Seriously.
Anywho, senator Chris Dodd (high on the Obama list for VP) is still working to strip the FISA bill of imunity for the telecom CEOs. Here is what his website has to say about it:

For the last nine months, when retroactive immunity has surfaced, we have been able to delay its passage.

We were able to stop it in December because I had an army behind me.

Two months later, it stalled again — this time in the House.

And last week, we managed to delay action one last time.

But when the Senate returns from the July 4th recess, we will vote on FISA legislation that includes retroactive immunity for telecom companies that may have illegally helped the Bush administration spy without warrant.

It’s a bad bill and we need action to stop retroactive immunity from becoming law.

I’ve introduced an amendment with Senator Feingold to strip immunity from the bill.

This amendment has the support of Majority Leader Reid and Senator Obama, but it needs 51 votes to pass.

Will you sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of our amendment?

Sign on here to help

Nan

Here’s what I see: our economy is in the shitter, at least in part to the falling value of our currency. Much of the falling value of our currency is due to borrow and spend government policies, particularly with regard to the Iraq war. We’ve seen this before — Nixon had to take the US off the gold standard in ‘72 largely due to the costs of the Vietnam war. This corresponds roughly with the peak of standard of living for the average American — in terms of buying power and wages, it’s been pretty much downhill ever since then. Meanwhile, the rich have never been better off in this country, with the possible exception of the Roaring 20s. Which, of course, created the right conditions for the Great Depression. So am I saying that we’re heading for another Great Depression? Not necessarily. If my worst case scenario comes to light, we’re heading for something far worse. See, during the Depression we still had the resources available that the economy would eventually rely upon to help right itself. Today, although we are still the world’s greatest consumer of resources (I believe we consume about 25% of the world’s energy), China is now developing its economy in much the same way that we developed ours at the start of the last century — through manufacturing, and the consumption of massive amounts of natural resources. So I’m not sure that we have resources available to right the ship if it starts to founder. Further, I do not believe that any of our politicians will take problems seriously until they impact the super-rich. So my tea leaves tell me that the price of gas may well double soon, and that this will begin the collapse of our country as we know it. We will be disproportionately effected by expensive fuel relative to other countries, due to our dependence on cars. And that dependence is no coincidence, by the way. Our society depends almost exclusively on cars in part because GM bought up most of the country’s trolley lines in the early 1900s and shut them down, forcing people to buy cars to get around. We then built our towns and cities more spread out than other countries, because it was cheaper to do so, and there was no reason not to, as long as everyone had cars. So our whole economy will be threatened by rising fuel costs, but we won’t go quietly. I expect that we will turn on one another and our neighbors. Look for us to continue to solve our problems with our military. I think America is about to become a much less polite society, both domestically and abroad. Let’s hope I just got a bad batch of tea.

John

So I’m watching CNN this morning. They have this new segment called “Issue #1″ all about the shitty economy and the upcoming election.
Now I know that we are in that time period 6 months before an election where even the real issues begin to be tweaked into bizzare fake concerns, but here is one that really tied my panties.
While discussing the current concerns with healthcare, the host Gerri Willis asked her panelist “Why does Generation X care about healthcare?” My ears perked up because I swing between having no healthcare and having shitty healthcare. Her panelist explained that 1) GenX is busy spending money on our clothes and cars and 2) the process is confusing enough that we’d rather leave it to our employers.
Thats when my brain fell out of my asshole. Now had they been discussing 17 year olds working at Dunkin Donuts, I could by this. But GenX? Thats me!
I wrote CNN to remind them that GenXers are now in our 30’s! I have been struggling with finding available healthcare for a decade now. Apparently its not that the choices suck, or that for profit healthcare is a crooked system. Its just that I’m too dumb and obsessed with my clothes to handle it.
Good to know.
nan

So I’m flipping through the channels last night (Xmas eve) and today, and I keep getting stuck on PBS. Every time I flip past it, something catches my eye and makes me think “What the fuck was that?” And inevitably, what it is is white people doing stupid shit. In formal attire. This morning, it was two women performing some ridiculous dance wherein they were evidently not allowed to stand. So they just cavorted on the floor together, which kept inexpicably not turning into lesbian porn. And why would they roll around on the floor together if they’re not trying to either A) boink each other, or B) kill each other? Because it wasn’t impressive. I have a great deal of respect for dancers because they’re capable of doing astounding things with their bodies. But somersaults are not astounding. Nor is lying on your back or sitting on your ass. I can do all of those things right now, and I’m out of shape. Maybe there’s a symbollic element to the dance — they’re channelling lovebirds in a cage, unable to fly or some shit. But that’s more of an exercise than a performance, isn’t it? Atheletes need to stretch before they play, but we have the good sense to not televise it, because it sucks. And that’s my point: white people frequently try to pass off exercises that could help you perform better as performances. Great, you can roll around: now do that at the end of a tumbling pass in gymnastics, and I’ll watch. Quit doing vocal exercises (see: choirs and a capella ensembles) and fucking sing. Quit swaying and dance. Why do caucasians always sucker you? It’s goddamn embarrassing.
john

if this were a real post, it would be witty and clever.

but its a test post.

so all you get is snarky.