After months and months of waiting, the second season of my favorite television show, Arrested Development, finally started tonight. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see any of it, because our cable went out. After trying desperately to build a homemade antenna out of silverware for a few minutes, I gave up and headed into my office to catch up on the news… So, instead of laying on the couch with a beer tonight, laughing my ass off with Linette, I sat in a dark room by myself, reading about the first man to take his own life at Ground Zero in protest of Bush’s win… Of course, with each passing day it looks a little less likely that there was a Bush win, but I don’t think that’s something I should dwell on.
Hopefully, the cable comes back on tomorrow, before I start digging into the Republican ties to the American voting machine industry. That, I think, could make me really paranoid.
Maybe I’ll just go rent, “Dude, Where’s My Car.” It’s got to be better for my mental health than watching this little film on Votergate.
21 Comments
We have last night’s AD on VHS tape (a linear magnetic device common in the 80’s). You can borrow it. It good.
Though we don’t believe in cable for reasons you experienced, it would have been nice to see it clearly without TVO 32 trying to creep subliminal Canadian views in about the War of 1812 (did you know we LOST that war?).
It tied in the Iraq war nicely and added a nod to a get-out-the-vote rally missing the “election”.
(We also have the entire 1st season DVD, which is the only way we found out that Ron Howard is the narrator and that Jason Bateman is laughing at his sister now).
Wait, I thought that we weren’t supposed to start killing ourselves until sunup on inauguration day.
Sorry to hear about your issues with Arrested Development. The only laughter I found today is your constant reference to how you did not lose the election. For crying out loud. Get over it. The Democrats lost in 2000 on each re-count and they lost again this year. Nothing worse in sports than someone who blames every team loss on the officials. The constant whining and crying just drags the Democratic party further and further from the American people. As a matter of fact. Keep whining and crying like Al Gore and Hilary wont stand a chance in 2008 either. Thank the lord.
S
I didn’t even know Mark was running! I would of voted for that fucker in a heartbeat! Mark you know your blog is good when the trolls start lingering.
No trolling here. Mutual friend referred me to his site for a good laugh on how the far left views things.
You must be reading something I’m not, Sean. What I hear Mark saying is that he doesn’t want to consider the possibility that the results are tainted, even in the face of mounting evidence. Personally, I think that’s too timid of a position. I’d like for him to speak up more and start championing reform (like getting for-profit corporations out of our elections, standardizing the process whereby we all cast votes, and removing the whole thing from the control of partisan entities). If blogs like this one don’t keep harping on it, the mainstream press is never going to take notice. Surely you didn’t protest when right-leaning blogs began questioning Dan Rather’s memos. (If you’ll recall it took a few days before the mainstream press picked the story up.) What’s the difference now? If there’s fraud, we need to ferret it out, and it needs to be dealt with. It’s not a question of right or left, it’s a question of right and wrong. Chances are it’s not enough to change the results of this election, but, for the good of democracy, we should look into it, don’t you think? People need to know that their votes count. That’s kind of what this country of our is all about.
Hey Mark, thought you’d like this post on the Left Coaster. Apparently they did not see your post on this some time ago.
I also find Tony’s position to be compelling. In fact, one might argue that progressives should start racheting up the pressure on many other issues as well. I have a hard time believing that a demand for accountability and fairness will somehow “further” alienate the Democratic party from the American people. Conservatives bitched and moaned for years about Clinton’s escapades but they coupled it with a plan of action that harnessed public discontent and turned it into political capital. While Sean is right that complaining alone won’t garner any new Democratic support, non-conservatives are also calling for the decisive enactment of a proactive progressive agenda. Irregardless, I hardly think Mark represents the “far Left”, whatever that actually means. Sean, I might suggest that you need to spend a little less time listening to Rush and more time critically examining actual issues.
Cory,
Believe it or not I have never listened to Rush. The problem that I have with anyone saying “it looks less likely that there was a Bush win” is that it is Groundhog Day all over again. I believe every vote should be counted and just like in 2000 they will count every vote and the results will not change. There is no conspiracy. And as much as Dan Rather, and the liberal media, would like to find one so Bush is out of office there is and never was a conspiracy in my view. My point was that sour grapes no matter what the topic does not come across too well and ultimately will play against you as I think it did this year thanks to Al Gore.
