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Wednesday, November 06, 2002
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Nothing like an election to bring out the hate...hahahahaha...and we haven't even heard from O'Leary yet...
Mark - to ease your judge fears, it sounds like (at least if you believe Tom Daschle, which I don't know if I do) the lame-duck 107th has a lot of judges to appoint and confirm before they're done, so that should keep the pubic hair off of the Cokes a little...
As far as the other rants, I might remind you that majority doesn't always mean everything passes.
Blaming voter turnout on rain is wack.
Investing social security in the stock market is NOT. I can't believe I seem to be the only person that realizes that this is about the only way that Social Security will grow large enough to do what it's intended to do.
I mean, honestly - we all know we can't count on Social Security to retire on, so where's our money? In the market. If it's good enough for our hard-earned cash, why isn't it good enough for the hard-earned cash the government takes out of our paycheck? What's false and irresponsible are Democratic ads preying upon fears of the public based on the last TWO YEARS ALONE. Even including 2000-2002, if SS had been invested in the market at our parents' birth, they'd all be retiring rich. If you're going to have SS, at least put it in a place where it has a chance to actually HELP the working class when they retire.
As far as Bush stumping for local candidates, 1) I can't blame him, and don't see anything wrong with it, and 2) it worked - BIG TIME. He swung MANY elections in the last month, and the candidates know it (Saxby Chambliss basically went on CNN last night and said, "I won because of the President").
Yes, the President has many things to do right now. But if I were him, looking at two more years of my tenure, I'd think that my time right now was best spent helping me get the guys into Congress that can help me accomplish my aims over those two years. Much bigger payoff than listening to Generals talk about who's ready to go to Iraq and who's not.
Mark is right - the left is either devoid of leadership, or choose not to use it, and they fucked themselves. If Al Gore is truly "the people's president", as Sweets and O keep saying, WHERE THE FUCK WAS HE FOR THE LAST MONTH? Who cares that he doesn't hold an elected office? Over half the country liked him enough to vote for him only 2 years ago, so get his ass out there with arms around some shoulders.
Democrats were confident they could win this round because people think Bush is a moron and the tax break blew up in his face. So they sat on their ass, and they completely left their Dems that voted with Bush on the tax cut OUT TO DRY. And they all lost.
Republicans used Bush to get out there and get his fellow morons to the polls to vote for some other morons, and it worked. Completely aside from any voter harassment, the Right ran a smarter election. It also helped that most of the key races were in states that Shrub carried in 2000 anyway.
Bush is an idiot, but a lot of people still like him - and they went and voted yesterday. Obviously, the people that hate him didn't - and they're not all poor, oppressed folk with warrants and speeding tickets.
O'Leary hates Bush - let's wait for him to tune in and see if he voted in the great state of Illinois yesterday.
-- Sparxxx
3:31:04 PM 
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Expedia just reported that the demand for flights to Canada just shot up. I'm moving in next to the Baldwins.
Seriously, I think I'm going to be sick. Republicans are going to do everything they want. Gun-show loopholes. Done. Drilling in Alaska. Done. Serial War Campaigns. Done. Back-alley Abortions. Done. 30 years of right-wing judges trampling the rights of the poor people, uneducated people, union members, retired folks, and minorities. Done, Done, and Done. Everything that every Republican fetishes over will be theirs.
The upside of all of this is, of course, business deregulation, SS benefits plummeting with the market, Raytheon stock goes up, and the top 3% of net-worth individuals will get significantly richer. I'm sure I'll get taxed $300 dollars less a year, the gap between me and the uber-riche will multiply, cops will beat down my door because a thermal image showed I was smoking in my house, my daughter will have to visit "family in Canada" if she's raped.
If I heard one more time about voter turnout, adidas through television. Now weather dictates abortion. If I heard of one more anonymous mailer telling inner city people to make sure their warrants and tickets were cleared up before voting...I can't believe the brazen Republican pride taken in voter suppression. 200,000 dollars spent to throw parties in Black Churches on election day in NJ alone last election...these people have no conscience.
