To Alberto Gonzales: "What DO you know?"

Posted on May 11, 2007 by Adam S

Fantastic video Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California grilling Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in his congressional hearing:

Gonzales won’t crack, because he can’t crack. Because the minute he does, it will expose corruption in this adminstration that pre-dates 9/11. Corruption that leads up to the very core of the executive branch. Corruption that may or may not expose an all out assault on Middle Eastern controlled oil reserves, government contracts, a bicameral government, indeed American democracy itself.

State of the Union? F’ing Pathetic.

Posted on January 24, 2007 by Adam S

Says President George W. Bush “This country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work.“

This is the equivalent of when the three American Idol judges say “No” and the AI hopeful pleads, “Can I sing something else?” The response should be a resounding “NO!”

We gave you three years to make your Iraq strategy work, W, and you’ve screwed the pooch. As of this week, 7 of 10 Americans think you’re doing a crappy job, more Americans than not want you out of the presidency, and the fact that you would lead us further into war, a war that has been condemned by everyone from your citizens, to your congress, to your former cabinet members (including your former Secretary of State), to your joint chiefs for crying out loud, is nothing short of dispicable. When people stood in your way, even your own generals, you simply stripped them of their power like a true dictator. You’ve removed the very notion of checks and balances. You’ve broken the law and rewritten it to clear yourself of wrongdoing. You’ve disguised your crimes under the banner of defense, and rallied our sympathies on lies. You’ve wiped out democracy.

But I don’t have to spend my time being mad about this, because time will take care of things. The history books will remember you as a simple man too thick to make smart decisions or coherent speeches, a puppet of his corrupt administration (read: Cheney and Rove), the first person to begin to erode the freedoms that make America great. You will be remembered with a wince, a scar on American history, the man who turned the world against America, a man who leaves the country much worse than he received it.

In fact, if anything, we should thank you, Mr. Bush, for reminding us what makes America great. When your embarassing reign of terror is over, perhaps we’ll appreciate what we have here with the USA.

see previous

First Lt. Ehren Watada Is a Hero

Posted on January 4, 2007 by Adam S

“First Lieutenant Ehren Watada still refuses Iraq deployment orders, calling the war illegal. A six-year prison term could result. Preliminary hearings are set for Thursday.”

To those who think that Lieutenant Watada is a traitor or a deserter, let me remind you of a time when a government scared its fearful citizens into segregating themselves. A time when disloyalty to the army was disloyalty to the nation. When opposing the government (which, by the way, is an American core value, protected by the Bill of Rights itself) made you unpatriotic. That time was Nazi Germany, and although it may *feel* like a hyperbolic analogy, I think it’s apt. And look how we remember it.

The government HAS decieved us and America is less safe today than a few years ago. BRAVO for a soldier whose allegiance is to the constitution and not a corrupt, criminal administration.

Lt. Watada is a hero. When he took his oath, he took it to uphold the American Constitution, not to blindly support a Commander in Chief. And when the Commander in Chief orders something illegal, should it be opposed? After all, wasn’t “I was just following orders” the defense used in Nuremburg? One we, as humans, found unacceptable? One that we felt was not an excuse? If Lt Watada is convinced, as about 51% of American people are, that the administration’s actions are illegal, if not plainly dispicable, and his goal is truly to fight for America, then he has greater convinction than most pathetic Americans who are committed to nothing but TV or an unquestioned political party. And if he’s willing to go to prison for his beliefs, he has more courage than most of the cowards who judge him anonymously on an online message baord.

History will vindicate this man. I remain convinced that history will remember President Bush as the worst president ever, even worse than Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, or even Warren Harding. The “government” that exists today has done, and is doing, things so distinctly un-American than it’s easy to find quotes from our forefathers that expressly condemn their actions! Freedom of the press is at stake. Freedom of speech is at stake. Freedom to oppose your government is at stake. Your very rights are at stake – you can now be held without trial and tortured if you are suspected of being a terrorist. Your privacy is gone. And it’s all under the guide of “for your protection.” Folks, what good is safety if you have no freedom? Says Benjamin Franklin, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.“

I wonder what it will be like when we have some distance from this era and we look back: will we be living in a 1984-like military state? Or will our freedoms be restored and we remember this as I expect, like a period where a self-serving administration sought to control its citizens and promote its own agenda?

Time will tell.

Congressman Assumed to be Fool Removes All Doubt

Posted on December 20, 2006 by Adam S

The headline actually reads: “Congressman: ‘I Fear … We Will Have Many More Muslims In The United States’,” but it might as well read the same as my headline. Rep. Virgil Goode, a Virginian Republican, uttered this masterpiece. These are the words of a coward. The words of a rascist. The words of a fool. And what’s worse, there’s nothing more unpatriotic than uttering a phrase like that.

