The One About If The Taliban Claimed Credit For You Skinning Your Knee Would You Believe Them?

I have a question. But I'm not sure how best to phrase it. I'll give my loyal readers a chance to see both versions and maybe you can tell me which you think is most correct.

Question version one: How dumb does the Taliban think we are?

Version two: When it comes to the Taliban how dumb are we?

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The One About If You Want To Be Really Safe Go Live In A Bubble!

Okay folks, I'm taking a little break for a couple of days from The Twelve Days Of Blogmas. It will resume though I promise. It's just that in some ways doing reposts can end up being more work than original posts. Funny but true. Plus, well no matter how much I may despise most of our politicians, it seems like they always manage to do something to get my attention.

This time oddly enough though it's not just politicians, but regular people as well that have gotten both my attention and a bit of my ire as well.

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The One About The Seventh Day Of Blogmas: The One About I Hate To Break It To Our Corporate Masters But This Is The Twenty First Century Not The Nineteenth.

Welcome to a very important day in The Twelve Days Of Blogmas. This article was originally posted on July 31st of 2009, and in many ways it is not only my favorite of everything I've written so far, but I also think it best represents what my style is and what The One About... is all about.

In between the article which I reposted yesterday, and the one I'm reposting today, two very important things happened. First of all I read A People's History Of The United States, by Howard Zinn. Second I read Deer Hunting With Jesus by Joe Bageant.

Howard Zinn is soft spoken in both his person and his writing. He simply gives you the facts and lets you draw your own conclusions. Joe is another matter. Joe is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore. It is thanks to those two and others that I had my great awakening. Now I still think America has a lot of potential, but the simple truth is we've done a lot of really shitty things in the past, and we are doing a lot of shitty things right now. Especially to the poor and working class. All the while the top one percent are doing their best to erode the middle class to the point of non existence. This will result in the rich and the servile class.

This brings us to today's repost. One of the things that I believe I do well and take great pride in, is being able to take a slightly larger view of things than the average blog. This results in me being able to take things in the news, or the writings of other opinion journalists and put a unique spin on it.

One of the things I do in my "spare" time is research for a novel The Love Of My Life is writing that I am helping her with. It is set during the latter portion of the 19th century. One day I came across an excellent article by Chris Hedges talking about how corporations use a bunch of happy talk psychobabble bullshit to keep the prols in line, and I got to thinking, "Gee I bet these people would love for things to go back to the way they were in 19th century England when the working class scum knew their places and kept themselves there." Then with a little digging I found a website that listed a bunch of rules that servants in the 19th century were expected to live by. Add a little genuine Populist outrage, and some snark, and you've got the standard by which I now judge all of the rest of my posts. Sadly many of them fall short, but I am pleased to see that I get closer to hitting it these days.

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The One About The Sixth Day Of Blogmas: The One About Here's A Tip For You.

Welcome back to The One About...'s The Twelve Days Of Blogmas. We're at the half way point today.

This article comes from June 6th of 2009. It demonstrates one of the best reasons to have a blog, especially if one writes about politics. I came across a deeply angering article in the Right Wing paper of record The National Review. I had went to their website to comment and discovered that I could only look at the article if I was a subscriber, never mind comment on it. So I did the next best thing. I transcribed the relevant portions and then gave my reply in my blog. And that is the great thing about having a blog. I can use it to engage those I disagree with on my terms, not theirs. Here I am not limited in space, or language or any other way. And sometimes one will manage to attract the attention of the author to whom one is responding. Not always but sometimes.

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The One About The Fifth Day Of Blogmas: The One About Hey Neil Oliver The 19th Century Called They Want Their Backwards Assed Thinking Back!

And we're back. Did everyone have a good holiday? Well welcome back to the fifth installment in The One About...'s The Twelve Days Of Blogmas. Today's article was originally posted on May 3rd of 2009. Whenever I have sufficient time in bookstores I love to just go aisle surfing and see what catches my eye. One day I found a book with a cover that reminded me of the kinds of books they published in the fifties that were all about simplistic stories meant to provide moral instruction to young boys and girls. I was right to be reminded of those books, but I was surprised to discover that it was not a reprint, but rather a wholly new creation. I was disturbed to discover that the author's message was one of sexism, racism, and imperialism. Plus in this day and age it was just patently ridiculous to boot. So, with equal parts outrage and bemusement I let fly.