Republicans are not all stupid, myopic, selfish, racist, uncompassionate, isolationist polluters. But I defy you to show me one who isn't 2 or 3 of these things.
It was easy to maintain my friendships with foreign business associates after Bush was elected. I told them that he wasn't liked by a majority, and the legislative branch would make sure he didn't do anything too dangerous. Now I don't know what to say. Russians will be happy, because human rights violations will no longer matter in their WTO application. South Korea will feel safer, because hell after Iraq our troops are halfway there. Europe and Middle East won't appreciate the middle finger and the bombings, respectively.
There is something so inherently wrong with a president of a warring nation campaigning at UNPRECEDENTED levels on behalf of fellow party members. Does he have nothing better to do (when we're at 'war' remember) than to zig-zag the country (on the taxpayer dime) telling people that if they support the troops, they should vote for the guy whose shoulder his arm is around? Kennedy refused to do it...said it wouldn't be right.
Today, I'm pissed at people who didn't vote to help themselves. I'm pissed at republicans who view voter suppression as an election strategy. I'm quite fearful about irreversible damage done by these selfish rich pricks. I'm upset that apparently my views are not shared by a majority of Americans. I ran the idea of a two year working vacation (they exist, Bush invented it) in a another country, past my wife. Anyway, I'll wake tomorrow shaking my head at the lies and laughing at the white guy making 120K a year who voted republican for the $1,500 a year tax break, but who claims to be the 'outdoorsy' type. And a couple of weeks from now, I'll start looking forward to 2K4 as a shot make things right.
In the meantime, I'll take the money that public schools and welfare recipients aren't getting and buy an alarm system and a handgun, because "INEXPLICABLY" crime will go up.
-- Sweets
3:09:07 PM
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Having never been to an SEC game, I'm not going to step in on Pimpi and Bubba's turf here...however, having been at ND-BC last weekend, I CAN disagree with Sparxxx on one thing:
Notre Dame fans are NOT real fans.
Sure, there are the devoted ones. The students, for the most part, fully represent...but what I saw from the rest of the populace on Saturday -- and even in games I went to that we WON (Michigan and Stanford) -- was nothing short of pathetic.
As soon as things aren't going full throttle in ND's favor, the non-student portion of the crowd immediately decides to folt. At every chance, I would stand up and start cheering just as the students were, only to be greeted by cries of "DOWN IN FRONT!"
FUCK THAT. If you're going to sit and not support your team, stay at home. Don't keep a ticket from someone who actually cares. My reply to these homos was "UP IN BACK. Be a real fucking fan and stand up."
The further into the game we got, the more dead the people around me became. Sure, the life was being slowly sucked out of my ass, too, but I fought it. I kept on standing, kept on screaming, as best I could, but it's very uncomfortable when you're surrounded by thousands of corpses (most of whom weren't much older than me and had no excuse).
During the fourth quarter, the cheerleaders hit the four corners for the traditional "WE...ARE...N...D..." chant. The students gave a somewhat respectable "WE," but the rest of the stadium stayed silent and the cheerleaders quickly gave up. Tried again a few minutes later...same result. Folt.
With about six or seven minutes left, about half of my section cleared out and hit the fucking exit. Absolutely pathetic. In a bit of sweet justice, they missed our only touchdown, but by the time Holiday's final toss fell to the ground, my section was at about 25 percent capacity. Only the students and the adjacent Alumni Alley (which I will DEFINITELY be in from now on) stuck it out en masse.
(Side note: I have left ONE ND game early out of the 46 I've attended...the Fiesta Bowl debacle two years ago. I still feel bad for doing that, no matter how much we sucked...and I'll never do it again. Still, I made the trip and screamed at the top of my bowels for as long as I could bear before 41-9 became too much to handle. To the 2000 team and Coach Davie, I'm apologizing now.)
I love Notre Dame, and I always will...and as long as my larnyx and legs are functional, I will fully represent at any game I attend. But our fair-weather "fans," who left early like we were at Akron or something, make me ashamed to be a Domer sometimes.
