You know, I think Joe Biden is a cool dude. And if you don’t like Joe Biden well you can go sit on a tack. But like most people, Joe Biden has his faults. One of Joe Biden’s major fault is the fact that he has more friends in the RIAA and the BSA than a pro net neutrality guy like myself would want. Sadly, his scumbag friends are now full fledged scumbag government employees.
According to CNET, President Obama, Mr. Net Neutrality himself, is filling the Department of Justice with the RIAA’s best and brightest. The DOJ’s latest acquisition is Associate Deputy Attorney General Donald Verilli. His list of legal douchebagery includes shutting down Grokster, filing a lawsuit against Google and YouTube on behalf of Viacom, and suing a woman by the name of Jammie Thomas, who was accused of sharing 24 songs on KaZaA to the tune of $220,000. Yep that’s right, for 24 songs. Fortunately the judge threw out the verdict based on misleading jury instructions given by the RIAA. The RIAA I believe is still in the process of appealing the decision.
Gizmodo(one of my favorite tech blogs, props to you guys) sums up the rest of the new appointments quite nicely:
This follows up the naming of Tom Perrelli, from the Perrelli Family, as associate attorney general, the third-in-command post at the DoJ. Perrelli was and probably still is the favorite lawyer of the RIAA, suing people and companies left, right, and center in the name of the recording gang. He will be in charge of the DoJ’s civil, antitrust, and civil rights division.
But don’t go away, because there’s more. Who is the deputy attorney general, the second in command at the DoJ, do you ask? Mr. David Ogden, who-according to his previous job’s biography-represents “media and Internet industries, as well as major trade and professional associations.” He also as “part of the department who successfully defended the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act before the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Not enough? Don’t worry, because the VP has otherfriends in other places. Take Neil MacBride, another associate deputy attorney general, who previously was an aide to Biden himself. MacBride was the king of the legal hill at the Business Software Association. As the BSA’s antipiracy enforcer and general counsel, MacBride oversaw the creation of the program that rewarded people for phoning tips about suspected software piracy.
Honestly, all that net neutrality, “I love the Internet”, “come check out my Facebook” bullshit Barack Obama fed us during the election is very much going out the window with these sharks on the government payroll. Obama was notorious for proposing less restrictions for Internet and less power for the RIAA during the election. As soon as he mentioned that the joyfest in the tech community was heard far and wide. But with Joe Biden came a strong foothold for the likes of the RIAA to use to propagate their bogus agenda.
Take the RIAA’s case against Jaimme Thomas. Is $220,000 fair for sharing 24 songs on a P2P network? Do you think in times of economic strife it’s important for an organization such as the RIAA to start coming after individual citizens for large sums of money on the basis that quite possibly, MAYBE, someone could have downloaded one of those 24 songs? Her case for appeal was central on jury instruction No. 15, “which told jurors that she could be found guilty even if it couldn’t be proven that anyone actually downloaded the tracks she was sharing.”
Am I surprised? Hardly. I know how politics works, and regardless of the administration, the political party, or the person in charge, the RIAA will lobby, and make campaign contributions and buy politicians left and right. Barack Obama, sadly, is no different.
Joe Biden apologized today for the first absolutely hilarious, yet mildy inappropriate comment he made about John Roberts. Here’s a excerpt from CNN:
An aide to Vice President Joe Biden tells CNN he called Chief Justice John Roberts last week to apologize for a light-hearted remark he made over the flubbed Inauguration Day oath of office.
“My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts,” Biden said last Wednesday, as he asked for a copy of the oath he was using to swear in senior members of the White House staff.
Several staffers reacted to the comment with groans and laughter, though President Obama, standing next to Biden, did not crack a smile.
Another great thing is that this not only gave us a view in to the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory that is Joe Biden’s mind, but we did get to see Barack Obama’s STFU face. And it is priceless.
Come on guys, this is Joe Biden at his best. Where most people think that this is Joe Biden’s flaw, I disagree. Joe Biden is one of my favorite democrats because he lives off the cuff and basically says what other people are thinking. Frankly in the dull world of politics, soaked in formalities and “ho hum” pleasantries, Joe Biden is REAL.
Barack Obama has potentially eight years in office, can you imagine what Joe Biden could say (or do) in those eight years. I personally can’t wait. Keep up the good work Joe.