One thing that I find totally amazing throughout this election process is that you have very well educated voters like you and me that can differ soooo greatly on this topic. We choose to believe different parts of every story and no matter if we listen to Air America or Sean Hannity we both believe we know the issues and are very headstrong about our views. I would be glad to tell you how I feel on every social and international issue and trust me it wont be from the view of a so called “ditto” head as many like to portray people that dont see things the way that they do.
S
It’s really quite interesting to watch the Democrats engage in their post mortem analysis of their defeat last week. It’s all because of gay marriage, or those devout Christians. When are they going to look at their own message? When are they going to say “Maybe we shouldn’t have nominated the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate?” No … the fault could never be their own, could it?
Yes it is good to analyze why you lost but the party would be much better served if they would stop trying to blame it on someone/something else (machines, fraud (LOL), etc.)
I bet there are Chicagoesque voting shennaigans on both sides. Though Mark pointing out some reports hardly looks like “JFK’s assasinS and Elvis stole your vote! Let’s kill the bastards!”
Should no one look into the fraud allegations at all?
Is it sour grapes if it’s proven later to be true?
Since the Attorneys General “officiating” states in question were were also GOP cheerleaders, and supposedly Diebold’s chair once said he’d deliver Ohio to Bush, people probably have some right to be at least nervous.
I seem to remember people screaming for years that Perot elected Clinton twice and “Bubba” was not a legitimate president. Sour?
Fair enough. I may have incorrectly labeled you as a Rushophile because phrases like
Sean, I just wanted to point out that you lose a lot of credibility in your “I don’t listen to right wing broadcasters” argument when you, 1) use the alias Sean Hannity, and 2) proclaim that you aren’t a “ditto-head.” To know what a ditto-head is, it would seem to me, one would have to listen to Rush’s show. (For those of you who don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh, his followers call themselves ditto-heads, meaning, it would seem, that their ideas are literally photocopies of his own.)
At this site, we’re a bit more “reality-based” than you might be used to. You can’t just claim things and then have us believe them, regardless of the evidence to the contrary.
And, Leighton, I would love to borrow your Arrested Development tape. Just let me know where and when to pick it up, or hide it somewhere and post a treasure map on your site.
Mark,
Let me correct you once again on a few things. I took the words “ditto head” from you. That was the first time that I have ever heard that phrase used when you typed it in an earlier response. Secondly the use of the name Sean Hannity comes from another reference on this site when someone told me to “turn off Fox News….”. Hence the Sean Hannity reference. Nice try but inaccurate. So maybe you will retract your comments. But when given the facts you will probably try to divert to some other rhetoric.
Anyway enjoyed the conversation and the alternate views on this site. Tell my friends at Monkey Power I say Hi! Hope all is well with you and the family. We will catch up some day. Chow.
S
OK, everybody, you can come back out now. I think he’s gone.
Mark,
I will check back from time to time just to see the pictures of your daughter and provide some “Ditto Head” points of view.
Thanks!!
S
There was an interesting episode of This American Life a few weeks ago called ” Enemy Camp ’04” that I thought was worth sharing. “Act Three: Blood Agent” interivewed a man by the name of Carl Zimmer about his book “Parasite Rex.” The two stories I thought were interesting fromthat segment were the one about the ant and the onen about the fish.
I would not do the ant story justice, so I would recommend just listening to it.
The fish story was about this bug that eats out only the tongue of a fish and then turns around and faces out. The fish eventually uses the bug as its tongue and they co-exist.
I don’t know if Ira saw it as a metaphor, but it certainly sounded intentional.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
Dave
Dave, that is by far the most horrid (non-election related) thing I have ever heard!
Thank you in advance for the nightmares I’m about to have.
Ok. Sorry in advance for not just leaving the metaphor open for interpretation.
Fish=America
Tongue= Reason
the Bug= Wing Nuts, “Lefty Lucy” as well as “Righty Tighty”
So in my noggin, I did see it as election related. Or at least politics related.
It’s a good metaphore, Dave. I just hate the image of a bug flying into my mouth, eating my tongue and then setting up permanent residence.
On a related note, my mother-in-law had a parasite living in one of her eyes for several moths, but now it’s gone.
I hate parasites.
Dave, I heard that one! My favorite part when Ira Glass confronts the guy after he sounds a little too giddy about these parasites, “You are either with us (for the humans) or against us”.