Mike Rushmore

Website: http://www.youtube.com/user/xakaxunknownx

Bio: I also blog at http://quitehostile.blogspot.com and vlog at www.youtube.com/user/xakaxunknownx I'm a 16 year old American, but I've been living in London for the past 2 years. I go to an American school, and still follow American politics as closely as I can. As far as political views, I am a liberal libertarian. Other than politics, I listen to a lot of music, and am a bit of a computer geek. Also, my cousins and I started a charity a few years ago called Alpine Children's Charity. We do good things. Check us out at alpinechildrenscharity.org (excuse the poorly designed website).

A Moment of E-Silence

At lunch today, a good friend of mine asked our table what we all thought about having a moment of silence during school for the victims of 9/11. Everybody agreed that it was a good idea, but I didn’t say anything. Not because I didn’t agree with everybody else, I just thought the question had a pretty obvious answer. Then he turned to me specifically and said “And I’m guessing that you have something wrong with that…”

I’m not that cynical that I don’t believe in moments of silence, and my friend isn’t stupid, he’s just been sucked in by the Fox News style propaganda that anybody who is liberal or doesn’t support the George Bush 90% of the time is a bad person whose dissent supports terrorism. Of course, that’s crazy talk.

Just in case, let me make this perfectly clear: I support moments of silence on September 11th. In fact, right here I’ll have an emoment of silence. Please take some time to reflect on all the tragedies throughout the world: Iraq, Darfur, Israel, Palestine, and all the rest, but more importantly, let’s remember September 11th, 2001. And not for trying to pin the blame on somebody, but to make sure we don’t forget what that was like to be attacked, and to remember the victims who’s lives were cut short so unjustly.

I was helping a friend the other day write a story which mentioned September 11th, and we couldn’t think of the right verb for the attacks. Finally, we settled on describing it like a cancer invading the towers that day. And it was certainly settling. I’m not sure that anybody is ever going to find the right words.

America did learn one thing from 9/11 though, and it is something that we need to remember in the coming months as the election approaches and our words get ever more vicious. We can unite as one people, and we are more the same than different.

Crossposted at We’re Quite Hostile

NoFX and My Sub Prime Mortgages Rant

This entry is cross-posted at my blog We’re Quite Hostile where my friend and I write mostly about music and politics.

I was just listening to one of my favorite songs by the punk band NoFX, “The Irrationality Of Rationality”, and apparently I haven’t listened to it in a year because I’m only just now realizing how perfectly it fits with the subprime mortgage crisis. It could be that NoFX traveled into the future, but I’d say it is more likely that history just repeats itself much quicker than we like to admit.

Here’s the song. Have a listen, but be warned, the lyrics could be considered explicit.

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The Argument for The Argument for Bob Barr

With all the media coverage of Obama and McCain, it can be easy to forget there are other candidates for president this year. Perennial Democratic candidate saboteur Ralph Nader comes to mind, but this year the republicans may have to deal with their own Nader. Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate for president, has been stealing away McCain’s supporters.

A recent Zogby poll says that 55% of voters think Barr should be included in the presidential debates. The Obama campaign needs to help make this a reality. Not only would it make Obama look good if he publicly works to get Barr into the debates, it would help Obama gain more ground against McCain as McCain supporters switch to Barr. And of course, if McCain fought against letting Barr into the debates, it would make him look terrible. Regardless of prefer you like Barr’s message or Obama’s, you want Barr in the debates. Read more

McCain Hates Lobbyists?

Politico is reporting that McCain is calling lobbyists “birds of prey” and says they won’t have any place in his administration. Then why, I am wondering, does he have 134 of them working for his campaign?

McCain is trying to steal Obama’s idea of change and say that he is going to bring change to the White House, but he can’t even talk about world affairs without being influenced by good old fashioned lobbyists. As most people know, one of his top advisors used to lobby for the nation of Georgia.

And let’s just say, that McCain does fire everybody that worked on his campaign and hire completely different advisors for his administration. A. Why doesn’t he just hire some of those advisors now? B. Why should we believe he is going to do that? and C. Who are these new advisors going to be and will they have the same positions as his current lobbyist advisors?

McCain is just creating more questions than answers and completely avoiding the fact that if he gets elected, it will be due to the efforts of lobbyists, in which case, he might owe a favor or two…

69 People I Will Not Have Dinner With

The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 has passed the Senate. For those who did not read my post yesterday, this bill grants the telecom companies immunity for helping the NSA spy on phone conversations so that we may never know the extent of the NSA’s warrentless wiretapping program, and grants the president even more warrentless wiretapping powers. What follows is a list of all the senators that voted in favor of the FISA bill. Hopefully, I never have to meet any of these people (again), because I do not want to shake their slimy hands. Read more

Obama’s FISA Reversal and Imminent Vote

Well, Obama has finally made a proper statement about his disgraceful flip-flop on the FISA Ammendments Act. Mr. Charisma now supports the bill (though with only about with as much enthusiasm as I support him) after saying for the last few months that he would filibuster it as long as it had immunity for the telecom industry (which it does). More over at The Swamp.

