Friday, September 23, 2005

Bill O'Reilly is still really gross though

The Smoking Gun has the original complaint by Andrea Mackris v. O'Reilly, FOXNews, etc.



   Um, yeah, I didn't want anyone to get the idea that I don't find O'Reilly repugnant, I certainly do, believe that. Do I think it is fair that if you are attractive it is harmless flirting but if you are unattractive it is harrassment -- no. Is it hypocritical of me, a person whom has engaged in pre-marital sex with women some of which I barely knew, to speak ill of O'Reilly's creepy innuendos with an underling? Of course not, he is the self-appointed arbiter of morality, harrassing Pepsi over their endorsement deal with Ludacris, etc., not me. I've made no moral superiority claims, at least not concerning casual sex. Note to Bill: Call Jimmy Swaggart and find out what happens when the morality police get caught with their pants around there ankles.

   By the way, Pepsi was the only loser on the deal, people who'd never heard of one man or the other were suddenly aware of him, (they run in slightly different circles), Ludacris was not the breaker of the contract, he only missed per-airing residuals, Pepsi quickly albeit less-publicly reversed their position - to the tune of $millions for Ludacris's (charitable) Foundation, O'Reilly got to play ivory tower crap-flinger yet again, which seems to be something he enjoys. Is it ironic that it was so much like the rap rivalries where one rapper name-checks someone he is against and the other returns the favor and suddenly white suburban 12-year-olds have two records they have to have!? I could only respect O'Reilly more if I believed it was as choreographed as it seemed. --r-

Of all People, Donahue?

   Yes, of all people available, Phil Donahue stepped up and smacked the crap out of Bill O'Reilly. Not literally, but in an allegorical sense of 'dealing out a beatdown', this was it. Funny, the last time I saw Bill O'Reilly he was in one of those moods that he reveals from time to time where he is pretty close to both honest and coherent, and allows himself to be seen as a rational person. Not that he is wearing a pot on his head and banging it with a wooden spoon normally, but you should know how far off this guy's perspective usually is if you recognize his name. Thanks again to Maru. --r-

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Stepping Up

Just wanted to quickly step up and introduce myself. I am not really a terribly political animal by nature. The last couple of elections, though, coupled with the fact that I live in Cauli-forrrr-nyah (as our Governator would say)have led me to at least begin to ask questions and seek answers about our political system and its myriad of mysteries. Wow, that was one wicked run on sentence. Sorry. At any rate, I expect I will mainly be posting links and things that are sent to me by various progressive organizations. If I have an opinion, I will give it. I'll even try to defend it if necessary.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Pimpin'

   I work a full time job, and it is not Internet-friendly, hence the choice of nickname; Part-time thinker. Because of this, a lot of my posts here will simply be directions to someone with more time or talent or both to bring you news on Four More Years. Leisure Guy co-opted a piece and I direct you there: The Fascist Direction of the GOP

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

A Simple Question

Hello. My name' s not really Napoleon Park. That's actually my porn star name based on the formula "your first pets name plus the street you lived on as a child."

I'm not that politically astute either. In fact my main function at the Yahoo! group I co-moderate is to discourage people from talking about p*l*t*cs.

Funny that I'd be a moderator, since politically I guess I am a moderate. Yeah, I'm an aging hippy and tend to swing Dem. I stand in the middle but tend to lean to the left.

I know there are people with extremely strong political convictions and it seems the further out on either wing they get, the stronger their convictions.

Let's suppose, hypothetically, that this made sense. Let's say that of the two major parties (blue/red), or the two main extremes of thought (left/right) that one was always correct and the other was always wrong. That one was basically good and the other evil.

Since power tends to fluctuate from one side of the spectrum to the other depending on the whims of the voters and the charisma of the candidates or the nature of the issues, what does that say about the American public that half the time they're willing to elect the 'bad' candidate? If p*l*t*cs came own to simple extremes, black/white, good/evil, right/wrong, wouldn't that make a mockery of the two party system? If, you know, one party is always wrong. And if half the voters choose to elect wrongness, evil, selfishness and the path to destruction, what does that say about democracy?

Of course if the center position is always correct, that makes extremist on both wings and members of both big parties wrong a lot of the time. That may be even worse.

I'm thinking it may be much more complex than simply "Party A if you're rich, party B isf you're oppressed" I don't think one party can claim religion or patriotism for itself and vilify the other side as traitorous heathens. I think we may need to examine our candidates on a position by position and issue by issue basis, and try to have an open mind while we do it.

Hey, that's it for my first blog post ever. I'm hoping some folks a little more knowledgable and opinionated show up. This is really not my area of expertise, hence the naive observation.
The simple question isn;t "In a two party system, how can one side always be wrong"? The question is, "How can anyone seriously believe that"?

[So what do I do, sign my name or does it do that automatically. I told you, I never did this before. Anyway, I'm Napoleon Park and that's what I have to say.]

Monday, September 19, 2005

Veterinarian appointed Acting Director of Women's Health at the FDA

I've forgotten where this came from, but I kept getting a broken link at Ms.magazine dot com. I found this representation, nonetheless, it actually occurred. I find this very telling of this administration's attitude towards the proletariat in general, and specifically towards our women, apparently.

Here we are, face to face, a couple of silver spoons

   Hoping to find, we're two of a kind _._._._. Together, we're gonna find our way
   Okay, here we are in the outre dome, setting up what will likely be somewhere for me to drop stuff I read elsewhere, and other team members to do their thing that they do well; whatever that turns out to be. We'll leave anonymous posting up for now, no sense assuming anyone is ready to hate on us just yet.