An illustration

I just had to put this awesome letter from my local paper in my blog today--it so clearly illustrates my last point.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

To the editor:

We're here to say that we support John McCain and Sarah Palin. John McCain has paid his dues and Governor Palin is well on her way to do the same. He will fight for us every bit of the way in protecting us and our country from terrorists, in creating new jobs and putting this country back on it's feet again, by putting an end to all this pork barrel spending, by ending the shipping of millions of dollars overseas to countries that hate us, by helping people to pay for their own medical plans, by helping small business to keep growing and by stopping tax increases. Obama promises to provide health care for all who live in the United States but he doesn't say how he will pay for it because he doesn't know. I can tell you who will pay for it! The current economic crisis is the result of a legislative move during the Clinton administration that has over the years snowballed into the mess that we have today.

Obama believes in abortion. Do you realize that the first organ to develop in a fetus is the heart within 10 days of conception?

Obama condones gay marriage. We believe that one reason America will colaspe is because of the failure of the family unit consisting of a married man and woman. We will vote 'Yes' on Prop 102.

Wake up, America. We are throwing our liberties away as our forefathers knew them. We are headed for change all right:socialism. Isn't that what Castro of Cuba promised his people?

JO ANN and HARVEY MICKELSON

Flagstaff

Thank you Jo Ann and Harvey! That was awesome. You say that Obama will take away our "liberties" but the only policy you mention is that he wants to provide healthcare to U.S. citizens. Of which liberty will that deprive you? Your freedom to send billions of dollars into Iraq?

Then you talk about YOUR beliefs--you want to deny women the right to choose and homosexuals the right to marry. Those sound way more like denial of liberties than providing health care. Just so I'm straight--you don't want to provide healthcare to poor women--but you want to force them to have babies that they know they can't care for. Brilliant plan. Man, I love this town sometimes.

pigs and pitbulls

Well, I knew it would happen--Democrats have devolved into politics as usual. Instead of staying "above the fray" they try to play a game of which they know nothing. I laughed out loud this morning when I heard Barack Obama make the comment about lipstick and the pig. I've heard the expression before, but you can't tell me Palin's recent comment about the pitbull didn't inspire its use yesterday. It was funny, it got a laugh line--but I think it was a huge mistake. I don' t know why this is the case, but for some reason Democrats are not as good at being nasty as Republicans. For some reason it makes them look foolish. I'd like to think it's because it doesn't come naturally to them.

I am not optimistic about this election. As soon as it became clear that Barack Obama had secured the nomination, I felt a sinking feeling. It's not that I think he would do a bad job as president--it's just that ---well the cynic in me saw all the excitement about this message of hope and change--(and saw those as empty words) and said, "well, there goes the election." I have little faith in my fellow citizens and even less in our politicians.

Yesterday afternoon I spent some time watching Democracy Now!'s coverage of the conventions of the two parties. The reporters from DN! spent some time harrassing politicians and a lot of time covering the protesters outside. I was particularly touched by the coverage of IVAW (Iraq Veterens Against the War). They had drafted a letter to each candidate with three demands: get out of Iraq, provide healthcare and education benefits to the veterans, and provide reparations to the Iraqi people. At the Democratic National Convention, Rage Against the Machine played a free concert after which the demonstrators marched (in formation) four miles to the convention center. They were greeted by the police in full riot gear. Here are the words of one member.

Well, I just—actually, I think it’s a communication thing. If we could get them to come out here, I believe they would be fine with having us read that letter. You know? They’d be just fine. If somebody can get the word in there, I’m sure there are a lot of good Americans in there that would be not OK with the idea that they’re about to arrest a bunch of Iraq vets if we don’t go home. This is my home. This is my home.


Here is what one former marine said to his fellow protesters:

The police of the City of Denver have given the dispersal order to the protesters in the rear of the formation. We’re told that if that order is given three times, they have authorization to shoot teargas into the crowd. And Iraq Veterans Against the War will be standing here in formation awaiting further response from the campaign of Senator Barack Obama.

Shooting teargas, or a threat of it, or threatening to disperse while we exercise our First Amendment rights to peacefully gather—and I emphasize peacefully—is a disgrace.

These veterans fought too hard to come back here and be ignored, as we have been for the last seven years by this same administration. To be ignored again by the would-be savior of America, his antiwar rhetoric—to be ignored again is a disgrace.