As it stands, the bill is the results of apathetically lackluster “compromising” and “negotiations” between Democrats and Republicans in Congress which gave the Republicans more than they could have ever hoped for if there had been a competent negotiator on the Democrats’ side. The bill grants retroactive immunity to the telecom industry for helping the NSA with their warrentless wiretapping, meaning that we may never know for sure the extent of the spying (unless you listen to this man). And, all of this is happening before the results of a report by the Inspector General on the warrentless wiretap program.

To learn more about the FISA bill, check out this video at Four Hour Work Week. It is well worth watching, and makes includes a great argument that even though you may not be doing anything wrong, you still do not want the government spying on just anybody without a warrent. Daniel Ellsberg says that warrentless wiretapping means that government officials and activists can be spied on by the ruling party in an effort to stop plans that may be against what the ruling party wishes (Watergate anyone?).

Obama’s defense of his flip-flop is laughable. For one thing, he says that he will fight to remove immunity from the bill, but then admits that even if immunity is not removed, he is still voting yes on the bill. What kind of commitment is that? He continues on by saying all the reasons that the bill is “imperfect” (see: dangerously unconstitutional), but then brushes it all aside in favor of the “well counter-terrorism is important” defense. Clearly just playing towards the center during an election instead of sticking to his convictions. Obama claims that once he is in office he will have the Attorney General review survelence programs like this one, but not only is he making the assumption that he will win in November, but anybody who believes him is forgetting that power corrupts, and once in office he will have no reason to have that review. McCain is going to vote for the bill, so all Obama is doing by voting for it as well is playing politics for the election, and it is not right. The American people deserve better from a possible commander-in-chief. At least McCain seems to believe in his vote (however wrong it may be).

And please, call your senators. The vote is tomorrow. The EFF has a great script to read to them.

Obama Aids Flood Relief

Call it pandering if you like, but at least it is pandering for a good cause. In an effort to help out with the recent floods in the Midwest, Obama filled sandbags yesterday in Quincy, IL and sent out an email to his supporters urging them to donate to the Red Cross. The homepage of his website also has an appeal to support the flood victims

Comparisons to President Bush and Hurricane Katrina are inevitable. While Bush was holiday, people’s homes were destroyed. Obama, on the other hand, took time off of his work to help people. The man isn’t even president, but he is already doing the work of one. Instead of focusing on his campaign and how great he is, Obama has decided to use his influence to help those in need.

To those who might say that Obama is just doing what a good presidential candidate would do, that may be, but neither of the other two major candidates have messages on their homepages about the disaster. And besides, even if he is just doing what a good candidate would, it should not take away from the fact that he is doing something good that helps other people.

Here is a link to the Red Cross if you wish to aid the victims of these recent floods.

Why Chris Dodd should be Obama’s VP

It is generally agreed that a presidential candidate’s running mate is meant to balance out the ticket. They are they to fill in some of the skills that the presidential candidate lacks, and to appeal to voters who might otherwise be turned of by the presidential candidate. The most persistently raised and worrying weakness of Obama’s is his lack of experience on the national stage. No doubt, this will has some effect on his support when November rolls around. Luckily, there are two people who are exactly what Obama needs. Senators Chris Didd and Joe Biden. And unlike some people, Dodd doesn’t even say vaguely racist things on camera, which is why he is Obama’s perfect running mate. Read more

No Surprise, USA Won’t Ban Cluster Bombs

My friend Kasra sent me this video from Real News on cluster bombs, and it is a must see:

We need to ban these things. Aren’t military analysts and Lockheed Martin types always touting the latest weapons as super precise? Where are those things? It seems reasonable that if 111 countries can manage to ban cluster bombs, the USA can too.

As unfortunate as it is, I understand that for now, the USA is gonna keep making bombs, but cluster bombs are not the kind of bombs they should be making and children should not be the people they are maiming.

An Appeal To All Clinton Supporters

Obama has said it, and CNN, MSNBC, and all the other major news networks agree. Obama has got the democratic nomination for president. I’m glad, but I thought that the Clinton supporters might not be, so here is a little letter to all the Clinton supporters out there.

Dear Clinton Supporters,

There’s no doubt, this has been a tough campaign for both sides, and they’ve both fought hard. Right now, it might be hard to imagine, but pretty soon your great affections for Senator Clinton and dislike of Senator Obama will subside, just as what happened to me when Kucinich dropped out of the race. I would have loved, and would still love, to see Kucinich as president, but it obviously isn’t going to happen in 2008. That’s too bad, but I have moved on and done what is best for the Democratic Party and, more importantly, the county. I have decided to support Obama. I have can see that Obama is a man who, even if he isn’t the best candidate the country could ever hope for, is certainly better than McCain.
Naturally, there will be a period of time when you may be sad or angry about the way these results have turned out, but as good Democrats and good Americans, soon you will need to put the past in the past and look towards the general election. When you do that, you will have to do it without letting any leftover bitterness distort your view of the remaining candidates.