I'd like to see these people submit a written apology to our football team, which has busted its ass to turn things around faster than even I expected. These players deserve fans that go all out, and right now, about 20 percent of our 80,000 seats are filled with those kinds of people. Roughly 5,000 of the 63,000 or so seats reserved for non-student, non-opponent spectators are occupied by real fans. And that's sad.
Everyone loves a winner. Well guess what, assholes? We're seventh in the BCS rankings, and barring a major collapse against Navy or Rutgers, we're likely headed to a BCS bowl game -- one of EIGHT teams to earn that right. We ARE winners, no matter how much Saturday's setback hurt (and it's still eating at me, don't worry...can't wait to hit MA at Christmastime).
Red Sox fans are real fans. Sure, they expect a September heartbreak, but they'll stick around the Fens every night until the disappointment is consumated. The Cardinals, win or suck, will get full backing always. Very few teams get that kind of unconditional love. The Irish, sadly, don't get it...and that's sad, considering how much love we were getting just a week ago.
ND athletic director Kevin White has done what he can. Coach Willingham has asked for a "sea of green," and for a while, he got it. The players have given all of themselves to produce a team the school can be proud of. The students? Well, white-bread and wack though they might be, they represent on game day.
The rest of our so-called "fans?" They ask for everything and give nothing. When we win a national title (and it will happen in the next 3-4 years), they'll claim they were there all along.
And I'll be there to tell them to fuck off. They don't deserve to share in any sunshine, because when New Edition asks if they can stand the rain, they fucking disappear.
I am...ND. I just wish more of the people sitting around me were ND when it really counts.
-- O
2:21:56 AM
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I agree with a lot of what Bubba said, being the other Hater who lives in Dixie (I know, Florida doesn't count as the south, but as Bubba will attest, north central Florida is fully in the South).
I've now been fully involved in SEC football for 6 1/2 years and have visited most of the 12 campuses. I know a few things for certain. SEC fans know how to get their 'GATER on. They can eat and drink with the best of them and no one, not even ND's gaters, can come close to them on this. Girls in the SEC (and in some schools, dudes) actually think the football game is prom or an SYR or somethin'. I can't tell you how many UGA girls I saw in Jax this weekend dressed up like they were going to a semi-formal. Dudes wearin' ties and shit...'sup wit dat? Same thing at Ole Miss and Auburn and 'Bama.
That said, Bubba is right on about fan apathy in the SEC and south in general. I've talked to a few FSU fans during the year and they're all like "it's not our year, maybe we'll get the ship straightened next year, blah blah blah." Same with UGA fans after the Cocktail Party this weekend.
I couldn't believe all the shit UGA fans were talking Friday night at the Landing (and rightfully so, their team was undefeated and facing the worst Florida team in the last 13 years). But after the game on Sat, I returned to the Landing and not one Dawg fan had anything to say, except "well, we still control our own destiny and if we can't get the SEC, then we can still get Tech." ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? This is the closest Georgia has come to football mack-ness in the last 15-20 years, and their fans are like "yo, it'll be alright." MY ASS, dude. Show some nutsack and act like you care...be pissed or somethin'.
I'm still pissed about the Irish, still pissed that we lost to BC (of all schools), still pissed we elected to wear green jerseys, and still pissed we couldn't hang on to the ball. Yeah, we're gonna kill Navy and beat Rutgers like a red-headed stepchild and then we're going to Cali to beat Condom U.
BCS $$$ will be nice this year and the kids will get a chance to go somewhere nice for New Year's, but dammit, it was so close. And now a school that I hate a lot (Thug U in Coral Gables) is on its way to another cakewalk title. This truly sucks...
-- Pimpi
1:58:25 AM
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Pitching back the hate...
Obviously, there are people who peruse Salon Blogs just to hate on Irish fans (Stever and not actually Sparxxx's Mom, I'm looking in your direction), so it's time to throw some hate back at some alleged "fans" of other schools.
