Rupublican Foolishness, Plus Pretty Pictures

Here is my take on a few things from Andrew Sullivan's excellent blog, which you guys should check out on the reg.

First, has anyone else noticed that John McCain is just saying the most ridiculous shit these days? It seems like he is just really bitter about losing the election, which, when paired with a desperate desire to live out his few remaining years (days? who knows at this point he is really old and not lookin so hot) in political relevance, equals trouble. He is an extremely outspoken critic of everything that Obama and the Democrats do these days. And yes, so are all Republicans (this guy knows what I'm talking about). But McCain should know better. During the Bush administration, he was pretty centrist on at least some things. And, immediately after the election, he pledged to work with Obama. Maybe if you play that speech backward you can actually hear him saying "JK, you guys!! LOL!!!", in his natural, reptilian-humanoid dialect. I don't know. Until I hear proof of that I'm just going to have to take him at his word and assume he is a liar.

The latest call to arms he has taken up is calling for prosecution of the band Weatherbox on treason charges the holy message that gay people should remain in the closet if they want to serve their country in the military. Which is ridiculous, obviously. It's 2010, McCain!! Every American should be able to murder Middle-Eastern civilians! It's our birth right! Here's an embarrassing exchange for McCain, via Sullivan's blog:

"The reason why I supported the policy to start with is because General Colin Powell, who was then the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the one that strongly recommended we adopt this policy in the Clinton administration. I have not heard General Powell or any of the other military leaders reverse their position," - McCain, yesterday.

“In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed. I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen," Colin Powell, today.

Ouch!

Secondly, this about Sarah Palin and her shameful use of a human being that she gave birth to as a political prop, and her ridiculous call for Rahm Emmanuel to be fired for an off-hand remark he made last summer:

"Did she really just call for Rahm Emanuel to be fired because he allegedly used the term "fucking retarded" to refer to fellow Democrats in a private meeting? Last summer? Did she really?

I don't like the term myself. I think it is offensive. I think Rahm Emanuel is offensive. But at least he's real. And he has now apologized. And at least he used the term metaphorically.

Palin, in contrast, called her own campaign prop "her retarded baby" in private, according to an eye-witness account from the father of her own grandson who lived in her house for months and knew her intimately. "I was just in shock the first time I heard it," Levi Johnston told CBS. Unlike Sarah Palin, Johnston has not been caught in multiple indisputable lies. I believe him over her. In fact, in any factual dispute, I believe anyone over her.

While I'm at it, does anyone actually believe that Palin's name for the child of miraculous provenance was found by her deep knowledge of ancient Norse as she claims in her magical-realism novel, "Going Rogue"? I mean, seriously. She knows about as much ancient Norse as she does English grammar. It's as credible as the idea that she gave a speech while having contractions, several hours after going into labor, as she claims in her novel. It's as credible as her amazing journey in labor with a special needs child on a plane where the flight attendants, according to theAnchorage Daily News, did not even notice she was pregnant. It's as credible as any number of indisputable self-serving, unbalanced lies that she has told in the public record for years.

The medical term for Down Syndrome is Trisomy-21 or Trisomy-g. It is often shortened in medical slang to Tri-g.

Is it not perfectly possible that the very name given to this poor child, being reared by Bristol, is another form of mockery of his condition, along with the "retarded baby" tag? And does the way in which this poor child was hauled around the country on a book tour, being dragged out in front of flash photographs in the middle of the night, barely clothed, suggest someone who actually cares for children with special needs, or rather sees them as a way to keep the spotlight on her?"

Magical-realism novel!! That is such a good one! Poor kid.

Lastly, Sullivan is releasing a book of really pretty pictures of views from windows all over the world at different times of the day. Preview here.