On a Chilly Denver Morn

Just a couple awesome things that are really fucking pissing me off lately.

First: Fuck you, CNN. Again. I've done it before, and I'll do it again. Seriously, Heath Ledger is your lead? Really? It's 9:45 in the morning right now in Colorado, and your lead story is about Heath Ledger? Couldn't be bothered to put up the story about the 935 false and misleading statements made by the Bush Administration about the war in Iraq? Couldn't bother to lead with an article about the debt crisis (and how it was the banking industry, credit card companies, and predatory lending that REALLY put us here?) I understand the concept of if it bleeds it leads, and you want eyes because eyes on your pages mean more sponsor dollars.

But really. Go fuck yourselves. Profanity never makes a great argument, but your bullshit never makes great news either. This is worse than yellow journalism. It's distracting, misleading, and it shows just how willing (lest we forget able, and eager) you are to abdicate your responsibility to inform the public. This is not news. Heath Ledger is a tragic story, but by putting it up front you are saying that is the most important thing right now. Fuck you. Fuck you, twice. And then there's a story about some robbers in Australia who robbed a restaurant. They meant to grab a bag of cash but instead grabbed a bag of "bread rolls." Here's the thing -- doesn't this fit your criteria for a top news story CNN? Robbery, Fun Accent, Guns, Someone Gets Shot In The Ass, and a funny happy ending. I'm surprised you haven't linked it to to the Heath Ledger article yet, after all he was an Aussie...and the robbery happened in Australia...and given all your foreign relations "street cred" in closing down bureaus and sending people to do foreign reporting less and less every year, I'm surprised you don't just automatically think they're related.

I fucking hate you. You're still better than Fox News, but you're a fucking piece of shit. I could continue on CNN, I'm not going to. I need to get back to work soon.

Second: This whole credit crunch shit, and recession fears and all sorts of things. I have my doubts that it's actually real. The credit crunch is, but the stock market falling and all sorts of other bullshit -- all that's predicated upon is fear that consumers are really going to stop spending. We're spending because shit costs too much. Unfettered capitalism, and a free market society create a financial situation that's only good for business. Then there's a collapse, and consumers get blamed. Really? We get blamed for what someone else has done? Let's take a look at this for a second. You know what has really created this? Credit Cards and predatory lending. Republicans especially love to make laws that help these fuckers out. And in the mid 80s with the Reagan administration and trickle-down economics and supply side economics, the flames of the problem were only given more fuel.

When people don't spend, the economy gets hurt. So the idea was that people could be given credit cards to spend, and the economy would do better -- but that's a hollow solution. There's no real liquid, fluid currency processed in a credit card transaction so merchants get their funds, and the consumer gets its merchandise, but the consumer goes in debt. This only adds up over time, in the end pulling the bulk of the consumers fluid currency out of boosting the economy and placing it into a position where it reduces debt -- that hurts the economy. This housing crunch, and the predatory lending associated with it, does more of the same. Lending institutions want nothing more than to lend you money on great terms, reserve the right to change them on whatever arbitrary standards they want to use, then make boatloads of money off of your increased payments. Of course, they think very little of what happens when the lower-middle-class family they just fucked over actually doesn't have enough money to pay their bills. Stupid fucks. When money is spent paying off credit cards instead of actual purchasing of goods, the economy goes downhill. Credit card companies and predatory lenders have fucked us over.

And if you're one of those morons who *again* places all of the responsibility on the consumer, shut the fuck up. You shouldn't be allowed to breed. Does SOME of the responsibility belong there? Yes. But if you're saying that the individual consumer is at fault, you then by extension of your argument are never allowed to blame society, video games, music, family life, or ANYTHING ELSE for ANY PROBLEM for ANY PERSON EVER. If one person has the responsibility, then that's it, no other thing in society can have any hand in their situation. For instance, Larry Craig really is fucking gay. Pun Intended.

People deserve some of the responsibility, but we need to understand that the tactics and practices of credit card companies, and banking and lending institutions breed this kind of behavior. They encourage people to spend too much, take too much credit, and a society of systematic overindulged consumerism does more to encourage people to live beyond their means. The system is at fault for this one, kids. We're talking illegal in many cases, yet our government doesn't really see fit to do much because of course in their minds if businesses are healthy, then so too will be the people. But as we learned from GM in the 1980s, what's good for GM (and by extension corporate America) is NOT good for the rest of the country.

No this isn't an anti-capitalism rant, it's just a what's pissing me off rant. So don't call me a communist. Actually go ahead and call me a communist, because that's a much more appealing party label than anything party that pretends to have the best interests of America at heart.

Oh yeah, 24 states have primaries or caucuses coming up on Tuesday February, 5th. Don't forget to go vote if you have a primary, or find out where your caucus site and go to caucus. Even these steps are important in making your voice heard.

No matter who you support.

Use Google to find a calendar of all the states and their caucus and primary dates so you can figure out when yours is. Your local state.gov site should have instructions on precincts and where to go for your caucus. If you have a primary, it works just like voting. Find out where your voting location is (based on precinct) and then go cast your vote for who you think should be your party's nomination for President. If you have a caucus then you can find candidate videos on youtube that tell you how to do it. (They're goofy, cheesy, so suspend some disbelief, but they will tell you how to get the job done.) You can also find out on your state sites (or by contacting respective party help-lines that can be found online) where your caucus sites are and ask any questions how it works. Caucuses can take a couple hours or as little as 20 minutes, it all depends on how many people arrive from your precinct, and how much support there is from different candidates. But its important, it should be done.

That's it. J-Wall out.

Vote!

Happy New Year. We get to vote this year. It'll be like Christmas in November.

Don't let any poll, pundit, talking head, news story, or blog entry tell you who you should vote for or that this race is over. All it takes is 20 minutes every day for a week. Research candidates, go to their websites, their myspace pages, whatever -- and see where they stand. See if you agree. In the amount of time it takes you to eat a bowl of cereal and toast you can figure out if you agree or disagree with a candidate, and see who best represents you.

Despite what the media tells you this is not a circus to be watched, a race to be observed, a game in which you have no hand. This does not take place on a playing field that has nothing to do with you. The field is America, it has everything to do with you. It is not only your privilege but your responsibility to vote, and to cast your say.

Happy New Year, we get to vote this year.