Southeast Football Fans Suck, and Are Posers
It's obvious that our beloved, previously undefeated Irish folt* last weekend against BC by now, but although I am a devoted Irish head, I also happen to be a student at a Very Large Southern University, that, like the Irish, saw their undefeated season and national championship hopes come crashing down in a horribly played game at the hands of an inferior, yet bitterly hated, rival this past weekend.
What was the reaction on campus?
Nothing, really. Everyone went about their business as normal, people even smiled. No one bitched about how much they fucking HATE Florida, or what a travesty it is that they played their way out of a game they should have won, or how pissed they were that it had to end THIS way, against fucking UF, of all teams. No one seemed to really care. These people are NOT fans. One rainy day, and it's "oh, well. happens every year."
Fuck that. I haven't been on campus at South Bend this week, but I know what it's like there, when you lose to BC, in a game like this. In 1993, we had to suffer through a MONTH of it before we got to beat up on Texas A&M in the Consolation Bowl in Dallas.
It's a black day there. Everyone is pissed. Everyone is hating. Everyone realizes that the only thing that matters in college football, the national championship, has been taken from us by a bunch of fucks that aren't even worthy of sitting in the seat next to us in class. Notre Dame fans live and die with every play, every game, and that's the only way fans should be. SEC fans are very proud of themselves, they think they're the biggest college football fans in the nation.
But you actually GO to the games, go to the tailgates, and here's what you discover. The fans there (ESPECIALLY the students and young alumni, who should represent the MOST), are more interested in looking good, drinking a lot, and making political statements by wearing buttons and bumper stickers than they are in the game. Thing you're most likely to hear at an SEC tailgate? "Oh, I don't care if I get tickets, I just came to party!" THESE are FANS??!!
Bullshit. People dress up for games down here, like it's some sort of fucking cotillion. You want a date? Go out after the game. Men wear RED pants. RED pants. What kind of a backwards, fucked up social culture would reduce a man to such an obviously female act only mere minutes before what is supposed to be the ultimate MALE contest in sports? Granted, southern tailgates REPRESENT fully, but when the 'gater is over, that's when the real shit STARTS.
Fans, real fans, go all out to get tickets, get in the stadium, then go fucking NUTS representing their team and helping their boys out. You love your team? Show them. Pay attention. Make NOISE when they need it. STAND UP. Stay in the stadium after they win, and let them know that you were honored to watch them get in that ASS this Saturday afternoon.
And real fans die a little bit when their team loses, just like the players do.
This hate doesn't stop at the SEC - it's all over down here. Leaving the Doak after a thorough Irish ass drubbing of Florida State, their fans were laughing, congratulating us, talking about how they just weren't that good, about how there's always next year.
I couldn't fathom this. If I was stuck on a bus with FSU fans in South Bend after they did that to us, I'd be looking at them like I wanted to anally fist their cat. I definitely wouldn't be giving them dap, and smiling like a jiggaboo, saying "well, shucks, maybe we'll get 'em next time".
The thing that really sucks, is when they're winning, fans of these teams are the first to tell you how much ass they kick, and especially how much better they are than ND, and how we suck now, and how it must suck to be an Irish fan, blah blah blah blah bling bling blah. But as soon as they lose, it's, well, as long as we beat Tech, or there's still the SEC championship, or we'll still be ahead of Tennessee, or some weak shit like that.
It might be a painful existence, especially in the fourteen-week-long tournament that is college football, but it's the only way. Football is like combat - no points for second place, and the plaque for the alternates is down in the ladies' room.
It sucks, but if you're going to talk shit like you're going to win it all this year, then at least realize when you get cut down that that's it, the dream is over again for another year, and some other fucking team is going to walk away with YOUR BCS championship trophy, and act like it. All out, no gray area, no pussy consolation prizes. Sure, it'll be nice to go to a BCS game this year and win.
But it doesn't even ease the tip of the glacier of pain that is watching a pathetic BC team (or Florida, for that matter) end your national title drive.
So I'm not gonna front like it does.
-- Sparxxx
1:54:31 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Ryan O'Leary.
Last update: 12/1/2002; 1:26:49 AM.
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