Rantical- the blog

(a posting also shared at Barack Obama NOW!)

Twenty years ago on election night, I decided to go out to the movies. I went to go see a new John Carpenter movie called “THEY LIVE,” which was a story about alien beings taking over the world, converting all of the human beings into docile puppets, and transforming the earth’s atmosphere into a toxic wasteland completely appropriate for visitors from the Andromeda Galaxy.

John Nada, played by Roddy Piper, is a recently-employed construction worker that discovers a special pair of sunglasses that allows him see the true faces of people. When he wears these sunglasses, he’s also able to see all sorts of subliminal messages on television, magzines, billboards, and other types of media- “OBEY”, “CONFORM”, “MARRY AND REPRODUCE”, “CONSUME”, “WATCH TELEVISION” and “SLEEP.” Without the sunglasses, the aliens from Andromeda are completely indistinguishable from the normal human beings. In many cases, political leaders are actually Andromeda aliens, providing leadership for the citizens that follow what they perceive as solid patriotic behavior.

The citizens don’t even realize that that their environment has been transformed into a poisonous toxic wasteland, and they’ve been programmed to believe some misinformation that will keep them permanently enslaved into an economic slavetown.

Some how or another…. don’t ask me why, but the events of the McCain campaign reminded me of this silly little movie.

There’s a lot of really nutty people out there, doing a lot of really stupid things to support John McCain. Idiots are coming out of the backwoods to share lies and misinformation about Obama.

Hunter at DailyKos had some good insights about how John McCain and Sarah Palin are focusing their energies on mobilizing the wingnuts:

Yeah, she’s firing up the wingnut base. Who cares. The wingnut base is the easiest group of people on the planet to fire up. They get fired up when they think gays might steal their marriages. They get fired up when they have to press “one” for English. They get fired up when some black guy gets all uppity and runs for president. They get fired up when their sub-sub-sub-version of Christianity isn’t the dominant religious ideal of the nation. Holding Sarah Palin in front of them is like teasing a dog through a fence, but that’s about it.
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So ya know, McCain — by all means, if you’re going to throw this Hail Mary pass, then throw it in earnest. Let her pop on out there for interviews with real reporters — you know, as opposed to the biting “journalism” of people like Kristol and Hannity. Have her answer questions on the stump that haven’t been pre-approved in triplicate. Right now, “maverick” seems synonymous with “coward” — if the strength of your convictions extends only to inciting crowds against Obama, and you’ve got nothing else to run with, then I don’t think you can get too snippy when the public just starts laughing at you.

I’d like to believe that the American people are waking up to recognize the nonsense for what it is- nonsense. It is encouraging when I hear about lifelong Republicans deciding they can no longer support what is being called the “Republican platform” in 2008.

I’ve witnessed some really irrational behavior – relatives that tell me how Obama has so many “bad” alliances, yet they get extremely angry when I remind them of the questionable alliances of McCain and Palin. I’m told that “history matters,” but if I bring up certain information regarding the histories of their favorite candidates, then my information is “irrelevant.”

Sometimes, you just can’t talk politics with certain people. You love ‘em as human beings, but their political opinions drive you up the wall. You ask yourself “What planet are these people from?” “Am I actually related to them?”

Me, I’m just hoping for a smart president that has a better understanding of new economics in the 21st century; a leader that recognizes the relevance of an intelligent energy strategy, actual science concepts, and can deliver a coherent international policy. Oh…. I also want a leader with a plan to get our soldiers out of Iraq so we don’t have to spend $10 billion a month for an occupation of a country that doesn’t even want us there.

I wish I could order some of those sunglasses…

Damn, I love the ONION.   They’re printing the story suggested by Elliot S! Maggin a few years ago…. one well worth repeating!

EARTH—Former vice president Al Gore—who for the past three decades has unsuccessfully attempted to warn humanity of the coming destruction of our planet, only to be mocked and derided by the very people he has tried to save—launched his infant son into space Monday in the faint hope that his only child would reach the safety of another world.

“I tried to warn them, but the Elders of this planet would not listen,” said Gore, who in 2000 was nearly banished to a featureless realm of nonexistence for promoting his unpopular message. “They called me foolish and laughed at my predictions. Yet even now, the Midwest is flooded, the ice caps are melting, and the cities are rocked with tremors, just as I foretold. Fools! Why didn’t they heed me before it was too late?”

Al Gore—or, as he is known in his own language, Gore-Al—placed his son, Kal-Al, gently in the one-passenger rocket ship, his brow furrowed by the great weight he carried in preserving the sole survivor of humanity’s hubristic folly.

READ the rest of this story by clicking here.

With all the nonsense going on in America, there’s a lot of things to be angry about. There’s the fact that Al Queyada terrorist Zarqawi could have been killed before this damned invasion of Iraq, the 2004 election was stolen (according to Robert Kennedy Jr), the rejection of the Net-neurality bill by the U.S. Congress , and so much more.

The old saying “anyone that’s not angry…. is not paying attention” is certainly true today in America. There’s an overabundance of bullshit that is so deep it’s absolutely unreal.

Here’s something different. How about the True Story about How Superman Lost His Virginity?

Dial B for Blog.com has the goods…

There’s no mention of any Kryptonite condoms, which would lead me to believe there may be more to the story that what’s originally told. Could a mortal woman survive the thrusts of an invincible space alien whose hands could literally flatten mountains? How would she handle the passionate penetrations? Would it be best that this woman be stripped of all memories, and left all alone to deal with the exteme medical treatment she would invariably face?

The robot pimp that initiated this rendezvous was a cruel beast indeed….

Last Friday, I had a chance to see one of the films on my list of eagerly-anticipated movies. Al Gore, the formerly “wooden” career politician, is the unlikely star of a very important documentary about some issues that cannot be ignored.

Like Al Gore, I believe this is more than just a political issue. This is a moral issue, and I don’t think it should be ignored, any more than the issue of totalitarianism was addressed during World War II.

On June 30, I look forward to seeing one of the other eagerly-anticipated movies- a multi-million dollar extravaganza about an idealist that runs around the world in colorful underwear, saving the world from evil corporate crooks like Lex Luthor. Call me a hopeless dreamer, but I love this kind of escapist nonsense.

Elliot S. Maggin, author of the Superman comics from 1971-1986, wrote an excellent opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times that compares the message of Al Gore with the mythology of Superman.

At the time, I was writing Superman comics, and Sarah’s onetime namesake, you will recall, is Superman’s Kryptonian father, an eminent scientist whom the ruling “Science Council” of his world laughed out of the room when he told them that they were facing a planetary crisis: “Gentlemen, Krypton is doomed.”

I have often thought that doctors and scientists, trained to concern themselves with truth and human values, would be more suitable candidates to set public policy than those schooled in law, economics and management who commonly populate our public servants’ talent pool.

But on Krypton, either the essential nature of scientists diverged from that of the open-minded and collaborative types with whom we are familiar here on Earth, or generations of “scientific” rule had befouled the Kryptonian leaders to the degree that they became as shortsighted and starchy as those who traditionally administer our own public affairs.

You can read the rest of this article by accessing the LATimes.com website, or by clicking here.