HAPPY NEW YEAR! Resolutions and Wishes for 2013!

It's that time of year again, fellow liberals, to take stock of what's been accomplished over the last 12 months, and to look forward to another year with hope and optimism and all that stuff that sounds nice on December 31st but starts to stale around February. With that in mind, here's my wish list for 2013.

In Case You Forgot...

Blogger's Note:  I originally posted this in the blog.com account on 12/19/10.  Given the events of the past week, I thought we could use the reminder.  And besides, who DOESN'T love it when Linus recites the Gospel of Luke.

With all of the hustle and bustle of the season - folks doing the shopping thing, the party thing, the caroling thing, and every other thing – not to mention all of the arguing, fussing, and fighting that seems to have been taken to the next level of late over “Merry Christmas” vs. “Happy Holidays”, it’s easy to forget exactly what we’re celebrating and why. So, in the spirit of the holiday, I’d like to offer this reminder. Fair warning to all of the Atheists, Jews, Muslims, and various other groups and individuals who don’t celebrate the holiday. You know I love and respect you all, but this time you’re just going to bear with me ‘cause I’m about to go all Christmas on ya’.

Tell Me Again Why It's "Too Soon" To Talk About Gun Control

When I first saw the story of Friday's massacre at a Connecticut elementary school, my first reaction was almost boredom.  That would turn out to be the most positive emotion that I would have that day.  The fact that this being the second public shooting this week isn't the most astonishing thing about this story should at least give us some pause.  What really hurts my heart, and I'm sure the hearts of most people, are the victims.  Of the 27 people killed in this shooting, 20 of them were children, some as young as 5 years old.

It's the Most "Socialist" Time of the Year

So we come to another season of unbridled avarice, greed, and materialism, our annual celebration of the birth of Christ.  There are some who believe that Christmas has become too commercial to be considered a religious holiday anymore, and others who question whether it ever was.  They believe it started out as a Pagan celebration, but that's an argument for people way smarter than I.  Anyhow, whether you believe Christmas to be Christian, Pagan, commercial, or just a nice way to take your mind off the snow for a few weeks, there's one word that you'd hardly use to describe the holiday.  A word which, ironically enough, seems to fit more than any of the others...Socialist.

"Lincoln", and Right Wing Delusion

I don't normally post my personal activities on-line, whether it's on Twitter or in this blog. First off, they're really none of your business. Secondly, I really don't think I'm that interesting. That being said, I feel compelled to make some observations regarding the movie "Lincoln" which I had the pleasure of seeing this weekend, and ignorant crazy stupid of the Right-Wing. Usually before giving my opinion of a movie, I like to let it stew in my brain for a day or two so I can give a truly thought out assessment. Now that I've had the time, I've come to the conclusion that when it comes to Lincoln, and his Republican Party, the Right Wing actually has it right...they're just too stupid to realize it.

Secession? What, Again?

Since election day conservatives, angry and bitter that their efforts over the past four years to rid the country of the scary Black man in the White House have been for naught, have proven that while they are a petty and vindictive bunch, they're not particularly imaginative.  So far, since losing, they have regurgitated the same huffing, puffing, fact-free, sanity free rhetoric of 2008.  Claiming "voter fraud" cost their guy the election, calling for articles of impeachment, and their latest 2008 rerun...secession.

Didn't we do this dance already?

Really, Senator McCain? Really?

Ever since his induction into the "Barack Obama kicked my ass" club in 2008, Senator John McCain has been struggling mightily to maintain some semblance of relevance.  In his latest effort he, along with new BFF Lindsay Graham, lashes out against President Obama for his possible pick of Ambassador Susan Rice to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

Next Stop on the GOP Crazy-Train: Total Irrelevancy

YES WE DID, FOLKS, AGAIN! We re-elected Barack Obama as President of the United States by a rather decent margin. And the strange thing about it is that the entire country should have seen it coming. Not from following Nate Silver (who was 100% right in his state-by-state predictions), but because we were all paying attention to the crazy train that was the Romney-Ryan ticket, and the nut-jobs who supported them. So now we come to the question that passes the lips of everyone about the losing party at this post-election juncture. What's to do now? Republicans’ only hope of making Obama a “one-term president” now lies in the Mayan prediction of the end of the world in 2012 coming true. Given the likelihood of that happening, how does the GOP save itself from total irrelevancy? Well, based on my observations these first two days after their electoral spanking, I'd say they're not off to a good start.