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The One About The Fourth Day Of Blogmas: The One About The Death Of One Of My Last Few Illusions.

Welcome back to The One About...'s The Twelve Days Of Blogmas. On day four I'm running a bit late, due to being without 'net service all day.

Today's article comes from April 7th of 2009. It is by far my least favorite article ever. Not because it's poorly written. But because it covers a subject that honestly I did not ever want to write about. I wrote it after learning that the torture of prisoners had been going on, and that it was essentially authorized by Bushco. My shock, disgust, and outrage is as strong today as it was then. I felt a bit less alone however after seeing Fox News anchor Shepherd Smith display the same outrage I did, even using similar language.

As with previous reposts I have added a lead off picture and added links, but if you want to see the article in its original form you can click here.

To read the full article just click the headline.

The One About The Third Day Of Blogmas: The One About Erroneous Assumptions.

Welcome back to The Twelve Days Of Blogmas here at The One About...

The original article appeared on March 2 of 2009. Click here to read it.

As someone who takes what I do very seriously, and believe in the potential power of citizen journalism I watch events in professional journalism fairly closely. I also watch a lot of angry scared people cast about for someone or something to blame for the current sorry state of said journalism. More often than not bloggers tend to get the blame. We get called parasites, and we are told that we lack any kind of standards. This article from March is my response to one such attack on myself and my fellow bloggers.
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The One About The Second Day Of Blogmas: The One About Why PETA, And Michael Vick Are Both Synonyms For Suck.

Welcome back to The One About...'s Twelve Days Of Blogmas. Today's post comes from February 18th of 2009.

I was still trying to find my voice, and I was still trying out multi media posts, like one I did for Valentine's Day about my favorite romantic movie moments. At the same time I was getting my feet under me, with regards to taking things I found both offline and online and using them to build articles.

In the following article I write for the first, but sadly not the last about two of my biggest non political nemesis. PETA, and Michael Vick. I had come across a Sports Illustrated article talking about how many of Vick's former canine victims had not only survived, but were now in loving homes. The article also detailed the fact that PETA, amongst others had insisted and still insisted that the dogs should be destroyed. This pissed me off no end. To me it's like coming from an abusive home and winding up a Harvard graduate, and being told you shout be shot in the head because you still might turn violent.

This was also my first use of the phrase "Well it's angry hour once again at the One About..." which is my way of saying that I'm good and pissed.

As with yesterday's post it has been cleaned up a bit, I've added a lead picture and some new links, but if you want to see the original post you can click here.
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The One About The First Day Of Blogmas: The One About Why I Have A Big Fat Problem With The Republicants.

Hello and welcome to The First Day Of Blogmas, part of The One About...'s Twelve Days Of Blogmas retrospective. This article was originally posted on January 27th 2009. I have decided to pull a bit of a George Lucas with some of these early posts. In the beginning I did not have either Apture or Zemanta to help me and also I had not started using a relevant image at the top of each post. So I am going to be cleaning things up a bit in that regard. If you want to see what this article looked like in its original form you can go here.

With this post one of the cornerstones of The One About... was taking shape, mainly that I have no patience for anyone who wants to offer problems without any attempt to help offer solutions. Something which I felt and still feel the Republicans are very good at. It was also the birth of a phrase that I still use to this day to describe the Party of NO! Namely Republicants. This article also represents something else that has become a cornerstone of this blog, relating events and ideas in politics to my own life. This is something I've gone on to do rather frequently. Because frankly I think that dry high minded analysis detaches one from events and my goal is to engage them.

And now without further mildew, The First Day Of Blogmas.

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The One About The Twelve Days Of Blogmas!

Darren Rowse over at Pro Blogger asked a very simple yet incredibly complicated question on his Blog today,

"What Are You Doing with Your Blog Over the Holidays?"

Well kind of like the stories how a seeker after enlightenment will achieve it when someone says just the right thing at the right time, that question was enough to spur me into doing something I've been toying with.

So, starting later today and running through New Years Day, I will be presenting the best of The One About. One post from each month. It's the Twelve Days Of Blogmas!

