The Magical World of Democracy

Countless United States citizens identify themselves as “Independent voters.” This label signifies the voters’ lack of one-sided Partisan views. Every election, independent voters are forced to make imperative decisions: side with one party over another OR do not vote at all OR waste a vote on the “Independent” on the ballot. The Independents’ vote will surely matter this November, so for anyone with “Independent” friends, let me offer a suggestion.

If your friend cannot decide on the better man in this election, ask him/her this one simple question; allow time to ponder; and if your friend possesses sound judgment, he/she will choose wisely. Ask, “Which one of the candidates would make a better president in the Disney attraction, The Hall of Presidents?"

For almost forty years, parents, children, grandparents, and young-adults-who-want-to-be-children-again take a break from the creative insanity of Disney World and spend thirty or so minutes in reality by sitting through the Hall of Presidents attraction. Now think about it: after watching the always-too-long US History 101 film and being introduced to the creepy 43 animatronic-presidents, would you rather see a dire bald guy completely indistinguishable from the other old white-haired guys, or someone different? I don’t know about you, but I want change (and no, I’m not just saying that because Obama’s black—I think he would genuinely be more interesting than a fake John McCain—shit, the real John McCain isn’t even interesting).

I must confess that the attraction itself is quite delightful. I remember my last Disney World outing when a small group of us decided to all take in the Hall of Presidents presentation. I sat in the theater, pissed, waiting for the lame history lesson to start—I didn’t crave a lecture during my vacation. Little did I know, I was about to take a journey just as wild as any Disney attraction. I not only learned a bit about our history, but I actually met the presidents! Watching Abe Lincoln talk to us, the audience, at this Disney attraction is as close to magic one will ever get while sober—and it was incredible.

The Hall of Presidents helped launch Disney World’s opening day in 1971, so it’s officially the park’s oldest attraction. It was taken from an idea originally stemmed from the mind of Walt Disney himself. After changes through the years, the attraction is better than ever. It’s even now a tradition for the current president to record his fake robot’s speech. How great is that? I can picture Disney’s Imagineers trying to make George Bush’s fucked-up speech sound intelligible for the millions of visitors.

If Johnny McCain’s elected, then 50 years from now, he’ll certainly become one of those presidents whose name’s announced and everyone in the audience thinks, “I’ve never heard of him before.”
“Oh, he was that old guy who died, right after a week or two, right?” (John McCain, the 21st Century’s Zachary Taylor.)

Sad News

On September 1, 2008, PBS permanently stopped airing episodes of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Granted the shows have probably become somewhat-outdated, the lessons taught were and will always be universal. Rogers stopped making episodes in 2001 after 998 episodes (why wouldn’t he just go for the full 1000?), but re-runs have regularly aired since. I’m sure I learned to tie my shoes by watching the show, as have many people born the past 40 years. It’s a shame that little kids growing up today are clueless at to what they’re missing.

Not only is it a shame for little kids, but it’s a shame for Pittsburgh. The television show represented our little city at such a high degree. WQED, the station based in Oakland and the country’s first community-sponsored television station, was the original broadcaster of the show shortly before it moved to PBS. The show filmed in Pittsburgh throughout its television run. Most (if not all) of the cast was made up of prominent Pittsburgh figures. Rogers himself even taught at local universities and churches, and he took part in various local charities.

Read a little bit of biographical information and you’ll surely be impressed. He was one hell of a guy. He did no commercial endorsements of any kind and only supported non-profit organizations. In 1979 he spoke openly about his support of the VCR, for the product was then a controversial issue due to copyright infringement laws (much like MP3s are today). Rogers even spoke at the trial, Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, where it was found legal for consumers to record television shows/movies onto a VHS tape, mainly because of his testimony. He also helped raise federal funding for public television by making a speech to the high courts. He helped children deal with loss after the 9/11 attacks. More than 40 honorary degrees and countless lifetime achievement awards were given to him for his work. He was even presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom a year before his death, and a red sweater is on display in the Smithsonian.

What I like most about the guy is that he totally practiced what he preached. He addressed complex issues on his show like war, death, anger, and poverty, and would use the same dialogue in real-life. He never talked down on anyone. The whole reason he entered the television business wasn’t for fame or popularity reasons: "I got into television because I hated it so," he said. "And I thought there was some way of using this fabulous instrument to be of nurture to those who would watch and listen."

