The Conventions Have Ended

After the Democratic convention, I felt really good. And it was even better when Obama and Biden made Columbus one of their first post-convention stops. I created a couple of designs that I felt were forward looking and optimistic.

and

I really hoped that the campaign would involve a discussion of the issues, but then came the Republican convention. Lies, deceit, innuendo, and smears abounded. And that was just about their own vice presidential candidate. Of course they blamed "the liberal media" for it, even though it was a story planted by neocon bloggers. (This is essentially the same procedure that the soviets perfected using TASS in the 1950s and 1960s.)

So, for therapeutic value, I needed to create some edgier messages. By the way, if you like any of these, I've made them available via CafePress.

then

and

Well, the Republican convention is over, so the police in Minneapolis and Saint Paul can stop arresting terrorist nuns and beating demonstrators. They can go back to whatever it is they usually do for amusement. The Republicans are fanning out across the country with their message of fear.

And I needed more therapy. That led to ...

and

along with

and

and

and

and finally


This next election is the most important election in my lifetime. It will help determine the direction this country takes for decades and, possibly, whether this country continues to exist.

Incidentally, I've created some of these bumper stickers as wide-screen (1440x900) desktop wallpaper images. If you'd like to download them, you'll find them in a zip file here. Free.

http://www.blinn.com/desktop/ Just download "Obama.zip", extract the files, and use them.

Enjoy!

And please vote.

Aristotle supposedly said, "A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side."
(Smart guy, that Aristotle.)

Nasty?

Yeah, I guess you could say that some of these are nasty. Mean spirited. Personal attacks. In other words, they're exactly the kinds of things that Karl Rove and the rest of his politburo would use to blast the opposition. Hack writer Jerome Corsi's Obama Nation book, for example. Clever play on words, but lacking in factual references. Corsi, Rove, and their ilk are professionals when it comes to innuendo, rumor, and half truths.

So, yeah. Nasty. And without apology for being so. It's time to fight back.

I used to be a Republican

Maybe I'd like to be again someday, but it's not likely. Today the Republicans are the party of intransigence, not the progressives they once were.

It's not so much the Republicans, but the party as it is currently operating. The party has been taken over by what appear to most of the world to be crazy people. We have the neocons who have started one needless war and seem to be itching to start another. We have people who espouse Christian values and morality lying, stealing, and cheating. They pray loudly and publicly, but their actions do not reflect their words.

I once was a Republican. And this morning I heard a Florida GOP congressman on NPR. He made a lot of sense, talking about Congress working together to get things done. That was once the way things happened.

It's not just the GOP, either. Democrats have taken a harder stance, too, and are more confrontational than they were. I know why this is in my own case: As the GOP told me time and time again that I was the enemy, that I was not patriotic, and everything was the fault of people like me, the "big tent" got smaller and smaller. As the GOP hired more and more managers, all the while saying that they were making government smaller, as they outsourced $50,000 per year jobs to $200,000 per year private contractors who were accountable only to their corporations, as they routinely talked about solving problems and only made them worse -- I could see that the elephant was naked.

I just hope that some true conservatives manage to wrest back control of the party.

I really would like to respect the party again even if its values are no longer mine, or maybe the other way around.

Why Palin is a BAD CHOICE (by Karl Rove)

I've been neglecting this area for a long time, thinking that people of good sense would prevail in 2008. Now I'm not so sure. Given how the rabid right took to Sarah Palin, I'm a bit worried. According to Karl Rove, Palin shouldn't be considered for the vice presidency, though.

Karl Rove, when there was a rumor that Barack Obama was considering Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as vice president: "With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years, he's been able but undistinguished. I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, 'You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with -- is this person capable of being president of the United States?'"

^^ If you don't believe that Karl Rove actually spoke these words in this election cycle, let me know and I will provide a link to the video where you can watch and listen as he says these words.*

Please note that Wasilla, Alaska, would rank no higher than the 10,000th "city" in the nation, by population, and probably closer to 15,000. Also note that the population of Alaska is 47th among the 50 states. Only North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming have lower populations.

You already know that Karl Rove flip-flopped so badly on this one that he probably sprained his flip-flopper, which is quite a feat for someone as slippery as Rove.

Rove on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin: "She was mayor of the second largest city in Alaska before she became governor," as if that's some great qualification for being vice president. Except that Wasilla isn't the "second largest city" in Alaska.

Or third.

Or fourth.

For those who are factually challenged, such as Karl Rove, here is a list of the 5 largest cities in Alaska:

• Anchorage, 275,043 (largest, 32 times larger than Wasilla)
• Fairbanks, 31,324 (second largest, 3.7 times larger than Wasilla)
• Juneau, 30,978 (third largest, 3.6 times larger than Wasilla)
• Sitka, 8986 (fourth largest)
• Wasilla, 8431 (fifth largest)
  If you use the 2006 government estimates, Wasilla beats Sitka by about 300 people and becomes the fourth largest "city" in Alaska.

Tom Kaine's city of Richmond, Virginia, has a population of 200,123 (metro area about 1.1 million), so it's just slightly smaller than Anchorage, which (as you may recall) is 32 times the size of Wasilla.

Alaska isn't like states where "fifth largest" might actually be a city of some size. The fifth largest city in Ohio is Akron, with 207,000 people. Or Virginia. Richmond is the fifth largest city (200,000+ people), but that's not enough to impress Karl Rove.

West Virginia, a state with few large cities, has more than 5 cities with populations in excess of 30,000 (which would be about 4 times the size of Wasilla) and nearly 20 cities with more than 20,000 residents. (20,000 is more than double the size of Wasilla.) Anybody want to guess what Karl Rove and his minions would have said if Barack Obama had selected as his vice presidential candidate someone who, until two years ago, had been the mayor of Beckley, West Virginia (population 16,830 -- more than 3 times larger than Wasilla)?

So ...

• How do you spell "flip-flop"? Karl Rove.
• How do you spell "hypocrisy"? Karl Rove.
• How do you spell "lying son of a bitch"? Karl Rove.
  

How can people listen to this man without having their heads explode?

*This is the difference between Republicans and Democrats: The Democrats have proof, not rumor and innuendo.