Yeah, I know. This is a real thing, anyway, and the number one reason that I’m working on it is that hardly anyone every invites me to direct (and by “hardly anyone” I mean “no one”), so I am going to take the opportunities that come my way. But despite my base craving for acclaim and attention, I was still hesitant to touch this one with anything short of a very long pole, and so sat down and did some soul-searching, trying to reason my way through it. This is what I came up with.
Archive for Politics
The Republican Theater Festival, and Why I am Working on It
Posted in Braak, Threat Quality with tags Braak, Politics, republican theater festival, republicans, theater on October 22, 2012 by braakIs Gregory Kane a Bonehead, or a Bonehead AND a Liar?
Posted in Braak, Politics with tags Braak, democrats, Gregory Kane, liberals, Politics on October 2, 2012 by braakIt’s certainly possible that he’s a malicious and cynical liar, but I don’t think it could be true that he’s JUST malicious and cynical, as even someone completely disinterested in truth would probably do a better job of framing his arguments. Say what you like about William F. Buckley, for instance, but at least he didn’t usually sound like an idiot. Whether Gregory Kane is a complete bonehead, or just mostly a bonehead and otherwise a cynic, it’s pretty clear that the quality of “boneheadedness” is a central element in his analysis.
Let me explain.
Dear Pizza Hut
Posted in Braak with tags healthcare, pizza, pizza hut, Politics on August 18, 2012 by braakJohn Shnatter, founder and owner of Papa John’s Pizza, not too long ago said that providing healthcare for all his employees would cost about 14 cents per pizza, and that, in order to protect shareholder returns, that cost would get passed on to the customers by amortizing it throughout Papa John’s goods.
Pizza Hut. Here is how you can both afford to give everyone healthcare AND improve your market share.
Health Insurance
Posted in Braak, Politics with tags Braak, healthcare reform, Politics on March 10, 2010 by braakI know that I’ve said before that I don’t like it when we get really involved in politics here at TQP, because I’m displeased with the number of crazies that appear from the woodwork. This is true; I have trepidation even as I’m writing this. However, I’ve been puzzling over something for a while, and I want to try and address it using the secret weapon of the Writer: Language (the thing that means stuff).
Is health insurance a fundamental right?
My Apologia for Political Correctness
Posted in Braak, Politics with tags Braak, PC, Politics on March 3, 2010 by braakThis is going to come out of nowhere, it will seem to you (as it seems to me), but I need to write something, and so today this is what I’ll write. Over on Gawker, they’ve got a little bit about UCSD’s racism problem (hint: it begins and ends with douchebags). In the comments section, someone posted – as someone always does on articles like this – the lyrics from “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” from the musical Avenue Q.
I hate that fucking song.
Today, a SECOND POST!
Posted in Braak with tags Braak, Politics on September 30, 2009 by braakThe Washington Post recently announced a contest to find America’s next great pundit.
It is, technically, a contest to find someone to write a weekly opinion column, but because I am A MAVERICK!, I made a video. Enjoy it, you pissy motherfuckers.
Here
Posted in Braak, Politics with tags Braak, Politics on November 24, 2008 by braakLook at this. It is from Dr. Moff’s website. Well, it’s a link on his website to someone else’s website, who got it from somewhere else. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to cite any of this crap anymore.
…with time wearing short and the prospect of a new administration descending upon Washington, Bush may shortly act to issue a pre-emptive class-based pardon to insure that his helpers not be prosecuted. And if the pardon is class-based, one prominent beneficiary will be George W. Bush himself.
I think it’s from Harper’s, originally, or something. The point is this: George W. Bush has been running rough-shod over his country for the last eight years, and I know it’s tempting to say, “You know what, he’s got two months left. Just, fuck it. Whatever, let him do what he wants, we’ll start over again in January.”
To this I say: bullshit. I understand the temptation, but it’s bullshit. This ends now.
Man, it doesn’t even matter that we elected the right person this time. It doesn’t have anything to do with who we elect. It has to do with what we expect from and what we demand from our public servants. We won’t get a worthwhile, accountable, responsible government by hoping that we get nice, responsible people in office. We’ll get an accountable government the second we start standing up and telling them what we think of them:
Bull. Shit.
More details here at Harper’s. Here’s a form, it’s TOO EASY to not fill it out.
On the Bureaucracy (TQP0114)
Posted in Braak, Politics with tags Braak, Politics, Teh Goofy on November 12, 2008 by braakDon’t get me wrong; I understand where the Libertarians are coming from. Getting things out of government services is a pain in the ass at best, and it’s reasonable to think that there must be some more efficient way to get it done. I’m still in favor of the government running the criminal justice system, though, because the alternative to that is going to be something like wereguild or vendetta, and I just don’t see myself thriving in a situation like that.
Still, the way it works is, government systems are shitty, and the rest of us constantly complain about them and demand that they be improved, so that our lives will be marginally better. Which is why when I received a juror’s summons, it was necessary that I respond in a civically responsible way.
My letter, after the jump.
Politics (TQP0112)
Posted in Braak, Politics with tags Braak, Politics on November 10, 2008 by braakOkay, okay, look…I’m almost done. I got (mostly) what I wanted out of the election, and I am just about ready to stop talking about it–for a while, anyway. I think it’s important to talk about politics a lot, because I think that one of the interesting things about America is that we’re never allowed to forget about what the government is doing. We’d like to, I know.
We’ll, I’d like to. I am definitely part of the crowd that is going to spend the next couple weeks pretending that Barack Obama is going to just undo a bunch of executive orders, sign a couple papers, and then POW! the economy is back on track, student loans are all forgiven, solar power, sunshine, unicorns, rainbows, la la la la I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!
I know that this is not what’s going to happen. So, please, indulge me.
