White House
Kerry '04 -- To November and Beyond (Part II)
Davis X. Machina - 07:23 pm Pacific Time - Oct 21, 2004 - #9388 of 10012
I know they're a bunch of sweatshopping bastards, but I cried for half an hour. My grandfather took my dad to the last game Ruth ever played, at Braves Field, in '35, I think. My dad was 7 or 8.
My grandfather came with us when my dad took me to my first game at Fenway, to see a really bad Sox team play a really bad A's team in 1964 ... or '65. I was 7 or 8.
My dad was at the 6th (Fisk) game in '75, watching the game, but worrying about my grandfather, who was in the Beth Israel a few blocks away. (Fenway's in the heart of medical Boston ...)
Granddad died in '77.
Now I'm watching with my son, and it's his granddand, my dad, with prostate cancer (doing fine so far, thanks be to God).
It's not just a game, dammit ...
Thank you.
White House
Kerry '04 -- To November and Beyond (Part II)
MariaSquared - 11:31 am Pacific Time - Oct 24, 2004 - #9600 of 10012
That's just one more thing that we have to chalk up to progress ... in the old days, people too stupid to live usually didn't. But in these modern times they thrive, and so the challenge for the progressive movement is to keep them from being the death of the rest of us.
White House
George W. Bush: Public Enemy No. 1, Part XVI
Slither - 08:25 pm Pacific Time - Oct 25, 2004 - #9622 of 9814
During the Republican Convention, I went to some right-wing blogs to see what they were saying. (One of them featured former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson explaining that Wyoming got so much more homeland security funding than New York because Wyoming has four interstates, "That's where they put the big bombs, on the interstate.") Last week I went back to one of the more popular ones, to see what they were saying and thinking. It turned out to be quite disturbing.
They seem to live in another universe than we do. Today, all the liberal blogs were talking about the 380 tons of explosives being lost. Not them. They, instead, had a feature about the riots in Boston's Copley Square. Which riots, you ask? The riots that we Democrats are shamelessly planning on Nov. 2, when we lose. (Drat! They're on to us!)
When I first poked my head in, they were obsessing about the Drugs for Registrations "scandal." (Apparently a volunteer for a GOTV campaign gave cocaine to another person, who registered "Mary Poppins", "Jeffrey Dahmer" and other, similar names.) After about four separate articles denouncing this horrible Democratic plot, I couldn't resist agreeing. After all, what makes more sense than the idea that Democrats have amassed warehouses full of cocaine that are being used to register "Mary Poppins" all over the country? And on Election Day, evil Democrats will impersonate Mary Poppins (complete with umbrella) and cast thousands of illegal votes!
They were also upset about other schemes for getting illegal votes -- like the Motor Voter act. They apparently thought that Motor Voter meant that anyone with a driver's license could vote, and that the whole thing was a way to give votes to illegal aliens. I linked to a copy of the actual act, showing them that Motor Voter requires that the office gather enough information to determine voter eligibility. The response was a flood of people saying "In MY state they don't ask for identification to get a license." Again and again I linked to the relevant state's motor vehicle license requirements and showed them that, no, their state does indeed require identification. Finally I pointed out that Motor Voter should reduce fraud, because in order to use Motor Voter to illegally register you would have to be photographed, and having your picture taken while committing a felony is usually considered to be a very bad thing.
At this point, I found doing this became more saddening than anything else. It turned out that the reason that one of the regulars there was so incensed about anything relating to illegal aliens (which, to her, included Moter Voter) was that there had been a Democrat proposing that aliens should be able to get medical care, and SHE didn't have any medical insurance. Apparently she is a member of America's working poor.
She didn't seem to be alone. Another article attacked Teresa Heinz because her tax returns showed her "shamelessly" using "loopholes." Said loopholes? Local bonds and untaxed dividends. Not only are such ardent Bush supporters not aware of one of the keystones of his tax breaks, but they must not own any bonds, or similar savings. Yet another article attacked Soros, and they claimed, quite fervently, that the Democrats are the party of the rich, while Republicans have to rely solely on what little money they, the little people, can scrape up.
These people seem to be the struggling working class -- the ones who are the most harmed by Bush's policies. Unfortunately, they are told by people they trust things like "Motor Voter is just a way to allow illegals to vote," and don't think to check out the facts, probably because they also believe that the entire media is lying to them. It is quite heartbreaking.
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