: five year olds wet their pants more often than sixteen year olds on average. This is true. But the "Sixteen Year Olds On Average Wet Their Pants More Often Than Five Year Old" Party thinks that's controversial. Oh, here's another one: that people without much hope for economic opportunity often cling to religion and guns out of desperation. Oh my! I think I shall faint for never has my fragile constitution been so blatantly challenged by such controversial remarks! Oh my!

Thank You Ezra

Apparently a guy named "Andrew" sent Ezra an argument that made him publicly reverse his opinion. I can surmise from a similar post by Kevin Drum, that this is "Andrew" is none other than "Andrew Slack." My godfather Dr. Theodore Watersmouth had/still has a student/protege/friend named "Andrew Slack."

I wonder if this is the same "Andrew Slack." I'm guessing it is. His arguments to Ezra seemed so familiar to me. Almost as if I had written them myself. But...no...NO! That's just impossible. Isn't it? I mean, it's impossible for both me and this Andrew Slack guy to have come up with the same exact arguments phrased the same exact way...right? Unless there's some kind of connection between the two of us that's more powerful than I have ever experienced with any individual before.

Any way, thanks Ezra Klein for changing your argument!

Et Tu, Ezra?

Ezra Klein has joined Matt Yglesias’ pretentious and primarily uninformed opinion on protesting the Olympics as not valuable. – and for Ezra, he doesn’t even seem to see the irony that its caused one of the first times he has ever even mentioned Darfur. So it’s aggravating me the white, hipster magazine bloggers are throwing shit up about a topic that they seem to do very little writing or research on.

The ramifications of their view runs against a basic understanding of media messaging as well as international progressive values. Here is a basic response to Ezra Klein’s above post:

I can’t speak for all human rights activism but I can say a few reasons as to why it’s incredibly important that we are protesting the Olympics:

1- There is a media strategy here that is incredibly effective. It already has bloggers who rarely blog about Tibet and Darfur mentioning Tibet and Darfur. And since the blogosphere does indeed hold some influence in people's consciousness and that affects political lobbying campaigns to get our politicians to act that means something.

2- Also, this could get the UN Security Council to make a very important decision come June. If you go to http://wantedforwarcrimes.org you will see that the ICC prosecutor has put out two indictments for war crimes in Darfur. However, the UN Security has not taken any steps to make arrests, mainly because China keeps slowing them down. The next vote on this, however, is in June. Watch China try to do that while we have the "Genocide Olympics" spotlight on them. If they don’t stand in the way of our efforts to make arrests and the Sudanese government does not hand over the two men indicted (in fact, one of these men is being promoted right now in the government) then we will freeze the assets of folks like al-Bashir and this will be one of the most effective steps in pushing for a stop to the arming, killing, and attacks that have persisted for five years.

3- China had not lifted a finger as far as Darfur goes. Then Mia Farrow wrote an NY Times op-ed coining the phrase "Genocide Olympics." Then China sent a diplomat to Sudan. This exposed a sort of Achilles Heel for China. They are playing an image game and the Olympics are how they are touting that image.

4- Governments don't act until citizens do. And the Olympics because they are so symbolic is an awareness raising campaign to get citizens to care enough to push their governments. And it’s happening.

5- Steven Spielberg dropped off as Creative Advisor to the Olympics after Mia Farrow and Dream for Darfur pressured him to and for him to state publicly that he's concerned about China's role in Darfur. President Bush immediately began talking tougher around China's relationship to Darfur when previously he had not. If get any of the Corporate Sponsors to do the same it puts enormous pressure on our governments to lobby harder. It puts pressure on Fidelity to release its holdings from PetroChina and Sinopec.

6- While the “One World, One Dream” symbolic spirit of the Olympics is taking place in a government that is actively working against this spirit, we by voicing our concerns around this are coming together with the authentic hope for “One World, One Dream.” And by my saying this, I mean that this campaign is not just against China’s policies, it’s in vocal grassroots SUPPORT of people's movements and the concerns of oppressed people's in Tibet, Burma, Darfur, and within China as well. This kind of action is lifting morale to both people's movements (and many movement leaders throughout history have said that morale is one of the most essential ingredients to victory) and and to people who are desperately feeling abandoned by the world….getting the message to refugee camps on the Chad/Darfur border that the world has not forgotten them. This means something for people who feel cut off and forgotten. It means that they can get up another day and know that there are good people out there fighting on their behalf.

HA!

Some were predicting that the Clintons had made up to 50 million dollars in the last few years and were ready to dump that news on a Friday when no one was paying attention. That's not what happened. Well they still dumped the news on a Friday when no one is paying attention. Only difference is that the figure isn't 50 million dollars. It's 109 million dollars. Senator Obama, I believe you have a working class keystone state to win on April 22.

Time To Take A Dump

Ezra Klein believes Mark Penn needs to resign either from his consulting job or from the Clinton campaign. Here's what's happening:

Mark Penn is Clinton's chief political strategist and has a second job for a firm called Burson-Marsteller (BM). As CEO of BM (which Ezra Klein points out has a unionbusting division), Penn has been advising the Colombian government on a free trade agreement that the Clinton campaign claims it's opposed to (at least while campaigning in Pennsylvania and Ohio). Yet the Clinton campaign is aware of the fact that Penn is doing this and aware that the Colombians are going to feel like he owes them. So...uh...well...you see friends:

Where I come from, my grandparents would always ask if I had made a "BM" after leaving the bathroom. "BM" was short for bowel movement. Well let's see if Hillary is ready to dump this shit head Mark Penn once and for all.

On David Brooks

I don't understand the man. Sometimes he's a jerk, right? Cause other times I remember why he gets to write for the New York Times. Damn, David Brooks. That was fantastic.

Sweeny Todd

Uh. I was under the impression that Sondheim had come up with the "Sweeny Todd" concept. But it turns out that while the great musical composer may have a sick mind, he's not THAT sick. Turns out Sweeny Todd has been a story told and retold since the 1840s. Kind of a Faustian tradition except a few hundred years younger. Me likes.

This is So Weird

This is such a weird video. It's kind of just disturbing. I feel like I've been in that guy's position before though I hope I didn't come off like that. Well, maybe he's a normal guy who just got overexcited. What a weird video.

Zimbabwe

Could Mugabe be resigning? It's actually something that is being seriously considered.