alexking.org » Politics | alexking.org http://alexking.org Alex King's blog - software, photography, sports, etc. Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:51:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 en Vote http://alexking.org/blog/2006/11/07/vote http://alexking.org/blog/2006/11/07/vote#comments Tue, 07 Nov 2006 09:00:24 +0000 Alex http://alexking.org/blog/2006/11/07/vote SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Vote", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2006/11/07/vote" });]]> If you live in the US and you are old enough, make sure you get out and vote today. If you don’t vote, you can’t bitch.

As such, I dropped off my absentee ballot already. :)

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]]> http://alexking.org/blog/2006/11/07/vote/feed Bushisms http://alexking.org/blog/2004/11/01/bushisms http://alexking.org/blog/2004/11/01/bushisms#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2004 18:59:31 +0000 Alex http://www.alexking.org/blog/2004/11/01/bushisms/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Bushisms", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2004/11/01/bushisms" });]]> When I got an e-mail from the producer of Bushisms offering me a chance to review the new Bushisms DVD, a big grin spread across my face. Regardless of your politics, our current President has certainly had some funny moments at the microphone.

I’d only glanced through the Bushism books previously so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. There is definitely a risk of something like this having a nasty edge, but I thought the Bushisms DVD did a very good job of poking fun at the jumbled words without going after the man directly (at least not viciously).

Many of the quotes are somewhat famous at this point, but listening to them all back to back is quite a ride. For me, it started out funny, then got a little embarrasing, then downright painful.

The George W. Bush singers are definitely a highlight. You can see them in action in the demo video clip. Their rendition of 4000 years is (unfortunately) very catchy and was stuck in my head for a day or two.

It was also interesting to hear from the people that help bring attention to these gaffes. Jacob Weisberg of Slate:

…after September 11th. We went through a lot of agonizing about whether with the nation at war and under attack, if it was right to continue making fun of the President. And when he said that, we realized we had no choice.

One silly thing that struck me; during parts of the DVD when you are reading from the screen (with little or no audio), there is background music playing that is reminiscent of original Nintendo games. I wonder if anyone else had the same thought when they heard it. :)

Anyway, if you like watching verbal train wrecks, Bushisms on DVD is a must-see.

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]]> http://alexking.org/blog/2004/11/01/bushisms/feed Canyonlands National Park http://alexking.org/blog/2003/09/15/canyonlands-national-park http://alexking.org/blog/2003/09/15/canyonlands-national-park#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2003 14:31:00 +0000 Alex http://www.alexking.org/blog/2003/09/15/canyonlands-national-park/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Canyonlands National Park", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2003/09/15/canyonlands-national-park" });]]> Copyright Alex King
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Our last stop in Utah was Canyonlands National Park. We did a driving tour to a number of lookout spots, but didn’t do any hiking (we’d hiked in Arches in the morning).

Canyonlands had some of the most dramatic views we saw on the trip: deep, fingered canyons reaching out in all directions. I’m not sure the photos do it justice.

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]]> http://alexking.org/blog/2003/09/15/canyonlands-national-park/feed More War Stuff http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/30/more-war-stuff http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/30/more-war-stuff#comments Sun, 30 Mar 2003 21:26:33 +0000 Alex http://www.alexking.org/blog/2003/03/30/more-war-stuff/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "More War Stuff", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/30/more-war-stuff" });]]> So to follow up on Greg’s comments regarding my stance on the war. I guess I’m somewhere on the fence. My problem with our country’s actions is not so much that we are going after Saddam Hussein, but the way we’ve done it with little regard for the UN or world opinion and what I consider a campaign of deception here in the US. The polls I’ve seen show between 55% and 75% support for the invasion and 35%-45% asked in the same poll thought that we had evidence that Iraq had ties to 9/11. At this point, I’m just hoping that we are willing to work with the UN and other countries after Saddam is gone and repair some of the international goodwill we have burned in the last few months. (more…)

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]]> http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/30/more-war-stuff/feed Point of View http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/24/point-of-view http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/24/point-of-view#comments Tue, 25 Mar 2003 03:57:32 +0000 Alex http://www.alexking.org/blog/2003/03/24/point-of-view/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Point of View", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/24/point-of-view" });]]> I thought I’d listen to NPR on my way in to work today so I’d get caught up on the :scare: current events :/scare: (yeah, I just wanted an excuse to use my new :scare: scare quotes :/scare: icons :) ). I couldn’t remember the location of the station, so I was scanning up the dial and ran across a station playing rap - I liked the beat so I listened to that instead on the way to work.

I did manage to do a little reading this evening though, here are some links:

California Representative Henry Waxman has posted a letter to the President. (Thanks Jim)

I think all Americans should read this article. This article from Salon pointed me to it. Are we still a country that values dialogue and the dissenting point of view?