Hurricane Sandy and the Tea Party

As I write this, it has been raining here in Philadelphia since late afternoon yesterday (Sunday) due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy.  Our area has received 1.5 inches of rain so far (some of the surrounding areas have received as much as 4.5 inches), and we're seeing costal flooding and storm damage along the Jersey shore.  All of this while Hurricane Sandy is still 350 off the coast.  I'm writing this post from home since my place of employment is closed due to the storm.  The power is still on in my apartment, and personally I don't really expect to lose it for the duration of the storm.  And as my section of the city has not been ordered to evacuate, and not likely to be so ordered, I intend to heed the official advice and stay home.  I'm writing this in my jammies, with an ample supply of food and water, a flashlight in case I actually do lose power, my trusty I-Pad with 3g so I'll still have access to the internet, and plenty of porn.  (I just wrote that last part to see if you were paying attnetion.)  Although a category 1 storm, Hurricane Sandy is expected to do a lot of damage where it hits simply because it's a slow moving storm.  Flooding, power disruption, and wind damage are all to be expected along Sandy's path.  Here is where the Tea-Party's anti-Government philosophy clashes with the reality that they work so hard to deny. 

Final Debate. Winner: Obama (Shhh! Don't Tell the GOP)

You can look at polls.  You can listen to pundits.  You can watch the news.  But, in my opinion, the best way to tell if your guy has won a debate...just watch  the other guy's supporters.

More on that later.  As for the debate itself, the topic was right up the President's alley; Foreign Policy.  Still and all, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread in the moments before the debate.  Yes, Biden laid out the ground work for Obama's debate strategy.  Yes, Obama had a strong second outing.  But I couldn't help thinking about that horrible first debate.  One more like that and we could very well be inaugurating President Romney come January.  Happily, as it turns out, I needn't have worried.

Debate Three. Winner: Obama (DOWN GOES ROMNEY! DOWN GOES ROMNEY! DOWN GOES ROMNEY!)

The day after the first presidential debate, Obama went on the campaign trail and lamented how he encountered a "different" Mitt Romney than the one who campaigned during the primaries.  He was attempting to imply (clumsily, in my opinion) that this new Romney, and his sudden turn towards the center, was the reason he did so poorly in that debate.  After last night, Obama may want to lend that campaign speech to Mitt Romney, for Romney certainly encountered a "different" President Obama than the one who phoned it in during their first debate.

Debate Two. Winner: Biden, and the Floor He Mopped with Paul Ryan

During the closing statements of Thursday's VP Debate I half-expected Joe Biden to turn and look directly into the camera, addressing all of the nay-sayers who wanted Obama to drop him and make Hillary Clinton his running mate, and yell, "HOW Y'ALL LIKE ME NOW, HATERS!?"

The pundits, which I purposely avoided watching that night, may try to call this race a "draw" because they need the ratings that come from a close contest.  But from I heard and saw (mostly heard, since I was listening on the car radio as I was driving home) Biden was the clear winner.  Biden brought the facts, he brought the fight, and most of all he brought the passion that Obama was missing in his debate.

VP Debate Thought Experiment

Let me ask you something.  How many times have you gone to a movie based on its glowing review only to find that it totally sucked, or perhaps vice versa, reading a bad review but finding that the movie was quite enjoyable?  It's happened to all of us at least once.  And it's not just movies.  We've done it with restaurants, television, music, theater, books, even sports.  Seriously, how many people root for the Dallas Cowboys not because they like them, but because we've been told for the last 20 year's that they're "America's Team"?  How many people fell for the Bush administration's claims that Iraq had "Weapons of Mass Destruction".  Of course we like to think that we're not this maleable, but in reality very few of us are capable of formulate our own opinion on things of importance.  So we ask others for their opinion, and we act based on those opinions.

Debate One. Winner: Romney...For All The WRONG Reasons

Sorry folks, but I just can't sugar coat this.  Romney was the clear winner in last night's debate with President Obama.  Now, with that out of the way, I'm going to tell you why that doesn't really matter.

