Liberal College Kid

As I’m sure you all know by now I had a piece on Sicko, the new film from Michael Moore, appear on our Blogging Network’s main page: Pajamas Media (PJM). You can read the article here. The comments on the article, however, are far more interesting than my little reaction piece.

PJM has a very noticeable slant in most articles and the vast majority of their blogroll are conservative sites. So, I guess it really shouldn’t surprise anyone that my blatant pro-Moore reaction piece to Sicko was so poorly received. Personally, I think it’s great that it got so many of their reader’s upset. My favorite comment was:

“For the reviewer to accept this movie uncritically only shows his ignorance, prejudice, mental laziness, and utter foolishness. The only debate here is why PJM gave him this forum. Perhaps it’s just so we could point and laugh and teach him a lesson. Personally, I’m not laughing. This review, like Moore, is a disgrace.”

The right only wants to read things that validate their own opinions. I suppose we on the left are guilty of this as well but how can there ever be real dialog if only one side of an issue is ever presented. What’s more, of the 39 comments now up in response to the article, the only ones that support my position are my own. Everyone else, even the two or so who said they were progressives, still either didn’t like Michael Moore or think socialized medicine is the worst thing ever. We are so partisan in this country that people can get all of their news from one sole view point and be contented. We no longer value a dissenting view point and our political dialog is lacking because of it.

I hope we see more articles up on PJM from writers on this site. It’s kind of hard to be the only voice of dissent in a forum like that but at least the position has been presented. And so far only one person has brought up my age as being a negative thing, which is nice.

• Leave a comment... (2)

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while and I figure that today is the perfect day to write it seeing as how I’m slightly hung over and as cranky as an 85 year old woman with arthritis and a bad case of IBS. Would someone please tell this man to shut the hell up or, at least, take some media relations classes. Every time I see Reid on the news he’s standing there in the middle of the Capitol Hill Reporters Clusterfuck complaining about how the Bush administration puts the kibosh on everything he wants to do. Well la-de frickin-da, your job is hard, boo-hoo for you poor little guy. You know who else has a rough job? Geoduck farmers. You don’t hear them talking about how difficult it is to dig through mud all day trying to grab huge, giant penis like, clams do you? Guess what Mr. Reid, no one cares how “tough” your job is or how difficult it is when the big bad White House interferes with your agenda. Why don’t you just grow some balls and do a little old fashioned vote buying if you’re that upset about it? I seriously don’t understand how this man is still the Majority Leader. It shocks me that Howard Dean’s head hasn’t exploded yet after listening to this man complain constantly without getting anything done.

Did Reid really expect it to be easy to get things pushed through Congress when the Democratic majority over a bunch of retarded 12-year old boys with an inferiority complex Republicans is so slim? Did he think that a White House led by the first President to ever have snacked regularly on paint chips as a kid and run by Satan himself would just bend over and take what the Dems wanted to give them? Sure the country gave Reid’s party (or rather, the party Reid is associated with as I quiver to think that this imp of a man could ever be considered the leader of the Democrats) a mandate in 2006, but apparently someone needs to tell Reid that getting a mandate doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have to work to build consensus in order to get his bills passed. What really pisses me off about Reid is how he plays right into the stereotype of a whiney, liberal Democrat and if he keeps it up I honestly think that it could hurt the party big time in ’08. He’s already given them plenty of cannon fodder as evidenced by Dennis Millers rant on the Half Hour News Hour. (I know, I know, Miller is actually quite intelligent but the rest of the Republicans will be able to catch on soon enough too)

So, Mr. Reid, please, for the love of the Democratic party and people with liberal leanings everywhere, stop complaining about how horrible your job is; no one wants to hear it and I for one am starting to resent you for doing so.

• Leave a comment... (0)

A recent poll has shown that people in our demographic are leaning left. Well, quite honestly, this is no shocker. We learned in poli sci 101 that as people get older they tend to get more conservative, so it’s no shocker that people aged 17-29 are SLIGHTLY more liberal than the general population. This article, if briefly glanced at, will freak out all conservatives, and especially the hosts of the young, hip shows on Fox Noise (sidebar: can someone tell me how that “conservative” answer to The Daily Show panned out?). However, if any attention is paid, it doesn’t really say anything.