I promised myself I wouldn’t post about Sarah Palin anymore, but after this video from a new conservative documentary, it’s on like donkey kong. Watch this video…and then we’ll discuss. I am sorry to expose you to nine minutes of Sarah Palin, but it’s for a purpose:
Sarah Palin is blaming media’s bias for the fact that her ticket lost the election. I was going to let this video go by, considering it’s basically the same song and dance this woman likes to perform every time she is in front of a camera, but this time around she decided to spew her ignorance about bloggers, and well that just doesn’t fly with me. Just to refresh your memory, here is what she said:
“It’s a sad state of affairs in the world of the media today, mainstream media especially, if they are going to rely on anonymous bloggers for their hard news information. Very scary.”
See what Sarah Palin doesn’t understand is that the phenomenon that is blogging has taken us in to a sort of “Media 2.0″ situation. The blogging community has become so vital to mainstream media, because it gives the mainstream media something that it cannot achieve on it’s own, omnipresence. Currently with the help of bloggers, Twitter, Facebook, iReport, the media has an unbelievable reach, and it gives people like me, a common ground with mainstream media.
Sure, anyone can be a blogger, and anyone can spew misinformed ramblings on the internet for all to see. So I’ll give that to Palin, frankly I thought the rumors about her child not being hers were a bit much. But to say that it’s a “sad state of affairs” that bloggers are regarded and acknowledged by the mainstream media is just ignorant. Frankly, I as a blogger couldn’t let that slide.
The rest of the video speaks for itself. From the fact that she thinks people like Katie Couric and Tiny Fey exploited her (one mocked the ridiculousness that is her and the other just asked her questions…like a reporter should do) to her comparing a vice-presidential nomination to Caroline Kennedy’s Senate seat (come on…) just proves that Sarah Palin lives in her small, narrow world. Katie Couric might not be the center of the universe Sarah, but neither are you.
In the end, this documentary asks the question “How did Obama get elected?”. Where Sarah Palin is quick to cite the media’s “bias” towards Obama, she is ignoring the rather large gorilla in the room. Obama won this election partly on his own merit, his superbly run campaign, and his excellent election staff. But the major factors that secured the election for Obama were the Bush Administration’s gloriously awful track record for the past eight years, the GOP’s inability to provide an adequate candidate in this election, and Sarah Palin. If Palin is all the GOP has for 2012…then that is indeed a sad state of affairs.
Just finished watching the 30 Minute Barack Obama ad. This one was indeed a doozey, a little too much Obama in one sitting I think. Sure the message was very nice, the production value was superb, and it seems as though that the McCain campaign is getting fired up about it, which should lead to some hilarious sound bytes and impromptu “Joe The Plumber” appreances. BTW you know they offered that moron a book deal? I am surprised he can put pen to paper. Anyway, let me save my anti-Joe comments for another blog (coming soon).
So in closing, let me make a bulleted list, cause, well I like bulleted lists and it’s my blog.
Was the 30-minute ad space worth it? Umm maybe? I mean he is doing very well, I personally would have gone with something brief. However the time did fly by and I always appreciate a nice field of wheat?
Was the 30-minute ad a bit larger than life? Absolutely. Barack Obama has raised way too much money and it’s obvious. Enough of that “broken promises” malarky. The man did what he had to do to make the cash he needs to be President. McCain didn’t take the “high road” and use public funds because he wanted to. He didn’t take it cause he likes being the underdog compared to Obama’s millions.
Will the 30-minute ad hurt Obama? Probably not. I don’t see this as more than another ad. It will fire up the Republicans thats for sure. I can imagine the asinine comments Sarah Palin has cooking in her wacko brain for tomorrow.
So in the end, all we can take from this ad is basically the same things Obama has been saying for the passed couple of months. Except with a nice, calm, field of wheat. Mmmmmm wheat.
Ok, before I delve in, I want to state a couple of things outright.
First, I want to repudiate the fact that my friends think I am a dirty, partisan liberal. I am not, I am a Republican, who saw what his party was becoming, and what it started to stand for, and decided to jump ship before it sucked me in to the abyss. I am an independent. Been one for quite a while now.
Lastly, I want to clearly communicate my beliefs, and show you that I am neither brain washed nor misinformed. I am an educated individual, capable of making my own decisions. It’s kind of insulting that some would think that.
I am willing to admit that in modern U.S. Politics we will never have a “perfect candidate”. That one candidate that will make everyone happy, and will make everything perfect. I think that the political state of this nation is choosing ”the lesser of two evils”, and this election is by no means different. Both candidates have their obvious flaws, they have had their ups and downs. But without a doubt, this campaign became an ugly one, a long time ago, and John McCain’s true colors bled out.
