Common theme?

Since things obviously panned out so well for John McCain when he picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Iowa is following suit. Just today I found an article that revealed that Terry Branstad, in his attempt to again hold the Governor's office after a rather lengthy hiatus, has chosen state senator Kim Reynolds as a running mate.

Sen. Reynolds (R-Oceola), is in her first term as a state senator. Prior to that office, she was the treasurer for Clarke County (2000 census pop. 9,133). She's also served as president of the Iowa State County Treasurers Association and served six years on the IPERS board.

Though I know somewhere between little and nothing about this person, I can't help but liken this to what we saw John McCain pull during the presidential campaign. A woman (though in this case not as young) with very little experience being pulled from the ranks of obscurity and thrown into a campain for a position in which she is likely neither ready for nor capable of doing well. Again, the Republican party shows that it has no shame. As if it weren't bad enough that the party had to recycle a governor from a past decade; the Repubs seem to again be counting on a fresh faced woman to win votes - not records or experience. Glad to see they have so much respect for the mental fortitude of their constituents.

I wonder if Senator Reynolds can see Russia from her house too.

Obama looking forward to a "Post-America World"?

This photo is from a forwarded email I received from a staunch Republican friend who commonly sends me shit like this. The first lines of the email read: "If each person sends this to a minimum of twenty people on their address list, in three days, all people in The United States of America would have the message. I believe this is one proposal that really should be passed around."

The email goes on to say: "The name of the book Obama is reading is called: The Post-American World, and it was written by a fellow Muslim. "Post" America means the world After America! Please forward this picture to everyone you know, conservative or liberal. We must expose Obama's radical ideas and his intent to bring down our beloved America!"

Well, I couldn't agree more. This should be sent to everyone in America...with the right information to accompany the photograph. And it should be sent back to every ignorant, mindless propaganda-forwarder with a caption that reads, "Get the facts, you moron."

A little research (accomplished in less time it takes to have a sip of coffee) reveals that yes, the book is real (no surprise there) but the rest of the information in the email is bullshit.

According to a Snopes article, the book is neither Muslim nor does it have anything to do with the fall of "our beloved America." Quite the contrary actually. The book, written by an Indian-born (but now a naturalized, legal US citizen) political journalist is actually an optimistic view of the 21st century and its future. It's not about the decline of America, but the rise of everyone else: the growing prosperity of developing countries, the associated decline of violence...things of that nature. In fact, the book predicts that despite some blunders at home and abroad, America will stay strong.

Well, that's hardly fodder for the likes of Limbaugh and Beck. Yet their disciples continue to forward crap like this photo, complete with outright bullshit descriptions to accompany it. No wonder fewer and fewer people are taking the Republican party seriously these days.

Pray it away

No doubt the oil spill in the Gulf is causing a lot of despair among folks, especially those in the coastal states directly affected by the oil reaching their shores. Despair leads to desperate measures and, as would be expected, the government is always willing to oblige the public's cry to do something. Problem is, nobody really knows what to do. What can be done is supposedly being done to the fullest extent possible by the most capable people...or so we're told. Yet the oil still flows. So now what?

As humans have done for pretty much its entire existence, when something is out of our control, we resign to putting it in the hands of whatever deity we subscribe to. So, in all its willingness to help, but not having legitimate means of doing so, the Louisiana legislature unanimously passed a resolution - SR145 - "To recognize and declare Sunday, June 20, 2010, as a Statewide Day of Prayer for Louisiana and for the population and region surrounding the Gulf of Mexico, in particular those people affected by the environmental and economic disasters that erupted in the
aftermath of BP Deepwater Horizon oil leak."

By golly, that ought to fix it! Because I'm sure God didn't really grasp the full magnitude of the disaster. Several million people all saying prayers asking for more or less the same thing should get his attention. I don't know exactly what everyone expects him to do. Should he part the Gulf in a circle around where the oil slick is, the divinely suck the oil out of the waters before letting them settle back in place? While he's at it, maybe he can suck up the BP execs whose greed helped spawn the problem in the first place. That would be divine justice right? I suspect the result will be more fitting to the natural functions of the planet He supposedly created. Like a Category 5 hurricane to disperse and dilute the oil. After all, we've proven time and again that the solution to pollution is dilution...not prayer.

Sidebar: Isn't it a bit ironic that the legislators that proposed this Resolution are the same (conservative) lawmakers who are screaming for the President to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling? I wonder how much of BP's money helped put those legislators in power?

Farmville

I have zero sympathy for people who bitch about how hectic their life is, or how busy their schedule is, or how many tests they have to study for, or how much work they have to do - via a Facebook post squeezed in between no less than thirty Farmville updates. I don't give a fuck about what you're doing on your stupid Facebook farm, or how many golden fucking eggs you found. And for that matter, if you're so damn busy and have so much to do, maybe you should stop cyber farming and get to work you lazy piece of shit.

Update: My new multi-billion dollar idea is to create a new Facebook cyber reality world, based on the same premise as Farmville (or at least I assume so, not having ever played Farmville) but with a more urban interface. Slumville will be the next big thing among Facebook users, and more clearly reflect the life which most users will likely end up living, either as a landlord or tenant. The player, or landlord, will start off with a small amount of Slumville cash (which they purchased from the (my) licensing company with real US currency) and proceed to buy up properties, rent them out, and then by more with the profits. The goal is to own as many properties as possible with complete disregard to their condition, which steadily deteriorate as time goes on. The players must attempt to keep all the properties rented out, though as time goes by and deterioration progresses, the potential tenants become increasingly seedy. Thus, it becomes a game of strategy: either rent to the seedy tenants, spend a bunch of Slumville cash to make minimal upgrades on the properties (which players purchase from me...I mean, my company) or lose money each month with empty houses. As deterioration and tenant quality progresses, so does crime and players are always faced with the possibility of losing tenants to driveby shootings, or losing entire dwellings to a random, drug-fueled act of arson or exploding meth lab. The game will end when every property is destroyed (by means such as violence, crime, or condemnation by the Slumville City Council) or until the player's account runs dry and the properties are foreclosed upon and leveled by the city of Slumville.

I can see the status updates now:
"Kelly just lost a single mother, her unemployed boyfreind/pimp, twin toddlers, and a pit bull to a drive by in Slumville."

"Jen needs help from a HAZMAT crew to clean the meth residue from a recently exploded property in Slumville. Click HERE to help."

"Matt just purchased a bullet-riddled bungalow occupied by an illegal immigrant family of 37 for $1,200 in Slumville!"

"Allison just found a bag of weed in a storm sewer on a Slumville property!"

"John can't collect rent on any property on the 100 block of Central because the recent gang war makes it quite likely he won't live through it. Click HERE to help him purchase an armored truck and flak jacket for Slumville."

Yep, Slumville will be the next big thing and I'll rake in the dough. Now if only I knew a good programmer...