Teapublican Obstruction leads to Fewer Millennial Voters. Was that Planned?

It’s a fair question. Did Boehner and McConnell and all the other Kochsuckers work to cut down on Democratic voter turnout at the same time they stuck it to the Prexy all these years? It’s one way to interpret those falling numbers of Millennial voters:

And for a while, it didn’t look like millennials would need much convincing. As more members of this generation reached voting age, participation among young voters rose. The peak year was 2008 (52 percent). In 2012, the turnout among voters 18-29 dropped to 45 percent.

On top of that, the rate of voters under 30 who could say with certainty that they were registered to vote fell steadily after 2008, according to the Pew Research Center. By 2012, it hit 50 percent — the lowest number Pew has recorded going back as far as 1996.

Ashley Spillane, the president of Rock the Vote, says it’s no mystery why millennials, or any voters, would be turned off from the process: “Politics right now is really disheartening. I think it’s why you see in the polls that young people are not affiliating with political parties.”

Think about it for a second: right before the “Republicans” started their “f*** Obama and the voters he rode in on” campaign, youth voting numbers were frickin’ huge, because the kids believed change was possible. But after 6 years of deliberate Teabagger destruction of change, the youth of America are disillusioned and are disengaging. And Millennials tend to vote for Dems.

Coincidence? In these times? Yeah, right. There is no way to prove it, of course, but in the end it doesn’t really matter whether or not the GOP has been manipulating Millennials on purpose or just enjoying a fringe benefit of their racist, treasonous, corrupt plan to seize power.

It doesn’t matter for two reasons:
Number A: it is wrong to suppress votes, whether it is a primary or secondary goal, and
Letter 2: the way to fight back is to defy expectations, by voting.

Millennials, wake up: you have been played. Strike back by voting against every Repub in every race, every ballot, every election. Vote to show them you are smarter than they think you are. Vote, because they don’t want you to.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

To Those 400,000 Climate Change Marchers: Here is how to Make an Even Bigger Impact. VOTE.

The march was impressive by any objective measure: people across the world held similar events, but none approached the size or intensity of the NYC protest. The media kinda-sorta reported on it in a desultory manner (if at all), as usually happens when Lefties do something significant (but let one Teabagger hold up a misspelled sign and it’s “breaking news” for days). So the questions of “what good did it do?” and “what next?” are very important today.

Sadly, because of the Infotainment industry’s biases and the general lack of mainstream political support for the climate change movement, the march itself may or may not have much of an impact at all. If it didn’t make a big impression on the nation, it won’t result in pressure on the politicos. And pressure on politicos was the point of the exercise.

This makes “what next?” an even bigger and better question. And the answer is plain and simple: VOTE. Vote at every election, on every race, every issue, every time.

Voting can make changes that the biggest marches cannot, the more so since politicians assume that you won’t do it. They ignore the electorate and focus on the big-money types who bribe our “public servants”: those bribing bastards ALWAYS participate in politics, because they know it is important.

If those 400,000 marchers would all show up at the polls, the outcome of any number of races in the 2014 election would be changed for the better. Deniers would lose and reality-based candidates would win. Legislation would be written to change the way we pollute.

Marches and civil disobedience are powerful tools to help effect change. But unless we take that same spirit and work ethic to the polls as well, nothing will change. Only when politicos are afraid of being voted out of office will they respond to the will of the people.

March. Then vote. But if you can only do one of the two, vote.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

John McCain, please shut the hell up.

Once again, we breathe a sigh of relief that this idiotic gnome never became President: yesterday, he said he could tell us which Syrian rebel groups would be our allies in the future. Yes. He said it. Listen here if you doubt the Cranky One.

To make such a statement, one would assume he has  an awesome track record when picking partners and predicting outcomes in the Middle East. But alas, he does not:

But to buy into the McCain-knows-best version of the Iraq war, you have to ignore a lot of history. McCain was among the most aggressive proponents of a preemptive strike against Saddam Hussein, cosponsoring the resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq. He also expressed full faith in the way it would be executed — a war plan conceived and executed by Rumsfeld.
He did call for more troops in Iraq sooner than some, but later than others who made the same argument before the first shots were even fired. And McCain’s support for Rumsfeld only evaporated over time, as it became painfully clear that the war in Iraq was going south.