If he ever ran for any public office, I would hate to be the person running against him, for no dirt could be found on Fred Rogers. No one could say anything negative about this guy! He was a friend to everybody, and everyone knew this. For example, on an outing with a grandkid in 1990, Rogers’ car was stolen from its parking spot in Oakland. After the local news reported the incident and the thief realized whose car he stole, the car was returned to Roger’s home unharmed with an apology note.

Mr. Rogers was born in Pittsburgh and completed much of his legendary work in Pittsburgh. He died in Pittsburgh five years ago, so this city certainly holds the dear responsibility of keeping his name alive so that twenty years from now, kids don’t think of him as a geezer in a sweater but as a guy who practiced what he preached more so than probably any public figure the past 30 years. I place him alongside Walt Disney and Jim Henson as guys who accomplished a lot for our country by proving that entertainment can really make a difference in young people’s lives.

The Mister Rogers Dinosaur in front of WQED Studios in Pittsburgh.

P.S.....Sarah P, John M's VP, spoke at the RNC

I decided to watch the much-hyped acceptance speech of Sarah Palin last night because, hey, The Dark Knight lived up to its hype, so why wouldn’t she? Needless to say I had a great time watching her bash Senator Obama, praise “hockey moms,” and kiss every single Republican’s ass for 40 minutes.

Unfortunately the Republicans are creating an atmosphere where no one can critique them. If someone criticizes John McCain, the Senator instantly cues up his tragic POW story to make the debater feel like shit for questioning his “maverick” qualities. I have news for John McCain fans: He’s not a maverick.

Tom Cruise was Maverick!

The 1972 Ford Maverick Grabber was a Maverick.

The awesome Cedar Point roller coaster, The Maverick, is a Maverick.

He's an old man who should remain a senator at least until he finds a new rich wife to marry (I admit, he’s not a bad senator). I don’t care what one did over 30 years ago, especially when it wasn’t his choice. Bragging about POW camp suffering (as horrible as it is) is equivalent to one bragging about serving in war after being drafted—it isn’t your choice!

“Mr. McCain, your economics plan makes no sense!”
“Back in Hanoi at my camp, we didn’t have tables, chairs, or economics.”
“Mr. McCain, didn’t you lie to the American people by insisting that you wouldn’t run negative ads?”
“As I laid in my empty room, the blood oozing from my head, my captures called me a liar too. They were horrible people. They were Communists. Are you Communist?”

Be nice to people with special needs.

On the other hand, anyone who berates Sarah Palin is obviously sexist.
Here’s my opinion of Sarah Palin: I don’t like her. It has nothing to do with her “lack of experience." As a new college graduate, I’ve come to realize that little to no experience doesn’t and shouldn’t amount to your job qualifications. She’s qualified. Much of the media insist that she can’t run a country AND take care of a large family at the same time, but I disagree. Men and women do it everyday, plus she’ll have others working for her, so again, that’s a harsh critique. My opinion doesn’t surround the fact that she’s already distastefully used her youngest son for special-needs sympathy votes (seriously, during/after her speech they were passing that kid around like a football). It has nothing to do with the fact that she admitted to smoking pot. If anything I think it’s awesome and classy that she admitted that—even though it’s painfully obvious (judging by her kids’ names). She DOES have a biting sense of humor, The pitbull joke? Cclassic Sarah Palin humor that keeps you coming back for more! The fact that she’s “popular” doesn’t bother me either, even though the Republicans pride themselves on her popularity, while other popular candidates are merely “celebrities.”

Governor Palin seems like she could have been a great person—if only she didn’t hang out with the playground bullies. Remember the kids who talked shit on your mom, gave you a wedgie, and bragged about their Nissan-steel lead-safe lunch carrying cases while you were stuck with an plastic GI Joe lunch box with matching thermos? Those were Republicans.

