27 October 2010

How does the world think about the US?

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/10/26/how_the_world_sees_the_tea_party?page=0,4

A thought-provoking article containing reviews of several prominent newspapers around the globe and what they have to say about the Tea Party. Much of it is predictable. Some are afraid of it, some treat it as an almost laughable extremist movement, and some express some very real concerns over what exactly constitutes the voice of the American people. It's definitely something to think about.

26 October 2010

Oh, you crazy people.

Not content with increasing the partisan politics that plague the country in the upcoming election and with clouding important issues with talking points and worn-out rhetoric, the Tea Party is now actively trying to sabotage non-Tea Party voters. They are planning to question, take pictures of, and otherwise harass any voter they suspect to be ineligible - or to be voting for the Democratic candidates, many of whom have targeted voters in poor communities or in Spanish-speaking communities because of their plans to cut high-income tax cuts and implement immigrant-friendly (or non-immigrant-hating) policies like the Dream Act. Tea Partiers are hoping to single out minorities or poor people who won't vote for crazy people. They have already aired an ad in Nevada urging Latino voters not even to go to the polls. As far as I know, displaying your dissatisfaction with the current government has never included failing to vote. "Hey, I'll show those government jerks: I won't even vote for anybody!" I'm pretty sure that people will see the holes in this logic and that Latino voters will see through this as the pathetic ploy to sabotage minority votes.



October 30: Rally To Restore Sanity!

http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com/

On Thursday, Oct. 28th I will be taking off for Washington, DC, to attend the joint rally of Jon Stewart (who I'm going to marry) and Stephen Colbert! It will be held in the shadow of the Washington Monument, and I hope that it will get as many attendees as Glen Beck's dumb rally did. Although Stewart and Colbert are very definitely satirists and not true politicians, it's obvious that this rally is going to have some political implications - not the least of which will be that American partisan politics are arguably as much of a farce as the comedians' shows are. I'm very excited to see how many people realize that the current political race has become completely ridiculous and that we need a humorist to inject some reason into the political atmosphere.

Also: Washington, DC, is a super cool place and I haven't been there in a long long time. Let's hope we can find some delicious Thai or Korean food while we're there!

25 October 2010

o hai!

Welcome to Seriously Penguin! Probably I'll just use this to ramble about things like politics, history, fashion, and food. I like comments and I like talking to people so I think this will be fun!