These words and those of several others brought tears to my eyes. Despite the fact that Barack Obama ran his primary campaign on the message that he was against the war from the beginning and he would call for an immediate withdrawal of troops, he would not agree to meet with these men. Finally, after the stand-off, the veteran's liason from the Obama campaign came out to receive the letter. He told the protesters that he would "get back to them." Well I don't need to tell you that he did not get back to them. The letter was not read on the convention floor, and who knows if it made it past the circular file on the way back into the convention. If ending the war hadn't been such a big part of the primary campaign, I would say, "yeah, ok, politicians can't meet with all special interest protest groups." Here was a group of people that could potentially be the most ardent supporters of Obama, and they are ignored. That doesn't spell hope or change to me.

I'm not saying that McCain is better. I would have to get a brain transplant before I made even a hint of a suggestion to vote for the swine/pitbull ticket--I am just experiencing the same deja vu I experience about every four years.

The future of elections

I just spent an hour listening to the Diane Rehm show. The topic: the difference between the economic proposals of the two Democratic candidates as seen by experts in the field. The answer: there is very little difference between the two. What a shock. I am so tired of this election. The other week I had a conversation with a very good, politically-minded friend (I will leave out his name to protect his reputation) who is an Obama supporter. My stance was that it didn't matter if Clinton or Obama won--because they were essentially the same candidate in different clothes. He strongly disagreed--but when I asked him to give me an example of how their policies differed, he couldn't come up with a single one, but instead resorted to Hillary bashing. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Hillary fan, but I'm not in love with Obama either. To me he's just another politician who grew up in a privileged family with a good education. All this talk of "change" sounds a lot like selling out to me. He says he's going to reach across the aisle--but look at his policy proposals. Which one is reaching across the aisle?? Repealing the Bush tax cut? Amending NAFTA?, Strengthing unions?, Increasing worker leave?, Increasing fuel efficiency standards?, Mandatory reduction of carbon emissions?, Universal healthcare?, Leaving Iraq?, Ending production of Nuclear weapons? Which one of those is reaching across the aisle?? Translation: this is what I say I'm going to do so that you vote for me. In actuality, I'm going to compromise and take a much weaker stance on these issues --and then I can turn around and say that I said I would reach across the aisle --and that's what I'm doing. I'm not picking on Obama--they all do that and they all will do that.

What really pisses me off is that American people are really brainless. Oh, he says he's for change and he's young--so he must be for change--but they never look at what he's actually saying. They let the media tell them who to vote for. Even the academics. If you're young and educated--you should vote for Obama. And another fricken debate!!???? Give me a break. What is that going to accomplish? Think of how many millions of dollars are being spent on useless ads and debates and in the end we're not going to know who will make a better president. Debates are just fashion shows--I'm surprised they don't have a catwalk.

I think debates should be structured like reality TV. I'm sure I'm not the first to say this--but why not have a multi-level competition to really weed out the unworthy. We want a president to be smart, right? Lets have the first round be Jeopardy. I don't know about you, but I want someone who can think on their feet--lets do a Survivor or Amazing Race comp. next. Put them all out there by themselves and let them figure out how to survive. Let's not let them have any advisors--well 1 advisor (because I want to see how well they can choose advisors). After they've figured out how to find food and build a boat to get them off the island--we'll send in disgruntled natives and see how diplomatic they are. See how composed they are when they are being tied to a stake over a fire! (Advantage: McCain). My prediction is that Hillary would be killed just to get rid of her annoying voice (and so Bill, her chosen advisor no doubt, could make off with the cute native girls), Obama would be imprisoned for life saying ,"Hey guys, guys, this isn't fair. Come on guys. Guys. while the natives gave him noogies and wedgies", McCain, would try to Jedi-mind trick the natives into thinking that he and his advisor (Senator Lieberman) actually had the upper-hand in the situation and they weren't going to leave until they had achieved what they came for, Ron Paul would get executed for racist remarks, and Ralph Nader would have escaped by convincing the lower echelon people that they should demand better working conditions--but after escaping he would decide that his work had just begun and he would never return to the U.S. So who would win? The Huckster? No, he would be too busy trying to baptize the natives.

Well if anyone did get off the island, we can end with American Gladiators. Hey, I would like for a president to be in good shape. How can I expect someone to take care of my country if they don't take care of themselves?

Then we would see which one is the best person for the job. Who cares whether you've been in the senate or been married to a president, I want to see if you can think on your feet.