The Constant Reader knows of the high esteem in which I hold my beloved wife, the Lovely and Talented Cathy. Her latest project is another stunningly wonderful idea. She has started podcasting and a new website, Student Tech. This podcast covers all the nifty technological goodies she has found helpful in her quest for her doctoral degree. It also shares ways to save money and blow off steam with low-cost fun, since keeping your sanity is just as important as gaining an education.
In addition to learning all kinds of stuff, you will also get to hear the beautiful voice of the woman that is the light of my life. Check out Student Tech and tell her The Amused Geek sent you!
by Mark Ford. "I used to be disgusted, now I'm just amused". The occasional rantings of a "regular guy" with a highly irregular point of view.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The Lion Sleeps
America lost perhaps its' greatest liberal champion last night. Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy lost his battle with brain cancer. This man, born to wealth and privilege, never ceased to battle for the rights of those less fortunate. Kennedy spent more that 47 years in the U.S. Senate and left his stamp on every major civil rights and anti-poverty legislation presented to that body. He will be missed.
It seems ironic to me that the darkest day of his career may have done more than anything else to extend Senator Kennedy's life. His brothers, John and Robert, came to early ends in possesion or pursuit of the nation's highest office. Ted could have easily become President had it not been for the tragic "Chappaquiddick" incident. He remained in the Senate and probably did more good for the disabled, poor and under-privleged over his long Senatorial career than he ever could have in a four to eight year Presidency.
Your labors are done, old lion. Rest well.
It seems ironic to me that the darkest day of his career may have done more than anything else to extend Senator Kennedy's life. His brothers, John and Robert, came to early ends in possesion or pursuit of the nation's highest office. Ted could have easily become President had it not been for the tragic "Chappaquiddick" incident. He remained in the Senate and probably did more good for the disabled, poor and under-privleged over his long Senatorial career than he ever could have in a four to eight year Presidency.
Your labors are done, old lion. Rest well.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Tyranny of the Wingnuts
In the days since I've last updated this missive, a disturbing trend has come to the fore. People (and I use that term loosely in this case) staring at the President's birth certificate still claiming that he's not a citizen, Medicare recipients railing against "government run health care" and the right-wing screaming meemies (This means YOU and your kind, Plush Windbag!) spewing talking points that are intellectually bankrupt and morally reprehensible.
It seems like the airwaves are filled with people shouting bullshit at the top of their lungs under the impression that volume can replace truth. On the news recently I saw elderly person after elderly person crying about how a public insurance option would mean that old people would have to die rather than get the health care they deserve. Do you honestly think that a country that specially designed a government-run single-payer healthcare system JUST for the elderly would make these same people end their lives due to a lack of healthcare? What color is the sky in your world? You sure don't live here! By the way, all of you who are screaming that America doesn't have a government-run single-payer healthcare system just for the elderly, it is called Medicare.
This mess is so pervasive that there is even a name for it. They are called "astroturf movements" because they claim to be coming from the "grass roots" but are fake. The Republican party is behaving like it believes that this is what the people want. Take that lying and barely literate village-idiot-of-the-tundra (could Dubya and she be related? Scary!), Sarah Palin. She is blathering on about how the Obama healthcare plan would create panels that would decide whether a citizen would live or die when, if Palin had the intelligence and integrity to read the actual bill, she would know that what is being offered is voluntary end-of-life counseling to the terminally ill. Palin, you lying guttersnipe, you have no room to chastise the press for "makin' stuff up"! Senator McCain, your selection of this moron didn't kill your campaign, but it did put it out of our misery.
The Constant Reader will know that I am a recent but devoted convert to liberalism and social justice, and I want to ask a favor. Please write, call, email or send a carrier pigeon to your Senator and your Congresscritter telling them that you want healthcare reform WITH a public option, and tell them that The Amused Geek sent you. I especially want you to write if you have the ill-fortune to live in a Congressional district represented by a Republican. I don't have much of a following, but perhaps we can make the Geek voice heard!
It seems like the airwaves are filled with people shouting bullshit at the top of their lungs under the impression that volume can replace truth. On the news recently I saw elderly person after elderly person crying about how a public insurance option would mean that old people would have to die rather than get the health care they deserve. Do you honestly think that a country that specially designed a government-run single-payer healthcare system JUST for the elderly would make these same people end their lives due to a lack of healthcare? What color is the sky in your world? You sure don't live here! By the way, all of you who are screaming that America doesn't have a government-run single-payer healthcare system just for the elderly, it is called Medicare.
This mess is so pervasive that there is even a name for it. They are called "astroturf movements" because they claim to be coming from the "grass roots" but are fake. The Republican party is behaving like it believes that this is what the people want. Take that lying and barely literate village-idiot-of-the-tundra (could Dubya and she be related? Scary!), Sarah Palin. She is blathering on about how the Obama healthcare plan would create panels that would decide whether a citizen would live or die when, if Palin had the intelligence and integrity to read the actual bill, she would know that what is being offered is voluntary end-of-life counseling to the terminally ill. Palin, you lying guttersnipe, you have no room to chastise the press for "makin' stuff up"! Senator McCain, your selection of this moron didn't kill your campaign, but it did put it out of our misery.
The Constant Reader will know that I am a recent but devoted convert to liberalism and social justice, and I want to ask a favor. Please write, call, email or send a carrier pigeon to your Senator and your Congresscritter telling them that you want healthcare reform WITH a public option, and tell them that The Amused Geek sent you. I especially want you to write if you have the ill-fortune to live in a Congressional district represented by a Republican. I don't have much of a following, but perhaps we can make the Geek voice heard!
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