First off, only 28% of those polled claim to be “liberal.” Wow, sounds like the title of your article is totally accurate, New York Times (Young Americans are Leaning Left…). I am hoping this is due to the unfortunate perception of many that liberal is a bad word, and that they would’ve been more comfortable with a different phrase. The results from the poll do show that young Americans are more likely to hold a liberal view than the general population on many issues, but only by a small margin, and it is still much lower than I am comfortable with.

I’m obviously happy to hear that young people are more likely to favor gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana (that was a plug for people to mock my generation yet again). The problem is that we don’t seem to do anything about what we believe. This poll (conducted by New York Times/CBS News/MTV) doesn’t say how likely the group is to join a grassroots movement, participate in a protest or rally, or even, at the very least, how likely they are to vote. While some are “enthusiastic” about some candidates (Obama and Hillary were pretty much the only ones, actually), experience tells most that this won’t translate to the polls. I hate to sound so cynical. I want to believe that people my age will come out in droves to the polls and finally show those fat cats in Washington that young people matter. I have a strong hope that the distaste for Bush will at least motivate people to vote, even if they don’t join Team Obama and pester me with annoying calls every night. I think young people could have a powerful voice, but I am worried about how much disgust it will take to cause us to yell.

Unfortunately, with this post, I am preaching to the choir. We are all reading a blog aimed at people our age. A political blog. So if you read this post, you are already more motivated than most of those polled. And probably more liberal. So get your friends interested. Spread the word. Talk about universal health care and equal rights and environmentalism. Bring up the lies, the endless string of lies this administration has been feeding us for over 6 years. The next time someone mentions freedom of speech, talk about the problem with media in America. There is plenty of fuel for outrage. If we make people pay attention, we could REALLY freak out those conservatives.

• Leave a comment... (2)

Our own JB Goodrich has an article up on Pajamas Media about Michael Moore’s new film Sicko which comes out this Friday. You can read it here: http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/06/liberal_college_kid_on_sicko.php

• Leave a comment... (4)

Laura Bush, the mysterious first lady who Stephanie Miller thinks just chain smokes in the rose garden most days, gave an interview with CNN in which she said:

“We welcome to our country more refugees than all the rst of the nations combined. Obviously we’re especially concerned about the Iraqi refugees.” She added, “We welcome many of those refugees, both from Iraq and Afghanistan into the United States.”

Uh what? Since we first invaded their country we have settled less than 500 Iraqi refugees. The Baltimore Sun ran a phenomenal article which included:

Iraq has been called the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis. The largest numbers - 1.2 million, at last count - are in Syria, with another 750,000 in Jordan, 200,000 in the Persian Gulf states and 100,000 in Egypt. As an estimated 50,000 more arrive per month

The US has taken just 61 new Iraqi refugees this year. What’s more, these stats don’t include the 2 million plus Iraqis who are displaced within their own country. They may not be “refugees” but they’ve been made homeless by our war there. Now I know the First Lady isn’t necessarily the most informed member of a President’s entourage, but come on! More than any other country? Maybe she meant more than any other country she’s been to?

(Check out those guns!)

This is just more proof of this administration’s utter disregard for facts. It doesn’t matter if they say something that’s not true anymore because we’re all so numb to it. It’s like, wake up, brush teeth, Bush lies, put on deoderant has become my morning routine… I feel like this administration doing something illegal or just lying has become more commonplace than even the latest gossip on Paris Hilton. Paris at least is still interesting, and she actually went to jail.