And then in just a little under two weeks after that it will be time for the First Blogiversary of The One About... And oh won't we party hardy then. *g*

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

The One About Moderation In The Pursuit Of True Reform Is No Virtue And Extremism In The Defence Of Progressivism Is No Vice.

In my experience, no one likes a bully. However what they seem to like even less is someone who stands up to a bully. Our national mythology tells us that the person who stands up to a bully is the hero of their community, admired and loved by all and sundry. As is so often the case the reality is nothing remotely like the myth. There is something in human nature that wants to placate the powerfully abusive, and that fears that a bad situation will become even worse if someone sticks their head up and proclaims ala Popeye, "Enoughs is enoughs and enoughs is to much!"

So the fact that people like Howard Dean and Markos Moulitsas are being blasted from all sides because they dare to suggest that the sad limping creature that is masquerading as health care reform is perhaps not in the best interest of the American people is no great surprise to me.
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The One About Attaching Domestic Needs To The War Bill.

Every once in a while Congress manages to do something kind of clever, even if only on accident.
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The One About Here's Why We Don't Trust You Congress, Not That You've Asked.

Hey, would you like a good laugh? Okay. Did you hear the one about how the Democratically controlled Congress sold out meaningful healthcare reform, all the while being seen to quake in their boots afraid of the mighty Republicant Filibuster, using that as their excuse for giving up this piece, and that piece, compromising until there's nothing left except the individual mandate, which lines the pockets of the insurance and drug companies, and then later defeating the Republicant Filibuster easily when it came time to protect a massive end of year spending bill? Ain't that a hoot? Hell I laughed so hard I nearly dropped my sniper rifle. (Disclaimer: The author does not have a sniper rifle, and even if he did his hand eye co-ordination is so piss poor he couldn't hit anything anyway. Besides one should never shoot a Congressperson as that would allow the horrible poisonous gas inside them to escape.)

In following this whole healthcare reform debacle, it dawned on me a couple weeks ago that Congress reminds me a great deal of Steve Martin in The Jerk. There is this great scene where Martin's character's life has hit the skids and he's been kicked out of his home. As he leaves he proclaims that he doesn't need anything, except...
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The One About The Poor Can't Afford To Care About Climate Change And The Rich Don't Have To.

I am in kind of a unique position amongst Progressives. On the one hand I am essentially working class, not too far away, if at all from being "poor". I do not have a lot of faith in, nor patience with intellectual elites, especially those that want to condescendingly judge me. At the same time I am very intellectual myself. I despise the gullibility and coarse simplicity of many in the working class. I am not religious, although I have a set of spiritual beliefs. I don't trust big business, nor really do I trust big government. In short I am neither fish nor fowl.
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The One About I'm Sorry Mr. President But That Ship Has Sailed And Then You Sunk It.

Massive contradictions in logic tend to drive me right up a wall. I'm not talking about little things, like people who crave hot coffee in the summer, or ice cream in the winter. I'm talking about the really big ones.
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The One About The Lieberman Equation.

Wow. Who knew that in addition to all his other talents Senator Joseph Lieberman is apparently a math genius. In fact he has invented a whole new kind of math. The best part is that it's incredibly easy to learn.

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The One About You Have Heard Of Acting Right?

I've known for some time now, that a bio pic about the life of Nelson Mandela has been in the works. To the best of my recollection it is supposed to star Morgan Freeman in the lead. But apparently there is also one about his wife titled "Winnie", and they have cast Jennifer Hudson. Who is not South African. Cue the screaming.

Well I'm officially sick of this nonsense.

To read the full article please click the headline.

The One About I Have My Suspicions About What Rupert Murdoch Is Saving And It Isn't Journalism.

Journalism: Noun: The aggregating, writing, editing, and presenting of news or news articles for widespread distribution, typically in periodical print publications and broadcast news media, for the purpose of informing the audience.

Recently there has been a lot of argument over how to save newspapers. A great deal of the argument has centered around content being provided for "free" over the Internet. Some people say that this is simply the next logical step, and that in time the money will come, but there will be some shakiness and instability as we all make this transition. Then there are others who insist that it is too much instability and start talking about pay walls, and condemning anyone who makes use of their content in any way as parasites.

Of course this being America land of the perpetual spin, the focus seldom is kept just on newspapers which are merely one delivery system for journalism. Rather a great deal of spin doctoring has been taking place, to try and convince everyone that newspapers and journalism are synonymous, that you cannot have one without the other.

