I Was a Teenage Randroid

TomAqMar

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Thursday April 14, 2016 · 7:42 AM PDT

2016/04/14 · 07:42

Yesterday I got an email from Kos asking if I’d ever been a conservative, and if so, would I please blog about it?

I don’t have much to add to what I wrote a while back:

Notes Toward a Deconstruction of Ayn Rand

Chatting with NPR about Mara Liasson's possible conflict of interest

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday July 26, 2010 · 9:19 AM PDT

2010/07/26 · 09:19

It's always been my impression that journalists should avoid covering stories in which they have an interest -- even the hint of a conflict of interest.

At the very least, we should expect a "full disclosure" disclaimer.

Poll

176 votes Show Results

Do you think Liasson has a conflict of interest between Fox and NPR?

176 votes Vote Now!

Do you think Liasson has a conflict of interest between Fox and NPR?

Yes

147 votes

15 votes

Don't know/not sure

6 votes

It's not that simple

1 vote

You've got a lot of nerve for even asking a question like that, you proletarian flyover state nobody you

7 votes

My missing Census anecdote, and what I learned

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday June 13, 2010 · 9:03 PM PDT

2010/06/13 · 21:03

Suggested track to read this entry by: "Industrial Disease" by Dire Straits.

Alternative suggested track: Steve Goodman's "The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over" by the Highwaymen.

Here's a lost notebook entry about the two days of actual work I managed to get done as a U.S. Census enumerator. I'm posting it just for a sense of completeness, and for a bit of an epiphany I experienced, which has little or nothing to do with the Census itself.

Poll

37 votes Show Results

Which do you resent the most? (h/t to Gawker for the question)

37 votes Vote Now!

Which do you resent the most? (h/t to Gawker for the question)

Goldman Sachs

18 votes

19 votes

Dude, you 'Lost' me (with finale spoilers)

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday May 24, 2010 · 9:00 PM PDT

2010/05/24 · 21:00

Did I mention there will be spoilers? So no moaning, OK?

Musical accompaniment to this post might include a song Sawyer listened to, one that Juliette listened to, and exactly the track you want your spinal surgeon to groove to.

From an e-mail to some friends:

I didn't love it or hate it as much as I'd hoped/expected.
I knew you'd be worried.
I am killing my tv.
By which I mean I'm keeping my tv, but only watching series on DVD, or on-demand, or, pretty soon I guess, Netflix streaming.

Poll

102 votes Show Results

For the 30% who may have seen the finale, did you like it?

102 votes Vote Now!

For the 30% who may have seen the finale, did you like it?

Yes

40 votes

16 votes

Mixed feelings

37 votes

Dude, get real

9 votes

Explaining Rand Paul: A recovered libertarian gives it a try

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday May 22, 2010 · 11:42 PM PDT

2010/05/22 · 23:42

I’m familiar with some of Rand Paul’s arguments against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, because I’ve used them myself, years ago, when I was even younger than he is now.

A lot of people are asking themselves what the hell Paul is thinking. Since I used to believe some of what he espouses, I think I can shed some light.

I’m not saying I was right; in fact, my 17-year-old self was quite wrong. But I didn’t believe then the things Paul apparently believes now without reason. And I’m not saying they were good reasons; in fact, my short-lived believe that the Act was a bad idea was based in my own ignorance, naiveté, and lack of empathy.

I thought I was done with looking back on my Ayn Rand days. Oh, well. Clarence Page: "I, too, was a fan of Ayn Rand. Then I grew up."

Poll

94 votes Show Results

Who is the most glib "libertarian"?

94 votes Vote Now!

Who is the most glib "libertarian"?

Rand Paul

8 votes

Ron Paul

26 votes

Sarah Palin

16 votes

Glenn Beck

20 votes

'Reason' magazine staff & contributors

24 votes

Census Working Overtime: More of What I Saw of the Great Decennial Headcount

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday May 16, 2010 · 2:24 PM PDT

2010/05/16 · 14:24

While you read this account of working life, why not open another Firefox tab and enjoy some great more-or-less-on-topic tunes?

"Senses Working Overtime" by XTC
"Secretarial" by A.C. Newman
"Dear Employee" by the Papercuts

Many people continue to be curious about the 2010 U.S. Census. At more or less the same time I worked Saturday shifts for the Census data-processing contractor Vangent, I also worked Monday-Friday in the downtown Phoenix, Arizona U.S. Census office as a recruitment clerk and would-be enumerator.

Mundane though it is, and at the risk of unloading TMI, here is the rest of what I saw of the 2010 Census. You’re welcome, posterity.

Poll

91 votes Show Results

Have you worked for the 2010 U.S. Census?

91 votes Vote Now!

Have you worked for the 2010 U.S. Census?

Yes

38 votes

53 votes

Empire of the Census: In Which Once Again I Bear Witness to History

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday May 10, 2010 · 8:50 PM PDT

2010/05/10 · 20:50

Many people are interested in the 2010 U.S. Census. Therefore, I thought it might be worth recording what I've seen of it so far.

For the last couple of months, I worked the Saturday 6:30 a.m.-3 p.m. shift for Vangent, one of the data-processing contractors for the Census and the only one (to my knowledge) where I live, in Phoenix, Arizona. I would have worked more hours, but that was all I could get.

(And while you read this account of work in 2010, why not listen to "All of My Days and All of My Days Off" by A.C. Newman? It's a work-song, sort of.)

Poll

110 votes Show Results

Did you mail in your Census form?

110 votes Vote Now!

Did you mail in your Census form?

Yes

103 votes

7 votes

What would YOU do with a Republican opinion survey?

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday March 26, 2010 · 6:27 PM PDT

2010/03/26 · 18:27

Cross posted from Social Capitalism, where some images reside.

Even though I've given up ragging on Republicans for Lent, I can't resist this one. Today in the mail I got a "Republican Strategy Survey" from the Ronald Reagan Republican Center, Washington, DC, authorized by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. John Cormyn, Chairman.

I love the way the good senator reels in my response:

"Dear Thomas Marcinko,

"If you are registered to vote in the 4th district of Arizona [the Fightin' Fourth! I am!] and tend to identify yourself as a Republican or Republican-leaning voter [now as to that...], please answer and return this brief Republican Strategy Survey today.

"If you are not registered to vote as a Republican in the District indicated, please return your unmarked survey to me immediately. Thank you for your cooperation and prompt response."

Poll

119 votes Show Results

When I get a Republican survey, I will:

119 votes Vote Now!

When I get a Republican survey, I will:

Answer each question honestly and make a generous contribution, including a stamp

6 votes

Send it in with misleading answers

29 votes

Tape the business reply envelope to a brick and mail it back, hoping that Abby Hoffmann's old trick still works

42 votes

Take advantage of the mistake to deliver a sincere and impassioned plea for sanity, even if you feel a little like Chaplin's Tramp in "The Great Dictator"

12 votes

Laugh

30 votes

What I saw of today's anti-Arpaio, pro-reform demonstration in Phoenix

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday January 16, 2010 · 4:30 PM PST

2010/01/16 · 16:30

Not to Norman Mailer anybody, but I'd never been to a demonstration this big. The newspaper estimate was 10,000 -- or, to employ the formula Glenn Beck uses for groups he likes, 10 million.

So I'm gonna record it while it's fresh in memory. Can't believe I forgot my notepad and camera. Caught a few snaps with my lame phone.

Poll

283 votes Show Results

If you're a U.S. citizen, what generation are you?

283 votes Vote Now!

If you're a U.S. citizen, what generation are you?

Native American

12 votes

My ancestors came over with Cortez

2 votes

My ancestors came over on the Mayflower

21 votes

I could be a Daughter/Son of the American Revolution

66 votes

My ancestors were slaves

9 votes

My ancestors fought in the Civil War

16 votes

I was Mexican till I was annexed

3 votes

My ancestors came here four generations ago

30 votes

...three generations ago...

30 votes

...two generations ago...

46 votes

First generation

20 votes

New citizen

8 votes

Not a citizen yet

6 votes

Don't know

12 votes

Would prefer to not say

2 votes

The Paranoid Style and What It's Costing Us

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday January 03, 2010 · 6:14 PM PST

2010/01/03 · 18:14

One of the most profound political statements of the past decade was written by--give the gasbag his due--Pat Buchanan:

...Democrats have been psychologically damaged by 60 years of GOP attacks on them as the party of retreat and surrender.

He was crowing in 2006 that the Democrats, even though they won Congress, had already begun to retreat from the anti-war positions that so many of them ran on. Looks like he was right.

Poll

89 votes Show Results

Got a favorite left-wing/progressive group?

89 votes Vote Now!

Got a favorite left-wing/progressive group?

ACLU

28 votes

Amnesty International

9 votes

ACORN

1 vote

MoveOn

7 votes

Organizing for America

6 votes

Democracy for America (Howard Dean's group)

16 votes

Campaign for America's Future

0 votes

NOW

2 votes

NAACP

1 vote

SEIU

1 vote

ActBlue

3 votes

None of the above

7 votes

Other

5 votes

I'm starting my own--want to join?

3 votes

Cold War movies

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday October 03, 2009 · 10:31 AM PDT

2009/10/03 · 10:31

(Cross-posted from Social Capitalism.)

Reading Rick Perlstein's book about the 1964 presidential campaign, Before the Storm, sent me to Netflix for a repeat viewing of Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

On the off chance that anybody who might be reading this has not seen this movie: Please drop everything and watch it. It really is that good.

Poll

57 votes Show Results

Just curious: Seen "Dr. Strangelove?"

57 votes Vote Now!

Just curious: Seen "Dr. Strangelove?"

Yes

48 votes

8 votes

I guess I'd better drop everything and watch it

1 vote

My visit to my congressman's office

TomAqMar

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday September 25, 2009 · 12:08 AM PDT

2009/09/25 · 00:08

So I decided I had to do something about healthcare besides tweet really hard about it.

I'd dropped by my congressman's office before (Ed Pastor, D, AZ-4 -- the Fighting Fourth!). It was during a MoveOn push to counter the wingnuts at town meetings. The nice receptionist didn't have an aide handy for me to speak to then.

But today I did drop by his office again, and this time I did get to talk to an aide.

(OK, I asked to see the congressman first. "He's in Washington," the receptionist said. "Voting on legislation.")

I told her I'd like to hear that the congressman will vote no on any bill that lacks a public option. The aide told me she can't promise that, but that Pastor does support the public option.

Poll

43 votes Show Results

Have you ever visited your congressperson or senator?

43 votes Vote Now!

Have you ever visited your congressperson or senator?

Yes

24 votes

Not yet

19 votes

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