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]]> http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/24/point-of-view/feed Blair’s Speech http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/23/blairs-speech http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/23/blairs-speech#comments Mon, 24 Mar 2003 04:50:20 +0000 Alex http://www.alexking.org/blog/2003/03/23/blairs-speech/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Blair's Speech", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/23/blairs-speech" });]]> Why aren’t US politicians as eloquent as Tony Blair. He even speaks to my slipperly-slope concern - something I haven’t heard mention of here in the US.

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]]> http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/23/blairs-speech/feed Oppose the War, Support the Troops? http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/20/oppose-the-war-support-the-troops http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/20/oppose-the-war-support-the-troops#comments Thu, 20 Mar 2003 19:00:41 +0000 Alex http://www.alexking.org/blog/2003/03/20/oppose-the-war-support-the-troops/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Oppose the War, Support the Troops?", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/20/oppose-the-war-support-the-troops" });]]> I’m having trouble with the "Now that the war has started, we should support the troops" attitude. I don’t hold the soliders accountable personally for the invasion, I understand the soliders role and place the blame squarely on our leaders for the direction we are taking. I don’t want the soldiers to be hurt or killed and I don’t look at them as murderers or anything like that - but I can’t support what they are doing.

I think there is a bit of a logical problem with "supporting the troops but opposing the war". If you oppose the war, then you oppose the invasion. If you oppose the invasion, you oppose the actions of the troops that are doing the invading. So if you say you oppose the war and that means you oppose the actions of the troops, what does it mean to say that you oppose the war but support the troops. What does it mean to "support" the troops and oppose their actions at the same time? (more…)

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]]> http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/20/oppose-the-war-support-the-troops/feed War, what is it good for? http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/19/war-what-is-it-good-for http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/19/war-what-is-it-good-for#comments Thu, 20 Mar 2003 03:33:28 +0000 Alex http://www.alexking.org/blog/2003/03/19/war-what-is-it-good-for/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "War, what is it good for?", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/19/war-what-is-it-good-for" });]]> Michael Moore has an open letter to the president that is a worthy read. I’m still not sure why we are going to go invade Iraq.

[Note, war just started.]

Aaron Swartz has some good words.

Bill has also been blogging about the oil-war.

I tend to agree with Enjelani’s fence straddling. I want to believe there is some reason we are doing this.

MPT has also chimed in with some good thoughts.

Some good words about patriotism from former President Theodore Roosevelt, thanks Robyn.

From the BBC, steps to war.

From the words of the President this evening:

We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people.

What exactly is the threat and when did the people of Iraq ask us to come bomb them? I wonder how we would feel if another country told us to disarm. We’d probably tell them to piss off too. I feel really sad about my country today…

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]]> http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/19/war-what-is-it-good-for/feed The Agusta National Circus http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/06/the-agusta-national-circus http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/06/the-agusta-national-circus#comments Fri, 07 Mar 2003 03:31:34 +0000 Alex http://www.alexking.org/blog/2003/03/06/the-agusta-national-circus/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The Agusta National Circus", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/06/the-agusta-national-circus" });]]> I wonder if the TV coverage of The Masters this year will include actual golf?
And an Atlanta member of the New Black Panther Party has requested permission to demonstrate in Augusta next week. "He wants to protest against the triviality of this whole protest" surrounding Augusta National, Powell said. "He says there are lots more important issues going on in the world right now, such as war with Iraq." from AP

words fail me… :bang:

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]]> http://alexking.org/blog/2003/03/06/the-agusta-national-circus/feed More President Bush Humor http://alexking.org/blog/2003/01/29/more-president-bush-humor http://alexking.org/blog/2003/01/29/more-president-bush-humor#comments Thu, 30 Jan 2003 04:59:45 +0000 Alex http://www.alexking.org/blog/2003/01/29/more-president-bush-humor/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "More President Bush Humor", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2003/01/29/more-president-bush-humor" });]]> This was sent to me by a friend today, had to share:
Washington, DC (Reuters) — A tragic fire has destroyed the personal library of President George W. Bush. Both of his books have been lost. The president is reportedly devastated, as he had not yet finished coloring the second one.

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]]> http://alexking.org/blog/2003/01/29/more-president-bush-humor/feed Hu’s on First http://alexking.org/blog/2002/12/18/hus-on-first http://alexking.org/blog/2002/12/18/hus-on-first#comments Thu, 19 Dec 2002 00:14:02 +0000 Alex http://www.alexking.org/blog/2002/12/18/hus-on-first/ SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Hu's on First", url: "http://alexking.org/blog/2002/12/18/hus-on-first" });]]> Playwright Jim Sherman wrote this the other day after Hu Jintao was named chief of the Communist Party in China. It is really quite excellent - best if read out loud. (more…)

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