Technology drives out thought…

Fiddling with listics (fiddlistics, fatalistics?) I haven’t taken the time to comment on any of the good stuff or the bad that’s happening all around us.  How about this breath of sanity from the Oglala Sioux:

"To me, it is now a question of sovereignty." President of the Oglala
Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder, says

"I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land
which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the
State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction."

The Federal Elections Commission has exempted blogs from campaign contribution and spending limits. 

In a unanimous vote yesterday, the Federal Election Commission left
unregulated almost all political activity on the Internet except for
paid political advertisements. Campaigns buying such ads will have to
use money raised under the limits of current federal campaign law.

Perhaps
most important, the commission effectively granted media exemptions to
bloggers and other activists using the Web to allow them to praise and
criticize politicians, just as newspapers can, without fear of federal
interference.

This one sounds great but it will probably bite us on the ass again as the army of the Republican christian faithful smurf hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contributions through PayPal to the zombies and vampires they have running the country.  They were just getting good at it in 2024.  Made the Colombian Cartel look like a piggy bank.  I can just see the money baling machines in the Football’s basement, the Pundit and Instawife wheeling grocery carts of cash into Captain Blowhard’s garage.  Well, even though the rank criminal minds of the Republican Party will corrupt it out of all proportion, it still has the odor of a victory for democracy and egalitarian politics at this point.  I’m thinking Atrios and Kos better stay out of light planes for the next few years.

And speaking of values and practices… how about those jokers at Pew?  Let’s make a list of the ten worst sins.  Well, there’s straining Aqua Velva through a loaf of french bread before drinking it.  Or, if you prefer something more psychedelic, there’s always Robitussin from a brown paper bag.  But who are these people really?  Who the fuck did they poll to find out that

A majority of Republicans say 7 of the 10 behaviors
are wrong, while a majority of Democrats say just adultery,
underreporting income taxes and drinking to excess are wrong.

Should I be pleased that while Democrats and Republicans agree that getting totally shit-faced while balling the neighbor’s spouse is indeed repugnant behavior, far fewer Democrats than Republicans consider homosexuality to be morally wrong.  Indeed, if you read it the way the newspapers are reporting it, you’ll see that there is a moral equivalency between lying to spare someone’s feelings and homosexuality.  Just so we’re straight about this, if I get shit-faced and let your husband blow me, I should probably lie about it to spare your feelings.  This l’il white lie – I think – will reduce the overall rate of perceived fuckéduppédness to roughly one-third if you’re a lady with a college degree.

I have to finish building that blog so I don’t miss out on all this good stuff!