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The One About Promoting Understanding Is Not A Necessary Component Of The Fight For Freedom And Equality.

Today I was led to the following article thanks to a tweet from Kate Bornstein,

"On July 10, 2009, Zikerria applied online for a position as a Shift Manager or Crew Leader at McDonald's. On July 28, after managers at McDonald’s learned that Zikerria is transgender, she received the following voicemail message from one of the managers'You went to McDonald's today. It doesn't matter how many times you go down there, you will not get hired. We do not hire faggots.':

Zikerria never received the job interview she sought. McDonald's refused to hire her."

Sadly it seems that there is ever increasing hostility towards anyone who is not white, male, heterosexual, and married with kids.
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The One About Since It's Not Likely To Be Easier To Leave Then, Why Not Just Leave Now?

One of the terms heard most often lately in regards to the situation in Afghanistan is "Quagmire". Now most people seem to be just referring to the messy situation in the region its self. But frankly the whole thing is a much bigger quagmire morally. Many of those of us who identify as Progressives, have been against escalation in Afghanistan from the beginning. Our faith in the government was very badly damaged by Bush Jr.'s insistence on rushing to action in Iraq, instead of concentrating all of our resources on the region that was at the heart of the attack on this country on September 11th. Add to that, the fact that Bushco was found to have lied about a great many things, during their tenure steering the ship of state. So right now those of us on the far left are more than a little gunshy.

I won't lie, I've thought that deeper involvement in Afghanistan was a bad idea. And I still do. But sometimes someone manages to put their point of view across in a way that makes sense. Even if ultimately I don't agree with it. Fareed Zakaria is one such person.

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The One About I Seem To Have Come Here From An Alternate Reality.

Greetings to the denizens of this reality. I mean you no harm. I am merely a lost soul who somehow has managed to slip from my home reality, (which I shall call R1) into your own (which I shall call R2).

Now I'm sure you are wondering how I was able to tell that I had traveled from R1 to R2. Well actually for the longest time I had suspected but I wasn't quite sure. Most everything between our two realities is identical. But in the last few weeks I started to notice one important difference.

It involves an organization known in both our realities as PETA.

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The One About The Myth Of American Sovereignty.

Sovereignty. It's a word that many especially those on the Right politically like to bandy about any time one of our leaders especially the President dares to act like we are just a part of this world rather it's absolute and unquestioned Masters.

I've heard this nonsense most recently in relation to Obama's bowing to the Emperor of Japan and to the notion that at the Copenhagen climate summit, he might actually listen to what the rest of the world has to say, rather than arrogantly asserting that we will do as we damn well please.

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The One About I'm Sorry Ms. Warren But It's Already Too Late For The Middle Class.

I like Elizabeth Warren. A lot. From everything I've seen and read and heard, she is an intelligent, compassionate person who has put the good of real people at the forefront of what she does, rather than political expediency.

When I see someone like her come along, and try with all their might to make things better for those of us in the working and middle classes, I hate like hell to say anything against their efforts. We have so few advocates anywhere near the seats of power any more, that I hate to see us lose even one. But at the same time I hate to see someone bang their head against a wall.

So it is with a sad heart that I have to say, in all honesty, that maybe your time would be better spent on other projects than trying to save the middle class. Because they've been dying for years and at this point are pretty much dead.

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The One About Michael Vick Wants A WHAT?!!

Holy Shit! Every time I think that the Michael Vick shituation has dropped down to a dull roar and I can go on with my life he opens his big fat dog torturing,murdering mouth and like a turd out comes yet another nugget full of shit.

It had recently been in the news that he was giving an anti-dog fighting talk at his old middle school. I read this and shrugged. I'm pretty much in full "Whatever" mode when I read stuff like this. Maybe he'll do some good, but it will never come even close to making up for the horrific and horrifying things he did.

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The One About If You Do What They Do How Does That Make You Any Different From Them?

Sometimes I really have to shake my head at the obtuseness of Evangelical Atheists, like Greta Christina.

They seem to think that simply because they couch their belief system in scientific language, it somehow makes their arrogant assertions about the nature of reality more valid than every other person's proselytizing arrogant assertions about the nature of reality.

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