I think the McCain/Palin campaign has been launching accusations and attacks far more than they have been discussing issues. Look, I understand attacking Obama, it’s all part of the game. But these attacks are just baseless and borderline lunatic. I understand the Jeremiah Wright incident. However, I will give Obama the benefit of the doubt on this. I think a man should be judged by his actions and by his words. Barack Obama condemned Wright’s obviously insane comments. I have sat in front of many pastors that I have disagreed with in my life, I don’t think it’s fair to hold that against me. I have discussed ad-nauseam the Bill Ayers link so I’ll spare you, as I will also spare you the ignorant supporters that shout death threats. You all know what I have to say about that.
John McCain tends to hover over yet another misconception, this idea of “Barack the Socialist”. I’ll keep this brief. The GOP tends to blur the lines between Socialism and Communism, and people tend to forget what socialism is. Google Socialism, do some research, find out what Socialism TRULY is, and then if you still think Barack Obama is a Socialist, come back and talk to me.
On the subject of taxes, I do agree that raising the corporate gains tax does tend to affect what businesses do best…business. But at the same time, I think we are at a point in our economy where we can justify making any of the Bush tax cuts permanent. It just doesn’t make sense to me how cutting the government’s income is going to be a benefit to our current situation or the actions we intend to take about it. Here’s Sarah Palin on Biden’s stance on taxes:
“You said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that’s not patriotic.”
That is such a terrible, stupid thing to say. First of all, Obama has stressed that his tax cuts are for the middle class. But lets forget I said that. Governor Palin loves to make taxes seem like a major drag. I want to quote Thomas Friedman’s great article on this issue. Here is an excerpt, but read it all, it really is good.
I only wish she had been asked: “Gov. Palin, if paying taxes is not considered patriotic in your neighborhood, who is going to pay for the body armor that will protect your son in Iraq? Who is going to pay for the bailout you endorsed? If it isn’t from tax revenues, there are only two ways to pay for those big projects — printing more money or borrowing more money. Do you think borrowing money from China is more patriotic than raising it in taxes from Americans?” That is not putting America first. That is selling America first.
Is paying taxes patriotic? You are God damned right it is. Much like Friedman I was raised in a middle class family, where my single mother supported a family of four and always paid her share of taxes. Taxes are the life blood of this nation. Friedman went on to quote Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. “I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.” Great quote.
While on the subject of Sarah Palin, I don’t think she can run this nation. Anybody got a nicer word than “inept”? I won’t even go to her links to secessionists (all lies right?) and the whack job Joe Vogler, because well, you already know that. I guess won’t bring up the entire Katie Couric interview, cause well, you know that too. But I want to bring up yet another “epic” quote.
“We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation.”
Wow. Let that soak in a bit and then please tell me why you want this woman as the back-up to a 72 year old man with a not-so-hot track record for health. Sure, I have given her credit where it was due, but come on. The notion that some areas of the country are “better” or “real Americans” as opposed to others is the most narrow-minded dribble I have heard in a long time. Way to persuade voters guys!
Look in closing. I want to say that this isn’t some sort of radical overnight shift in my behavior. This is me, seeing the facts, looking at both sides of the issue, and making the choice I think is right. In the end, for these reasons, and many others, I cannot give my vote to John McCain. Barack Obama isn’t the greatest choice either, but in the end, John McCain is worse. If you can’t take my word for it, ask Colin Powell, or any of the other prominent Republicans who has given him their support. Peace out, thanks for listening.
P.S.
Notice, I didn’t once mention Joe The Plumber. Thats because he is insignificant.
I thought the debate went really well, and I was extremely impressed by Sarah Palin. That being said, the reason I was extremely impressed is because I really wasn’t expecting much, but hey it’s something right? Since the beginning, I think Sarah Palin was looking to give off an impression to the viewers. She was definitely going for the impression that she was just a “hockey mom” (sorry I am sick that that too) who just got sucked into the male driven world of Washington politics. The “Hey, can I call you Joe?” and all the similar talk showed that Plain was trying hard to make herself look unpolitical, so to speak. No doubt that it was her goal to dial down her status and try to relate to the average person, but after a while it just seemed like pandering. The idea of this “lady taking on the Washington establishment” is pretty transparent, in my opinion. She seems to hammer that point frequently, and the more she does, the more I don’t care. You were offered the job, and you know what it requires. And frankly, on a side note, the little winks and shrugs, don’t work. That is not something a president does. I keep having this reoccurring dream that she is negotiating a nuclear treaty with Iran and when they start pressuring her she will get all cutesy and wink at Ahmadinejad, “Ohh Mahmūd, say it ain’t so!!” If that doesn’t scare you, you’ve got problems. Sarah Palin did, however meet her goal, which was to repair her image and in a way, earn the viability as a vice-presidential candidate. The CBS interview with Katie Couric was starting to nudge at some Republicans a bit as to whether or not she was fit to step in if something happened to John McCain in office. I definitely think she accomplished that. But whether she won the debate or not is…well, debatable.
