That’s No Moon!
We don’t usually mix politics with SF on our blog, but I recently saw a ‘poster’ that I thought was rather clever. It mixes science fiction (which we all love), (de)motivational posters and an appropriate level of snark towards the U.S. government into one humorous package.
Enjoy.
[From a forum thread on AR15.com dealing with motivational posters. Warning: Some of them are questionably NSFW, or human consumption. Found via many different web sites.]
I had to laugh the first time I saw this, which is all you really can do given that no one in Congress seems to care how their spending spree is going to affect the taxpayers. If there was an option in the 2010 elections to vote out every incumbent, I’d join the Rebel Alliance to do so.
Related posts:
- That’s No Moon!
- Moon Town
- If We Had No Moon
- Radar Men From The Moon, For Free!
- Elizabeth Moon on Literary Snobbery
Filed under: Star Wars
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Man, there is so much fail in this post, I don’t even know where to start….
I know the feeling, Nonce. There’s so much fail in Obama I don’t even know where to start…
Epic yawn.
Anyone who thinks the current administration caused this financial disaster is only a little more deluded that those who think they’ll solve the underlying issues that caused it.
Where were these complaints when Bush was getting us into this mess over the last eight years. So short sighted for science fiction people who supposedly are forward looking. Here’s some revisionist history for you, picture John McCain trying to handle this mess. Remember that shiver running down your back the next time you want to critise the people trying to get us out of this nightmare.
The option is there every 2 years JP we just never use it.
“there is so much fail in this post, I don’t even know where to start”
Let’s see if I can help you out then. Is it FAIL:
…to say that the Democrats and President Obama are in power? No. Hence the Obama logo on the Debt Star.
…to say that President Obama’s 2009 budget is over $3 trillion(!) dollars and forecasts a deficit of $1.75 trillion(!) dollars? No. That deficit, BTW, is the largest budget deficit ever in terms of whole dollars, in the history of the U.S. This alone is enough to make the above poster work.
…to say that the current administration has no problem following the Bush administration’s ‘bailout happy/spend like a drunken sailor’ ways? No. For someone who had a campaign plank of ‘change’ I certainly haven’t seen it come into play, especially in the budget. Disappointing.
…to say we, our kids and grandkids will be paying off this massive deficit for the next several decades? I would say ‘No’, but maybe we’ll be able to pay it off faster.
…to say that Washington needs to be house cleaned? No. But that’s my opinion. I think most of the politicians there are really only care about themselves and the power, despite what else they say.
I suspect, though can’t prove, that the ‘fail’ in the post is the fact the poster is taking a shot at the Obama administration.
“Anyone who thinks the current administration caused this financial disaster…”
Jeff, no one, certainly not me or even the poster in question, is making the claim that this administration caused the financial disaster. For that you can thank the Congress critters who wrote the laws that made it easy to make bad, predatory loans. But this administration does get some of the blame based on the mind boggling size of the 2009 budget and the project deficit. You don’t throw good money after bad, and with a deficit that size, that looks bad to me. The only way to ‘solve’ the crisis? I don’t have the answer, but not spending $3 trillion is probably a good start.
“Where were these complaints when Bush was getting us into this mess over the last eight years.”
Perhaps you weren’t paying attention? Many people have been critical of the Bush administration and their ‘never met a big budget we didn’t like’ approach to spending. Why do you think the Republicans are in disarray today? That’s one big reason. Second, aside from the deficit spending that’s been going for years (during administrations of both types), and we seem to have hit a tipping point of sorts with the normal up/down business cycle going into a downturn, exacerbated by the housing bubble bursting, said housing bubble being caused by horrible laws written by Congress over the past 30 years, and the credit crunch brought on by the bubble burst. There’s more than enough blame to go around.
Since McCain isn’t President, your point is moot. But yes, McCain would probably have done much the same thing. Which would still be bad and which is why many Republicans didn’t go out and vote for him. And the nightmare I get is seeing the trillions of dollars in debt being piled up that we and our kids will have to payoff over the next many, many years. Where’s the money going to come from to pay off this debt plus interest? Why from higher taxes of course because God forbid government should ever stop spending money. Short sighted? No. Forward looking? Yes.
“The option is there every 2 years JP we just never use it.”
Sadly this is true. I’m not usually in favor of term limits, but the apathy of most people towards voting combined with the entrenched power bases of politicians makes me think some sort of limit is needed.