You see, I read stuff like this ridiculous comment online all the time. Let me quote “Answeil Vachette (R) Va.”: “America is Christianity.It is the 4th largest religion in the world.This nation was founded on Christianity.It is the fact.”

Where do people come up with this stuff? Anyone who has studied history ought to know better. I often hear people mutter this nonsense about America being founded by white Christians in the Christian vein, but it WASN’T (1) (2) (3) (4). I don’t care what you read online. It was founded by people fleeing religious persecution who went to great lengths to NOT write any religion into the constituion and laws. In fact, religion is mentioned twice in the Constitution, once in the first amendment which prohibits laws “respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” and once in Article VII, which forbids “reigious tests” for public office. The brilliant authors of this document, the Founding Fathers, couldn’t have foreseen us destroying their intentions and forsaking their well-intentioned documents hundreds of years later.

Laws are intended to sway with the times, and laws are easy to repeal. The Constitution is the backbone of the US, and it is decidedly NOT Christian in nature. The only valid argument, I suppose, is that the basis of the morals set forth in the Constitution is Judeo-Christian in nature. So be it, I suppose. It’s not far-fetched to imagine that most Western cultures have the same basic set of morals for grounding, and I don’t think it really implies a tie to religion.

Getting back to ol’ Congressman Virgil Goode, his words reflect a xenophobia that I see more and more of, and it makes me sick. It exposes the poison deep-seeded in the veins of the US today, and it’s pathetic. It embarasses all of us, and pretty much proves that the decline of the US is inevitable, because we have turned on ourselves and destroyed everything that made this nation great. We were once a nation that said “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” Remember that little ditty? It’s inscribed on the Statue of Liberty! At some point, that mentality made us a great nation. But Virgil Goode — a rotten, cowardly shell of a man — thinks he knows better.

America, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. And we should be ashamed that people like Virgil Goode represent us. And we should be ashamed that our mindset is getting to sound an awful lot like Nazi Germany.

Bravo, John Kerry

Posted on November 1, 2006 by Adam S

John Kerry, a too-weak-to-be-President-in-2004 politician, a guy who many Democrats really saw as “the best we got, but not what we want” back then, today issued a smackdown to the coward Republicans who haven’t ever served in the military but recklessly deploy them with no plan.

Instead of apologizing for what was, admittedly, a touchy statement about a connection between education (or lack thereof) and being in Iraq, presumably as a soldier, he went back on the offensive. It was a good move. His original statement was a bit cryptic, because it appears to suggest that soldiers are too dumb to have a decent job. But with this follow-up as a companion piece, it reads differently. Update: What Kerry meant to say was that if you don’t study, you end up GETTING US stuck in Iraq. In other words, it was supposed to be a jab at Bush that suggested that he was too dumb to know any better.

As someone who worked for the Navy for several years, I can safely say that my opinion of the military is high, but my opinion of this administration’s actions are low. I find the entire current administration to be a disaster, as shame, and an embarrassment to the American people. I wish more Democrats stood up and called their bullshit and rhetoric.

I’m not against conservative political sentiment, but I find the most prominent Republicans to be the most shameful, hypocritical, lying bastards out there.

So well played, John Kerry. Well played.

The West Wing Lives?

Posted on October 23, 2006 by Adam S

Barlett White House

Saw this on Yahoo! News today. Didn’t notice the colon, so I thought it said “Bartlett White House.” I thought – “No kidding, the Bush White House is filled with closed-minded fools, but the Barlett White House is competent!”

Linky see, linky do.

Posted on September 14, 2006 by Adam S

More links assembled from the annals of the browser history of AS.

Goodbye Microsoft, Pete has now left the building
A fellow Floridian, an Microsoft insider, describes why he finally ditched Microsoft and Windows for Apple and Ruby-on-Rails. For the record, I still think Rails is a fad. It’s very cool, but the catch is, ya gotta learn Ruby to use it. A lot of these frameworks are very powerful and great RAD tools, but I’m sticking with PHP5 for now.

Do NOT watch this
*Suriously*. It’ll make you dizzy, and you’ll feel a hollowness in your stomach. I don’t usually get queezy, this is the worst video I’ve seen in ages. Yikes.

“We Have Not Forgotten, Mr. President.”
Keith Olberman tears President Bush a new arse.

Asshat flies out of truck
Truck + Dunes + Guy being douche-bag = ?

Why Vista will be the end of Microsoft
Of course, we all know it won’t be. On the contrary, it will be a success. But I agree, it will certainly be the first chipping of the wall. Start the timer. Microsoft’s dominance will be majorly altered in the next decade.