This whole thing has me thinking though, what is the proper role of the First Lady? Hillary tried to bring universal healthcare to everyone in the country but the Republicans wet themselves in fear and were able to avoid it. Sadly I can’t answer what they’re afraid of other than… SCIENCE!!! Anyway, back to Laura though, what has she done? I’m sorry but her “initiatives” on her website just make me laugh. It seems that the First Lady is the only member of government still working to rebuild the Gulf Coast, though. Her own site says “Mrs. Bush is working to rebuild Gulf Coast school library collections lost because of the hurricanes.” That seems nice, but WHY AREN’T YOU REBUILDING THE HOUSES THAT WERE LOST?! That’s not really the responsibility of the First Lady though, so maybe the library books are enough.

What should we look for in a First Lady (or First Man, shout out for Bill!)? I would think that the visibility associated with the office of the President would put that person’s significant other in a unique position domestically and abroad. Why isn’t Laura working to save Darfur? Why isn’t she working to stop the spread of AIDS and malaria in Africa? She should be traveling around the world to show America’s good will, not lying to CNN pundits saying that America is some safe haven for Iraqi refugees that we, ourselves, created.

Then again, she did marry the Decider…

• Leave a comment... (7)

A recent study from a UC Berkley PhD student named Danah Boyd found some fascinating differences between high schoolers who use myspace versus those who use facebook. The study’s main findings were:

The research suggests those using Facebook come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college.

By contrast, MySpace users tend to get a job after finishing high school rather than continue their education.

Beyond this, the study also shows that myspace users are more likely to come from homes where their parents did not go to college. Facebook users tend to be the “in” crowd in schools and are more focused on academics. Myspace caters to “most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers,” she said.

Her overarching conclusion about social networks was that “This division is just another way in which technology is mirroring societal values.”

The fact that there are people studying the two social networking sites most popular with our generation is fascinating, but the implications as far as who is actually using those sites is even more illuminating. My personal thought on the matter would be that initially Facebook was only for college students where myspace has always been open to everyone. Because of this Facebook’s college slant has carried over even though Facebook is now available to people who are not affiliated with colleges or universities. One also doesn’t see the pornographic advertisements myspace struggles with on Facebook. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Myspace is owned by NewsCorp who also owns FOX Noise, making it fundamentally evil.  Ok, that’s just my personal opinion but there might be something to it.

Whichever site you use, or if you use both, social networking is on the rise and becoming such a major force in our lives we now use verbs like facebook me, or myspacing. I hope we see more studies on these sites, maybe one that will tell us why we’re so addicted! Hang on, I just got poked…

• Leave a comment... (2)

Hey all,

A brief piece of information.  The sidebar to the left now has a wonderful Pajamas Media Netowork (PJM) button along with a few new ads as well.  We have been a part of PJM for a little while now, but we had some coding problems that prevented us from putting up their logo earlier.

Pajamas Media’s blogs in large part have a decidedly conservative slant (Michelle Malkin for example).  This is part of the reason that they were excited for us to join as they try to balance themselves out.  An organization that is trying to move to the left is alright in our book and that is why we joined PJM.  I would like to take this moment to dispel any worries you may have about this change.  In no way will this effect the quality, style, or outright bias exhibited on our site.  We are still left-wing radicals on a mission from a secular being to empower young people and give a progressive voice to our generation.

Thank you for your continued support of LCK, and GO Kucinich!!

-the liberal college kid team

• Leave a comment... (0)

Dear Michael Moore,

Thank you. I had the incredible pleasure of seeing your film Sicko on Saturday night and I was blown away. I laughed and cried along with the rest of the crowd, including the outspoken Republican sitting next to me. He had been drug to the film by his liberal girlfriend but by the end of it he told me proudly, “I have a new found respect for Michael Moore.” I think most people, however, will leave with a loss of respect for the American health care industry.

I think perhaps the single most important insight in your film, however, is not necessarily an issue related to healthcare. Rather, I left with the comparison of France and the United States. In France, the government is afraid of the people; in America, the people are afraid of the government. I would like to take this point one step further: because we have a government of the people, Americans are scared of each other. We have been for our entire history. It’s why we live in rural settings and build fences to keep out neighbors. We drive for hours everyday so that we can live in seclusion and still participate in the economy.