What will the wild-tottin’ governor do about gun control? What will this woman do about equal rights? Gay rights? Didn't think so. She wants to remove sex-educated school programs in public schools…unless they only promote abstinence, because obviously, abstinence-only sex education works, right Sarah?
What will she do with our energy concerns? Ms. Palin claims that she’ll stand up to the oil companies, but McCain’s only oil-based policy gives tax breaks to the major companies. She doesn’t believe in human-caused global warming (poor polar bears)—therefore she doesn’t believe in facts. She believes in lies, for her acceptance speech was filled with them. Not only was her speech filled with inaccurate propaganda, but it contained no substance. There I said it. Call me a sexist. Check out her in-depth description of her 12-year job as mayor:

“Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involved.
“I guess -- I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.
“I might add that, in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they're listening and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.”
Rather than providing us with information, she resorts to attack politics AND berates community organizers. Real classy, eh? Community organizers possess great responsibilities, especially when they’re based in dangerous cities. Now as far as her mayoring skills, if she was the mayor of New York, or Chicago, or LA, then I’d have more faith in her, but there are more hairs on John McCain’s head than people in her hometown.

She ended her speech with this line:

“If character is the measure in this election, and hope the theme, and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.”

I agree with the Obama camp. The Republicans label the campaign as a “measure of character” because they have no policies to run on. There won’t BE any change. All of these Republicans who walk on stage and endorse the “change” John McCain will surely emit from his old scraggy ass are full of crap. THEY are the reason we need change! They bitch about the current state of Washington politics, but THEY’RE the ones not doing a good job. They’re the reason Washington needs “shaken up.” If they like John McCain so much, why don’t they spend the same amount of energy to fix things on their own? I think the same thing about the Democrats too---they’re not any better.

I don’t understand why I’ve cared about this election so much, but I do, and unfortunately I’m having a problematic time seeing both sides of the picture. I’m usually very bi-partisan and can see both sides of issues, but I’m having a difficult time seeing how John McCain, the man who’s been in the system for 27 years but has nothing to speak of except his Vietnam days, should run the country.
Sarah Palin is like an attractive date—you’re initially taken by her/him, but once you get to know the person, you find that she/he is the same as everyone else…though she does get points for marrying a man with Eskimo heritage. Seriously…we need an Eskimo in the White House. I’m not kidding.

They're gonna be taking over the White House soon.

Hey Kids, Don't Steal Crappy Music!

Prisons are congested with utterly horrible people: rapists, murderers, and now, apparently, bloggers.

Los Angeles resident and active blogger Kevin Cogill was awakened Wednesday, August 28 at gunpoint by five FBI agents. After trashing his house (I presume) and beating him to a pulp (again, just a guess), they took him “downtown.” He now faces three years of prison and a possible civil suit for allegedly posting songs from the new Guns ‘n Roses album, Chinese Democracy (the band deserves prison time for a stupid title like that), on his blog (http://www.antiquiet.com/) last June.

According to the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, sharing any copyrighted material before its release date warrants three years in prison and the possibility of a $25,000 fine (duh!). You know those “Terms of Agreement” electronic contracts you never read and simply press “Agree,” well I’m sure this law is in there somewhere. I'm sure it also states, "Don't f*ck with Guns n Roses," so he's probably in double trouble. Somehow he obtained these currently illegal songs and assumed it be a grand idea to post them for all to hear. Epic Fail!

During his hearing, the prosecutors originally demanded an outrageous $50,000 bail, which means the prosecutors either take their jobs ultra-seriously or simply love defending the rights of shitty music. The judge luckily put a stop to that. Cogill is currently out on a $10,000 bond and awaits a preliminary hearing in late September.

So what should happen to him? Should his ass be thrown in prison where our tax dollars will pay for this “menace of society” to be confined where he belongs: alongside the rapists, terrorists, murderers, maniacs, and nutcases that shouldn’t be roaming streets? My answer: yes.

He publicly shared a Guns n Roses album! Doesn’t that fall under obstructing the peace? If you’re going to break the law and risk three years of prison time, at least share some decent music. An upcoming Radiohead album maybe? Even an upcoming Kayne release or something by Hanna Montana (at least the kids would appreciate it) would do…not Guns n' Roses. Most of this band’s audience probably doesn’t even own an internet connection.

The album should arrive in stores at the end of November (rain), which is a real shame. Come November (rain), Kevin will face his (rightful) prison sentence while the rest of us face new shitty music on the already dire radio. Axel Rose wins--everyone else loses, and that’s a sad day in world—whether Chinese Democracy really exists of not.

This is their new album cover. I feel utterly embarrassed to post this on my site.