Senator McCain has pretty much been wrong on the Middle East whenever he opened his mouth on the subject. Here is a short list of applicable quotes. But just as crashing multiple jets failed to damage his Navy career, being totally wrong about Iraq has not hurt his career in the Senate.

This writer wishes reporters would stop asking an obvious nincompoop for his opinion. But since journos aren’t smart enough for that, let’s ask John McCain to STFU. Or else give his staff a big-assed roll of duct tape for McCain’s mouth.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

There is no more “News” media: 100,000 people protested on Saturday, and we never heard about it.

That is a picture of around one hundred-thousand people marching through Raleigh this past Saturday, protesting a whole raft of screw-everybody-but-rich-white-male-Repub laws that are being foisted upon the populace by North Carolina’s 100% Teapublican government. And here is a link to more such pictures. Oh, and here is another link to a local report.

And did you hear about this on the national “news” programs, Gentle Reader? No, you did not. You heard about the Olympics, various celebrity peccadillos, a politician’s 1990’s sex life, and lots of finger-pointing tripe from Congress.

It is apparently too much to expect our Infotainment industry to cover a huge grass-roots march by ordinary people, asking for ordinary things, in an ordinary way. You see, the “news” media is no longer about news, and hasn’t been since the 1970’s. The Reaganistas deregulated the media , making truth play second fiddle to profits. Second fiddle, Hell, they made truth a friggin’ understudy. Ratings and ad revenue determine what gets played on TeeVee “news” programs these days.

The only way for a citizen’s protest to get shown on national media would be to add a professional celebrity: have a Kardashian get a divorce during the march, or perhaps have Miley Cyrus twerking on a wrecking ball at the head of the march. Something shallow and meaningless to attract the “journalists”, and once they have taken the bait, the marchers force them to listen to, and then report on, something substantial, something that people actually need to know.

Because as of now, the lives and concerns of ordinary Americans are guaranteed not to be broadcast on the “news”.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Ooopsie! Benghazi WASN’T an Al-Quaida attack after all. It WAS about that stinking anti-Islam video.

The much-maligned Ambassador Rice had it right the first time. While Repubs like Grand Theft Issa howled about “cover-ups” and “obvious terrorist attacks”, and bashed the testimony of real experts, they were ignoring the facts on the ground. And it is truly sick that our government never published the truth – it took a newspaper to tell us what really happened.

Almost as bad is that our “representatives” are still refusing to believe the facts, clinging instead to their partisan witch-hunts and idiotic conspiracy theories. Because it is evidently more important that they be seen as right than it is for our nation to be protected. Yes, “Republicans” still care only about their images and agendas, not about being honest with the American people.

Just like the Reagan-financed mujaheddin turned into anti-American terrorists, so too have some of the militias we armed more recently in Libya. And those Libyans, like the Afghans before them, turned against us after perceived slights against Islam. In this case, an American-made anti-Islam video that caused a riot in Egypt shortly before the Benghazi attacks was used by radical imams to whip these militiamen into a frenzy, after which they slaughtered a load of innocents in and near an American diplomatic post.

None of this absolves the Department of State for f***ing up the security arrangements at Bengahzi. Nor does it absolve the Congress for cutting funding for said Benghazi security. Indeed, the NYT report doesn’t absolve anybody, because everybody f***ed up: the Administration, the Congress, the “news” media, and the citizens of both countries.

Many of the lessons of Benghazi are still to be written. But here are a few, for starters:
Number A: Congresscritters with criminal pasts (like Darrell Issa) should NOT be considered credible sources of information;
Letter 2: Complicated situations rarely have simple, quick or easy explanations;
Thirdly: Our Infotainment media is almost useless: it took months upon months for a single source to finally publish a well-researched bit of actual journalism that gave the lie to almost all of the other “coverage” that had been crammed into our ears since the event. But then, when they all got punked by a comedian’s fake Twerking video, are we really suprised?

Here’s this writer’s main takeaway from Benghazi: don’t trust anyone with a political agenda, or any “news” source that just repeats politicians’ talking points; and don’t rush to judgment when the facts aren’t known yet. You know, things that we all used to know, and things we all used to do. Let’s remember Benghazi and honor those killed there by thinking for ourselves and demanding real facts, instead of just mindlessly believing the crap we get from glory-hound politicos and faux “news” sources.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

“Remember who the real enemy is”. Day One: Our lapdog media.