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Obama Leaves His Church of 20 Years

Barack Obama has now officially left his church of 20 years and home to the controversial Reverends Wright and Pfleger, the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

This shows a significant change in Obama’s style. In the past, he has tried to portray himself as a senator who doesn’t play all of the political games that other politicians do. But by leaving his long time church, he is doing exactly what the typical politician would do. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that Obama is a politician like any other, I’m just saying that other people don’t think so and that he has been trying to portray himself as different. With this latest turn, voters will see that Obama isn’t the man-god so many people think he is. Like pretty much any other politician, he will put aside personal principles for votes.

Not only will leaving his long-time spiritual home hurt his image as above “playing politics,” it won’t play well with the growing number of very-religious Christians who have been looking at the democrats as a party that more closely follows their beliefs. That group of voters may see Obama as hiding his faith and putting it on the sidelines, and that could mean more votes for McCain in November. Read more

Libertarians Nominate Conservative Bob Barr, Why?

I was almost hoping that I’d have to make a tough decision between the presidential Libertarian candidate and Obama. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for the Democrats, the Libertarian Party has selected former Congressman Bob Barr as their nominee.

A quick skim through Barr’s Wikipedia page confirms that he is more confused and washed up Republican than Libertarian. Barr was once one of the War On Drugs’ biggest supporters, but in recent years he has lobbied for a pro-medical marijuana organization. He was the author of the “Defense of Marriage Act” (the law that says a federally recognized marriage must be between a man and a woman). It seems like the reason he doesn’t support the “Federal Marriage Amendment” is not because it harms the civil liberties of homosexuals, but because it violates states’ rights. He voted for the PATRIOT ACT and the war in Iraq. He is pro-life. He has even suggested that the military ban the practice of Wicca in their ranks.

Other than perhaps the recent switch to promoting medical marijuana, Barr is not socially libertarian at all. Of course, the other half of libertarian philosophy is the economic side, and he seems to fit that, but when the Libertarian Party showed up at Warped Tour a few years back, they sure weren’t promoting economic policy.

The future of the Libertarian Party is in their social policies, because that is where they can attract many of the same voters that Obama is attracting. Instead of recognizing that, they have gone for a candidate who is going to steal votes from John McCain, and have set back their potential for growth for another four years.

Like I said though, for the democrats, this is a great thing. Barr is polling 2% ahead of Ralph Nader, and taking most of those votes from people who would otherwise vote for McCain. Maybe there is a hidden agenda here. The libertarians know that they can’t win, so they make sure that McCain can’t either, and then somebody who is at least open to new ideas and might listen to them can become president.

George Bush: Music Pirate?

Well, we all know that President Bush is a lair and a cheat, but did you know that he also breaks copyright laws?

Mark Lancaster at Fro.gg caught it first, but that Fox News video of President Bush playing with his iPod is turning out to be more than just fun and games. As it turns out, the president himself may have put songs on his iPod illegally. In short, he has The Beatles on his iPod, which are not available for download anywhere online, and the RIAA has recently been arguing that just uploading cds to your own computer is not “fair use.”

Normally I wouldn’t hold up the president as a model citizen, but when even the leader of the free world is breaking the law to listen to music, it is clear that the copyright system is in need of serious changes.

The Strengthening American Defense At Home Act

The Republicans are very good with words. For that, they have Frank Luntz to thank. Luntz knows words. Basically, he is a political consultant and pollster who knows how to use the right words to get people to support his candidates. As I recall, Luntz was the guy who coined the term “amnesty” for illegal immigrants to put the democrats on the defensive. Nobody wants to support “amnesty.” George Bush is a big fan of this practice of manipulating words.

Laws championed by Bush like the No Child Left Behind Act, PATRIOT Act and Healthy Forests Initiative all do the exact opposite of what their names say. For example, the Healthy Forests Initiative expands logging rights inside national forests.

The Democrats should start trying these tricks. I have a suggestion for Dennis Kucinich and Robert Wexler. A new bill to introduce into the House of Representatives. I call this bill the Strengthening American Defense At Home Act. This bill includes a reference to strength, America, defense and another reference to America.

What would the SADHA include in its text? Well, first, it would have to be very long. Long enough that nobody would ever read the entire thing. In the text, there would have to be lots of things like giving more money to homeland security and establishing a new database of terror suspects in a way that somehow doesn’t infringe on civil liberties. It’s bound to pass. Anybody voting against it would be labeled an unpatriotic supporter of terrorism. And then we would play a little trick on those lazy politicians who vote for whatever bills the public tells them to vote for…

Hidden in the middle of the bill there would be a tiny little sub-clause bringing about the impeachment of Dick Cheney. Kucinich’s articles of impeachment against Cheney have been doomed to committee hell, and they need to be brought back. Maybe this is the way. We’ve seen time and time again that politicians vote for bills with pretty names no matter what is inside the bill just because they can’t be seen voting against a bill with a name like the PATRIOT Act.

Now, I know this might sound a little underhanded, but we can do it. We need to impeach Cheney and the rest of them, and hiding their articles of impeachment in the middle of a super-patriotic bill like the SADHA is the only quick and sure-fire way to do something so controversial.

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