Category: politics

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.

Michele says it’s all the Left’s fault. The Left is violent, and we’re going to cause all sorts of violence in August. Yeah, some people probably will be violent. But, it won’t be because of their political point of view. It’ll be because they’re prone to violence. And to say there’s no violence on the Right is misleading. It’s not like everyone on the Right is peace loving. Let’s look… We have the whole militia movement, from the Right (Michele is dropping “far”, so I will too, just to keep the vocabulary the same) which spawned Tim McVeigh. He killed a lot of people. There are the followers of Fred Phelps, from the Religious Right, who probably count in their number the guys who killed Matthew Shepard. If not literally, at least figuratively. Fred wants to put up a monument to Matthew’s murder. We have Pat Robertson, who went so far as to ask the Almighty to kill off some Supreme Court Justices. We have Hitler. He’s the poster boy for the Right, right? Oh, and we have Stalin. Oh wait, he’s from the Left. He killed twenty million people, which means that the Right has a ways to go in catching up, right?

I’m not trying to make light of all the people who have died at the hands of maniacs from both ends of the political spectrum. I’m really not. But, if we’re going to play tit for tat for all the violence attributed to people registered to a political party, we’ll be here all night, tomorrow, the next day, and may never stop. We’ll end up hating not only each other, but ourselves in the end.

I’m on the Left. I used to be on the Right, drifted to the Center, and am now drifting Left. I am not prone to violence. Most people I know, and all the ones I hang out with on both sides, are not prone to violence. They come from both parties. They’re the vast sea of people in the middle, the people who vote quietly without fanfare or protest, and live their lives the best they know how.

What I feel happening is the silo-ization of our culture. We tend to hang out with people who think like us. It makes us comfortable. We can now consume all kinds of media now without ever having our reality challenged. On the Right, you have Fox News. The Left has CNN (well, according to the Right – I don’t really see it, but I’ll accept it for this analogy). On the web, you can read Daily Kos or InstaPundit and never leave your political comfort zone. This didn’t happen until very recently, and I think it’s causing all sorts of problems. When people who all agree get together, it forms an echo chamber. The dialogue escalates, because there’s no reason to think you’re going to hurt anyone’s feelings or offend anyone. Everyone agrees! We’re all pals here! We can speak freely! Then, the other side comes in, is shocked, and then goes back to their little corner of the world, and the force of language escalates again. It’s a death-spiral, that I fear will end in the complete death of political debate in this country.

I tried (and failed) to fix it over at nonDependant. I wanted a dialogue. It didn’t really develop, mostly because I wasn’t sure how to keep it going or develop it. I think someone with Michele’s personality and fire could start it. If we want to fix it and stop the violence before it starts, we need to stop yelling and start talking. We need to stop laying blame and start finding solutions.

I know this is getting long, but I want to confess something. I listened to a good part of Richard Clarke’s testimony before the 9/11 comission. I was good and fired up, angry at Bush, like the good Lefty that I am. Then, I read Reid’s post about the testimony, and the switch flipped. It doesn’t do anything positive to lay the blame for 9/11 at anyone’s feet. It doesn’t matter now. There were things missed all over. Everyone made mistakes, and it doesn’t do any good to second guess that now. It’s more important that we fix the problems that remain, together.

We need to stop preaching to our respective choirs. The preaching is turning into shrieking, and isn’t doing anything to fix things. We need to turn around, shake hands and talk to each other: about our problems, about our respective solutions, about our dreams, our lives, our families, and our communities. It’s time to get a little uncomfortable. Hi, my name is Kevin. I’m a Lefty. Nice to meet you.

People at Church keep bringing up gay marriage, and I keep quiet. The problem is that the it makes me angry. I don’t want to keep quiet, yet I do. These weren’t places I could pull out all the reasons it’s wrong to create a Constitutional ban (it sounds a lot like this and this).

Maybe I’m a bad Mormon. Maybe I should be against it. I don’t think so. I have yet to hear a good argument against it – and I’ve asked. They all come down to “homosexuality is wrong, therefore gay marriage should be outlawed.” This argument doesn’t hold water for lots of reasons. First, any argument that echoes old arguments about race makes me suspicious. Second, any argument that boils down to “it’s wrong because I say so” doesn’t work for me either. Thirdly, I have the feeling that the people I’ve heard say this, and people in general who are for the ban, don’t actually know any gay people. If they did, I don’t think they’d be so quick to judge.

I don’t know what to do. I feel bad for not speaking up. I feel like a coward. But, I’m not sure how polite I can be. I’m not known for pulling punches in debates, and I’m definitely no diplomat. I feel strongly about the issue, and everyone brings it up at Church, I want to scream, “We have separatation of Church and State for a reason!!! The only reasons you can give me why you’re against this are solely based on religion!!! So, you lose (but, that’s not the only reason, there are a dozen other reasons you lose this one)!!!” Of course, I can’t do that. OK, maybe it’s not that I can’t. Maybe it’s because I don’t have the backbone to do it.

Either way, it’s eating at me, and it has sharp teeth and doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.

I’d Leave the Country, but My Wife Won’t Let Me by Laura Conaway

This is one story. There are thousands more. Real people are affected by bigotry. They’re not just numbers, statistics, pictures in a book. They are real. Gay people exist. They love their partners. They want the same rights we, as straight people, have.

Women used to be their husbands’ property. It used to illegal for women to own land in this country. It was illegal for women to vote. It used to be illegal for interracial couples to marry. All of these problems were corrected. Women are no longer property. Women can vote. Heterosexual couples can marry anyone of any race, as long as their of legal age, and consent to the marriage. Why is it so hard to see that homosexual couples, who love each other, who are in committed relationships, should be allowed the same right?

The Constitution was never meant to limit rights. It was meant to guarantee them. It is our duty to “secure the Blessings of Liberty” and not stand in the way of couples who want to further strengthen society by forming the bonds of marriage – marriage as viewed by the State, not by whichever God you worship.

Just because you may think their love in invalid, or that maybe you just want them to go away – they won’t. Homosexuality exists. Homosexuals exist. They are real people, with feelings, families, and lives. All of the feelings they have are a valid as your own. Their desire to marry is as valid as your’s, and we shouldn’t be standing in the way of people willing to enter into a loving, committed relationship.