Another day, another lying, anti-ObamaCare hit piece. This one on NPR, “showing” how it would hurt Dems in the next election. Lots of readers would be surprised to hear that NPR is participating in the anti-ACA witch-hunts that litter the mediascape like so many bloated buzzards, because NPR is supposedly a “liberal” outlet. But that is no longer the case, and hasn’t been for quite some time.

The truth is, 95% of the American “news” media is neither liberal nor conservative: they are driven by revenue, not ideology. NBC and Fox, for example, get paid by their advertisers and owners to put out stories that make more people watch their networks, because that makes more money for them. NPR does the same thing, except they call their paymasters “underwriters”. Same thing, different labels.

Back in the day (the 60’s and the 70’s), we used to say, “remember who the real enemy is”: it wasn’t the soldiers or the National Guard, it was the politicians and Military-Industrial Complex that gave the orders. Orders meant to increase the wealth and power of a very few, at the expense of the rest of us. So it was then, so it has always been, and so it is now. The real enemy is the class of powerful, wealthy, power-hungry motherf***ers who manipulate our politicians and media outlets in order to manipulate us.

“Remember who the real enemy is”. It is a truth that bears repeating. And this writer was pleased to hear it in the Dystopian allegory du jour (“The Hunger Games”), because a helluva lot of people need reminding. Generations of humans have been herded like cattle, and used in much the same way. We are NOT cattle, however; and we needn’t and shouldn’t compliantly chew our cud, being used up and milked of all our resources while we live, and eventually getting it where the livestock gets it.

Whenever you hear the “news” media harping on a single theme in near-unison, you can bet someone is paying for that chorus to sing those notes and recite those lyrics. Maybe the lyrics are lies, maybe they are selected bits of truth, but they are all chosen to deliver the message of our enemy. And that enemy has no single skin color, political affiliation, location, sexual orientation or gender: it is defined only by its ruthless rapacity and relentless creativity in fooling the foolish, gulling the gullible, and screwing the screwable.

And the Media take their silver and play their scripted part, making them (if not the enemy themselves), at least the willing accomplices of that enemy.

Tomorrow: trickle-down economics, and how successful it has been in robbing and dividing us.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Note to Mitt Romney: Whining is not Leadership

Over the weekend, Willard and Queen Ann sat down for a bunch of softballs an interview with Fox News. Mr. Blunt and Cranky has watched it and was struck by the whiny-arsed tone that was taken by the also-ran couple.

Contrary to what the other-than-dynamic-duo appear to believe, pissing and moaning after you lose does not make you look like a leader. It just makes you look like a spoiled crybaby brat with an overly-developed sense of entitlement.

Suck it up, Buttercup. Most of us wish we had a consolation prize of several hundred million dollars of mostly-untaxed assets, you pathetic sore losers.

Mr. B & C

The Bulls*** People Say About Barack Obama

A two-post day in honor of tomorrow’s election: this post about the Prexy, the other about the man who would replace him.  Each man has said some bull*** of his own, or course.  Today, Mr. Blunt and Cranky  shall talk about the stuff  that others say about them.  So grab your nose as we dive straight into the manure pile that is political “discourse” in these degenerate times:

“Obama will take away your guns”: there is no evidence of this. No laws, no proposals, no regulations have come from the White House on this topic during Obama’s time there. This bit o’cowflop comes from the people who make and sell guns and ammo: if you’re scared that the evil Obaminator will take away your guns tomorrow, why, you’ll buy lots and lots of them today. That means big bucks for the gun industry, and less money in your pocket.

“Obama is Bad for Business”: look at the numbers from Wall Street, Congress, and any other non-partisan business metrics indicator you care to cite. The numbers tell you the truth: The past 4 years have kicked a lot of ass for corporate profits, across all sectors.

“Obama’s War on Fossil Fuels”: America is now the world’s number-two producer of oil, right behind Saudi Arabia; we have drilled for so much gas the past three years, the price has hit the floor; and coal jobs are heading back up as we develop export markets for our black gold. If there were such a war, we wouldn’t see these numbers.

“Obama’s War on Religious Freedom”: absolute codswallop. ObamNeyCare does not infringe on the religious freedoms of American citizens in any way, shape or form. It does require certain religious organizations to obey the law, but that’s church hierarchies, not the rest of us. Natch, said hierarchies are screeching like demented, meth-addicted owls; but that’s them, not us.