The debate winner, is definitely Joe Biden. He debated John McCain and his issues, and not Sarah Palin which is ideal, because in the end that’s what it’s all about. He didn’t ramble, he wasn’t biting either. He won this debate not because of anything having to do with Sarah Palin, like I said she represented John McCain VERY well. He won because he argued the points and showed his vast experience in all areas, especially in Foreign Policy. He connected with the Middle-Class extremely well, even more so than Sarah Palin (sorry Sarah, but darn it I just didn’t care for ya! *wink*). He delivered excellent replies and brought in to question various McCain policies on Foreign Policy, Taxes, and most notably the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. What also helped him out was in the instances where Sarah Palin called him out on how he disagreed with Barack Obama on certain issues. He handled those questions very well and it showed that he wasn’t a yes man, that he wasn’t afraid to give his input which I think is valuable to any president. And lastly, his words about his personal experiences with his family and the experience of loss, showed his human side and I am sure was very effective in relating to the average voter. I think Joe Biden both stated, and defended Barack Obama’s policies well, while calling out John McCain on his. All in all a good debate, with a clear winner, but a close second for Palin.
I did cut this blog down, the length was way too long. I will post the rest of it later, it still needs some tweaking. Stay Tuned!
Well political pundits of the world wide web, in about 3 hours we are going to see one of the most anticipated vice-presidential debates in U.S. history. In the BLUE corner we’ve got Senator Joe Biden, a Senate veteran who’s experienced is only rivaled by his rambling and a propensity to offend. And in the RED corner we have Governor Sarah Palin, a first term governor of a relatively uncomplicated, under populated state, former 2 term mayor of a town of 7,000 people, who on more than one occasion has shown her lack of knowledge about many issues.
Frankly I don’t doubt in anyway that Joe Biden is going to do well. Things he should keep in mind are that he needs to debate her party and her running mate and not her. He needs to make sure that he controls his biting comments, especially if she comes back with another of her stunningly inept one liners about his age. Joe Biden is extremely intelligent and well experienced in ways that Sarah Palin is not, especially in Foreign Policy. I really hope Sarah Palin doesn’t mention anything about how she has foreign policy experience because she shares water with Russia and a border with Canada.
Look, Sarah Palin unscripted is borderline painful to watch. At certain points of the Katie Couric interview I don’t even think she was speaking English. I am not going to go in to specifics now, I’ll wait till after the debate. But this time around, I am going to give her the benefit of the doubt. Shocking yes, I know. I think Sarah Palin is going to be a bit of a wildcard tonight. I think if Sarah Palin hunkers down, gets in a couple of her famous one liners, and remembers everything they coached her on, she MIGHT have a chance of holding on. And if Biden loses his cool, then all bets are off for a Democratic win tonight. I guess time will tell.
Hey Sarah, nice zinger today! I am glad to see the guy who writes for you threw you yet another “great” one liner. Say did you notice how old your running mate is? Yeah…didn’t realize that did you? Instead of delivering lines like that you should maybe Wikipedia the Bush Doctrine? Dunno, just a thought.
As I was doing my morning blog sweep, I noticed a few stories where it seems all the McCain campaign is doing is just, as Stephen Colbert puts it, wagging the finger at the Democrats. First off, here is Barack Obama addressing the Republicans new “campaign for change” from the CNN article:
Obama made the remarks at a Virginia campaign stop late Tuesday afternoon. “John McCain says he’s about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, ‘Watch out George Bush – except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics – we’re really gonna shake things up in Washington,’” Obama said.
“That’s not change. That’s just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it’s still going to stink after eight years. We’ve had enough of the same old thing.”
Apparently John McCain didn’t like this, saying it was an attack against Sarah Palin, who said in her acceptance speech that:
“You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”
Oh boo friggin’ hoo. If you want to strech Obama’s remarks completely out of context and say that it was an attack against Sarah Palin, then she deserved it. Cause that’s a stupid Sarah Palin quote and I am sick of hearing it. It’s up there with the Bridge to Nowhere quote and her dumb crack at community organizers. But alas, his comment is merely referring to the fact that the Republicans can call their policies whatever they want, but in the end it’s the same. It’s a pretty popular phrase… you know put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig. It’s pretty obvious that when the Republicans dish out the attacks, that’s fine. But if you retaliate…you better watch out, cause they’ll run crying to the media calling foul.
Now, here comes Joe Biden, his argument is that if you support helping children with disabilities then, logically, you should support Stem Cell research. I mean, it’s a fair argument, seeing as not only do the Democrats support Stem Cell research, so does John McCain. Joe Biden said:
”I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy … and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect.” He went on to say: ”Well, guess what, folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?”
Uh Oh. He is just arguing the issues right? Apparently McCain/Palin doesn’t agree. His campaign said Joe Biden “sunk to a new low”. David Wade, a spokesman for Joe Biden put it this way…
“This is a clash of policies, not a clash of personalities,” Wade said. “We’ve heard not a dime’s worth of difference between the McCain-Palin ticket and the Bush administration on medical breakthroughs that millions of parents and doctors believe could save lives and transform the quality of life for countless Americans.”
The McCain/Palin ticket is being the whiny kid on the playground who punches you in the face when the teacher is not looking. You are fighting the political battle for the highest position in the United States government. Strap on a helmet, and grow a shell. Speak about the issues, and stop making up controversy.
We are now about to begin the final day of the Republican National Convention. Last night, Sarah Palin delivered a very well received speech, heavy with attacks against Obama. Post-speech, The GOP is singing this woman’s praises. This falls in line with that shiny new Republican message of bipartisanship and hugs & kisses. “We are the Republican Party, we care…want a hug?” The RNC has done a pretty good job so far at uniting the base, and the Palin speech was by far the most poignant. Here is a sort of highlight reel, I can’t find the full version in one video. If anyone else has it, post it as a comment below and I’ll update it.
I have been taking a few shots at Governor Palin lately so I am going to go ahead and say some nice things, take notice it may not happen again. I think she speaks very well and did a fantastic job getting a large group of her voters in the mood for some votin’. Her speech, though heavy on the attacks against Obama and Biden, was still nicely delivered. Though I do think it lacked on key issues and focused more on her being a “hockey mom”, trying to relate to the people on their level. I think Joe Biden made a great point in his response.
“…I was also impressed by what I didn’t hear in the speech. I didn’t hear the word-the phrase-”middle class” mentioned. I didn’t hear about health care. I didn’t hear a single word about what we’re going to do about the housing crisis-college education-all the things that the middle class is being burdened with right now.”
Another thing I am not hearing from the RNC speeches as a whole is “Bush”. The RNC is doing the right thing in setting Bush out as an island unto himself. There is no doubt that George Bush will go down in history as a very disliked president. And if John McCain, who has a 90% voting record in favor of Bush policies, wants to win this election, he is going to need to make clear that what he wants to do, and what he stands for is contrary to the last 8 years. Who knows, it may be too little too late. The damage the Bush Administration caused to the GOP’s favor and reputation may be irreparable. McCain maybe swimming up stream in a hurricane on this one and with Sarah Palin, a woman who some think is unfit for the position, who is surrounded in controversy, is just an additional weight holding him down. The Republican party I think was a bit blind sided by this choice. The Republicans are uniting together under this woman, as if they keep telling themselves that she is qualified over and over again, it might actually come true. ”What she advocates abstinence an no sex education and her daughter got pregnant at 17? No, No, No, she’s qualified!” Sarah Palin can do no wrong. No matter what she does or says the Republicans will spin it as a plus. All I know is if Obama or Biden had a 17 year old daughter who was pregnant out of wedlock, the GOP would have skewered them. Obama showed class for not coming down on Sarah Palin for all of this, knowing full well he would have never been extended the same courtesy. The new Republican message is more a double standard than everything else. So far the message at RNC has been littered with partisan bickering and insults. The Dems are holding back, but I don’t know how much longer Biden can go without fighting back in his own way. It will be an interesting election, lets see how this goes.
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We are now about to begin the final day of the Republican National Convention. Last night, Sarah Palin delivered a very well received speech, heavy with attacks against Obama. Post-speech, The GOP is singing this woman’s praises. This falls in line with that shiny new Republican message of bipartisanship and hugs & kisses. “We are the Republican Party, we care…want a hug?” The RNC has done a pretty good job so far at uniting the base, and the Palin speech was by far the most poignant. Here is a sort of highlight reel, I can’t find the full version in one video. If anyone else has it, post it as a comment below and I’ll update it. 
