Had a little fun with the Side View Generator today. I wasn’t exactly flattered by some of the transformations (Fitzgerald turns into Deep Throat), but was greatly amused by others. I ran a couple for some frequent commenters. Are you “vulgar?” Or “sprain?” How about “est rus” or “lard” or “porno?”
A personal favorite was the transformation of “Jimbo” into “ninja.” Right on.
So I was poking around on Prairie Flounder‘s site, and ran into a comment by the Progressive Conservative. Being somewhat libertarian-minded and socially progressive, as well as loving a good oxymoron, this piqued my interest. I followed him back to The Big Stick, a blog espousing a back-to-Teddy-Roosevelt variety of Republicanism that seems to be enjoying a renaissance of sorts these days.
Did you know that to be a proper conservative these days you’re expected to hold four separate, contradictory opinions on the value of human life? You are to be pro life in the womb, pro death penalty, anti assisted-suicide, and pro war. The precise opposite holds true for progressives. You are expected to be pro abortion (pro choice is a euphemism, let’s face it) , anti death penalty, pro assisted-suicide, and anti-war. This is why when Bill Bennett brings up the abortion issue as something that needs to be talked about in the Obama vs. McCain choice coming up in November, I cannot help but chuckle. It’s a wedge issue, something career politicians dust off every couple of years to drag the rubes into the polls. The Republicans won’t get rid of Roe vs. Wade. It’s against their interest, because the existence of that precedent keeps a lot of people punching that “R” on their ballots.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Democrats would have you think they’re against global warming, particularly with their former front-man and recent Nobel laureate Al Gore leading the charge. Do you know who was in charge of nixing every new nuclear power plant for eight years while vice president? Same guy. Thank him for all the brand-spanking-new coal-burning power plants belching greenhouse gasses into the sky. I think we are currently living in a golden age of political absurdity, where the environmental conservationists rape the land and those religiously convinced that every life has an immeasurable sacred value promote slaughter. Maybe we just need more progressive conservatives. Or maybe some conservative progressives.
How much does it cost to buy a vote in the national legislature that could potentially save your business billions of dollars in legal liability for you willfull, illegal actions over a period of several years? Well, it varies depending on the legislator, but for Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T to get retroactive immunity for their role in placing what amounts to millions of unwarranted wiretaps on United States citizens it averaged $9,659 each.
That was how much, on average, a Democrat that voted against the March 14th immunity but turned around to support the June 20th immunity received from political action committees run by these telcos. To be fair, the 129 U.S. representatives that voted against immunity averaged $4,180 in contributions each since the beginning of the year, but that five grand apparently represents the value of your privacy, citizen.
Take a look for yourself. How much did you rep cost? Nancy Pelosi costs about $24,000 to win over. John Murtha of Pennsylvania (former contender for the majority leader position) came in cheap at a mere $5,000. Wonder how that is.
Please note that these numbers are just the campaign contributions, and does not reflect other money spent on lobbyists. There’s a slim chance that the Senate won’t just turn around and show their ass on this. Again. Where do your representative and senators stand?