Somewhere in all of this, though, we added the idea to our psyche that we should only care about ourselves. That in fact, everything we can do for ourselves is better than things other people do for us. Maybe this is the reason that Americans, particularly on the right, are so against universal healthcare. It seems funny though, doesn’t it? Here’s a party that talks about the value of human life, and yet shows complete disregard for 50 million lives in their own country. Those 50 million of course being the Americans who do not have health insurance.

As you showed in your film, Americans live shorter lives, have a higher infant mortality rate, and are fatter than countries with universal healthcare. As the richest country in the world, I would think we would also want to live the longest. Yet it seems we value the salaries of pharmaceutical companies and HMO’s over our countries health. Private industry I suppose… But wouldn’t it be nice if we treated our fellow Americans as well as the French, Canadians and British treat their citizens? Why should a people’s welfare be a political issue?

Imagine how much better we could make people’s lives. Of course, your film disproves all of the myths about socialized medicine meaning less care, resulting in less pay for healthcare professionals, and having to wait for services. In fact, it seems like there is no reason not to make the switch to socialized medicine other than the fact that the Republicans and some Democrats are in bed with HMO lobbyists. Even Hillary received huge campaign contributions from people who make money by denying sick people medical coverage. To think she was once the champion of the socialized medicine movement here…

I think your film will push this debate on healthcare to become the second most important issue in the 08 election behind only Iraq. And my hope is that just as people have grown to loathe the war and the man that led us into it, so they will come to accept that healthcare should be a human right.  Thanks for your support of Dennis Kucinich and for standing up and doing something about what a mess our country has become.

Thanks Again,

liberalcollegekid

p.s. I thought it was amazing that you paid for the guy from MooreWatch’s insurance.

• Leave a comment... (0)

The Republicans in the Senate yesterday acted like the heartless, self serving bunch of rich white guys they are and blocked:

a $32 billion package of tax breaks for renewable energy that would have been financed mostly by new taxes on major oil companies.

The bill would have been the first real effort by the federal government to make some serious effort to reduce our use of oil and combat global climate change. Even though the Republicans running for President, with virtually no exceptions, have said that we do need to take steps to reduce our use of foreign oil. They don’t want to admit to believing in global warming (because SCIENCE IS SCARY!!!!!!) but with Giuliani’s rhetoric the right has been able to turn global warming into a national security issue. The logic being that we need to reduce our use of non-renewable fossil fuels not because of it’s impact on global climate change but because of who we get those fuels from. I guess I’m ok with that, but the Senate Republicans have completely missed this point.

Junior moronic senator from Arizona, Jon Kyl, said on the bill:

“When you put a tax on a business it gets passed on to consumers. Instead of reducing gasoline prices, this bill is going to add to the cost of gasoline.”

Wake up! This bill was supposed to reduce our use of gasoline. If we don’t take any steps to force oil companies to start seriously developing renewable sources of energy we’ll be left in the dark (literally) as the rest of the industrial world passes us by with new technologies. We have to make energy companies change the way they’re doing business and the way the federal government regulates that is taxing. Of course, for Republicans who have big oil lobbyists breathing down their necks we should never expect them to do the right thing or act like they care about the will of those they represent.

< The apparent goal of Senate Republicans…

Walk your talk flip floppers! If your party is serious about curbing the effects of global climate change do something about it. Or the right wing safe version: end our reliance on foreign oil from countries that are a “national security threat.” Gas prices are not going down because the amount of oil is going down. We need to stop thinking minutely about what gas will cost tomorrow or next week and start thinking about what will happen if we don’t change the way we power our lives.

The Dems were just three votes shy of forcing the issue that could have made this law. $32 billion in funding for renewable energy… And the Senate Republicans are too hamstrung by their big oil financiers. Shame on you Jon Kyl and friends, and thanks for doing your part to ruin the country.

• Leave a comment... (0)

From the always funny FunnyorDie.com

• Leave a comment... (0)