The Ubiquitous Grammar Cop

This is my definition of irony: This morning I saw a car (a foreign SUV specifically) with this in its rear windshield: "Socialism sucks!". I passed it on Interstate 80, a highway paid for and maintained with everyone's tax dollars. I thought to myself, "If he thinks socialism is so bad, why is he traveling on a public route?"

The pun comes from an experience I had recently in Los Angeles. I decided, based on a glowing report I saw on Sixty Minutes, to have dinner at a local In & Out Burger in Culver City (very tasty burgers by the way; I recommend the Double Double). While I waited for my food, since it was quite crowded, a woman with two children approached me and asked, "Excuse me, are you an evangelical?" I replied, "No, I don't practice." She then proceeded to explain why she approached me. She said that I resembled someone she met on a train trip, perhaps to a retreat of some sort, and thought that she would at least say hello. She continued to ask why I don't practice and if I've accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. Without waiting for a response, she continued on a thread suggesting that if I have not, then when it's time for me to be judged, I will be judged based on the Ten Commandments. She then proceeded to ask if I've: Ever lied, Luste...

Some people love to espouse the notion that spreading freedom is one of our American ideals, or that there are people in the world that "hate us for our freedom". What really irks me is that some of those people who most likely believe in that aspect of our culture (especially the latter sentiment voiced by George W. Bush) more than likely voted to make gay marriage illegal in several states including, most notably, California. What I don't understand is how people who actively believe that we should have freedom to do what we choose as long it does not hurt anyone else in the process deny a group of people the freedom to enjoy what everyone else can do (and abuses it on many occasions)? Keith Olbermann of MSNBC expresses how I feel about this asinine rationale much more eloquently than I can.

Remember, remember, the Fourth of November. We received the change we have sought. I will always remember the Fourth of November And for the hope it hath wrought. Yes we can.

The Mainstream Corporate Media has devoted several news stories to allegations of potential voter fraud specifically implicating ACORN, a grass roots community organization that encourages people to register to vote (among other things). More recently, there have been news stories about the long, long lines in some places (Florida, Ohio, and Indiana) for early voting. I'll get to that later. The media successfully conflated fraudulent voter registration as voter fraud while making cursory mentions of voter suppression. Here are some of the myths and realities surrounding voter fraud and voter suppression. MYTH: ACORN, with the help of the Obama campaign, has registered thousands (if not millions) of fraudulent voters. REALITY: ACORN only submits the registrations they get from their volunteers to the fifty Secretaries of State. Each Secretary of State office in all fifty states registers voters, not ACORN. Furthermore, ACORN actually flags potentially fraudulent voter registrati...