Voter ID Not About What You Think (Well, maybe it is)

This week we saw yet another effort to block Democratic votes denied, this time in Pennsylvania, where a judge blocked that state's restrictive Voter ID law.  The law would have required voters to produce a state issued ID in order to vote.  As over 700,000 Pennsylvanians do not have such an ID, most of them among constituencies that tend to vote for Democrats (minorities, the poor, students, young people) it's pretty easy to see why Republicans were so eager to shove this law through during a year when we're about to re-elect the first African-American president, and why many of them are so upset that they've been blocked...again.  But sometimes when faced with questions of motivations, gain, or possibly even some Freudian like resentment or denial, one has to dig deeper.  I'm wondering if maybe we're all missing a larger point behind Republican efforts to keep people from voting.

Did Someone Say "Entitled"?

Just curious, folks.  Have any of you seen the latest national campaign poll numbers?  Perhaps you've seen all of the swing-state numbers, or the demographic polling numbers.  I'm sure you have.  I'm sure that everyone has.  In fact, the only person whom it seems hasn't seen these polls is Mitt Romney.  Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent the past two days doubling down on what he said at a fundraiser earlier this year...

They Came For The Unionists

Originally published in jawillie.blog.com 03/09/11

A few weeks ago a unit in my apartment building was robbed. I noticed it when I went downstairs to the basement laundry room to do my laundry and found the basement window broken, and the door to my neighbor’s apartment kicked in. Fortunately, my neighbor was not home at the time of the incident. Naturally I contacted the police, and naturally they came, asked me questions, did their investigations, and file a report for my neighbor for his insurance agent. No one was hurt, and the police were as efficient as always in these matters. In these times, it should be noted that the policemen in Philadelphia are all Public Sector employees, and they belong to the Fraternal Order of Police, a Public Sector union.

Now For Something Completely Different

The weekend before the Republican national convention, I implored folks that we needed to see the never ending river of hater-aid and crazy-stupid flowing from the GOP.  And man, they did not dissapoint.  We've seen speakers make their cases for their own re-election and/or their candidacy for 2016 (at the end of Obama's second term).  We've heard them tell their own life's stories, and tell us how evil Government intervention is ruining our country (ironic, given most of them ARE government).  We've seen their Vice Presidential candidate lie so badly that even FOX Nes called them out.  We seen them bash Obama, and were even treated to a bizarre empty chair monologue from Clint Eastwood.  And somewhere in all of that, there were pleas to vote for Mitt Romney.  Most of it forgettable, all of it predictable.  And if the post convention polling is any indication, Romney got all of the "bounce" of a bowling ball.

America Needs To See...

As I write this, Tropical Storm Isaac (soon to be Hurricane Isaac) is spinning just off the coast of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and headed into the Florida coast, just in time for the Republican National Convention.  Now some of my fellow liberals (myself included) have taken to the hope that the Hurricane will hit Tampa, Florida head on, forcing the GOP to postpone or even cancel the convention.  After a little soul-searching, and a lot of prayer, I've come to realize that kind of thinking is wrong.

Biden Unchained, Right-Wing Unhinged

This past Tuesday the Republicans once again reved up their right-wing phony outrage machine.  This time directed at our own huggable, lovable gaffe-box, Joe Biden.  At a speech before a racially mixed crowd in Danville, VA, Biden made this comment about Romney's proposal to loosen regulations.

“Romney wants to, he said in the first 100 days, he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. Unchain Wall Street. They're going to put y’all back in chains.”

That was the bat-signal for the Romney campaign to go full "drama queen", implying that Biden's comments were somehow racially offensive and accusing the Obama campaign of pandering to Black voters.  Romney called the comment "another outrageous charge", adding: "The White House sinks a little bit lower.  This is what an angry and desperate presidency looks like."

Obama's Last Day: 01/19/2017

Over the weekend, Mitt Romney introduced his choice for running mate. Ladies and gentlemen meet the latest GOP sacrificial lamb, Paul Ryan.  Now the mainstream media will spend the next few weeks in orgasmic bliss, as they always do with VP picks, pouring over the "Ryan mystique" and analyzing what, if anything, he brings to the Romney campaign.  I can save them a lot of effort and sum up what Ryan brings in three words…Obama’s Second Term.

