Political Stuff. Yuck.

Monday, 22 October 2012
Like I do every election year, I visited THIS SITE, entered my zip code, and obtained a sample ballot for the upcoming election. Of course, I already know how I plan to vote for President/VP, Senator, the Voter ID proposal, and other big ticket items. But I don’t know much (or anything) about some of the other races. So I looked up the candidates and wrote down my preferences.

Let’s talk about one race in particular: Associate Judge of the Supreme Court.

Tim Tinglestad is running for a seat on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Again.

As you can see from this still shot of his kick-ass YouTube video, Tim believes that GOD (presumably Thor) superceeds THE CONSTITUTION and even THE PEOPLE.

This is quite scary. Tim is hoping for a position in the judicial branch of our state’s government. The government, of course, operates in accordance with the constitution, which, in turn, was approved by the people. So, I agree with 3/4 of Tim’s heirarchical schematic. But then he puts “GOD” (presumably Vishnu) on top. So…if 100% of the people in Minnesota believe that the voting age should be lowered to 16, but God feels it should be raised to 35…guess what? Tim’s gonna rule on behalf of this unnamed deity – a deity who, quite likely, is not even a citizen of the state.

Tim outlines this in further detail in his vision. His vision begins with the assertion that god (presumably Zeus) wants to shine the light of Truth upon this state and nation again. Not sure when it shined the first time, but Tim says some deity wants to shine it again. I’m not sure how Tim knows this. God must have told him. But this begs the questions of why God only told Tim, and why he didn’t make his pronouncement more widely known.

Anyway, God’s plan evidently begins with Tim getting on the Supreme Court.

Watch his video:

My plan, however, is that people who hear voices in their heads and believe that a powerful deity is guiding their life are in need of psychiatric care, not a seat on the bench. How do we know what this god will tell Tim next? What if Tim is on the court, and God tells Tim to shine the light of human sacrifice again? Will Tim listen? What about reinstituting prayer in the classroom? Will Tim listen to that? What about bringing about marriage equality? If Tim wants to serve on a court in a place where people think they have a direct conduit to extraterrestrials, he should go elsewhere. Utah comes to mind.

On Tuesday, November 6th, be sure to flip over the ballot and re-elect Associate Judge David Stras. Stras is also religious…but decidedly less intense about it.

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

I really hate abject stupidity in politicians.

I recall, a few years back, seeing a video of a Senator unable to name the three branches of government.

At tonight’s Presidential debate, Mitt Romney said Syria is Iran’s “route to the sea.” My immediate reaction was, “no it’s not!” My second reaction was, “Oh well, who cares? He just made a simple mistake.”

But I guess he’s said this same thing at least six times this year.

Why does no one correct him?

If you’re running for a political office – especially at the national level, you should have a workable knowledge of geography. This is even more important regarding key hotspots in the world. I mean, if the moderator had said to Romney: “Quick, name all the nations that border Namibia,” he’d probably answer incorrectly, if he dared to answer at all. I don’t blame him. I’d get it wrong, too. But in my defense…I’m not running for CEO of the USA, and Namibia is not a foreign policy concern by any stretch. But if someone were to ask me which nations border North Korea, or to name off the countries in the Middle East, or to identify all the nations of Euopre on a blank map, I would surely be able to do it. Especially if I was running for office.

Here’s a map of the relevant portion of the Middle East:

Syria is the green nation in the top left. Iran is the big brown one in the upper right. Notice: Iran is not landlocked. And if it needs a quick route to the Mediterranean, it could go through Turkey, instead of Iraq and then Syria. Or its ships could go around the Arabian Penninsula, up the Red Sea, then through the Suez Canal. Lots of options.

I like to think the people that get my vote can name the branches of government, know who our past Presidents are, and identify key nations on a map.

That’s why this video pleases me greatly: