No one else is saying it. I have no idea why. Sometimes it seems like I'm the only genius around. Well, I'm going to break ranks and suggest what somebody who actually has power should have DONE a long time ago!

As some of you may know, the U.S. Senate is about to vote to confirm Judge Samuel Alito. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to send his confirmation to the floor for a vote by the full Senate. And we should all be honest with ourselves why the vote was split this way - abortion. The Democrats HAD to vote against Alito because he may very well find no Consitutional grounds for allowing abortions. The Republicans HAD to vote FOR Alito for the same reason.

See, no matter what else the man said or what his views were on other issues, or how he answered questions, the votes were basically going to be split. This is simply an example of what goes on in the larger body politic - pandering to the base on the abortion issue.

My suggestion is that Democrats give up the ghost on this one. Its time to stop opposing restrictions to Roe v Wade. In fact, Democrats should simply stop opposing ALL effort to restrict and outlaw abortion. This makes sense for so many reasons that it should be obvious. But I'll spell it out a little.

Most Americans do not want to make abortion illegal. They only want to restrict abortion in certain cases, particularly when the fetus is viable. Only the very religious oppose abortion in all cases. But because of their fervent disapproval of abortion, there is a politicized evangelical movement which is capable of raising tons of cash, and turns out on election day. Make no mistake, this movement is fueled entirely by abortion. Things like gay rights and the other cultural issues are mere appetizers for the main abortion course.

Democrats have a radical base that wants to abort actual babies. These people are a big part of the base. What I'm saying here is that Democrats should cast these people into the ocean by ceasing to oppose restrictions to abortion. They shouldn't switch over to the anti-abortion position. Rather, they should simply stop fighting. In time, it will become nearly impossible to get an abortion. The evangelicals will give their thanks to God every Sunday, erect large memorials to the aborted and generally lose their purpose in politics.

Meanwhile, Democrats will be on the popular side of this issue with a good majority of Americans wishing to ease restrictions. The entire impetus for political action will have switched sides. Democrats won't need to worry about that small group of disaffected abortion fans that feel betrayed by the Democrats. Between the loss of the force of the evangelicals and the voters who want their abortions back, those old "pro-choice" people will be irrelevant.

Do you think this is giving up principles? Maybe, but so what?! Have any of you seen what these elected officials do once they win office on the backs of evangelical voters. They wreak havoc in every area of public life EXCEPT abortion. Yes, abortion is perfectly legal. President Bush isn't even trying to outlaw it. It isn't a priority in Congress either. See, the Republicans are smart. They want to keep the issue out there for the exact reason that I'm talking about here.

What Democrats are doing by opposing abortion restrictions is allowing the country to turn into a impoverished piece of shit imperial state that is hated by the world. It isn't worth it. Abortion shouldn't be THAT important. No one is going to be paying $1400 gas bills and going without their medication while thinking "At least abortion is still legal. Thank you Democrats!".

When people are enjoying themselves, it is my duty as a patriotic American to be dismal and nasty.

I live in Pittsburgh. Perhaps some of you readers know that already. Long time readers may even "remember" a post I made last year called Pittsburgh, Where I Live. Usually, my posts have nothing to do with Pittsburgh. Hopefully, there is nothing in my posts to indicating that I'm even from Pittsburgh. I suppose saying so will have to not count. But because of some recent football events, I must comment on some Pittsburgh-related topics.

Yes, football. It is what average Pittsburghers, and their ever increasing suburban-folk have come to life for. I will admit that when the Steelers were a great team in the 70s and went to the Super Bowl four times, there was no bigger fan than yours truly. Now lets get something straight, though. I was nine years old the last time the Steelers won the Super Bowl. Heck, sometimes even seeing those old players, and the Steelers logo brings me a pleasant nostalgic feeling.

My objection here is to basically everyone who is not nine years old. This city has gone mad I tell you. Everyone is running around in black and gold (a very unflattering color combination, mind you). The major newspaper ran a story on the front page about which Steelers were the "hottest". This is big news in Pittsburgh. I hope nothing else happened that day. Everywhere you go there are stickers and signs. One unfortunate fellow decided to combine his patriotism with his enthusiasm for the Steelers in a wonderful horrible flag.

I have to assume that most other cities would be the same. I have to "assume" this because the alternative is too terrible. Hundreds of thousands of people, in my city, with their hopes and dreams absorbed in the ups and downs of a professional football team is truly frightening to me. After the victory on Sunday, hundreds (or thousands) of them poured out on to the city streets in a celebratory fervor. It looked like Nazi Germany to me.

So what do I want then? What would I have these fine folk do? What should "shake your black and gold ass girl" do instead? What should "Steelers and American flag guy" do? What on EARTH should all of these people do.

God, maybe read a book? How about learning the names of a couple US Supreme Court judges? Or the name of your congressman? Or how about debating which Pennsylvania State House Congressmen are the hottest? Seriously, this maddening behavior is acceptable ONLY in nine year old children. Anyone older than that should know better. People in their 20s and 30s should be locked up for these antics.

Yes, I wish to spoil everyone's fun. I am truly a sour creature.

Remember when the internet was kind of cool? No? Me neither. So why am I here? Oh yeah, another misanthropic rant.

Just when I thought the internet had reached its apex of banality, I'm proven wrong. In fact, I'm even wrong-er than usual. Aside from this web page, what else is there really? There's like... Amazon, some site about poodles, a whole lot of porn, and this douchebag's site on "myspace". So lets discuss...

I found that site randomly. And yet it is a fine example of everything that is wrong with the internet. This individual states that "I like to laugh at and with people. I like to have fun and drink some alcohol." Sounds like a real character, eh? Then he states "That's all for now." as if there is some more to come, but just not now. Fortunately sites like myspace exist to expose such profundity to the world.

Hey, look he has a lot of cutie friends doesn't he? Well, I was enjoying The Smiths until I clicked on one of them and the sound of some lonely jerk plunking away on his guitar took over from Morrissey. After the first line of the song, I quickly clicked away from the page. Too bad, she probably had the cure for pain.

And that is what is has come to. Hosting pages like "Myspace" have millions of users with their own "pages". I assume they provide some editing capabilities, but it looks like everyone does the same things: puts a huge picture in the background, plays a terrible song, takes a picture of themselves from the side, and chooses the worst possible and most unreadable font available. Myspace has taken the internet back to 1996. I wonder how many dancing jesus pics are lurking on Myspace pages.

These sites purport to serve some purpose. If I'm not mistaken, the point is to "network". Now, why on EARTH junior high school kids need to network is beyond me. No good can come of it. Isn't going to school enough? Clearly not. I have to assume that all of the jerks in school have pages and all of their friends have pages and they are all "friends" of each other and they all cross post to each other's pages. It seems like some sort of reverse mutually assured destruction among the teen set. No self-respecting non-cool kid would have one of these myspace things. No, they would have a "blog" filled with page after page of myopic senselessness about "life" and "religion". Although, apparently myspace has been a boon for pedophiles. I wonder why.

Oh, this is success. So now, in addition to stupid blogs (which was bad enough), and all of the porn and spam, we now have this junk. Myspace isn't the only one either - but its the most popular. Its getting to the point where I wish terrorists would fly a plane into the whole internet. Sure, I wouldn't have this site anymore, but I could live without it in just as much obscurity. I would lose a couple things I enjoy but sending letters would be okay too. When is the last time you received a letter from a real person?

I know that someday I'm going to quit. I'll sign-off and pretend the internet doesn't exist. The damn internet has brought me closer to things I like and things I hate. At the moment, I think I'd rather have to work for it a little harder.