And Jilly T Tumbles

riotsnotdiets:

unbrokencircle:

feministrobot:

howtobeasatellite:

feministrobot:

[Image Description: white text on a black background says, “Yes, Obama duped young people by not doing every single thing they want. So now, they’ll all vote Republican. It’s like when I want some bread, I won’t settle for half a loaf. Instead, I will have a muffin made of broken glass.” - Stephen Colbert]

solarbird:

cognitivedissonance:

If you’re thinking of voting Republican because you’re pissed at Obama, remember the words of Stephen Colbert in the voting booth.

I am sick to death of this lie. The lie is that “you’re just mad because Obama didn’t do enough,” usually combined with blaming the GOP. It says you’re a spoiled brat, whining about not getting your way ALL THE TIME.

It pisses me THE FUCK OFF.

I am mad because Mr. Obama has claimed and used the right for EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTION. He’s killed his own citizens without trial.

I am mad because Mr. Obama has claimed - before NDAA - the right to arbitrarily arrest anyone, anywhere, including US citizens on US soil, in secret, without trial or appeal, and hold them forever.

I’m mad because Mr. Obama has continued Mr. Bush’s torture programme and defended Mr. Bush’s against all attempts to reveal or prosecute anyone, in violation of US law and treaty.

I’m mad because he’s expanded the drug war, expanded the surveillance state, expanded the police state, and because all you motherfuckers out there who pretended you gave a rat’s ass about any of this shit when I was screaming about it during the Bush administration have all spun around like good little soldiers as soon as it was Your Guy Doing It, and are exactly as contemptuous and condescending towards those us of who actually care about not living in a motherfucking police state as the GOP was when it was Mr. Bush at work.

Mr. Obama made Mr. Bush the most important chief executive since Lincoln, by affirming, continuing, and expanding his transformation of the Presidency into an elected but unaccountable and above-the-law unitary “decider,” working in secret, and with the power to do anything.

That is not a president. “Decider” is just another word for dictator; that is Mr. Bush’s achievement, solidified by Mr. Obama. Back in the Roman republic, by the way, when First Citizens were declared Dictators, this is more or less what it meant - the Dictator made decision proclamations (dictates) and they were carried out.

And if you’re okay with that, well, that’s your politics and your call. But for fuck’s sake, stop lying about it, and take your shut-up-you-whiny-idiots-with-your-stupid-fringe-issues attitude and blow it out your goddamn asses. If right to trial, torture, and rule of law are fringe issues, the republic, or what little is left of it, is lost. And maybe it is. But don’t pretend it’s unimportant.

Strictly reblogged for solarbird’s awesome retort. THANK YOU! Muslims are still being rounded up, imprisoned without a trial, and tortured. Any anti-Muslim bigots who think I, or any other Muslim, is obligated to vote for this douchebag can kiss my wrinkled old ass.

Reblogging because commentary is awesome, but going to add that the goal of Colbert’s comment is to dissuade angry Democrats from voting Republican because things aren’t perfect. And they’re not. Obama’s failed to keep a lot of his promises and he’s done a lot of really shit things on his own initiative, but will replacing him with a Republican president make anything better?

The 2-party system puts us in a bind, Obama or a Republican. Things aren’t great (and for many they’re not even good) under Obama, but unless you think they’ll be better under Republican rule, don’t use your vote as punishment.

If Obama manipulates like a Republican, and runs the country like a Republican, he’s a Republican. If it’s Republican vs. Republican, there will be no lesser of two evils to choose from. Nobody is going to coerce or bully me into voting for a Republican. If there is no worthy candidate, I’m turning in a blank ballot. Simple as that.

Sentiments like this are part of the reason that I no longer identify as radical. I just can’t accept the idea that having Obama as a president is equally as harmful as having a Republican for a president. That doesn’t mean that I’ll pretend that voting for Obama in 2012 will have a hugely positive impact - but the alternatives are worse, and if you just turn in a blank ballot the only person that to whom you are signaling dissent is yourself. I just don’t accept the idea that voting is a tacit approval for the current system - it’s possible, IMO, to vote and still challenge the system as fundamentally broken.

Not sure where I stand on this argument. Thoughts?

Reblogging for all the really important commentary. I think I’m with howtobeasatellite and unbrokencircle on this one.