Category: current events

I know who I’m voting for. You probably know who you’re voting for. I’m watching John Kerry speak now, and that’s who I’m going to vote for in November. If you’re going to vote for him, great! I hope he wins. If you’re planning on voting for George W. Bush, well, I wish you’d vote for John Kerry. But, if you’ve thought it through and you still plan on voting for him, that’s great. I’m glad you’ve made your choice. Please show up at the polls and vote on November 2nd, and we’ll see who wins.

I’ve gotten too wrapped up in politics recently. I think too much is at risk in this election not to be. I think most people on either side of the spectrum feel that way. But, I’m tired of the name calling, the hatred and the acid in my stomach when I read the spin. I give up. I know who I’m voting for, and unless we find out that John Kerry rapes goats and abuses puppies, I’m still voting for him. And even then, I’d probably vote for Harry Browne (is he running again?).

What am I saying? I’m really beyond caring at this point. This, of course, could change. I could “flip-flop”, which may qualify me for humanity at some point (what, you never changed your mind?). Sorry, there I go again.

So, vote for who you want. Wear a t-shirt declaring it. Post all the stupid inflammatory comments you want about the horrible things about either candidate. It’s not changing my mind. It’s not changing anyone’s mind. There are three people who haven’t decided who they’re voting (or not voting for), and they’re all in comas.

I love you, you bastards, I really do. But, can we please give this all a rest at least until the middle of October? Maybe? Please?

Guess who’s going to be an officer of election this year. Yeah, that’s right. It’s me! If you live in Loudoun County, you can be one too. They’re apparently short this year (which is kinda surprising), so go help out. You get a hundred bucks, and all the “I Voted” stickers you can stuff down your pants (OK, I made that last part up).

And after the Bush/Hitler ad from last week, this almost sounds reasonable.

I still can’t believe John McCain would do an ad for the Bush campaign. After the lies they told about him in SC in 2000, and after all the issues he’s had with the GOP in the Senate, and with the Administration. What happened, John?

So that’s what happened. I wondered why I received a picture of the President (wearing a gigantic belt buckle, I might add), and two other solicitations from the GOP in the past couple months. I knew it couldn’t have been my subscription to Utne or Mother Jones, or maybe my donation to the ACLU or Amnesty International. I figured maybe because I voted in the 2000 Republican primary, but quickly dismissed it because I would have been getting mail, especially during the 2002 mid-terms.

I suspected that someone at church had given my name (and maybe others) to the GOP. You know, if they did, I’m pretty upset about it. Every year, there’s a letter from the First Presidency read that says that the Church doesn’t endorse political candidates or parties, that all members of the Church should be active in their communities and vote their conscience. Also, Church membership information is never to be given to political organizations (or anyone else for that matter), and we’re not supposed to hold political functions in church buildings. It’s one of my favorite things about the Church – the separation of Church and State is understood as being fundamentally important to a religious and free nation.

I’m not sure I’m going to pursue finding out if someone gave my name to the Republicans. I kind of like the idea of Ed Gillespie wasting postage sending me mail. I may even write him back, and send it back in the pre-paid envelope. I haven’t yet, because my conscience is gnawing at me. Why? Because I would feel guilty for sending them a letter in their envelope in bad faith. I’m not answering them in the “intended” use of the envelope, and therefore I’m an active participant in wasting their money. In my mind, it’s fine if they want to waste their time and money sending me mail, but not if I waste their time and money sending it back to them.

Maybe I should e-mail him and tell him how much their fundraising letter reminded me of the shrill tone of the blogosphere, and made me even less likely to vote for GW in November (OK, it would be really hard to make me more likely to vote for GW anytime, ever). Maybe I should write him an e-mail about the disgusting ad on the Bush campaign website that used that MoveOn submission with Hitler in it, and in attacking the Democrats, actually became the first campaign to use the Hitler comparison. For background, the infamous Hitler ad that everyone got so excited about was a submission to a contest, never endorsed by any campaign, and quickly pulled by MoveOn. But, the GOP thought it important enough to put in a commercial, and the first campaign to endorse using images of Adolf Hitler in an ad. That’s “elevating the debate”, “bringing honor and decency back to the White House” and all that other BS.

And I know, to offer “equal time” even though I don’t have to (because it’s my blog, after all), the Democrats say some pretty unkind things. But, Hitler? That’s really ratcheting it up a notch, don’t you think?

By this point, you’ve realized that I’ve gotten completely off track. So far, in fact, that I’m stopping here and I’m not even going to try to link everything back up into a nice little package.

60,497

That’s a big number. It’s not a million, and it’s not a billion, but it’s big. It was almost the population of Pittsylvania County, VA in the last census (61,745). What is it? That’s the conservative end of the estimate for the number of people, civilian and military, that have been wounded and killed in Iraq.

That number’s going to stick with me for a while. The next time I see those cool pictures of explosions on TV and think of all the damage we’re doing to those terrorists and rooting out the “evildoers”, I’ll remember that 60,497 have been wounded and killed in this adventure, most of them civilians who will never get a moment of silence during the nightly news, who we’ll never mourn because they aren’t “like us” and don’t come from here.