Eat More Chicken...PLEASE!

From the First Amendment of the United States Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Romney and the GOP: F#ck Buddies Forever

Originally published in jawillie.blog.com 07/18/12.

I want to talk to you about a kind of person that we’ve all had in our lives at one point or another, and may in some cases still be in our lives. This person fulfills a very specific need. We don’t talk about this person much, particularly if we have a significant other. Indeed, this is a person with whom we interact only when the need arises (and I mean that quite literally). We don’t consider this person a friend, although usually when they come around, we’re very happy to see them. And we’re just as happy when they leave, for they have served their function at least adequately. The politically correct term for this person is “friend with benefits”. However, I find that term to be somewhat inaccurate, as this person is hardly what one would consider a friend. I prefer the more succinct term, “fuck buddy”.

The Gay Agenda EXPOSED!

Originally published in jawillie.blog.com 05/07/12

We’ve all heard about the so-called “Gay Agenda”. That’s the agenda that the “militant homosexual community” has to take over America and corrupt this nation’s youth with our debauchery and promiscuity. It’s an agenda that is dedicated to the destruction of the family and the ruination of heterosexual marriages (damn those Rent-Boys and gay masseuses), and is well known to just about everyone in the country…except Gays.

Why Are There Gay Republicans?

Originally published in jawillie.blog.com 05/05/12

It’s a question that I’ve often asked myself, and given the events of the past week, indeed the past year or so, it’s one that bears asking more than ever. Why are there Gay Republicans?

Two weeks ago the Romney campaign hired former G. W. Bush UN Spokesperson Richard Grenell as their campaign spokesperson. Mr. Grenell had a reputation for being a polarizing figure, and he was also known for some rather off-color tweets about Michelle Obama, Rachael Maddow, even Calista Gingrich. This is not a person who is worth shedding any tears for. Frankly, he was the Republican version of Perez Hilton…mean and nasty, snide and condescending, mainly for its own sake. Four days ago, Mr. Grenell resigned from the Romney campaign, the same day he was supposed to officially start working. The resignation wasn’t because of his off-color tweets, or for being a polarizing and controversial figure. The reason he resigned, despite the campaign’s protestations to the contrary, was because he was Gay.

Might As Well

Originally published in jawillie.blog.com 4/24/12



You know how you go to the club hoping to…well, let’s be real…get laid? You basically stand there at the bar nursing the hell out of a drink, trying the same tired old pickup lines you’ve been using since high school, hoping to get noticed by some studly dude or smokin’ hot female (the sluttier the better in either case). You spend the night milling around to and fro, until the bartender announces the two most dreaded words in the English language…last call. The ugly lights come up and you’re still stuck, horny and drunk as hell, and the only thing left in the club are other pathetic drabs like yourself. So what do you do? You do what most people do when they’re horny as hell and too drunk to give a damn. You find the person who looks the least unattractive through your beer goggles, and avail yourself. After all, its 2:00 in the morning…might as well.

About This New Blog...

Hi folks.  I'm talking to you from my new blogging home of blogger (aka blogspot.com).  I'm moving over here because our friends at GOOGLE have decided that my original home at blog.com may be harmful to your computer, and I can't get an answer from blog.com as to why.  So rather than go on a help-desk merry-go-round, better to just create a new blog here.  I'll be copying some of my more recent postings from blog.com to here.  You'll still be able to get to my older stuff at blog.com (Don't worry, I'm not going to blow away some of my best writing in years), just ignore the "may harm your computer" message if you search on Google (it won't).  As for this site, you can expect me to keep pissing off the Right-Wing Nut-jobs and Teabaggers with my unique liberal bias (also known as sane rational thinking and truth telling).

Oh, note the new name.  It seems that there are dozens of blogs titled "The World According To Me" so I decided to go with something more unique.  And you must admit, "Jawillie's World of Liberal Awesomeness" does stand out a bit (not to mention that it carries a ring of truth).

Anyhow, hope you'll all follow me here.  Please feel free to comment (even you righties, since I know you're watching).  And for all you twitterphiles, the handle is still @jawillie.

Luv ya.