You may of found the first Obama joke ever…
YOU ARE SATAN!!!!!!!
JP, I’ve been reading SF Signal for about a year now. I come here becuse I’m a scifi geek. I come here because it’s a pretty good site. I don’t come here to get a whopping dose of your politics. There are plenty of places where I can get that. This really shouldn’t be one of them, IMHO. Most of us out here are just desperately trying to hang on. It’s been a bit scary these last 8-9 years. So I indulge in reading about scifi and the world in which scifi exists. Don’t spoil it, okay. Please, keep your politics to yourself. I don’t want to find myself avoiding the site and/or your posts.
“Where were these complaints when Bush was getting us into this mess over the last eight years.”
1. There were indeed complaints about Bush overspending 2. Obama overspending is an order of magnitude higher. 3. Ad hominen Tu Quoque is not a logically valid form of argument, even if it is (so it seems) the only form of argument used by the Left.
Read some conservative columnists, websites, or journals. There was pleanty of ache on our side of the aisle about the mad spending spree under President Bush.
Some Republicans are fiscal conservatives. Some are even libertarians. Just not the ones we elect.
However, the difference between Conservative and Radical fiscal irresponsility is real, and immense. In the last 60 days alone, the bailout package and stimulus bill cost more than the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined, and, adjusting for inflation, more than the moonshot, the national highway system, the Korean War and the Viet Nam war combined.
(NB: The last Congress before this one was Democrat majority. Just so you know.)
@ jenn,
I would hardly call this post a “whopping dose”. The response in the comments, sure, but that’s always fair game. The post itself is SF enough, and clever enough to be appreciated even if disagreed with.
From the original post –
“I had to laugh the first time I saw this, which is all you really can do given that no one in Congress seems to care how their spending spree is going to affect the taxpayers. If there was an option in the 2010 elections to vote out every incumbent, I’d join the Rebel Alliance to do so.”
I would define it as a “whopping dose.”
The hating on Obama for doing his darndest to fix a problem he didn’t create really makes me sad. Whatever happeneded to the great feeling the world had back in November? Geez, the economy isn’t going to be fixed overnight.
Jenn, seriously, deal. The post itself was sci-fi related and you can’t tell people to keep their opinions to themselves in the comments for crying out loud. I only scanned these comments because I’ve heard the arguments before and I’m just not in the mood. Feel free to do the same.
Jenn, you bring up an interesting problem I’ve been noticing on several SF blogs lately. On another SF blog this week, I read an interesting comments conversation which developed into a fairly heated religious/political debate. A good way into it, one guy piped up, saying “Why am I reading this conversation on a *SCIENCE FICTION* blog? Can’t we just talk about last week’s Battlestar episode?”
To which I respond, “AAAAAUGH!! NO!!”
The point of science fiction, and indeed of all stories, is to inspire thought, to provoke discussion, to explore philosophies and examine our way of life. I would go so far as to say that any science fiction story that doesn’t inspire philosophical/religious/political discussion is an artistic failure. This is not to say that there’s anything wrong with light-hearted, silly SF. There’s not. It’s just not important. It’s fun, but it’s disconnected from the search for truth, beauty, and wonder wich is what makes this Genre so unique and fascinating.
In other news, it’s a picture of the Death Star. Seriously. Lighten up.
Last point then I’m totally done. A lot of the problems that we are experiencing now began with silence. One person says something snarky we (meaning people like me) say nothing. It goes further and more is said and we (meaning people like me) still say nothing. It continues on and on and on and still we (meaning people like me) say nothing. Then one morning we wake up to a country that we don’t recognize and wonder how this all happened. It began with silence.
I make it a point to disagree when I see something said on a board that I find politcally off the mark. We (meaning people like me and, yes, that means people on the left) need to get over the idea that we are above challenging statements that are a bit snarky and just let them stand without remark.
And A_Z, dealing is what I do.
Well I agree with that, Jenn. I mean, I don’t agree with the Death Star poster either, but I also see no reason to demand that there be no mention of politics, ever. I think Luke put it well about sci-fi/thought provocation. But by all means, don’t be silent. I don’t think anyone should ask that.
I guarantee you that that is exactly how JP feels, and thus why he included the political context.
Certainly you see the irony that your first comment asked him to keep silent?