The next time a President says, “We gotta go get the bad guys.”, I’ll think of that number, of that little boy who lost all but one of his limbs, of all the pictures of corpses, of the list of soldiers I see on the news, all of those sonless mothers and brotherless brothers left to mourn, those pictures of amputees learning to walk all over again with a leg that’s not their own.

Is it worth it? Are we bringing “freedom” to anyone with this war? Are we winning the war on terrorism? Does it matter?

note: I used the lower of all estimates given, and got the numbers here.

Now do you believe me?

I’ve been haunted by an image this week. I read somewhere (unfortunately, I can’t remember where exactly) a comparison between our invasion of Iraq and the Spanish-American War. The author said that both were launched on fauly evidence (some say outright lies), and quoted some famous Americans who were against the Spanish-American War. There was one passage from an article written by Mark Twain that’s stuck with me, that I’m unable to forget or leave behind.

The image of that flag, red and black stripes, with the skull & cross-bones in place of the stars. It’s chilling, and I can’t help thinking how unfortunately appropriate it is. Iraq is a mess, because we didn’t go in with a plan for getting out. Our soldiers have committed atrocities in our names, under our flag (and apparently under orders from the commanding officer in the region and possibly civilian leaders in the Pentagon, all of it vetted by the Justice Department). We’ve killed thousands of non-combatants, lost several hundred good young soldiers to combat and terrorism, allowed the few treasures of the country to be plundered and looted, and changed course more times than a ship lost in a gale. All of this done in the name of bringing “freedom” to the Middle East.

I don’t know what the Administration’s true reason was for going into Iraq. I don’t know why the insisted on lying (or continue to keep lying, only to have a member of your own Administration contradict you) about Saddam’s connection to Al Qaeda. I don’t know why they relied on intelligence they knew was faulty… And now, with the abuse, we’ve given an excuse to every madman we go up against in the future to torture our soldiers the way we’ve tortured the Iraqis (most of who were either covered by the Geneva Conventions or later proven innocent). Our government even lied to us about the war on terror, and now has to “concede it made an error“. How does this happen? How did we get here?

It’s time to drop partisanship and look deep down into our hearts. What has happened is wrong. There should be a Congressional investigation into the torture memos, see where they lead, and punish those responsible for ordering it – no matter how high it goes. Today, it looks like our government is guilty of war crimes. Are we going to do anything about it? Are we going to stand by and let this be carried out in our name, under our flag? I’m disgusted by my government. This has gone on long enough, and it’s time for the few honest people left in the Administration and in Congress to put a stop to it.

I knew Texas was like “A Whole Other Country”, but they’re running your’s. That’s why this is so chilling. The Texas Republicans are in charge of half the Legislative branch (Tom DeLay), the Executive Branch, and if W wins in November, have a real good chance of taking over the Judicial.

I just don’t get it. This is the leadership of the Republican party, people. If you think centrists like John McCain, John Warner, Chuck Hagel and Olympia Snowe have any power, watch the Republican platform at the convention. I doubt highly that it will differ a whole lot from this.

The separation of Church and State is there for a reason. It’s the same reason we have two houses in Congress. It’s the same reason we have checks and balances defined in the Constitution. The will of the many should never violate the rights of the few. If Christianity (and radical fundamentalist Christianity at that) becomes the basis for government, I fear for our country. This is not a platform based on faith, hope or charity. It’s a platform based on hate, fear and ignorance.

If you vote for George W. Bush in November, you’re voting for it too. Oh, I know, that sounds crazy. It’s not. Let’s get the press to ask him to disavow the platform. Will he?

How can you be asked point blank by a journalist if you feel any personal responsibility for the 9/11 attacks and completely dodge the question? Answer the question, Mr. President We’ve heard everything you’ve said before, and it’s getting old. Your press conference was the same stammering excuses with no real answers.

Mr. President, you were asked at least three times if you feel any responsibility, would offer any apology to the country for 9/11. You refused to do either, and changed the subject every time. You were asked what to name a mistake you’ve made since 9/11. You couldn’t even do that. How dare you. Janet Reno, Richard Clarke and even President Clinton have publicly taken their share of the responsibility for not stopping the attacks. None of them were on the case, or in charge on that day. Your National Security Advisor, and every member of your Administration has also refused. I’m sure it’s for your own political interests. If so, you are worse than callous. You were in charge. You have a plaque on your desk that says “the buck stops here.” You have done nothing but dodge the buck during your press conference, and during your term as President. You, our law enforcement agencies, our intelligence, and your Administration failed us. You are the leader (repeat leader) of our nation. If anyone owes us an apology, it’s you.

I am tired of your Administration’s absolute refusal to take any responsibility for your actions. You are not a cowboy. You are not a CEO. You are the President of the United States of America, and you are in charge. Take responsibility for it.

The 2nd season of Penn & Teller’s show premiered this week! Thank goodness. I was starting to get cynical…

Speaking of cynical, I’ve stopped checking some of the feeds in NetNewsWire. I won’t give you the list, but they’re all political, and I just can’t take it aymore. Just like during the war, I had to shut it down for a while. It’s just too much partisan stupidity, all at once, and all poisonous. I know they won’t miss me.

Who? It doesn’t matter. I’m just tired of the bile, the partisan screwing of facts. It’s time for a break. I, again, have some time before I have to vote. It’s not even convention time yet… I can only imagine how ugly things will get.