Happy Feet

Okay, this is a bit of an oddball post. But I've been too long without writing something, nothing has sparked my interest in the past week or so, and someone gave me a nudge.

Anyway, here's the deal. I carried the wife and the little one to the movies a couple weeks ago to see Happy Feet on opening night. I loved it, but today, I overheard a co-worker talking about it, and saying he was ready to walk out because it was "anti-religious". Oh, those evil Hollywood types trying to shove their liberal agenda into a kids' movie, and so forth.

Well, I didn't see it that way at all. What I saw was a group with a problem, one individual who happened to be a bit of an oddball, but had a logical plan to solve the problem, and the group leadership who just blamed the problem on the oddball and thought if they got rid of him "God" would fix the problem for them.

See, it's not the religion itself that's being decried here, it's intolerance, ostracism, and (dare I say it) the laziness of relying solely on prayer and not getting up off your ass and doing something. It's anti-fanaticism, perhaps - I can see a Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell type getting offended by it, because it paints them as the detriment to society that they truly are.

But that's not even the main jist of the writer's agenda. There's a positive aspect too, and it's far more important. It's about celebrating our differences, finding harmony between us, and about never giving up on achieving goals. I'm darn glad my little girl saw it, because those are messages that she should hear, and can understand in some way even at her age. And I'm pretty sure that if when she gets older, she turns out to be as apathetic about organized religion as I am, it won't be because she saw Happy Feet.

Fred Phelps to picket student funerals after bus crash in Huntsville, AL

Because, you know, the schools in Huntsville are such a hotbed of gay sex. The kids were just asking to be killed horribly in a bus crash.

Rumsfeld cuts and runs

One of the primary men responsible for the nearly half million lives lost in Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will not be "staying the course". This should be a bonus on top of an already glorious morning after Election Day… but look who the Retard in Chief has nominated as a replacement:

Robert Gates.

Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M (possibly the most ironic thing ever named for an ex-President, despite tough competition from Reagan National Airport). A guy who helped sell weapons to Iran and passed classified intelligence to Saddam Hussein. That makes him bosom buddies with 2/3 of the Axis of Evil.

In a sane world, this asshole have been convicted of treason and hanged long ago. What kind of fucking moron would put this douchebag in charge of the United States Department of Defense? Okay, that's a rhetorical question - obviously, the same kind of moron who invades the wrong damn country to retaliate for an attack on America. Expect more of the same for the next two years.

Sweet Victory!

Well, this about sums up my feelings this morning…


The nightmare of complete Republican control of our government is finally over… but we must be vigilant, and insure that it never happens again. There are still plenty of battles left to fight, but for a few moments we can savor this victory. Here's hoping the remaining progressives on the SCOTUS can last the next two years, and that the Reich loses the Senate and White House in 2008.

Get your ass out there and Vote!

I'm back to work after a surprisingly easy trip to the polls. I highly recommend lunchtime voting to those who can do it.

My vote for Governor of the fine state of Alabama went to Libertarian write-in candidate Loretta Nall - the only candidate who didn't interrupt any television programs to tell me why not to vote for her opponents!

Beyond that, it gets difficult. The bums who most deserve to be thrown out, Spencer Bachus and Hank Erwin, have no opponents. I'm certainly not voting for them, and there's not much point writing in my own name, so I abstained from their races. Next, I eliminated all the Roy Moore disciples, Religious Reich crusaders, and people whose ads said their opponent was "too liberal", and there was pretty much nothing left on the ballot but blank spots and Democrats (the cynical among us might ask if there is a difference). So, I voted probably the most partisan ballot I've ever cast.