i know i am, but what’re you?

For the love of crap, learn what the word ideology means before attacking it:

Everyone has an ideology.  This is because, in its broadest definition, ideology simply refers to the set of beliefs that determines the values that guide the actions of an individual or group.  Just like everyone has an accent, everyone has an ideology.

Additionally, while it is true that there is a usage of the term “ideology” that refers to impracticality, it is also true that every ideology is in constant contact with reality.  Everyone has beliefs, and everyone is also forced to operate in the real world.  Since there is no alternative world in which to operate, or different levels of interaction with reality available, everyone deals with the conflict between experiential reality and ideological abstraction equally.  People might have different appraisals of the effect of certain actions, or even differences in preferred outcomes of their actions, but no one can escape taking action based on their beliefs.

i’m constantly hearing how we must vote *centrist* and avoid ideologues…  by ideologues.  either they’re unaware of the definition of “ideologue” or they’re using it as a means to their own end (adherence to status quo? maintaining their own power?)

the same camp of people would have you believe that “extremists” exist only at either end of the spectrum and cannot exist in the center.  as they stamp their feet and declare that only their way is the right way and anyone who doesn’t see that is just a “crazy extremist ideologue” who *hates america* or is *unpatriotic*.  (i’ve even been told that i’m anti-women, because i disliked hillary clinton as a presidential choice.  my vagina says LOL!)

it just goes hand in hand with libertarians who declare that *they* unlike the right or left are *fair*, because they call out the hypocrisy of liberals and conservatives and their monied backers, yet who adamantly refuse to admit the hypocrisy within their own sphere (*ahem*, cato institute w/right wing financing who IS NOT A RIGHT WING ORGANIZATION BUT ARE COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT *ahem*).

fuck it, i’m an ideologue.  but then, what’re you?

interesting read on “law and ideology”.

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Tagged as: politics,philosophy,ideology,iknowiambutwhatreyou March 09, 2010 @ 02:01 pm

ed brayton on rachel maddow show

ed brayton, from dispatches from the culture wars was on the rachel maddow show to discuss bart stupak, abortion, c street and “the family”:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

good job, ed!

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Tagged as: politics March 05, 2010 @ 12:05 am

burgers and fries and cherry pies, or what this post has none of…

between holidays, painting, work on the house, mom’s retirement, and a somewhat bizarre back problem (my entire lower back feels sunburned-ish, only… there’s nothing there. pinched nerve? fibromyalgia? spinal tumor? meanness workin’ its way out of me? i haz a pain in my sawdust, whichever it is!), i’ve been horribly, terribly remiss about blogging as of late.  i keep bookmarking things, thinking, “oh, i need to post that”... then i don’t.  so now i am…  *prepare for onslaught*...

first, leonard pitts speaks out for the poor:

If he’d said it of Jews, he would still be apologizing.

If he’d said it of blacks, he’d be on BET, begging absolution.

If he’d said it of women, the National Organization for Women would have his carcass turning slowly on a spit over an open flame.

But he said it of the poor, so he got away with it.

``He’’ is South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer, running for governor on the GOP ticket. Speaking of those who receive public assistance, he recently told an audience, ``My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.’‘

You read that right. The would-be governor of one of the poorest states there is likens the poor to stray animals.

i love leonard pitts.  i’ve followed his column for years.  on this, he’s definitely spot on, “the monied interests in this country have somehow been able to con the poor into doing just that, fighting tooth and nail when they ought to be standing shoulder to shoulder”.

move to amend “we the corporations” - in response to the citizen’s united ruling, they want to amend the constitution to “Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.”  amen!

pick locks like a pro! - just in case you need to *fight the man* by breaking into his locker…

the period table… of typefaces - or by leaving him a fancy note…

play.house - the music from House, M.D. - via rollickster - so you’ve something to listen to while confronting the monied interests that would *keep us down*

cats 4 gold - via this guy, simply put your cat in an envelope… just in case you want to *fight the power* on their terms

follow me tattoo socks - you can’t stage a revolution without followers!

how to make olive penguins - because *every* revolution needs snacks…

and, finally, the “support the troops” phrase has irked me as an empty, meaningless bit of patriotism that gets waved around without any real action behind it. 

make it meaningful. - via vencedor, ye wow raid leader extraordinaire.

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Tagged as: politics,links,poverty,thekitchensink,abitofeverything January 31, 2010 @ 11:12 am

“the story of cap and trade”

from the story of stuff (also well worth watching) comes “the story of cap and trade”:

The Story of Cap & Trade from Story of Stuff Project on Vimeo.

this reminds me…

i once worked for a company who built refineries / chemical plants.  the engineers would talk about “toxic waste pools” that poisoned the wildlife around the plants / refineries over in the middle east - wild dogs who “went crazy” from drinking from the pools, bedouin who’d have to be paid for cattle that died after drinking from the pools, etc.  i was taken aback by their nonchalance.  they just thought it was funny.  when questioned why such a thing would be allowed, that it was harmful to the environment, they said “but that’s over there, not over here” and they were *serious*. because.  you know.  we don’t all share one atmosphere and one earth.  “over there” can’t get all mingled up with “over here”.  thank god for those invisible barricades, borders.  :|

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Tagged as: politics,videos December 10, 2009 @ 07:12 am

the disingenuity of the gene locke campaign and others…

honestly, i’ve not been real excited by the mayoral election this year.  i believe either annise parker or gene locke are equally qualified.  either would be fine.  i don’t suspect that either of them will be as good as bill white has been, but that’s okay.  i think bill white was just ~exceptionally good~.  hard to top that.

but now… the houston chronicle has recently reported on anti-gay attacks forthcoming in the houston mayoral election:

A cluster of socially conservative Houstonians is planning a campaign to discourage voters from choosing City Controller Annise Parker in the December mayoral runoff because she is a lesbian, according to multiple ministers and conservatives involved in the effort.

The group is motivated by concerns about a “gay takeover” of City Hall, given that two other candidates in the five remaining City Council races are also openly gay, as well as national interest driven by the possibility that Houston could become the first major U.S. city to elect an openly gay woman.

Another primary concern is that Parker or other elected officials would seek to overturn a 2001 city charter amendment that prohibits the city from providing benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees.

i was hoping we’d not see much of this, but that was just wishful thinking on my part, i guess.  what’s troubling is…

Parker’s opponent, former City Attorney Gene Locke, strongly distanced himself from a previous anti-gay attack against her that ultimately proved to have been a hoax. But he has made recent efforts to court some of the staunch social conservatives who are either actively planning on attacking Parker’s sexuality or strongly considering it.

He appeared at the Pastor Council’s annual gala last Friday and was encouraged several times by State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, a featured speaker, to stand for conservative values.

Locke has also met with and sought the endorsement of Dr. Steven Hotze, a longtime local kingmaker in conservative politics and author of the Straight Slate in 1985, a coterie of eight City Council candidates he recruited who ran on an anti-gay platform.

Continue Reading...

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Tagged as: texas,politics,houston,elections2009,mayor November 15, 2009 @ 11:59 am