And so on. So far as this writer can tell, the worst thing Obama has done has been to trust a lot of people he shouldn’t have.

Mr. B & C

Barack Obama, You Friggin’ Cheapskate

Mr. Blunt and Cranky loves to write, but knows that sometimes someone else’s article is so well-written that it needs little elaboration.  This being one of those time, he encourages all y’all to click this link and read this article: published by those notorious liberals at Forbes, written by a pundit who is a regular on that  commie network Fox News, and backed up by socialists like the Heritage Foundation:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/24/who-is-the-smallest-government-spender-since-eisenhower-would-you-believe-its-barack-obama/

Be sure to follow the links used by the author, and if you can take the time, the comments thread is actually worth a glance for a change.  The gist: Obama isn’t as big a spender as the lazy-arsed media would have us believe.  Enjoy.

Mr. B & C

P.S.: As an Eisenhower fan, this writer finds the historical comparison a bit of a giggle, given the current level of irrational anti-Obama screeching in the media and around the country.

Why the News Sucks These Days

Mr. Blunt and Cranky grew up in a small American town that was surrounded by farms – hence he grew up with lots of farm kids and has known lots of farmers. When times get tight, they either go under, go deeper into debt, or “diversify their business offerings”. This last usually means “Agritainment”: you know, hay rides, corn mazes, press your own cider, pumpkin-painting, all that sort of thing. It doesn’t typically get in the way of growing/raising food, and helps bring in some much-needed green and folding to keep the farm solvent.

News used to be, at best, a break-even sort of media operation, sometimes even a loss leader that was subsidized by entertainment divisions or tax dodges. It wasn’t expected to make money, and the only “news” outlets that did turn a profit were supermarket-checkout tabloids that really were not considered to be news at all – scandalous entertainment was their line. For quite some time, the serious news outlets looked down their noble honkers at these rags and scoffed at the notion of “for-profit news” as oxymoronic, or even plain moronic.

In the waning days of the 20^th Century, American media (due to regulatory changes and market pressures) started looking to news as a profit center. Away went the stuffy insistence on balance, objectivity, research, depth and all that sort of boring old-timey stuff – going from 2 to 24 hours of news a day meant lots more expense, lots more airtime and lots more advertisements to sell. In order to turn a profit and stay in business, news became “Infotainment”: however, unlike farming, Infotainment DOES typically get in the way of broadcasting news. This frequently means that the quality of news that is delivered suffers.

Why does it suffer? Because ratings now drive content in the quest for ad revenue – revenue is now the primary driver of “news”, because the validity of any and all media operations is now based on profit rather than, well, the value of news items. Turn on any cable news channel, and you will find a large percentage of the time devoted to pundit circle-jerks, special-interest segments, and other fluffy bits of speculation and opinion. You will find a dwindling amount of time spent on the reporting of news, and very little depth when such is reported. This is understandable – a screeching pundit who peddles offensive, sensationalized twaddle gets more buzz and can thus sell more ads at a higher price than some avuncular gent in a suit, calmly reading headlines. Understandable, but disturbing.

I shall up my blunt game here: The value of news is now based solely on advertising revenue instead of the truth and relevance of said news to its audience. No one in profit-based (that is to say, almost all of it) media gives one tufted titmouse if we want or need information – they only care about what information they can make a buck from. And all those “liberal media” or “conservative media” memes: well, as my uncle used to say, they could wash a lot of hogs. If any rational business entity were to lose money on promulgating one viewpoint or another, they’d drop that ideology faster than Gingrich would a sick wife. It’s all about the money, honey.

And who is to blame? Perhaps shadowy Reaganauts, Commies, or evil media barons? Nope. ‘Tis we the consumers who have created this monster. If we all watched non-commercial news for a few days, the for-profit infotainment peddlers would change their products to match, so fast it would make your head swim. By allowing ourselves to be gulled by marketers, we have been complicit in the creation of the current paradigm: one in which a supermarket tabloid or porn magazine can sometimes beat the “serious” news outlets at their own game (really? Hustler and the National Enquirer out-reporting Fox, MSNBC and such? Yes, really).

If THAT doesn’t demonstrate to us the decline of the media and hence the degree of suckage in the news, nothing will.

 

Mr. B & C